So much fiber, so little time

Too cute

Emma's poncho is finally finished. I tried it on her Sunday during a flying visit and found it a little too big, so I knitted a long i-cord drawstring and threaded it around the neckline. That should make it adjustable for at least as long as ponchos are in. (Would have tried to finish it Sunday, but I wound up fixing a computer instead. It's hard to work on an edging while slapping a Windoze machine around.)

On the edge

No, not because of the holiday, but because I've started edging Emma's poncho. And I must say that I truly and deeply loathe any form of crochet. Aside from often putting the capital "ugh" in ugly, it involves nasty little hand movements and wastes yarn. Blech! But I didn't want to knit an edging on crosswise, and a simple bind-off wouldn't suit the look.

Oh, that's Huey at the upper left, wondering why I put this stuff on his scratching pad. It was the only sunny spot in the house!

Deli(cious) Rye

Here's my confabulation of some recipes from King Arthur Flour. Any ingredients you don't recognize or have you can get from them. This is wunnerful sandwich bread.

Tasty Deli Rye
2 cups rye sour (see below)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp diastatic malt powder
2 tsp deli rye flavor
2 tbsp caraway seeds
4 tbsp gluten
2 tsp salt
3 1/4 cups first clear flour (important! this is what makes the bread chewy)
1 tbsp instant yeast

Mix together by bread machine, mixer or hand, and knead well. Don't worry if the dough is a little bit sticky, but it should be firm enough to handle.  Let rise for at least an hour. Punch down and shape into an oblong loaf. I use a hearth rye pan, which easily holds a 2 pound loaf.  Brush with egg white beaten with a little water, and let rise at least an hour. Brush again with the egg white, and make several parallel slashes in the top of the loaf. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Rye Sour
2 medium onions, cut into four pieces each
4 cups medium rye or pumpernickel flour
4 cups very warm water
1 tbsp caraway seeds
1 tbsp dry yeast or 1/2 tsp powdered sourdough starter

Wrap the onion pieces in cheesecloth and tie the top closed. Stir the yeast or starter into the water, and then stir in the flour and caraway seeds. The batter will be fairly thick. Submerge the wrapped onion in the starter. Let the sour proof for 12 to 24 hours. Store the excess in the refrigerator, and feed it with equal parts water and flour before using again, optionally adding onion and caraway.

No pix, but progress nonetheless

I'm still knitting away on the poncho. It has 6 ounces of beads on it, and I just opened the third package this morning. Since Emma is only 6 and obviously still growing, I figure it's much better for the poncho to be longer than she needs right now. Besides, it will flounce and swirl better with the extra length.

When I get tired of knitting, I spin some dark brown Montadale bumps from the stash. It's a beautifully soft and warm fiber, and I'd like to make another hat in this style with it, plus maybe a pair of matching mittens.

We're getting a surprising amount of snow today. I had to go to the store earlier, which gave me a textbook example of fools with bald tires. Sigh. On the other hand, if it keeps up overnight as predicted, I might get to try the snow blower tomorrow.

Puddle'o'fluff

This is something I never thought I'd see: Cookie and Huey napping together. It happened the other day, too, but I didn't have a camera handy.

Huey is now RoboCat, because he got his microchip today. I forgot to have it done when he was in for his shots.

A small surprise

Finally, an attractive project in Handwoven: a plaited twill plaid blanket in alpaca. (I'm really partial to plaited twills. They were my contribution to A Weaver's Book of 8-shaft Patterns.) The thrum double corduroy rug was also nice, as was the scarf in tubular yarns. They were unfortunately surrounded by much ugliness in novelty yarns. Eeew. Isn't it sad enough that knitting has been infested?

Meanwhile, the poncho grows apace. It's over twelve inches long, and the bright yellow adds a needed touch of sunshine in the exceptionally gray and damp weather we've been having. I'll have to open a new package of beads for the next beaded round.

And may I just say that the Christmas morons are about to push me over the edge? I'm seriously considering constructing a "Bah humbug" light installation for the front lawn ...

Emma's poncho

I'm progressing rather quickly on my niece's poncho. It took a few tries to get the neck ribbing the way I wanted it, but otherwise everything is going smoothly. The beads only go on every fourth round, which makes this beaded knitting faster than the last two projects.

Emma should like it: the merino/cashmere yarn isn't scratchy; she loves yellow; and she loves sparkly stuff.

Lost socks resurface

Here's Huey inspecting the newly finished Gotland/Shetland socks. I had started the pair last winter but stopped after doing a bit of second sock to work on a Keeshond rescue project and never felt like finishing during the warm weather. My last knitting projects have had many, many stitches on the needle, so it was weird to have so few stitches and go round'n'round'n'round.

Crappy news of the day - I didn't get the job. And given that it's the silly season, I doubt anything will come up before January.