"Baguette's....."

Knowing yesterday that I didn't have any photos for today's post, I decided to take some of the bread I was baking. Interesting stuff, eh? ;)

Sourdough bread with sunflower seeds, shaped in baguette form. This photo is after its 2nd rising in the bowl

I've been putting my bread to rise in the oven, usually after a short warm up period, then shut off. I say "usually", but on Tuesday I was multi-tasking, making bread and vacuuming (I know, I am shocked about the vacuuming part, too!) and turned the oven on to take the chill out of it, set in the bread to rise, and totally forgot about it until I heard the "ding" of the oven hitting the desired temperature. Sigh.....yes, panic set in but it was too late to do anything about it except allow the loaf to bake. Surprisingly, it seemed to work out fine. It doubled its height and baked to a golden brown. It definitely had a heavier feeling to it though. I decided to just slice it thick, store it in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, and use it for garlic toast/bread. We had some of it last night and it was fine. I might make some croutons with it, too.

So, all that to say that I was careful yesterday to "slightly" warm the oven without the bread in it. I then set the baguette pan in the warm oven to let the bread rise its final time, bringing it out when I felt it had risen enough, and to pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (and to take this photo, too).

The finished loaves.......they rose a bit more in the first few minutes of baking, too, so they are slightly bigger than when they went into the oven.

Having given both loaves to neighbors, I can only hope they were as tasty as they looked and smelled. I bake bread more often than I need to sometimes because I want to use up some of the sourdough starter that Claire and Sean gave me for my birthday last year. It has to be fed daily which causes it to grow in volume, leaving me 2 choices......use some for baking, or take some out and store it in the refrigerator. My preference is to use it fresh.....hopefully, my neighbors prefer that, too. ;)

"Knitting for a Friend...."

No, this is not about any knitting I did, but of Maniphone's. She sent me a couple of photos of a scarf that she knitted for a friend of hers.

Henry, her son and fantastic model, shows it off. Brilliant colors, aren't they?

A close up.......

I'm sure that Maniphone's friend is going to be VERY happy with her gift.

My thanks for the photos.

"Another Dyeing Technique With Sock Yarn....."

I'd wanted to make our neighbor, Rob, a pair of custom dyed socks, knitted on my CSM (circular sock machine), for awhile now, but had to wait until after my "Christmas rush". ;) When he stopped over last week, I had him measure his foot for me so that I'd have it when I was able to work on a pair for him. It seems that time had arrived......

Here is the sock yarn prior to my dyeing it. It is a superwash wool yarn (this means it can be washed/dried in a machine) that also has some nylon in it.

I'd also asked him what color(s) he'd like for his socks and he suggested brown, green, and purple. My first attempt at dyeing those colors didn't go well......I now have a really richly colored "brown" skein of yarn that I plan on using for another friend. ;) My second attempt at dyeing the skein of yarn was done using a technique that I'd read about, but not tried. In the photo below, you see the yarn being dyed using the big pot which also holds 2 glass containers. The accent colors were put into the glass containers with the end loops of the yarn lowered into them, while the middle and main portion of the yarn was allowed to "drape" over their edge and into the main color of the dye bath. If I'd not done anything else, the yarn would have also had some of the original yarn color left as another accent, too, but I took an eye dropper, sucked up dye, and squirted it onto and into those areas as well to leave a minimum of undyed yarn. What that did has given light/subtle blends of the colors. By the way, the pot has a lid on while the water is heated up and simmers. Heat and the addition of white vinegar will set the dye colors.

Here is the finished skein of sock yarn after drying.

And Rob's finished pair of socks (who, until he read this post, had no idea he now has a new pair of socks awaiting him at our house. ;)

"Some" of the Sock Making Process......."

I had high hopes of documenting the process of knitting a sock. Unfortunately, my good intentions only made it so far. First and foremost, I forgot to show the yarn in its pre-dyed condition.....then the way I had tied the skein up prior to dyeing the black. Maybe when I dye another skien and repeat using the same process, eh? So.....pretend you have seen the dyeing process. ;)

Using my "umbrella swift", I unwind the dyed skein of sock yarn into a ball, using my "Strauch Jumbo Ball Winder".

A close up of the sock yarn. I was very pleased that the black and white stayed as "crisp" as it had, although as you can see in this close up, there is a little bit of bleeding, creating some grey sections.

The completed skein of sock yarn on the ball winder.......

Next step is transferring the yarn from ball form and onto a cone, using my Christmas present from Don, the "Silver Needles Cone Winder".

Here again, I began with really good intentions of documenting the CSM (circular sock machine) knitting process, starting out with a photo of the machine with the yarn on it and ready to go. The red yarn is to be used as scrap yarn.

After neglecting to take a few photos of the "in between" steps, this photo shows how a "hung hem" is created. Once the set up bonnet is attached to the machine and scrap yarn is used to begin the knitting (steps which I'd forgotten to take photos of), the main sock yarn is attached and knitting of the sock begins. After 20 rows of knitted fabric, the knitting process is stopped and the first row of knitting is then brought up to the needles and "hung" stitch by stitch around the knitting cylinder. This photo shows the process is about 1/2 completed. A contrasting color of scarp yarn is used so that one can see the good sock yarn stitches easily and thus be able to hang the hem correctly.

This photo also shows the change from knitting all of the needles (lower section of the red scarp yarn), to a 1x3 mock rib, which uses 1/4 less needles (every 4th needle is removed after the stitch on it is hung over it's neighbor). The more I write, the more I realize what photos I need to take when I redo the knitting demo.

Here you can see the "hanging of the hem" a little better. The needles which I have taken out for the mock rib will be replaced prior to my knitting the heel.

Magically, we end with the socks completed and scrap yarn holding the end stitches for the toe. I promise I will take more photos of the CSM knitting process, documenting each step, and write a better post.

This photo actually caused some confusion with Maniphone (one of our friends in North Dakota).......she thought the toes of the sock were going to be red when completed. On this pair, they will not be since the red will be unraveled and taken off the sock after I hang the toe stitches on 2 double point needles so I can close the toe and finish the sock using the "Kitchener Stitch". I really like the idea of a different color yarn for the toes, and possibly even the heels.......thank you Maniphone! I'll have to do some experimenting. Changing yarns isn't any problem, but will cause more ends that will have to be woven into the knitted fabric. I'll have to ask my CSM mentors about the best way to knit different colored heel/toes. ;) Remember my mentioning a "learning curve" last January when I bought my machine? It continues.......

The completed pair of socks........washed/dried and tied with my "business card", ready to be given to their intended recipient. ;)

"Going, Going, Gone......"

Our Christmas tree this year........

What goes up, must come down........

Unfortunately, I was too late this year in thinking to purchase a "Christmas Tree Storage Tote", so it had to go back into it's original box. The box is still in good shape, but it is so unwieldy to move to and from the basement. A tote with handles/wheels(?) would be much easier.....or so I hope.

Gone......the room seems so big! For some reason, I didn't use the flash for this photo as I did in the others. Perhaps it was subliminal, making it a gloomy photo because of the absence of the light. We have been going through withdrawal, missing the Christmas lights........

"One Lucky Guy!"

Henry, who lives with his Mom, Maniphone, Dad, Jonathan, and brother, Simon, in Grand Forks, North Dakota, is one lucky guy! You may have seen some of the pieces that Jonathan has built posted on here before, but I'll bet none will be as appreciated as this one.....and I'm sure Jonathan would say that it was one of the simplest for him to make. Although, I consider Jonathan a "Master Woodworking Craftsman", he may disagree, but I am entitled to my opinion, correct? Especially since it is my blog. LOL

Anyway, back to Henry's new "Playmobile Table". Jonathan built it using some of his scrap lumber from his workshop. Does this look like it came from scrap? Somehow I don't think what most of us would consider scrap lumber is what Jonathan would consider scrap. ;)

After it's construction, Jonathan measured the Playmobile buildings and action pieces, then painted areas for each specific item! Can you say attention to detail? :)

The time invested in this project was rewarded with Henry's "thumb's up". Way to go Dad!

The Police have no trouble driving on this street.........

Nice and comfy seating area, too.

Henry even shares his new Playmobile table with his brother, Simon.

I vote that Jonathan is given "The Best Dad" award. ;) I'll bet Henry agrees!

"During Don's Vacation....."

Last Thursday, we actually went out, driving over to Barb and Geoff's, then on downtown for some errands, and lastly, stopping at a coffee shop for our routine Thursday "coffee date" to read the Isthmus (the local weekly newspaper). Other than that, we mostly stayed home, although Don did take a few long walks while I worked on several fiber projects.

Computer searching, searching, searching......you certainly can tell I've got bifocals........ ;)

We had such a "boring" time with Barb and Geoff. NOT!!!!

One of the days during the week was gorgeous and not too cold, so we decided to have afternoon coffee on the deck. Don went out and scraped the chairs to get most of the snow off, then laid a bath towel on each for us to sit on. Even with that precaution, the ice I was sitting on caused me to go in a bit earlier than Don, although with both propane heaters lit, I was otherwise very comfortable.

Just after I went into the house, Charlie walked out of their house with Griffin to join us on the deck. The three of them sat outside for a bit, then came in the house and we had a nice visit in the sunroom, with me, of course, getting to hold Griffin for awhile. He was bundled up like a little bear cub, so in this photo, we're getting him a little more comfortable.

I've mentioned earlier the calendar that Don created and gave me for Christmas using iPhoto. Here it is again with Abigail as January's photo. A nice way to start the new year, eh? ;)