Even if I don’t actually like yesterday’s hat, it still deserves to be finished and so it needs a pompom. To be honest, it’s not that I really dislike the hat it’s that the yarn was hard to work with. I won’t use that brand again!
There was enough yarn left in the ball to make a nice pompom to match. It was a really big skein and I found 2 more unopened skeins, so I have a lot of this yarn. It should be OK to weave with — I think it will become a few nice warm scarves.
I have several sizes of pompom makers and I have chosen the largest one for this hat. Perhaps a big fluffy pompom will save it!
Once upon a time, a long time ago, I used to knit. I made all sorts of things and baby hats were some of my favorites. Unfortunately, I developed arthritis in my hands and it is almost impossible to knit these days.
I saw a video on Instagram of someone using a circular knitting machine to knit hats. I realized that that what I needed! I received one for Christmas (Thanks, sweetie!!) and I have been making hats and scarves faster than ever before!
This skein of yarn has been my undoing. I have tried 3 times to get it to work and 3 times I have ripped it out. I consulted the Facebook groups that I belong to and there were multiple suggestions to use either a dryer sheet or wax earplugs to help the yarn crank better. Since I already own dryer sheets that what I tried. (This was a very cheap skein of acrylic yarn from Walmart — their house Mainstays brand.) By using the dryer sheet and keeping tension on the knit tube as it expanded, I was able to get a hat made. It’s not great but it will keep someone’s head warm.
Our church put together shoeboxes to go around the world and hats are one of the things that they really like. I’m hoping to get a good number of these done by November to donate to the cause.
Apparently I forgot to hit publish yesterday. Oops!
Today’s make was bread. Crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, artisan style bread. If you know me this isn’t anything new. But there was a twist this time.
It’s tiny! I used 1 cup of flour. Actually it was 120 grams, which is around 1 cup for bread flour. A scaled down loaf tat is just enough for 2 servings. The picture is larger than life.
I wasn’t sure it would work, but it turned out great! Here’s the basics:
120 grams flour (I used bread flour), about 1 cup
1 large pinch salt
1 small pinch instant yeast
100 grams warm water, about 1/2 cup
Mix everything together to make a soft dough. There’s no need to knead! Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours. The dough will be flat on top and there should be visible bubbles. You can refrigerate the dough for another 24 hours at this point or proceed to shaping an baking.
Preheat the oven to 450F for 30 minutes. Place a covered dutch oven on the rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it for further 30 minutes. While the dutch oven heats, shape the bread for baking.
Flour a counter or large board and carefully tip and scrape the dough out of the bowl. You’re trying to keep in air bubbles in so be gentle! Pat the dough into a square, then pull the corners up and over to create a ball. turn the ball over and create a smooth ball by cupping your hands around it and turning it while gently turning and pushing in at the bottom. Place the bread on a piece of parchment paper and cover with a clean towel until the dutch oven is ready.
Once everything is heated, uncover the dough and make a deep slash in the top to allow for expansion in the oven. Carefully, and quickly, take the dutch oven out of the oven, remove the top, put the dough in using the parchment paper as a sling, put the top back on the dutch oven and get the whole thing back in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes then remove the lid and back for another 10 minutes, or until beautifully browned.
You really should let the bread cool completely before cutting, but I have a hard time doing that.
Today I created order. Or at least an easier way to find what I want!
A few years ago we remodeled the kitchen in our farm house. There was a convenient drawer that I turned into my spice storage and I transferred everything into labeled canning jars. Laying in their drawer they looked beautiful and it was easy to find the jar I wanted in a matter of seconds.
Fast forward a couple years and we moved into our current house. There’s no good drawer for my spices. There’s no place to hang a shelf for them, either. So the fix that I settled on was a very thin rolling shelf unit that would fit next to the stove and still allow the cabinet to open. The downside is that I can’t easily see the labels to get what I want quickly.
Today I finally decided to do something about this and I added labels to the lids of the jars. While this isn’t really earth-shattering it is going to make my life easier!
I decided that this year I would participate in a blogging challenge known as Thingadailies. The idea is to make something every day of the month of February and then blog about it. As I’m trying to get back into the habit of blogging, it seemed like a great place to start.
So today is Feb 1 and I made a towel wrap to take to the gym. I started with a nice big towel and turned down 2 corners on one of the long edges. I then sewed them into place to create a casing for the arm straps. I already had a good length of wide navy elastic that I used to make the straps. The measurements are sort of a figure it out as you go affair and would definitely vary with towel and wearer size.
So much of what appears to be news right now is really just marketing. New Year’s resolutions are big business for many. Some even seem to be shaming those that don’t go along. I will freely admit that I have no desire to come up with a list of New Year’s Resolutions. I figure that if I need to make a change I should do it when that desire makes itself known and not wait until January. I have been known to set a Word of the Year — I’m not sure about that this year, either.
So you might ask where I’m going with this. Well, I want to put it out there that it’s OK to go your own way. If you feel that this time of year is the right time to make a change then please do it. If you feel that the new year is the time to hibernate, then get out your fuzzy blankets. I will be here, working on my house, cooking supper, a little sewing and weaving, and maybe even going for a walk. Once spring is on the way, I will be out in the garden, too.
