I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

I suspect not many of you know that I learned how to crochet before I learned how to knit. My grandmother was an avid crocheter and I assume I wanted to emulate her. Just before her hands and eyes failed her, my grandmother spent an entire year making a crocheted afghan for each of her 8 grandchildren. Mine is now about 35 years old and I still use it nearly every day.

Considering its age, it’s in pretty good condition.

Guess that’s the power of vintage Coeur de Rouge acrylic yarn.

Another thing you may not know, is that the first thing I ever designed was a crocheted hat. Seriously. During a high school football game in the 1970s, I sat behind a girl who was wearing a crocheted hat with a wide floppy brim. Damn I wanted that hat! I focused my attention on her head throughout the entire game and came up with something similar when I got home. Fortunately Unfortunately, I don’t still have it. But I distinctly remember wearing it to the next football game.

The world has advanced in many ways since the 1970s but crochet hasn’t quite kept pace. With few exceptions, I think it is still ill-suited for garments and winter accessories. Because of its construction, it’s bulky and lacks drape. I can’t deny that it’s an excellent technique for blankets and felted items, but I rarely make those types of things. On the up side, however, it works up quickly and eats up a lot of yarn.

The project I showed you last week is a crocheted cowl. To make it a little more drapey, I’m using sport weight yarn and a fairly large hook. It is not Tunisian crochet (we called that afghan stitch back in the day) but regular crochet. In fact, I’m not even sure if you can work afghan stitch in the round. Anyone know?

In any event, the project is stalled while I convince myself that it looks okay.

In the meantime, I’ve moved on to a new project from a fabulous new yarn from Shibuiknits.

Loving this project! Maybe I should just hang up my hook.

The clever among you quickly deduced that I’m knitting a Clapotis. I made a scarf-sized Clapotis last year, but this is my first full-size version. I guess that makes me the last knitter on earth to knit up this pattern.

The knitting part is done and now I’m just debating whether to block it or leave it.

Even if I decide to block it, I won’t be doing it any time soon since I’ve recently had another episode of BPPV. So bending over a blocking board is not in my cards for the next week or so.

Since I haven’t been able to work or drive, I busied myself experimenting with the right-of-first-refusal gift I got for Christmas.

I tried a couple of ice cream recipes I found online but they were either too sweet or too rich. I took elements from several recipes and created a new one using a mixture of whole milk and heavy cream.

1 pint whole milk
1 pint heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla (NOT imitation vanilla — yucky)
pinch or two of salt

Gently whisk the eggs and the milk together in a saucepan. Add the cream then add the vanilla, salt, and sugar. Stirring pretty constantly, cook over medium to low heat until thermometer reads between 160-170 degrees. The mixture should coat the back of a spoon. (Yes, you’re basically making custard.) Remove from heat and chill in fridge at least 12 hours.

The finished ice cream is a bit icier than the version I made with just cream or with a mixture of cream and half & half. But it is much more palatable. Especially with Oreos mixed in.

I’m not much for resolutions, and I don’t make exceptions for the New Year.   But this year holds some milestones for me.  I will celebrate a decade birthday (boo) and become an empty nester at the end of the summer (don’t congratulate me on the latter; I suspect I’ll miss all the most of the school-age spiritedness swirling though the house).  So, that got me thinking.  Maybe 2011 is different; maybe it deserves a resolution.

Accordingly, I resolve to make the following resolution: This year, I will do whatever the hell I want.

On Sunday, I put that resolution to the test.  I walked into a room reeking of unfinished knitting projects, assertively grabbed 5 pristine hanks of hand-dyed alpaca, and wound them up.  The color varied wildly from skein-to-skein, so I arranged them in what I thought was lightest to darkest.

Four days and four skeins later, I’m nearly finished.

Oh, what will it be??