July 2008 Archives

The Jae Slouchy Buckle Tank design is Done and finally has pictures! Snails finish designs faster than me, seriously. This project's intermittent progress has a drawn out history - previous posts 1, 2, 3, & 4. Laughably this has been completed for weeks, and have been to busy and too damn hot out (104 today, oh yeah) to get out and take some photos. Mr. PieKnits bravely endured the 100+ heat to help me get some shots.

Now to just get my butt in gear and finish up the pattern!

The buckles on this really please me. The entire neckline, straps and armholes are all finished with a worked-in I-cord edging- no finishing!

I liked combining two completely different yarns on this. The green is a 100% wool and works well as a good memory yarn to keep the ribbing very grippy. Being less slippery, it also keeps the buckle straps in place. The body of the tank uses a cotton/linen blend to create drape and keep the piece cooler for warm weather wear.

The pockets are picked up and worked sideways with some coordinating buttons securing the far edges.

Pattern: Jae Buckle Tank (own design- pattern coming soon!)
Gauge: 22 sts and 28 rows = 4" in St st on smaller needles.
Needle size: US Size 8 (5mm): 24" circular, US Size 5 (3.75mm): 24" circular
Yarn: KnitPicks CotLin (70% Tanguis Cotton, 30% Linen; 123yds per 50g ball) Color: #23990 Desert Turquoise; Lion Wool (100% Wool; 158yds per 85g ball) Color: #132 Lemongrass
Skill level: Advanced Beginner (Applied i-cord edgings, picking up stitches)

With the busy summer months in swing and coming down sick I feel I haven't been getting anything crafty done. I decided I needed to pluck an instant gratification project from my queue. Hellooo Quickie Plastic Bag Holder!

The name does not misinform, I think this was the quickest project I have ever knit.
It is also my first project done using the Magic Loop method as I wanted to knit it in the round. I primarily use my Denise Interchangeable needles and while I love them for nearly everything I did find the cables a bit too thick and inflexible for Magic Loop. It seemed to put undo stress on the seams and so I usually use double points. I do not have size 17 dpns however nor any desire to purchase ones and for such a loosely knit piece the Denise's worked great.

The stats including my modifications.
Pattern: The Quickie Plastic Bag Holder by Anna Peck of Knitting Up a Storm.
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft - Lt. Country Blue
Needles: Denise US 15 and 10.5
Mods: Worked in the round w/ magic loop (seaming lace sucks!). Cast on 26 sts to eliminate selvedge. Row 2 knit instead of purl. Worked about 15" in length. Cut long tail and drew through final stitches and used that to crochet a single chain to form top loop.

The other day eagle-eye reader Shelly let me know PieKnits had been featured in the July issue of UK magazine Simply Knitting! I totally had to go and pick up an issue, hehe.

(Click to enlarge and read)

I won a blog give-a-way! Woo!

The lovely Juliana from Knittiana sent this all the way from Germany. The Lace Style book along with a beautiful card, gorgeous hand dyed sock yarn from her friend at The Yarn Yard and vintage glass buttons. I feel mighty lucky right now.

In other goodies- look who got a new camera! YEAY! All the photos on this site have been taken using a 5-6 year old 3.2 mpx point-and-shoot and I feel I had stretched that camera to its limit. Plus the thing was heavy enough to cause me to forgo bringing it traveling and out & about. The new one is a Canon Powershot SD750, great for photos of friends and with nice enough options to handle my other photography until I can save up for my real baby- a Nikon D80 hehe.

Playing with the new toy I was amused to discover, after messing with settings, the sound for the 2 second timer delay was a dog howling (countdown) and a bark (for shutter release) much to Aejaz's disquiet.

Dabbling with the Macro function and my flourishing Marigold's (That I grew form seed! I'm disproportionately proud of this).
Now I just need to get around to some actual knitting to photograph, heh.

Or- Belgian wheat beer inspired shortbread?

So this gardening thing, it's an ongoing experiment. My little herb garden I planted is thriving, the Cilantro being the first to take off. I had a pretty green fountain of Coriander leaves and then one day it had suddenly bolted (flowering and gone to seed) and all the leaves were gone. At first I was disappointed I didn't harvest more not realizing it did this so quickly but then realized I now had my own coriander seeds!

I harvested the seeds and thought about what I could make with them. We use the seeds and ground coriander frequently in Indian cooking but I really wanted something simple that would let my little trove of spice shine. And I wanted it to be a baked good, because I have a compulsion.

Shortbread immediately came to mind, and I've often seen it made with different herb/spice variations. Coriander seeds have a nutty aroma with citrus notes of the lemony/orange persuasion. It is often used in Belgian wheat beer along with orange (Blue Moon being a recent favorite lent additional inspiration). I dry roasted the seeds to bring out their flavor further and ground them in my mortar and pestle - woh do they pack a much more concentrated aroma punch than store bought!

Coriander Shortbread

1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups cold unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon orange extract/zest (optional)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground coriander (slightly less if using freshly ground)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 275°F.

This can be made using a food processor or mixer.

For the food processor:
Process the sugars for a minute until sugars are very fine.
Add the butter, cut into 1 inch cubes and pulse until all sugar is combined. Add extract/zest if using.
In a separate bowl combine flour, coriander and salt.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture and pulse until crumbly and combined
Turn out dough and knead slightly to bring mixture together.

For an electric mixer or by hand:
Using softened butter, beat until smooth. Add sugars and beat until creamed together and light and fluffy.
Add flour in two parts mixing until holds together.

For both methods:
Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Press each half into an ungreased 8-inch round cake or tart pan.
Use the tines of a fork to press 3/4-inch lines radiating like rays of sun all around the perimeter of the dough. Prick the rest of the dough all over with the tines of the fork.
Bake for 60-70 minutes or until pale golden (do not brown). For even baking, rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking period.
Cool in the pans, on a wire rack, for 10 minutes.
Invert the shortbread onto flat cookie sheet and slide it onto a cutting board. While still warm, use a long sharp knife to cut each 8-inch round of shortbread into 8 pie-shaped wedges.
Transfer the wedges to wire racks to cool completely.

Have a good 4th of July!