In The Kitchen with Betty

 

I've made bagels with Zombie Betty but never made bread before so I thought it might be time to give it a try. Zombie Betty is kept in the refrigerator in a kind of suspended animation. You take her out when you need to bake and feed her. That brings her back to life in a few hours and she's ready to be used.

My usual recipe made an unbelievably sticky dough. I fought with her all day. She shaped up a bit during her overnight proofing in the refrigerator. At least she didn't immediately deflate when I transferred her into the oven. Her oven spring was decent and I noticed she had a smoother crust than the other Betty's. 

Her insides-technically known as her crumb were...okay. Nothing to brag about. I'm still looking for those elusive big air holes you get when everything goes right. She tasted fine, not too sour. She joined all the other Bettys in the freezer which is overflowing with sourdough experiments at the moment. 

When you feed your starter you have to throw away at least half of that was in the jar to give it a fresh start. Sometimes  I toss the discard and sometimes I keep it if I have a baking project in mind. I thought I'd make waffles so I've been saving the discard for a few days. When I woke up yesterday morning my formerly half filled discard jar had come alive and overflowed all over the refrigerator shelf. What a mess that was to clean up. It was a sign that waffles needed to be made asap and they were. Lots of them. Blueberry Pumpkin with unsweetened applesauce, oatmeal, wheat germ and wheat bran. They are not exactly yummy but they are good for you.

Wednesday WIP: Sockapalooza

 

Regia

Done.

Static

Done.

Arne and Carlos Socks and More

And cast on.

I don't know what I was thinking with the dark yarn. I nearly lost my mind casting it on in the gloom. They went right into the travel knitting bag. I might be able to see what I'm doing with them in the daylight. The verdict is still out on how much I like this yarn. It reminds me more of Knit Picks sock yarn than Regia and I really like Regia. It's soft and a tiny bit splitty but I suppose if you like your socks on the limp side this yarn's for you. 

TNT: A Return Visit

 

The Swedish Folk Sampler is done for the year. I'm quite impressed at how much I got done in just a few weeks. This usually simmers on the back burner for most of February.

Taking its place is this old chestnut. I've been working on this for years and I think I'm finally going to get serious about getting it finished. I'll give it until Halloween and then all bets are off. 

This is the main reason for its languishing. Have you ever seen a more ridiculous amount of floss for one project? It makes me crazy.

The other tiny needle is working on the next block of the Patchwork quilt. I think this is number six.

Dear Jane has decided to do a bit of fussy cutting with the E6 block. She did it with stripes and it was easier than I thought. It kept my brain and hands busy for the morning because....

...I'm always a wreck when the tree people show up. We never actually finished the job we started because of holidays, babysitting and bad weather. We had five trees out front that needed to go so Pup and I holed up in the sewing room with very loud music while the work was being done.

Out back we had stump grinding going on. The city is breathing down our necks to get the 24 replacement trees planted and we needed some of the stumps out of the way before we could get started. I've got some loblollies and some magnolias on the way and want to order some maples and river birch. 

The work trucks had just packed up and left when it started snowing. That was a surprise. It won't last long. It will be almost 50 today so I enjoyed every bit of it coming down. 

The Wearing of the Green

 

True Story: The Mister has a very Irish surname and his family has always claimed strong Irish roots until....I convinced him to do the DNA thing. It came back that he was only 1% Irish thanks to his great, great, great grandfathers's penchant for fair haired lasses it seems. He's mostly Germanic European. Ha,ha. Moi, on the other hand who never had an inkling that I had any Irish heritage came back as 20% Irish. Quelle surprise for someone who always thought they were French.

It probably explains why this is my favorite beer and I'm not much of a wine drinker but none of it really matters except as trivia because in March we're all Irish. *Follow me, I'm delicious.

*If you haven't already met this hilarious Irish dude on YouTube make it a point to do so. If this guy ruled the world we'd all be in a better place. And yes, Garron you are delicious.

In Like a Lamb

 

Thanks to the warm weather we're having, everything is popping up out there but for the most part it all looks pretty bad. The super cold temperatures that lasted for weeks took their toll. The daffodils look the healthiest at the moment but even they look a bit sad.

A patch of crocus down by the bay seem like they weathered the winter unscathed. Mine aren't showing much promise. What's come up is spindly and sparse.

Since these might be the only flowers I have this spring, I've decided to let my Valentine's project stay in rotation a little longer. Those flowers are a lot of fun to work on. 

 

Like a Hole in the Head....

 

That's how much I need more yarn but look what showed up yesterday. I can't praise this company highly enough in terms of their delivery speed. It's always here in a flash.

So what got me all hot and bothered? New colorways. I couldn't resist after seeing the YouTube short they put out showing them off. 

These two immediately caught my attention. The pink one is so pretty and the landscape pattern would make some nice, non-boring man socks. The socks that are on my needles now are coming off today so these two will NOT go in the stash but right into production as soon as I find the time to cast them on.

Also in the mail was more fabric. I don't need more fabric but I bought this pack of charm squares because I was running out of them for the Color Wash quilt and am too lazy to cut yardage into 1 1/2 inch strips. I love charm squares. I love anything that's already cut up for me. I hate working with big pieces of fabric. Too fiddly. 

And....look what else showed up in the mail this week. One of my soap friends made me this darling little purse and filled it with those tiny Barbie buttons I'm always on the hunt for. 

Look how cute the inside is. It's got all these little compartments. It boggles my mind how something like this is made. Thanks so much M! It is greatly appreciated. 

Friday Fluff

 

How it started. 

How it ended. I loved this fiber braid so much that I swore I wasn't going to ever spin it, just admire it but I did. It's not particularly soft so more than likely it will be next year's Croc Socks, the ones I pull over my regular socks when I don't want cold, wet feet. 

I also retired another stitch marker on the Pi Shawl and am close to retiring another. That will leave eight.

Yesterday's Betty race resulted in two decent loaves but there was a clear winner. A Better Betty.

Betty White was the best when it came to looks, texture and taste. Oh, dear. Now I have a hard decision. Do I abandon Brown Betty, my first born, and only keep Betty White (who is still a bit unreliable tbh)? Do I tinker with Brown Betty? Decisions, decisions.