Saturday, August 06, 2005

Yummy!

...I hope! I fudged a black currant jam recipe to skirt those who'd have me use liquid/powdered pectin, and made red currant jam from some of my bumper crop. So far so good -- it's cooling in the hot sterilized jars. My initial taste (when I did the test for done-ness) suggests tangy, so I might want to add a bit more sugar to the next batch. DH says he'll be my taste-tester!

I have at least 8 more cups of currants for Batch #2, and perhaps enough still on the bushes for #3. This makes up for my lack-luster showing in raspberries this year -- I think they've taken the summer off!

On the Knitting Front, progress is being made on my 'walking' piece, the Stonington Shawl from 'Best of Knitter's Shawls and Wraps' -- an EZ creation, which I am making in a wonderful burgundy heather from the recent sale at Elann. I'm thrilled with it -- except that I messed up and didn't follow the chart exactly, not really understanding when the book casually referred to 'a square within a square'. I thought this meant a central square, with a broad border, then a lace edging. Ah, well, it's a paraphrase of EZ's work rather than an exact copy of the pattern...live and learn!

To boot, I've found a lovely pattern for my qiviuk -- from Knitter's Spring 2004 issue -- "Dice Blue" on p. 76. I have 436 yds of yarn to the pattern's 500, but I'll adjust...I'm probably short enough to absorb the 64-yard difference anyway!

Thursday evening my DD put in early Christmas Requests (!) for her sister-in-law, who is 'allergic to wool' (!!), so at my LYS yesterday I found the loveliest Bernat acrylic I could find, in a deep, rich, royal purple for a 'LoTech Sweat' (see Bonne Marie at ChicKnits for the pattern). Today at Michael's I found another batch of Bernat acrylic in just the right olive/khaki for another LTS for my son. Gotta get those needles clickin'!

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