She's No Slouch!

I am more than a little bit obsessed with poking around ravelry and looking for new patterns to add to my queue. I have several friends with babies due this winter, so a lot of my time has been spent looking for a special blanket or sweater that would be something different. It'll be awhile before I make another Serenity or Tree of Life, especially since I have four babies to create for in as many months. I needed a little break from tiny knits, so I busted out a stashed skein of Lion Brand Hometown USA to make this fun hat , designed by Midnight Knitter, that I've been eyeing for some time. I pretty much never knit with acrylic anymore, but this one isn't bad at all, and the fun color makes up for a lot.

Every once in awhile I stumble upon a pattern and it just screams someone's name. I have a friend from high school who I've reconnected with via Facebook, and she's still just as sassy and stylish as she was in high school. I remember this grey beret she had that I borrowed once, for what is now reflected upon as an embarrassingly long time, but that's just one of many things in high school I look back on with a cringe, so we'll move on.

Photo from pattern page c. Missa Hills/Midnight Knitter. I have to admit that part of my love for this pattern is the delicious yellow coffee mug she's holding, and her meticulously painted nails. Pretty soon I'll start taking the time to stage photos for my creations...allegedly.

Now that I know I love the pattern, I'll try it in a chunky wool or cashmere to see if I can get it to drape a little more softly, but for now, it's made in acrylic so it's ease of care will hopefully increase it's number of wears. In reading through other people's comments on their project pages there were a lot of complaints about this hat design, in that the band was incredibly tight and there was not enough slouch. It's not a rasta hat, and it's meant to be worn back on your head instead of down around your ears, so that may be where the problems were. I think the biggest thing is that some people weren't using a super bulky yarn; I made it according to pattern and it fit my noggin with ease, and will also be able to be worn beanie style if you want to pull it down further. I did one more repeat of the 2 round pattern so it has a touch more flop, but that's the only change I made.

With a simple k2, yo, ssk on one round followed by a round of yo, ssk, k2, this chunky slouch cap is a fun look. It's also something that now that I have the basic recipe (number of stitches for the band, height of the body, I can change the stitch pattern in the body to make it my own. For now, look for this cap on SallyHP Knits' etsy shop!

I ran my first 5k in almost two years this weekend and it was great! Click over to My Sole Sister to read all about it.

Blueberry Playdate Scones

This morning I dropped H off at the Y for 'Little Campers' and then Charlie and I started on our way back home when I saw what looked like an opossum crouching right near a curb, with it's little tail curled beside it. But it had it's mouth open as if it were licking water from the side of the road. And it wasn't moving. Perfectly still. With it's eyes closed. It looked a little mangy and was so still that I thought it had just died where it was sitting. I stopped in the middle of the road...it's Walla Walla, it's all good, and whipped out my iPhone to take a picture. Of course, the camera feature wasn't working, darn!

Was I going to take a picture because I'm a totally morbid weirdo? Not entirely, I wanted to show J, because it was the oddest thing I've seen in awhile. Wait, aren't they nocturnal? Why was it sitting there in the middle of the morning? Just as I was about to drive away it gave it's head a little shake and it kind of startled me. Curiouser and curiouser. I know, you think I've entered the early stages of dimentia for writing a post about dying animals with a photo of delicious scones. I know it's gross, but bizarre little things like that happen all the time and we forget about them if they're not documented. Almost dead opossum is definitely one to save for posterity. Right? Hm. Wrong? Okay, continue on.

Morning death watch over, I got to the end of the block and saw my friend walking with her kids. I told her about Operation: Dying Opposum, and she said she saw him in the middle of the road yesterday and he was moving slowly and looked 'squishy'. Ew. But on the bright side, since she was just a few blocks from her new house, she invited me over to see it. Tour commenced, opposum put out of my mind, and I realized I was supposed to be using this valuable hour to mop my floors and bake something for snack before hosting a playdate at 9:30. Yikes!

We got home and I started clearing the debris from the previous day from our counters. Discarded envelopes, yesterday's paper and all the other recyclables were swept to the new, glorious, stacking bins in the garage. A quick sweep of the floors, dishwasher loaded and counter wiped off and it was already 9am. Crap! Hmm...what do I have that's quick and yummy?  I couldn't remember how many kids were planning to be there, muffins would take too long, quick bread--not so quick. Then I remembered; Blueberry Yogurt Scones. Low-fat, low-sugar, delicious. This is a recipe my sister passed along from her days at Humble Bagel in Eugene, OR and I've made them about a million times. Most of all, they're fast and wicked easy. I grabbed the ingredients (all of which most people will have at any given moment in their house), pre-heated the oven to 350, pulled down two bowls and a wooden spoon and got down to business.

It's meant to make 8-16 scones, because you separate the dough on a floured surface into 2 or four mounds and then cut each mound into quarters. Instead I separated them into four mounds and patted them into rectangles and used a pizza cutter to make one length-wise cut and three width-wise cuts in each to make scones about the size of the commercially marketed 'two-bite' variety. The perfect size for kids and it also makes over two dozen, so there's enough for everyone.

Laid out on parchment covered cookie sheets (bakeware can be returned to its proper place after discarding the paper so you have very little clean-up), I brushed on a quick egg-wash and then sprinkled each with a little organic turbinado sugar for some bling. Since they were so small, I cut the baking time down to just 15 minutes and they were perfect. And, once everyone arrived, gone. From start to finish, it was less than 30 minutes. I baked each tray separately, or it would have been even less time.

Next time you find yourself facing the tick, tick, tick of the clock, (yes, I just finished Season 5 of Dexter...sorry, if you haven't watched, that reference means nothing) pull out this recipe and you'll have fresh scones in no time. You could substitute any berry for the blueberries, or a little orange zest and dried cranberries. But without further ado:

Low-Fat Blueberry Yogurt Scones

based on the recipe from Humble Bagel

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt (I used coarse kosher)

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3T sugar

2/3 c. oil

1 egg white

1 c. yogurt (I used non-fat plain greek)

1 t. vanilla (if you use plain yogurt, omit if you use vanilla, or just don't want to use it :))

3/4 c. blueberries (or other fresh berries, but blueberries are so good!)

1 egg white

Organic Turbinado sugar

Sift dry ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk wet ingredients together in a separate bowl and then add to dry ingredients, without over-mixing. Fold in the blueberries carefully so you don't crush them. Dough will be sticky. Turn out onto floured surface and pat into four rectangles, cutting each rectangle into 8 scones. Place on parchment or silpat lined cookie sheets and brush with the egg white. Sprinkle the tops with a pinch of turbinado sugar and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden on the underside and just turning golden on the top. These are best when eaten immediately; they're so good, this won't be an issue anyhow!

Knit Lits

Over at small things, she was hosting a yarn along for knitters who also love to read. In addition to talking about what you're currently working on, you get to talk about what you're reading as well. Lucky me, I just wrote a post about a couple of my current obsessions reads, but I didn't show what I'm working on. In taking a break from newsboys and large afghans, I thought I'd take a couple days to bust out a new stuffed animal, Ella-funk, which is based on a great pattern from Ysolda Teague (Elijah) and knit with hand painted wool by cosymakes. I love that there's no seaming involved, although some did criticize that picking up stitches for each body part was fussy. I only had trouble with the first two rounds of each new appendage, but after that it was easy-peasy.

I also just finished seaming the body of a 'tattoo' pillow for my friend (for which I'm exchanging yoga classes; long live the barter system!) on which I'll be writing Happy instead of mom, and changed the pattern so that it was about 3 times as big as the original pillow. In addition to the fun stuffed pieces, I have the first sock of two different pairs that are just waiting to be completed.

As for reading, I just finished The Island by Elin Hilderbrand and am currently reading Deep Down True and Arms Wide Open: A Midwives Journey by Patricia Harman, which I expected to be over the top crunchy, but is actually really easy for me to identify with and written in a very thoughtful way, so I'm taking my time with it.

Wait, are you sensing a theme? Yes, I almost never have the discipline to do just one thing at a time. If having one project in process is good, then four is great. Having the characters from several books swirling around in my head is way better than focusing your attention on a single plot-line, right? Sadly, I often find that the answer to that is a resounding no. Therefore, I had to put myself on notice. No more projects may be cast on until I've bound off or put away all of the projects that are sitting around the house mid-knit. Not another spine will be bent until the last page is turned on the books I'm currently reading. Will I be able to curb my enthusiasm? With only one project and book going at once, I definitely notice a significant decrease in the clutter; books on the counter, multiple balls of yarn in the bag by my bed instead of just enough yarn for one, you get the picture.

Plus, with the long days of summer, I want to make sure I'm focusing on the two reasons that I've become so passionate about creating a home that's full of healthful meals, honest fun and a commitment to building a strong family.

Cooking and Canning and Eating, Oh My!

I love my birthday. I know that at a certain age you're supposed to start being blase about it, and not care if you get gifts or not, but I really, really love my birthday. It's the one day that you get to have all to yourself, where people think of thoughtful things just for you, give you well wishes and essentially make sure that you feel special. This year was no exception. I think my family is starting to sense a theme in my current interests: Home decor, running and cooking, with a string of manic knitting sessions thrown in.

As I said before, the Fourth is my favorite holiday. I forgot to mention that that could have a tiny bit to do with the fact that my birthday is right around it, leaving me in the post-birthday high just in time to watch the fireworks, eat food and bask in the glow of family togetherness. Three of my gifts were cookbooks; Canning For a New Generation (which I reviewed here), My Father's Daughter and The Family Dinner and I have loved spending time pouring over them and riddling them with sticky notes for recipes I want to try. I love them all for different reasons, but the one thing they have in common is that they're not a strict cook-book but have a lot of side stories to share. 

The Family Dinner is all about establishing routine, getting your kids involved in the preparation of the meal, and things to do during the meal so that you have a lot of variety and a lot of starting points to tweak and make it our own ritual.  I had already started incorporating a lot of things she mentions, but the one thing I did at the author's suggestion was offering only water at dinner. 

Every night, I felt like I was constantly up and down getting each person the beverage of their choice and now I just have a big ole pitcher of water in the middle of the table. Sometimes I throw in a couple slices of lemon or lime, or muddle some mint, but most of the time it's just crisp Walla Walla tap water. I know that this wouldn't work for every family, because sometimes it's the chance for you to make sure your kids drink enough milk if they're not good at it, but I'm home all day with my kids and I know what they drink. The last thing they need is more sugar. With the blazing temps here, some extra agua at the end of the day never hurts, either.

In My Father's Daughter, Gwyneth Paltrow pays homage to her late father, Bruce Paltrow, in creating a book of recipes and ideas for creating family togetherness through simple goodness and nutritious meals. Plus, I'm a sucker for Gwyneth, so I would love it no matter the topic.

The 'family dinner' is something that has increased in importance to me the longer I'm an at-home mama, which started last year with not creating a separate meal for each person. Since we've moved, I've been successful at all of us eating together at least five nights a week; no exaggeration. J is obviously not always able to eat with us, but when we were in Mass, I had gotten into the habit of feeding the kids quickly and rushing to shuffle them off to bed only to sit by myself and eat whatever meal I pulled together in my exhaustion from the day spent running them ragged. 

Now, I spend the later afternoon hours that the boys are playing quietly running around the house and (glorious) fenced yard like hooligans to get dinner going and on the table by five, five-thirty at the latest. Having my meals planned out at least a week in advance helps keep this task going smoothly. This leaves plenty of time to eat, bathe them, read stories and get just one more (read: 800) drinks of water and still have time to myself. Something that I have found to be very important to me. With such early risers, I take the time that some people get to sip their coffee quietly in the morning when it falls into my lap, which just so happens to come around 7:30 each night. 

As it's now 7:12, the bath routine is winding down (J is home, which means no bath routine for me, yay!). One load of dishes to put into the dishwasher, with a delayed start of 4 hours so I can watch Season 5 of Dexter on demand without the swish and hum to distract me, counters wiped down, change into jammies, wash my face, contacts popped out of my currently drying eyes, feet up and I'm a happy girl. Oh look: 7:19 and the only thing I hear is the ocean waves of their sound machine (and whatever game my beloved has decided to play at almost-too-loud levels on the PS3). Bliss.

Now to cast-on some yummy yarn for a new hat pattern and the evening will be perfection.