“Get ready for fall with this sweet brimmed cloche from designer Kim Guzman. Kim chose the muted Grey Heather in Simply Soft for her crocheted creation, but this design would look equally lovely in any color—from Autumn Red to Chocolate. The sassy bow adds just the right touch of elegance and sophistication.”
Would you like to be notified of new Caron patterns as soon as they are available? Be sure to put your email address in the space provided at Caron Connections.
Enjoy!
The following is my class schedule for the remainder of the year. This schedule contains both live and online classes. Registration is now open for all classes. Please note that all but the Beginning Knitting class will be retired from online teaching. This will be the last opportunity to take them online.
| September 3, 2010
Online Class Registration Closes: September 5, 2010
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Learn Tunisian Lace: Beautiful Butterfly Wings Lace Scarf/Afghan
Learn a special lace stitch pattern in Tunisian crochet to form a beautiful lacy afghan.Students are welcome and encouraged to use the same lace stitch pattern in other projects, such as a scarf or shawl, should they be interested in something other than an afghan. |
| September 10, 2010
Online Class Registration Closes: September 12, 2010
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Learn to Make a Drop Stitch Ripple
Using a broomstick lace variation, developed by Kim Guzman, students will learn this easy technique to make a beautiful ripple shawl. It’s quick, easy and fun! You’ll love the results produced in this new technique. Students will be provided with the complete pattern to make the shawl with the alterations for a scarf. |
| September 17, 2010
Online Class Registration Closes: September 19, 2010
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Beginning Knitting
There are times when a little knitting is desired and will make a crochet project look really sharp! The most obvious use of knitting would be ribbing. Knitted ribbing is perfect for so many crochet projects! And, why not add a nice rib around the neck? Perhaps a turtleneck? Learning a few handy knitting skills will help add just the right finishing touch to your crochet. Learn directly from a crocheter, in the style most popular for crocheters. Learning to knit doesn’t mean that you’ll need to hold your yarn any differently. You can learn in the Continental style and still be able to hold your yarn in your non-hook hand. Business as usual. See step-by-step how this is done. Learning directly from a crocheter makes it so much easier to learn. |
| September 17, 2010
Online Class Registration Closes: September 19, 2010
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Small Short Row Tunisian Bag
Tunisian crochet is the best medium I have found for felted projects. It really makes terrific projects and you won’t be disappointed! This bag incorporates 3 Tunisian crochet stitches and will allow you the opportunity to learn Tunisian crochet without purchasing a Tunisian crochet hook! That’s right! If you have a K or L crochet hook without a thumb rest (like Brittany, Clover, or other wooden hook), you can complete this adorable bag with a smaller hook because the greatest number of stitches on the hook at any given time is only 15 stitches! In addition to learning the Tunisian stitches included in this unique project, you will learn the Tunisian Short Row Technique and then, you’ll learn, step-by-step, how to felt your bag without a washing machine. |
| September 24, 2010
Online Class Registration Closes: September 26, 2010
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Tunisian Drop Stitch Scarf
Be the envy of all your knitting friends and crocheting friends alike! This scarf incorporates the look of knitting with stitches mimicking garter stitch, stockinette stitch and the newly-developed Tunisian drop stitch. Students are not required to finish this project during the one week of class. Class will be focused more on learning the stitches themselves so that the student can complete the project at their leisure. |
| October 1, 2010
Online Class Registration Closes: October 3, 2010
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Learn to Do Tunisian Short Rows (scarf)
Self-striping yarn and Tunisian crochet join together for the perfect combination of color and texture in this Tunisian Short Row Scarf. I have designed this scarf to avoid the annoying curl so often associated with Tunisian crochet. It’s perfectly adaptable to any yarn. And, students are encouraged to try out the technique with a solid yarn of their choice in the class when learning. It’s not necessary to use self-striping yarn in the learning process. Once the technique is learned, you’ll have the pattern to begin working on this beautiful scarf in the yarn of your choice. |
| October 16, 2010
Live Class Registration Closes: September 15, 2010
|
Learn to Do Tunisian Short Rows (scarf)
SOLD OUT Self-striping yarn and Tunisian crochet join together for the perfect combination of color and texture in this Tunisian Short Row Scarf. I have designed this scarf to avoid the annoying curl so often associated with Tunisian crochet. It’s perfectly adaptable to any yarn. And, students are encouraged to try out the technique with a solid yarn of their choice in the class when learning. It’s not necessary to use self-striping yarn in the learning process. Once the technique is learned, you’ll have the pattern to begin working on this beautiful scarf in the yarn of your choice. |
| October 16, 2010
Live Class Registration Closes: September 15, 2010
|
Learn to Make a Drop Stitch Ripple
Using a broomstick lace variation, developed by Kim Guzman, students will learn this easy technique to make a beautiful ripple shawl. It’s quick, easy and fun! You’ll love the results produced in this new technique. Students will be provided with the complete pattern to make the shawl with the alterations for a scarf. |
My new knit design, the Diagonal Rib Ruana, can be found in the special edition of Creative Knitting magazine called Accessorize with Style. It’s a lovely design, worked all in one piece, vertically, in one of my favorite stitch patterns. The yarn is Deluxe Chunky Concord Tweed by Universal Yarn.
It’s really an attractive piece. Although not really shown in the photo, there are optional buttons on each side. The ruana can be worn as shown or with both sides hanging down or, when buttoned, it looks more cape-like. I just love it! 
This Easy Lace Cowl is also included in this publication. A super easy lace project, suitable for beginners. I tested the pattern on Brianna as her first lace project and she had no problems completing it.
Enjoy!
So far, I have definitely discovered some favorites in my canning adventures. Those favorites are the blueberry/pomegranate jelly, the peach conserve and the apple butter.
The blueberry/pomegranate jelly is something I came up with myself. It’s not a recipe. So, I can’t point you in that direction.
The peach conserve is amazingly delicious on vanilla ice cream, especially if the conserve is heated slightly. You can find the recipe here. I used craisins instead of raisins.
The apple butter comes with it a fun story. My mother has an apple peeler/corer. It peels the apple, removes the core and spirals the apple, making it easy to use for pies. In the past, my mother has put the peels in the compost or in the trash. I had already made 12 quarts of apple pie filling.
I decided to try to make juice from the peels. I simmered them for quite awhile. Then, when I got finished, I strained what appeared to be long apple peel spaghetti. Pretty funny!
A couple of weeks’ ago, my mother had given me a metal contraption thingy, which I’ve later discovered is a food mill. I wasn’t given instructions, but it was pretty easy to figure out. I put the apple peels in there and cranked it up.
Surprisingly, there was quite a bit of fruit remaining on these peels because I suddenly had apple puree! I immediately thought of apple butter. I wasn’t extremely enthusiastic about it because I’ve only had store-bought apple butter. And, although I liked it well enough, it wasn’t necessarily my favorite.
I found this recipe here and added all the ingredients. (Note that the recipe calls for vinegar. I don’t know why it calls for vinegar. But, it’s only for boiling the apples, not in the apple butter itself.) I put it all in the crock pot and let it cook on low for many hours until it got dark and canned it, straight out of the crock pot.
I still wasn’t tremendously excited about it. And, I figured that, if it didn’t taste all that good, I could logically throw it out since I had intended to throw out the peels anyway, right?
Well, I tell you what. It was amazingly wonderful! I had a really hard time waiting for my mother to wake up the next morning so that she could try it as well. (Yes, I was canning in the middle of the night. I can’t do canning in 102-degree temperatures. LOL)
When my mother arrived, I immediately served her some apple butter on English muffins and informed her that she would never again throw away apple peels! LOL She agreed whole-heartedly.
I am mourning the loss of all the apple peels we threw out already. ;o)
This week, my Bargello Throw was posted to Caron International Yarns here. This is an interesting take on the typical drop stitch pattern that you will usually find in Southwestern Style afghans. But, I decided to make the drop stitches in opposite directions on panels instead. This created the unique geometrical look of the afghan. The panels are then finished by crocheting them together, instead of seaming.
And, if you like these new colors, you will want to take a look at the unique colors just released from Caron in the Simply Soft Collection.
Enjoy!
I’ll start off by saying that I’ve never preserved foods with canning until this year. I’ve always wanted to do it. It seemed so ominous and imposing. I felt like it was something that should be learned from your parent or grandparent. It seemed like a scary thing. Remember that I felt the same way about Tunisian crochet before I learned? It turns out that it’s surprisingly easy. It’s just time-consuming.
When I moved in April, it didn’t take long before the plums and one of the apple trees were covered with an over-abundance. And, I’m talking a huge over-abundance. The sheer numbers of fruit caused large branches to break off both trees.
My mother would typically pick the apples and plums, then freeze them. She has a cool apple peeler/corer and she’d freeze the spirals of apples and then make pies throughout the year. This year, it seemed to me that there were far more than could be handled without taking up her entire freezer. And, I don’t have a very large freezer.
Sooooo… I again thought about canning. Once I discovered that it was actually quite easy, I was making jars of jelly by the dozens. I’ve tried lots and lots of different recipes and I’ve made blueberry preserves, red wine jelly, white wine jelly, spicy pepper jelly, mild pepper jelly, plum jelly, pomegranate jelly and our favorite, blueberry-pomegranate jelly.
I’ve cut and peeled about five bazillion peaches. I’ve made peach conserve (positively delicious!), peach pie filling, peaches in light syrup and spiced peaches.
Honestly, this list goes on and on and on. I’ve even made green/black olive spaghetti sauce and my own pizza sauce.
Yesterday, I was asked whether I was stocking up for winter. And, I don’t guess that’s what I’m doing. At first, it was simply a matter of necessity because we had all these heavily-burdened fruit trees on the property. But, there is certainly something more going on here.
I have always had this huge, obsessive desire to cook or bake. I’ve been baking since I was a little girl. When I’m too busy to cook, with too much of a design schedule, I end up cooking things like a big pot of dry beans just so that I can fill the desire to cook. I have been known to cook or bake things, never eating any of it. It’s just the cooking part (and, therefore, the finished project) that I seem to need.
My mother was particularly offended (in a funny way; not angry or anything) that I had made a cheesecake once. Graham cracker crust, layer of dark chocolate, cheesecake then a strawberry topping. I made it and put it in the refrigerator. I had no one there to eat it. I didn’t eat any. And, I finally threw away the entire pie. She made me promise never to do that again (especially now that I’m living next door LOL).
So, just imagine! I can fill my desire to cook and I can just preserve it and save it for later. It’s a perfect win-win situation for me!
And, there is also the fun of creating something beautiful. I love to create knit and crochet projects. It seems that I also like creating these beautiful jars of preserved fruits and vegetables.
I really love those bottles of different fruits and vegetables that you can find in places like Hobby Lobby and I have a couple of them. These jars are no different. The mixed vegetables and the peppers are truly gorgeous. Even if it turns out that they don’t taste like what I expected, they’ll still be very pretty sitting on a shelf.
When I got the crate of tomatillos two weeks’ ago, I had to pick out some of the bad ones. Because it was handy, I just buried a few whole tomatillos in one of the gardening pots. I figured that it couldn’t hurt. Maybe they could act as fertilizer for next year.
This morning, my buried tomatillos had something to say to me:
“Silly human female. You cannot simply banish us to the depths of the earth. We want to live!”
Me: I’m hungry.
Self: Why don’t have you some of the sweet potato pie you made last night?
Me: It’s 4 am.
Self: So?
Me: Shouldn’t I wait to break into the pie until my mother is here?
Self: Why? The pie will be the same whether you take the first piece now or not.
Me: But, it’s 4 am.
Self: It’s pie. All the time is a good time for pie.
Me: I don’t know.
Self: For goodness sakes. Let’s put it another way. It’s fat free. It’s sugar free. It’s a vegetable, for crying out loud! It’s probably the most nutritious thing you have in your kitchen.
Me: Maybe I should have two pieces of pie.
