By Wendy on March 3, 2010
Yesterday I made cheese from my homemade yogurt and boy howdy! Is that stuff ever yummy! Move over, cream cheese.
My yogurt maker is this one: the YoGourmet Yogurt Maker. (I know you can make yogurt in a slow cooker, but this baby has a much smaller footprint which is great for my small kitchen.) I bought an extra jar for it too.
And although I know that I can make cheese with the help of cheesecloth, I bought this little yogurt cheese maker. No fuss, no muss!
I realize that this has nothing to do with knitting but I got some emails asking about my yogurt maker.
I use fat-free milk, so (guided by the instruction booklet that came with the yogurt maker) I add some fat-free milk powder while heating the milk, to make the resulting yogurt thicker. You can also add unflavored gelatin as well. I do that for batches I am making that I am not using to make cheese — you don’t want to use gelatin there.
I’m thinking about adding herbs and stuff to my yogurt cheese to make my own Boursin-like concoction. Nom!
And I am still knitting along on my Chevron Stole, albeit rather slowly.
Lucy sez:
“Did you make a mistake here?”
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged cheese maker, cream cheese, homemade yogurt, yogourmet yogurt maker, yogurt cheese
By Wendy on March 2, 2010
I don’t have much to blog about today because most of my knitting time last night was used dozing off and waking up until I finally gave up and went to bed. And my knitting time on my commute is taken up by a stealth project.
However, I can show you a close-up of the cast-on edge of the Chevron Stole.
I used a lace cast-on for the bottom edge so it would be nice and stretchy. The cast-on is one where you start with a slip knot on the left needle and then knit a stitch into it, transferring the new loop onto the left needle to make the second cast-on stitch. Then you continue on, knitting into the previous stitch on the left needle each time, and pulling the new loop up and placing it on the left needle.
The stole has garter stitch edgings — I started by working several rows of garter stitch before beginning the lace pattern. Once I started the lace, I worked the first and last 5 stitches in garter stitch to keep that edge going up the sides of the stole. To get a nice stretchy edge, on every row I slip the first stitch as if to purl with the yarn in back, then knit the next 4. Then onward to the lace section.
In other news
From time to time y’all ask me in the comments how the clean eating is going. It is going just fine, thank you. It’s been almost 3 months since I made this lifestyle change and I don’t miss my old ways one little bit. I would estimate that I eat 95% clean because as far as I know, nothing I eat is processed or has preservatives in it (and I work hard to make sure this is true). I eat no sugar or artificial sweeteners. I drink water all day (and one cup of coffee in the morning.) I’ve even started making my own yogurt (from organic fat-free milk) and let me tell you, that stuff is yummy. I do buy organic as much as possible.
I’ve noticed that I am much healthier. The respiratory and sinus issues that have plagued me forever are gone, as are any digestive issues. Unfortunately clean eating has not stopped my spine from disintegrating, but then, I guess that’s a bit much to expect. I look on the bright side — while I am hobbling around and screeching in pain as my lumbar vertebrae viciously squeeze my nerves, at least I’m not sniffling and sneezing at the same time.
Another a nice side-effect of clean eating is that I’ve lost a bit of weight.
(Aside: Speaking of hateful uncooperative vertebrae and disks, the little bastards are causing me rather a lot of pain these days. So much so that it affects my normal day-to-day activities. I’ve had to cut back on some things — like computer time. I get a fair amount of email every day with knitting questions, requests of one sort or another, and other random things. Because it hurts to sit at the ‘puter, I can’t answer ‘em all.)
To close:
A girl and her tail-less mouse.
ETA: I appreciate all your good wishes and suggestions but truly, I am not looking for medical advice here (I’ve got a good doc I’m working with). Just wanted to let you know that I am less available than usual. Thanks!
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged artificial sweeteners, garter stitch, lace pattern, lace section, stealth project
By Wendy on March 1, 2010
I mentioned last week that when I finished the Chevron Shawlette, I was going to knit a Chevron Stole using the same stitch motifs.
I have started said stole and here it is.
This is more Madelinetosh Tosh Sock yarn, this in the “logwood” colorway. The stole will take more yarn than the shawlette, so I bought two skeins. But it is great fun to knit. The rows seem to zip by quickly because they are not growing. They are all x number of stitches, so I know exactly how long each row will take me. I find that somehow comforting.
And Check This Out
I did a guest post for the Potter Craft “Crafter News” blog that is posted today. Check it out here. And as a bonus, you can download a pattern for Bouquet Socks, one of the designs from my upcoming book!
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Lucy hasn’t murdered any more of her toys.
She looks very ladylike, doesn’t she?
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged chevron, crafter, logwood, skeins, stitches, yarn
By Wendy on February 28, 2010
I blocked my latest shawlette today. Here it is pre-blocking.
Isn’t Lucy helpful? Pre-blocking dimensions are 40″ across the top and 20″ down the middle of the center back.
Post-blocking:
After blocking is is 60″ across the top edge and 28″ down the center back.
Here’s a close-up:
That’s one skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Sock, in the Clover colorway. I had 18 grams left over.
I started my stole based on this same pattern — but I’ll talk about that tomorrow.
Right now I want to draw your attention to a particularly heinous crime. Sensitive readers may want to look away now.
The crime scene:
Not sure what you are seeing?
Here is the body:
And here is the tail:
Lucy sez:
“I wuz framed! I’m innocent, I tells ya!”
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged clover, crime scene, one skein, sensitive readers, top edge
By Wendy on February 25, 2010
Bind-off of the Chevron Shawlette will commence in five, four, three, two . . .
As soon as this baby is off the needles, I will cast on for the Chevron Stole. Conveniently, the yarn I have planned to use for the Chevron stole arrived in my Loopy Ewe order today.
I do so like it when a plan works out well.
This new yarn is once again Madelinetosh Tosh Sock, this one in the “Logwood” colorway. I have two skeins of it, because I think the stole will take more than one skein.
From time to time people ask me what I do with all these shawlettes. A girl can only wear so many shawls, right? I always keep a couple at the office for starters. and the smaller ones I’ve been making lately make great scarves. I do give some of them away. And right now, three of them (Argus, Seaside, and Miss Woodhouse) are visiting for the next few weeks over at fibre space.
Lucy has indicated that her own fluffy fur coat is sufficient for her, thank you.
Posted in Wendy Knits | Tagged fluffy fur, fur coat, logwood, loopy ewe, miss woodhouse, one skein, skeins
