Hummingbirds and humming through EZ's BSJs

Recently I had the luck of picking up Melissa Bergland-Burnham's Garden Dishcloths to Knit. I've been a fan of her work for awhile. I wonder if she's a Michigan girl (Michigan waterfalls, cherries, etc...) but back to the point. She has a web site at: http://home.earthlink.net/~oscarsdotter/id2.html in case you'd like to see her other patterns-AND A NEW BOOK! AHHHHH...a new quest! hehehehhehe

Last year my parents decided to sell our family cottage at the lake after being 'up north' there for 40 years. Give or take. One of the things my mom loved was to see her hummingbirds from her front bay window. I easily suspect that they were much more calming and satisifying to watch than the time eight tornadoes came flying across the lake. (Not much of a leap there. Right?) They had a place a few cottages down and across the street from my aunt and uncle, too. All four of them are back living in town these days.

Now, growing up in town, I don't remember seeing hummingbirds around. But then being a teenager, I'm sure, scratch that, I know I wasn't watching birds. Robins I do remember, but not hummingbirds. Anyway, after hearing great things about this booklet, I have been looking for it for several months now. And I'm glad it finally showed up...well...ok...I found it. I finished the first of most of the patterns I want to complete from this book for Mom and her sister. I'm only disappointed that today's just not a good day for the MINT green color to show up on the cloth. It looks more olive-leaf green to me. Oh, the towel under it was white, too! Maybe they'll show up better in a couple of days. Grrrrrr...

In other news, BSJ #3 is now off the needles! I can see many, many, many of these sweaters along the way! However, I'm not totally sold on this particular one. Maybe it's the difference between being so happy with the feel of the Hobby Lobby Sweet Delights Prints yarn compared to this one and maybe it's the size (US) 3 (3.25mm) needles that I used. I know I'm very unhappy with the I-chord edging around the bottom and front of the sweater. It's to 'wobbly' for my taste. Picky I have turned out to be. Who'd have guessed?

Here are the stats on this little number:
Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Lion Brand's Babysoft in Twinkle Print
Needles: Addi Turbos in (US)3, (3.25mm) 24" (60cm) length
Gauge: 25 1/2 sts = 4"/10 cm
Chest size: 14 1/4"
Buttons: generic pink buttons for 80cents presale discount from Hanncock's Closing sale. (*sniff, sniff, let's have a moment of silence for the closing...)

Onto things of preemie blankets and hats, baby blankets, hats, and Michigan cherries, cardinals, and birdhouses! Oh, and another baby in my extended family is on the way ... What is in the water these days? I'm not drinking it! I'll knit and celebrate, but I'M.NOT.DRINKING.THE.WATER!

Leaving the crochet 'mostly' up to you!

Crochet is something I generally feel is best left to anyone but me. While my mother can crochet afghans for the grandkids, I prefer to knit. Why? Cuz I can knit. I can knit without looking...and I don't generally have to keep referring to the directions every 3.5 seconds while I am knitting.

For me, crocheting is something I have to do without any distractions. I have to watch every movement and twist of the yarn. I have to constantly count and double check to make sure I'm putting the hook into the correct loop. Therefore, I can't watch tv, or a movie, or the kids when they used to play soccer, or baseball, or dance competitions while I'm crocheting.

Except for this one pattern. I've made a 'bucket load' of these afghans in both the written size and my adaptation for babies. It's called the Crayon Ripple Throw/Blanket and it can be found on the Lion Brand web site. www.lionbrand.com. For me, since the original pattern was written for Jamie-4 ply (which has now been discontinued) the easiest way to find the pattern is to put the title in their search bar. Keep in mind that their patterns are all free, but you do have to register to use their patterns.

For the full sized patterns I use any brand of worsted weight yarn as per the pattern with a size J-10 crochet hook. For the baby sized afghans, I drop it down to an H size crochet hook. I then repeat rows 2 and 3 each for a total of 28 times. This gives me roughly a 36" square baby afghan. I've made many for the NMCRS baby layette program. Just pick how many colors you want and chaneg the colors every 2 or even amount of rows.

As to the rest of the crocheting - well, come to think about it, it's been forever since I've made broomstitch lace afghans, too..maybe I'll have to do one at some point. otherwise...as far as the rest of the crochet world...I'll leave up to you!

I Will Knit, Can Knit Everywhere!

Recently a question was asked of the AC4C yahoo group...where is the weirdest place that you have ever knit...after posting my answer, Gail wrote this about me. Thanks GAIL! I love it!

I will knit, can knit on the chair

At the dentist. Everywhere!

Rose Bowl, Angels, UCLA,

Going to classes, I knit on the way.

I will knit, can knit here and there.

I will knit, can knit everywhere!

:-) Gail M in PA

Got Milk? Part Two

~Continued~

With both versions of cookies, let them sit on the cookie sheets for roughly 5 minutes to cool a bit and avoid falling apart when removing them from the cookie sheet onto the cookie racks.

The Kisses will get warm from the heat of the cookies and cookie sheets and will soften. Don't bump them until after they've cooled, which will take a couple of hours. If they are shinny, they're melted.

Cool cookies on cookie racks before you pack them away in airtight containers.

Need to use your cookie sheets faster than they're cooling off? Pop them into the freezer for 5 minutes. Do not put raw cookie dough on hot cookie sheets, it will change it's temperature and not bake evenly.

Almost finished!
Don't forget to wash the dishes! With a new dishcloth to use, or two, of course...after all, this is a knitting blog...

And the final step...is the milk! and if you sat near my Dad at the dinner table, this is what would happen to your milk!

ENJOY! (and don't forget to turn off your oven! And put away your dishes!!!)

Peanut Butter Cookies/ Peanut Blossoms
Pat, 5/22/58, Mom 10/5/76, Cathy 4/28/07

Preheat oven to 325*F.
Mix together:
1 C Crisco
1 C Sugar
1 C Brown Sugar
1 C Peanut Butter
½ tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 eggs
Mix and sift together:
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
Add to creamy mixture
Drop teaspoon size on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes at 325*F. Be careful to NOT over bake!
(Add Hershey’s Kisses to the cookies straight out of the oven, while still on the cookie sheet.)

Let cookies sit on cookie sheets for ~5 minutes to cool before transferring them to cookie racks to finish cooling. Kisses will take a few hours to cool off and retain their original shape.

~ 4 dozen cookies

Got Milk? Part One

I am a Midwestern girl.

No matter where I live, or how long it takes me to get back home. I will always be a Midwestern girl!

And if you're a Midwestern girl in my extended family...you KNOW how to cook. And when things can't be explained at times, sometimes the only thing left to do...is to make some cookies!

I love the history of things and the tradition of how a family acquires them. This is a recipe that my mother received back in 1958 from her friend Pat. I received the recipe in written form in 1976. However, I have been making these cookies long before that. (Yes, children of mine, your mother is old. I was here, after all, on the shoreline to greet the dinosaurs!) You see, these were the first cookies that I had baked all by myself way back in the 3rd grade. It's also the first time I got mad after baking them.

Why?

Because I have 2 younger brothers who ate them faster than I could get them out of the oven! I couldn't understand it back then that it was a compliment. (It's since been explained to me.) All I knew at the time was my cookies were disappearing very quickly unlike my Mom's which lasted for a couple of days at least to have with lunch and at dinnertime. I didn't get it in my little 8 year old mind, that having brothers eat your hot, fresh cookies faster than you can bake them, and want more, was a very good thing!

I also didn't get 'the payment' like Mom and Grandma did. We all had to pay the baker with kisses for hot, fresh cookies and my brothers were having none of that tradition for their sister! Some days, I guess respect between brothers and their sisters only goes 'just so far.'

So here, my darling adult children, this is how to bake these cookies...step by step in pictures... because someday...I won't be nearby when you have to have your cookie fix!

First of all, get out your recipe and gather ALL of your ingredients and baking tools. (Otherwise you'll be running to the grocery store 12 times before you finish. Ask me how I know. *sigh*)

Preheat the oven to 325*F.

Mix together your eggs, Crisco, vanilla, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until creamy.

Add the peanut butter, and cream in well.

In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda and salt with a fork.

Add your dry ingredients slowly into the creamy mixture 1 -2 cups at a time, until well mixed on a slow speed.

The mixture should be rather stiff and clean easily off the sides of bowl when you use a rubber spatula.

Drop by rounded teaspoon size onto an ungreased cookie sheet leaving some space between each cookie. Using a small ice cream scoop will keep each cookie a uniform size.

Roll the cookie dough between both hands to 'smooth' the surface.

There are two ways to finish your cookies. You can make the traditional peanut butter cookie, by using the tines of your fork to press lightly on top of the dough ball in two opposite directions to create the waffle pattern.

Pop into the oven at 325*F for 15 mins and DO NOT OVER BAKE!

Option two would be to make Peanut Blossoms, one of our traditional Christmas cookies in our family, and the favorite of my middle daughter. Bake the cookies without making the waffle design on the top of the cookie.

Unwrap Hershey Milk Chocolate Kisses, and place one in each cookie AFTER baking - straight out of the oven before you take them off the cookie sheet.

Stayed Tuned for Part Two!