Christmas cookie day

What is Christmas cookie day, you might ask. You might surmise it's a day to eat cookies. As fabulous as that might be, no.  Very few people can handle the sugar rush.   If you guessed that it's the day of cookie baking, you would be right.

I started this when my kids started elementary school.   Before that time, I did the cookies the way my mom had done it, a batch every few days.   As I got everything more organized over the years,  there was a weekend to decorate (thanksgiving weekend), a day to bake, days to go shopping,  days to go to see the elementary school programs for Christmas.

Christmas cookie baking started taking on a life of its own.   My husband wanted his family favorites. I still wanted mine.  I wanted to add a few new ideas that my kid's wanted.  We made chocolate chip cookies,  peanut butter cookies, peanut blossom cookies, oatmeal cookies,  soft sugar cookies.  I added gingerbread men,  cutout sugar cookies,  rum balls,  candy and still more cookies over the next couple years. 

As I pulled out each recipe,  I recalled the giver of and the making of each recipe.  Kass gave mom the soft sugar cookies when I was 8 or 9.  I remembered the year Mom forgot to add one of the ingredients.  She knew that she missed something minor by the flavor.  She finally worked it down to the salt.  Yes even a small thing like that can change the flavor.  We got double the yummy cookies that year.  Kass also gave my Mom the frosting recipe that we adapted to different flavors to frost these cookies.  So much better than store bought canned frosting.

Mom taught me to roll the peanut butter cookies when I was 6.  We didn't agree on what the directions said about size.  I lost that argument since I didn't really understand the size of a walnut and the fact that we needed to get 60 cookies from the recipe.   The peanut blossom cookies were given by a family friend named Bobbie.   She had a cookie day too.  She baked a lot of fancier cookies than we chose to do.  Bobbie also worked with a friend who had experience with some of the techniques my family didn't have.

My mother in law gave the oatmeal cookies.  She spent time telling me about each of her kids favorite ways to make them. Surprisingly a number of them liked them slightly burnt on the bottom.  Raisins and chocolate chips or peanut butter chips were top favorites.  She liked that she got an extra dose of something healthy into her kids.  I like them in spite of hating cooked oatmeal and I add an extra cup of oats.. She really liked adding raisins to the cookie dough.  A sister in law added chocolate chips and raisins.  I'm divided on this.  The raisins seem too sweet for the chocolate chips.  However, the kids liked them and to a point that is who they were made for.

The chocolate chip cookies were courtesy of the nestle company recipe.  The basic cookie recipe is one that I have seen in many cookbooks and on many different candy bags.  My kids broke the rules one year by determining that chocolate chips, nuts and several small candies should be added to the same batch of cookies.  It was interesting and less than successful.  There wasn't enough dough to hold all the candy together and they ran into each other and burned fast to the pans.  Lessons learned.

I added things over the years.  I deleted a few that were not popular.  I added sand tarts early on. Mom loved sand tarts and would buy them at the local bakery.  She couldn't make them or didn't want to.  I think it was equal parts.  We learned a few things with these like don't use the fill with cold water type of rolling pin to roll any cookies out.  The idea is good but fails in execution.  The problem?  The cold rolling pin sweats in the warm to hot kitchen turning the cookie dough/flour into glue and causing sticking.  That was my addition to the failures, among others.  We could counter it by using a stockinette cover on the pin but that negates the cold.  The part that messed my mom up was that she didn't use enough flour to prevent sticking.  But they were fun as long as I did the rolling.  We made them with walnut halves decorating, a dash of cinnamon to decorate, colored sugar, colored jimmies.

I added gingerbread men but not gingerbread houses.  They are beautiful but the building was too much for kids.  They really liked the royal icing we used to decorate them.  The decorating them with raisins and fruits and fun stuff was a fail for us.  We tried adding before baking.  Stuff fell off.  We tried adding after baking.  Stuff really fell off.  We tried using the royal icing to glue stuff on.  It got knocked off in storage.  One good thing about my recipe for the ginger bread men was that there was a lot of ginger in there.  They were a good antidote to the too much celebrating nausea that seemed to happen when there were back to back holiday parties.

We tried stained glass sugar cookies one year.  They are beautiful in the picture.  For us they were a big fail.  Using a large cookie cutter, 4 - 6 inches, you cut out the sugar cookies a little thicker than usual.  Now cut the "windows" using a knife.  Make sure to keep at least a third of an inch wall around each "window".    Remove the centers.  Fill with crushed hard candies, keeping colors separated.  Bake.  First don't crush the candies to dust.  Keep the candies in larger chunks.  Second, use a steady hand to cut the window parts.  Straight lines are nicer to look at.  Third, line your cookie sheet with parchment paper.  That candy will melt and run under the cookie.  Don't line with foil.  The foil will get stuck to the candy and not come off in one piece.  The flecks of foil show up as dark spots and make the "windows" look dirty.

I used to drag the ingredients to my mom's house or in later years a friend's house, but about the time my kids hit junior high school I stopped that.  Anyone who wanted in could come to my house.  Moving a bakery is not fun.  Once my kids were out of the house, I pretty much stopped cookie day.  The next generation had taken over the desserts for the most part in the various family parties and did things that interested them.  One year we had 14 pumpkin rolls and more variations of chocolate chip cookies than we wanted. That year was a disappointment for one of the younger "kids".  I didn't even make rum balls.  This is one of the cookies that parents (more specifically, grandma and great grandma) wouldn't let the kids have until they were of age due to the rum.  There wasn't that much rum but to keep people happy, the kids waited mostly.  One of the girls was just of age to have some of the rum balls and there were none.  I'm making her a batch this year.  Just for her.

Try a few of these wonderful cookies.  Or share your favorites.  Who knows, with grandkids close by I now have more reason to bake cookies again.  Just not in such huge quantities....

Knitting and Toddlers

I know some of you will understand from first hand experience. Other people will empathize. 

Currently I am packing up my house to move. Circumstances dictate this move. However,  my husband has packed all (or what he thought was all) of my yarn. From the various rooms and closets comes more.  

Our home also houses our son and his daughter.  The packing and boxes make for a very unsettled toddler. We adults understand that and try to accommodate her. 

Thus when we found a cake or bernat blanket stripes with knitting and needles that you as escaped being boxed up, I just let it be. It has a beginning of a blanket for said granddaughter. She likes to touch and play with everything she sees,  like all little ones. I was not afraid of her handling it.  I did have some concerns when she tasted the wood needles. She doesn't need splinters. 

This yarn doesn't run. It needs a lot of encouragement. The needle removal happened two days ago. I have not had time to put them back in the blanket. When I tried to get the needles she didn't want to give them up. The more I asked the more she wavered between the evil little look that says I know exactly what I'm doing and the cranky child crying no because Mimi is supposed to be knitting and the boxes that are everywhere are more than she can handle. 

I have a feeling it will get boxed up with more yarn found in one of the bedrooms. As for our little granddaughter, stories and songs and her "babies" will suffice until the move is complete and I can finish this project. 

She will learn she is loved no matter where we are.  

October is National Domestic Violence Month

Domestic violence affects more people than we know. It affects women and children primarily.   We can't overlook the men either.  Domestic Violence knows no boundaries.  It crosses all social norms, economic layers, genders.  

The violence takes four basic forms, physical,  mental/emotional,  sexual  and neglect.   It serves to strip a person of their dignity and self respect.  It causes physical wounds large and small. It causes mental and emotional wounds that persist as long as the person is alive.

A way to help the victims is to give them the courage and capability to make choices. Offer your services to the local domestic violence service. What do you do well? It's possible that for security and privacy the offer will be refused.  Don't take it personally.  See what needs you can fill. Most people who land in the DVI do so without basic necessities due to having to leave in a hurry.  Clothes to suit the season can be met by knitting and crocheting or purchasing things.  Use current fashionable colors or neutrals that can work with a wide range of color choices.   Clothes to fit a variety of jobs are very useful and welcome. Perhaps cleaning out some of your gently used items can help.

One of the things I like to offer is a fashionable accessory.  I offer a variety of warm hat, scarf, and mitten or glove sets.  I also like to offer a scarf that can be used to dress up some basic clothes for those in professional jobs.

Here is a hat idea that can fit a child or adult.

CO 60 using a double strand of worsted weight or a strand of bulky weight (5) yarn on a size 10 1/2US 16 inch circular needle.  PM before joining to work in the round.

Rd 1:  * K 2nd st on left needle, do not remove, k 1st st on left needle, remove both.  P2.  Rep from * to marker.
Rd 2:  * k2, p2.  Rep from around. 

Rep Rd 1 & 2 until there are 7 inches.

  *k2, p2tog.  Rep from * around.  K2, p1 for 2 rds. * k2tog, p1.  rep from * around.  K1, p1 for 2 rds.  k2tog around.  Divide remaining stitches in thirds and work each section in 5 inches of Icord.  Braid or leave separated. 

A fashionable scarf/cowl can be a fine accessory to cover a neckline that might be a little too low or to add warmth or hide bruising from prying eyes that don't need to know the intimate details of a person's life.

I like the South bay shawlette from Lion Brand yarn.  

https://m.lionbrand.com/item/313137313331

I also like this simple one. It can use any weight yarn and the hook you usually use or a size bigger. 

Have you ever.....

I know, I know. That's a very leading question.  But it was sparked by a desire to use up all the yardage for a blanket. 

You may or may not know about the math that can be used to figure out how much to keep for the binding off process.   I am not in a good place to do that math. Numbers are not my friend right now. So I thought about it as I went about life.

My idea is to knit until I get just a couple of inches left.  I will then take a crochet hook and starting with the next stitch, pull the second stitch through the first. I will repeat the process to the last stitch with a couple of inches of tail. Then I will invisibly join and see the ends down.

In my mind this should work just like a regular plain bind off.  It should not pull the edge tight.

OK I tried it.  It worked great. The only thing I did not do was sew down the ends. This crochet hook method took longer than a regular bind off but not much.

However the edge did pull in and was tight. I don't think this will be a problem on finer knits. But the size 13 needles and one and a half stitches to the inch definitely need a more stretchy bind off.

An Update and a pattern

So much has happened in my corner of the world. 

Early April saw me teaching during a festival of the arts to 8th grade students.  I may have said about this event previously.  The students were a joy.  I will be looking forward to this next year.

April also saw my older son and daughter in law home for a visit over Easter.  They got to relax and we got to spend time together as a family, something that happens too infrequently.  Looking for ideas for their next visit has been fun in the few free minutes I have.

No sooner did they leave to go back home than my younger son moved home again and brought his daughter.  Good thing he did it at the time he did as he was on the verge of being hospitalized with strep.  Round the clock rest, antibiotics, and care were the order of the day.  Having a baby in the house again has been a joy, good for a waistline, and just plain fun.  Ok the floors could stand a mopping more often, but that is a small price to pay.

We've had quite a few trials and tribulations with my mother in law recently.  As an aging woman, who is too stubborn  for her own good, she brings some of her issues on herself but most are just results of aging.  She is exceptionally lucky that she didn't break anything during her falls.  Some of the issues we (as a family) have been able to rectify.  Others will take some retraining.

My church's festival was in early June.  Due to an elderly congregation, there are few to do the heavy lifting of the festival.  There's more than one type of heavy lifting.  We have a rehabilitation facility we can call for the literal heavy lifting.  The heavy lifting of chairing the various festival parts is just falling by the wayside.  Those who have done it for decades are mostly unable any longer.  But for all that, this year's festival was a success.  The other churches had good weather so I have high hopes they also had successful festivals.

Recently (ok 3 or 4 years ago), we found a muzzle loading faire.  This is designed for those who do reenactments of the 1700s to mid 1800s.  Some of the people build their own weapon.  Some of the people make their own clothes and all the other accoutrements of the era.  As this is a destination type event, some of the ladies decided to do a ladies in waiting group.  Here the ladies and children learn the crafts of day to day living.  Things like weaving, spinning, open fire cooking, and more esoteric like needlepoint and tatting and ice cream making without a churn are the order of the day.  This year I taught foundation piecing and straw weaving.  Always a fun activity.  The straw weaving is like inkle loom weaving except larger scale and designed for kids.

Immediately after this was my knitting guild's retreat for summer.  Sadly I didn't get to attend.  My family experienced a loss.  My husband's uncle died.  It was not totally unexpected but still a devastation.  Thankfully the retreat could go on without me.

Finally, I have figured out early what to do for my grandchildren for Christmas.  This is a struggle most years.  Each child will get a hand knit blanket.  I was helped along by a good sale at my local Joann's.  The sale was on Bernat Blanket yarn.  That will help with the time element and the fact that I have 5 beautiful grandbabies (ok some are in elementary school).  Each one will be different and individualized.  The first one is center out.  I'm on the 2nd ball.  I have a gauge of 1.5 sts per inch and 2.5 rows per inch.

The basic pattern for a simple square blanket.

size 13 circular needles.

Cast on 8 stitches with a magic circle.

K 1 rd, pm after every 2nd st.  Make the first corner where you start the round different.
Kfb around.
K1 rd.
* Kfb, k2, kfb, sl m.  Rep from *
**K 1 rd.
*Kfb, to last st before marker, kfb, sl m.  Rep from *.

Rep from ** until you reach the size desired or you run out of yarn.  Bind off loosely.

Weave in ends.  Sew fast with a needle and thread if you are using the same yarn as I am.  The ends will worm through with use.

Joining granny squares

Recently I have had a chance to do a really thorough perusal of part of my studio. I had help moving a majority of stuff to another room.  For that I'm grateful.  Yarn skein by skein isn't heavy.   Yarn in tubs and cubbies are enormously heavy.   But in my moving and opening every bag,  box,  containers of who knew what, I found a bunch of granny squares. I even remember being given the squares.   

Three dozen are shades of blue with red(ish) centers. Another dozen and a half are not that size and are done in shades of brown.  Still another dozen and a half are again not the same as the other two sizes, nor are they shades of any one color.  These ones are mixed centers with a round of tan. 

I'm using the blue squares and a granny join with a light silvery blue yarn from Lion Brand Vanna's Choice.  I laid the squares out in a rectangular shape. 

Being a right handed crocheter,  I started on the right side with a standing double crochet in the right top corner of the bottom row of squares. I then went to the bottom right corner of the square just above and worked 3 double crochets.  I moved back to the first square and worked 3 more double crochet in the first chain one space.  Back to the top square and 3 double crochet stitches in the chain one space. 

I continue across the rows moving back and forth. When the end of the row is reached, a single double crochet in the top row bottom left corner. 

When all the rows are done going from side to side, I'll turn it 90* and repeat. At the junction a slip stitch between the two groups of 3 double crochets will keep it tidy. 

I plan to add more granny squares around the outside edges equally.   The goal for this is to go to a homeless shelter. 

Teddy Bears for Babies

Years ago a women's magazine had craft projects that were good sellers for bazaars.  They might have been at one time but not any more. I was a very young knitter looking through my mother's magazines. This is when patterns were still a part of the regular line up of features. 

One of the things that stuck with me over the decades was the cat/bear/bunny stuffed animal. I always wanted to make a bunch of them for my future children and for sale. It turned out, selling them for a profit was next to impossible. Being young and not having a large extended family, it was considered strange to make them for children that might never be.

The animals have the same basic body and head until you get to the ears.  Sew across the corners or add triangles or tubes to differentiate.  However,  I've been dissatisfied with it for a long time. The first issue I have with it is the loose gauge.  Size 8 US needles and worsted weight yarn is fine and dandy for a sweater.  It is not fine for stuffed toys.  The fluff stuffed inside shows through or worse migrates out.  The next issue I have is the lack of neck.  The original pattern has 1x1 ribbing for the neck for a few rows. Stuff these with any amount of firmness and the neck expands.  The pattern countered with a ribbon tied around the neck.  This becomes a choking hazard for very young children and just doesn't work well.  Another issue is the attachment for the arms.  They are just sewn on in the approximate location of the shoulders.

What do I like about it??   Quite a lot actually.  The pattern is so memorable that decades later I can tell you the basic pattern.  It seamed up the inside of each leg, then seam up the middle of the back of the body and head and across the top of the head and ears. It's also worked in garter stitch  for the most part, if you want.  It's easy enough to adapt the legs to wear pants or shorts,  the arms to long sleeves or short. I even worked it out for a dress.  I would do the arms as a 4 needle bind off instead of sewing them, but that is more not wanting to sew them on die to laziness.

The reason I am revisiting the pattern is because of my granddaughter who lives local to me.  We see her quite a bit more than any of the other kids.  She needs toys to play with at Nana and grandpa's house.  I'm in favor of kids having to use their imaginations.   I am also a firm believer that soft toys should be soft. That's not really what I found at the local stores.  

So let's get started.

I suggest worsted weight yarn or bulky weight yarn 1 skein of each color you intend to use, body color,  pants color,  shirt color.  If you don't want your animals wearing clothes, make it 1 color.  Use needles half the size normally used for this yarn. I'm using US 7 or 4.5mm with bulky weight yarn. You can use smooth yarn or textured,  just not eyelash or similar yarn. 

For each leg,  cast on 16 sts. Knit 10 rows.  Is it wearing pants?  Change color, knit 12 rows in stockinette stitch or 22 rows in garter. If this toy isn't wearing pants, k 22 rows.  If this animal is wearing shorts,  you determine where the shorts start, change color and work until you have the correct number of rows.  Make 2 legs.

To start the body,  work across both legs in the same color and stitch as the top of the legs. Knit 5 rows of stockinette stitch or 8 rows of garter stitch. Is it wearing a shirt?  Change to the shirt color and k 11 rows stockinette stitch or 20 rows of garter stitch.  If it's not dressed,  continue with body color and stitch.

Shoulders to neck.  Continue with body color and stitch,  k 5, k2tog,  k 2, k2tog,  k10,  k2tog,  k 2, k2tog,  k5.  Continue with body Color and stitch,  k4,  k2tog,  k2,  k2tog,   k8,  k2tog, k2,  k2tog,  k4.

Neck to head.   Change to the main animal color if needed. K4,  kfb,  k2,  kfb,  k8,  kfb,  k2,  kfb,  k4. Turn, k5,  kfb, k2,  kfb,  k10,  kfb,  k2,  kfb,  k5.

Head.   K 10 Row. 

Ears. Bear  K 7 rows.  Bind off.

Cat.   K 10, turn, * k2tog,  k4,  k2tog,   turn,  k2tog, k2,  k2tog,  turn,  k2tog,  k2tog.  Bind off.  ** With right side facing, attach yarn to stitch next to the ear, k to the end.  Repeat from * to **.

Bunny.   K 10, turn,  * **k5,  turn, repeat ** 6 times,  k2tog,  k1,  k2tog.  Bind off. *+.  With right side facing,  repeat * to *+.

Seam and stuff. Fold legs in half lengthwise.  Sew  across the foot and up the inseam. Repeat for the second leg.  Stuff the legs.

Sew up the center back and head.  Stuff the body before the head is seamed.  Stuff the head before seaming for ears.

Sew across the top of the head and each ear. Stuff the ears before the final closure.

For bear, sew diagonally to "cut off" each corner at the top of the head 4 rows (2 ridges if garter stitch) down and 4 stitches in from the edge.

For Arms.  Repeat the leg instructions to the last 2 rows. K1,  k2tog, k3, (k2tog)2x, k3 , k2tog,  k1, turn,  k1, k2tog, k1, (k2tog) 2x,  k1,  k2tog k1, substitute shirt color for pants for color.   Determine if you want long or short sleeves.  Fold in half to match leg.  Seam across hand and up the arm.  Stuff to same firmness of body.  Seam shoulder. Sew to the body just below the first row of decreases on each side.