Fiber Fool

I went stash diving. Above are the yarns I felt may work for either Masala or Pemberley. In general, I opted for solid or semi-solid colors as those will show off the lace or colorwork better than high contrast handpaints - though a couple of the more subdued ones snuck in. If you have a keen eye you may note the left overs from the original slippers in the pile. I have enough of those to do a sample slipper during the KAL, but I’m thinking I probably want to knit the samples in something different. Partially so I at least have the option of a full pair and so we can find out what other yarns work well for the patterns.

Aside from color, what was I looking for? Well, both Masala and Pemberley’s called for yarns are categorized as sport weight, but the yarns are not interchangeable across the patterns - something that is clear if you have both patterns. The gauges and overall numbers are quite different. Masala calls for 10 sts/in and Pemberley calls for 8 sts/in.

I know it is confusing that they both call for sportweight but such drastically different gauges. This is because the two yarns are drastically different in their construction. The Louet Gems Sport is a merino yarn. Merino is usually spun in a style called worsted spinning (this is different than the weight of yarn) which aligns all the fibers in parallel before spinning and the spinning is done in a dense fashion to keep all the ends firm in the yarn to reduce pilling and to give greater durability to such a fine and soft yarn. All that density means it does not compact much when knit on smaller needles than called for.

Now, Chickadee from Quince & Co is spun from non-merino wool. Because the wool is not as fine and soft as merino it is spun with more air in the yarn, which is ultimately warmer as the air in the yarn acts are insulation. This air can then be compressed out as you knit it on needles smaller than called for. That is why it easily (without any hand strain) knit up at 10 sts/in. The non-merino wool is a bit hardier and you get more yardage by weight. If you want to knit Pemberley with a non-merino yarn I suspect Quince & Co’s Finch fingering weight yarn would work well, though I haven’t worked with it yet.

Now, without swatching, how do you know if a yarn will work or not? You can test this a bit in the store by taking a 6″ section of yarn and putting more twist into it and seeing if that reduces the diameter of the yarn significantly. If you can take it down to a light fingering diameter the yarn will work for Masala. If you can’t compress it much by adding twist the yarn is a better fit for Pemberley. If you are shopping online, look at the grist - the yardage per weight. Chickadee is 181 yds / 50 g of yarn. Louet Gems Sport is 225 yds / 100 g, or so you compare apples to apples 112.5 yds / 50 g! There is a big difference, hence the big difference in gauges despite the same yarn weight classification. Now, difference in types of fiber will make a difference. Alpaca is much lighter than wool and cottons and most plant fibers are heavier than wool, so grist isn’t enough to let you skip the swatching!

So, what yarns did I choose?

For Pemberley:

• Araucania Ranco Solid
• Ivy Brambles Sockscene Fingering
• Textiles a Mano Wuxi
• Pagewood Farm Handspun Yarn - Merino/Bamboo/Nylon
• Bonkers Superwash Merino Mini (this one may be a tad too heavy for the lace to lay nice, I’m not certain)
• Fleece Artist Sea Wool

For Masala:

• Miss Babs Yummy Superwash Sock 2-Ply
• Dale of Norway Baby Ull
• Brown Sheep Wildefoote Luxury Sock
• Indigo Moon Merino Superwash Fingering Weight

So, which yarn or yarns have you chosen for which pattern? Have you swatched and gotten gauge with it yet? If you haven’t don’t worry as long as you are okay with ripping out the heel flap it can serve as a mini-swatch. Though with it’s narrowness there is a possibility you may go farther and find out you need to rip. For the least hassle - swatch!

I’ll have an overview of the construction and we’ll knit the heel flap next time!

I don’t think I’ve watched the Superbowl since I moved to Colorado. Maybe I saw the 2000 one, but that would be it. So this one is a bit tough. But I’ll give it a go and see how far I get…

1. The only really “superbowl” food I think of is buffalo wings - it must include bleu cheese dressing, carrots and celery! In college a friend and I made killer wings and through a big superbowl party once, making each batch a bit spicier than the previous until we got it so hot 1 wing actually made you feel full! Unfortunately, the sauce was literally a killer with a good bit of butter in it in addition to the wings being fried. Though with the butter content of the sauce, it ended up it was quite good on baked wings or even baked chicken breasts. I don’t think I’ve eaten it since I lived in ND though.

2. Of course beer is a requirement of football watching no matter the game right? I’m not a huge beer fan, but living in a town full of microbreweries I’ve grown to appreciate it more than I used too. Just please do not pass me an IPA or other especially hop-filled brew, okay?

3. What is it about football that elicits the serving of spicy foods? They just seem to go hand in hand. I suspect wasabi peas would be great on the coffee table to munch on between swigs of beer. A bonus is no prep required!

4. And you can’t talk about spicy without hitting upon tex-mex cuisine. In my high school days I’m pretty certain a game or two included my aunt Karen’s seven layer bean dip!

5. If I were attending (or hosting) a superbowl party this year I’d be very tempted to take my Mexican Pumpkin & White Bean Dip for my spicy contribution. I find it refreshing to have a few things that are a bit on the healthier side to choose from - yes, even before my healthier living kick.

6. That said, my Savory Roasted Garlic and Pesto Cheesecake is always a huge hit when I bring it to gatherings so it might be hard to stray from a surefire winning dish….

7. Along with spicy, I think salty is another flavor requirement when watching football games. Edamame with a sprinkling of sea salt would be a nice way to serve up that salt with some good fiber and protein!

8. For those not inclined to drink (which would most of the time include myself) perhaps some homemade ginger ale would be nice!

I think that is all I’ve got. Truthfully, that was farther than I expected to get seeing as how I haven’t watched football in over a decade. I do kind of miss the over the top commercials and the half time show. I don’t mind the football game itself either I just don’t seem to be connected to football watching people here. Are you going to or hosting a superbowl party? Who are you rooting for?

Another busy week around here. I was interviewed on the YarnThing podcast on Tuesday (or get it on iTunes) and I’m busy putting together the post for the Take of Two Slippers KAL. Pop on over to Ravelry and introduce yourself if you are taking part. There has already been a bit of discussion about yarns you may find helpful. Be sure to visit Heather at Shivaya Naturals later today as she’ll be sharing a gluten-free version of the Pepperkakor from Nourishing Knits!

Crafty:

• Now, this is a new form of an altered book I hadn’t seen before - turn one into a planter!
• Twist Collective had a helpful blog post this week on how to style your handknits and get them out of your closet!
• Reusable net produce bag tutorial!
• I love this recycled brown paper basket! It looks like industrial webbing, not paper!
• Software to help you design your own Lopi sweater!

Yummy:

• If you are entertaining for the Super Bowl next week, How Sweet It Is shares 25 recipes she recommends. Despite the name of the blog, there are tons of buffalo flavored dishes on the list if you are so inclined.
• Piping lace onto cookies sounds like a wonderful to master by Valentine’s Day!
• On a healthier note, I’ve been on a big quinoa kick lately and this spicy roasted brocollini quinoa salad looks like it needs to be on our meal planner.
• This looks like a satisfying low-carb lasagna!
• I am very intrigued by this miso sesame winter squash dish from 101cookbooks.com

Pixely:

• An example of a Lightroom workflow which gave me a few tips for cutting my processing time
• Improve your photography in a week with these 5 tips.
• Learn why you should post-process your photos and what you can learn by doing so.

Naturally:

• Some ways to naturally boost your energy (aimed to writers, but applies to anyone really)
• Glamology lists their top 100 natural beauty experts on Twitter
• Crunchy Betty has a versatile Grapefruit Scouring Scrub for your counters, sinks, or yourself!

Bookity:

• Poisoned Press has another 13 e-books marked down to 99 cents!
• All four Minnesota Book Award finalists are mysteries this year!
• February 1-2nd a group of authors are collectively giving away 75 Kindle books and drawing ten winners of a Kindle Fire in what they are calling the Big Kindle Boogie!
• A very interesting look at Unglue.it, a crowd funding broad-use license publishing concept. A little too complex to get into here.

More Linkity:

• Stumbling over Chaos Linkity with lots of bookity, some yummy, crafty, kitty and humor!

Here’s to a better week!

Some new to me yarn arrived on my doorstep this week. I’m starting calculations, though it still has another 0.3 g to dry yet. I figure that it is not likely the gauge will change any from that little bit of moisture loss.

I’ve been more than a little stressed out lately. And one thing that both occupies my mind so I’m not obsessing on the stressful things but gives me a break and in some cases a bit of accomplishment - it is a logic puzzle game for iOS called Marple.

I’ve been a fan of logic puzzles for a long time. I think I started getting the occasional magazine at the drugstore when I was in junior high or early high school. I was lamenting the lack of a good logic puzzle game for iOS to Drew one day. It seemed there was one that got the interface right, but they sold add-on packs of puzzles that overlapped with no documentation to buy the add-ons without buying some puzzles multiple times. Then Drew told me about Marple and I poo-poo’d it because it wasn’t a story-based logic puzzle. I grabbed the free version that includes ten puzzles and played through those ten a few times each and decided I liked it. One of the advantages of Marple over a story-based logic puzzle is that it can generate puzzles on the fly so there is nearly an unlimited number of puzzles.

The clues are in the bottom boxed area. There is a bit of code to learn what those clues mean, but you use those clues to eliminate icons in the different possible spots they can be in from the area at the top of the screen. As you eliminate possible locations the answer starts to appear and the clues become more helpful. They have a good tutorial that I played through a few times until I got accustom to the logic and you can get hints too - something I did pretty liberally at first, now almost never.

Without having to read clues (I’m a bit of a slow reader) these puzzles are relatively quick to solve too. My average speed is about 6 minutes. I have a few under 3 minutes and have had some that took me as much as 15 minutes (in those cases I usually take a break after 6-7 minutes figuring fresh eyes later will be more effective) so it is really just a quick little break. What has surprised me is that it seems I have good Marple days and bad Marple days. Who would have thought?

My only complaint which is really only due to my learning style. I “speak” words and symbols in my head as I “read” them. So having both Arabic numerals and die numbers can cause me to accidentally make a wrong move that isn’t because my logic is faulty.

Do you have a favorite escapist app for iOS? Or have you tried the new this week Yarnaby app that is a wool-centric maze-type game? I’m seriously tempted, though I often prefer to try free versions first so I haven’t caved just yet.

On the KAL front - a few people have introduced themselves and a bit of talk about yarn has begun. If you’re taking part pop on over to the thread on Ravelry and say hi!

Greek yogurt has become a nearly daily staple for both myself and Drew (whose birthday is today!). If you haven’t yet discovered Greek yogurt, what makes it different from your standard yogurt is that it is strained which does a couple things - it thickens it making it taste richer and it raises the protein content. Greek yogurt boasts 8-11 g protein per 1/2 cup serving typically. Our favorite two brands are Chobani and Fage, but even in their large containers the cost can add up and neither is organic. With Drew’s experience in cheesemaking and the easy access to super fresh, local dairy he took the leap and made his first batch of yogurt for our Christmas parfait gifts and he has been keeping us in yogurt since, making a large batch every two weeks or so depending upon how much we share with others :-)

Now there are tons of blogs and other web sites out there that tell you how to make yogurt at home. Some with specialty machines which I need in our small kitchen like I need a hole in the head. Some use a crock pot. I believe Drew plans to try a crock pot method in the next batch. But the following is the process he has settled on for the stovetop.

1. The first step is to sterilize everything so only the good bugs grow! Since a hot water bath is used, he fills the smaller stock pot with its pasta insert in place with water and brings it to a boil for ten minutes. In the insert is a metal 1 cup measure, a spoon, the temperature probe (just the part that will be in contact with the milk/yogurt) and a straining ladle or slotted spoon. He then places the largest stock pot which will not come in contact with the milk or yogurt into the sink and pours the boiling water in it. Then he submerges the smaller stock pot and pushes down a bit to make sure he won’t overflow the outer pot once the milk is added and pours out just a little extra as insurance.

2. The hot water bath is transferred to the stove top with the lid on the inner pot and the burner turned to about medium heat. Bring the milk up to between 160-180° F. It needs to stay above 160° F for at least 10 minutes so Drew usually shoots for about 175° F, then shuts off the heat and lets it cool down to 110-130° F, again he tries to split the difference.

3. Now is when Drew adds powdered non-fat milk (you want the fine stuff, not the granular type). This optional, but helps boost protein content without added fat and thickens it a bit thus cutting the straining time. Our cheesemaking books call from 1 tsp - 1/4 cup per quart of milk. So far he’s been adding about a 1/2 cup to 1.5 gallons of milk. Stir it in well, this is where the handheld strainer or slotted spoon can come in handy. Make sure the powder is well incorporated. If the powder seems clumpy, run it through a sieve or sifter to ease the mixing.

4. Nexy, Drew adds the culture which is simply adding a yogurt you like the texture and flavor of that has active and live cultures in it. So far we’ve only cultured with Chobani (we buy non-fat which I like having some around for days when my calories are running tight and we make 2% fat) and we have been quite happy with it. He adds 1 cup to the 1.5 gallons of milk.

5. Now comes the tricky part - you need to hold the milk to a temp of about 116° F for 4-10 hrs (we’re usually at about 8, but this last batch was closer to 10 - it gets a little stronger flavored the longer you stay at this step). With the lid back in place he wraps it in a few thick bath towels. It is rigged in such a way that he can easily remove or flip up and well away from the burner the lower towel if he needs to kick a bit more heat into the pot from time to time to maintain the temp.

6. When the time is about up he removes the inner pot, then brings the water in the big pot back to a boil and adds the pasta insert, a long knife, the handheld strainer or slotted spoon and some cheese muslin (you can use a jelly straining bag or several layers of cheesecloth) and sterilizes those items. Then he pours out the hot water and lines the pasta insert with the muslin. The long knife is then used to cut the yogurt at an angle like when cutting cheese curd. This isn’t an essential step, but can hasten the process of transferring the yogurt into the cheese muslin by separating some of the whey out from the get go. Using the handheld strainer he starts transferring yogurt to the muslin. When much of it is transferred he pours the rest in slowly.

5. At the beginning a fair bit of whey is going to drain out of the muslin, so in 15 minutes or so he pulls the insert out and puts it back into the smaller pot and empties the whey from the big one. Every 30 minutes or so he repeats it moving form the small pot to the large pot or vice versa. Smaller batches you can hang in a jelly strainer bag or tie the muslin into a bundle and hang it from your kitchen faucets so it just drains down the sink. This size batch would be hard on the faucet though. You keep straining it until it reaches your desired consistency. For us it has been about 2-4 hours of straining. The outside is always a bit more strained than the inner. At the point we stop the outside is a little thicker than Greek yogurt - verging in the direction of cream cheese. If you want consistency across your whole batch give it a stir before transferring it to your storage container(s). Because I’m tracking my nutrition data we just put the middle into a separate container because it is closer to the Greek yogurt so I guesstimate the nutrition based on the Chobani 2% yogurt.

The unstrained yield i said to be roughly cup for cup. Yield of the strained verison will vary depending upon your desired level of straining.

That is all there is to it! It is a bit of drawn out process. You do have be around to babysit it, but it is not difficult. The babysitting is the only advantage we can see to getting a dedicated machine. Though the most readily available yogurt makers make multiple containers so it isn’t conducive to straining.

Our favorite way to enjoy the yogurt is with a bit of fresh fruit (peaches and raspberries were most popular this summer) or some preserves and homemade granola. But we top pancakes with it and sometimes use it as a sandwich spread or in place of mayo (Drew hates mayo). Thinned with some milk about 1/3 yogurt to 2/3 milk you can substitute it for buttermilk in a lot of recipes (including whole grain pancakes), or this week we’ve stirred some into curry. The uses are only constrained by your imagination!