Its all true, the boogie girl is real, and you've found her. She knits, sews, spins, does pottery and writes it all down in this blog.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Eating Monday
BBQ sauce
There are so many combinations of ingredients to make BBQ sauce. Most of them need to be cooked in order for the flavors and richness to come out. I dont cook mine before using it. Well, it's cooked and used at the same time.
1/4 Cup Ketchup
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
2 TBS apple cider vinegar
1 TBS Crushed garlic or garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dry mustard
Mix it all together, add 1/4 cup of water, toss it into the crock pot with some cheap pork cuts. Actually you can make this with any meat or gluten vegan substitute. I usually make it with pork for the husbeast and the kids. So my recipe feeds 2. It's easy to double and make more.
Basically you just continue cooking until the meat falls off the bone or falls apart. I set the crock on high for 30 minutes until it's warmed up and then I turn it to low and let it go for a good 5-6 hours or more.
If you want to make just the BBQ sauce then you'll want to double it. Don't add any water. Simmer at low to medium heat for about an hour. Make sure to stir occasionally.
Happy Grammy Feet
Check out the yarn stash behind her and the crochet project on the floor. She makes the best afghans. Which shes trying to sell for the price of the yarn just so she can buy more yarn. So if you want one, holler. Sorry, this wasn't meant to be a pimp out for the Gram, sometimes my fingers run away with themselves. Still, since the stroke, crocheting is about all she has left that she can do. She never got back the ability to read and a few other things. So most days she spends crocheting. And now she has a crazy stack of afghans! ok, back to the socks, here's a close up:
Thank you for all the great comments on Friday. I have to completely re write the pattern. Even though I backed it up, I can't find it. Really that was a good capper to the week, I just couldn't write it over the weekend. It takes some mental thought to make a pattern coherent to others. I can knit it again in exactly the same way. It's written in my head, as is the shawl I posted a week or so ago.
As soon as my brain is unfolded and working, I'll get the patterns written out.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Stella's Sock
It only seems fitting that I name this sock after my Gram. If you've been with me for a while you've heard several stories involving my Gram. She's the wonderful lady that taught me to sew, knit and crochet.
Occasionally I go to sit with her and I bring my knittng. She's always interested in what I'm working on. She never learned to read a knitting pattern but she can read a piece of knitting like no one else. Of course, she always picks up what I'm working on to figure out the pattern. It's not as easy for her now since the stroke but she can still do it.
The other day she was having a bad day so I brought my sock over and sat for a while. While holding onto my sock Gram told me stories about her mother-in-law who would knit socks for mill workers. The men would bring her money and the yarn. Throughout the day and over night my great grandmother would knit a pair of socks. The next day she would take the money and go into the city. Seeing how they lived on a farm, the city was a big deal.
Can you imagine? A pair of socks in one day!
Gram admired my sock quite a bit. But she had gone back to her blanket. I asked Gram if she wanted socks. Her eyes got huge. These socks? She whipped off her shoe and her own sock and slipped this one on.
Yeah, Gram, these are yours as soon as I get the other one finished. Talk about a happy lady. Not to mention the pattern from these socks came from an old pattern I found in one of her books. I've done this pattern a couple of times. With the other zig zag patterns out there I didn't think you all needed another. Still, this one is slightly different so I figured what they heck, you can't have too many free patterns. Right?
So these socks:
Will be for Gram as soon as they're done. I would have had them done if it hadn't been the week from hell here at chez Boogie. If you click the picture, you'll get the pattern.
Have a restful weekend everyone.
**edit**
To prove this has been the week from hell. I noticed a typo in my pattern, so I fixed it and then my html creation program came up with a "fatal error". Ok, so I shut it down and restart. No biggie. Except that it took the razor's edge pattern and deleted it. I have a sneaky suspicion some other pages that were open might be gone too.
Hang tight. I'll get it back up there after I retreive my computer from the corner of the living room where I'm about to toss it.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Spectacularly NOT pooling
My lovely sock done in October's Club colors were NOT pooling. It was so spectacular. I knew the heel might throw a wrench into the deal but I trudged along and decided to do a flap and gusset since it had been a while.
Unfortunately when I picked up the gusset stitches and started to knit around and around, the pooling began. I normally don't mind pooling. I figure if you're going to pool, do it throughout. I can't have a half pooled sock.I wish I had a good picture of the pooling but I wasn't going to continue row after row just to show the pooling well. So imagine a pooled sock foot here.
I frogged it and started my afterthought heel. Occasionally I get questions about afterthought heels and I thought I'd take a few photos since the camera was out documenting my frogging.
You figure out what stitches are the heel stitches and you work in stst with your scrap yarn over those stitches. This will be a free pattern as soon as I get it all written up and will explain the stitches to do the afterthought over. I'll even be showing the yarn in color then!
There is one row done in the scrap yarn. Then you go back to where you left off with the regular yarn and knit that over the scrap heel and pretend like that isn't there, you're just continuing on down the foot.
And the sock was ready to continue on down the foot. Sockbug approved.
One sock is now done and the other sock is at the stage of needing the afterthought heel. I'll have the pattern available free on Friday. You'll also get to see the real colors of the sock as most club members should have their selections by then. It's a wild one.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Eating Monday
Everyone and their dog has a recipe for Apple Crisp. I'm pretty sure though, that I make mine different than most. Mine is sugar and gluten free. Some of you are skipping right to the knitting content but really it's not bad. I quite like it.
See, it looks good:
Peel, core and slice 6 med-large sized MacIntosh Apples.
Put them in your oven safe pan. Sprinkle with nutmeg and Cinnamon.
Mix together:
1 cup oats
1/4 cup buckwheat (yes, this is gluten free)
1/4 cup Barley Malt sweetener
water, just to moisten if needed.
Crumble this over the apples.
Bake at 350F with tin foil covering it for 30 minutes.
Uncover, bake until crispy and apples have reduced.
Rhinebeck... pshaw
All of you that went to Rhinebeck had nothing on the show that I went to on Saturday. Oh, I know you think you had it good. You were surrounded in fiber and yarn and all kinds of fun stuff.
I went to a different show that was quite a bit closer to us.
That's right.
It was a gun show.
You see, Rhinebeck is easy. There is no challenge there.
Every time you turn around there is more fiber. More yarn.
You know I looked for something to spin or knit at the Gun Show.
I found something too:
Ahh yes, the satisfaction of turning a Gun Show into my own personal little fiber hunt. Now to figure out something wild to make with this parachute cord. I bet it's durable.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Mr. Pinchy
My Dad was playing in his sandbox:
And he noticed a little something in his pond. So he scoooped it up and brought it to me.
No, we're not near the ocean. It was living in fresh water in what can only be described as a puddle. Which Dad is filling in so his little home is gone now.
Since it's been dipping into the freezing temps, the poor little guy wouldn't be alive for long out there in the great big wilderness by his lonesome. So what do I do? I set up the fish tank again. We have done some research. Mr Pinchy is a freshwater crayfish that is probably not native to Maine and may be kept in aquaria
The girls have really been having fun watching Mr.Pinchy try to attack the fish. Yeah, we got fish too. Just a few cheap ones for the wild kingdom atmosphere. Go Mr. Pinchy go.
In other exciting news...
I finished this:
It clicks to make it bigger.
I used my hand dyed merino sport weight which isn't listed yet. I wanted to test the yarn out, I was skeptical of it but now I know it's a really lovely yarn. My intention was to use it as a handwashable sock yarn. This however has made a really soft, nice shawl.
And I love that picot bind off!
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
A place to hang my flag
Way back in 2004 I had an office and a room for the wheels. Then I went and got myself knocked up. Everything was moved into the garage or in corners of the basement where the business is. The stash yarn at the point was moved into the ceiling since it was pushed out of it's corners by wheels. All the homeschool stuff was moved into the kitchen.
My house was (and let's not fool ourselves, it still is) a wreck. Nothing seemed to have a home, it was scattered all over the place and jumbled into corners. Worst of all, the kitchen was so cluttered it was really getting on my nerves.
To make a long story short, I spent some good time cleaning out a little hallway to store it all and now my kitchen table looks like this:
And I now have a place to hang my flag:
Which also conveniently disguises some of the mess. Yes I sitll share the space with the vaccuum - but there is a place ot hang my loom and look:
I particularly enjoy my own little pod coffee maker. It was a lovely freebie that I got and it has a good home. mmm, coffee without having to remove my rump from the chair. But now I have room for all kinds of crap. There is even room to be organized. I took the picture right after moving stuff. It's now been settled in nicely with 2-3 knitting projects. I gotta have something to do when a program is running slow or uploading the website.
That would be Klaralund in Noro Silk Garden Color 84.
In business news....
If you want to pre-order the "Emergency knitting bag"
Just click the photo and you'll be brought to the order page.
If you don't want to work that hard, you can order here by clicking this little button:
$8.50 each
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Email difficulties...
The server Adelphia is having difficulties with it's email servers. Which means that Boogie is having a hard time holding it together sicne she can't get any emails in and if she has an email question, she can't respond to it.
I worked all day yesterday dyeing and by the time I got into the house to work on email, I couldn't do anything. When I called Adelphia, they already knew of the problem although they didn't say they were working on it, or that they care.
Unfortunately I can't even pull the emails off the web because their web email service is messed up too. I can pull orders off the cart directly and I can still ship. I'm not sure anyone will get their shipping notifications since they all come from my email address. I'll see if I can change stuff around and have things coming from my personal email until the problem is solved.
So if you have a question - EMAIL ME HERE
Just so there is a laugh in all the frustrations, I leave you with:
Baby toupee
Muscle Relaxers
Monday, October 16, 2006
Eating Monday
With a little bit of patience, I can make polenta. That and I usually get the big girls help stirring it a bit. It takes about 45 minutes to make but it stores well so it doesn't need to be made often.
6 cups water
2 cups of corn grits/polenta
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs Olive oil
Bring 6 cups of water with salt to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and slowly add in the 2 cups of polenta/grits. All the while continue stirring. When all the grits/polenta have been stirred in, reduce the heat to Medium/low - or if you're not going to watch it carefully put it on low. You need to continue stirring.
this is the point where you get out the knitting. Do a few stitches, stir. Do a few stitches, stir. Keep up the stirring and knitting until the polenta starts to be a bit more solid and pulls away from the side of the pot.
Pour the polenta into a grease baking dish. The polenta will solidify into the shape of your bowl/dish in approximately 10 minutes. I leave it in the dish in the fridge, grabbing pieces when I want some. If you're serving a big group then turn it out onto a plate.
For myself I like to fry up a couple of pieces and top it with some sauce.
handful of mushrooms sliced
handful of onions chopped
2 cloves of garlic
favorite spaghetti sauce.
Fry the mushrooms, onions and garlic - add to the sauce and throw it all over the polenta. Yum.
In knititng news....
I obviously still haven't gotten over the trauma from the DMV. I realized that I couldn't just toss my knitting in the glove compartment and I really don't like plastic bags. I know, they're waterproof. But my needles are always poking through so what's the point then.If the bag says emergency then it makes me giggle when I have to use it instead of feeling frustrated. That and husbeast is less likely to remove it from the car if he should ever get stricken by some strange cleaning bug.
Next week, I'll have more of these available, and I'll be able to show you the colors of the sock I've been working on. I'll also have a free pattern for you. It's not a Jaywalker sock. It's one I've been making since before there was even a Jaywalker sock.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
D M V
I heard that groan.
I don't how the Department of Motor Vehicles is in other countries but here in the US, it's not the most pleasant way to spend half the day. I think I'd rather get teeth pulled.
This story started with me making a 5 minute trip to the Town Offices. My local home town town offices. A quick trip that will only take 5 minutes. Or so I thought.
Through a series of mishaps of which I didn't create I am forced to go to the DMV. The closest of which is a 20 minute drive. I suck it up, call a friend and whine about my fate but I make the drive and arrive at the DMV.
I walk in.
I take my number.
93
I look at the number being served currently.
72
I sit down and grab for my knitting.
Wait.
Where is it?
OH NO
MY KNITTING IS SITTING ON THE KITCHEN TABLE!!!!!!
I can sit here through 20 numbers I think. Right? Sure, I can handle. It's no big deal. Look around. Everyone else can handle it. Pull up your big girl panties and deal with it. Eight minutes later and they just change to serving number 73. I do the math.
Nope, I can't do it. If the week hadn't been so wretched already and if I hadn't been functioning (and I'm using that word loosely here) on a couple of hours of sleep, maybe. Today nope. Boredom aside. I could see myself falling asleep, drool streaming down my chin, number 93 goes by and I wake up when they're closing.
Oh hell no.
What am I going to do?
Think. Think. Think.
Ok, there's this ball of yarn in the car that Baby Boogie plays with. Yes, Baby Boogie has her own yarn and fiber that she loves and plays with. I can take her yarn but what am I going to knit with. I think of using my fingers, do I have pens I can use. It doesn't have to be a good piece of knittign product. I just need the process to keep from getting tossed in the booby hatch.
JOANN's!
They're 4 doors down from the DMV.
Sweet, sweet, Joann's.
I go buy a set of needles. Grab Boogie Baby's yarn from car and I sit back down in the DMV. I start a sock. This is a most blissful piece of knitting. I don't care what it's going to be. I just need to be doing it.
This is where the project will stay too. That 5 minutes of desperation has left me with new grey hairs and a shorter life span. I know the glove compartment emergency knitting project is something many knitters have. It was something I never thought I'd need. Really, if you don't have one yet, be forwarned.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Shop Update
HAPPY SOCKTOBER!!!!
Handpainted Fingering weight yarn
Superwash fingering weight with Nylon is on sale for $12.00 per skein.
Handpainted Sport weight yarn - ON SALE for $10.50 per skein.
The sock yarn sales will end at midnight on Friday 10-13. Hurry before the stock is all gone.
Let's not forget handpainted fiber. HERE:
Including Brand new - Merino and Silk blend!
I have a story to tell you that is completely unrelated to the store update but life has gotten insane. If I told you all that's been happening here, you either wouldn't believe me or would be sending me tons of chocolate. So in a small preservation of sanity I'm logging off the computer for a few hours and playing with a baby and her blocks. The story will be told the next time I update.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Eating Monday
I'm not a huge fan of Soy replacement products. They have their place. They are like the fast food of my diet. McDonalds for vegetarians. At a family barbeque you don't want to be the only one sitting out eating nothing, so I often will turn to those.
To replace the replacements, I've been working of burger recipes that are homemeade lately. I really like this one:
ChickPea Lentil Burgers1 cup Red Lentils (cooked and drained)
1 cans worth Chickpeas
handful fresh Parsley
2 tsp thai seasoning (corriander, ginger, red pepper, Cinnamon)
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
Vegetable stock or egg
Saute the Onions in a bit of oil(sesame is best) with the Thai seasoning until they are translucent. In your processor, blend the Chickpeas, half the lentils, and the onion mix until it's mostly smooth. In a mixing bowl, add the blended ingredients to the rest of the lentils, the Parsley and the Bread crumbs. Use the vegetable stock just to moisten the mixture. If you're not vegan, you can use an egg instead of the vegetable stock I let this sit for a while in the fridge. It helps all the flavors to blend together.
Make your burgers into smallish patties. If you didn't add the egg then your burger will be a little more crumbly so don't get ambitious and make them huge. Then saute or grill the burgers
I found several recipes for Chickpea burgers. One of them served them with a garlic sourcream. Over the week that it took me to eat my batch of burgers I tried several different toppings. I thought they were good plain but they were also good with cheese, and Nayonaise dijon flavor.
Knitting
I've been working too hard lately. I think I described it as a hamster running frantically on its wheel. Working hard but not yet "moving". Still, I have some knitting to show off:
I finished one of Dad's RPM (from knitty summer 2006, the yarn is sport weight "gunsmoke") socks. Well, finished without a heel. When he puts a hole in a sock, it's the heel. So I made the executive decision that all of his socks from now on will have an afterthought heel. They're easier to rip out and replace. 
Then I started on these. The picture looks mighty grey because I can't show you the colors yet. This is the yarn for the October club. It was a new yarn to me so I needed to test it out. Excuses, excuses.... And obviously needed to make sure I had at least 10 socks on the needles. Memory Shawls...
Dianna and Shelley have come with a beautiful and thoughtful way that we as a group can come together and bring some comfort to those that have lost. They are looking for knitters and spinners to help making shawls for each of the Amish women who lost a child last week. Go check out the last 3 entries in Dianna's blog for a lot more information.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING CANADA!
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Wednesday Wrap
Here she is:
Pattern:
This started out as a "Knitting Pure and Simple" pattern. I knit between 2 sizes and I added all the ribbing. I didn't want all garter and the miles of stockinette were driving me mad. I also added ribbon instead of I-cord. I may dislike stockinette, but that's nothing compared to how I feel about I-cord.
Yarn:
Lion Brand Cottonease (stashbuster) 4.5 skeins of Licorice
Needles:
US6
Almost everyone should have club stuff already so I won't hide it this time. This is what I did with my roving this month:
I made sport to fingering weight singles. My intention is to use it to make a lacy scarf. it should stripe nicely. I know I said scarf. Really, I might make a scarf. Well, I'll at least start it. There is something else I'm doing with another roving, but I'm not showing you that one yet.
It's officially Socktoberfest time. I actually did some time on my sock. If it wasn't for soccer practice, I'd still be on the ribbing.
Lolly had some questions for new sock knitters. I have no idea if any new sock knitters stop by here but I figured I'd answer them just in case anyone was curious. Everyone loves random bits of knitting information, right?
When did you start making socks? I made baby and kid socks when I was a teen. I didn't make socks for an adult until I got bored with making baby gear. Which was around the time I was pregnant with the first. So, 6 years ago.
Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative?Gram taught me to knit and knit in the round when I was kid. I taught myself to turn the heel.
What was your first pair? How have they "held up" over time? My first adult pair was done with Bernat Hot Sox. Honeslty I cannot remember where the first pair is, I think I gave it away. I have the second pair and I stil wear them. They are getting a little hole in the heel though.
What would you have done differently?Nothing
What yarns have you particularly enjoyed? I enjoy all yarns. No really. I do really like all the commercial yarns out there. I think my favorite has to be my handspun though. I like wearing them and there is just something magical about making a pair of socks from something you created from the sheep up.
Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method? I don't crochet socks. I knit on DP's. I prefer that over magic loop or 2 on 2 circs. I have tried all methods and I like to do sleeves in the round on magic loop. For some reason I don't want to give up my wooden DP's for socks.
Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?) It depends on my mood. One week I'll tell you flap the next I'll say short row. Lately I seem to be on a short row kick, though. Not too long ago I was doing a lot of afterthought heels.
How many pairs have you made? Oh gosh. That's like asking me to give an accurate inventory of my stash. I'm not sure it's possible. Let's see. Best guess, Mom and Dad each have 9 or 10 pair. Husbeast has had 2 pair (although only 1 still lives), The girls have had about 10 pair between them. I have made myself about 8 pairs. Best estimate is about 40 pairs.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Eating Monday
If you've taken your crock pot for dyeing, go buy another one, or at least a new insert. Crock pot cooking is ridiculously easy to setup and it's like you're not even cooking because you don't have to do anything, it can cook all day while you're at work.
8 ounces of black beans (2 regular cans of beans will work)
2-4 cups of Vegie stock
3-8 cloves of garlic pealed and chopped
1 medium union peeled and chopped
5-6 diced tomatoes (1 lg can would work)
1 diced red bell pepper
1 large handful of TVP or meat (all preference)
Tomato paste if you like a more tomato flavor to your soup
cayene pepper
salt and pepper
hot pepper flakes
Soak your beans overnight (skip this step if you're using canned beans) and rinse, discard the soaking water. Then add everything on the list into the crockpot. Stir it all up, cover, set the crock on low..... Come back tonight after work and eat.
I like to serve it with corn chips and some soy cheese (cheddar will do nicely).
I worked all weekend. I got in a full stock of all the exotic fibers and fibers of natural coloring. Alpaca in 6 colors. ooh ahhh... So I've been busy. I did manage to make a brown and blue jacket for a certain little Brownie.
Don't mind the look on her face... She's not sleepy, it was her "fashion model" pose.And I finished the hems on this:
It's only been hanging in the sewing room since spring.And I finished my BLACK SWEATER!!!
For real this time. I finished it. I don't have pictures yet, because that's more effort then I was willing to extend this morning.
I know you're thinking, how can I claim to work all weekend and still have gotten anything done. Everything is done is shorter intervals. I hate building web pages so I have to take frequent breaks. I work all day on it but in lots of short intervals so I don't end up pitching a fit and tossing the computer out the window. Hopefully some of the pages will be live today or tomorrow.