For a while I held your hand

- Honey, it’s ok

So, ready for the 2nd installment of the crochet along?

For this week you needed to have 3 pieces ready, 1 done all the way through Round 4 and 2 through round 3.

Let us get to the joining! Begin round 4 on the next piece and stop after the first 5 dcs.

Here is where the magic of joining while you go happens. There are 3 chains that you have to make here in the corner. If we exchange that 2nd chain for a slip stitch we keep the style and length of the corner the same but will will connect it to the previously finished square.

Chain 1, then slip stitch into the chain 3 corner space on the finished square

Chain one more to finish the corner space and then complete the next 5dcs in the same ch5 space.

You should join in the middle of this side as well as at the corners for stability. Sc in the next ch5 space, ch2, slips stitch to the corresponding ch 5 on the finished square, ch 2 more and sc in the next ch 5 space.

Now repeat the corner – [5dc, ch1, slip stitch to ch3 space of finished square, ch 1 5dc] in next ch 5 space

The joining is now finished, complete this square by finishing Round 4. 2 squares joined.

Follow this sequence once more to join the 3rd piece.

Thats it for this week. Next week we’ll join the second group of 3 which gets a little bit tricky because it puts the whole scarf on the bias! But if you can follow along this week you’ll do fine next week.

Remember to pop me an e-mail if you have questions and if you’ve got pics of your progress send those along as well. I’d love to see how you’re doing

Toots

The moon maybe high

 Maybe millions of people go by

So, I’m a few days late. Better than months! Lets get to it, shall we?

Two years ago my daughters both got geometric coloring books and in the midst of coloring in a page with my youngest it hit me how much that page was beginning to look like a granny square blanket, so I changed the color palette and crocheted myself a scarf.

Then I taught a class at Webs based on that scarf but I always have people asking about this scarf and how I put it together so I thought I’d share

We’ll do this as a crochet-along for the month of January. I’ll post each week until we’re all done. This is a fairly easy square motif, its the joining that’s tricky since the scarf is put together on the bias.  Have fun choosing your 3 colors!

Join as you go square motif scarf.

You will need:

400 yds each of 3 different colors of worsted weight yarn. (I have used Cascade 220 in colors A -9451 Lake Chelan Heather, B – 9461 Kiwi Heather, and C - 9421 Blue Hawaii.

Size G/6/4.00mm Crochet Hook

Special stitches:

dc2tog =  double crochet 2 together, (Yarn over, insert hook into next stitch/space, yarn over and bring up a loop, yarn over and pull through 2 loops) Twice. Yarn over and pull throughall 3 loops

dc3tog =  double crochet 3 together, (Yarn over, insert hook into next stitch/space, yarn over and bring up a loop, yarn over and pull through 2 loops) Three times. Yarn over and pull through all 4 loops

First Square

To begin: With yarn color A, ch4 and join with a slip stitch to form a ring.
Round 1 – Ch4 (counts as 1dc and 1ch), *1dc into the ring, ch1* Repeat *to* 10 more times. Slip stitch to the third chain of the ch4 to join. Cut yarn A and fasten off.
Round 2 – Join yarn color B in any ch1 space. Ch3, 2dctog into the same space (counts as 3dctog), ch3. *3dctog into the next ch1 space, ch3* Repeat * to* 10 more times. Slip stitch to the top of the 2dctog cluster to join. Cut yarn B and fasten off.
Round 3 – Join yarn color C to any ch3 space. Ch1, 1sc into the same space, ch5. *1sc into the next ch3 space, ch5* Repeat * to * 10 more times. Slip stitch into the first single crochet to join. Cut yarn C and fasten off.

Complete all squares to this point. Finish with Round 4 for the first square.
Round 4 – Join yarn A to any ch5 space. Ch1, 1sc in same space, ch5, 1sc into next ch5 space. *Ch1, [5dc, ch3, 5dc] into the next ch5 space, ch1, 1sc into next ch5 space, ch5, 1sc into the next ch5 space* Repeat * to * twice more. Ch1, [5dc, ch3, 5dc] into the next ch5 space, ch1.

You will need at least 2  squares ready through Round 3  and 1 square through Round 4 for next week.

You will need 36 squares in total for the scarf. Work 35 through Round 3 and only 1 through Round 4 until next week. Yes, I actually do think you could get all that done in one week! Do 36 Round 1′s, the Round 2 on all, then Round 3. Totally doable.

Next week we’ll start Joining! Wheee.

Drop a comment here or e-mail me if you get stuck or have any questions ChickenBetty^at^Gmail^dot^com

Toots

Ends of the Earth

Oh this blog post is SO not going to happen today, but I’ll give you a peek

Tomorrow night chickadees!

Toots

All the way home I’ll be warm

Let it snow…

Please – snow would be nice.

My mother says I have to post something new because she is tired of looking at chicken lungs, which reminds me – I haven’t blogged in 4 months! WTH?

No deep bloggy updating today though, just a pic of my favorite part of our holiday so far. My youngest daughter spinning. Santa brought both of them a pound(!) of fiber and a Schacht drop spindle.

She says she’ll make enough for me to crochet or knit something for her. I won’t hold my breath

Breathe deep and enjoy the season my little chickadees! See you in the new year.

Toots

Don’t worry about this heart of mine

–  Don’t turn around

For those of you with weak stomachs, those of you who are not comfortable with the process of putting meat on your table, those of you who don’t want to see the original “shape” of your food, this post is not for you.

Walk away.

Don’t look, you’ll be totally grossed out! Srsly.

If you don’t mind knowing that your food was once an actual animal, then please continue because I did the most amazing thing yesterday, and again this morning. I dispatched my roosters. No, they are not Taxi drivers, they are now dead.

Roosters are good for 3 things:

1- making noise

2- making more chickens

3- eating

Since we didn’t want the boys to be doing either of the first two things, the next step was obvious.

My friend Melissa came down to help me out and I couldn’t have asked for a better friend or teacher. She walked me through the whole process from live bird to ready to cook. She showed me everything,  let me help a bit and then guided as I tried it on my own. We made it through 8 birds yesterday morning and this morning, with my husband’s help, I took care of the last 4 birds on my own.

I can’t tell you how empowering it is to know that I can feed my family. That I know everything there is to know about the food they are putting in their bodies. I did that, and I am amazed by it. Absolutely gobsmacked.

Melissa’s daughter, who helps with the chicken dispatching on their farm, told me that if I did it just right, I could disembowel a chicken in one fell swoop – everything, including both lungs, which isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do.  Somehow, on the last bird yesterday, I did it.

I pulled off a “Double Lunger”!

- this is the part where you should really look away of you don’t want to see the proof.

Yes, those are 2 chicken lungs in my hand.

I now have 12 birds in the freezer along with various and sundry bits for stocks and soups. This farming thing just got way more real and kinda, grossly, cool.

Now we sit back and wait for the 7 lady birds to start laying.

Toots

Double rainbow all the way across the sky!

– OMG! OMG! OMG!

It started here.

Then the kids heard this.

Saebra decided she wanted a Double Rainbow Birthday. So, she got one.

We spent a week making a batch of ice cream each night, coloring it in sequence, and freezing it a spring-form pan. The whole thing was set on a crushed Oreo base.

Then we made rainbow cupcakes. A double cake recipe split into 6 portions, each colored and then spooned into cupcake papers in sequence.

The kids had a basket full of rainbow balloons to play with, faux tie-dying with markers and balsa wood gliders to toss into the sky.

She got lots of great gifts but my favorite is the dress that my sister made. She used a simple tank top and added a skirt, but what a skirt! Its made from this awesome rainbow fabric that she’s had in her stash for 15 years – I’ll try and get a pic of the girl wearing it

What did we get? One Happy Kid!

Happy 8th birthday baby-girl

Toots

Beneath the sheltering sky

– With their cups still full of sand

This is the first year we’ve really had a rockin garden. We had high hopes for our tomatoes-only approach last year and then late blight set in and we lost everything pretty quick.

This year we tried raised beds and a decent variety of plants and we’ve been happily surprised at the bounty of our 16, 36x18inch beds. The snap peas were a little late and thin but but delicious, the radishes were amazing, the beans were picked clean and have just decided to flower again so we’ll have a second, and completely unexpected, harvest.

(garden picks from the morning of 8/14/10)

The first bed of tomatoes started to ripen last week and we planted in 3 groups so we should have fresh tomatoes through to the first frosts. Carrots and beets are all just about ready to be pulled – some already have been and were declared super yummy. We’ve had lettuces, swiss chard, small onions and japanese eggplants for a couple months along with the summer squash that have just expired. Our potato plants look like they’re waning and the butternuts are slowly turning peachy. Also, there are cucumbers.

(photo from June 2010 – taken by our friend,Kimberly Fletcher Gendreau)

All of this has made me amazingly happy and completely frustrated. I have two daughters and while they are pretty good about eating whatever I set on the table for dinner they are less than enthusiastic about a whole meal of just vegetables. Then there is the husband.  The joke in the family is that,  ”If its green, he won’t eat it, unless its Jell-O!” Although he is just as excited by the yield of our plantings I sometimes have to be creative and conservative with the amount of veg in the meal.

So what is a girl to do with all this produce? Pickles and Preserves!

I have a garage full of canning jars and it was time to put them to use. This past weekend I put up 36 jars of pickles and 2 jars of tomato sauce.

I finally picked up my copy of Put ‘Em Up by Sherri Brooks Vinton and what a fantastic copy it is! Pickles, preserves, freezing and drying all kinds of fresh from the garden and wild find foods. Apple butter, pickled asparagus, lemon curd, leather britches, fruit leathers and so much more. She has put together a book that is not only full of great recipes and adaptable at that!,  but gives you what other books usually lack, the “Why”. Not only why you need to follow the rules but why you should preserve you own food.

I’ve also been following a few foodies this summer, most notably Eating From the Ground Up and Local Kitchen. I love reading posts from creative woman who not only care about feeding their families but that the process should be enjoyable, adventurous and in the end, delicious. Also, it doesn’t hurt that they both take great photographs This post about pickles is what really got me going and I can’t seem to stop. What do I have that I can pickle?

Cucumbers? obviously. Summer squash? Why not, I watched my sister do it a few weeks ago and tasted the amazing results hours later. Beet Stems? whacka-whacka-what?! You heard me, beet stems. Dude, you can pickle anything.

Dilly sandwich slices, Saffron Summer squash and Sweet Fennel beet stems.

So, go forth! Raid your garden, the farmer’s market, and your CSA share. Get you some vinegar, some spices, some basic canning supplies (or fancy ones), a good recipe and method book(hint* – see above) and try your hand. I think you’ll be surprised and your taste buds will be happy.

I’m planning some Dilly Beans from that impending second bean crop, maybe some more watermelon rind pickles and lots more cans of tomatoes for the depths of winter.

Toots

Dig it like a shovel

– I’m the lyrical Jesse James

Its lunch time, I’m hungry and the Hubby isn’t going to go grocery shopping till tonight. What to do?

Make soup.

2 minutes in the garden =

12 snap peas, 1 young onion, 1 small japanese eggplant, 4 large swiss chard leaves, a sprig of oregano.

Saute bulb of onion, eggplant and chard stalks in local, organic butter till soft.  Add chopped snap peas, chard leaves, chopped oregano and a splash of Long Trail Double Bag. Bring to a quick simmer. Add 1 cup chicken stock, 1/2 cup milk or half and half, chopped onion greens and salt and pepper to taste. Bring it all back to a simmer then enjoy!

The only thing that would make this the perfect lunch would be a slab of fresh baked bread but I haven’t gotten that far today. Soup and beer it is.

Lunchtime reading? Popular Mechanics - Energyland: The race to cheap, sustainable power. by Elizabeth Svoboda.

Toots

Just to be the next

– I’m the one who wants to be with you

This spring I had the great joy of helping to bring a treasured family heirloom back to life.

Over the winter I had a lovely woman named Ann in my Crochet 1 class at WEBS. Towards the end of the class run she brought in a great big bag and asked if I could look at what was inside.

It was a thread crochet bedspread that her mother had made in the 1920′s, and it had been made with butcher’s twine since crochet cotton was too expensive. Now, Ann raises show dogs, Golden Retrievers at the time and about 20 years ago one of those dogs “got to” this bedspread and did some damage.

She asked if I would take a look at it and consider repairing it. Well, I did and I have and boy, was it interesting.

To start, it is King size. Big. At first glance it looked as if I would have to replace about 8 motifs that had been damaged. On closer inspection I found much more damage and unraveling bits that just couldn’t be saved. 16 motifs and all the joining stars, a few more motifs showed their damage as I went along and also had to be replaced.

Then I looked for an appropriate thread to use for the repair. I found nothing in any butcher’s twine that compared, they were either the wrong size of too white. In the end I used 8/4 Cotton Carpet warp from WEBS in Ivory. It isn’t a perfect match but it was the closest I could find.

This bedspread and I got to know each other over the months that I worked on her. I called her the other woman, she spent a lot of time on my bed. I talked to her right from the beginning when I had to take 2 days just to figure out the construction of the basic motif. 2 whole days. Why? Because in that lovely solid single crochet ring there are no increases for 7 rounds. No, you read that right. Working consecutive circles of crochet that need to get bigger with each new round so the piece will lay flat when done and I’m not doing anything that makes them physically larger.

Somehow it works.

Ann is happy to have a piece of her mother back and I am happy to have helped. I’m thinking about using the same fiber in the Colony Green color for a table runner and placemats. Oh and I’m writing up the pattern so you can make one too! Hopefully by summers end.

I’m off to prep for a class tonight, from which you will also receive a pattern More on that next week. Enjoy the week my chickadees.

Toots

Sweet and Low

– When all I need’s to turn around

With less than 2 weeks left of school I’ve started thinking about my summer classes. No school for the girls means no school bus driving for me (the joys of us all being in the same school district). Sometimes classes are scheduled so far in advance that I tend to forget that they are looming on the horizon but this year was really an 11th hour kind of schedule explosion.

Summer Squash Market Bag @ Metaphor Yarns

I’m currently bouncing back and forth between Webs in Northampton and Metaphor Yarns in Shelburne Falls. They have an overlap in customer base so I do my darndest to keep them separate, no conflict of interest. SO when it came to the 2nd week of May and I was suddenly scheduling classes at both I fell into a bit of a spin.

Hexagon baby jacket @ WEBS

What did I want to teach? Which classes fit the customer base best? How many classes could I fit into a summer? How many could I handle and not burn myself out? After all, I do want to spend some time with my husband and kids, friends and family in the next 3 months.

Amigurumi, Holiday Inspiration @ Metaphor Yarns

I think I found a good balance. Classes that I’m excited to teach in both settings. Basics classes that I not only thoroughly enjoy teaching but that teach me new things about my students and how to teach each time I step before a new set of eager learners.

Starling Handbag @WEBS (This is from Alice’s fantastic pattern! Which I love. I made one earlier in the year and I can’t stop using it!)

So check out the WEBS Summer schedule and the Class list at Metaphor Yarns and if you’re in the area come hook with me

Toots