Intermission

This is what I've been doing for two days. Well, ok not exclusively - I don't want any one thinking I'm a horrible lush. See that jar? That's my mom-in-love's homegrown sunflower honey. I believe it's goodness alone will cure me of my ailments.

The Sick is in my house now. I've had a cold and I'm praying my big and little men don't get it. We're going into our 4th week of Ben working overtime, which means up at 4 for both of us. I think it's made us an easy target for illness.

I have just a wee bit more to do on the shawl. I'm so close. But it's been slow going... A bajillion stitches to attach the edging to, putting it down to sleep when I can, and this evening Stan the Cat decided he was going to attack it while I was out of the room and broke my yarn... again.

So stay tuned! Hopefully in the next few days you will see a finished Snorkel. :)

What's Cookin': Chicken Stock

I have found the goodness that is homemade chicken stock. I made my first batch awhile ago and placed 2 cup portions in the freezer for later use. And I will never turn back to store bought again (if I can avoid it). It is so much richer, and I love that I can control what's in it.

I wasn't out of my previous batch yet, but I did have celery that needed to be used up and a carcass in the freezer. When we have a whole bird, I strip the meat off and freeze the bones in a large bag, accumulating them until I have enough for stock. Here is how I make mine, and I highly encourage you make your own as well. You will be greatly rewarded.

Homemade Chicken Stock - Makes about 10 cups (2.5 quarts)
1 large (turkey) or 3-4 small (chicken) carcasses
2 carrots, washed, ends removed and broken in half
3 stalks celery, washed and broken in half
1 half onion
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon peppercorns (or a good amount of pre-ground)
1/2 tsp thyme
7 quarts water
Salt to taste


In a large stock pot, throw everything in and cover with the water. Heat to boiling, then reduce to medium-low and let simmer for 7-8 hours. Once done, add salt to taste, if desired. Strain the liquid into another pot or two (depending on how much liquid you have left, and the size of your containers). Let cool, then place in the fridge overnight. The next day skim off any fat, then separate into desired portions.

Depending on how much your bones cooked down, it will be slightly jello-ish in texture once cool. This is normal and is from the natural gelatin in the bones being extracted. It will go back to it's normal liquid state once heated.

This time around I used little one cup freezer containers. When I get around to it, I will pop out the stock "cubes" into a freezer bag, so that I can pull out however many cups I need at a time.

I use my homemade stock in anything from soups to casseroles. The flavor really can't be beat.

Fiber Friday - And a Link Up!

It's Fiber Friday! Today I want to try something new for all of you, which I'll put at the end of this post.

I haven't had a Fiber Friday at home in quite awhile. My oldest boys got shots yesterday - 2 in each leg! -  and the poor babies have been hobbling around the house saying "Ouchieeee... people ouchie... bandaid...." (The "people" gave them ouchies.) So today is a lazy day. They are parked in front of Alice in Wonderland and I will take this opportunity to knit my heart out.

Here is where I'm at on the toe up Peacock socks. I have so named them from the colorway of the yarn. I still have a LOT of yarn left in the ball, so they will be very long socks. I'm not sure yet if I will be keeping them or giving them away, as they are just a tad bit long for my foot.

And the snorkel shawl. I am finally to the point of working the edging. I finished the repeats on... Sunday, I think. And have been working on the edging since. Yes. That's 4 days. No, I'm not close to being done, I'm not even half way through. Yes. That is ridiculous. But I haven't been working on it for 4 days solid, just intermittently as I have a chance to sit down for a few minutes. It's coming along and I'm hoping to have it on the blocking board by Sunday .

And now for the fun part!

I'd like to start a weekly link up that involves audience participation. It will happen on my Fiber Fridays. This is a chance for everyone to show off anything they've been crafting over the last week. Haven't crafted anything in awhile? Do something now! I think everyone needs that creative time, it's good for your soul.

So, here are a few rules/guidelines just to get us started.

• It doesn't have to be knitting. Honestly, it doesn't have to be "fiber" related. Link up anything you've knit/crocheted, quilted, painted, glued together - Whatever! Just anything crafty you've worked on the last week.
• It doesn't have to be finished. My stuff isn't finished, why should yours? Just link up any progress so we can see where y'all are at with your crafties!
• Please link directly to the post itself, not your entire blog. For example, I would not put in my link for "http://bitoflifeblog.blogspot.com", but would put "http://bitoflifeblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/footies.html" which points directly the Footies post.  You can find the URL/address you need by clicking on the title of your post and copying that address.
• You've got until Sunday at Midnight to add your link!

This is the first time I've attempted something like this, so I hope it works.

Won't you play along? :)

Knitting: A Story

I learned how to knit when I was 8 years old. Little did I know it would be such a huge part of my life later on down the road.

My mum taught me just the basics of a cast on or two, the knit stitch, and how to bind off. I would pick it up every now and then, needing to be reminded how to just cast on, since I always forgot. I've always been obsessed with yarn (I have no idea why. Maybe I was just destined to be a serious knitter from the beginning) and because of that knitting was a good excuse to play with said yarn. I would cast on a ridiculous amount of stitches, and then knit and knit and knit, until I ran out of yarn. This usually resulted in a knitted object large enough to make a car cozy. A lot of times I would rip out and do it again, just because I didn't have any more yarn. This happened every now and then over the years, but I was never terribly serious about it.

When we got pregnant with our boys I went to the grocery store one night, needing food supplies, and saw a little book on the rack next to the check register. It was a book of baby knit patterns. I decided then that I needed to knit for my impending child (we didn't know it was twins yet) and bought the book. A few days later I went to Michael's and purchased some soft, baby-green yarn. I had it in my mind that I was going to make the checker board looking blanket.

Unfortunately, I didn't know how to do a purl stitch, and this pattern required purling. Now, I'm not sure if it was the pregnancy brain, or I really am just stupid, but for days and days I could not figure out how to purl. I would look at how-tos and watch videos and researched everything, only to end up in tears night after night because I could not figure it out. (Hint: You bring the yarn to the front first.) I know my poor husband thought I was nuts because I kept subjecting myself to frustration and crying. But I finally figured it out and was on my way to making this blanket.

Then our world turned upside down and knitting became my sanity.

Our boys were born at 27 weeks - way, way, way too early to be in the world. We numbly wandered through their birth, and following weeks as we roughly adjusted to life as NICU parents. After a bit I returned to the blanket, and working. I would take it to work with me in a canvas bag and I would zone out and just knit, not getting any work done. Thankfully, I worked for my father and he was very understanding.

It was a constant. It was secure. It was the one thing I knew I could do, without breaking down. The ease and repetition of creating each stitch calmed my nerves. The only things that held me together during that time were my God, my husband, and my knitting.

I don't know when I finished that blanket exactly, but it was after we finally brought our babies home three months later. 

I was hooked. It was like a drug. I couldn't put it down. I bought yarn. Lots of yarn. I made scarves and hats, and baby jackets. I even made a dress. I learned how to knit in the round and do lace by knitting two stitches together and making yarn overs. I poured myself into knitting books, I found Ravelry, I had finally found my source of peace.

 

Knitting preserved my soul again when we got slammed with the news that my mum had a massive brain tumor. We didn't know if it was cancerous or not, whether she would survive or not, and it was so urgent that the doctors rushed her into surgery a few weeks after finding out. I don't think anyone really knows what to do when faced with news like that. So I knit. I knit hats for my mum, to keep her head warm and cover the scar. Hat after hat. It was all I could do. Once again, knitting to the rescue.

I suffer from what most people would call social anxiety disorder. I get horribly nervous and sick to my stomach in situations that involve a lot of people, places I don't know, or things that are grossly out of the norm for me. I have fought it since I was 9 years old. It has been a very rough and painful battle.

When I finally got comfortable enough to knit in public, I realized that it was calming me. My anxiety was lessened since I had something to do with my hands. Now I can't leave the house without something to work on. I heard a saying once that I thought nailed it on the head.

"She uses her hands as a means to calm a turbulent mind." This was said in regards to knitting. I can't tell you how true this is. I can focus on the task at hand (literally), even if it is just the simple knit stitch.

There are 5 babies in this generation between my husband's sister and I, and I just found out that she's got her third on the way. I have knit for every one of them, and I will knit for this one as well. It's a way for me to wrap the people I care for in love. And I have knit for people I don't know and will never meet, because I heard that they were going through a difficult time and my heart aches for them. Heck, I knit for my neighbor's baby and I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm nuts for it.

I know a lot of people think I'm just the crazy lady with the yarn. Well, they're probably right. But knitting has been my second source of sanity through so many trials and hard times. It has gotten me through pain and anger, through sadness and depression, through fear, and has been a source of delight when I am happy and just at ease. It calms my soul and quiets my turbulent mind. And now, as I go through bumps in the road, I know...

I can always knit. It's still my drug.

What's Cookin': Chicken "Hot" Pie

Because that's what my kiddos called it. I thought it was adorable.

I got this recipe originally from ... Uh... Robin Miller, I think. I've had it for a long time. But I've omitted a lot of the things she called for. (Seriously, who puts tomatoes and corn in pot pie?? I would get shot.) So, here is my simplified version.

I love using Robert Mondavi Chardonnay as my cooking wine. I enjoy the flavor greatly once it is cooked down and intensified. It's also not terribly expensive. I think the last time we bought it, it was $9 for a bottle. Pretty good deal considering I only use 1/4-1/2 C per recipe. If you wish to omit the wine for whatever reason, just add an extra 1/4 C of chicken stock to make up the liquid.

Why yes, I was feeling goofy. Why do you ask?

Chicken Pot Pie - makes about 6 servings

2 Tbs oil

1/2 large onion, diced

2 C cooked chicken, cubed or shredded

2 carrots, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

2 Tbs flour

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1 C chicken stock/broth (homemade if possible)

1/4 C dry white wine

1 tsp dijon mustard

2 pie crusts (homemade if possible)

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large pan, saute onions in oil until soft. Add chicken and mix together. Combine flour and spices, then sprinkle over chicken. Allow to heat until flour is cooked, about 2 minutes. Add carrots, celery, broth, wine and mustard. Stir to combine. Heat to boil and let simmer until veggies are soft. 

Pour into prepared pie pan and top with second crust. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Allow to sit 5-10 minutes before serving.

Ben Rating: 4! It's good stuff.

Happy eating,