In Which Criquette Rediscovers an Old Friend

Today's special guest is an old friend. We last visited about 7 years ago. Although she looked a little, well, dusty, she really hadn't changed a bit (wish I could say the same about me!). But, you know how it is with old friends, as soon as you get past that initial awkwardness, you settle down into the friendship again, and this is just what we did.

Since she was here to help me with a project, we got down to business right away. No messing around, that's how my friend Elna is. She was helping me make something special for a couple of swaps I'm in. I had already prepared everything the night before, so we could get started first thing in the morning. Can you guess what we're making?

If you guessed small project bags, you guessed right. And here's my friend, Elna, hard at work:

Didn't know I could sew, did you? My mother forced me to learn when I was in 5th grade. Our family had 4 kids at that point (the 5th came along the following year), and so money was a bit tight. I was going to have to make most of my own clothes. Which I did until shortly after college, when I had enough money of my own to finally afford a wardrobe that someone else had already made for me. That was what I considered a luxury. To this day, I still cannot stand the thought of making clothing, but it is somewhat reassuring to know that if I ever did have to resort to sewing clothes or going naked, I could make the more appropriate choice.

By the time Mr. C and I were on our 2nd home, I asked Santa to bring me my own sewing machine. I had taken an intense interest in making my own comforter because I couldn't find one already made that I liked. After that turned out much nicer than I expected, I made a couple of easy quilts. Then I decided to tackle lined drapes with an upholstered valence, which I loved, which led to me re-upholstering some chairs I picked up at an estate sale. I also made lots of fancy pillows for myself, family and friends. I was really into the sewing thing, and that was about the time I was getting bored with crochet and cross stitch, which had filled my time from college to the "sewing era".

Then we entered the 5 years from hell, during which we lost all 4 parents, a SIL, and our first kitty and our wonderful dog, KC. Our house was struck by lightening, which started a fire and fried all of our electronics and caused some moderate water damage to our second story. Right after the house was repaired and all of the electronics replaced, we had a robbery. The thieves stole the usual stuff (TV's, computers, my grandmother's silver) but also stole my sewing machine. (They were actually nice burglars, because they filled the cats' bowls with food, and left a big lipstick kiss on a mirror, and they didn't trash anything so we were lucky).

I did replace my sewing machine, with Elna. But I had lost the time and interest for sewing. We built the house we're in now, my practice boomed and best of all, I discovered and fell in love with knitting. Elna sat in the back of the coat closet, collecting dust and cobwebs.

But that all changed when I saw some cute little project bags on the 'net and realized that I could make my own. Then a couple of weeks ago, I did something that clinched the deal. I had my first quilt shop experience. And let's just say I might have come home with enough little piles of fabric to constitute a tiny stash. And last night, I cut out the pieces for 2 cute little bags, pulled Elna out of the darkness, cleaned her up and put her back to work. It's like we never lost contact. It feels good to see old friends.

There is something about autumn that really revs me up and gets my creativity overflowing. Here are some of my FO's from the last 2 weeks:

This is a clever little bookmark that I made to fit an oversized paperback. While you are reading, your can wear it on your wrist and when you're ready to save your place, it's right there. Now I have no more excuses for dog-earing.

I made some stitch markers for a recent holiday swap. I also made the fall dishcloth.

I got a jump on Christmas by making these 2 little sheepie ornaments while catching up on some tivo'ed Grey's Anatomy on Friday night.

Criquette, as usual, goes looking for mischief when the weather turns cooler. This time she found this ribbon and dragged it out of my craft closet to the dining room where she proceeded to create a "Happy Autumn" greeting to all of her fans.

So from all of us here in Criquette World, Happy Autumn!

Part 3 The Wilton's Dyeing Experiment

This is the rest of my Wilton's Supersaturated Dyeing Experiment. The next colors I tested were the Ivory and Brown.

Both dyes behaved very well. I didn't have any problems with breaking or exhausting for either.

Now for the surprises. Here are the Juniper Green and Cornflower Blue. If you are looking at these thinking they look black, you are right. Both of these turned out black at high saturation. The Juniper has a warm cast to it, and the Cornflower is a true, deep, cool black.

I also tested Wilton's Black and a new dye I found in the cake section at Michael's, called Duff's. The Wilton's behaved well and did not break at all. It has a slight brown cast to it, though. I really like the Duff's. It is a thick, smooth liquid that dissolved immediately in warm water. The color turned out a solid black without any breaking.

Here is a comparison of the 4 blacks I got. As you can see, the Juniper and Cornflower more than hold their own against the Wilton's Black and look as good (to me, at least) as the Duff's Black.

My conclusions are that I can get really beautiful, deep colors using 1 1/2 tsp. amounts of Wilton's dyes. However, using this amount of dye requires letting the yarns sit for longer periods of time because most of them take longer to exhaust.

At this amount of dye, it was easy to get dark, true blacks. Of the 4 blacks, I would probably use the Cornflower Blue if I were looking for a true, cool black. I would also prefer to use Duff's Black over Wilton's in terms of the ease of mixing as well as the nicer color. The only downside to the Duff's is that it comes in a 4-pack. If you don't need the other colors, it is not cost effective.

So after the big experiment, I took the leftover white yarn and mixed up a test batch of brown, royal blue and a mix of lemon yellow+a bit of orange. I was not paying close attention and added too much vinegar at the wrong time, but I really like the resulting mess. It actually comes very close to matching a skein of hand-dyed yarn I purchased some time back at my lys.

It's going to be made into either toddler socks or a hat for the next afghans4Afghans campaign.

In other knitting news, I volunteered as a first-time test-knitter for someone in my Malabrigo swap group. I am making the cutest hat out of alternating skeins of Malabrigo worsted. It is so cute, I can't wait to finish it and then be able to show it off. As always, I have way too many projects on the needles, but sooner or later, they seem to get finished.

Finally, I have a couple of pictures of the cabin. We are going down next weekend for the inspection. I plan on doing an inventory of what is already there and what we will need to get. It's furnished, but not accessorized and I don't remember what has been left with the kitchen. Since I didn't get pictures of the inside, I'll be sure to that as well. And of course we are taking Chloe and Abbie so they can check out their new playground! Once it's ours, we also plan on taking the kitties down with us for long stays.

Isn't it cute? I can't stand having to wait until the end of the month for it to be ours. But it will be just in time for my birthday!

The Wilton's Dyeing Project, Part 2

Continuing with my Wilton's saturated colors project results, next are the greens, blues and purples.

As I commented yesterday, the greens and blues gave me some surprises. The first greens that I tested look almost identical:

Leaf Green/Kelly Green/Moss Green

I let these soak in their dye baths 30 minutes after the last nuke and the leftover dye water in all 3 was still green when I removed them. The Leaf Green is a bit lighter and you can pick up a little more of a yellow cast on the white sample. The Kelly Green doesn't show the blue cast I was expecting, although if the blue needed more time to absorb, that would explain it. The Moss Green is the same depth of color as the Kelly green, with a touch more yellow.

The blues surprised me by not breaking. Since they received the same time to sit in their dye baths as all the other colors, they may not be fully saturated in terms of the blue dye - they may be much deeper if left to sit longer.

Teal/Sky Blue/Royal Blue

It was hard to get an accurate reading of these 3 colors because they all seem to not look quite green enough (compared to the real-life samples), if that makes sense.

Delphinium Blue/Aster Mauve/Violet

On this next group, the Delphinium broke so badly you wouldn't think it's supposed to be a pretty violet-blue. I have no idea where this one color went so wrong, since all of the blues were treated alike and the others did not break. The only explanation I have is that it needs to rest in the dyebath for a much longer time than the other colors and maybe that it needs a lot more vinegar.

With the Aster Mauve I was expecting that ugly 80's muddy pink color, but I got a beautiful pinkish-purple the color of thistles. The violet, which also showed no signs of breaking, is a very dark, very rich, true purple. At this saturation, though, it's almost black.

Tomorrow I will finish up with the neutrals and reveal something very interesting (at least to me).

And, just because she hasn't put in an appearance in a while, here are a couple of totally gratuitous pictures of the cuteness that is Criquette:

The Wilton Dyeing Project (Part 1)

With the most beautiful time of year almost upon us, I have been dying to dye some yarn in a colorway that captures my favorite time of year. One of the challenges I am finding with using food-safe dyes is that I have a hard time getting really saturated colors. I want to dye some fall and winter skeins, but didn't know if I could get the deep, vibrant colors I have in my head. And a good, true black is very hard to come by. So I decided to use some of my research background to run a little experiment. It actually turned out to give me lots of information without needing to blow up the kitchen or commit acts of violence on small lab rodents.

My little project took place over the past 2 weekends. It took longer than I anticipated after my kitchen microwave died and I had to make countless trips up and down the stairs to use the one in the basement. But it all came together and I am ready to share my results. And I am all about the multi-tasking, so with that many stairs climbed, I could skip working out and use the time to work out with yarn instead!

To begin, I got 3 base yarns and cut 5' samples from each. They were Cascade 220 (white), and Paton's Classic Wool (natural and grey). I wanted to see what differences the colors made on overdyeing, to see if I would be able to get the results I wanted on white yarn, or if I needed to start with a deeper base.

Here is the naked yarn:

All of my samples were pre-soaked in lukewarm water with 1/4 tsp salt and 2 drops Dawn added. The excess water was squeezed from them before entering the dyebath. All of the dye was mixed using high concentrations of dye:yarn - 1 tsp diluted in 1 cup boiling water. The water was allowed to cool off before adding the yarn. I let the yarn sit in the unheated dyebath for about 30 minutes before nuking in on high for 2 mins, cool for 3 minutes. I added about 1/2 tsp vinegar before the second and third heatings, then let the yarn sit in the heated dyebath until close to room temperature, probably about 20-30 minutes. I then rinsed it well, until the water ran mostly clear.

Here are the results, grouped by color:

Pink, Rose Petal, Rose

These were a bit of a surprise - the pink, which I thought would be lighter than the other two actually ended up more of a wine color. In general, the Rose Petal was a bit more coral and the Rose more of a lipstick pink, other than that, they were pretty similar.

Next are the reds - Creamy Peach, No-Taste Red, and Burgundy. (I am missing the other reds in the Wilton collection. When I get them, I will add them to the samples.) The burgundy is so dark it looks brownish-black almost.

The dyes in the orange family actually "took" the quickest, almost exhausting the dye. The orange is very vibrant, whereas the Terra Cotta and Copper look almost identical. Also, there is almost no variation among the 3 base colors with Terra Cotta - they are virtually identical. Copper is one of the colors notorious for breaking, but this batch didn't show any sign of breakage.

The yellows are probably my favorites of all the colors I tested because they look different than I expected and because they are incredible autumn colors in their super-saturated state.

These colors didn't give me any problems. But the next batch, the blues and greens were a different story. I'll show my findings in Part 2.

Criquette Returns (With FO's!)

Since I haven't seen my little blog in a while, I thought it was time to check in and see if it's still here. And time, once again, to catch up. First, here are some of my projects that I have made in the past several months:

Malabrigo worsted hat for the Malabrigo swap:

A lavender and rice-filled neck pillow for my rav friend, Laura:

My 3rd Montego Bay scarf for the Odd Ducks' Sea and Ocean swap:

Bella's Baseball Scarf from "Twilight" for my darling knitted-goods-loving niece (which was my first, but not last, attempt at cabling):

JJ Scarflette (some early Christmas knitting):

And my very favorite - my first shawl! Knitted from my first (but not last) skein of Wollmeise:

I've been getting more and more involved in hand-dyeing with food-safe dyes. Creating the colorways I have in my head is so exciting! Here are my favorites so far:

Of course, I am staying busy taking good care of the fur-babies. Nothing new with them, they are all still running the show here on the little house on the prairie.

And we have been sneaking down to the lake whenever we can, which isn't nearly enough. So we have finally decided to take the plunge and get our own cabin down there. That way, we can go whenever we want. There's a place we have our eye on, and we may put in an offer this week!

And of course, working my crazy-long hours. I had to hire 2 new therapists to take some of my referrals since I wasn't able to get people in for months. Neither one of them knit, but I won't hold that against them.

Criquette Returns (With Grits Recipes!)

Dear Criquette,

I cannot believe you have come back, after all this time. I have felt so abandoned and alone. Things were so much better before that upstart Ravelry came along and stole you away from me. And now, here you are, acting as if nothing has happened, as if you haven't ignored me for months on end, and expecting me to forgive you and just be here for you. Well, missy, blogs have feelings too! What's that? You're going to give me a new template and fonts? You'll post some pictures of all I have missing? Well, maybe I'll forgive you this time....

Sincerely,

Your sad and lonely blog

Yes, it's true. I actually have torn myself away from 'rav to post again. I can't promise this will become regular, but I have missed the blogging world while I have been on this latest blogging sabbatical.

To celebrate my return, I want to post a couple of recipes for grits, as requested by Sally (known on Ravelry as warpedntwisted). Sally is one of my new malabrigo-loving buds. I was lucky enough to make it into the mal swap!!! Anyway, it's probably safe to say that most people think they don't like grits. And if they're thinking of those lumpy, glue-like, bland white clumps of sand, they're smart to stay away from them.

But if they tried pimped-out grits, like these recipes, they just might change their minds. Whenever I make one of these dishes for my midwestern family and friends, there are no leftovers, and I have given out the recipes many times, to people who thought they hated grits. So here goes:

This first recipe is just sublime. It is one of the signature dishes from one of my favorite resturants in New Orleans, Zea's Rotisserie. It's actually easy to make, just be careful not to add the grits too quickly to the boiling broth/cream or you will have a giant, nasty mess to clean up and ask me how I know.

Zea's Corn-Roasted Grits

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken broth
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup grilled corn
1 cup yellow grits (not instant)

Directions:

To grill corn, shuck off husk. Lightly butter corncob and grill over charcoal or open fire until slightly blackened. Cool corn and cut kernels from cob with a sharp knife. Bring chicken broth to a boil. Add heavy cream and return to a boil. Slowly whisk in the grits and then the corn. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook 5 to 6 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Copyright 2005 by TheNewOrleansChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
I will follow these instructions when I can get fresh corn. But this is a great fall/winter dish, so I have successfully substituted thawed and drained frozen corn. I set my oven on 450 with the top rack a few inches from the top, put the corn in a single layer in a greased pan, spray a bit of PAM on top and slide it in for a few minutes. You have to keep a close eye on this, and turn the corn a couple of times so it roasts evenly or you will have a burnt mess and ask me how I know. It only takes a few minutes and tastes almost as good. Also, instead of just salt and pepper, I add 1/2 tsp of cajun seasoning, like Tony Chachere's or Zatarain's to spice it up a bit more. This dish is great for brunch, and is also a good side for bbq.
And here is a more classic Creole grits recipe. It is creamy, rich and so delicious.

French Quarter Brunch Grits

1 quart milk

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon white pepper

1/2 teaspoon Creole or Cajun Seasoning

1 cup white quick-cooking grits

4 ounces cream cheese, cut into cubes

4 ounces Cheddar cheese, cut into cubes

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the milk, garlic powder, salt, white pepper and Creole seasoning. Heat, stirring slowly and constantly, until the milk just comes to a boil. Add the grits, slowly and stir to mix. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until the mixture is thick and creamy, 5 to 6 minutes.

Add the cheeses and stir until they melt completely. Serve warm.

I am getting ready to head off to the farmers market now to pick up some fresh corn, because I hear those Zea's grits calling me. Bon appetite!

Dogs=Angels

If there was an official religion named "The Church of God, Canine", I would give up my non-denominational identity and become a member, along with Abbie and Chloe, of course. And one of the hymns we would sing every week would be this one, the simple yet profound "God & Dog", by Wendy Francisco.




Watch it (if you're like me, more than once), cry some tears of joy and gratitude, enjoy, then go love all over your precious dogs. Amen and bow-wow.

(My apologies if everyone has already seen this. Although even if you have, why not enjoy it again?)

My Brother Is a Star

My brother, the Instigator, was my childhood nemesis. He tormented my other siblings and I incessently, and was always careful to do it when no parents were looking and then playing innocent so they never believed us and he didn't get in trouble. And of course, whenever we tried to seek justice on our own, we were caught and spent the rest of the day in our rooms, playing with dust bunnies.


Eventually, we all grew up and, realizing one can not sell one's horrible brother on eBay, made our peace. Now, the Instigator is one of my very best friends and I love him dearly. He still loves to tease and play practical jokes, always in a non-malicious way, and loves to be teased in return (although he won't admit it).

We are going to New Orleans for Christmas this year, and I can see it now. He will be trying to give us autographs, and will be wearing sunglasses inside, and will be expecting us to treat him like a TV star because, well, he is! I have posted pictures of the beautiful hand-made ornaments he crafts each year for his jewelry store, donating part of the proceeds to local charities. He was interviewed on the local ABC affiliate and he was so cute that I just had to share this clip. And what you're hearing is a genuine New Orleans accent. I've lost mine, long ago, but pick it right up again whenever I go home. Did you notice how quiet and serious he seems? Not like an instigator at all, is he? And that, my friends, is the act he used to trick my parents (and teachers, and other authority figures) into thinking he is an innocent lamb. Ha! But I am really proud of him and that's why I wanted to share his 5 minutes of fame. He is such a good person, with such a generous heart, that he deserves more.

I didn't plan to take such a long break from blogging, but I love Ravelry so much that what little free time I have had is usually spent there. I was finally talked into creating a Facebook page because everyone in my immediate family is on Facebook now and we can keep tabs on the day-to-day stuff much more easily now. I will confess, I am also a Bad Facebookee. I check out what everyone else is up to, but rarely post anything. I have had, for me, some big accomplishments this fall which are keeping me away from cyberspace more and more, too. Lots of news, lots of projects, so little time to post about them...

But I haven't forgotten my blogging friends. I have turned into more of a lurker than a responder these days, but I am happy to see that you are all doing well for the most part and knitting beautiful things and having wonderful adventures. I hope you all are having a blessed holiday season and building lots of good memories with your loved ones. Hugs to all, and I hope to catch up with you all really soon!

Dogs on Thursday: In Which the Bunny Hunter Gets a New Hobby

Well hello there! Where did you come from? Did you take a wrong turn in New Jersey? Did you make a break for it when my pal, Tara the Turtlehunter wasn't looking?

It's no use trying to hide from a beagle y'know.

With my powerful x-ray vision and supercharged nose, I know you're out there....

...I just don't know what you are. You may not have long ears and a cottontail, but I want to hunt you anyway!

(Chloe is confused by all of the barking and howling that is going on at this point. She prefers to save her energy for critters that are fun to herd, like squirrels and small children.)

A few days later....


I knew you'd come back! That's why I've been planted in front of the window every spare moment I haven't been eating or sleeping. Now come over here, a little closer. In fact, you're welcome to come in for my little snack...no, wait! I meant *a* snack. Wait! Don't go! I was just kidding!

(On yet another day....)



Turtle! Turtle! Turtle! You're more fun to obsessively watch for than bunnies, especially since you make a beeline for the same bushes under my window almost everyday and stay there for hours, where I can watch your every non-move! You give me something to live for! I love you, Turtle!


(She must love Abbie, too since she comes out of the woods every few days to hang out in the bushes below the back windows. We're assuming it's the same turtle. If not, we've had 17 different turtles showing up for the past few weeks.)

She is an ornate box turtle. We have also been visited by a very pretty painted turtle but that one did not have beagle-love and hasn't been back.

(Meanwhile, Chloe ponders what her new hobby shall be.) "Mom? Can I get some sheep?"