Browsing the archives for the socks tag.

Work in Progress Wednesday

Crafty

In this post, I’m participating in three WIP Wednesdays; Freshly Pieced, Tami’s Amis and Musings from the Fishbowl.

As usual, I am knitting. Socks. What else is new? These socks are wonderfully unisex and they’re being knit up for a very dear friend as a late Christmas gift. He is Wee One #2’s Godfather, and I’m technically not late because he and his darling wife have not crossed the border for their Christmas visit yet!

I came across the pattern on Ravelry, and then hopped over to Posh Yarn for all the deets. The only thing I don’t love about these socks is the weird jog from the rib on the cuff to the rib in the leg – you can’t even see it unless you know it’s there – but *I* know it’s there!

 

The rest of the sock? I love. It’s amazing. It knits up super fast even though it’s got a cable, and it’s not boring because there is a cable in the front and the back! I find that if I’m lucky enough to come across a fun pattern, like say the really cute polka dot socks in Paton’s Socks in the City, there is a serious gauge problem. Or if I come across a pattern that has little to it there’s no chance of a sizing issue, but it’s a total snooze and I don’t want to finish it!

I think I’ve finally stopped being wobbily with my cables. Pretty!!

I am knitting these in my hands down most favourite yarn ever – Malabrigo Sock, in Azules which is a really deep blue with little bursts of lighter blue and white. Delicious.

I have a knitting resolution this year. I’m going to try a few new sock knitting techniques. I’m going to properly knit toe up socks, perhaps Leyburns, and for sure I will try to knit up socks two at a time too! That would be nice! I don’t know if it will actually save time, but when I’m done – I’ll really be done!

I ordered a new box of yarn from Knit Picks last night, and I really want to finish this pair and my Dad’s birthday socks before the new stuff gets here. Fingers crossed next week I’ve got a new project to show off – and eventually I’ll have one that hasn’t been knitted. Maybe. 😛

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced
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Christmas Knitting Update

Crafty

I wish I could crank out knitting as quickly as baking! Ha! I tend to let baking get in the way of my knitting, which at this time of the year is as hard to avoid as it is necessary to avoid! Between that dilemma and being on Time of Use pricing for our hydro consumption, I only bake on the weekends now, so knitting should pick up. I’m posting these finished objects knowing that the recipients may be reading this so I wont say who they’re for!

First up are these Wickerware Socks. They’re knit in Knit Picks Palette in Delta, two skeins and a bit and while my official time on them is November 9 to November 15, if I hadn’t taken two nights off for sketching up Christmas lists and baking brownies they would have come together even faster. Lovely!

 

The person I made them for had commented on my knitted socks last time we hung out and I know he really wants a pair. He’s the sort of person knitters love to knit for. He’ll be careful with them, he’ll wear them often and when he does, he’ll tell people I made them for him. I know they wont end up at the back of his closet. I never knit for people like that anymore, that’s one of the forces behind the sweater curse, dontcha know. 😉

Now, I couldn’t possibly knit up a paid of socks for this man and not knit up a pair for his wife, who is equally delightful. Really. We are so lucky to have these people in our life. This sounds like Gill and Andrew doesn’t it (minus the wife part)? It’s not you guys, even though you are delightful! Just FYI, I’m not knitting anyone a second pair of socks until everyone I love has a single pair – they got socks for Christmas last year!

These lovelies were knit in Knit Picks Stroll in Sprinkle Heather and I adore them. When Talea saw how fast they were coming together for me (I did the entire leg of the first one in a single day), she casted on immediately too! The pattern is called Duckies, and according to my Ravelry queue, I’ve wanted to knit them since Christmas two years ago!

 

My official time on these socks was horrible (November 16 – December 8) because I hosted a Gothy Tea Party for my sister’s 22nd birthday, and then I got obsessed with Christmas baking. Ahem. This yarn is delicious. Delicious. I loooooooved knitting with it and I will buy more in as many colours as possible this coming year. It’s my new go-to sock yarn. Ok, maybe Lorna’s Laces is still my top, but this is right up there.

Then this week, I’ve been dividing my time between Christmas crafts with the kids, baking, knitting and the usual to do’s of daily life. Facecloths are the perfect way to feel like you’re accomplishing a whole lot in a short time! Hooray!

I wanted to get as much as I could out of the yarn I bought from Knit Picks, so instead of the size 6s the pattern calls for, I used size 4s and squeezed out two facecloths from a single skein of Knit Picks Shine in Worsted – these green ones in Green Apple. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself until my husband pointed out that they look ‘mini’. Hmm. I can either block them and pray they’ll grow a little OR I can leave them as is and call them makeup remover cloths. Yes? You don’t need a whole facecloth to do the job, but you do need more than those little pads from the drug store. I haven’t decided yet, but they are lovely and fast and look great in green! Four more to go! Two in Clementine and two in Wisteria!

 

I will, at least, be posting my knitting on Wednesdays and just found these WIP Wednesday link ups at – Freshly Pieced, Tami Amis and Musings From The Fishbowl. Fun!

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Ooey Gooey Chewy Smore Bars and Wickerware Socks

Crafty, Domestic

Next up on the list of Christmas baking was Ooey Gooey Chewy S’more Bars from the same magazine as the treats I posted about yesterday. There is a batch of these babies in the basement freezer right now, though I think I may take them out before Christmas to see how they froze (the recipe says they’re good in the freezer for 3 months). I had a tiny nibble of a piece that broke off and man these are so good. Essentially, you bake a spongey cake-like loaf with oatmeal and graham crackers. After it’s baked you add the marshmallows and chocolate on top and pop it back in the oven for those to melt!

 

Ooey, Gooey, Chewy S’more Bars – from Christmas Cookies Magazine (Better Homes And Gardens, 2009)

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 1/2 cups tiny marshmallows
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate baking chunks

Preheat to 350, line your pan (13×9 was called for, but I used one more like 12×10) with aluminum foil and lightly grease the foil. I thought I was smart in using a silicone pan and skipped the foil – and my bottoms burned! Use foil, and butter it!

Beat butter on high for 30 seconds, add the brown sugar until combined scraping the sides of the bowl. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined, then beat in the flour. Now stir in your oats and graham cracker crumbs.

Set aside 1 cup of the mixture, and spread the rest of it in the pan (using the back of a wet spoon makes this eleventy billion times easier). Bake this for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned (mine was more like 10 minutes).

Now for the fun part! When you take it out, sprinkle the marshmallows and chocolate chunks over the top of it! Then take the 1 cup of the mixture you set aside and dot that over top of the marshmallows and chocolate. Now pop it back in the oven for another 15 minutes or so – just till the marshmallows are browned campfire-style.

You’ll have to let them cool completely on a wire rack before you cut them or you’ll have a seriously gooey mess on your hands (ask me how I know lol). According to the recipe store them at room temp for up to 3 days or freeze for up to three months.

I was going to post my list of Christmas baking, but it’s a little insane and full of surprises for other people. I’ll post recipes as I bake them and do a recap as I thaw and package them all.

Switching gears, but keeping with the Christmas to do, are these men’s socks. Men’s socks are tricky because if there’s too much detail in the pattern they end up looking too feminine but if there’s not enough you’re just knitting a plain tube and I literally fall asleep while knitting when I knit patterns like that.

 

These socks are the cure for that! A very simple 6 row repeat that keeps you focused on the knitting, but lets you carry on a conversation and are clearly GUY socks. 🙂

Back to knitting now, the countdown to Christmas is only 42 days and stay tuned for preparations for my sister’s birthday weekend!

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Christmas Knitting (Under Pressure)

Crafty

Is Christmas knitting ever NOT under pressure? I mean really? I could have my knitting list ready to go in March and probably still not start knitting for it until October. Though, in my defense, I have been doing a lot of birthday knitting for the past couple of years and this year there is a whole lot of Christmas baking – that is a whole other delicious post though, for now I’m staying on topic!

I posted about my first completed Christmas gift of year last month, and I love how they turned out. I casted on immediately for the next project in line (Shifting Sands scarf) but I started it an an awful, awful peachy pink colour. I was proud of myself for going through my yarn stash and making use of it. It’s a gift for one of the teachers I never even see (really, I don’t see anyone thanks to this whole ‘kids take the school bus because we live in the woods’ thing) so the colour didn’t really matter to me.

However, when knitting on it during my birthday weekend, everyone protested that it was ugly. Gill said she wouldn’t bother knitting something that wasn’t pretty, Talea said it was mean to give an ugly colour scarf to anyone and my sister said that the yarn I was using wrecked the pattern. They were all right. Behold – a lovely version of the same scarf. This scarf is being gifted to the kids’ principal. 🙂 So that’s two down, eleventy billion to go!

It’s a nice pattern to knit up, and would look nice with a yarn that has a little colour variation to it. The pattern in a four row repeat, and every other row is just purling anyway, so it’s a pretty quick knit – depending on how quickly you can cable! I have only used a cable needle a few times, I usually just use a short wooden DPN (wooden because it’s least likely to slip out).

These socks I adore. Love, love, love them! Talea made these last summer and I fell in love with them. I queued them right away, but didn’t actually start on them till now. Then, throwing caution to the wind, as I pretty much always do with socks, I casted on with my facourite DPNs and they were amazingly small. Normally this would be cause for alarm and I’d rip it back and start over on larger needles, you know like a sane person would. However, I do not have time for sanity. 😛

Luckily, my children appreciate hand knits and one of them has a size 3 foot and loves green! They’re growing up watching me knit daily and witnessing my friends knit every time they come over. Especially wee one #1, he’s the most thankful for pretty much anything that someone has taken the time to make, I’d imagine mostly because he’s pretty crafty himself.

These socks will be his, when I was unpacking my Knit Picks order he mentioned that he really liked the colour and he thought it was neat that he loves edamame so much and that’s the name of the colour!

 

Once these are done (halfway done the leg on the second sock right now), I’ll do some face cloths for one of my husband’s aunts. After a two week scarf and two pairs of socks, I need something a little faster to keep my knitting mojo happening!

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Socks of Kindness & Shifting Sands Scarf

Crafty, Kids, Small Town

That’s right people, I’m knitting again. And not just picking up a sad sock from last fall and doing a few rows, I am finally back to my ‘knit a pair of socks in a little over a week while baking from scratch and keeping a clean house’ self. Phew. My poor husband lost his June Clever there for a while and it must have been a little scary. Trust me, I was more nervous than he’ll ever be and maybe one day I’ll post about that. For now, however, the domestic goddess is back at it. Let’s talk about socks, shall we?

Wee one #2 started senior kindergarten this year and her teacher is bananas. Bananas in the same way that I am bananas, so I’m really looking forward to this year at school. I really wanted to make her something extra sweet for Christmas, and as any knitter will tell you I’m already behind when it comes to Christmas knitting. I have a queue on Ravelry as long as my leg (maybe longer actually), and this pattern, Socks of Kindness struck me as something she’d really like. Simple but cute.

It’s a 12 row pattern repeat, and really knits up quickly. I mentioned on Ravelry already that it’s a great pattern for getting your knitting mojo back if you lose it because it’s simple enough to knit up without thinking too much, but it’s got some substance to it so it’s not a horribly boring knit. This is also the first time I managed a short row heel! It was easier than I thought it’d be, after a few failed attempts last year it worked this time for some reason. I like the look of this heel better, though it’s less ‘fun’ to knit than the heel flap I usually knit.

 

I am aware that it is a little nutty to be knitting socks for my kid’s teacher (teachers actually, I’m knitting up a pair for wee one #1’s teacher too…) but I want them to know that I appreciate the one on one teaching that comes from being in this tiny town. So much one on one time also means they’ll get to know my kids in ways that none of their former teachers in Toronto ever could and that deserves something a little extra, right? Oh, so glad you agree! 😛

I just cast on for the Shifting Sands scarf last night and I had to rip it back – twice. I have no idea why, but I always seem to forget how to cable when I start a new cabling project. I always realize after I’ve knitted a couple of rows and it looks off. One day, I’ll get it on the first row! So, not much progress, but I’ve got one Christmas gift off my list and I’m starting on another.

This afternoon, I’m cooking up my Daring Cook challenge and some treats for my birthday weekend this weekend. I killed my oven on Thanksgiving (sooooo lucky that it was *after* I was done all my baking), so I’m doing stove top, no bake and bread machine baking. That’s right, in the bread machine!

My actual birthday is next weekend, but my ladies (and Andrew) are coming up tomorrow to help me celebrate and I could not possibly be more excited. I’m Greek, I show both love and excitement with food. Get ready!!

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Cookie Packages and Christmas Twinkleberries

Crafty, Domestic, Kids, Small Town

When I baked and decorated the snazzy sugar cookies earlier this week for the Daring Baker challenge last month, I mentioned they were destined for our neighbour’s tummies, since we were going to package them up and give them out when we walk around introducing ourselves. We live in a seasonal area, and as we discovered this week, we are one of just five houses that are occupied all year! Most of our neighbours are long gone back to their regular lives and we wont see them again till next summer. Pfft. Amatures.

Our little treasures were only recieved by three of our neighbours, one was away for the weekend, and one I only found out later lives here all year (I thought she had cleared out with everyone else, whoops)!

The people we met and chatted with were all genuinely surprised that anyone would come and say hello, let alone bring a treat, which was sweet because they were all really warm and inviting. Of course, we are already friendly wiith the people next door, they are wonderful neighbours and I am sad to say they are trying to sell their house. 🙁

We will likely be driving into town for trick or treating, so the kids have houses to visit! We’ll bake up something cute and wish our handful of neighbours a spooky night though!

Even though it’s not even Halloween, I have started on Christmas knitting. As any serious knitter will tell you (hi Mom!) I am very late for this. So late actually, that before I could get started on I had to finish a Christmas project from last year! Behold the three Twinkleberry socks it took me almost a year to knit!

 

It’s not that it’s a hard pattern or that I had issue, it’s just that I wasn’t knitting. Life hit me hard and I was doing everything but knitting. Why are there three? What’s Christmasy about them? My bestie Miss Talea, bought me this yarn for my birthday last October. It’s called Starry Night, because it has flecks of real silver in it (!), I totally adore it. I also knew that she was leaving Toronto for Ottawa and the way my husband was talking it looked like I was leaving Toronto for the middle of nowhere (hey look, here I am), so I really needed to make soemthing special from this yarn.

I had read in a Martha Stewart Living magazine almost 10 years ago an idea to knit up little Christmas stockingsa for kids and hang them on the inside of their bedroom doors on Christmas eve! When the kids get up they have a wee snack, a few small toys and mom and dad can throw back a coffee or two before the kids bust the doors down and make a run for the living room.

Making something I’ll use every Christnmas eve forever was a wonderful way to know that Talea will be with me in some fashion every year no matter what – though she will hopefully be here for real too! The yarn is perfect for this project too because it’s all twinkly and pretty – and the pattern was chosen solely for it’s name – Twinkleberry! So sweet – and finally finished. Actually, almost! I need to find some pretty silver or blue ribbon to make a loop to hang them from.

Finally free from the shame for a year long knitting project that should not have taken more than a couple of weeks, I casted on just three days ago these lovlies, Socks of Kindness. They are knitting up so incredibly fast it’s bananas! The pattern is a snap and I’m already on the heel. I can only knit for a few hours a day with all the wee ones and other obligations so this is surprising!

Now I’m off to learn how to make a short row heel (hooray for You Tube)!

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Ginger Pear Pie, Wee Monsters, Cookies and Months More!

Crafty, Domestic

I have a lot of catching up to do here, but instead of breaking it all up, I’m just going to post a serious roundup of yummy and crafty stuff cranked out of my kitchen!

First up are these brownies, made the same as the cocoa brownies I usually make, except I’ve been using whole wheat flour. I posted the recipe in this post, and didn’t change anything else. I didn’t find that the dough behaved any differently, and no one noticed a change in taste at all. I don’t know how much healthier they actually are, given that there’s a cup of sugar in them, but we can safely say healthier.

 

Whole wheat blueberry pie!! It has slightly less sugar than it’s white flour counterpart…slightly. Friends of mine who don’t ‘get’ Food Gawker, ask me why I post so many photos of food. Ha! Just look at how beautiful that blueberry mix is, that’s why! 😛



This pie next was amazing. More than one of my Stitch n Bitch ladies has voted this their favorite pie of the year!

Pie #41 – Ginger-Pear Pie with Almond Crust
Crust:
2 cup flour
1 cup ground almonds
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cold butter
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp ice water
Filling:
5 pears, peeled and sliced
1/2 tsp fresh ground ginger
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp packed brown sugar
Topping:
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup chopped almonds
2 tbsp packed brown sugar

  

Another really self-explanatory recipe! To make the crust, sift the flour, ground almonds, sugar and salt. Add the butter by small chunks, and cut in either with two butter knives or a pastry cutter. Once it’s all oatmealy, use a fork to mush in the ice water. The put it on a floured surface, and roll it out!

The order of the filling likely doesn’t matter, but for what it’s worth this is what I did. I put the sliced pears in a bowl, and added the lemon juice, ginger and and brown sugar. Then I mixed in the (very soft) butter, and last the cornstarch.

Bake it at 375 for about 20 minutes, longer if your crust isn’t holding up yet. Take it out, add the topping, and pop it back in for another 10, just so the brown sugar can work it’s magic.

Below are whole wheat sugar cookies and the beginnings of my Monster Chunks family for Miss Hayley, daughter of a very dear friend!

 

My wee one #1 has a serious appreciation for the handmade, especially the handknit, which is nice because that’s not a quality many 9 year olds can say they possess. These Basketcase Socks were chosen by him, as was the yarn from my stash. This is his second pair (since he grows a little slower now and can wear them for more than two months)! Also pictured here are a batch of what turned out to be pretty disappointing Butter Tarts. The recipe was not good at all so I wont post it, I will get my Granmother’s recipe and try it again with that. So far, none of her recipes tanked – she’s 87 though so I should hope she’s got the hang of it by now. 😉

 

This blackberry cake was inspired by my dear friend Gill, who had picked up two bags of very sour frozen blackberries and brought them over for me to salvage them. 2010 has been declared the year of the cake and cupcake, so I thought I’d try out a berry cake since I never have before. It was so good! Bananas, even!
This is even a neat German recipe, called Blackberry Kuchen, which I know just means Blackberry Cake, but it’s not made in the sense I’m used to, read on.

Blackberry Kuchen
Filling:
1 qt blackberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
Dough:
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup very soft butter
3 eggs
Streusel:
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup butter

First off, this cake requires you to make three separate mixes. One is the dough for the bottom and sides of your pan, like a case for the cake. The second is the berry filling that goes on top and there’s also a streusel part to this that goes on top of the berries!

Mix the sugar and flour with the berries and set aside. Make the dough by mixing the flour, sugar and baking powder, add butter and eggs. Mix gently with a fork till you can press it down into the pan (bottom and sides). Any cake pan will do, but I did mine in a springform – it was easy and didn’t fall apart.

Then sift the sugar, flour and cinnamon for the streusel. Cut in the butter again with two butter knives until its really crumbly. Now you pour the berry mixture into the dough-lined pan and plop the streusel mix on top randomly. When it bakes (about 30 minutes at 350), the struesel spreads out a bit and bakes where ever it lands. So good!

 

A few days later I took the kids to visit my mother and she was making batches of peach jam! So naturally, I had to help and get some photos.

 

My weekly Stitch n Bitch ladies and I are doing a knit a long on Corona, it’s described as ‘a hoodie with a youthful edge’. It’s super cute and form fitting but not too. I am so excited about this sweater.

Brownie Pie with a Chocolate Crust, pie #44. Mmmm. Perfect with vanilla ice cream.

This is about the time this little sweater died. First it was pointed out to me that even though I clearly know how to cable, I had totally forgotten what I was doing and messed it up that far! I am so far into the cable at this point! Arg. So I ripped it back, I ripped it back to the armholes and started again, this time cabling the right way. Again, maybe half this far into it a second time, I gimped out on the cable again. I decided right there that even though I had already sunk invested so many hours in the arms alone, I was only going to give it one more shot. It’s not happening. To be honest, I was pretty quick about putting it out of it’s misery too and it’s all rolled up in three balls now, ready to be made into useful pretty things for Christmas!

 

That concludes this way-too-long parade of baked goods and finished objects! I’ll wrap up the rest of the leftovers in my next update post on Saturday. Tomorrow I’ve got a new interview to post! 🙂

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Summer Roadtrip and Smores Pie

Crafty, Domestic

It is hysterically late to be writing this post now, but I made some fun treats worth talking about, and my Smore Pie is very photogenic. But we have to back up to a few treats before we went on a road trip to visit the husband machine’s family.

The last pie I made for a Stitch n Bitch before we left was #37, Raspberry Custard Pie, which I think is pretty self-explanatory. 😉

#37 – Raspberry Custard Pie

Crust:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

Topping:
1 pint raspberries
1/4 cup icing sugar
Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
4 egg yolks
3 cups milk
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix melted butter and graham crumbs, pat into pie pan.

2. Mix the sugar, cornstarch, salt, egg yolks and milk in a saucepan, bring to a boil slowly, over medium heat. Whisk the whole time! If you turn your back for a second you’ve burnt it. It gets thicker as it boils.

3. Remove from heat and immediately mix in the butter and vanilla, let cool slightly.

4. Pour custard into pie crust, arrange raspberries on top. Sprinkle icing sugar on top with a small sieve!

Once we got where we were going, I still wanted to bake, but no one eats sweets. My only opportunity to play around in the kitchen is when I’m making something for the kids and their cousins and long distance friends! First up was a BBQ night at one of the husband machine’s aunts houses (the man has a lot of aunts!), I made pie #38, Banana Ice Cream Pie. It’s the sort of pie children request over and over and over again because it is so ridiculously good!

    

#38 – Banana Ice Cream Pie

Crust:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/-1/4 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
Filling:
2 bananas, sliced into circles
1 pint of something chocolately
1 pint of something lighter
1 jar sundae topping

This is less a recipe and more assembly instructions, really! Mix the butter and the crumbs and pat into a pie pan, spread half the sundae topping on the crust, arrange a layer of banana slices on top, then 1/2 the chocolatey ice cream on that, and half the other ice cream on that. Then do it again! I topped mine with leftover cookie crumbs and an Oreo. This pie works best in a deep dish!

Before we left for our trip, I had so busy with other things I wasn’t knitting much but I seriously made up for it while we were gone! I started my Tadpoles before we left, but I ripped through them on the first couple of days! They’re a fantastically belated birthday gift for one of my best friends. Happy Birthday Brigitte! <3

 

As I was weaving in the ends of Brigitte’s Tadpoles, wee one #1 asked me to knit him a pair of socks and he looked through Ravelry and decided on these cute ones called Air Raid. I made them in 5 days! It was a fun, quick pattern and made for 9 year old feet, so I had that going for me!

 

While already 5 hours from home, we took a little day trip to visit our good friends / former neighbors, who bought a cute house on a serious chunk of land in the middle of nowhere. The middle of nowhere both frightens and appeals to me, which also frightens me! We had a fantastic day, with a fire and Smores to top it off! I went into town with my friend Melissa to pick up a few things and I found this kit with a BBQ basket, a giant Jersey Milk bar, a pack of graham crackers and a bag of mini marshmallows. Genius!

The very next night we were all invited to a bonfire and more Smore making with old friends! To celebrate, I made #39 Smore pie! Essentially, it’s a graham cracker crumb and butter crust, with a chocolate pudding filling, topped with marshmallows and cookie crumbs. Wen I got it to the bonfire, it hadn’t had a chance to set, so we set it in the host’s fridge and promptly forgot about it. She took it out a couple of days later, after it had finally set up, she ate it! Apparently, it was delicious.

 

Our second day home from our summer visit up north landed on one of my best friend’s birthdays, so I gathered the usual suspects and we celebrated on the porch with Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes (and Chocolate Cupcakes)! Naturally, that weekend’s Stitch n Bitch was dedicated to her as well, Happy Birthday Gill!

This is one of those pies I saw in the LCBO‘s Food & Drink magazine, marked it and it waited patiently for over a year until I finally baked it. Pie #40, Blueberry Honey Pie. This is just a typical blueberry pie with a couple tablespoons of honey in it, baked in a graham cracker crust. I was really all about the graham cracker crust this summer.

 

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Pies, Socks and Scones (in that order)

Crafty, Domestic

At the end of 2008, I declared 2009 ‘Pie Year’, for a dear friend who would choose pie over cake or ice cream or brownies – every time. Most of the pies I’ve made this year have been adored by everyone who ate them, with a few exceptions but generally if one person didn’t like a certain pie someone else did. This held true until I attempted Shoo Fly Pie aka Maple Syrup Pie. Either I can’t read a recipe (and 6 months of successful pies would say otherwise) or this pie just isn’t very good. I wont even post photos of it. Once a slice was cut and you looked away, it would all sort of fall back into itself and you’d never even know a slice was removed. Scary. So the following week I had to redeem myself by baking two of the easiest pies known to man – Pumpkin Pie and Cherry Pie.

These two are not the only pies in this post, but they are both fantastically simple and worth mentioning. Generally, when I make Cherry Pie, I use Martha’s Sour Cherry Pie recipe. This week however, I was asked to use a can (the horror!) because one of my knitting group ladies loves cherry pie filling from a can. For the Pumpkin Pie, I often use my Grandmother’s recipe but this time I used a Paula Deen recipe and it was fantastic! Cream cheese and half and half isn’t exactly the best for the waistline, but really if you go healthy with the pumpkin pie it’s just not the same. This recipe had the added treat of a bit of fresh ginger, too!

These socks were painstakingly made for my wonderful Mother in Law, and of course, they’re too small. I have to block them. I have wanted to make her socks for a while, but she’s allergic to the fun sock yarns I always have on hand and can only wear cotton socks. I didn’t want to just make her some boring socks so I searched for some nice cotton sock yarn and found this beautiful crimson cotton yarn from Butterfly 10! It’s a bonus that happens to be Greek yarn too! I used the Menehune Cobblestones Socks pattern from Straw. There is a whole gallery of free sock patterns on their site, the toddler socks are so cute and are going in my cue!

I’m sort of bummed that I have to block these because I don’t want to hurt them – but I really, really love the way they knit up.

This next pie is my 31st of the year (yes, I’m slacking a little in updating them here), it’s called Satan’s Choice, my sister found it in a book our Grandmother gave me called Pies and Tarts with Schmecks Appeal by a very sweet little lady, Edna Staebler.

#31 – Satan’s Choice

Crumb Crust:
1-1/2 cups cookie crumbs
1/3 to 1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
Filling:
15 large marshmallows
4 almond chocolate bars
1/2 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream
reserved crumbs from crust

This pie was fairly easy to make, if a little alarming after reading the ingredients. The crumb is a standard crumb and Becel combo, with some sugar as well. Just mix the cookie crumbs with the sugar, add the butter/marg/Becel and pat into your pie pan.

Then melt the marshmallows and chocolate bars with the milk in a double boiler. Cool it in the fridge for half an hour or so, then whip the cream and fold that into the chilled chocolate mixture before pouring the whole thing into the crumb crust. Top it with the rest of the cookie crumbs and chill it again before you cut into it. This was one of my sister’s favorite pies this year and she’s asked me to make it again for her birthday!

This Strawberry Rhubarb Pie doesn’t count toward my ‘pie a week’ challenge because I already made this one as my 22nd pie this year. The Mud Pie beside (#32) it does though! This recipe came from the Kraft Kitchens. A lot of people have an issue with the big box sites like theirs, but I find it very useful and helpful and I’m sure due to their test kitchens their recipes always work! This pie was a hit and is one of those pies I’ve made this year that I will be recreating again I’m sure.

I’ve recently fallen head over heels for scones. All kinds of scones! I’ve been making apple scones the most often because we always have apples on hand. I have had this recipe for years and no longer know where I got it from. I hadn’t used it much before recently and now I’ve used it 5 or 6 times this month!

Apple Cinnamon Scones

2 cups flour
1/4 cup + 2tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold butter
1 shredded apple
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp cup milk
1 + 1 tsp ground cinnamon

These scones are so easy (and quick) to make, especially with the mixer it’s a 10 minute operation. Mix flour, the 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the shredded apple, 1/2 cup milk and cinnamon. Cut the cold butter into the flour mixture and (using the hook attachment) add the milk mixture to it. It forms a dough fairly quickly.

Roll the dough, with the assistance of a handful of flour, into two equal balls. Squish them down a little, and using a sharp knife score slice wedges into them. Whisk the reserved milk, sugar and cinnamon together and brush the dough with it. Bake for 10 minutes at 375, take out to brush with the milk mixture again, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Ready! This recipe made these.

Next up is more pie, naturally, and weekly pie on vacation!

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Welcome to the World + Belated Birthdays

Crafty, Domestic

Wee one #3’s arrival was the most anticipated yet! Both her brother and sister were weeks early, so naturally we all assumed she’d be early as well. Imagine our collective surprise when she decided to arrive 3 days late! It’s amazing the things I put off or just didn’t do at all because I was so sure she was on her way. My Dad’s big 60th birthday party never happened (I will just have to throw him a big 61st party next year!), my parent’s 30th anniversary dinner didn’t happen either (is it weird to make a celebration out of 31 years next year?), and both Andrew and Talea’s birthdays did not have half as much detail as I had originally planned. Her Welcome to the World though, that was the most low-fi and equally fantastic night ever. Four of my dearest (missed the other dearests not there though) friends were here to introduce themselves and give her a snuggle.

 
 

Technically, Andrew didn’t actually give her a snuggle, but he did put a crayon in her hand that she held for a loooong time and I thought that was painfully sweet.

The only thing I put together for his little gathering was a chocolate-strawberry pie and it was so simple to make it’s embarrassing to admit. The crust was just Becel and cookie crumbs, the filling was from scratch vanilla pudding (which really doesn’t require much more effort than instant pudding, unless you count turning on the stove effort), and the top was just sliced strawberries. I was a little blown away by how good it was, and even more blown away by how much everyone else loved it. It’s been named best pie so far.

After the excitement of bringing home a new baby, it takes some time to come down from it all. It’s also hard not to just stare at her sleeping all day, so between the laundry and the other two wee ones, a few birthdays slipped past me! The first is for a dear friend’s cousin, and I wasn’t actually going to make her anything but I found a pattern for a cute monster and I remembered that she got some really rad monsters for Christmas last year so I casted on for her – on her birthday – so she wasn’t done for a while. Here she is finished, yes without a face, I just didn’t think my yarn selection allowed for a face.

One of the husband machine’s Uncles and one of his cousins have had birthdays in the last two weeks, so I made up cards for them. It’s a wee gesture, but it’s important for them to know that late or not, we’re thinking of them. 🙂

It’s also my Mother-in-law’s birthday. She was here visiting on her actual birthday and we gave her a card because I hadn’t finished two little gifts I was working on, and I hadn’t even ordered the yarn for her birthday socks yet! Truthfully, I’m going to stop this post right now and order it! She’s allergic to a lot of yarn so the only safe bet is to use cotton. I’m going with The Butterfly Super 10 Cotton from Red Bird Knits in Persian – it’s a fantastic and rich red. I should have it by Thursday and hopefully a few late nights catching up on Lost with the husband machine and I’ll have her socks ready to mail out by this time next week. Now, if only Andrew’s Skull Socks of Fury would hurry up and knit themselves up! The other little gifts I’m making for my Mother-in-law are, silly as it may seem, an apple cozy from I Think I’m Gonna Purl and a banana cozy. She takes fruit with her to work and has mentioned that it gets banged up in her bag, these cozies should soften the blow.

This weekend we got back to the usual Stitch n Bitch night, and Gill pointed out that I really should have made soda bread and done up some green window decorations…though I suppose I could always host a late St Patty’s Day SnB next weekend. We’ll see, all of a sudden I have the urge to knit four leaf clovers. Thanks a lot Gill!

This week I made nectarine pie and in keeping with the new baby theme I cut wee teddy bears from the crust. It was really juicy and not at all too sweet. Of course, we ate it warm with french vanilla ice cream.

Over the last week or so I’ve been collecting ideas of things to knit for wee one #3, though all I’ve knit for her has been socks. That first pink, white and green pair and this purple pair. I’ve also just finished up a green set for wee one #1’s former teacher, who just had her first baby.

The next person to turn 29 this year is wee one #3’s Godmother, Lindsay. She’s having a few gatherings over the course of a week to celebrate and one of them is a ‘Girly-Tastic-Birthday-Fun-Time’ tea at the Four Seasons! Of all the ladies coming, one is pregnant and two of us have brand new babies that we’re bringing with us. I can’t find a pretty dress small enough for my 7lb baby to wear to tea, so I’m going to knit her up something snazzy – tea is this weekend though, so I’ve got six days to knit it up if we count today. Good thing it’s March Break and I’m up to all hours watching Lost and knitting anyway!

It’s so hard to pick a pattern! This one is my overall fave, but I’m not crazy about the ribbon. Just because I know from wee one #2 that bow is not going to stay tied up and will likely end up covered in some bodily fluid. I’m guessing it’s harder to get puke out of organza than cashmerino (which is surprisingly durable). Other options include this, which has no ribbon, but is too big and seems like it might be a serious headache to make it smaller and maybe this one, but I’m still undecided. I need to cast on tonight though so a decision must be made! Oh and I *must* sew this as well. Love it!

This week I’ll be working on that dress, maybe some small St Patty’s Day stuff for next weekend and once my yarn order gets here I’ll have to dig deep and find it somewhere in myself to stick to Andrew’s second skull sock until it’s done and not abandon it for snazzy new yarn. I can already feel myself crumbling and I just paid the invoice a few minutes ago…

I’m really excited for next week, getting ready for Lindsay’s birthday fete at my place!

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