Burnside Tunic is Finished

Detailed cable patterns are not the thing to knit when you have a toddler around, which is why this took me about a year to knit.  It was a fun project to work on, and I definitely enjoy the finished sweater.  More pictures to come!

Want to knit this?

Avocado Doubled Eggs

These are delicious!

Ingredients:
8 eggs, boiled
1 avocado
1/4 cup (4 tbsp) lemon juice
salt to taste
paprika for garnish

1. Peel the eggs, cut in half, and scoop the yolks into a bowl.
2. Add the avocado, lemon juice, and salt to the yolks, and mash it until smooth.
3. Spoon the mixture into the egg whites.
4. Sprinkle the paprika on top.

and enjoy!

This makes a lot of filling, there would probably be enough filling to use 12 eggs with the one avocado.

I know many people call them "deviled eggs".  I don't care.  "Doubled" is better, because it refers to what you are doing, cutting the eggs in half to make twice as many.  Plus, my family has always called them "doubled" eggs.

This is not normally a cooking blog, but I've been looking for healthier foods and thought I'd share some.

Adventures in Baking: Gluten Free Edition

I don't usually do much baking but when it comes to birthdays, I think they deserve more than a store bought sheet cake.  I also like to make things that all my guests can eat which lead me to look for a gluten free cake recipe.

This Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake with Semi-Sweet Chocolate Icing looked like a good place to start.  I work with what I have on hand unless I just have to run to the store for something; I don't like to put so much sugar in my food; and I tend to be adventurous with straying from the recipe so this is what I ended up with.  

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
For a 9x13 in pan.

Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tablespoons agar powder
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup butter (I didn't set it out ahead of time, I just melted it)
1/2 cup brown sugar (lessened the sugar here)
1/4 cup white sugar (and here)
1/2 cup stevia powder (I was concerned that guests/husband might want things sweeter than I do)
That's a half cup less sweetener than originally called for, plus not all of it is sugar now.
4 eggs (I had 4 eggs left, not five)
2 tablespoon vanilla extract (I like vanilla)
1 1/2 cups whole milk with 2 tablespoons lemon juice added, let set for 5 min and then add to the other ingredients (I didn't have buttermilk, so used this common substitute.)
I didn't have sorghum flour or xanthan gum, but I did have coconut flour and agar powder from previous adventures in gluten free and vegan baking.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in the brown and white sugars and stevia; whip until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla. Add the milk and dry ingredients. Pour batter into prepared pan. I don't have a stand mixer so just mixed things in with a fork.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan.

Frosting

I was inspired by the Coconut Honey Frosting found here. I did not have palm shortening and wanted it to be strawberry, so I did this:


Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 can full fat coconut milk
2 tablespoons honey (I was running out, plus less sweetener)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (yum again)
8 oz frozen strawberries

Directions
1. Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Pour the frosting on the cake and put in refrigerator to cool and set the frosting.  

If I made this again I would probably put some agar powder in my frosting to help it set better.

It turned out delicious and way better than store bought.  If I had more time I would have done another frosting in a different color to add "Happy Birthday" to the cake.

Homemade Playdough

Have you ever wanted to make your own playdough?  It's pretty quick

 (about 10 minutes from start to playing with it).

Homemade Playdough Recipe

3 cups flour 

1.5 cups salt 

6 tsp. cream of tarter 

3 tbsp. olive oil 

3 cups water 

food coloring or koolaid

Mix all the ingredients in a large pot.  This makes a lot of playdough.  You may want to start with a half batch.

Stir over medium heat until the dough sticks together.  The dough on the bottom of the pot cooks first so keeps stirring and pull the bottom dough up so it can cook evenly.  It will only take a few minutes.

For even color, add the food coloring or koolaid in your pot before the dough starts to stick together.

For swirly colors, add the food coloring after the dough is formed.  I made indents with my finger, put a few drops of coloring in and then squished the dough around it.  Then I kneaded it to mix in the color.

I added the yellow color in the pot and mixed the blue and green in after the dough was formed.

Store in an air tight container.

You don't have to be exact on the salt.  I ran out on my second batch and only put in half a cup.  It was a little stickier mixing, but the finished dough was just like the first batch.

Kiddo decided to mix all the colors together.

Announcing Beneath The Tree

Beneath The Tree is a holiday home tour and art sale and I'm very excited to be a part of it this year!

If you'll be in the Grand Rapids, MI area November 9th or 10th check it out!  This is really different than any shows I've done before.  The art is set up in people's homes and there is one checkout per house!

I've been working hard to get my stuff made and tagged.  I have scarves, hats, bar soap, foaming soap, vanilla extract, toothpaste, and braided roving rugs!

Look for RainyDayArt and Mel's Naturals at house #1!

They're still looking for volunteers if you'd like to work a shift or bring a meal.

Wool Dryer Ball Report

Thanks for the comments, its so nice to know that someone reads my blog!

These dryer balls are awesome! Seriously!

I wasn't checking constantly; I just set the dryer for less time than usual, but a big load of diapers dried in 40 minutes less (at least) than usual AND the thick BumGenius AIOs that take FOREVER to dry were completely dry. Next time I'll try setting it for a little less time.

Here's some how to info that I found.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK4M2LEhZbQ

http://www.crunchybetty.com/how-to-make-felted-wool-dryer-balls

If you're making a bunch that is probably the way to go. I made 3 and they're about 3 inches across. I just felted them at my sink, it went pretty quick. I wrapped the wool into balls like shown in those links, put hot water and soap on them, and rubbed them in my hands, then did a second layer. With how well they work, I should make some more. I don't have any old pantyhose, because I wear them almost never, maybe I'll try a sock.

Toe Up Socks with Gusset and Heel Flaps

I really like knitting socks toe up, but I also wanted to try for a better fit by adding a gusset, and I wanted to knit it with magic loop instead of double points. I searched and searched and didn't find a pattern that had what I was looking for. So I examined heels and gussets in several different patterns and of course my gauge was different, and this is what I came up with.

I knit from both ends of the yarn, which is why the stripes progress in opposite directions.

This is a basic sock formula which can be adjusted. The numbers in my example fit a size 6 US shoe size (9 inches toe to heel, and 7.75inches around the ball of the foot).

Gauge: 6.25 st/in

Needle size: 4

Yarn: Indulgence 6 Ply Distrato (at 426 yards, it looks like I have enough for another pair)

Use a cast on appropriate for magic loop knitting, such as this

http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring06/FEATmagiccaston.html

Cast on 16 stitches per sock (8 each for the top and bottom). If you want a wider toe, cast on more to start.

Toe increases:

Row 1: K1, M1, knit to last stitch, M1, K1; K1, M1, knit to last stitch, M1, K1

Row 2: K around

Continue increasing until there are 48 stitches per sock. (or more for a wider sock)

Knit around until you have 6 inches or about 2/3 of the total foot length. This can be adjusted depending on how big of a gusset you want. On this sock I did 3 rounds of increasing for the gusset, if you want more start that many rows earlier.

The first half of the sock is the top.

Row 1: Knit across the top. K1, M1, knit to last stitch, M1,

K1 (2 stitches increased)

Row 2: K around

Repeat until you have the desired number of gusset increases.

Turn Heel

How wide or narrow the heel is can be adjusted by how many stitches are in the middle of the heel. This gives a fairly wide heel.

Row1: K 23, M1, K1, wrap and turn

Row2: P18, M1, P1, W&T

Row3: K16, M1, K1, W&T

Row4: P14, M1, P1, W&T

Row5: K12, M1, K1, W&T

Row6: P10, M1, P1, W&T

Row7: K8, M1, K1, W&T

Row8: P6, M1, P1, W&T

Knit around picking up and K2TOG the wraps as you go. (Pick up the wrap, put it on the left needle, and knit it together with the stitch it was wrapped around)

Heel Flap

K till 8 stitches left, SSK, turn

Sl 1, P20, P2TOG

Sl 1, K20, SSK

Continue decreasing until you are back to 48 stitches per sock (so 24 on the heel side).

Leg

Knit around until a little less (1 1/4 inches) than desired length

Switch to K2, P2 rib for 1 1/4 inches.

Use a stretchy bind off such as a K2TOG (through the back loop to make it look like a regular bind off) bind off http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2008/07/30/a-stretchier-bind-off.aspx or Jenny's surprisingly stretchy bind offhttp://knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/FEATjssbo.php.

Wool Dryer Balls

I've seen wool dryer balls on several different websites. They are supposed to shorten drying time and so use less energy. That sounds pretty cool. I had some wool leftover from a spinning project so I made some. :)