Done and done.

After about 4 days (and only 2 hours of actual working time), thar she be:

(I just slipped a discarded magazine page in the front sleeve, for the sake of having a yummy picture to look at.)  I bought a heavy-duty rubber-edged binder at Staples and a pack of grey cardstock for the pages.  A set of colourful dividers and I was off to the races.

These are all recipes that I'd been holding onto for a while and though I haven't made them all, they're the ones I can see myself making.  I split them up into sections that made sense to me.  I have one for soups, seafood/fish, meat, desserts, and gluteny recipes (just in case anyone asks me for suggestions, I'm keeping my favourites back there for quick reference, even though I can't eat them anymore).

There's a section on vegetarian dishes:

There's even a section for canning/preserve notes:

Let this be a lesson to me - if I buckle down, these little things don't have to take long to get underway.  Definitely not as long as I can take procrastinating to avoid doing them.


The nice thing is that this will keep my cookbooks in - if not "pristine" - dignified condition.  I am hell on cookbooks.  Scratch that.  I'm hell on all books.  For someone who lives to knit and read, I sure do treat both with a fair bit of disregard.

{My sister once asked me to scan and send her my copy of our mom's bread stuffing recipe (I think?) and she called me afterwards to demand what the hell I had done to the page - she could barely read the writing, for all the oil stains, rips and smudges on it.}

I haven't photocopied my cookbook faves yet, to add to the binder.  I am going to do that at work sometime this week.  So far, the binder is about 1/3 full.  I'm just taping/stapling smaller sheets onto the cardstock and any print outs that I have on decent paper just got hole-punched and crammed in there.  I'm also going to start a plastic envelope for potential new recipes at the front of the binder.  Once I try them and they pass muster, they'll get upgraded to a permanent position in their respective sections in the binder.

Thank you SO MUCH for your suggestions (and keep 'em coming, of course).  It's funny, because I got the suggestion for polenta and had actually just tagged it in Michael's book as something I wanted try.  I know I said I've backed off corn - and I have - but I still allow myself to have some once or twice a week.  The reason I don't eat a lot is that I find it very hard on my system.  I just need to be very aware of my intake.  Oh, and someone suggested quinoa pasta - I have tried it and yes, it is good (better than most rice pastas, in fact).  I've been gluten-free for four years, and have had a surprising array of options in GF products (surprising, given where I live, I mean).  The best gluten-free pasta I've ever had is actually corn pasta (some informal research done among some of my GF peeps netted the same affirmation).  Alas, it is still corn and is still something for me to watch out for.  Plus, it's GF and if I'm being honest, the taste/texture is still not *quite* the same as wheat pasta, so while it's nice to have in the house, we eat pasta in moderation.

In other totally unrelated news, I have begun The Socks:

Someone asked me what I was holding up in one of my recent posts.  That is a set of interchangeable metal "Options" needles, from KnitPicks.  You get a clear vinyl case full of metal tips and a set of cables that you screw into the ends of the tips to customize your circular needles.  That case I was holding up also contains a series of 40" circulars in all the smaller sizes KnitPicks can't offer in the interchangeables, which I purchased at the same time, knowing I needed to do some sock knitting.  I am VERY happy with them and wish I had bought them years ago.  I might not have hated circulars so fervently, had I tried these (full review to follow in an upcoming post).


Oh, and I should probably tell you that I watched "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" this weekend.  Holy.  Cow.  In a good way.  A very very very good way.  (Disclaimer: if you have a weak stomach, I advise viewer discretion.  There were a couple of scenes that I found exceedingly difficult to watch.)  I'll be renting the second and third films next weekend, so don't tell me what happens!

Food: good. Hunger: bad.

My last post triggered some questions which I am going to sit down and write about in the next couple of days, but for now, I wanted to put this out there:

I am starting a new side-project.  It's not a full-blown project, because I think it's going to be a long-term undertaking and I don't need to feel the guilt that will inevitably follow if I have to put it aside for a while or if I give up on it.  This side-project is an inventory/sorting/cataloging of my recipes.

 I don't have a lot of recipe books.  My kitchen shelf contains a few really really really good ones:

• The Best of Chef at Home, by Michael Smith (who, besides being an amazing chef, is also just a really really nice guy)
• Dinner Tonight, by Lucy Waverman
• Home for Dinner, by Lucy Waverman
• Pantry Raid, by Dana McCauley
• The Wheat-Free Cook, by Jacqueline Mallorca

But other than that, I am subsisting on a selection of old family recipes (some of which I revamped and posted online - see the sidebar at the right of my blog), gifted recipes from friends, and a really great collection of Inspired magazine, which is a free publication put out by my local supermarket, Sobeys.

Problem is, a lot of the recipes in these books and magazines are really gluten-intensive (in case you didn't know, I have am gluten-intolerant).  I get a little discouraged when I'm looking for suppertime inspiration.

So now, I've bitten the bullet.  I discarded a couple of cookbooks that didn't pass muster and I'm going through the rest, tagging anything that looks like something I could realistically make for supper (that's my main concern, at the moment).  I don't have a concrete plan as of yet, but I think I'm going to get a nice, good-quality, three-ring binder with some plastic sleeves and start clipping the recipes I like and sorting them into categories.  The rest of the magazine/calendar/whatever is going in the recycling bin.  The interesting cookbook recipes are getting copied out and placed in the binder, so I'm not forced to constantly page through the entire cookbook to find the 5 recipes I can actually make.

There are so many options online, that I don't think I really need to dish out for new books, at the moment.  With the exception of Extra-vegan-za,  which was recommended to me by a friend, Maureen (who is a recipe developer for Michael Smith and fellow GF-er).  A totally vegan diet would be pretty tough for me to follow (a LOT of vegan alternatives are loaded with gluten), but not impossible.  She said the book contained some really amazing ideas, so I'm putting it on my wishlist.

So, here's where you come in (I'm serious, I want some feedback or I'm going to start taking names):  I want some ideas for suppers/lunches.  I need stuff that is quick, nutritious, low-fat, low-sugar, high-protein, as full of whole foods as possible, non-processed and delicious (no, duh).  Stuff like taco salad with ground turkey, mango salsa and low-fat cheddar.  Baked squash, stuffed with wild rice, pecans and raisins.  Chicken pesto with black olives and artichoke hearts.  You know, the good stuff.

I eat everything that does not contain gluten (wheat, oats, rye, spelt, kamut, barley all contain gluten), with the exception of cilantro **BAAAAARRRRRFFFF**, brussel sprouts **shudder gag**  and bell peppers (bad memories of acid reflux from my gluten days).  I am notoriously un-picky (I just asked my husband to list out the food I don't like and he couldn't think of one single thing {ETA: My sister just chimed in and remembered that I detest perogies.  I know, I am the only person on the planet who can say that and technically, it's not even an option anymore - what with them being made primarily of wheat dough and all.  I strongly suspect that may hatred has to do with the slimy gluten content.}) and will try everything at least once (for instance, I could eat an entire plateful of pan-fried chicken livers, like RIGHT NOW - does that make you want to hurl?).  I have eased way off soy, corn, dairy and eggs, but I'm not averse to having them from time to time.  I L.O.V.E. ethnic food.  LOVE IT.

Ethnic food, a not-quite-sonnet

by dw

India, I love you.  

Thailand, I love you.  

Morocco, I love you.  

Lebanon, I love you.  

France, it goes without saying.  

Japan, I love you.  

Italy, you are dead to me.  

Unless you can figure out how to perfectly duplicate your entire cultural menu without using a fleck of flour, of course.  

Then, I will love you once more.

Now, wasn't that beautiful?  Yes, I thought so, too.

To be clear: I do not need dessert ideas.  NO SWEETS FOR ME!  I can't eat refined sugar right now (still sick) and the hubbie is allergic to chocolate.  I have no idea how all of you foodies can eat so many cupcakes and cake pops and pies and ice cream sandwiches and tarts and chocolate truffles.  My idea of dessert is two Medjool dates.  Two.  Dates.  Or maybe a dried fig.  And a mouthful of roasted pecans.  Maybe twice a week.  C'est tout.  I would weigh 400 lbs if I ate the desserts I see on some websites (Pioneer Woman and Elana's Pantry, I'm looking at you).  Butter and fat are also on the persona non grata list, though my conscience can be convinced to occasionally look the other way...  Baked goods are ok, but I have a lot of recipes for those, already.  Plus, I'm only allowed to have a small amount of them, anyway.

Oh, and I want to know: do you think my three-ring binder is the way to go?  Do you have a better system (keeping in mind that I'm VERY visual and need to see photos with my recipes)?  Send me e-mails, not just comments, ok?  I want to be able to reply directly.  So, you ready to help me?  High five?  Ready, set, GO!

I am a total geek

They're heeeeeeeere:

  

Oooooooh, they're so pretty:

So I celebrated by knitting myself a hat.  (And just in time for the -35C weather, too!)

 

Um, and so, here's the thing.  This hat is the reincarnation of my Burberry-Inspired Cowl: 

The cowl just wasn't doing it for me.  I wasn't wearing it.  And the yarn is delicious and it was from Wood, so there was NO WAY I was going to let it collect dust in the winter accessories bin (yes, we have a whole bin - a basket wouldn't even come close to containing it all...it's one of those massive Rubbermaid storage bins).  So I frogged it and IT LIVES AGAIN!

So there you have it.  I am off to swatch my arse off for my next sweater and make some socks.  

GET THIS: since I started knitting in the Continental style, I've reeeeeeeally loosened up.  I started knitting Ruth's socks with a 3.25mm circular and it was too loose.  Next, I tried a 2.5mm circular and it was too loose.  So I went down to a 2.0mm.  And guess what?  STILL TOO FLIPPIN' LOOSE!  Two! Point! Oh!  Millimeters!   That's like knitting with tooth picks!  They don't even make them smaller than that!  GAH!  So it looks like I'm going to have to a) start knitting socks in sport weight yarn or b) knit all socks in the English style, which is about as tempting to me as the thought of licking my kitchen floor.  All. Those. Stitches.  And. All. That. Ribbing.  And no Continental.  

Sigh.

PS: You know, I think it's time for a change, folks.  I switched to Apple several years ago because they just work (iMac, I love you).  I drive a car that is dependable and fuel-efficient and good quality, because it just makes more sense (though it is not made in North America - GASP).  I try to eat organic and local, because it is kinder to the planet and better for my health.  I even learned a totally new way of knitting (after 25 years of using the old method) because it was just smarter and more efficient.  I am all for tradition and standards and all that, but I think it's time for you crazy Americans to get over your impossible-to-understand-and-full-of-nonsensical-gaps knitting needle sizing conventions and come over to the dark side.  The totally logical, totally fool-proof, "it just works", dark, METRIC side.  

I mean, you have two versions of size 1 needles and two versions of size 2's.  And what's up with having a size 0? How is that even possible?  Honestly.  That's just silly.

So, apparently, there are other things in life besides knitting.

I have finished the Hemlock Ring Blanket for my grandma:

This thing took the concept of blocking to a whole new level.  I didn't think I would ever get the blocking done.  And I know I didn't do a great job with the edges, but I couldn't add any more pins BECAUSE I DIDN'T HAVE ANY MORE!

The blocking of this wiped me out of straight pins.

And it also represented the last of the w.i.p.'s I had going.  I found myself at a loss.  What to do?  I am waiting for my order of KnitPicks needles to arrive so that I can start Ruth and Kenny's socks and my new pullover.  Obviously, they are still in transit.

So, I whined and moped for about 2 minutes and then pulled out the quilt.  Yes, that quilt:

 For the past day and a half, I have been sewing, listening to podcasts, skulking around on Ravelry and sewing.  Which has been a little tricky today, given the shortage of pins around here.  I have exactly 2.5 new strips of quilt to show for it, which is a little pitiful.  Except that I refuse to do the whole craft-guilt thing.

The fact that it took me a whole day to get all the dishes done and I still haven't lifted a finger to vacuum the place?  Yes, that I will allow myself to feel a little guilty about.

Snow Day

Yo.

Home sick today.  We got a mini-snowstorm last night and I didn't sleep well and I'm feeling tired and headachy and whiny and bloated and hormonal and sniffly and achy, so I did everyone a favour and stayed home.  I'm going for a nap, but I thought I would show you a couple of photos first.  These were taken last weekend, when winter officially started (did I tell you that we didn't get any snow until Christmas Day?):

Ok, so now I'm going to take my chicken-soup-soaked self off to bed and maybe after that I'll have the energy to get some work done.  Unlikely, but a girl can hope.

xoxo

Socks and the Magic Loop

I am not a big fan of sock-knitting.

I know.  The HORROR!  Saying that to a group of knitters is blasphemy.  It's like waving a red flag in front of a bull.  Like telling a group of environmentalists that you don't recycle.

Like brushing your teeth at my mother's house with the bathroom door open.

Don't ask.

Anyway, where was I?  Oh, right.  Sock knitting.  Never been a big fan.  It's those skinny little DPN's.  It's that never-ending miniature knitting.  It's my short attention span, resulting in the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome.  It's all of that and it's also that it has never resulted in a pair of socks that didn't felt into oblivion the first time I washed them.

But, my friend Ruth loves wool socks.  And she had two balls of sock yarn sitting around and no time to knit.

Enter Christmas and my lack of funds.  I offered to knit up the two pairs for her as a gift.

I am now, once again, a sock knitter.

Only this time, I am armed:

My arsenal is also growing to include these.  And these.

My recent foray into the world of lace knitting and the discovery of Addi Turbo Lace needles brought to light the fact that my hatred of circular needles was merely a hatred of CHEAP circular needles and that good quality stuff makes all the difference in the world.  So I'm taking the plunge.  I read the reviews and asked around and decided that KnitPicks have the right balance of price and quality that I need.

So, Ruth gave me a favoured pair of socks from her dresser and her husband's to use as templates and I await my delivery of needles in order to start (that's just a little test swatch sitting there):

More to follow...

Lace. The New Frontier.

I told you that the first shawl was a gateway project, didn't I?

Well, I wasn't kidding.  I started a Hemlock Ring Blanket with the yarn my grandmother gave me last summer:

It looks like a giant jellyfish, doesn't it?  The yarn is an acrylic/cotton/linen blend.  I hate hate HATE acrylic, but am not one to look gift yarn in the mouth.  Besides, I've decided that I'm making it for her anyway.  She obviously liked the yarn, as she had bought it to make herself a sweater and gave it all to me when her arthritis got in the way.

I love it and can't wait to start another one (for me, maybe?) in wool.  It's so much easier than I thought it would be.  Not something I'd give to a beginner, of course.  But if you're knitting sweaters, mittens or socks, you're ready for lace, by God.

Open-collar surgery

I promised that I would show you the process for the surgery I performed on my recently-completed cardigan.  The reason for the surgery was that I found the original neckline to be much too small and tight around my neck.  It was comical, actually.  

The challenge is this: the cardigan was knit from the top-down.  It's easy enough to rip out knitting, if you start at the end and backtrack, but it's impossible to go the other way.  Meaning, you can't rip out from the beginning {go ahead, we'll wait here for you as you grab an old swatch and try it for yourself...oh good, you're back - I was right, wasn't I?}.  And the beginning of this sweater is the collar.  So ripping back to the right place for a nicer collar was impossible.

That meant that I had to cut the knitting to the spot at which I wanted to start the collar.  With scissors.

Then, I had to pick up the live stitches and start the collar.

In a nutshell (ha, that's laughable...when has a nutshell ever managed to contain me?), here is the step-by-step:

 The unsatisfactory collar.  The little stitch holders indicate where the buttons will go.

 A close-up of the front neckline.  You can see that the collar dips down in the front, like all crew-neck necklines.  That stitch holder represents where I wanted the new neckline to sit.  We (Tora, Chris and I) had established that I would be ok with a boatneck neckline, meaning that it would not dip down in the front.  That meant that shaping would not be required - I would be working with a simple straight line of stitches.  Thank heaven.  I was not going into shaping territory.

 I used a super skinny circular needle with a super long cable (this makes it much easier to manipulate the stitches) and started picking up stitches in a straight line around the yoke of the sweater, in line with that stitch holder.

I found it more helpful to flip the sweater to the wrong side - it was easier to see the rows clearly enough to stay in a straight line.

 I kept going until I got all the way around, making a few mistakes here and there - no big deal.

Once I had threaded all the stitches onto the needle, out came the scissors.  I very carefully snipped one stitch, just above my circular needle.

 Peekaboo.

 This process of unwinding the yarn took a bit of time, but that circular gave me the confidence that things weren't going to get out of hand - it essentially acted as a stitch holder.

I ran into a few spots where, for some inexplicable reason, there was a snag.  The old collar was getting discarded anyway, so I just cut the offending yarn until it came free.

When all was said and done, I ended up with a wider neckline, all nicely placed on a circular needle and ready to be knit back onto my regular circular with new yarn.  A few of the stitches were out of line - I had picked up a few wrong stitches, but I just corrected all of that when I knit the first row back onto my regular circular.

Now, this is what the collar looks like:

Questions?  You ready to take on open-knit surgery?

And So It Begins

Now that I'm finished The Epic Cardigan, it's time to think about the next one.

Only, this time, I'm doing some advance planning, armed with some freshly-obtained knowledge.

I referred to several sources for tips on design and fit.  I took a photo of myself and used it as a template to draw designs on.  I swatched.  I think I'm ready to cast on.

Just need some proper circular needles.  Oh, the anticipation!

Flutter by

Just dropping in to say:

Have you seen this?

Yup.  That's right.

Me want.

Some more knitting

In my last post, I alluded to the fact that I had finished some knitting projects.  Holy crap, did I ever.  Considering that I am not the fastest knitter, that I work 40 hours per week and commute for an additional 7-1/2 and that I spend so much time cooking for myself, I can not get over how much I accomplished when I put my mind to it.

You already saw the shawl:

I don't know if I mentioned this already, but I used this project to teach myself the Continental Method.  You can see where I did that - about halfway through this shawl, the knitting gets really crimpy and wonky.  That's where I switched to Continental.  I did it in the hopes that it would ease some arthritis I can feel starting up in my right hand and yes, it did help a bit.  I still have to keep an eye on things (being a designer, I depend on my hands in a major way and don't want to jeopardize that), but the Continental is much faster than throwing and makes purling so much more comfortable.  Plus, I find it to be much more comfortable to sit in chairs with arms and other constrained spaces while knitting.  If you want to learn more about it, check this little video out:

I also finished THE SWEATER.  You remember THE SWEATER?  The one I started way back in JANUARY?  Of 2010?  Geez.

Yikes, excuse the Holiday Hair, will you? 

It was a long process and one fraught with challenges and frustrations, but I learned a lot from it.  Namely, I need to start thinking about "ease".  That is to say, how loose or snug I want to wear things.  Technically, the sweater fits.  But it's loose and somewhat shapeless.  I need things a bit more form-fitting.  And I need to start knitting my ribbing up in smaller needles than the rest of the body.

Here is an incomplete synopsis of the process, in case it interests you:

 Feb 2: Yoke complete, underarm stitches on stitch holder.

Mar 7: Body complete, including placket and collar.

Mar 14: Realized that the sleeves weren't fitted enough and converted them to 2x1 ribbing.  One sleeve complete.

April, May, June, July, August: languish, languish, languish, languish, languish

Sept: Trip to Cape Breton.  Both sleeves complete, but body deemed unacceptable.  Chris provides a good solution (some 2x1 ribbing at the waistine), necessitating a ripping-out and a re-knitting of the body.  Also on the chopping block: placket and collar.  Obsession about button choices.

Oct: Open-collar surgery, following solicited advice on the ripping out of said collar and re-knitting.  More on the process in an upcoming blog post.

Dec: Got off my proverbial arse and finished the damn thing.  New placket, new collar, buttons and button holes.  Ends woven, blocked and ready to wear.

Phew.

A New Year, A New Yarn?

 Ok, so I know I haven't called in a while, but I have an excuse.  It's.... um... well ok, I have no really good excuse.  I was working my tail off on some work-work:

 ...and of course busting my hump trying to get some Christmassy work done:

(un-blocked lace knitting looks like a pile of noodles)

 (ahh, much better)

...which didn't get finished in time to send off, but who cares?  It's for my mom and she likes getting things all year-round, so I just sent her a homemade market bag for now.  This will get shipped off this week, if I can remember to go to the post office.  It's exactly how I hoped it would turn out and is the perfect size for her.  I used this pattern (Rav link) and this yarn and found it to be quite easy to follow.  If you decide to try it out, let me know because I have a few little tips.  It's the perfect gateway project into lace knitting.  Good thing?  Bad thing?  It remains to be seen...


Anyway, I finished A LOT more knitting, but I'm not going to unveil it all right now.  I'm going to draw out the pleasure and get more blogging mileage out of it.  Not good for you all to get everything you want right away.  Ha!


Christmas was pretty quiet around here.  We FINALLY got a major project finished (well, truth be told it's only about 90% finished, but I don't care):

You wanna see what the "before" looked like?  Ok, brace yourselves.  Here it is, on the day we moved in, 4 years ago:

Nasty.  Sorry to have done that to you.  Hope you don't have too much trouble sleeping tonight.

It was a major undertaking and will likely prove to have been the most difficult portion of our renovations.  It's a tiny little room and the only bathroom we have, so it drove us a little crazy.  By the end, I was so tired of contemplating it, that I just kind of let it drag on forever.  My husband had to step in and take over, after one of my many frustration-induced meltdowns.  Not my most shining moment.  Although I am proud to say that it is fully functional and I didn't kill anyone.  Win, win.

In terms of Christmas gifts, we had dubbed this "Frugalmas", so it was pretty light.  Mom sent over some little treasures and treats.  The hubbie gave me a box full of wonderful wool socks.  I know that sounds pretty paltry, but you have to understand something about me: I DESPISE having cold feet.  I sleep with socks on, even in the summertime when the rest of me is broiling.  And we just recently discovered that the reason we were freezing in our offices at work was not that the insulation is sub-par, but that the heaters were not working.  Winter has not really hit yet (we got our first "real" snow on Christmas Day - pathetic), so it wasn't unbearable.  I had adapted to it by wearing 3 layers up top (camisole, long-sleeve T, wool sweater) and wool pants below and wool hiking socks in my Docs.  Hence the wool socks for Christmas.  Ironically, my coworkers got fed up over the Holidays and went on a reconnaissance in the boiler room, discovering in the process that there was an air-lock in the system and our heaters were not working.  Took them 15 minutes to get it fixed and now I'm sweating all day long.  Better to peel layers off than have to knock the ice off the toilet bowl every time nature calls like we were going to have to do, I say.  Eventually we'll find a nice balance.  In the meantime, I have multiple pairs of comfy socks - one for every day of the week.


I gave him several pair of handmade pyjama bottoms (I only make him whine for 3 years before I deliver the goods) and I made him a new pair of spring/fall mittens a few weeks ago:

(no pattern, just improvisation with superwash merino)

It's my husband's birthday this week, so he received some additional funds from his parents with which to spoil himself, so he bought some snow shoes.  You know those traditional wooden snow shoes with the teardrop shape and the rawhide laces?  Yeah, modern snowshoes don't look anything like those.  Hi-tech.  What a difference.  As a short-legged girl who grew up waddling around on those massive wooden suckers, I have an aversion to snowshoeing.  I might be tempted to give his a try, though.

As a little treat, he used some of his leftover funds to buy me some new leather mittens:

 

They're dressy-ish but tough and functional and are kind of the mitten equivalent to my favourite shoes.  Plus, they have an added little bonus:

Sweet!  Knitted mittens are all well and good, but there comes a point in the winter where I need something a bit more substantial and have never found a nice pair (I detest gloves) that I can wear with my dressier coat.

I'm still very much enthralled by podcasts and have listened to over 100 of Kelley Petkun's (the owner of KnitPicks) while I've been knitting.  She covers many many many topics that I'm not even going to list out here, but one thing she touches on is audiobooks.  I've listened to them before, but not since I got my iPod.  So, when I received the customary iTunes gift certificate for Christmas, I logged on and bought the trilogy she recommended: "A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman", which is essentially the story of Pride and Prejudice, told from Darcy's perspective.  Yes, please.  It's awesome.  I can't seem to put it down.  It's making me want to interject "Indeed!" and "Blast!" into conversations and use words like "feigned", "absurd", "ardent", and "reticence".  Not to mention "cravat", "waistcoat", "pelisse" and "frock".  Modern English is so boring.

I also bought the latest album from Justin Rutledge, "The Early Widows".  Wow.  Listen for yourselves.  This one's called "Be a Man" and was co-written with Michael Ondaatje.  You know, the guy who wrote "The English Patient":

"Somewhere there is salt in the air of a season that touches the hem
of an island so northern
Some air is knitting a day for a woman whose eyes are upon the horizon"