Happy New Year (almost!)

Since I'm almost certain this will be my last post of 2008, Happy New Year to all of you! Thanks for sticking with me through my sporadic posting and talk of many things unrelated to knitting. It has been an interesting year, as they all are, and I'm definitely in a different place then I was at the start of 2008. Some big things that have changed:

1. We're no longer commuting 32 miles a day to take Sydney to her private school. Instead, she's walking/biking to the local elementary school and we all couldn't be happier.

2. Although I started out the year trying to eat healthier, the middle of 2008 was all about fast food, takeout and junk food. I've come full circle, though, cooking almost all of our meals at home over the past few months and feeding the family mainly with whole foods and avoiding processed foods.

3. I've quit my clothes dryer almost completely! I finally bought a folding laundry rack and had Bill install a retractable clothesline in our upstairs bathroom, and now I do a load of laundry almost every morning and then hang it to dry. I'd put off doing this because I thought it would be a huge hassle, but it's actually very easy (and the laundry actually gets put away because I can only hang one load at a time, meaning I don't let six loads pile up and get totally overwhelmed by it all).

4. I got back on my bike and have been trying to leave the car in the driveway as much as possible.

That's just a small sample of the stuff that has gone on over the course of 2008. What will 2009 bring? Who knows! I'm looking forward to finding out.

Our record snowfall has finally melted. For a few days right around Christmas it seemed like it would never stop snowing. Seriously! It was nutty. Here's a little taste of what our backyard looked like at the height of it:



Sydney & Owen got their first taste of sledding:



I went completely crazy with the baked goods (here's just a very small sample - imagine each of these cookies times 10 and you'll get an idea of how many cookies we had at the height of the baking madness):



And my Candy Cane Bread, which looked better than it tasted...



I used a recipe written for a bread machine and used whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour (it was all I had left at the time). It didn't rise properly the first time, so it was a little bit too dense for my taste. It made good bread pudding, though!

Finally, here are some pictures for you, Mom! We had a fabulous Christmas Day in spite of all the snow. In fact, it was probably made better by the snow because I was kept out of Target and all those other big-box stores that we need to drive to and ended up doing all the kids' shopping at our local shops within walking distance. We also pared down quite a bit from previous years and the kids ended up actually enjoying and playing with most of their toys instead of getting totally overwhelmed by the volume. All in all, it was a success (and we managed to get to my brother-in-law's house and back home in our Jetta without getting stuck!).

The morning started out with stockings and lots of exclaiming that the cookies and milk left out for Santa had disappeared (we actually put the cookies back because we just couldn't eat any more).



Santa came through for Sydney in a big way and brought her the one thing she asked for - a Yoshi doll (which Santa miraculously found in the toy section at Goodwill in late November):



Here are the kiddos, itching to get their hands on all that loot behind them!



It was sort of a quiet Christmas due to the fact that my mother-in-law has slowly been sewing up a collection of cloth gift bags over the past few years and we have fewer and fewer gifts wrapped in paper. This year there were only a couple, so the usual sound of tearing paper has been replaced by the muffled shuffling of fabric. Our trash pile was a heck of a lot smaller than usual as well!

Now I'm going to pass the rest of '08 freezing beef broth made from the bones of our Christmas Prime Rib, trying out a new bread recipe using up some leftover brown rice, finishing up a sock design that will be released next month (I got invited to do one of those cool joint design projects that Lorna's Laces and Mountain Colors put out together), formatting the new patterns that will be released at TNNA next month, and listening to Sydney, who is becoming quite the little reader, sound out the new books I picked up for her at the library yesterday. I hope you all have had as wonderful a year as we have!

We are totally snowed in!

So Portland has gotten record snowfall in the past few days (record since the 50s anyway) with a nice layer of freezing rain smack dab in the middle. So there are about 10" of lovely, fluffy snow covered in a 1/4" layer of ice, covered with another 4" or so of snow. We don't even own a snow shovel, so our driveway has remained smooth and pristine since last Thursday. I'm glad I stocked up on butter and toilet paper!

Here are some nice wintry pics:







That last one is of the front of our car out in the driveway. It's nutty!

I grew up in weather like this, but the problem with snow in Portland is that they don't have the capacity to handle it here. In Minnesota when it snows, it seems like the streets are all plowed and salted/sanded instantly. Portland has like four snowplows to cover the entire city, so side streets go untouched. I'm sure we'd be fine if we did venture out, but there's no pressing reason to so we've stayed in the house like good little snowbound folks.

I've been watching lots of movies, doing lots of knitting and baking up a storm. We've got a market within walking distance so I was able to send Bill on an emergency run for powdered sugar, butter and Hershey's Kisses. Here's the rundown, starting Saturday:

- 2 batches of sugar cookies using two different recipes (the first attempt was with white whole wheat flour and the Betty Crocker recipe, and they were impossible to roll out but tasted really good - the second attempt was with white flour and Bill's mom's recipe, and they rolled out much better and tasted very nice as well)

- chocolate chip bread
- cinnamon swirl bread
- peanut butter blossom cookies (with the Hershey's Kiss on top)
- russian teacakes
- gingerbread cookies with freshly ground flour (I finally got out the Kitchenaid mixer attachment Bill got me for Xmas last year...)

Next on the agenda:
- chocolate crinkle cookies
- pumpkin cookies
- coconut macaroons or quinoa chocolate chip cookies
- candy cane bread

My goal is to use up the rest of the white flour and sugar so that it's not taking up room in my fridge/cabinet anymore! I'm also hoping to cookie the kids out so that they don't act like heroin addicts looking for a fix every time there's a baked good in the house. So far it's not working - they can put away an amazing amount of junk food! The kids helped decorate the sugar cookies and the gingerbread men in addition to eating them. They had quite the festive time!



The decorating was quite skillful (well, Sydney's cookies, anyway - Owen still needs a bit more work on his motor skills):



Now we're going to spend the evening watching Christmas Vacation and eating spaghetti. I hope you're all staying warm and safe, wherever you are spending the holidays!

Snow Day!

It is freezing cold here in Portland, and there's snow on the ground. This is relatively unusual, and a dusting of snow means no school. Sydney got to get a Hep A booster instead, lucky girl! I like snow, but I've definitely gotten out of practice. It's cold out there! I much prefer it 50 and rainy (and so do the kids - they kept wanting to go out and play in the white stuff but then would come back in crying about how cold they were two minutes later).

Here's our front porch with some poor blankets that were taken by surprise by the sudden storm:



We've also got some interlopers taking shelter in our basement temporarily...



They're probably just fine outside, but I'm not sure how cold hardy the Amerucana is (the other two are definitely cold-hardy and shouldn't have much trouble surviving cold weather inside their coop). She scared me yesterday when I saw her outside our basement window lying in a heap with her head down on the ground. I tapped on the glass and it took her a bit to get herself up and looking around. She was probably fine, but we decided not to take any chances and let them spend a little time inside. They're stinking up the place and getting increasingly cranky, though, so tomorrow we will be shopping for a new bulb for their heat lamp so we can get them back into their own house. It is fun to hear clucking chickens in the house, though!

I've been slowly climbing back on the work wagon (I actually got two patterns off to test knitters in the past couple of days and am almost through a sample from a new designer who will be putting a few patterns in the Gardiner Yarn Works line next year) but took a few hours off to crochet some dish scrubbies.



I'm trying to get away from plastic sponges all together and so I thought I'd try both cotton (the colored ones) and nettle (the brown scratchy-looking one). The nettle is a pain in the tuckus to work with but I think it will have great scrubbing power. We'll see how it holds up!

I also got three trays of persimmons sliced and drying away:



I decided not to go too crazy with the drying until we know if we like dried persimmons or not (Bill is on record as pretty much anti-persimmon, although I made some incredible persimmon-ginger cookies last weekend that he admitted were pretty good). I froze another five cups of pulp that I can use over the winter for sherbet or more baked goods. I've still got half a 5-gallon bucket full of these things and I'm just not sure I can take it anymore. They may end up feeding our tomatoes next summer. I should see if the chickens like them...

I'm hoping tomorrow will be another day as productive as this one. My plan is to make these (yes, I'm either totally crazy or stupidly brave). I'm really, really hoping they turn out to be amazing but I'm giving them about a 40% chance of edibility. I'll let you know how it goes!

The coolest Xmas gift ever...

Check it out! I totally want one.

Procrastination...

Ah, putting things off - how I love it. As you can probably tell from this flurry of blog posts, I'm using any excuse to keep from doing things that really need to get done. I had a flurry of design-related activity the other day, which included getting a bunch of test knitters lined up for the January patterns. I was hoping it would prod me into actually getting the patterns written up and sent out, but so far it hasn't been too effective. I got a scarf pattern formatted, but apparently it has some major problems. I haven't been back to look at it again. Thank god for test knitters, is all I can say! I love them all like my own children.

I should be formatting patterns right now. But it's almost lunchtime, so soon I'll be wandering in to see what's in the fridge (some of my Kitchen Sink Soup along with some hummus from last week that must get eaten...). Then I'll need to check on the new batch of apples that's in the dehydrator (which I spent last night chopping up instead of sitting in front of the computer). I'm trying out the fruit leather tray with some persimmon puree - we'll see how that goes! I've also got a full bucket of persimmons sitting outside my front door, waiting to be dealt with.

This morning I spent two hours as parent helper in Sydney's classroom, which involved supervising eight very hyper kindergarteners while they decorated gingerbread houses. They had to spread icing on the roof and decorate it with candy. They weren't supposed to eat the icing since it's made with raw egg whites, but of course they couldn't resist (particularly the boys, who told me that they loved to be sick and loved having tummy aches). The class also decorated gingerbread cookies, which we took to the cafeteria kitchen to be baked. The teacher then made the mistake of telling the kids that one of the gingerbread men escaped from the oven and was running around the school (they'd been reading the story of the gingerbread man), so of course the kids were almost impossible to keep in their seats because they wanted to run around and look for the missing gingerbread man... Sydney's teacher has the patience of ten saints, god bless her!

When I left the classroom, I was literally panting and sweating, it was such hard work monitoring that small group of kids! It's just amazing what those teachers do on a daily basis. It's pretty fun to watch, though, because in general they are all great kids - some are just better at sitting still and listening than others!

We're supposed to be getting snow this weekend here in Portland, which is a pretty rare occurrence. Snow is already falling in the mountains (we're getting rained on, which is quite normal for this time of year). Fortunately our molting chicken has gotten all her feathers back, so they should be able to weather the cold. I'm not so sure about the rest of us! And now I'm going to go find my lunch, and watch a little television, so I can spend the afternoon WORKING. I really will, I swear!

It's up!

There's only one thing that could possibly get me to blog two days in a row, and that's my Knitty pattern going live. You can see it here, if you're lucky enough to get in (the server's being stretched to the max by gazillions of crazy knitters trying to see the new patterns all at the same time).

If you can't get in, here's a sneak peek for you:



They're modeled by Emily, co-owner of my fabulous LYS Twisted, and photographed by the very talented Gail, who is patiently doing the photos for my slow-as-molasses book project.

Things should quiet down in a few days for those of you who don't have the patience to deal with overloaded servers. The actual socks headed home with my mom on Thanksgiving. Mom, I hope they're keeping your feet warm in the snowy weather!

Mmm, soup...

Heh, does anyone else remember the episode of Friends where Joey is auditioning for a commercial, and he's supposed to say the line "Mmm, soup." but just can't get it right? I watch way too much syndicated TV!

Anyway, the flurry of cooking continues. Right now, I've got a gorgeous pot of "kitchen sink" soup on the stove (basically broth and anything that I've had in the fridge all week that needs to be used up before it becomes compost). Onion, garlic, bok choy, sweet potato, carrot, celery, kale and spinach in a combo of beef and chicken broth. I also threw in 1/2 cup of cous cous as an experiment. I'm trying out how different grains do in soup - our post-Thanksgiving turkey soup had hulled barley, and it soaked up almost all the liquid. It was still really good, but it was more like a really thick stew than it was soup!

Want to know what else was on the menu this week? No? Too bad - here's the rundown:
- persimmon sherbet
- broccoli and ground turkey stir-fry
- chocolate chip and almond granola bars
- split pea soup with bacon from our pastured hog
- spinach and corn pizza
- dried apples
- the best brownies EVER from my new favorite cookbook, Feeding the Whole Family
- quinoa salad, also from FTWF
- pumpkin muffins, also from FTWF
- shrimp stew with canned tomatoes and tomato sauce from our garden tomatoes, also from FTWF
- mixed-grain pancakes, also from FTWF (can you tell I really, really like this cookbook?)
- homemade hummus, also from FTWF
- crockpot black beans and brown rice

That's all I can remember - it was a busy week! I just can't seem to keep myself out of the kitchen. I'm almost all the way through The Ethics of What We Eat by Peter Singer and Jim Mason, which along with the recently-finished Omnivore's Dilemma, keeps me motivated to cook the family lots of minimally-processed foods with our freezer meat (from our pastured beef and hog, grown organically in west-central Oregon on a family farm).

Both of those books really made me take a long hard look at the meat that I've been eating and feeding the kids. I was raised by vegetarian parents, and I actually read Peter Singer's earlier book, Animal Liberation, in junior high and was a staunch vegetarian off and on through high school and college (although I can't really call it "staunch" since it came and went like the breeze, but when I was in a veg phase I was totally in it) before pretty much giving up any semblance of environmentally-friendly eating in my later years of school and after entering the work force. I was well aware of factory farming and how awful it is, but it's so easy to ignore when you get your meat nicely cut and pre-packaged on little styrofoam trays at the grocery store. There were other things to worry about, like bonuses and stock options, and what new car to buy next.

Again, I've come full-circle, heading back for my roots and the values I was raised with (which I alternately embraced and hated all through my childhood and teen years). I'm hoping that it's easier for my kids to be raised like this than it was for me since we're surrounded by people who share our values here in Portland (unlike the small town where I grew up, where we were basically the local family of freaks). Environmentalism is so much more mainstream now than when I was a kid - that can't hurt, either.

As I continue to wonder where my knit design business will take me, I'm really examining how to make what I do more sustainable. I use 100% recycled paper, but I cringe every time I have to open another box of plastic sheet protectors. Anyone have any ideas as to how to better protect and present patterns? I've considered going 100% digital, but it's hard to do that on a wholesale-only basis. Most shops aren't yet set up for any kind of digital pattern download, although I can see it moving that direction in the future. I could reopen my own pattern shop and sell only pdfs direct, but I don't really want to cut the shops out of the equation all together.

I'm also thinking that I need to choose the yarns I use more carefully. It would be great if someone would write a book or a blog or something on environmentally-friendly knitting (is there something out there that I just haven't stumbled upon yet? It's entirely possible...). It's hard to determine what's actually really sustainable, and what's just "greenwashed". I love the Lorna's Laces green line yarns, and I'm hoping to use more of them in the future. O-Wool is also fabulous. I really need to find an organic sock yarn!

But before I worry about any of that, I really need to get my tushie in gear and prepare for TNNA in January. I just keep getting distracted by that darn kitchen. I'm totally obsessed with food, and I'm not sure when I'm going to get over it! Hopefully never, but that will certainly put a damper on my knitting time. It doesn't help that Owen is sick yet again and has spent the past two days at home. He's ready to go back to school tomorrow, but I'm waiting for Sydney to come down with it now. It's inevitable. I sure wish these two would build their little immune systems up a bit faster!

Come make cheese with me!

My fabulous homemaking homeschooling goddess of a friend Chris (who got me back into baking bread with her extremely helpful class in early October) has officially started her cooking school, Lost Arts Kitchen. She said that my blog post about the bread class inspired her business name (!) and I think it's perfect (and not just because I helped with the phrase "lost arts"). Go check out her classes page and if you're in the area (and looking to learn how to make some fabulous, healthy, home-cooked food while minimizing kitchen hassle), take a class or two and help get this fledgling business off the ground.

I'm taking the cheesemaking class on January 23 - wanna join me? I missed out on the "practice" session that she gave for friends because my mom had just arrived in town. I definitely need to figure out how to master mozarella so I can't wait to be a real student.

In the more immediate future, I'm trying to figure out what to do with my new (used) food dehydrator. First thing on the agenda is persimmons, since my in-laws have two extremely productive Fuyu persimmon trees in their backyard and I'd love to figure out how to dry them or do whatever else needs to be done in order to make use of this free fruit bounty. I also ordered another 20 lbs of Jonagold apples because we just can't get enough of them. I don't think I'm going to make any more applesauce (well, never say never...), but I'm definitely planning to dry a bunch for the kids' lunches and maybe try my hand at fruit leather.

I also need to figure out how to squeeze in some designing in the midst of all this kitchen time. I was supposed to go to Montana this weekend to hang out with my friend Janet and pick her brain about self-publishing, but I haven't made enough progress on my book to make it worthwhile. My main goal now is to have it out in time for Sock Summit. Think I can do it? My problem right now is I just don't feel like working. And I don't always do well without someone breathing down my neck. I'm hoping that taking a break and crocheting a bunch of presents for the kids for Christmas will help reinspire me. I've got a few patterns done that just need to be written up, and I've also got a couple new designers on board whose patterns I need to get formatted and ready for TNNA in January.

My goal is to do nothing but work this weekend (since I would've been in Montana anyway), but we'll see how that shakes out. I really need to find a good, quiet place to hang out that has free wi-fi. Unfortunately, the dining room only meets one of those two criteria...