Thursday, April 30, 2009

Key Lime Pa-a-a

Well, I don't speak Southern yet... but I am trying out a few Southern dishes in my effort to become more Southern.   My hubby loves key lime pie (actually I love it, too) so the first Southern dish I tried was Key Lime Pie.  (Pa-a-a -- or something like that in "Southern")  I've also tried some sweet potato dishes -- biscuits with sweet potatos and the greatest sweet potato souffle ever (if I don't say so myself.)  

Tuesday was my last night at Wild Fibre's Tuesday night stitch group until September, so I decided to go all out with a Pa-a-a; a Key Lime Pa-a-a.  We're heading back up north for the summer -- we're avoiding the hot, humid Savannah summer for the cooler breezes on Lake Champlain.  We'll be living aboard our new-to-us Catalina 36 sailboat (see below) at Treadwell Bay Marina,  an hour south of Montreal outside of Plattsburgh, NY.   Anyway, back to the Pa-a-a... several people have asked for the recipe... so here it is y'all.  It's adapted from Paula Deen's Uncle Bubba's recipe.  I cannot do meringue like it calls for so I've scrapped that for whipped cream.

So here it is:
Crust:
1 pkg graham crackers
1/2 cup chopped nuts (almonds or pecans)
5 Tbsp. butter
Mix together in a Cuisinart

Filling:
Mix together 
2 cans (14 oz each) of Sweetened Condensed Milk 
4 egg yolks 
1 cup of key lime juice (or freshly squeezed juice from 5 limes)
2 tsp. lime zest  (1 in pie and 1 on top before baking)

Press graham cracker crust mixture in a 9" pan.
Add the filling.
Put some lime zest on the top.

Bake in 350 degree oven for about 1/2 hour.  Check to see that filling is firm.
Serve with whipped cream on top.
YUMMY! 
OUR SUMMER HOME - KRICKET V

Friday, April 24, 2009

Sock it to me...


My socks are done and I love them!  I can't wait for cooler weather when I can put them on my tootsies to warm them up.  (I'm lying... love the summer-like 80 degree weather we're having!)   
My only real problem aside from losing concentration making some mistakes that I had to frog and frogging yarn-overs are challenging, was binding off!  It took 3 tries and I finally have it loose enough that I can fit them over my instep.  I used a sewn bind-off that I found online and thanks to Ravelry postings.  (YEA Ravelry!!!) YouTube had a short video that did a great job demonstrating the technique.

What was really exciting was knowing that I can knit again.  With my Rheumatoid Arthritis the last thing I knit, last May, was a baby sweater for a dear friend... and it was agony.  Thanks to Humira (which I had to agonize over whether to start or not as it's an injection -- epi-pen) I have somewhat of a grip again and can hold knitting needles without pain.  HOORAY!

I've been working for the past two weeks on the powerpoint presentation for the program I be sharing in a few weeks a the Clayton Weaving History Conference.  My program on the research I did for my book... woven: a bauhaus memoir.  It's been fun getting back into it again.  The aethethic of the Bauhaus really resonates with me!  It's fascinating to see how the artists who taught there (Kandinsky, Klee, Itten, Albers) really influenced the designs that the Bauhausmädchen wove.  It was great getting in touch with my alter ego, Anna, whose memoir I wrote.  In order to try to experience what happened at the Bauhaus during this interesting time between WWI and WWII, I developed an alter ego for myself of a young female student.She is a composite of me and the members of the Weberei (Weaving Workshop):  Gunta Stölzl, Anni Albers, Otti Berger, and others.  Tomorrow I'll ship some of the items I wove for my thesis (where my book started) and some copies of my book that hopefully I'll be able to sell.  

I try to weave a few inches a day on the Queen Anne's lace.  I hope to get it off the loom by the end of next week as we are packing up and moving onto our sailboat up north on Lake Champlain for the summer.  No loom weaving there...  Hope to knit a Nora Gaughn sweater and do some cardboard weaving... and of course do some drawing and painting of the beautiful lake scenes surrounded by the Adirondacks on the NY side and the Green Mountains on the VT side.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Weave a Rainbow!






Last week was such a treat!  I taught a Fun with Fibers class at an arts camp for kindergarten through 7th graders.  We spun wool rovings, dyed wool with Koolaid and wove amulets (pouches) (4th-7th graders), bracelets and small mug rugs (K-3rd graders) on cardboard looms. Here some photos of their finished projects.  All were so proud of their accomplishments!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

TA-DAH!

So here it is... my finished summer top from my first warp.  I really think I will get a lot of wear out of it.  Sorry for the fuzzy photos... my hubby always seems to move the camera when he takes a shot.  I guess that's why I'm the official family photographer...

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Spring has SPRUNG!

It's absolutely beautiful!  We are surrounded by that luscious Spring green!  What a joy it is to have a Spring again... and beginning in March no less.  The stark Southern pines that are right outside our windows are being cushioned by more and more fresh new leaves from smaller trees day by day.  The torrential down pours that we had last week have awakened all kinds of new growth.  I find myself looking more at greens and yellows and pinks and this is all reflected in my recent order at the WEBS online sale.  I couldn't resist.  It is fascinating to me how I am affected by the seasons.  I remember years ago buying huge quantities of orange and olive and brown rug yarns -- Yes... it was Autumn in upstate New York.
I'm progressing on my Queen Anne's Lace warp and finished the goldenrod colored Louet linen yarn I had in my stash and have moved into a slubby singles bleached linen mill end yarn that I picked up somewhere.  I'd love to figure out something to make from the finished fabric to wear.  What fun it is to create handwoven wearables -- totally unique items that you don't see anywhere else.

I'm working on my summer top from my first blues warp.  It's almost there.  It took forever for me to think of how I wanted it to look and its changing daily.  I finally got inspired to cut into it and have been using a FLAX summer top that I love, as inspiration for a pattern.  The width is only 20 inches so it is a bit narrow in the back to be sleeveless like I had orginally thought, so I think I'll add sleeves.  I wanted to try it out first, and thought about cutting up an old skirt to use as fabric, but that wasn't enough fabric.  Next thought... buy some muslin, but then I had the best idea ever... I went to our local Goodwill and found a nice clean off green cotton sheet and tore 20 inch lengths from it and created a dummy top.  PERFECT!  Lots of fabric to try different things... and I think I've got it!  Now if I can get off the computer...  I'll get back to finishing it!