I loved the Purple Rain roving so much that I finished spinning and plying it.
It’s 3.5 ounces and approximately 215 yards. It’s very soft and fairly consistent — there are a few thick spots here and there. I love how it spun up and plied into barber pole stripey-ness.
Step Socks
I keep forgetting to post a photo of the Austermann Step socks — I finished them last Friday and here they are.
I did get them to match pretty darn well.
Diabetic Key Lime Pie
First thing this morning, I made a sugarless Key Lime Pie for dessert for tonight. Unfortunately I could not find Key Limes, so I had to settle for regular limes.
Here’s the recipe:
Key Lime Pie for Diabetics
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons melted margarine
2 tablespoons Splenda
1 envelope (1/4 ounce) unflavored gelatin
1-3/4 cups fat-free milk
1 8 ounce package reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/3 to 1/2 cup Splenda
Combine graham cracker crumbs, margarine, and 2 tablespoons Splenda and press into a pie plate.
Sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup milk and let stand for 2 to 3 minutes. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until gelatin is dissolved.
Beat cream cheese in a small bowl until fluffy. Beat in remaining 1-1/4 cups milk and the gelatin mixture. Mix in the lime juice and 1/3 to 1/2 cup Splenda, depending on how sweet you want it (I use slightly less than 1/3 cup as I like my key lime pie tart. You can add the Splenda one tablespoon at a time and taste as you go.)
Pour into the graham cracker crust and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.
A slice that is one-eighth of the pie is about 200 calories.
P.S. to Janice in GA
Sorry, I’m a Yankee and I like a little sugar in my cornbread. However, because the batch of cornbread I made is to be used in a savory stuffing, I left the sugar out. I also overbaked it slightly.
Tomorrow: a pumpkin pie with no crust! Ooooooh!
Heifer Raffle!
I drew names using my random number generator earlier this afternoon and this week the prizes go to:
Judith C., who won the the Lexie Barnes Mega Mini bag (perfect size for a sock project bag) filled with two skeins of Claudia Handpainted Fingering weight yarn. This prize has been donated by Allison Van Zandt of Simply Socks Yarn Co.
Betty, who won the Hat kit (include handspun yarn for a knitted hat, a pattern, and charms for embellishment), donated by Tigerlilith, Old Maiden Aunt
Linda F., who won her choice of a ChicKnit pattern, donated by Bonne Marie Burns of ChicKnits
Christine Z, who won a complete set of knitting greeting cards, donated by Denise Satterlund. You can view the whole set here: http://www.unravelled.com
Deborah H., who won The Knitters Book of Finishing Techniques by Nancie M. Wiseman, Donated by Erin
I’ve emailed all the winners and donors (Deborah H., I get an odd error message when I send to you — let me know if you didn’t receive the winner notification).
Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all! 
Lucy sez:
“Zzzzzzzzzzz . . . baby chicks . . . zzzzzzzzzzz . . . baby chicks . . .
Oooh, thank you for the diabetic key lime pie recipe! My husband is a diabetic and its always difficult to create good deserts… but ya gotta love splenda!
I made the husband a cheesecake for his birthday, by taking a recipe from foodtv.com and replacing the sugar with splenda in the crust and cheese batter. I expected a failure honestly, but it came out *WONDERFUL*. Possibly one of the best cheesecakes I’ve ever made, and I’ve made MANY!
I LOVE the yarn!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Purple Rain came out so well. I’m really interested in seeing what you do with the yarn. I’d be stumped with what to do with 215 yards.
The yarn turned out awesome. I love the barbor poliness too
I made a key lime pie recently, and just made myself feel silly by trying to squeeze 3/4 c of juice out of those tiny little things. I finally gave up and used real limes–so you see, you’re really a step ahead of the game.
Purple Rain roving!!! Must have it! Where? I am the biggest Prince fan.
Sorry for the fragments, I’m too excited to write properly.
wow, i’m totally impressed with your spinning abilities — and i very much love the purple rain! any chance it might be for sale?
Love the food blog! I put sugar in my cornbread and our favorite pumpkin pie is also crustless! Yummy yum. So good. Beautiful yarn too Wendy! I nearly forgot about fiber content after the food stuff today. heh
Beautiful yarn and the socks too! What a perfect match! Thank you for sharing your recipe, my SIL is diabetic and would love that! Now I can make her something sweet to eat.
That yarn is so pretty… I really need to learn how to spin!
You made my day with the socks. I made a pair of Austerman Steps, from a colorway that was MUCH more “irregular” — only about 2.5 repeats on each sock. I took a lot of trouble to make them match exactly (they look great!) but a number of knitting friends thought I was nuts. Gotta match ‘em!
Wendy, I’m sure you know this, but key lime juice is available bottled (not fresh, but it’s real key lime juice). In the Florida Keys, you actually can buy it everywhere, including at gas stations. Go figure. Where I live (Illinois), it’s sold at the grocery store next to the bottled lemon juice. The brand I use is Nellie & Joe’s.
Gorgeous yarn! Now I can’t wait to see it knit up. Great job on matching your socks, I am in awe. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Crustless pumpkin pie!!? YUMMY! I love pumpkin pie, and being celiac – no crust is a dream come true!
Your yarn is lovely! I love the mixed colours as well.
I’ve made socks only top-down, but I like the look of the toe-up socks in your posted photos. Do you have a basic, customizeable, generic toe-up pattern that I could use/buy? I’m an intermediate-to-advanced knitter, working on TKGA’s Master Knitter program level 2, but do not feel I’ve “mastered” socks. Thanks!
Wendy, I know I already emailed a thank you for the prize. (Thanks again, by the way!) But just had to post to say how much I LOVE the Purple Rain. Barber pole stripy-ness indeed!
I was also going to suggest Nellie & Joe’s in the bottle (you can usually find either in the produce aisle or the liquor mixer aisle in grocery stores). Key limes have such a unique flavor and the bottled juice is good. Even my dad, self proclaimed King of Key Lime pie has said he doesn’t notice the difference…
The spinning is so pretty! Do I see a hat in it’s future? Also, is Lucy aware that cute fluffy baby chicks, while delicious, are really only a snack food?
Hmm… I think we all need to make felted baby chicks for Lucy. (Ouch! Chaos! I DID type that!! OUCH!!! No, really, felted means very tasty baby chicks. Really. Ouch!)
I like sweet cornbread too…I wonder why us Yankees like it sweet and the people down south don’t…Now I have to find out about the history of cornbread!
The Purple Rain ia perfect. I’m still working on technique. I strive for your consistency. It’s an inspiration.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
Totally yummy post today Wendy – from yarn to pie – two of my favourite topics!
I remember you said (long time ago in a post far far away) where you got your sock blocker. For the life of me I can’t find it….do you remember?
I just knitted my first pair of socks, then I noticed when I was finished that my middle right finger was numb on the whole top of that finger. It is still numb five days later. I was wondering if that has ever happened to you? I knit continental style if that makes any difference. I am wondering if it will ever go back to normal. Thank you for any answer, or suggestions as to what to do about it. Love your socks. I can’t find yarn that pretty where I live.
Oooooh! I love, love, LOVE that Purple Rain! That is the best purple I’ve seen all day, and I love purple. Your spinning is terrific.
In the comments, I read where Carla has had success using Splenda in a cheesecake. This surprised me as the diabetes training nurse said it wouldn’t work and that the Splenda people said not to try Splenda in cheesecakes. I find this very interesting, and think that Carla should share her recipe.
Your purple rain yarn is such an inspiration. I just started learning to spin a few weeks ago, bought an Ashford Traveller spinning wheel, and am making a little progress, but still have a ways to go. I hope I can make yarn like yours once I get better at this.
Happy Thanksgiving wishes to you, Lucy, and Lucy’s daddy … and any chicks that show up for Lucy.
Peace to you all, and blessings,
firefly
Add me to the purple yarn fan club.
How do you wash your handmade socks? I toss mine in the washer, but line dry them. But I noticed the Step yarn says no fabric softener (I’m assuming because of the aloe and jojoba oils) so now I’m all stressed out. I love my DH, but I’m not handwashing his socks, even if I did make them myself!
The Step socks are fabulous. Now I know what mine will look like when I knit them up. Love the turquoise and gray combination. The pie recipe looks yummy, too.
Oh, and I love Purple Rain — looking forward to seeing what you knit up with it.
Thank you so much for the key lime pie recipe! I was coasting the knitting blogs last night and saw this post and printed it out; Boy loves key lime pie and most of his family is diabetic, so I thought it would be a good alternate pie for Thanksgiving. When I got to the store last night to pick up the fixin’s for his apple-cranberry pies they were out of pie crusts. This was so easy and quick, it was done before he came home from work!
Thank you!!!
Wendy thanks so much for the post of the key lime pie. I have a source for key lime juice if you need it. My husband is diabetic and we so love key lime I’ll be trying this sometime this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving.