In the Kitchen with Betty

 

Betty and I have had some ups and downs lately. This loaf was a down. I tried a 24 hour cold proofing for the first time and ouf...all that extra fermentation made a very sour loaf. I won't be doing that again. 12 hours is the limit for me. 

Straight off that fail Betty and I tried making a few bagels. 

I was rather intimidated by all the steps you have to take. I've never boiled bread dough.

Whoops...I was caught up in something that was going on with the Olympics and let them get a little too brown in the oven.

So I split one right after taking it out to see how bad it might be and it was so good that even after protesting he was full from dinner, The Mister ate an entire half covered in blueberry jam. For the record, I did not cold proof these at all. They went in for the boil right after their second rise. 

Let the Games Begin!

 

My Olympic spin got underway yesterday while I was watching the Opening Ceremony.

I didn't get very far because this particular fiber put up a real fight. It's a very old braid and it's going to take a lot of pre-drafting to get it into spinning condition and I didn't have the patience for it yesterday. 

I was still in recovery mode from my latest Grand sitting adventure and was more interested in knitting and watching this than fighting with fiber. I love the opening and closing ceremonies and watched the live stream all day which included a lot of weird behind the scenes craziness in the morning. 

It was also another Happy Taylor Swift day as she premiered her latest music video yesterday morning. She also popped up in the Opening Ceremony wishing all the athletes good luck. 

And here we come. Love the hats....

 

..but I'm going to put this in the category of "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything" but I will say there's an awful lot going on there. 

It was a long wait to get to the big finish....

...but it was worth it. Ben fatto, Italia!

History Repeats Itself

 

Once upon a time I made one of these to wear downtown so it only makes sense that I make one of ......

....of these along with 6990 other Ravelers who have bought the pattern.

 I went stash diving for red yarn and I had a lot of red yarn. I think this was supposed to be a red cardigan. I've always wanted a red cardigan.

Yesterday, being our recovery from babysitting day, I had nothing much to do but sit on the couch and watch the early Olympic coverage so I got off to a good start. What are the chances I would have the right yarn and the right needle size? It was meant to be.

Small Talk

 

Guess where we've been for the past two days? MIL was not available for sitting so off we went again this week. There was a lot of little car action. 

Baby Grand showed a talent for coloring. We made Valentines.

While Baby Grand was napping we got out Big Grands new art set. He likes to draw tall buildings. When I was in college working on an art degree I used to sit in on the architecture school's classes. I like to draw tall buildings too. 

Betty went along for the ride again so I could keep her fed but before we left I turned some of her into a small boule. Big Grand's a big fan but we had to laugh at the crazy Mohawk this one ended up with. 

Betty always enjoys her visit. So much so that when we got home I didn't have the heart to discard her extremely active extra so instead of collapsing with exhaustion, I ended up giving the overnight recipe another try. It exploded the first time but made the best loaf yet. I'm hoping for less explosion this time but if that's what it takes to get a good loaf-I'm in. 

Wednesday WIPs

 

Slowly but surely The Mister's Riddari is heading to the finish line. The rounds are getting mercifully shorter. The green yoke might surprise you. I let The Mister be in control of the colors and sizing and this is what he wanted. He wanted extra long arms and something colorful. I think he nailed it. 

I have the thumb to knit on the last Holm mitten. The rainbow Glennis Cowl is in her purple era although it's hard to see in this photo. 

The two pairs of socks I have on the needles haven't changed much but I have a few more rows on what I am calling my "back room knits". These two projects live in the sunny sewing room and when I need a quiet moment I head back there with an audio book. The Winter Doodle cowl is close to having its first chart completed and I am very pleased that I managed to pick up and cast on square number 2 of the Hue Shift Afghan. It did take me two tries. I have to say that the striped squares are a lot  more fun to work on than the solid ones. When I get Riddari off the needles I can see this project taking up a space in the living area for some daily attention. It's quite addicting. 

TNT: Getting It Done

 

Christmas Quaker is still hanging around. I'm almost finished that snowflake and then it's going to be packed up.

I have a dedicated February project that I started a few years ago and it's been sitting here waiting its turn since January.

I'm seven rows in on the camel and it's not looking too shabby. That's a surprise. 

I finished the top border of Funky Flower. I never thought I would be a needlepoint fan but I am. 

I'm working on the 5th block of the Patchwork quilt. 

I was on such a roll yesterday that I even got back to work on Dear Jane. A little sunshine and a bit of fresh air makes all the difference. Now if we can only get the thermometer back up into the 30's I'd be happy.

Hearts and Flowers

 

Happy Groundhog's Day! By now we know if it saw its shadow or not. As I write this I'm hoping not because I'm seriously over this winter. I spent yesterday packing up the snowmen decor and taking out the Valentine's Day linens. The poor snowman rug didn't get much attention. January flew by and when I did have time to work on it, the last thing I wanted to think about was snow or whatever that frozen stuff out there might be.

Out came the hearts and flowers. The place is a sea of red and pinks from the door wreath to the kitchen towels. My February rug project just might get another flower this month. Maybe. The spirit hasn't been moving me lately. I've got Cabin Fever and SAD on top of just getting over a cold so the only thing I really want to do is hibernate until spring. 

I even tried perking myself up with a bin of rainbow colored yarn.

It's the Hue Shift Afghan kit that I've had for ages. I've never made a mitered square before so I thought using up some brain energy on something new might get me through the rest of this miserable cold weather. After finishing my first square I came to the realization that knitting this in sport weight was not the best idea. It's going to take me forever.