Another thing.

Although I have a pile of partly-finished items, and it's "Aftober" on KnitTalk, which means we are challenged/encouraged to finish things, I started a new one:

This is the Radiant Rays Blanket, and I'm doing it in the pattern yarn, which is discontinued but I have some cakes.  Not the six the pattern requires, but the final version is around 55" across with all that yarn, so my three cakes (and a smidge I might use from a similar colourway) should do a decent-sized baby blanket.  As you can see, one cake in and it's about 21" across.

Once you get to the penultimate row, you stop and take all those chain lines, then link them together from the centre to the edge.  The final row locks the loops so they stay in place.  I am debating whether to also add a small border so it's a bit more finished, but I'll see where I am when done with the third cake.

The first two or three rows were challenging, then the wedges had enough stitches to be visible.  Now it's almost at autopilot stage, although the first stitch after the chain line is fiddly.

I've also been doing chores.  And listening to news.  I know people in Israel, and when I was there it was during the Lebanon war and we were traveling close enough one day to hear the shelling.  I've heard quite a bit from friends about the air raids and bombings, and I suppose it being the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War was too tempting.  Plus Shabbat, when many Jews would be observing the day of rest.

I try to not be political on this blog - there are so many of those, if you want to read them.  But how can I not mention this?  I've mentioned the war in Ukraine, which is well into its second year.  Parts of my family may have come from that area (documents are a bit sketchy), certainly from that part of Europe.  Both seem to be just more examples of how certain factions of the world want to destroy Jews.

Genocides and wars keep happening all over the world, not just in these two areas, although they are of the greatest attention to most Americans.  That level of hatred and fear of people - so great that you want to wipe them off the face of the planet - is something I just cannot comprehend, despite the examples that show themselves day after day after month after year............

Like a Day in August 1942

Well, not quite.

Catching up on some magazines, I read an article in my university alumni's summer issue about meal planning during WWII.  In addition to information about Meta Given and The Modern Family Cook Book and her meal planning and "diet pattern" (this from the days when "diet" meant "how you eat overall" and wasn't automatically a slimming plan), it includes a sample menu for a day in August.

I decided it looked interesting, and wanted to try using it for a day's meal planning.  Not wanting to wait until August, I decided to use what I have on hand.  In addition to these accommodations, I don't drink either coffee or milk, the two beverages listed, so you'll see glasses of cold tea (I don't like ice in it at home, as it dilutes the drink unnecessarily, and I have a pitcher in the refrigerator) with the meals.

The next problem was that at least one meal includes a cooked item for which I need a recipe - which cookbook to choose?

After a quick perusal of my cookbooks of approximately that era, I decided The Joy of Cooking made the most sense as a homemaker might have received a copy as a bride, and would still be using it.  I have a facsimile of the 1931 edition, so that's close enough.  I found a YouTuber who used the 1943 edition, which might be closer given the dates in the article, but the recipes she made require ingredients I don't have and the ones I need doesn't appear to be things that would change much in 10-11 years.

Breakfast does not need recipes:

• White grapes
• Prepared Cereal with Top Milk (= cream)
• Toast with Butter, Jam
• Coffee for Adults
• Milk for Children

This is mine:

I did not have grapes, so substituted a banana, on Raisin Bran.  Glass of green tea at right; I am finishing the pitcher so haven't made a more standard tea they would be likely to have in the 1940's.  Yes, my toast has butter on one side and peach jam on the other, because that is how I felt like eating it today.  I don't generally like having both butter and jam on the same piece of toast.

The peach jam is a nod to the original menus (peaches show up at supper), and is an old-fashioned style from the farm in Connecticut that hosted my first CSA shares.

I don't have much milk so decided to put orange juice on the cereal.  I like the combination, which I started using in college when the milk machines failed and we didn't have milk for a while.  That's also what put me off drinking milk.

Lunch required some cooking, but not much:

• Creamed Eggs on Toast
• Sliced Tomatoes and Lettuce Wedges, French Dressing
• Fresh Pears
• Hot or Iced Tea
• Milk for Children

This required a recipe for "creamed eggs".  I didn't know whether it would be hard-cooked eggs in a cream sauce (I have something similar to that for curried eggs, and have seen variations for ladies' luncheon menus), or eggs scrambled with cream, or what?  It turns out they are shirred eggs with white sauce:

I buttered the cup and sprinkled in seasonings, then added two eggs in the cup since there was room (Meta Given recommends one per day, or 3-4 per week, and since I haven't had any this week, I splurged), to make a heartier lunch.  I don't have parsley or celery, but remembered some fresh spinach, so tucked a few leaves (washed and torn) into the cup:

    

Left is at the beginning; sorry it's blurry.  On the right is the cooked eggs and they are blurry because of steam.  I didn't check the timings.  While they cooked, I made white sauce:

I made half the recipe, so one tablespoon of butter and a bit less than a tablespoon of flour, melted and stirred together.  Then a half-cup of milk (I had a bit less, so increased with water), stirred until it got thickish, then added seasonings.  Since I forgot the nutmeg in the eggs, I added it here.

The cookbook includes two recipes for French Dressing, and in the interest of time I'm doing the simpler but will try the other at some point:

So this is the final result, without sauce, showing the seasonings from the bottom of the egg cup:

I have romaine lettuce, so it's slices/shreds instead of wedges.

Now I have added a few spoonfuls of sauce to the eggs - not very photogenic, sorry:

The salad is lightly dressed, so the dressing is not visible, especially as it's a vinaigrette.  Not shown is the glass of cold tea.

It was a fairly tasty lunch but more fussy than I usually do; if I were to have eggs on toast, it would be something quicker like fried or scrambled.  The white sauce is very nice and I thought I'd cook the rest of the spinach and blend them together to make creamed spinach for lunch tomorrow.

Dinner menu required several adjustments:

• Cold Sliced Fresh Boston Style Pork Butt
• Corn on the Cob
• Creamed Turnips
• Grated Carrot, Apple, and Orange Salad
• Bread and Butter
• Fresh Peach Tarts
• Coffee for Adults
• Milk for Children

I almost never eat pork, so substituted the last couple slices of some deli roast beef.  The reason the menu refers to "Fresh Boston Style Pork Butt" is that this distinguishes it from smoked or cured pork butt.  It is actually part of the pig's shoulder, the blade roast.  In case you wonder how to cook it:

I do not have turnips or oranges, and peaches are not in season.  Since Meta Given includes a serving of potato in her daily food group, I thought that would be a natural substitute for the turnip.  I looked up a few recipes to figure out substitutions.

When I read the last line, I remembered the leftover cream sauce from lunch.  So I boiled a small potato, cut into chunks, in the same pot with the corn on the cob.  After they were done, I fished out the corn, drained the potato chunks (realizing too late I should have retained some of the water), and stirred them into the leftover sauce.  It had thickened in the refrigerator, and the ratio of potato to sauce didn't leave much for being soppingly creamy, but it was sufficient and disposed of leftovers.  So, no creamed spinach tomorrow.

While those boiled, I looked up carrot salad recipes; there weren't any for apple salad.

Not helpful given the menu description.  So I simply diced the carrot and apple into small bits, since I could not find my box grater, and added a splash of orange juice instead of French dressing.

I did get some plums at the weekly farmstand, but didn't feel like doing a crust and tart for one person.  So I finessed it with a fresh plum and shortbread cooky, which I thought is fairly close to pie pastry in terms of ingredients and being baked.  This is my result:

Clockwise from the top:  Carrot and Apple Salad with Orange Juice; leftover roast beef; fresh boiled Corn on the Cob; Creamed Potato; fresh plum, shortbread cooky, and bread and butter, which looks oddly-shaped as it's the rest of the slice from lunch, from which I'd cut the round bit to toast.

Overall the meals were good and more variety than I usually include in my menus.  For a family it makes sense to have multiple dishes; I often will eat more simply, as a sandwich or salad at lunch, and for supper I'd have about half the items the dinner menu included.  Bread and butter at every meal adds a filling item that would be easy to adjust in quantity for each person; I generally don't have it with a meal, I wouldn't have both cereal and toast at breakfast.

It's helpful to have menu suggestions when cooking a historical meal, as otherwise it's a bunch of recipes collated with my personal, more modern sensibility.  Now I am curious to track down a copy of The Modern Family Cook Book (she published other books as well, including a two-volume Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking) and learn more about Meta Given.

Yep, I did.

First time voting in the new place I live.  I had to confirm that I am over 18 years old and have lived here for more than thirty days, and that I can understand the ballot.  It's the first time I have lived in a place with early voting, so there wasn't a line and it was very quick.  Also, only two questions on the ballot.

This weekend is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and when I was in Dallas I picked up a box of mooncakes.  So I have been happily eating them for breakfast this weekend.

Buying six scored a box for gifting or displaying the mooncakes.  I gave one to the friend with whom I stayed that week, ate one because I couldn't resist, so used the two open spaces to transport two of the Dragon Boat Decorations I made.

I also knitted two hats this week:

The one on the left is made of sock yarn leftovers, plus a ball of Kroy Sock that I purchased with a coupon, so inexpensively.  The other is Wool-Ease Thick & Quick.  Both patterns mostly made-up, although I based the righthand one on a pattern that came with the yarn.

Work was busy, especially the last couple of days, as it was not just monthend but end-of-quarter, and for some reason it seemed people forgot until Thursday that the last business day was Friday.  So all of a sudden, everything was escalating and documents were flying around for signatures.

So naturally on Thursday I had to attend a donor thank-you and fundraiser for the North Carolina Opera.  Luckily they had food and drink which served as dinner, and I could handle a couple easy things on my phone, then got back to work as soon as I returned home.

And the House of Representatives decided that they needed to stop their playground squabbles and agree on a budget measure to keep the government running for the next 45 days.  Rather a near thing.  Let's hope they decide to be more collaborative and get a final budget put together before time runs out.

There and There and Back Again.

I made it to DFW Fiber Fest last Sunday, and delivered all my donations, plus a donations form with photos of all the items (the ones left previously and the ones that I carried) on the back.  The volunteer who accepted my bag grinned hugely when he saw it, as it makes their work very much easier!  I had time on Saturday while traveling, and in the evening, to make two more blanket pieces out of scraps:

Yes, the one on the left looks a bit wonky, but it measured evenly.

The class I took was on Dragon Boat Decorations and I am fascinated and we all started making many with different designs and colours and I think if they'd let us we would have been there until the event closed.  Mine are the three in the lower lefthand corner:

I finished with a volunteer shift for closing, packing away yarnbombing items and helping vendors pack and move out of the vendor hall.

Then I flew out to San Diego and spent three days at a conference, which was small but meant for learning and networking:

Back to Dallas, since it's very difficult to get flights across the country unless you live in New York or Washington, DC, and then home the next day.  While at the conference and traveling to Dallas I knit a hat, and then I made another one:

In a sense I knit three hats, because the one on the left came out too tight on the first go, so I knit it again with an additional repeat's worth of stitches, and this is a better size.  Both are destined for sale in a holiday crafts show in November, and if they don't sell they are going to charity.

I've read two books, one finishing "The Time Machine" which was an assignment in my class on the origins of science fiction, and the other "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" which was written for young adults but I found it very interesting.  When I recorded them I saw my last books read were finished in June, so it's been a gap of time when I didn't have the mojo, it seems.  I did reading but mostly magazines, and also books on cybersecurity and the like while I participated in a drafting workshop related to the CISSP exam.

I got home just ahead of Tropical Storm/Cyclone Ophelia, which gave us a very windy and wet Friday evening and most of Saturday.  She departed just in time for my parents and me to go to the season opener for the North Carolina Symphony, which was just marvellous.

Now it's almost time for Yom Kippur, the most solemn of Jewish observances, a day of reflection and repentance.  In addition to the thoughts at the top of this post, I wish to share the following, which my best friend shared to me.  The Vidui is a recital we make several times in the next 24 hours, and the one used in services is an acknowledgement of failings, both individually and collectively.  This one is the other side, an acknowledgement of accomplishments, and a reminder of what to continute to do:

To all who observe, may you have an easy fast and be written for a healthy and happy 5784.

A Flock of Sheep.

The Board of DFW Fiber Fest do so much to create an event every year, a place for fiber people of all kinds to come together every year to revel in what we love.  I decided to make something to thank them, and created some sheep soaps with a relaxing green tea and cucumber fragrance.  I tried to do a decorative colouring but it looked accidental, and not in a good way, so I rebatched the soap (it's melt-and-pour, so that's easy) and ended up with a flock of green sheep with faint gold sparkle:

In case somebody has concerns about scent or other sensitivities, I included two goat-patterned soaps made with a goats-milk base and no added colour or scent.

Just in time, I finished the blanket:

It is 50"x63" - just enough!

Also, this morning, with a bit of yarn chicken, I finished another scarf:

The one on the left finished this morning; the other a few days ago.

Sorry it's so blurry - literally inches!

I have a few more things to report, but I am running short of time before services and departing.  L'Shana Tovah to all who celebrate the new year 5784 - may you be written for a sweet and happy year.

Finished the border, started another.

The blanket I began in June is closing on finished - but unfortunately, not as quickly as I hoped.  I finished the border this week, and grafted the beginning to end, and measured:

According to the Warm Up, America! website, an adult blanket is supposed to be 49"x63".  After the border was added (five and a half skeins of Bernat Super Value Stripes, I'm glad I bought the extra one), it measures 44 inches by roughly 60 inches:

I recognize that the WUA size is based upon 49 blocks measuring 7"x9" put into a seven-by-seven grid.  However, it seems better to me to come as close to their required measurements as possible.  Quick math shows mine is three inches short in length and five inches short in width - not a discrepancy than can be easily hidden when adding a quick crocheted border, which had been my plan.

So instead of simply adding a border and done, I am adding inches.  I picked up from the back so there would be echoing bands that appear to be slip-stitch on the front of the blanket.

And the blanket is back to being a big wad of knitting.

I plan to add eight rows (four ridges) of garter stitch all around, since that works out to about one inch.  Then I will bind off the short sides and add more on each of the long sides, then do a crocheted border around the whole thing to make it tidy and finished.  That should be the required size, or close enough if my guesses about the purples multi yarn quantity are correct.

I did take time to make another of the Bernat Alize Blanket-EZ Stripes scarves this afternoon:

I wanted to see I could accomplish it in an hour.  Once again it took about two hours and would have taken less had there not been some extraordinary tangles where the yarn had gone through loops of itself.  I was tempted to take a photo but was too focused on figuring out how to un-do it without having to cut - and I managed. 

This means my hope of doing one of the DFW Fiber Fest do-along patterns by next weekend have gone to nil.  I will try to have one or both done for next year.  And I'll need to do them quickly, as they might issue new patterns for next year - they've done a few in the past.

Yarn Chicken - Won!

In knitting or crocheting, when we're nearing the end of our yarn and have to finish something, and we're not sure we'll make it before the yarn runs out, we call it "yarn chicken".  I made it with the Simple Crescent Shawl:

Yarn is some ancient Berroco Topaz, about two balls.

Yes, ends need to be woven in.  I plan to do that, and the ends from last week, later, once the purples-and-pinks blanket is finished.  The additional yarn for it arrived, and I made sure to finish the shawl before I got back to it, but I've just finished the second colour repeat from the new skein.

Not too much else to report this week.  I have been gathering and organizing things for a community tag sale next Saturday morning.  Yes, there will be yarn included.  Also some pattern books.  Plus just about every window covering left by the previous owner, none of which are to my taste.  I'm keeping the livingroom rods as those are undistinguished but replaced the curtains and sheers.  I took down another set of rods and the finials are too big for the space and they scraped the walls.  That room is getting painted anyway, so the painter can repair things and I am getting rods that will fit.

I found out that the article I wrote in July was accepted for publication, and one of my weekend tasks is to make some small revisions to it.  I was also granted a co-byline for an article that I proofread and for which I provided a few suggestions, which was very kind of the original co-authors.

In the next two weeks I want to finish this blanket, and then the crochet do-along for DFW Fiber Fest.  I won't be there for the meet-up, but it will be fun to try to finish since I am starting so late.  I plan to use some yarn I purchased last year.  I crochet fast, shall report if I accomplish this goal.