FOUND!

Ha! I found the body of my dad's sweater. Thank GOD! Seriously, I was starting to have a panic attack. Phew.

I HAVE to get this done. Before this Christmas...remember, it's supposed to be a gift for LAST Christmas. Oh well. At least it's really hot in Arizona most of the time. Last I checked it was still well over 90 degrees most days. So I'm sure he hasn't missed it. But I still feel terrible about it the more I think about it.

"Hey, here's a great gift...an unfinished sweater."
"Gee, thanks. I guess."

Um, yeah.

That's the good news for now. The bad news, I'm still unemployed. I'm starting to get REALLY nervous. Bad economy, lay offs in the news, tougher competition. Gosh, I just don't know. Trying to stay positive, but it's getting hard.

Well, next post will have some photos...I promise! I'm going to get moving on this sweater. Now that the sleaves are done, the body is done to the armpits, I can see the finish line. I just hope it will fit him when all is said and done.

Bye for now.

Lost, hopefully temporarily

I can't find the body of the sweater I'm knitting for my dad. I have two sleaves but no sweater. Unfortunately, he's just not the type of guy who would wear wrist warmers. I've looked. I've searched, but I cannot locate the box, bin or drawer where the sweater is hiding. I can see it in my mind's eye, but just can't figure out where it is in this apartment. Panic has not yet set in, but if I can't find it tonight....well, we'll see what happens.

Bad TV night, so I will have time to look and hopefully continue the de-boxing of things.

Anyway, did you watch the debate? Of course, I was glued to the TV. I thought it was a good debate. I didn't really think there was a clear winner, but I liked that Obama called out McCain for his bad bomb-bomb-bomb Iran song and other poor judgement calls McCain has made in the past. I also didn't like that McCain called Obama "That one". McCain clearly doesn't have any respect for his opponent so he refers to him like a small child or item on a grocery shelf, "That one!" The condescending attitude continues...and yet the right-wing media darlings continue to label Obama as the elitest. Whatever. It also confuses me that McCain and his campaign have pushed Palin to bad-mouth Obama and refer to his past relationship with Ayers and Rev. Wright because they are grasping for straws, yet McCain doesn't have the balls to do it himself. I guess we'll see what happens over the next week because I think it will start to get even juicier.

As far as knitting is concerned, I have almost both sleaves done for the aforementioned sweater. I just need to find the body so I can finish the darn thing.

I have been working on the Lace Ribbon Scarf in the meantime. I am using 2 skeins of Malabrigo Lace which was purchased at Tempe Yarn and Fiber shortly before we moved to Chicago. I am doubling the yarn because one strand was not substantial enough. I was concerned about getting a nice drape with the knitted fabric and I believe it is turning out nicely. I wanted to use the yarn called for in the pattern, but I found it to be a bit pricey and it was out of stock in that icy blue color the few places I checked online.

Anyway, I think I'm about 1/3 done. It's a great television knitting project. I'm also using my iPhone to keep the proper row count. It's a 24 row repeat lace pattern. I found Stitchminder at the App Store and have found this app to be quite useful so far.

Hopefully I'll have an update on the sweater soon. Oh, and sorry for flaking on Daring Baker for September. I hope to be back at it for October.

I love "The Bean"

We are slowly but surely getting settled into life in Chicago. We still have some unpacking to do, but we'll get there.

This past weekend we decided to go downtown with our friend Danny, his friends Rob, Chris and Robert. We took the red line train to Millenium Park to see The Bean. I had no idea you could walk UNDER the bean. It was so cool. I know it's a bit quirky. However, it's silver and shiny. We walked under the bean and around it and took a few photos. The strapy metal thing to the left of the Bean is a Frank Gehry design...a concert pavilion...looks really cool.

Then we walked down Michigan Avenue to the John Hancock Center. We sat in the louge and have a few cocktails, enjoying the view and taking some photos.

I really enjoyed the company. We talked politics...WTF about Palin? Who even likes McCain? What did you think of the debate? etc. It was great. Granted my audience was pretty much agreeable to my point-of-view, but it was nice to talk among friends.

Now, I need to get over to You Tube to watch the SNL skit mocking Palin's interview with Katie Couric...then I need to watch the real thing for myself. I have heard that Tina Fey, once again, did a fabulous job impersonating this joke of a vice presidential candidate.

******************************************

Hat Attack update: I received my target's Work-In-Progress (WIP). It was just yarn...no Progress. I think I'm pretty much done with the novelty of this thing called Hat Attack. I have too many other things on my plate to be worrying about knitting hats for other people right now.


*sigh*

Hat Attack....Shot Fired!

Hat is done and has been mailed to my target. Completed Thursday, mailed Friday.

Details:

Fibonacci Frequency Hat by S. Quinn

ravelers can find it here.

2 skeins Therapi by South West Trading Company

30% Bowlder (Jadeite) Fiber, 50% Fine Wool, 20% silk. 100m/50g ball.

1 skein #533, 1 skein #530.

Knit Picks US size 3/3.25 mm needles, 2 circular method used

This was pretty fun to knit, but would have been more enjoyable if I wasn't in a race. Also, I found it very difficult to choose colors for a person I don't even know. I went with Red and Black because it was easy and fairly neutral...thinking if the person owns black outerwear (like I do), that it will coordinate. Hopefully the recipient will like it. :)

It took me 3 tries to get gauge, sort of. I kind of cheated. I started with size 5s and was getting about 5-5.5 sts per inch. Then I went to size 4s. I got about 6 sts per inch, so I decided size 3 was the way to go, but didn't really swatch. I started to, but then I saw the pattern was released and just decided to start knitting.

After the 4 repeats, I measured and got about 8.5 inches. I was a bit nervous about being too short, but discovered that being within an inch is acceptable. I did not take a final measurement. (I forgot!)

Comments about the fiber. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of SWTC's yarn. I have used soy silk for my Clapotis and found quite a few knots in the yarn. The colorways leave something to be desired, for my taste. I would like to try their Bamboo, though.

This yarn felt great, but was not the greatest to knit with. I found it to be somewhat split-y and also found bumps or knots along the way. The final product looked great and it does make a nice fabric. The sheen is nice, too. Would I knit with it again? Hard to say. I think I would like the same fiber in a thinner yarn. However the composition of the fiber, may not lend itself to a finer yarn.

Now, I'm waiting to get killed, or I'm waiting to finish a hat...we'll see what happens next.

Sorry for the not great quality photo. I took it with my iPhone because I can't find the digital camera. Still not unpacked, of course! Even if I could find the digital camera, I probably won't be able to locate its charger.

About the blog. I hope to post at least once a week. But I can't commit to much until things are more settled at home. Still not sure about this month's Daring Bakers, but we'll see.

In Defensive Mode

I am almost finsihed with the 3rd pattern repeat. I have the 4th repeat to go and then the decreases. I hope to complete this tonight, so I can get it in the mail. I feel like I'm WAY behind on this and I'm about to get killed.

I don't know, this is fun, but way more stress than I can handle right now. Probably not a good time to be in a race against time type of contest.

Oh well.

Move completed

Yet lots of unpacking left to do.

At least all my yarn is intact.

I have yet to unpack the kitchen or scrub down the cabinets. Hope to get that done today. The apartement is relatively clean, but I just like to get rid of the previous tenants grime.

The drive up from Phoenix was long, but manageable. I drove the car with the two dogs, while R and my dad took turns driving the truck. This move was more difficult because we did not have as much help. Basically when we arrived in Chicago, it was the three of us unloading a truck full. My friend Danny helped out when he could, but I can't expect people to re-arrange their life for us. But after many long days and much work the truck was unloaded and everything is in the apartment or storage facility.

Today, we will continue to work on unpacking and arranging furniture. But we do have beds up and the television on. Unfortunately, no knitting has progressed because of the busy schedule and it is back to work tomorrow.

Our first "home-cooked" meal in the apartment was breakfast. I made some home fries with carmelized onions, fried eggs with gray salt and english muffins. It was pretty good, but I would have added some bacon and parsley or green onions to the potatoes (forgot to buy). We have also baked frozen pizza, but that doesn't count for much.

I hope to get a new post up this week with some photos and an update on knitting projects, etc.

Not sure if Daring Baker will make an appearance this month or not...we'll see. It will be a good excuse to test out the new kitchen some more. Oh, and with our wonderful new neighbors, plenty of people to help us eat it up!

Daring Bakers - Eclair!

This was a joy and delight to make, bake and eat!

This month's recipe was inspired by Pierre Herme's Chocolate Eclairs. While I'm a huge fan of chocolate, I felt the chocolate filling would be a little much, so I did adapt this recipe a bit. First, I chose to make a plain pastry cream. Second, after examining the recipe, I did not want to make 1.5 cups of chocolate sauce only to need a few tablespoons for the Glaze.

So, I scoured a few cookbooks to find some alternatives. I used both the pastry cream and the chocolate glaze recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking. I also took her queue and lightened the pastry cream with whipped cream. I was really pleased that I had done so.

I did use Pierre's Cream Puff Dough recipe. Here is the mise en place.

For those who have not made cream puff dough, also known as pate a choux, it's kind of a weird process. First you cook milk and butter, then dump in all the flour at once and beat it vigorously.

Then you dump the still-hot dough into a mixer or food processor and add the eggs.

Once the dough is together, you pipe it to form cream puffs, or in this case chubby finger-shaped logs for eclairs. Then into the oven to bake until golden brown and delicious. They will puff, sort of like popovers.





Eclair shells!








I'm getting better a photographing step-by-step (sorry if NKOTB got into your head there). However, I didn't do so well in capturing images of the pastry cream or chocolate glaze.





Here is the mise en place for the pastry cream.











Very standard pastry cream recipe. Uses cornstarch for the thickener. When this had chilled it was pretty stiff. I stirred it quite a bit to break it up some and then folded in approximately 1 cup of heavy cream whipped to almost stiff peaks. I folded in the whipped cream in 3 parts.





And because I'm sure you would enjoy some photos of chopped chocolate...here you go! Please don't drool on the keyboard. :)




Finally, I cut open each eclair shell with a serrated knife. I scooped about two tablespoons (or so) of the lightened pastry cream on the bottom, placed the lid on top and then glazed with the chocolate sauce. They were delicious!










I will say that for me this wasn't so much a challenge. I have made cream puffs as well as profiteroles in the past. I find pate a choux to be very versatile as well as delicious. However, these eclairs were so delicious, I'm glad they were part of the challenge.

In-Laws

I have only met my mother-in-law once. Yet I have been married for eight years. Many would say that I'm lucky to not have the burden of dealing with the family fighting and struggle to apease both sides. So how lucky am I to not really know the woman and man who raised my husband?

I'm not sure. I guess I'm lucky enough to have met them at least once and to have hope that I will meet them again soon. I hope that I impressed them enough that they trust me enough to love their son.

My husband is from South America and his family still lives there. It is difficult for him to not be close to his family, but he has chosen his life here. Since we have been married, he has visited 4 times...once with me. Our marriage has allowed him to go back and return safely.

So, am I longing for a relationship I can't have...not really, but I do feel like I might be missing out on something...good or bad.

Anyway, these are some Stockings I'm knitting for her. By the next time we visit his family, I hope to have these completed as well as sock so for the rest of his immediate family. The women in his family were completely amazed about sock knitting. They knit sweaters and scarves, but couldn't wrap their minds around socks. Where does it begin? Where does it end? How do you knit the heel? Etc. It's craziness!

My husband's sister and sister-in-law knit me a sweater in 2 and 1/2 days, but they were amazed by sock!

Project details:
German Stocking by Cookie A

Louet Gems Fingering, 2 skeins so far, Charcoal colorway

about 3/4 finished with first sock

Currently set aside while I work on a sweater for my dad

what is it about the "last word"?

I just do not understand all of the catty-ness that goes on in the Knitting World.

I guess it's that the majority of knitters are women. Why do we continue to progress the stereotype of all the cat-fights and overall bitchiness? I, for one, wish it would just stop!

I will cut some slack, in that, I will admit to my own bitchiness. And the anonymity of the WWW most likely contributes to some degree.

But, get over it! The world does NOT revolve around you.

On a popular social-networking site for knitters, someone replied to one of my messages with a I-don't-give-a-damn-about-other-people tone. I disagreed with her, and she didn't like it. Whatever. This is supposed to be a commmunity. We are supposed to support each other. I hear on the interwebs that in this same social-networking website, other knitters are pouncing on the uneducated and basically turning people away. That is NOT what this craft and community is supposed to be about.

I may need to re-consider my participation in this social-networking arena.

Well, here's the last word on Washcloths...at least for now.

Introducing...the lovely ROSE WASHCLOTHS.

Pattern: Rose Washcloth from The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet

Yarn: Lily Sugar'n Cream, various colors from Stash

Size F Hook

Started: August 2, 2008

Completed: August 5, 2008

I made a total of 6. I will most likely send a set of 2 to 2 different friends and keep 2 for myself and our kitchen sink. Very quick to make. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of things that are "cute", but seriously, can you resist? Besides, I just was bored with a typical square washcloth...even with a new stitch pattern thrown into the mix.

and here's where the knitting begins...

Sorry, for those of you coming here for food-related stuff, you're going to find knitting, too.

I guess you could say I like words that begin with F:

Food, Fiber, Fuc...Oops. Did you really think I would go there? Probably.

Anyway.

Here's what's been on the needles lately. I do have many works in progress...as noted in the sidebar. I'm a beginning blogger, so I'm working out the kinks; I wish my sidebar wasn't so lame. Anyone want to offer help here?

So, the coolest thing I've knit in a while would be iPhone Cozy. For those on Ravelry, find the pattern here. For the rest of the interweb here.

Super easy to knit up and very quick. The cast-on was a bit tricky...I was this type of cast-on virgin. B refers to it as a two-needle cast-on. I like the edge it creates. Not sure if that is a mistake, or on purpose. Hm.

Unfortunately, I ran out of yarn. Total bummer. I hate that word...bummer. Influenced by former-roommate-Heather, once upon a time, another story/another time. Getting back on track here, I really wanted to make the front pocket because I desperately need a place to store the headphones. I'm hoping someone can help me from their stash and send me a scrap of yarn to complete the front pocket.

Until then, it's a great little sock for my iPhone. I already have encased the thing with this. Bestskinsever is the same as InvisibleShield (at least that is what their website says). Pretty scratch resistant, but I like that the sock gives extra protection, sort of condom like.

Wow, this post has gone into the gutter.

Daring Bakers - Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream

This was my first Daring Bakers Challenge. I loved every minute of it. This is right up my alley.

At first I was not too thrilled with the recipe. Hazelnut is not my favorite flavor. Don't really like Nutella, hazelnut coffees, even hazelnut gelato...and I LOVE gelato. So, my first consideration was to maybe use a different nut. However, the difficult part is coming up with a flavor that would not be too intense and appropriate enough to complement the other flavors in the cake. In the end, I stuck with hazelnuts.

I purchased mine in bulk at Sprouts, which is a local grocery chain with a fair amount of organic and natural foods. The first thing I wanted to get done was skinning the hazelnuts. Based on past experience, this is not the most enjoyable task. I spent about 2 hours skinning the hazelnuts. I tried the technique described in Sherry Yard's The Secrets of Baking. Her technique is to place the hazelnuts in the oven at about 325-350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Rub the hazelnuts in tea towels and the skins should come off. Then place the nuts back in the over to toast them.

That didn't work so well. About 1/3 of the hazelnuts were skinless after this. I put them back in the over to bake longer. Still no success. I ended up lightly simmering the hazelnuts for about 3 minutes to peel off the skins....literally peeled them off the remaining hazelnuts.

Because the majority of my nuts were wet (HA!), I was not able to proceed with the recipe. I let the nuts dry and completed the cake the following weekend.

The cake went together flawlessly...the batter anyway. I decided to halve my cake because again, not a hazelnut fan. And it's just me and my husband...we really don't need a huge cake around the house. I poured the batter into a prepared 6-inch round, 2-in high sided cake pan. There was too much batter for this size pan. I poured the remaining batter into a ramekin.

I baked the cake as directed, checking for doneness after about 15 minutes. It definitely needed more time, so I left it in for another 10 minutes more.

After the cake cooled as directed for 5 minutes, I attempted to invert the cake. It did not release from the pan so easily. Small freak out moment here...more freak out to come later. I was not going to re-do the cake, so I decided to live with a small missing chunk of cake that was still sticking to the bottom of the cake pan. OK, this does not happen to me very often, so when it did with this recipe, I was pretty aggrevated.

When the cake was completely cooled, I wrapped it tightly and placed it in the refrigerator to assemble the following day. I proceeded to make the Praline Buttercream.

Freak out #2. Hazelnut Praline. As directed I melted sugar in a 10-in skillet. I'm still working with 1/2 recipe here. My first attempt at Hazelnut Praline was not successful. I burned the sugar, but didn't realize this until AFTER I had added the nuts and the Praline cooled. I tasted the burnt sugary coated nuts. Blech. I asked my husband for his opinion and he said it was OK....OK, here's where I tell you, never trust your husband on something like this. I tasted it again, still burnt flavor. Back to the drawing board.

Problem: no more hazelnuts...especially ones that are skinned (2 Hour Project!) and toasted. Not doing that ever again, if I can help it! Consider options, go to grocery store and buy more hazelnuts, only to spend about 2 hours skinning said hazelnuts, Stomp around on kitchen floor, use plain or alternate flavored buttercream, Cry, use burnts hazelnut praline. These weren't really a good option and not very productive. Sure, I could have used a different flavored buttercream, but that really wouldn't suffice. I decided to simmer the praline and dissolve the burnt sugar off the nuts. After the sugar melted away, I poured off the burnt sugar water and allowed the nuts to dry for a bit. I didn't have much time though...so they did have some residual water.

I made the Praline all over again and this time, I watched the sugar like a hawk and didn't let it burn. It worked OK. The Praline was a little soft. That's because sugar is hydroscopic and the residual moisture in the nuts probably softened the candied sugar after it sat overnight.

The next day, I processed the Praline Paste and whipped up the buttercream. Making buttercream is one of my favorite things to do...no worries on that! I assembled and readied the ganache, syrup and glaze and started assembly. Oh, the ganache called for some corn syrup. I didn't have any (and didn't realize I was out until it was too late). I just left it out and my ganache turned out fine.

Here's where I discovered the cake was a bit on the dry side. I sliced the cake into 3 layers and it was a bit crumbly. I was not able to get the sides and top very even...as you will see shortly. This was frustrating to me. I tried to even out the sides and top, but every time I cut into the cake, it just crumbled. I left it alone and dealt with this the best I could.

Unfortunately, poured ganache doesn't hide ANY flaws, so you will see my cake is a bit lumpy.

Aside from the Praline and crumbly cake, there were a couple of other issues I noticed. I was not able to process the Praline paste as finely as I had hoped. I don't know if I need a new food processor blade. The cake could have also been crumbly due to the nuts as well...perhaps they were not processed as finely as they should have been.

Also, I did not detect much alcohol flavor. I used Rum where it was called for, but no discernable rum flavor in my opinion. I was not able to get Dark Jamaican Rum, though. I used Bacardi Gold.

I was surprised by the taste...it was pretty good. Although, the chocolate ganache didn't really meld with the hazelnut everywhere else. I think I would consider incorporating more chocolate flavor elsewhere in the cake to tie it all together.

The components of this cake, for me, were not too difficult...the project itself with all the steps was a bit time consuming, but I love that. So, this challenge was exactly what I was looking for, it forced me to bake something that I wouldn't have tried otherwise. Looking forward to August!

Old Fashioned Berry Layer Cake

berry cake4, originally uploaded by eat sleep knit.

I guess you could say I've been in some kind of funk lately. I haven't been able to make up my mind. Usually prior to a family gathering or holiday, I have something in mind to prepare. I have thought of a recipe or a theme months in advance. For whatever reason, this year has been quite different. I'm struggling to come up with something new.

Perhaps it's that I require that it be new...could it be that I've run out of ideas? No way...there are millions upon millions of recipes out there...surely I can't have made them all!

So for a Memorial Day gathering I settled upon the cover recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Book. It's a beautiful cake full of whipped cream and berries...who could resist?

The cake layers are something that resembles a genoise or sponge cake. You start off by beat eggs and sugar to the ribbon stage and lightly folding in flour, cornstarch and finally vegetable oil. The last part kind of threw me. I've not made a cake batter that comes together like this.

Bake in 9-inch round cake pans for about 30 minutes, rotating the pans once. I was a bit worried when I reached into the oven to rotate the pans because the batter had expanded over the top of the 2-inch high sides! That was about as high as the cake reached, thankfully. (I just cleaned the oven!)

The recipe instructs the baker to invert the cakes immediately out of the pan and re-invert to right-side up. Some of the cake tore in this process, but most of it was intact.

I baked the layers the night before the party and planned to assemble it on location.

The next day...
I whipped 4 quarts (!) of heavy cream with 1/2 cup powdered sugar and some vanilla. You slice the 2 layers in half to make 4. And you layer the cake with whipped cream and mixed berries.

The recipe calls for blackberries, blueberries, petite strawberries, raspberries and golden raspberries. My grocery store did not have petite strawberries or golden raspberries, but I think the cake still looks beautiful. The mint leaves add a punch of color to liven up the cake. I wish I would have photographed the final product on a darker counter top.

As far as the tasting is concerned...it was surprisingly light. I would probably sweeten the whipped cream a bit more. It seemed sweet enough before I started the assembly, but all together the sweetness was lost. The cake was very light. The berries were wonderfully tart, which is probably why I had wished the cream was a bit sweeter.

I had a few raspberries and strawberries left over...and I do wish I would have filled the cake in a bit more with the left over berries.

But it was yummy! The leftovers the next day were pretty good, too.