A lesson in crafty terms

This week I got to use some terms that you may not all be familiar with.

First up we have frogging.  This is when you realize that the project you are working on has something wrong with it and you have to rip it out.  Rip-it sounding like ribbit, leads to frogging.  Like when you realize that you've put to many rows on a cuff for a crocheted pair of mittens.  No big deal you just frog back to where you  need to be.  Crochet is worked one loop on a hook at a time so much easier to frog back to certain point sense you don't need to worry about dropping stitches.  Or you can frog when you realize that the hat you are knitting is way too big and you have to frog the whole thing when you are 3/4 of the way done.  This sucks.  A lot.  Knitting takes me longer than crochet so there were hours of work that I just had to rip out.  Which leads to swearing, lots and lots of swearing.

The second word we are learning this week is tinking.  To tink is to knit backwards.  This happens when your brain freezes and you realize that you have worked row 10 of a chart on the restarted hat twice instead of continuing to row 11.  If mistakes are caught quickly tinking is not that bad.  If mistakes are found when doing lacework tinking is an evil spawn of the devil.

The final word for this week is gauge.  This is where you make a test swatch of fabric using your hook or needles and selected yarn for a project.  I did not bother to gauge the hat I am making because it is the third time I have made this hat.  It worked fine with size 8 needles in the past so I thought it'd be fine.  I had forgotten that until very recently I was always knitting through the back of every stitch causing my stitches to be twisted.  That meant that all my projects where much tighter than they would be done the correct way for the pattern (through the front of the stitch.)  I had to go down two needle sizes.  My friend Shelia is the tightest knitter in the world and usually has to go up needle sizes.  Now it appears that I am the loosest knitter I know.  Maybe we could figure out how to combine and be on gauge with the pattern requirements?

Muddy Wednesday

This last week has been a busy one.  I finished my mom's shawl and Jerry got a light installed over the sink in the kitchen. We now have light and can get the dishes clean on the first washing!  We need to get the wall retextured and painted where Jerry had to cut through the drywall.
Monday I got to go to dinner with Linda and Karen.  We had a nice time and got to eat some yummy unhealthy food at Cafe Jordano.
At work the University has set up a program (it started around the holidays) that donates four hours of time for employees to do volunteer work.  Matt at work set up a day for working at Habitat for Humanity for those that were interested.  So Wednesday that's what I did.  It was fun but also hard work.  We spent a lot of the time hammering nails into the flooring of the second floor.  A nail every four to six inches on the joists adds up to a lot of hammering.  Too bad they didn't have nail guns to use, would have gone a lot faster, and my hand and arm wouldn't have hurt so much :o)  It was also a muddy day, as you can see.

I actually got work done on the quilt this week, two more rows added and hopefully some more today after cleaning.  I started plum blossom mittens, and am almost done with them.  The first mitten has too big of a thumb and the finger part is a bit short.  I already grafted the top closed so since they're for me I'll make it work without undoing all my stitches.  I'm also working on a hat and some mittens with a flip top for my mother-in-law Fran.  The hat is almost done.  I'm hoping to finish the mittens and the hat at least tomorrow at Pajama Jam.

Kanitali

Look what I'm making for dinner :o)

It's called kanitali, and there are two things about this dish.  1.  I have no idea how it's supposed to be spelled and 2. it is yummy.  It is a family recipe from my Aunt Donna's family.  You cook the dumplings in ham broth.  I can't share the recipe, but I can share the recipe for ham broth.  I'm sharing because not even the Joy of Cooking cookbook has a ham broth recipe.  If you have any suggestions on how to make the broth better please share . . .

enough water to fill a stock pot 3/4 full

1 ham bone with meat left on (usually from leftover ham.)

1/2 onion

1 carrot or handful of baby carrots

1 stalk celery

salt & pepper
thyme
bay leaf

Add the ham bone and meat to the water.  Once the water is boiling add onion, course chopped, course chopped carrot (whole baby carrots), and celery chopped into 1-2 inch pieces.  Add the herbs. 
Let simmer for 2-3 hours.  Remove ham, onion, carrot, celery and herbs from the broth.
If you are using fresh thyme it will be easier to retrieve later if you tie it together with the bay leaf.  Put the onion, carrot, and celery in a blender with a cup of the broth.  Blend together and add back to the broth.  Either use the broth or store it for later.
Some tips
- I use powdered thyme for soups/broths because it just becomes part of the broth and doesn't have to be fished out. 
- The onion half just needs to be chopped in half and then take the skin off.
- If you want a thicker broth you can add a potato.  Make sure to blend it with the other ingredients to add back into the broth.
- My most helpful tip - I use a pasta pot that has a strainer that sits inside of the pan while everything is cooking.  When the broth is done cooking you can just lift it out and have all of the removable bits in the strainer.

Starting again

On the assurances of Krista and Shelia that they would read my blog I have decided to start blogging (again.)
Not much is going on in my life right now besides work and home, but that is enough. At work I'm pretty busy getting stuff ready for our data collection that is coming up for the American Indian Alaska Native Head Start Center. For that project I'm going to go to New Jersey at the end of this month for training in the Toddler version of the CLASS. Another place I've never been so that should be interesting.
At home the Christmas decorations are put away and it looks a lot more open without the tree. Jerry is thinking of rewiring the celing fans this weekend so the lights come on with the flip of a switch instead of having to use the remotes. After we go see Avatar on Saturday. I am planning on cleaning and being crafty.
Which brings me to the crafty stuff - right now I'm working on two projects mainly. I'm knitting a Swallowtail Shawl and trying to finish a quilt.
The shawl is for my mom and my first laceweight project. I have learned to closely read direction (a lesson I keep needing to re-learn.) When the directions say to nupp (k1, yo, k1, yo, k1) in ONE stitch that is really what you're supposed to do. I read the directions and missed the part where the nupp was all in one stitch. Which meant that I kept decreasing every other row instead of increasing. My extensive vocabulary of inappropriate language helped a lot in this situation.
The quilt is coming along slowly. Every time I use my sewing machine I have to fix the tension, so I get frustrated and quit. It will be nice when it's done though. I don't remember the pattern name or I'd share.