Add it to the Arsenal

I've learned, through experience, that when creating (cooking, knitting, etc.) if one uses the best materials and the best tools for the job, both process and product will be more greatly appreciated.  I've been cooking for a long time, and have amassed most of the tools I need, but have a few more items I'd like to add to the arsenal.  Most of them are pots and pans to replace the set my parents gave me one year for my birthday when it seemed I'd be moving out soon and needed to collect some of the basics.  They have obviously served me well if I'm still using them, but my skills have advanced quite a bit since then.

One of these items on my shopping list is a good dutch oven.  I more often than not purchase whatever Cook's Illustrated recommends, and Le Creuset is the manufacturer of their favorite dutch oven, and the same one they use just about every other episode of America's Test Kitchen.  The thing is, MSRP is $400.  It goes for about $300 on Amazon or at Sur la Table.  Last week I got an email from Sur la Table that they were marking down the Le Creuset, in stores only, so I took a look.  Sure enough, the dutch oven of my dreams was on sale for just under $225.  I bought that sucker and ran (otherwise I'd be late for the Knitting Guild meeting, but whatever).  

When I finally get something special like this I try to make something in it that I couldn't have made before with the tools I had.  Cook's Illustrated did a recipe for french onion soup a while back that required many hours in the oven and multiple reductions and deglazings, none of which my little non-stick dutch oven would have handled.  Today was an icy day with nothing on the calendar, so I used it to tackle my first french onion soup.

Here are the four pounds of raw onions before popping them in the oven:

Remind me to buy some onion goggles.  Ouch!

Here they are after a total of 2 hours and 45 minutes in the oven:

And this is after three or four deglazings:

Look at all that dark browny flavor!

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture after adding the broth, etc. and before eating some, but since I don't have any soup bowls that will go under the broiler, it wasn't very fancy looking.  Just picture some french onion soup, and you'll get the picture.

And....Yer OUT!

 One thing I've learned from watching HGTV is that you should do home improvement when you're planning on living there and can enjoy it; don't wait until you're trying to sell.

Another thing I have learned, I learned shortly after moving into my house, and that is: acrylic sinks don't take well to hot oil being poured in them.  In fact, acrylic sinks don't hold up well to a lot of things, and I do a lot of things in my kitchen.  I'm certain they're more than acceptable for those who use their sinks only to dump what's left of their day-old bottled water.  But this guy was not in great shape when I moved in and he was fading fast.  See this picture?  How nasty it looks?  That's clean.  That's bleached thoroughly a week ago.  Yuck!

So I removed it.

the underside: THIS SINK IS TOO THIN!

And, after scraping off the big blobs of caulk(???) from the counter (and a lot of other nastiness) I headed to the home improvement store to procure a new sink and faucet.  All of the appliances are white, but I decided to go with stainless steel, due to its durability, and hoped that it would be a neutral and not matter.

As all home improvement projects do, it became a bigger hairier deal than I could have anticipated, and involved nearly every tool I own, but I can proudly say that I did NOT get silicone in my hair (although it got everywhere else), and the project is complete to my satisfaction*.  I'll spare you the details.  Suffice it to say all of my muscles from the knees up are tired and sore from reaching and posing under the sink, and my fingertips are tender from all the shenanigans required to install the clips that hold the sink to the counter.  I'm resting now, in case you care.

I think the stainless looks fine, indeed a kitchen neutral, and I love having a small side and a gigantic side.  And I'm certain they are of a greater volume than the old sink.  I don't care if it's not really true, I choose to believe it.  I also love that the spray hose is not tangled in the water supply hoses like the old one and I can pull it out more than a foot.


* If/when this sink comes out someone will wonder what the heck was going on with this, much as I wonder about the caulk glob and spray hose situations.  However, I'm confident that this sink will outlast the counter and it won't matter anymore.

How to Show an Alpaca

This past weekend was the KY Classic Alpaca Show, for which I had volunteered to spin some fiber as part of the show.  Check a few posts back and you should find documentation of this, and my excitement.

Well, it was quite the experience.  First of all, I suppose I really am a city girl (as if there were any doubt) because it did not once occur to me that the area we were given might not actually be "paved".  The entire arena was dirt-floored.  So I and my Fantasia settled into the dirt along with my purse and my chair, and we sat in the dirt all day.  At least it seemed to be clean dirt, with no hay or poo or other things which would be worse to sit in all day.

Secondly, the alpacas sure were fun to watch.  They were judged in age and color classes, and the little ones were so cute.  Big ones were cute, too, but the little ones I just wanted to load in my car and take home with me.  

Lastly, it was interesting to find that some alpaca farmers truly don't know how to sell their fleeces.  Truly.  It was explained to me by a farmer who brought her knitting over to sit and chat a while that many alpaca farms have barns full of fleeces from the dawn of time.  Just sitting there.  With no one to love them, or pay for them, or take them home to wash and spin and knit.  My plan, and I think you'll join in with me, is to drive around the country, American Pickers-style, stopping wherever I see alpacas, looking for fleece someone's willing to part with for a reasonable sum of cash.  I can see it now:  picture me looking into the camera and whispering "I bet I can get $50 for that bag of fleece!"  Cha-ching.

As for the spinning itself, well, it was challenging.  It took a lot longer than I thought it would to straighten and fluff out the locks to get them ready to spin, and then it didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked.  I just have to keep telling myself that if I wanted even yarn, then I should have prepared the fiber more evenly.  Good thing I like things "rustic".  It's woolen-spun, and I believe that when it's plied it'll even out considerably.  I sure hope so.

This is how much I can spin in about four hours, apparently.

Last week Sadie and I went on our long-anticipated vacation.  It was a smashing success, although we don't have a lot to show for it.  Our only real objective was to relax and take regular naps, which we did.  I did a lot of knitting, a little spinning, and a lot of watching HGTV, since I don't have it at home.

National Cemetery

We did have one day of sight-seeing, on which we toured the Mill Springs Battlefield and environs.  We were staying on the road one takes to view the first eight stops on the driving tour, so I felt a little obligated to see what all the fuss was about.  It was an interesting and moving day.

We started at the Visitors Center, next to the National Cemetery, where they have a museum and gift shop.  My hosts had year-long passes available, so I took advantage while Sadie waited in the car.  Then we walked over to the National Cemetery.  It was a beautiful day, and a moving sight.  The cemetery was established after the battle at Mill Creek, and many Civil War soldiers are buried there, but it is an active cemetery and many who have served our country since are there.  I was moved but ok, until I saw this and wept:










If you can't read it, it says "Unknown US Soldier".  There were many of these throughout the older section.  We frequently give thanks to those who have given their lives for our country, but these men also gave up their names.




The next stop was the actual battlefield, which included a Confederate cemetery.  A walking trail has been constructed that takes you around the field from Union to Confederate and back again, with informational signs along the way.  Sadie and I enjoyed the walk, and it was amazing to be able to imagine what had happened here almost 150 years ago so vividly.

The mass grave of Confederate Soldiers killed at the Battle of Mill Creek

The monument to General Zollicoffer, whose body was leaned against an oak tree, now referred to as "The Zollie Tree", when he mistook the Union army for his own, told them to stop shooting at the Confederates, and was shot after his assistant verbally identified him.  Or something like that; it depends on who you ask.

Headstones placed for the Confederate soldiers buried in the mass grave.

Tensioned Lazy Kate Plans

Hey all!  Last weekend I went to a fiber festival with "Tensioned Lazy Kate" on my list.  Let me clarify: I wanted a tensioned lazy kate that didn't cost fifty dollars.  None were to be had.  Why so expensive?

I poked around the interwebs to find DIY solutions to my problem.  I crafted a plan, and here it is for your benefit.

Disclaimer:  I am not a woodworker.  I do not have good tools.  I do not have skills.  This could be done with much more panache and skill with the right tools and skills.  Much wood was splintered in the making of this tutorial.

Step one:  buy some stuff.

1.  A piece of wood.  I got an 8"x11" oval made of oak.  It was on clearance for $6.  I could have gotten a cheaper piece of wood for $1.99, but the oak was heavier, and I thought that would help to anchor the kate better in use.
2.  Four 6" hex bolts and nuts.  I got 5/16" bolts, but I saw others on the webs use 1/4" bolts.  I purchased them at Home Depot and they were about $3.50.  If you use a hard enough wood, and don't plan on taking apart the pegs, you can skip the nuts.
3.  A little eye.  I already owned this.  It would probably be under $.25 if I had to buy it.
4.  A piece of linen or twine or cotton.  I already owned this, and I bet you do too.
5.  A wooden peg.  I could only find packages of six, it was $1.50.  If you live near me I'd be happy to sell you one of mine for a quarter.  Otherwise, you're out of luck, you'll probably have to buy more than you need too.  I got these at Hobby Lobby.
6.  One thing that's not in the picture:  a hair band or rubber band.  I already owned this, and if you don't, I'll send you one.
Total: $11.00 (If I can sell the extra pegs, it'll only be $9.75 :) )

Step two: figure out where you want the holes.

I used a piece of paper and my spindles to space things out.  The size and shape of your wood and what size your spindles are will affect where you want the posts to go.  I traced the wood on a piece of paper, and set the spindles where I wanted them; then I pushed the bolts through the center and pushed down to make a mark on the paper.  Then I used a similar technique to mark the wood with the paper.  I suppose you could skip the paper and just mark the wood, but I wanted to be sure everything was even and did a little measuring and adjusting once I marked the paper.

Step three: Drill some holes.

I am not a good driller, so I drilled some little pilot holes before drilling the big holes.  If you're worried about drilling all the way through the wood (and into your dining room table), you can put a rubber band around the drill bit at the depth you'd like to go.

For the four post holes, I first drilled deep holes slightly smaller than the bolts, or 5/16".  Then I drilled shallow holes as big as the nuts (if you didn't get nuts, don't drill a hole for them).  See?

This allowed for inserting the nuts flush, as well as leaving room for the bolts to go deeper.

Step four:  Pound in the nuts.

Next I used a hammer to insert the nuts.  I screwed them onto the bolts to use them as a "handle" to make it easier to get the nuts started into the wood, then I unscrewed the bolts and pounded the nuts in to be level with the face of the wood.

Here you can see a bolt/nut partly pounded in, two empty holes, and one nut that has been pounded in completely.

Once all of the nuts were inserted, I used a wrench to screw in the bolts all the way down through the deepest part of the holes.  Naturally, if you didn't choose to use the nuts, just screw in the bolts.

Step five: drill more holes.

The next set of holes to drill I put between the two front posts.  One was a small hole for the eye, and the other I drilled slightly smaller than the peg.  Again, you can put these wherever you want, but be sure to leave room for your bobbins.

Once you screw in the eye, attach the rubber band or hair band, and tie the string to it.

 In order to make the peg fit tightly, I drilled the hole slightly smaller, and sanded the peg down to fit.  It was taking quite a bit of sanding, so I used the drill again, moving it around a little bit to widen the hole.

See?  It fits now!  The string goes from the eye to the rubber band, around the spindles, and to the peg.  I can use as many or as few spindles as I want by adjusting how much string is wrapped around the peg.


Step six: finish the posts

After I was sure everything would go together right, I removed the bolts and used a hacksaw to remove the hex bolt heads, and sandpaper to smooth the edges.  You could choose to leave them on, and they'd hold the bobbins on.  But I don't actually plan on taking it apart that often, so I removed them so that I can take the bobbins on and off easily.  If you opted for the nut-free version, you'll have to remove the heads.

The majority of the assembly took well under an hour.  The most time was taken sanding the peg, and sawing the heads off the bolts.  Both of these could have gone faster (and better) with better tools, like a dremel tool or the like.

I may in the future add a guide for the yarns coming off the kate; I'll put it in front of and between the eye and the peg, and probably use a large hook or eye.

And here it is in my spinning corner ready to ply something!