Talking Turkey or "Monster Crochet"

Episode 22

1. Events:

1. Algonquin Mill fall festival Friday, Saturday, and Sunday October 7,8,9.at the Mill Farm Located 5 miles south of Carollton, oh on rt 332. I'll be at this event on Saturday October 8^th. Bring the family, see the sock machine, and get some sauerkraut before it sells out!
2. Ann Arbor Fiber Expo or the Fuzzy Fair as Melissa has taken to calling it...October 22 and 23^rd at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds.
3. Camp KIP April 21-24 2012 at the Cedar Creek Conference center in New Haven, Missouri
1. Production / Shipping
2. What's In My Tea Pot
3. QC Inspection
4. Materials Sourcing
5. After 5

II Production

1. 

   The knitting on the Twisty Sister Cabled Hand Warmers by Kate Gondwana out of the donated acrylic is done. All that's left is to weave in the ends on the left mitt and take pictures. I really like these the cable pattern looks deceptively complicated. I've been trying them on and I think I'll be casting on a pair for me shortly. I'll have to do some stash diving this week to see what I've got for another pair. I will not miss the red heart yarn it's kinda hard on the fingers. I finished these tonight before getting my show outline together and Joe peered over and asked are you going to finish those before recording tonight? And I said “Yeah, I'll be done in abt ½ an hour.” to which he replied “But their not sealed their just tubes.” Needless to say he doesn't get fingerless mitts.
2. I'm in an odd position knitting wise right now. I have a few UFO's I could pick up again and finish but I saw on my twitter feed that there are less than 100 days to Christmas. I need to decide if I'm doing holiday knitting and who if anyone I'm knitting for. I have ornaments to cast on, I can do puppy puppets for the kids at day care (1.99 download from knitpicks the puppy hand puppets by Yvonne Burcher) http://www.knitpicks.com/cfpatterns/pattern_display.cfm?ID=10170220, or I can finally cast on the Harry Potter inspired Mrs Weasley sweaters for the boys. Then again I have and awesome Blueberries and Honey sock club pattern to cast on from the Knitting in the Red shop on Etsy and socks have been calling my name as of late. So next week will be a total surprise! Even to me!

III What's in My Tea Pot?

1. LIPTON Vanilla Caramel Truffle Tea: A perfectly sweet indulgence. Delicate vanilla blends beautifully with pieces of real caramel and the taste of rich chocolate truffles. Go ahead. You deserve it.
2. I was in walmart for a totally unrelated reason and I wandered down the isle with the tea and found this. Looks like Lipton is getting fancy. It's really pretty good. The bags need some work because if you use the string on the tea bag it can rip a hole in the bag, (My friend the intern found this out the hard way.) The other thing we noticed is that if you favor large mugs like I do definitely use two bags or it's really weak. This has been the tea in my mug this week and has been a hit at the office. (So much that I need a new box.)

IV QC Inspection

1. The Brea Bag by Norah Gaughan being knit in Berroco Ultra Alpaca in color 6279 which is a reddish brown. I made a yardage error. I have the front and the back done. The gusset is about 7 rows from the end. I have nothing to construct the bag with and nothing to finish the edges. <GROAN> so hopefully this week I'll make it up to Stitch piece and purl to see is maybe there's another skein in the right dye lot to finish this up this week.

V Materials Sourcing

1. I'm still struggling with the black cherry slubby fiber. I have almost a full bobbin and more than half of the ball gone. I am getting to the point where I'm about ready to dissect my pretty batt from knitty and Color. If I get in the mood I may just take the black cherry off the wheel for a while and move along. No use working on something I’m not enjoying.

VI After Five

1. Back into the kitchen. Joe was in an adventurous mood this week an bought a turkey to cook for dinner. Joe has seen me do thanksgiving for the last 5 years and you would think he would realize that a turkey has to defrost for a few days and then it takes about 3 ½ to 4 hours to cook. Which on a week night means we're eating at 9-10:00 at night. Not good for the kids. But none the less I did roast a turkey this week. I brine my turkeys. I for thanks giving I use Martha Stewart’s recipe from the 2005 Living Thanksgiving Edition. That recipe is a bit involved for a late night turkey. So I used the recipe from http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/11/how-to-brine-a-turkey/ which was quick and easy and since it uses ice to chill down the brine saves time. We brined our bird for 24 hours in the fridge. When I got home from work I pulled it out of the brine and set it in the roaster while I preheated the oven and cooked dinner for the kids. After dinner a coated the turkey liberally with butter and set up my secret weapon. I take a cheesecloth and fold it into quarters to fit over the turkey and the sides cover about halfway down the bird. In a sauce pan I melt 2 sticks of butter and mix it with 2 cups of white wine (Sauvignon blanc was recommended in the recipe) I soak the cheesecloth in the wine and cover the turkey with it while cooking . The butter and wine mixture are used to baste every ½ hour for 3 hrs of cooking time. I take off the cheesecloth about ½ from the end to brown up the skin. I make the gravy from the pan drippings. This time I used the recipe from http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_gravy/ Please be aware that if you brine your turkey the pan dripping will be VERY Salty! Be sure to taste the gravy and add enough water or unsalted broth to even things out. A gravy separator is also handy with the butter wine mixture used for basting there is a lot of fat in the drippings. I put my drippings into a measuring cup, let them settle and then poor off the majority of the grease.
2. Last year about this time I ran across a pattern for a Pumpkin Pie-ret. From Lady Linoleum over at Monster Crochet http://monstercrochet.blogspot.com/2008/11/holiday-pie-rets.html this is a pay pattern but it's was too cool to pass up and you get a pumpkin pie, a pecan, Pie and a lattice top pie pattern. I made the pumpkin pie to wear for Thanksgiving last year and it was a hit. SO much that the ladies at day care all purchased the pattern. Last week I was asked to help out with their problems with the pattern. The popcorn stitch used for fluting the edge of the pie crust and the attaching of the bottom of the beret were causing some problems. SO Saturday I taught an impromptu course in crochet using the Pie-ret pattern. If you're into funky holiday wear or have a special someone who is this pattern is great and deserves a look! Lady linoleum has some great projects up there like a grill scarf complete with steaks and Kabobs and a bacon scarf. The patterns are not always available but they're great for inspiration and her blog is definitely worth a look.