SPT 013108: Coffee Time

sitting down with the to-do list and some yukon blend.
i have so much to do today, but martha stewart is about to come on. will someone come fold my laundry?

<3
knitxcore.

SPT 012408: Shaving

I took 17 pictures. lol.
I hate shaving more than choclate and peanut butter together.
that's a lot.

<3
knitxcore.

SPT: 011708

today, i had to walk home in the rain.
turns out my new shoes are waterproof.
i'm gonna dry off and start another loaf of no knead bread.

---Today's Video---

Travis - Why Does It Always Rain On Me

A is for Alpaca.

I finished the lil' number just in time to give to my long-time friend Bryan for X-mas (it was kinda belated). We've been friends since we were in high school, and he's the only childhood friend that I still talk to on a regular basis. So, his gift had to be pretty nice. I used the yarn I was kinda hoarding for myself in a fit of LMGS (lastminutegiftsyndrome), although I hated to see it go, I know it will be loved in it's new home.

Pattern Particulars
Pattern Source: The Fidget by Robin Dodge for One Sheep Hill
Needles: Clover Takumi US size 10.5 straight
Materials: Misti Alpaca Chunky in Color #1000, vintage buttons from stash.
Time: Just a few hours.
loved: The stitch pattern! i will absolutely use it again!
hated: That I had to frog it about two or three times.
mods: None, really, I used the second option and just sailed through.

I'm sooper dooper happy with the fidget. I may have to order some more Misti Alpaca to make one for myself now.

---Today's Video---

Mates of State - Goods (all in your head.)




<3
knitxcore.

No Knead Bread!

Since I finally have fancy dutch ovens, I took a stab at the no-knead bread everyone's been gabbing about. It's seriously the easiest recipe ever, it just takes some time for the bread to rise. I skipped the cornmeal step (don't do that), and that lovely loaf above was stuck to the pan in a bad way. Don't worry, we still ate it. It was just a bitch to get the lil' klingons off of the pan when cleaning time rolled around.

I read about it on the NotMartha blog awhile ago, and found a ton of links with different recipes. Ultimately, I used the most popular one from the NYTimes:

Recipe: No-Knead Bread
Published: November 8, 2006

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Easypeasy, right??? The only thing I did differently was switch the all-purpose flour to whole wheat (well, that and the cornmeal thing). Honestly, if it hadn't stuck I would have felt like a master chef. I guess I could try again on Sunday?

In true KnitXcorE style, I have a NoKneadBread video:




thanx for all the well wishes BTW!!!! i'm feeling a lil' better today :-)
<3
knitxcore.

SelfPortraitThursday

Apparently, once you stop taking antibiotics, you get sick. FUNTIMES!

I'm a Rabid Anti-Dentite!!!

If you can't figure out what the crazy apparatus behind me is, or figure out why I'm wearing a bib and there's no lobster in the picture, it's because I've been hangin out at my *awesome* dentist's office.

The story begins:

The Friday before X-mas, I went to work like any normal day. By about 5 o'clock, I felt like death. My face was throbbing and the was a big purple bubble on my gums. Turns out big purple bubble means, "Remember that broken tooth? Well, now you have an abcess!". Gross! The pain was unbearable, and I was deathly afraid it was going to break, so Dave took me straight from work to the emergency room. They pretty much confirmed it was an abscess, gave me antibiotics and pain medicine, and told me that I couldn't go to the dentist until it went away.

So, I was basically doped up through Christmas.

Anyway, the abcess is gone. Yesterday, I finally had my dentist appointment. He poked around for a few minutes, left for about 20 minutes, and came back with a game plan. As it turns out, I need a root canal, filling, and a crown... ON THE SAME TOOTH! I'm pretty excited :-( My appointment was supposed to be tomarrow, they called today and re-scheduled for the 18th. Fun TiMeS!

FIN.

So that's why I haven't blogged in a few weeks. But I haven't let it put a damper on my crafty-style. I've inherited a lifetimes worth of plastic canvas and yarn (I'm not 60, I swear!), so expect some cool stuff. I've started a Fidget with my Chumky Misti Alpaca from Loop, I'm awful at paying attention, but I refuse to use a row counter for a 4-row stitch pattern. Maybe I'm a knitting sadist? Santa brought me not one, but two cast iron dutch ovens that I can't seem to stop playing with and a blooming tea set (a la Marie Atoinette)that I'm waiting to use until we can have a proper tea :-)

Seinfeld-Jerry is a rabid anti-dentite.

<3

knitxcore.