i like lemons

The Claudia Hat is the first hat that I’ve knit since the end of December. It’s a beautiful but fairly simple pattern and only took a day and a half, knitting at a leisurely pace. The design is suitable for men and women.

I went up a size on the suggested needles, since I like my hats to fit a little looser. There was a bit of laddering when I switched from circulars to dpns, but that is completely my fault. I’m still hit-and-miss with dpns: sometimes I ladder, sometimes I don’t. Practice, practice, practice.

The pattern is a definite keeper and I will knit it again when the opportunity arises.

More pictures at Flickr

Last week I tried dying yarn with Kool-Aid for the first time. The tutorials at Knitty and Keep On Knitting In The Free World were my guides. I am pleased to say I managed to not make a mess or stain myself.

I tried the Kool-Aid dying on the leftover natural marl Patons Classic Merino (100% wool) I had from knitting the Scrunchable Scarf. The store didn’t have many flavors/colors (no blues or greens), so I went with grape, black cherry and strawberry. I also did a test on some Lion Brand Wool-Ease (80% acrylic/20% wool) with the leftover Kool-Aid.

The Patons took the dye very well. The Kool-Aid even got rid of the nasty chemical smell that had plagued the skeins of Patons. The Lion took the dye too, though to a lesser degree. I knit swatches of each and after five handwashes, the Patons has stayed colorfast, but the Lion continues to bleed.

I’m not sure what I’ll use this ball of yarn for; maybe a simple ribbed, black-striped scarf. I have ordered some plain yarn from Knit Picks to continue experimenting. Here are a few reminders for next time:

*Use the top part of the broiler pan (that allows for drainage) so that any dye that isn’t immediately soaked up by the yarn doesn’t pool on the underside of the hank and make muddied colors.

*When setting the color in the microwave, heat for 1.5 minutes, cool for 5 minutes. Do 2-3 cycles.

*Play around with my old Wiltons food coloring pastes and vinegar to dye the yarn.

*Try making self-striping yarn.

top: Patons; bottom: Lion

More pictures at Flickr

Creamed spinach has always been one of those pseudo vegetable side dishes. With all that cream and butter you can’t really taste the spinach, but because it’s green and has the word “spinach” in it you count it as a veggie.

I came up with this recipe as a healthier alternative. It has no added oil or butter. I like to use it as a pasta sauce and it also makes a good base for a lasagna filling and for spinach dip.

Creamed Spinach

2 10 oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, undrained
1 green onion, finely chopped
2 cups broth (chicken, vegetable or whatever compliments what you are serving)
1 8oz. package Neufchatel or cream cheese, in small chunks
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Pinch nutmeg
2-3 tablespoons cornstarch (depends on how thick you would like it)
1/4 cup water

In saucepan, over medium heat, combine broth, cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Once mixture is boiling and cheese is mostly melted, add spinach and green onion and bring to a boil again. Make a slurry out of cornstarch and water, slowly add it to the spinach mixture and boil until thick. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Makes 8 servings.

*****

For a quick dinner I like to mix some creamed spinach with linguine noodles (as shown in the pictures). If you need protein you can add grilled chicken breast or steak. Sprinkle with some parmesan, quattro formaggio or other favorite cheese.

Lasagna filling: Mix half a recipe of the creamed spinach with a pound of ground turkey that has been browned with a diced yellow or white onion.

Spinach dip: Refrigerate a half recipe of the creamed spinach until well chilled. Combine spinach with 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (or sour cream if you are feeling decadent), 1/4 cup finely diced yellow or white onion and 1 cup of grated carrots. Salt and pepper to taste.

While this recipe can be frozen, the spinach doesn’t always keep its green color very well. If you do choose to freeze a portion, be sure to reheat it very thoroughly, otherwise it will have a curdled appearance.

More pictures at Flickr

Number of olives knit this week: 3 (green)
Total for the year to date: 25

After buying a couple of skeins of Patons Classic Merino in color Natural Marl on a whim, I had no idea what to do with it. Scrunchable Scarf came up in a Ravelry search and it looked good in marled colorways, so problem solved!

Knit Notes
*Started Sunday, February 10, 2008. Finished Wednesday, February 13, 2008.

*Cast on 26 sts on US sz 10.5s to make the scarf 4-inches wide. Knitting until it was 65-inches long used up about 1.25 skeins of the Patons. The large needles give a nice drape but still makes for a warm and cozy scarf.

*The Patons yarn smelled really bad! Bad enough to give me a headache on the first day and make me somewhat queasy on the other days. The smell was chemical, like a solvent. I’ve never had that problem with Patons yarn before. Hopefully I’ll be able to get the smell out so I can actually wear the scarf.

*The scarf looks a lot like the Enjoyable Rib Stitch Scarf, except without the yarnover openness. Pattern is suitable for men and women.

More pictures at Flickr