[FO] Sourwood Mountain Fingerless Mitts

SOURWOOD MOUNTAIN, by Erika Jackofsky
Knitty, Spring 2009



These gloves were such a brain sore! I mean, the pattern is technically written correctly, but I want to stab the editor IN THE EYE! I hate printing things out, so I tried following it on my computer at first. Yeah, not gonna happen. No part of the process can be done with only one screen/page. The pattern starts off with four pages of charts, both drawn and written out, which are useful... but... Then you go into three pages of directions, which are divided for the cuff and the hand (makes sense) and contain a hodgepodge of individual lines for each of the three sizes. And instead of telling you (k1, p1, k16, p1, k1), it tells you (k1, p1, k to last 2 sts, p1, k1) which, yes, can be interpreted, but is unnecessary, since you work 20 sts no matter what size.

My main peeve was reaching the hand, which is done on three sock needles, one for the pattern, one for the thumb, and one for the palm. You are given ten lines on how to work the first part of the hand, that alternate Work in Pattern As Set, and Work As In Round 4. They are mostly just stockinette and a couple of increases, and a direction to go to pg 3 and follow the Hand Pattern for only one of the needles.

Yes, the pattern isn't written in with the instructions, and you constantly have to flip back to it. This gets a lot more complicated once you start creating the thumb gusset and have to keep straight which non-commital line in the paragraph you are currently on. There are a couple of numbers wrong in the final counts towards the end, but they are noted in the errata. As far as binding off, I need to find something that doesn't leave a one row step at the end.

Limbo Color by Schoeller+Stahl

DK / 8 ply (11 wpi)
135 yards (123 meters)
50 grams (1.76 ounces)
100% Wool, 3 ply

Now for pictures!



You can't quite tell in the pictures, but in the first picture, the top cuff was done on sz#3 as per pattern, and the lower one on #5, like the rest of the mitt. The cuff was very uncomfortable and tight, even in the L. I was on the first row of the final ribbing when I frogged them. You can't tell in the pictures either, but on the leaf motif I switched ssks and k2togs and the leafs look cleaner and pop out more.


The pattern doesn't really specify where to pick up stitches on the cuff for the hand, other than "along upper edge", so I took this picture to show people I picked them up between the p1 and k1 rows along the edge.



The thumb was really what made me redo them. I couldn't stand how the M1L, M1R on the same stitch made it gape like an ass hole, so I changed it for a KFB on the two stitches that are kept between the markers.



The vagina of the thumb also was stretched and deformed, so instead of BO20, I only BO the 18 stitches in the middle of the thumb, and when I was asked to M2 on the next round, I took the two stitches that were left on the sides of the thumb, used them as one stitch (k2tog), and KFB on them (k2togFB?). This doesn't change the count of the stitches, and it allows for a heartier foundation stitch that won't pull to the sides.



I'm guessing it was my mistake in my binding off that I didn't know how to blend in the last row, but by this time, I was just so happy to get rid of the needles that I didn't care. I managed to pull off seven or eight rows of ribbing before running out of yarn, and had less than a foot left over ^_^



And I used pretty buttons! La Mode 26269, 1/2". They had them in 5/8", but only in the silvery color, and I really needed copper for this yarn. I anchored the chain for the loops on the top corner, ch4, skipped 4 sts, did 2 half crochet sts, and repeated three more times until the hand edge, and used the tail to reinforce the joint of everything.

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Above all, I am really glad I finished these. I really like the yarn (and will never frog 100% wool again!) and its gradual color changes. I hope that next time I want to follow a pattern from Knitty, it will be written in a more intuitive manor. If not, copy/paste will be my friend!

[pattern] Matt's Uggly Mettal Hatt

Ok, so it looked a lot cooler in my head :/
This hat is knit in a rectangle and sewn up the sides. I used Caron Country Yarn in red and black, and size 11 needles.

PATTERN
Cast on 39 stitches in RED.
Knit in stockinette 40 rows.
Knit two rows in BLACK in garter stitch.
Knit two rows in RED in garter stitch.
Knit 20 rows in BLACK in stockinette.
Knit 4 rows with pattern.
Knit 16 rows in BLACK stockinette.
Cast off.
Fold wrong sides together and sew up sides; add pompoms.

The chart for the \mmmm/ is as follows:

[pattern] Mom's Thrummed House Slippers

These things are so cozy! The slippers knit up in a few hours on Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in Oatmeal with size 11 needles, and then a few more hours to thrum them with alpaca fiber with a crochet hook. Probably 4/5 of the skein was used. And I really should have written this up a month ago when I still had everything fresh in my head :/

PATTERN
This is a modified toe up sock with a figure 8 cast on. Increases are every row instead of every other row. Work is done in spirals. The leaf pattern is the same one used for my Lacey Leaf socks, taken upside down, and only once across.
1) Cast on 8 sts on two DPN needles in figure 8. Knit first row all around, splitting on to 4 DPNs.
2) K1, m1, k6, m1, k2, m1, k6, m1, k1. 20 sts around.
3) K1, m1, k8, m1, k2, m1, k8, m1, k1. 24 sts around.
4) K1, m1, k10, m1, k2, m1, k10, m1, k1. 28 sts around.
5) K1, m1, k12, m1, k2, m1, k12, m1, k1. 32 sts around.
Here is where the patterning starts. For the lace pattern, you will pattern every odd row and k every even row.
6) K32
7) K5, yo, ssk, p1, k2tog, yo, k6. 16 sts.
9) K4, yo, k1, ssk, p1, k2tog, k1, yo, k5.
11) K3, yo, k2, ssk, p1, k2tog, k2, yo, k4.
13) K2, yo, k3, ssk, p1, k2tog, k3, yo, k3.
15) K2, k2tog, yo, k7, yo, ssk, k3.
17) K2, k2tog, k1, yo, k5, yo, k1, ssk, k3.
19) K2, k2tog, k2, yo, k3, yo, k2, ssk, k3.
21) K2, k2tog, k3, yo, k1, yo, k3, ssk, k3.
22-29) repeat first half of pattern from row 6.
Insert a short row heel on side opposite of pattern.
30-37) repeat second half of pattern (rows 14-21).
Knit in spiral to desired height (about four rows) and make an EZ super stretchy bind off.

Thrumming is inserted down center of pattern, and along footbed, moving diagonally two rows and two stitches for next point.
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My sister's house slippers, in brown, were done on size 10 needles and without thrumming or lace pattern. Five more rows were added to the footbed (35 total) to compensate for a smaller gauge.

Happy No Longer Holiday Season!

I am so happy that I managed to finish everything for my family! I still have several gifts for friends on the needles, but meh, I'm spreading the Holiday Cheer ^_^



Just in december, I managed to make the thrummed slippers for my mom, regular house slippers for my sister, fingerless mitts for her husband and two kids, and Snoopy Pilot Scarfs for Rudy and Chris (k1, p1 in 50/50 silk/wool; quite yummy!). Individual patterns to come shortly.



For me, Jessie got me some wonderful alpaca to spin, and Erin got me some Manos, which I'm dying to make into gauntlets and a hat! Erin, and her fiance Drew, are now the proud owners of my Leaf and Steelers socks (and a howling monkey that loves Pittsburgh), and Jessie's husband Matt now owns a Funny Metal Hat. Her belly dancing gear has gotten much better tips and is currently being produced in my basement...




I made a Chunky Button-Up Cowl for my boss, and I am ALMOST FUCKING DONE with my orange headwarmer thing. I can't believe how busy I've been for the past couple of months! In store for me now, I should be making a Quadrat in a KAL with nanonukie and a bitterroot shawl just because. I bought some skeins of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, and hope it will be enough!

Oh, and I also knit a horrible cabled scarf for my roommate's father's new wife.

[recipe] Seltzer Cupcakes with Strawberries

Last year a friend made this recipe for rainbow cake, which I have tried in many incarnations. One of my main gripes was the use of artificial sweetener in the Diet Sprite, so I decided to use seltzer instead.

INGREDIENTS
1 box cake mix - devil's food cake
12 oz (1 355 ml can) plain seltzer
24 small strawberries for decoration (these were a bad idea, next time will try dehydrated)

The important part here is that the seltzer replaces ALL of the additional ingredients, so you don't use oil, water, butter or eggs. As far as I've read, any carbonated beverage can be used. This drops the calories from about 220 to 160 for two cupcakes.

Mix, pour into molds, and follow the baking instructions on the box. Some people on the internet have mentioned that this cake is a bit crumbly (mine haven't been) and recommend adding an egg or egg white.



I decided to put a strawberry on each cupcake, and I would now like to advise people against this. They were very good right out of the oven, but after a couple of hours, the strawberries started to melt, leaving these tiny bunt cakes with strawberry mush in the middle. Future incarnations might include dehydrated strawberries instead of fresh, or chopping them up and tossing them into the batter.

[recipe] Breadz!!!!

This weekend we are going to my roommate's mom's house for Thanksgiving (the real one) and I made breadz. Four of them! I am using my lovely Jamie Oliver's basic bread recipe, with a few minor extras ^_^
(mainly a ton of butter spray)




1) BASIC BREAD
The original recipe is enough for two, 1 lb loaves. I mixed up two batches separately, and then divided into four. The first portion was very well buttered and dropped into it's pan.

2) CHEESIE BREAD
Roll out the dough and cover with a couple of cups of cheese. Roll up, cut in 1" slices and toss into a well buttered pan.



3) MONKEY BREAD
Ok, not really, but close enough. Melt half a cup of butter (1 stick) in 1 cup light brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon. Ball up the dough and toss liberally with butter spray and sugar mixture.

One thing to make sure of, though, is to keep the butter and sugar from spilling over and burning. (ask me how I know!) An aluminum wall is helpful. Or a big enough pan.



4) ROSEMARY GARLIC
This was an easy one. Before kneading the dough between proves, add a handful of rosemary, garlic and salt to taste. Yet again, place in well buttered mold.




Once the breads are formed, it is necessary to let them prove again and double in size (about half an hour). In the meantime, set the oven to 425 (if your oven can actually set itself at a desired temperature). Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool in pans for about five minutes and remove whenever possible to cool on racks (except for the monkey bread).

[recipe] Car Bomb Cupcakes

This weekend I decided to get properly liquored up (and failed) to watch Twilight: New Moon.

But at least I got to use this recipe and make some really nifty yummies. They were amazingly moist, and even though the alcohol gets boiled out, you can make them substituting soda, and not pouring Baleys into the ganache. I copy/pasted the recipe, and modified it to what I actually did in parenthesis, due to being lazy. All quantities used were slightly less than exact.

Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes

Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup stout - Guinness
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (I always use salted!)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process (dark Hershey's)
2 cups all purpose flour (bread flower)
2 cups sugar (light brown)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (probably only used 1/2 or less)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (tollhouse semisweet morsels)
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (or like a shot or two)

Baileys Frosting (too lazy to make)
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperatue
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)

Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag. (What I actually used was a melon baller and pyrex measuring cup with spout.)

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend (psh). Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend (kitchen aid mixer with whisk). Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. (switch to paddle

attachment) Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined (or just to push down the sides). Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes (since my oven is way less than calibrated, and every time I open the door, the thermometer gives me a different reading, I start checking around minute 15 and then every couple of minutes). Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl (2 c pyrex measuring cup). Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate (or stick chocolate, cream and butter in microwave for 30-60 seconds). Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can renuke it a couple of times for 15 seconds each). Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (or barely poured). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer (small melon baller), cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

[This is a fantastic trick I picked up while working on the cupcakes article for Martha Stewart Living; the test kitchen chefs had found that when they added the sugar slowly, quick buttercream frostings got less grainy, and tended to require less sugar to thicken them up.]

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

Ice and decorate the cupcakes. [I used a star tip and made little "poofs" everywhere and sprinkled it with various colors of sanding sugar to keep it looking festive for New Years. I bet shaved dark and white chocolates would look gorgeous as well.]

Do ahead: You can bake the cupcakes a week or two in advance and store them, well wrapped, in the freezer. You can also fill them before you freeze them. They also keep filled — or filled and frosted — in the fridge for a day. (Longer, they will start to get stale.)

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The original recipe says that readers wanted extra filling, but I had more than half leftover. I ended up spooning it on top when served instead of making more icing.