Super freak

Squirrel! is (almost) ready for felting.


Squirrel!
Project details on Ravelry

His tail still needs to be sewn on.

Someone doesn't want to give it back.


He's a super freak


He's super-freaky

Sunday Sunday

Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day Light Whole Wheat Bread recipe.

The dough was rolled out on the breakfast table, a flat surface large enough for me to roll the dough to a 1/8"-1/4" thickness resulting in more swirls. (I didn't use a Silpat--it wasn't much larger than my cutting board.)


Sticky Pecan Caramel Wheat Rolls


Sticky Pecan Caramel Wheat Rolls


Sticky Pecan Caramel Wheat Roll

Yum!

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday. What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing


Edamame
Project details on Ravelry

and


My First Socks

RSB last weekend and this weekend

Big thanks to the knitters, co-workers, friends, and acquaintances who came to The Quarter Note last weekend to see the Roger Steen Band. It was really nice to see friendly faces in the house. I was still nervous, but thankfully the twitchiness went away after the first song. Whew!

Amy posted some photos on Flickr--she did a fantastic job capturing some awesome shots, especially considering the lighting and movement.

The club was happy with the music and the turnout so *fingers crossed* I hope we'll be asked back.

This weekend will be a RSB marathon--3 hours in SF and 1 hour in Brookdale (near Felton). If you're in either area, consider stopping by to enjoy the music.


(Click to embiggen)
Art design: Carol Sevilla, Photo: Bill Walker

Thanks for the groovy flyer, Carol! See you on Saturday.

For your viewing pleasure

What are you doing tonight?

The Roger Steen Band

If you're in the mood for great music, drink, and fine company, consider coming out to the Quarter Note in Sunnyvale to see The Roger Steen Band. You'll get to see and hear Ms. Knitflix herself singing(!).

The Roger Steen Band
March 21, 9:00PM
The Quarter Note
1214 Apollo Way
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
1-408-732-2110
21 & over, $7
A nice local bar off Lawrence Expressway. RSB plays first--we'll be off the stage by ~10:30PM.

If you can't come to the show tonight, we're playing in San Francisco and Brookdale next Saturday. After that? We'll see!

Listen to RSB songs on Myspace
RSB on Facebook

I'm in heaven

Jeff & Zoë, you've done it again!

Trader Joe's Pecan Sticky Buns are a favorite in this household, but like many of TJ's items, you never know when they're going to run out... and they ran out about a month ago.

When I saw the recipe for Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, I knew I had to give them a try. I had a batch of the Master Recipe in the fridge, so this morning I rolled up my sleeves and started throwing flour around.

We have a box of pecans from R's tree in AZ and he's been shelling them this week. I had more than enough for the rolls.

Because the dough is softer than what I'm used to, I was a little worried about their appearance before rising. It looked like I was going to have 8 blobs of bread... bread with cinnamon, sugar, and pecans inside. Well, that wouldn't be *so* bad, would it?


Before rising

40 min in the oven and they were magically transformed into spiral rolls sitting in a bubbling layer of sugar, butter, and pecans.


Hot out of the oven (and still bubbling!)

Turning them out was easier than I thought.


Turned out (great)

I was going to take a photo of a plated roll, but they were eaten as soon as they were served.


Perfect bread

Will I make them again? Absolutely.

Will I do anything different? My cutting board wasn't large enough to roll the dough to a 1/8"-1/4" thickness, so the spirals are a little thick. They're still tender and tasty, but next time I'll roll the dough out on the kitchen table to get thinner spirals.

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday. What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing a pair of socks that I finished last night. Unfortunately I can't post a photo because this is another pattern that I've submitted for publication.

Two weeks in a row? Yeah, I know. Sorry about that.

I can't show you the sock, but here's the yarn that I used.


Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Superwash

It's soft and lovely and I'm looking forward to knitting with it again.

The Staff of Life

There was a time when I made sourdough bread every week and we stopped buying bread at the store. We got the sourdough starter in San Francisco--most likely from a touristy store in Fisherman's Wharf--and I churned out bread, cinnamon rolls, and pancakes.

I stopped (probably because college life got in the way) and didn't bake bread very much until I received some sourdough starter from the Culinary Center in Monterey. That starter was so rich, it was as if you could taste the complexity of the Pacific ocean in every bite. I took to kneading the bread in a stainless steel bowl which allowed me to use less flour and helped contain the mess. I shared the starter with others and after many loaves (and some neglect), mine eventually died. When I checked to see if any of my friends had some left, I found out theirs had died too.

I hadn't baked bread in years. Until today.

Ilona and Jeni and others discovered Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Dayand it sounded like such an unbelievable concept. Fresh, home made bread that's fast, neat, and convenient? Yeah right.

Well, it's true. Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François have made artisan bread accessible to all.

I made a batch of the basic recipe last night with regular ol' ingredients like unbleached AP flour, active dry yeast, kosher salt, and water. Tonight I took out a pound of dough, shaped it, and baked it using the Dutch oven method.


AB in 5, Dutch Oven method

It's a good thing it wasn't cool enough to cut for dinner because I might have eaten the whole loaf.

The funny thing is, when I was shaping the boule I missed kneading the dough. I thought it was too bad that this method took that step out of the process.

I'm over it.


Who needs to knead?

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday the 13th. What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing hand knit socks that I can't show on the blog just yet. The pattern is slated to be in Debbie Stoller's Stitch 'N' Bitch Extremedue out later this year. Amazon is accepting pre-orders. That is so cool.

I am also wearing pink for Pink-Slip Friday. California has been cutting funding to public education to the tune of $11.6B. Billion. BILLION! Teachers, students, and parents are encouraging everyone to wear pink in support of public education as school districts begin sending out layoff notices. Stop the pink-slips & invest in the future!

Are you ready?

The Roger Steen Band

Photo: Bill Walker
L-R: Hank Gibson, Roger Steen, David Rapaport, Bill Walker
Listen to RSB songs on Myspace
RSB on Facebook

Yup, we have some gigs coming up in Northern California. If you're near San Jose/San Francisco/Santa Cruz, come on out! The knitters represented at the last gig in SF and I'm hoping for the same at the next 3.

• March 21, 9:00PM
  The Quarter Note
  1214 Apollo Way
  Sunnyvale, CA 94085
  1-408-732-2110
  A nice local bar off Lawrence Expressway. RSB plays first--we'll be off the stage by ~10:30PM.


• March 28, 2:00-5:00PM
  Park Chalet Garden Restaurant
  1000 Great Highway
  San Francisco, CA 94121
  1-415-386-8439
  An outdoor performance--I hope we have one of those spectacular San Francisco spring days. It'll be an afternoon of beach, food, and music.


• March 28, 7:00PM
  Benefit for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
  Team in Training
  Brookdale Inn and Spa
  11570 Highway 9
  Brookdale, CA 95007
  1-831-338-1300
  After SF, we'll be driving down Hwy 1 to Brookdale (northwest of Scotts Valley) to headline a benefit concert. The all ages show starts at 7PM and features The Roger Steen Band with The Substitute Preachers, Pat Nevins of Workingmans Ed, Mid-Life Vices, and Acoustic Shadows.

If you become a fan of RSB Facebook group, you'll get notices about upcoming gigs. If you'd rather receive an Evite invitation, leave a comment here with your email address or send an email to contact@rogersteenband.com and I'll add you to the list.

I'm looking forward to the gigs--sing out! sing out!

HKF

It's Hand Knit Friday. What hand knits do you have on today?

I'm wearing


Vogue Diamond Pullover
Project details on Ravelry



Dye-o-rama Socks
Project details on Ravelry

Skrå-trøje!

My sister and I took the Danish Skrå-trøjer class from Beth Brown-Reinsel at Stitches West and we really enjoyed it.

For me, this class was unique in that it focused on the techniques and construction of one sweater--one unique sweater--that a woman made for her husband in the late 1800's. Beth designed this class around the original sweater's construction and stranding--get this--fingering weight and worsted weight yarn.

I KNOW!

Actually, the original sweater appeared to have incorporated more than 2 yarn weights, but I guess Beth didn't want our heads to explode so she limited it to two. lol

What did I learn? Plenty. Here are the highlights.

• I learned about this fascinating sweater and what might have motivated the woman to make it the way she did. The half gussets and seam stitches are nice details that I'd like to use again.
  
• I learned more about color dominance in stranded colorwork. Beth taught us why one color is more dominant than the other. It was such an "Ah ha!" Now I can look at my knitting and figure out which hand holds the dominant yarn. I don't have to think, "right? or left??" and I don't have to look it up. That was big.
  
• Beth demonstrated 2 color knitting and trapping floats when holding both yarns in the right hand, both yarns in the left hand, and one in each hand. Awesome.
  
• Even better, she demonstrated 2 color PURLING and trapping floats with all 3 ways of holding the yarn. Very timely, especially since I have more to do on the Sipalu Bag and my plan is going to require stranded purling.
  
• A refresher on Twined Knitting. There's twined knitting trim on the sampler and it's really a nice touch. There's more twined knitting in my future.
  

Want to see the sampler? It still needs neck trim, the sleeves aren't sewn in and it could use a good blocking...


Danish Skrå-trøje


Danish Skrå-trøje


Danish Skrå-trøje

I highly recommend the class. Take it with your sister or a friend. It's more fun that way!