I blinked and Spring happened...

Well, I knew this spring semester was going to be a doozy, but I didn't realize how big until I sat down to write today and saw my last post was from DECEMBER!  Yipes!!

But, lots has happened in the meantime, so for a quick catch-up:

• I am in my final semester of grad school, and almost done with that (only 5 more weeks now!!)
• I finished my End of Project Exam in February.  This is the capstone exam for my degree program - Written Comps/Comprehensives, some might know it as.  Basically a looong week of writing papers, trying to demonstrate in your answers that you are fully synthesizing what you have learned over the past three years.  Pretty draining, with the way I write papers.  But all is good; I've been notified that I've passed.  One more box checked off before graduation!
• I finished a pair of blankets for my niece and nephew.  THE blankets, if you've heard me talk about them.  Quite the project, but finally all done and being enjoyed by the little ones :)
• We had a whirlwind trip to New Mexico with Mom for a marathon.  There are so many pictures from this trip, that it will have its own set of posts.
• And the big news (as if all that wasn't enough): Zach and I have moved!  We are now in a hotel in HAWAII looking for housing as Zach in-processes at his new job. After 5 years in TX and 3.5 in the desert, we are in Hawaii!!  Water!  Mountains!  Trees!  Very very exciting!!!!  But more on that in another post, since the whole move has been a saga unto itself.

So, yes, a few more posts to come over the next few days, with plenty of pictures.   I've time to write again, now that the semester's winding down and I'm not working at the moment.  Just consider this a teaser for now, so stay tuned :)

I'm actually gushing about a Red Heart yarn!

I definitely have yarn preferences, like any knitter or crocheter does.  I'm not a true-blue yarn snob, but I do prefer nicer ones over total acrylics or big box yarns.  My preferences tend to be texture-related though.  There are expensive boucles that I hate working with because my dry hands will snag on every little thread and curl in that yarn.  And there are big-box acrylics which are perfectly comfortable to work with.  Like I said above, texture comes first for me.  With that being said, typically expensive yarns with the nicer fibers tend to have nicer texture.  Red Heart Super Saver tends to be looked down on by a lot of "yarnies" but it definitely has its place too.  Wears forever, machine washable, no fading, cheap, etc.  It's a good yarn for stuff for charity or for kids or that will get a lot of hard use.  A good staple yarn, and yarn company, and I've definitely used it more than once, but not a brand that I typically get gushy about.

And then they released this one.

The Yarn

Red Heart Reflective.

 

Yes, reflective!  I've been looking for a reflective yarn for YEARS!  It's perfect for knitting gifts for runners, and as you might imagine, I have a few running friends.  But you couldn't find a reflective yarn.  You can buy spools of silver threads to use as a carry-along with your yarn, but they are very hard to find and tend to be a little expensive and still not exactly what you're looking for when you're looking for reflective yarn.  This is an acrylic yarn with a silver reflective thread wrapped in.  It comes in neons, bright purple, peacock, black and grey.  I chose grey for Zach and bright neon green for me (it contrasts nicely with my neon, safety-yellow running shirts). 

And it's really reflective!  Check out the pictures!!

As a yarn, it's pretty nice to work with, actually.  The silver thread is a little stiffer and a touch rougher than the rest of the yarn, but nothing off-putting.  And like with a lot of acrylics, different colors have different softnesses.  In this case, the green was noticeably softer than the grey.  The grey wasn't bad; the green was just softer.  It knits up nice and soft and squishy, even at a tighter gauge, like in hat pattern.  Not bad!

I really liked it.  I made the two hats for me and Zach.  Then I made wristwarmers for me.  And then I made two more hats for Mom and her running buddy (a close family friend since I was about 9) to celebrate them completing their first marathon at the beginning of December. So proud of them!  For those two hats, I made one in the bright green (again) and one in peacock blue-green.  They need something warm to wear as Mom trains for her second marathon in March!

   

The Pattern

Well, patternS this time.  I had several pieces I wanted to make with this.  So I did :)

As I've said, Zach and I each got a hat, and then I made two more.  All were the Man Hat by Haven Leavitt, available on her blog Knit Alone Together.  It's a nice, simple, broken rib ski cap.  Knits up very fast - I think I finished Zach's hat in about 2 days!  Chunky yarn, even at a tighter gauge, knits up very quickly, and doing the pattern more than once... the hats just flew along.

 

Despite being named the Man Hat, only one of my hat recipients is actually a man.  But for a running hat, these are perfect. I like my running hats to be basic ski or skill caps, not girly slouchy hats or berets or cloches.  Simple ski caps for me.  Or hats shaped like penguins :)  

 

I know that mine totally covers all my hair, now that my hair is so short.  Might as well be a knit swim cap, for all the hair showing.  Still, means that my ears will be warm on winter runs!  And they are very comfy hats.  Zach wears his quite a lot during the winter.  Makes me smile.

Here we are modeling them at last year's Turkey Trot 5K. 

Also made with the yarn was a set of handwarmers (fingerless mitts) for me.  My ears and hands, that's what gets cold on runs. I was wearing the mitts at the Turkey Trot as well as the hat.  You just can't see my hands in the pictures, so you'll have to take my word for it.

The pattern is the Ribbed Fingerless Gloves, a free download from Yarn + Co. 

This is a nice, basic ribbed fingerless mitt pattern.  The directions are nice and clear, and they knit up very quickly in bulky/chunky yarn.  A yarn weight which also means they are nice and squishy and warm.  Not much really more to say, I guess.

 

The hats are raveled here, here, here, and here.  The mitts are raveled here.

Notes, Alterations, Etc.

The caps are the same pattern, and most are exactly according to the pattern.  Zach's has only one minor alteration. His head is a little smaller than mine, so I only knit 6 inches before starting the decreases, instead of 7 inches, like the pattern calls for.

For my fingerless mitts,  I added stripes.  There were about 8 yards of grey left over from Zach’s hat.  I cut them into two even pieces, and then used them to evenly make stripes on the two mitts.  I had enough for 3 stripes on each mitt, 2 rounds per stripe (which you can see in the pictures).

I also followed the directions for the mitts as they were written, but knit them on smaller needles (US 8 instead of 10).  I've small hands, so that made the mitts a little smaller, to actually fit.  And it also produced a little bit denser knit, so a little warmer too.  The only thing I'd add to that is that I'd cast on with larger needles next time, if I'm using the same smaller-needles strategy.  It would give the cuff a little more stretch.

And here we are, modeling 3 of the 4 hats, over the unseasonably warm Christmas holidays this year.  I made them put on the hats so I could take the picture :)

Oh So Pinteresting Wednesday - More birdseed feeders

Following up on a post waaaaaaay back in November 2011, here is another style of bird feeder I've found on Pinterest - Bird Seed Ornaments.  Some call them Bird Seed Cakes, but since you can make them in cute shapes using tins and trays and cookie cutters to decorate your outside trees, and it is the holiday season after all, I'll stick with calling them Ornaments.  Of course, we don't have too many outside trees ourselves, but I'm sure I'll find places to hang them!

Bird Seed Ornaments

Variation 1:  The first recipe for these that I found was from Critter Comforts, and is as follows.

What you need:

• 3/4 c flour
• 1/2 c water
• 1 pkg unflavored gelatin
• 3 T corn syrup
• Bird seed

Directions

1.     Mix the first four ingredients.  Then mix in bird seed, about 4 cups.

2.     Stir the mixture together.  For extra-messy fun, use your hands.  Beware, though, the corn syrup and the gelatin make it pretty sticky!  Fun for kids, though :)

3.     Scoop the mixture into the shape of your choice. Silicone molds and cookie cutters work beautifully. 

4.     Press the mixture in firmly and layer a loop of twine or ribbon in the middle for hanging.

 

5.     Let the ornaments air dry in a warm, dry spot in your home for at least full day.

 

Variation Two:  Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table and Dreaming has a variation as well.

Compared to the recipe above, this version doesn't use corn syrup or flour - nothing but the unflavored gelatin (and water to prepare it) and birdseed.  And of course, the molds or cookie cutters, and the ribbon or twine to hang them.

Directions:

1. Begin by mixing two envelopes of Knox Gelatin (approximately 4 tablespoons) to 1 cup of water.  If you're making a bigger mold, you made need to double or triple the recipe.  Obviously you need more seed mix to fill bundt pans or cake tins than you do for cookie cutters or muffin-sized molds.
2. Simmer on low until the gelatin has completely dissolved.
3. Add 2 cups of bird seed to the gelatin mixture, stirring until completely mixed.
4. Spray your mold with a coat of non-stick baking spray and scoop in birdseed mixture pressing lightly to pack down. 
5. Chill for at least 2 hrs in the fridge.
6. To remove, turn the mold upside down and apply a little pressure until the bird seed cake is released. For a larger sized mold, you may need to run a butter knife around the edges to help release.
7. Hang with a ribbon or twine and let the birds enjoy! 

I've only made the first version so far, but I want to experiment (i.e. play!) and see which one is easier, less messy, which one the birds prefer, etc.  Maybe after the new year when I've a little more time on my hands again...

Merely a trifle, merely a trifle

So, back in 2013, I decided to give making trifle a try.  Little did I know the wonderful variations we'd discover down that enticing rabbit hole!  Here we go, a post devoted to what is becoming our house's favorite dessert: 

The Trifle

The first trifle I made, and the one I've made most frequently, is the Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle from Skinnytaste.

Ingredients:

• 10 oz angel food cake, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 pints strawberries, sliced
• 2 pints blueberries

For the cream filling (what I call the fluffy layer):

• 6 tbsp fat-free sweetened condensed milk (I used Borden Eagle)
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 1 package white chocolate instant pudding mix (the small box)
• 12 oz frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

1. Whisk the condensed milk and water in a bowl. 
2. Whisk in the pudding mix for 2 minutes. 
3. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set; fold in the whipped topping.
4. Arrange half of the cake in the bottom of a 14-cup trifle dish. 
5. Sprinkle evenly with a layer of blueberries. 
6. Spread half of the cream mixture over the blueberries and gently spread.
7. Top with a layer of strawberries. 
8. Layer the remaining cake cubes on top of the strawberries, then add more blueberries and top with the remaining cream mixture. 
9. Finish with the remaining strawberries and blueberries, arranging them in a pretty pattern. 
10. Cover and refrigerate at least one 1 hour.

Notes, Variations, Etc:

Skinnytaste recommends using a plastic bag with the corner cut off to pipe on the fluffy layer and then spread it.  I just use a spatula.  Whatever works for you :)

I make my angel food cake for this dessert, using a box mix.  If you're short on time, you can just as easily use a purchased cake.  And if you want it a little denser/richer, you can substitute pound cake instead. And they don't really need to be 1-inch cubes.  Chunks of cake are fine too, as it'll all be layered in with fluff and fruit soon enough.

As desserts go, this one isn't doesn't have to be horrible for you.  Use a lighter cake, like angel food, use fat-free and/or sugar-free ingredients when you can, and pack in the fruit.  See?  Relatively healthy, as desserts go :)

What is so much fun with trifle is the variations on it.  It can be rich and heavy, it can be light, it can use whatever fruits you want to put in!  A trifle is simply a layered dessert with a cake-type layer, a pudding-type layer, and quite often a fruit layer.  Whatever you want to layer is then up to you!  I think my Sweet Stuff board on Pinterest is slowly becoming my Trifle Possibilities board, with all the variations out there!

I think I've made the strawberry-blueberry version about 5 times now, but I have made others too.  Some of the variations we've tried:

• Lemon-raspberry - lemon pudding in the fluffy layer, and lemon snaps for the dry layer (can't really call it a cake layer when they're cookies, right?)  Delicious combination of flavors, but I think I needed more lemon snaps, and I wouldn't use frozen raspberries again (it was all I had at the time).  Still, very good flavor combination!

• Pumpkin Spice - gingerbread and pumpkin pie filling feature heavily in these layers - actually have written this one up, too!

 

•  Christmas (strawberry-kiwi) - tried this variation just this week.  Bright red and green, but not the standard "Christmas" flavors, so it's a nice variation to bring to a potluck at this time of year.  I based this on Joy's Prize-Winning Trifle from allrecipes, and then altered it to my tastes.  Her recipe includes layers of banana and pineapple too, making it much more tropical.  I'm not big on bananas in dessert, so I went with just the classic strawberry-kiwi flavor combo.  It was still a hit :)

  

Some of the variations I've pinned and want to try:

• Key Lime Trifle from Betty Crocker - angel food cake, key lime fluffy layer - what more do you need?
• Dreamsicle Trifle from Time Travel Kitchen - angel food cake, orange sherbet, mandarin oranges - yum!
• Lemon Trifle from i2u2gethercooking - basic lemon fluffy layer with angel food cake and optional coconut topping
• Colossal Caramel Apple Trifle from Taste of Home - yellow cake, apple pie filling, vanilla fluffy layer, and caramel sauce
• Basic Chocolate Trifle from Cocinando con Alena - brownies, chocolate pudding, whipped topping layers
• Triple Chocolate Peppermint Trifle from Martha Stewart - brownies, chocolate and white chocolate fluffy layers, lots of candy pieces for crunch and mint
• Nutella Mousse Trifle from Something Swanky - brownies, Nutella mousse - might be dangerous!!
• Strawberries and Cream Trifle from The Alison Show - angel food cake, plain and strawberry fluffy layers, strawberry pieces - nice and classic
• Black Forest Trifle from Recipe.com - chocolate cake, chocolate fluff, cherries
• Italian Tuxedo Trifle from Random Sweetness Baking - amaretto brownies (!!), white chocolate fluff, strawberries

And that's just a start!  Be creative!  Enjoy!

PS - if you are from our house, you get the joke in the title to this post.  That one's for you, Anne!

Another finished test knit: Brayford Cowl/Infinity Scarf

Now that I'm writing again, I'm playing a bit of catch-up on my project chatter.  This is a pretty test knit I finished last fall.  All done and blocked and has been worn more than a couple times, so thought I'd finally share.

The Yarn

Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK.  I've used this one before, but as I said then, I had a whole bag of it from a lot sale.  The opinion hasn't really changed, working with it again.  It's a little scratchy at first, but softens after the first wash.  Still like the yarn, still think it's a shame it was discontinued :\

 

The Pattern

This is a long cowl, with a large leaf lace pattern.  The pattern begins with the lace edging and ends with garter stitch.  The lace itself is nice and repetitive, one that 'gets into your hands' and is read easily, so the whole cowl goes very quickly.  In fact, the most time-consuming part of mine was having to restart at the beginning because there was a twist in the round.  It's been ages since I've done that!

I used about 330 yds, but it would be very easy to omit a repeat or two if you had less yarn to work with.  I personally like the length though. If it's left long, the lace pattern is very pretty, but it's also long enough to double up if the weather's particularly chilly one day. 

 

Overall, a very nice, well-done pattern.  My project is raveled here.

Cookies!

I made this recipe at Halloween, and a friend at worked liked it so much that she asked for the recipe.  When I made these again for the office Christmas lunch, I actually remembered to post the recipe for her.  Progress!

The Recipe: Soft Frosted Chocolate Sugar Cookies from The Baker Chick.

The Baker Chick, in turn, found her Chocolate Sugar Cookie recipe on Cooking Classy.  I've copied the recipe here, with my few notes.

Yield: 2-4 dozen cookies, depending on the size of the cookies (the size I make, I get about 3 dozen)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup light-brown sugar
• 9 Tbsp butter, softened (1 stick + 1 Tbsp)
• 2 Tbsp sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• ½ Tbsp vanilla extract

For the Frosting:

• 12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) butter, softened
• 4 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons milk or cream
• food coloring(optional)
• toppings - sprinkles, nonpareils, colored sugar, etc.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix together granulated sugar, brown sugar, butter and sour cream until light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes).
4. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and mix until well combined. Slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until incorporated (dough will be thick!).
5. Scoop 1-2 tablespoon sized portions of dough and form into balls (depending on how big you want your cookies.)
6. Place dough-balls onto parchment-lined cookie sheets and evenly flatten to about ½ inch thick. The cookies don't spread much so they can be relatively close.
7. Bake in preheated oven 9 - 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting (very important!).

For the Frosting:

1. Place softened butter in a large bowl and whip until creamy and pale. 
2. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until thick and smooth. If using unsalted butter, you might want to add a pinch of salt to offset the sweetness (adjust to your own taste).
3. Add in vanilla and milk or cream until frosting is dense and creamy. 
4. Add food coloring, if using. Mix until color is well-blended and consistent.
5. Frost cookies.  Top with sprinkles, if desired.

Notes, Variations, Etc.:

The frosting dries and hardens a little after a very short while, which means that the cookies can be stacked in an container without smearing.  Nice!  Still a good idea to have a sheet of waxed paper between the layers, though.

The overall idea is to have a nice, soft, rich chocolate cookie, almost dark chocolate in taste, which can then be frosted without being too sweet.  My friend called them "brownie cookies" because they are very soft and rich.What I like so much about these cookies (aside from being yummy) is that they are fun.  The frosting offers so much possibility!  So many possible color and/or flavor combinations!!  Like the Lofthouse cookies you see in grocery stores all over, with the seasonally-colored frosting and sprinkles.  Except these are homemade and chocolate instead (both important pluses, in my book!).

For the batch in October, I used The Baker Chick's original recipe, making just plain frosting with food coloring to make things orange.  The chocolate cookies were naturally nice and dark, a nice contrast to the orange, and then I topped it all off with Halloween sprinkles.  Festive! 

And no, the frosting isn't as spread as thick on the cookies as you might think.  The uneven surface of the cookies makes them look more thickly frosted.  If you are comparing pictures between websites closely, The Baker Chick rolled her dough to make smoother dough balls, and thus smoother cookies; I just went with the drop-cookie method, and didn't really press mine down to that even ½ inch depth.  Easier, but it does produce lumpier/peakier/less aesthetically pleasing cookies.  Still taste just fine though!  :)

This week, for the Christmas batch, I got experimental!  When I made the frosting, I decided to make peppermint frosting.  1 - it's Christmas.  2 - I'm a sucker for anything peppermint and chocolate.  It's a serious weakness.  After a little online research, there are two main ways to make peppermint frosting.  Either you add lots of crushed candy cane or peppermint pieces to the plain frosting, or you add peppermint extract.  As I didn't have any candy canes in the house, I went with Option 2.  Perhaps at Valentine's Day, I'll do the candy cane version...

To make peppermint frosting, I added 1/8 tsp. peppermint extract to the plain frosting as I was mixing.

I did notice that trying to make the red frosting meant that I had to add a LOT of red food coloring.  If I didn't, the frosting was a lovely seasonal shade of... pink.  Not quite what I was going for.  Between the red food coloring and the peppermint extract, I had more liquid in this batch of frosting than in the Halloween batch.  I ended up having to mix things more, and the frosting was more whipped than the first time I made these.  Not a big deal one way or another, but something to think about if you're making your own alterations.

Looking ahead to the next time I bake these, I might try the peanut butter frosting that Cooking Classy used in her recipe.  Peanut butter and chocolate is another personal weakness, one only slightly less serious than peppermint and chocolate!  And the Baker Chick has a Soft Frosted Pumpkin Spice Cookie too, if I want to try a falltime-ish cookie. Like I said earlier, the variations in flavors and decorations make these fun and seasonally appropriate year-round :)

Something to show for all my schoolwork

So after all the posting during the conference this summer, I was hoping I'd have more momentum to keep writing through the fall.  Well, it partially worked.  

I've done a great job writing for my classes!  Unfortunately, little time (or mental energy!) for other writing.  This semester has been a very, very busy one.  I've had two courses, plus my practicum.  Basically, I was full-time grad student who was also working full time.  Like I said, very, very busy!  

But, I have a project to brag on now!  My practicum was spent at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, a university in the next town over, working with their digital resources librarians.  And as a result of my work this semester, I've created a digital collection!  I talked through the template with the librarians, and we created the fields, determined how we wanted to catalog and present the metadata (information on the item and how it's displayed on the page or not), and then I actually did it.  I've cataloged about 50 issues now, all up on the website.  Call me dorky, but I think this is really cool.  I'm honestly quite proud of it :) 

"My" collection is for The Baylorian, a student literary magazine.  The Baylorian is a literary magazine now, but it didn't start out that way entirely.  Back in 1912, it also had campus events and news, jokes and cartoons, odds and ends.  Over time, it evolved to be a more traditional student literary magazine - more poems, essays, and short stories, and less Hints on Headgear (no really - hat fashion tips, May-June 1921).  It's always been student created, though, which makes reading through them fun. Zach says it's not really schoolwork if I'm having this much fun reading them, but what can I say?  They are fun!

Part of the fun was looking at what has changed and what hasn't over the past 100 years.  Most of the issues I was cataloging were from the 1910s, after all.  Every time there was something which was so very, very dated, there would be something that was still very true today.  Jokes about freshman vs seniors, or men vs women, for example.  Take away the slightly dated wording or vocabulary, and you'll have something you might hear on a college campus today.  When the articles were on serious topics, that was even more striking.  The more things change, right?

Some highlights:

• I love the names.  Seeing as we started with the oldest ones first, I was cataloging issues from the 1910s, 20s, and 30s.  Some of the names are very characteristic of their time, so sound very dated now (lots of Frances, for example, and a surprising number of Minnie).  And some are good ol' stereotypical, small-town Texas (Lula Belle worked on the staff for several years, for example, and Ethelyne). And then you take them as a group, with five or six names on a staff... it just makes you smile.  Of course, in 100 years, people will probably be thinking the same thing with all the Mikayla, Bella, and Madison now.
• 1920s debate speeches  There were several collegiate debates in which UMHB participated, and the Baylorian later published all four speeches (two affirmative, two negative) from each debate. The topics: immigration reform (June 1922), and the purpose of the electoral college (should we keep it? May-June 1921).  Take away the specifics on the immigrants and their country of origin, and you could hear the exact same arguments being used by candidates today.
• On Being a Twin (Fall 1931) shows that my niece and nephew would probably be fielding the same sort of questions 80 years ago as they do now.  For example, on trying to distinguish themselves from each other: "Another brilliant idea of ours is to wear different clothes at times. The attempt is futile. The world then wants to know why we do not dress alike if we are twins."
• My favorite issue of all has to be November 1916.  In the campus events news, there were write-ups of two -count them, 2- possum hunts.  The Senior Class hosted one, and so did the Fine Arts department.  Each had a write-up too.  Excuse me: 'possum hunts.  The apostrophe was apparently still standard at this time.  Remember too: at this point, the school was still Baylor Female College, an all-women's institution.
• November 1916 also had an advertisement for a Turkey Trot in Temple, TX.  In 1916, this apparently referred to REAL turkeys!  Mr. Jarrell, owner of Jarrell's Mississippi Store, was planning to "turn loose a drove of fine turkeys from the roof of his building, Catch 'em and they will be yours."  Funnily enough, Temple still hosts one of the Turkey Trots in the area, though nowadays it's a Thanksgiving Day 5K.  We ran it last year :)

So there you have it.  A brief sampling of the fun times (and extremely dry sense of humor) which have been filling my fall.  Read and enjoy.