Tangled and Warped

The Mark that wards off “ye evills of witchcraft and diverse other manifestations of devilltry”    So much for that working LOL.  On Sunday my sister, brother-in-law, mom and I all appeased my dad and drove an hour and half through snowy conditions to have dinner at the Salem Cross Inn - so named for the Witches Mark found on the original door latch.

So Dad has apparently been wanting to attend their Fireside Dinner for awhile and insisted wanted us to go with him.  So to please the old guy and in spite of none of us really wanting to be there, we make the trek out.

The event started out with a ride in a horse drawn wagon.

This is Thunder and Lightning (our horses).  It was snowing and cold.  Doesn’t my sister and brother-in-law look like they are having fun?

I know my Mom looks thrilled - she tried to get out of it but my sister and I wouldn’t let her.  See how happy she looks!

So after the ride you come in and get your hot mulled cider or wine with some cheese and crackers.  You can also help with the preparation of your meal by peeling apples for the pie, and stirring the seafood chowder over a big open fire in the big open fireplace. 

Dad tried his hand at peeling apples for the pie.

Then all 200 of us filed into the dining room and got to eat the chowder, bread, prime rib dinner with apple pie for dessert.  The food was very good.  If you are ever in the area I would recommend it for lunch or dinner.  All in all it was fun, sort of.  We were all happy to head home with our tummies full and for making Dad happy.

Of course when I called him the next day to thank him again for the ‘treat’ he started talking about going back out this summer for the Drover’s Dinner.  I guess I know what Dad is getting for his birthday.

On the knitting front…

I have been very negligent on this second sweater.  I only have 2 inches left on both sleeves to knit then I just have to put it together - I still have 2 weeks.

Instead I have been seduced into knitting  Irish Mists, Peat Bogs, & Gorseby Carol Rasmussen Noble with my hand-dyed hand-spun.  I am loving how it’s a mindless 2 line pattern that is knitting up quickly.

Last night we had two new people join the Javaroom Knitters - Hi Wendy!  Hi Curran!  It was lovely to meet you both and I hope we see you often!

Only 21 days until NETA SPA!  I cannot wait to sit in a hot tub and have room service at the Hilton!

On Politics…

I was very sorry to see John Edwards bow out.  I was really hoping he would hang in at least through the ’super Tuesday’ primaries next week.  Now I don’t know who I will vote for, I may vote Republican just to make sure Mitt-head doesn’t win Massachusetts.  That would take some wind out of those sails.  I just love how he spins his so called accomplishments from being Governor when in reality most of his time as Governor was spent out of state pre-campaigning for a run for the presidency where much of the time he made fun of people from Massachusetts.    He’s a parsel tongue and would say anything to be in power.  He’s an empty suit and a scary one to boot.

My first incoming email of the morning was this

Dr Phil proclaimed, ‘The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished.’

So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn’t finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, some left over pizza from dinner, a box of chocolates and topped it off with a couple of Vicodin. You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now.

A glass of wine and a couple of Vicodin would sure help with the transitions that are starting to happen now.

According to the astrological calender Pluto is entering Capricorn.  Hang on kids we are in for a bumpy ride.

According to what I’ve been able to find on the net the last time Pluto was in Capricorn was from 1762 to 1779, which included the founding of our country to gain the freedom against the oppression from the King of England.  Now our power issues will once again reveal similar issues that were addressed with “taxation without representation”, the War of Regulation from 1764 to 1771 against corrupt colonial officials, The Stamp and Sugar Act which tried violators in Admiralty court where the defendants were considered guilty until they could prove their innocence. The Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and Articles of the Constitution built from the Magma Carter written to set the parameters and rules of freedom and independence. We will find ourselves in the same boat of addressing the oppressive and corrupt power issues that have been used against people and to revolutionize the checks and balances required for the rightful use of power.

Hmmmmm I presume GW didn’t see this coming…  so much for his legacy.  Let us hope that the American Safety Act or whatever law that allows our government to wiretap it’s citizens with out due process does not get renewed.

Could this really be the beginning of the end?  A true transformation from evil back to good?  Time to kick some ASS!  Viva la revolution!  I still dream of seeing Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush in orange jumpsuits doing the purp walk.  January 20th, 2009 - 360 days but who’s counting.

Ok that’s off my chest…

I finished cutting, dusting and packaging the Marshmallows just before I went out to Spin.  I think I got most of the Confectioner’s sugar off so I didn’t look like an Abominable snow person, or crack addict.  The Marshmallows are divinely soft and creamy.  I will take some pics tonight at the party.

I did pick up another sweater for the kids of Chinchero (and sock and hats too) Thank you Judy!  She is now entered into the prize pool.  We now have 5 sweaters finished and hopefully a few more coming in.

I didn’t finish my second sweater yet… it’s still in progress - so close but so far.

Yesterday was a soft and squishy kind of day for the most part.

I worked from home so I got to hang around in my soft and squishy pink slippers (no photo).

I also made more Marshmallows. I’ve tried a couple of different recipes, one using no corn syrup, and one with. I wasn’t happy with the sugar only recipe, I think I need to beat it a little longer so I will try it again. I would really like to find a great sugar only recipe only because I would really like to cut corn syrup totally out of my life. Unfortunately the thing with marshmallows is the corn syrup seems to add volume and gives us that soft and squishy texture that we all love.

So far my favorite recipe WITH corn syrup is as follows. You will need these ingredients and utensils.

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Not in the picture but really required for Marshmallows, is the Unflavored gelatin you will need. BTW, have you seen these new nested measuring bowls? They are awesome! I bought a set at the grocery store to replace my mostly missing aluminum measuring cups and got a second set as Christmas gift. I kept them both.

Put 1/2 cup of cold water in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle 3 packets of Knox Unflavored Gelatin over the cold water and set aside to bloom.

In a heavy sauce pan add 2 cups of granulated sugar, 1/2 cup of water, 3/4 cup of light corn syrup and a pinch of kosher salt. Heat over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and it starts to bubble. Turn the heat up to med/high and using a candy thermometer, simmer until it reaches 240F or the softball stage. Remove from heat immediately.

Using a standing mixer (which works best because you have to beat the sticky sugar mess for at least 15 minutes), starting a low speed, drizzle the hot sugar mixture into the bloomed gelatin slowly. Once you have added all the sugar mixture, which is like hot lava so be very careful, crank up the speed on your mixer to high.

Note I have a old mixture that I inherited from a friend who got a fancy schmancy one. But you will notice that the old one I have is obviously a Spinal Tap Mixer, because the speed goes past 10! SEE!

When the marshmallow mixture starts to thicken and turns white like whipped cream, it’s time to add the flavoring. I like to add either 2 tsp. of real vanilla extract, or 2 tsp. of peppermint extract.

Continue to beat for a full 15 minutes. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl and watch closely because this sticky mess will crawl up the beaters and make an awful mess if you don’t keep an eye on things. (ask me how I know, LOL!)

While that is whipping away under a careful eye, prepare a 9 x 12 x 2 pan. Line it with that new Reynolds Release Non-Stick Aluminum Foil. Be sure you have the Non-stick side up and you will also want to lightly spray the foil with no-stick spray. This stuff is really sticky.

Once the marshmallow stuff is whipped good and stiff (hmm that should bring some interesting hits)…. place it into the lined pan and smooth evenly. Sprinkle the top with Confectioner’s Sugar and set aside for 6-8 hours.

Mine is still setting aside, until I get home tonight, then using clean kitchen scissors, I will cut them up in to 1 inch squares. Dust the cubes with more Confectioner’s Sugar by putting a cup or more into a plastic bag and shaking the cut marshmallows to coat well.

Store in an air tight container for several weeks, or package them up nicely in little cellophane bags and give to friends.

I think for Valentine’s Day I am going to try a batch using raspberry flavored jello instead of the unflavored gelatin, it should make the marshmallows pink as well as flavor them. I also want to try dipping them in chocolate, so stay tuned.

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Other soft and squishy moments from yesterday. Spotted (according to Lucia) a SMK (straight, male knitter) in the wild - Harpy’s hubby came to the knitting group last night. He’s a newbie, but doing very well.

When we found out he’s a lefty! Nicole taught him continental and he’s picking it up fast! He was also caught holding and admiring the new addition to our knitting circle, Baby Edmund!

It doesn’t get softer or squishier than that. This is why we all love Dave

I did manage to get some knitting done. Only a few more inches to go on the sleeves then I can block and put this kid sweater together.

I don’t have much to share today, so I thought I would share pics of a friend’s Bernese Mountain puppies.  They are too cute!

click to embiggen

This is one of my all time favorite breakfast spots.  It’s rarely crowded, the food is awesome (REAL Eggs Benedict with poached eggs served with homefries for $7) and you get to watch planes land and take off along with the occasional helicopter.

If you have kids I highly recommend bringing them here for breakfast or lunch on a beautiful sunny day.

 I did not make it to Sunday knitting, I had to take Rotten Teenager to Grandma’s for supervision, since they have today off for Martin Luther King day and I do not.  Since she behaved totally irresponsibly on Friday night, she’s in the dog house yet again.

I did manage to get some knitting in between rounds of laundry.  I finished the top down raglan and I’m almost finished (a couple of inches to go) on the front of the the other pullover I’m knitting for the Chinchero kids.   If anyone is interested in quickly knitting kids sweaters or vests for a chance at prizes and you missed the info.  Check here.  February 15th is the absolute deadline.

That is so you won’t hear my wailing over this.

Note the big honking hole in the heel!  These were my first socks knit from my first hand dyed, hand spun f*ugly yarn.  WHAAAA!  I don’t think they are salvageable (ie darn-able) but I do have to say I wore them every week (sometimes twice a week) for many, many weeks.  I didn’t even notice they were getting thin in that spot either. I better go and check all my other hand knit socks right away.  This could be serious!

I’m coming into the home stretch of my kid sweater.  All that is left is the neck ribbing, itty bitty underarm seam sewing, weaving in the ends and blocking.  Phew,   I might even be able to get a second one done.

Did you know that in 1967 the Summer of Love in Haight Ashbury, San Fransisco started this week with a Human Be In at the Golden Gate Park, who da thunk!? LOL!  And on January 16, 1954 in upstate NY a young bride of just over a year gave birth to her eldest (and favorite) child… ME!

I just want to say thank you so much to the ladies, both my knitting friends, and non-knitting-but-soon-to-be-indoctrinated-into-the-fiberlicious-world-of-knitting friends for celebrating my birthday with me last night.

We all went to see the Indy movie Juno.  Most of the ladies gave it a thumbs up, even my Darling Daughter liked it and I had to drag her kicking and screaming to come with us.

The movie was hilarious and poignant. The filming was excellent, the dialog was amazing and the characters were wonderful. I really loved this movie and cannot say enough good things about it. Go see it!

We went to see it at Chunky’s Cinema Pub.  Which is always fun because you get to drink margaritas, eat burgers, sit in former limousine seats and watch a currently released film. Does it get any better?

Miss Geekpixie showed up with the first completed sweater for the kids of Peru!  So she wins a prize.  It is the adorable striped one that is finished in the middle.  I’m still working on my first (the purple lump on the right) and my sister is working on a green sweater using her hand dyed Kona on the left.  Sadly I have run out of the yarn I got out of the sale bin of the local LYS.  I will just have to add accent ribbing on the bottom and the neck from something in my ‘left over’ stash. I’m sure there is something in there that will work.

Click the pics to embiggen.

Demon Spawn Daughter and Jena (aka Harpy), Jennifer, who is just off her death bed and came in spite of not feeling 100% yet. Nicole and Amberlicious

Row 2: my sister Cindy , the Lovely Laurel, Mary and Nancy.

Row 3: my niece Kristini and Libbie girl

Of course Liz arrived in the nick of time (which means in time to order a margarita and food just before the lights went down for the movie to start (so sorry no pic).

Thank you ladies for making number 54 so special, I love you all.

I am not doing the ABC-along and technically it’s a work from home day for me. But since we all knew school had been canceled as of 7pm last night. I got the teens. Apparently, this has been the house that they want to hang out at.

They sit around and play video games for hours and hours. Then they feed like a plague of locusts. They got a huge breakfast and for lunch they got American Chop Suey. Now they are all cranky and really could use a nap.  Hmmm I think I am feeding them to well and that is probably why they keep coming back.

We got about a foot of snow total but the temps are going to drop and it’s going to get really cold. I hate when the really cold weather comes.

To think you could see the lawn yesterday.

The one good thing about teenaged boys is that you can send them out to shovel and they finish in minutes what would take me at least an hour to do.  I have to pace myself, they don’t.

The rain is coming down hard and fast.  I’m just glad this isn’t snow right now.   Either way it still would have been a good morning to stay in snuggled in bed with the cats, my knitting, and the clicker in hand.  But I didn’t.

So instead of showing your grey day photos, how about this beautiful bright red alpaca silk scarf.  It’s all finished except for the blocking.  I probably could get away without blocking, but I think blocking makes the end product look really finished.  I still have plenty of time to get it to Jonathan, he isn’t scheduled to arrive before the very end of January.  Maybe I will send it as an early Valentine.  The color is certainly perfect.

Yarn:  Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran - 5 skeins used

Needles:    US 8 (5.00 mm) Bamboo

Unblocked size 5 inches wide, 66 inches long - most likely it will be the same after blocking as this yarn seems to spring back to shape once it’s dry.

Pattern:  Broken rib

Cast on 30 stitches

Row 1: K2, P1 repeat ending with a K1

Row 2: P1, K2 repeat ending with a P1

Repeat until you run out of yarn.

This is a quick and mindless scarf to knit, but I loved the way it came out.  The pattern is perfect for this very soft, squishy, drapy yarn.

My sister and cousin Jen are heading to Peru as chaperone’s for a field trip this coming February. Their destination is Chincero. Here are some photos from my cousin’s last trip down, and as you can see the children are beautiful and happy but could use some new clothing and school supplies. I know this is short notice, but any used clothing or supplies you can possibly donate would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a message (request) from my cousin.

I would like to request if you have any children’s clothing (including jackets, sweaters, etc.) that you would like to donate, I am encouraging the girls to carry an extra duffle bag with them so we can bring lots of stuff with us when we visit the school in the village of Chinchero. Peruvian children are smaller than American children so if you have clothing for ages 2 – 10, both summer and winter, they would greatly be appreciated. I have attached several photographs of the school we will visit, and as you can see, they are happy children but desperately in need of clothes. The children also need school supplies (pencils, notebooks, children’s books (in Spanish), magic markers, colored pencils, drawing paper, paint brushes, paints (watercolors), etc.) so if you have any items like that, and would like to send as well, that would be great!

My sister has offered to donate yarn to anyone who is willing and can knit a quickie child’s sweater and get it to her by February 15th. You can either contact me awitchypoo@gmail.com or my sister Cindy at cindy.hughes2@gmail.com and we will make arrangements to get you some yarn, pick up your donations, etc.

UPDATE:

To get the ball rolling on this we will have a couple of contests. I’m not sure what the exact prizes are yet, but here is what we are thinking.

Hand dyed and/or hand spun yarns

Roving (dyed or undyed)

Sock yarns

A Weaving Lesson on the Ashford Knitter’s Loom (must live near Lowell, MA or come to Lowell to win this prize)

A hand woven scarf from my sister the master weaver.

I will be working on the parameters of the contest and the prizes and will post about it soon (probably later today)

CONTEST INFO
To be eligible you must have everything to us no later than February 15th, 2008. Winners will be announced the first week in March 2008. Also please be considerate of the weight allowances - think light weight, for example - colored pencils vs a ream of paper. All of this has to be carried down by the students and chaperones.

First Choice from the Prize Pool goes to the person who knits the most sweaters.

Second Choice goes to to person who donates the most school supplies

Third Choice goes to the first sweater completed and delivered

And a fourth prize winner will be a Random Drawing from everyone else who participated and got their donations in before Feb. 15th. (Sock Yarn)