Gardens and Ami's

Ok, it's been a REALLY long time since I posted. Let's just leave it at "the month of May is an extremely busy time at work" as the excuse and move on. Because it's the truth.

That's not to say I haven't had any time to crochet or garden. I have. Just no time to sit down and write about it. And I don't have a ton of time right now, so this will be short.

First off, my garden. It's growing! We're getting our first strawberries now. The tomato plants are growing and starting to put on blossoms. The herbs look great. My husband is going to harvest our first basil for our pizza tonight. (Made with sourdough crust!) The only issues are as follows:
1) There is a blue jay eating my strawberries. He yells at me every time I go out there to pick. Little a**hole.
2) Something is eating my cucumber and bean plants as soon as they pop up. I think it might be ants. I'm not sure, though. Will head to the nursery this week and ask if they have any ideas.

Sweet Pea is eating the strawberries as fast as I can harvest them. I'm thinking that between her and the jay I might have to actually buy strawberries for jam this year.

I haven't had a ton of time to crochet, but when I have I've mostly made more kitchen scrubbies or amigurumi. I love making ami. They're quick, fun, and so ding-dang cute I can't stand it.

Behold:

 An adorable dragon!!

 An equally adorable manatee!!

Today I started a princess. Yes, a particular one with icy powers. And her sister is soon to follow. I'll post pictures when they're done.

I'll write a longer post soon, I promise. More about how our summer is going with allowing Sweet Pea to run around the yard and play. (I'm there in my lawn chair with my iced tea....) And I'll also write about my new found ambition: Rock Climbing! That'll be a post all to itself. My reasons and what I'm doing to try and get in shape to try it!!!

Odds and Ends

So it's been a busy week. And not in a "oh, look how much crocheting, baking, or fun projects I got done!" sort of way.

Work was crazy. Really crazy. Exhaustingly crazy. 'Nuff said.

Also, the movie, you know THE MOVIE, came out this week on DVD. My daughter loves it. We've already watched it twice. Which is really very few times considering. I have to admit, though, that when we put it on, I drop everything and watch it, too. With the movie, though, comes the desire for toys based upon the movie. My daughter wants a specific doll. A specific doll that is incredibly rare right now. Sweet Pea wants it for her birthday and we had to start the conversation this week of, "Honey, we might not be able to get one for your birthday. They just don't have any, ok?" I refuse, flat out refuse, to follow the crazies and shop ebay for one. Not. Going. To. Happen. So I'll find it when I find it. It doesn't help that we are being very picky as to which version of this doll we are willing to buy, too. I am also refusing to buy one just for the sake of buying. I will wait and get the nice one. The one that actually looks like the character from the movie. In the mean time one of my very dear friends is making Sweet Pea an Elsa costume. Well, the cape at least. I'll be creating the skirt in the form of a tutu. Trust me, when I start this project I will photo-document it and post here. Me... making a tutu. NEVER thought that'd happen.

Anyways, on to an update about George.

Today was a day that all sourdough owners have to face. A day (or two) where the starter bubbles, but does not double. Active, but not doing what it should. George had grown too large. So we took two cups out to make bread sticks. (I'll post the recipe if we like it.) I then took a scant 1/2 cup out to keep. Then I ended up throwing away almost 3 cups of starter. It wasn't active enough to even give away at this point, so we're basically starting over. I'll give it a feeding of whole wheat before storing it for the week and George should be back to normal next week. Still, even knowing it had to be done doesn't take the sting out of the process. Maybe I'm too attached??

In crochet-land, I've succumbed to my inevitable ADD when it comes to projects. I always have 2 or three going at a time to keep myself from growing bored.

Yesterday I started the Snowdrop Shawl. I'm making it for my mother-in-law. (For some reason, I truly prefer making gifts to making things for myself.) I'm using the Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn in "Echo." So far I'm loving the pattern and how it's turning out.

The picture isn't doing the colors justice at all. It's quite lovely.

I was very nervous to use this yarn as the reviews I'd read complained of it actually just falling apart as people were working with it. I have to say that now I'm more concerned with how much tension the reviewers use while crocheting!! So far I am not having a single problem with it. I love the feel of it and can't wait to see how the whole shawl looks when I'm done. In fact, I've already ordered two more skeins in "Tidal" to make another shawl for my niece, E. 

The pattern itself is very easy to do. In fact I would highly recommend it as a first or second project. It just uses basic stitches and yet ends up looking really fancy and beautiful!!

So stay tuned for my attempt at making an Elsa tutu in the near future. Anyone want to take a vote as to how much glitter I end up with all over my house??

Meet George

Wow, two posts in one day...

Ok, meet George.

He is a "wild caught" sourdough starter. I made it by mixing 1 part water with 2 parts whole wheat flour and putting a whole purple cabbage leaf in the jar. (You know that white film on a purple cabbage leaf? That stuff is yeast. Wild yeast ready for taming!) About 24 hours later I removed the leaf and fed it 1/4 cup warm water and 1/2 cup flour. And did it again 12 hours later. By that point it was bubbling well and doubling in size after every feeding. Once it was doing that, I put it in the fridge.








So, you want to make  a sourdough starter? Or you some one gave a cup of their "mother"?

The Care and Feeding of Your Sourdough Starter

To feed:
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup flour.
Stir well.

Tips:
DO NOT let ANY sort of metal touch the sourdough. We use plastic spatulas or wooden spoons. I refuse to even use measuring cups with metal handles. Or plastic spoons with metal handles. I'm really careful with this.
DO NOT let any salt touch it
Keep it in a very large class container. You want it big enough that the starter can comfortably double in size.
DO NOT use a container with a narrow neck. The gas from the yeast will get trapped and it might "pop"
Keep two large glass jars for your starter. Each week we transfer it into a clean container. We scrub the container between uses and run it though the dishwasher so it keeps VERY clean to prevent cross-contamination. I think this is the biggest factor as to why we have been so successful with this starter.

Bread Recipe:
1 part water
1 part starter
2 parts flour
salt

we do this recipe by weight, so we end up with:
10 ounces water
10 ounces starter
20 ounces flour
1TBSP salt

(Sorry for the blurry picture...)

We also add 2 1/4 TSP of yeast to the water and let it bloom before adding the other ingredients. Our starter isn't quite strong enough to really leaven the bread the way we like it. We figure that we are primarily interested in the flavor.

Mix well until the dough cleans the bowl. (I use a stand mixer for this.) Continue to knead for around 8 minutes. Put in a lightly oiled bowl and let rise. NOTE: Sourdough takes around twice as long to double in size as regular bread. Also, cover with a moistened towel or plastic wrap.
After the rise either shape into one large round, peasant loaf or divide into two loaf pans. Let rise again until doubled. Before baking, lightly score the top of the loaf with a knife.

(this is how mine looks after the first kneading.)

Bake at 450. We put a pan of water in the oven for the first 5-10 minutes to steam the loaf a little. It helps brown the loaf. After you remove the water bake for an additional 5-15 minutes. Watch it and you'll be able to tell when it's done. (If you "thump" the crust it'll sound hollow)

Our Weekly Sourdough Routine:
Friday:
When you get home from work, pull the sourdough out of the fridge. Let it come up to room temperature. You'll notice it start to bubble. It has the consistency of very thick pancake batter. After it is at room temperature, feed it. (around 7pm) Leave it out in a warm spot.
Saturday AM:
Feed again when you get up in the morning.
Saturday Noon(ish)
If you have enough to bake with AND it has doubled in size you may now bake with your starter. If not, feed it again Saturday evening around 7pm.
Saturday afternoon IF (AFTER) BAKING WITH IT:
transfer remaining starter to a clean glass container and let sit.
Saturday evening IF YOU BAKED WITH IT:
Feed and put in the fridge

If you don't have enough to bake with or it needs more activity, just follow the Saturday baking routine on Sunday.

Another thing to know:

It can get too big. If you let it get too large without using it, giving some away, or throwing some of it away (the horror!), it will start to fail as the wild yeast will not have enough to eat as it has already consumed what it can from the flour at hand.

Also, it LOVES whole wheat flour. About every other week we will feed it a nice meal of whole wheat flour before we put it in the fridge. We even make whole wheat bread sometimes!

First One

Ok, So I keep saying to myself, "I should join all the cool people and write a blog!" And that's usually as far as it goes. I won't mention how many times I've tried this, but I never seem to find the time or inclination to continue. I, as usual, am hoping this one will be different. Primarily because I intend to use it for the storage of all my crazy hobbies, and the storage of my thoughts, recipes, and musings on them.

So this will be, as the title of the blog suggests, an unfocused project. My goal is to keep my personal information out of the equation and just focus on the stuff I do to keep myself entertained in my barely there down-times.

What can you expect to see here?

1. Crochet. Patterns, yarn reviews, pattern reviews, hook reviews, etc. My thoughts on being a self-taught crafter and hopefully ideas on how to improve. Might be helpful for those who want to take part in this wonderful hobby.

2. Sourdough. I have a sourdough starter. I've named it George. Two days a week it governs my household's life and schedule with its demands for feedings and then baking. I love it.

3. Gardening and plants. In the summer months I love to garden. Primarily vegetables, but I think I'll branch out into flowers this year for the sake of my daughter. She wants to help the Lorax.

4. To a lesser extent, Motherhood. I'm still fairly new to this. She'll be 3 soon and I have never laughed so much in my life. I won't post personal information about her. I won't post pictures. I WILL post the funny things she says or the things I'm experimenting with as I try and find my way in this strange journey of raising her to be an intelligent, moral, kind, loving, and productive member of our society. We do plan on raising her Buddhist, so I may touch on that, too.

Things you can NOT expect to see here?

1. Information or stories about my husband and my marriage. That is stuff that is best left in my house. And private.

2. Information or stories about my job. I spend enough time at work and thinking about work. And talking about work. Not here.

3. Politics. I've got my opinion and you have yours. I respect your opinion and I'm going to assume that you respect mine.

4. Discussions on religion. I will be talking about trying to raise our daughter as a Buddhist, but only as the process. Not about beliefs and any thoughts that could indicate that my way, beliefs, faith, etc is the right/only way to live. Again you have yours I have mine. Respect.

So here we go again. Wish me luck. I've got lots of ideas for posts right now, but my sourdough is calling me. Today is baking day and the bread will not bake itself.