a blast from the past

When I first started knitting, back when I started this blog, I bought everything that I thought would help me become the best knitter. I envisioned myself, as the maker of sweaters, scarves, gloves, any and all things that could be knit, and I wanted to do it and share my love with my friends, family and through this blog, the world.

But I'm not the greatest knitter, life gets in the way, and my knitting slowly dwindled until I was lucky if I completed one scarf a year.

I really do want to return to this, I love the peace I feel when I knit. It's meditative and calming and I really need that in my life right now.

 I'm going to start with a cleanup of my stash... This first to go is Rowan Knitting Magazine number 1.

Spring Rolls

I had a craving for spring rolls and my favorite Vietnamese restaurant was just too far away, so I made my own.

I didn't have all the ingredients that typically go into these, and for some reason I'm developing a allergy to shrimp so these aren't truly authentic, but they're yummy!

Ingredients: ground pork, rice noodles, garlic, green onions, carrots, and egg

 Rice Paper spring roll wrappers

 Fry 5-6 minutes in hot oil

Serve with Vietnamese Dipping sauce: 

fish sauce, lime juice, sugar. garlic, carrots, cilantro and red pepper flakes 

Enjoy!

someting knitted!

I finally finished knitting something!! Well, it's not totally complete as there's some blocking to be done and some the finishing bits, but the knitting part is complete!

Actually I finished the knitting part a while back, but I finally downloaded the photo from my camera.

Here it is...

Cables and Dropped Stitches

Baby blogs

My niece Marissa suffers from an extremely rare disease called Infantlie Spasms. This disease causes her to have seizures several times a day, severe enough that her development is delayed. Her first seizure was when she was 2 months old...and developmentally this is where she is now.

Marissa's Bunny is a group of traveling stuffed bunnies, all named Fairfax, that travel the world and to spread awareness of this disease. Her parents blog about the bunnies, their journeys and Marissa at Marissasbunny.com.

They're currently on the list to be a top baby blog. The list counter resets every quarter and I'd like your help to make them number 1.

So let prove to the trolls that believe MarissaBunny does not belong on the list because she has special needs. I think it's great that they are in the top ten and she has special needs.

thanks,
eyeleen

chocolate curls

I had the urge to make chocolate curls today. So I made

milk chocolate cupcakes with chocolate curls

ozzie rolls

There's a group of restaurants in northern Virginia, that makes these wonderful Ozzie rolls. Fried balls of bread, kind of like a little doughnut, or a tiny beignet, served with whipped butter and poppy seeds. They're best served hot, and they're even better with a dab of sugar.

I've altered and combined a couple of recipes to come up with this:

almost Ozzie Rolls

In a bowl, add:

• 2 cups bread flour
• 2 tsp instant dry yeast

In a separate bowl combine the following in mixer using paddle attachment:

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 can evaporated milk

When mixed, slowly incorporate the flour/yeast mixture and beat until smooth, then add:

• 1/4 cup butter, unsalted, room temperature

On the mixer change to the hook attachment. While beating on medium speed, slowly add:

• 5 3/8 cup bread flour

add the last cup of flour 1-2 Tbsp at a time. The dough will be come smooth and elastic and will begin to knead itself on the sides of the bowl. Continue for approximately 5 minutes. Shape dough into a ball.

Spray another bowl with nonstick cooking spray or lightly coat with oil. Place dough in bowl and toss gently to coat dough ball with oil. Cover with wax paper, then a towel and place in warm dry place to rise for 2 hours.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out until 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into 1 1/2 inch squares and fry in 350Degree oil to approximately 3 minutes, turning frequently.

Remove from oil and drain on rack or paper towels.

Serve hot, with whipped butter. They're also good with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. I like them with Nutella.

a southern breakfast

Creamy sausage gravy with petite butter biscuits.

Comfort food, yummy and fattening, just what I need. Well, not the fattening part anyway. Many years ago, my first attempt at a sausage gravy, ended in disaster. This one came out pretty good.

Recipes:

Sawmill Gravy from Alton Brown

My Changes

• Used butter to make the roux as the sausage did not yield enough fat

Biscuits from Paula Deen

My Changes

• Brushed butter on top of biscuits prior to baking.
• Baked in Cake pan, as I have no skillet.

No pictures as it was gone before I could find the camera, but I think I'll make it again.

a new post!

Many thing shave happened since the last post, and the time and energy I put in to crafting ang knitting went on hold as I tried to find my niche in a new job, to learn how to study again with a return to school and to deal with all the stresses that come with family.

It's been almost a year since I made that 911 call, because my Dad was having a heart attack. He's ok now, but anniversaries of big medical traumas freak me out. I don't know why, but they do. My niece Marissa is still having seizures, and her mom, who been on bedrest for most of her pregnancy,is expecting a new baby any day now.

Oh and then there is Mandy...

except for a little weight problem, she's just fine.

the pink sweater

the pink sweater I made for Marissa finally fits...

knitting again

The purple thing... I knit it, then ripped it, and knit it again. I would post a picture but it looks exactly the same as before.

In the meantime, here's my niece, the baby pumpkin...

her parents have started a blog to share their experiences in dealing with her illness and to raise awareness about infantile spasms. If you get chance take a look, her bunny is going on journey to share her story.

Happy Knitting!
Thanks for dropping by,
eyeleen

something purple

I decided to try knitting again.

something purple.

Mandy says hello.

all it took was an earthquake...

for me to post a blog update. I didn't realize such things happened in Virginia, so the rumblings I thought were construction work on the floor above me, turned out to be a rumbling of the earth 6 km below me. Very strange indeed.

I've been away for quite a while, mainly because I really haven't knit anything since Christmas. In fact I have partially knitted Christmas "gifts" still lying around. There are even some mostly completed knitted items that just need a bit work (weaving in the ends, blocking, etc.) I seem to have lost my knitting mojo. In fact I have large gift certificate (a christmas present from the family) to a wonderful yarn store sitting on my desk, and I haven't a clue or inclination to buy anything. My yarn stash taunts me from my shelves and my knitting needles take up space on my desk. I still buy knitting magazines, yet while I find the patterns intriguing, I still knit nothing.

Life's been a bit crazy these past few months. At first I think I was stressed out from starting a new job and the holiday crush. That and I tend to spend my free time fawning over my niece, the pumpkin. She's a gorgeous baby with a beautiful smile but she's had a pretty difficult few months. She's been diagnosed with infantile spasms, which is a rare type of seizure disorder. Her seizures last 1-3 seconds long but they occur in clusters that last for several minutes. It can be very scary sometimes.

Anyway, if and when I knit something, I will post. Otherwise stay tuned for photos of the baby, the dog, the garden. Right now, photography is easier than knitting and I'm quite obsessed with bokeh.

Thanks for stopping by.
eyeleen

Season's Greetings

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas
and a Wonderful New Year!

I'm trying

to knit (stealthily while at work)to dye (with my favorite dyers-in-training Ele & Isa)

to bake (mini marbley cupcakes)

and to blog (please forgive my pathetic attempt at a blog post, I'll be back soon...)

the pumpkin

For the past few months I've been knitting with one person in mind. She arrived yesterday.

The word for niece in Filipino is pahmankin, but with my odd americanized pronunciation it always sounds like pumpkin.

Here she is

still here...

and knitting...I just haven't had a chance to take any pictures of my projects. here's Mandy in her Halloween furmiliation...

a literal weight off my shoulders

Sorry for the blog silence but I've been busy planning (a baby shower) and knitting (baby items). The thing is... my sister found my blog and she thought the last post with the baby booties were for her. They weren't. Those were for Baby Raquel Sofia, who finally made an appearance on October 2nd. I hope you like the booties.

As for my sister, I was able to finish these things just in time for her shower...Pattern: Baby Shrug from Debbie Bliss' Simply Baby

Needles: US8
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease - Pink

Pattern: Trellis from Knitty Spring 2005
Needles: US8
Yarn: Gedifra Korfu - Red
Buttons from G-Street

More baby booties from Simply Knitting, the UK knitting magazine
Needles: US5
Yarn: Patons Grace in Rose & Tangelo

Now that the shower is over, I have a chance to relax and knit without a deadline. I've got a half finished Anouk on the needles and I just started another baby sweater. I think I like baby knitting. Small, sweet and for some reason the FO's make me giggle.

My head feels a lot lighter, the stress of party planning is gone. Just the thought of 60+ guests squeezed into the house in unseasonably warm October weather made my stress levels rise uncontrollably. I also got my hair cut this past weekend...
TWELVE inches to Locks of Love...it's going to take a while getting used to this short hair. Although it's not as bad as my last donation, that was seventeen inches...

bunch of booties

It's been a while since I've blogged, but I have been knitting...
I love the simplicity of baby booties, small, quick, and adorably cute, and I'm filling my house with them. Here are a few...


The red booties were inspired by these. Utterly adorable!

Pattern: Simple Shoes from Uniform Studio
Needles: US 10.5
Yarn: Patons SWS

Ballet Baby Booties
Pattern: from Simply Knitting
Needles: US 5
Yarn: Patons Grace

unseasonably cool

It's August and I'm cold. It's kinda nice. I'm ready for September and some big wooly knitting.
But it the meantime, there's this...

wooly hibiscusa kind of smoky pink yarn from the hibiscus dye bath

Saturday morning I went grocery shopping at the Latino/Asian mart, an oddly ironic store because peanut butter and cheerios can be found in the international aisle...but they have dyestuffs in the spice aisle.

A bastard saffron, that I'm treating like safflower. The real stuff is $90 an ounce. I got this for $1.49 an ounce. Hence safflower. I'm hoping to extract a hot pink dye from it. I've also got chamomile, great for tea, butI had no idea it could be used for dyeing. And annatto seeds, which give that odd orange color commonly seen in Filipino and Latino foods, hopefully it'll do the same for yarn.
So far I like the ease of solar dyeing, stick it in a jar, put it in the sun, then forgetaboutit. It just takes a while to get results. So I built a solar oven (I applied aluminum foil to the inside of a cardboard box), that got rained on while I was at work today. Oh, well, I tried.

when its too hot to knit...

the sun does have it's uses...

Dried Hibiscus Flowers

Hibiscus Flower Sun Tea

Wool in Hibiscus Flower Tea/Dye bath

Wool is just too hot in my hands for knitting in this heat, so I used cotton for this...
Trellis (with my wonky cables) is just waiting for buttons.