Misfits, paneer, sock separation

 I didn't show you the recent Misfits box, so here it is, from last Saturday

You've already seen what became of the leeks, peppers and apples. But here's the over the top extravaganza Fall decorating being done by the pumpkin before becoming soup along with the acorn squash 

Too much, do you think?

And I was out of baked goods, so I thought I'd try cream cheese cookies. This involved making the cream cheese, aka paneer

You bring whole milk to the boil, add lemon juice, let it separate the milk into curds and whey, then scoop out and drain the whey. 

The resulting cream cheese is ready to use ss a spread or here an ingredient. I saved the whey for the pumpkin squash soup to come.

Then I got to make the cookies

And had one with a cup of tea. Very nice, rich, tangy, worth the effort. I need to make more paneer for a spread, since I used all the current output for the cookies. First time I'd used milk powder for paneer, and it worked fine. 

Meanwhile I'd been out walking while the cookie batter was chilling, and found someone had tossed out their cherry tomato vines, which were in the sun and the green tomatoes had ripened. 

I left some for the squirrels and birds, also I saw a groundhog hanging out, so he might like some, and brought home a few

Another neighbor has been redoing his patio, removing blocks and edging and making accidental art

It's a cityscape!

Then for the separation of the conjoined socks, which went successfully, patients both doing fine.

Remember the different colored knitted rows across the middle of the project? That's scrap yarn, to be removed like this

This leaves the two parts separate, and you see the green yarn running along both edges

Those are lifelines, running through the live stitches, holding them so they can't unravel. You slip your needles into the stitches to continue knitting. Later you pull out the lifelines and you can't tell where they were.

Now to knit a second toe. Then a second cuff.

Now all that's needed is heels for both

This involves sliding out the  lifeline yarns across the middle there,  and putting the live stitches on the needles. 

The lifeline goes halfway across the sock, same half as the toe lifeline, see right sock, to make sure the heel is in the right place in relation to the toe. 

So heels will happen today. They're starting to look like socks now. I'll be wearing them soon.

There, your questions answered. I think.

You did get the rabbit typo for rabbi joke then? A lot of people automatically read it as rabbi because of the association and can't see the joke!

And leaving you with this truth

Happy day everyone, make your art regardless, smash the patriarchy. I've voted, I make my own food and clothes,  I'm powerful, hear me roar!!

Textiles and Tea, two socks in one and a Paperwhite

Yesterday's Textiles and Tea featured this artist, who for once didn't start from a math background, but from the Cleveland Institute of Art

Her work is very painterly and fluid, and she's lovely, but her sound system was almost unintelligible, so I just enjoyed the slides 

She's endlessly interested in new ideas and threads and subject matter, and exploring texture, as you see, as well as color and shape. 

She's written a book on Split Shed Weaving snd there's a terrific YouTube video you can find if you Google on her, where she demonstrates it, and I actually came away understanding the technique. 

It's a clever way of creating more than one shed, that's the space between warp and weft that the shuttle passes through, to make tapestry like designs on a floor loom. Her video shows how her design cartoon is set up behind the warp, just as in tapestry.

I fancy trying this on a simpler, home-made set-up, since you just have to figure out a way to separate the threads.  It's been a while since I did a bit of tapestry, or tapestry -adjacent work.

Meanwhile back in my own studio, aka sofa, I unfurl the main body of the two socks in one. 

No matter what this reminds you of, I swear it's socks. For feet..you see the toe of one sock and the cuff of the other. 

Today I separate the conjoined socks at that join you see in the middle, to move to the finishing -- a second toe and cuff and two heels. 

And speaking of ambitious knitting

I took Handsome Son's declutter to the thriftie yesterday, and, after handing the bags over at the donation shed, stopped in to the main store to see if I could find a cheap leather bag for turning into shoes, remember that plan? 

There were some lovely leather bags and I guess inflation has hit the thriftie because everything is priced much higher than I'm used to.  So that shoe idea will be on hold until I win the lottery.

Meanwhile Gary is home from Florida rattling in and out asking for his keys, couldn't find his key to the storage closet which somebody had locked in his absence because of bringing in parcels. 

Then he wanted to update me on his hurricane news, all good in the end. Then he was back again to give me green tomatoes. 

Then he decided to get new keys cut so he wouldn't have to rely on getting them from me. So no doubt he'll be back with the keys after that. Unless he forgets and I remind him.  Never a dull moment when he's in residence.

He also sat with me to try to figure out the clunky navigation on the refurbished Paperwhite reader that finally arrived, a special price I could stretch to, now that I didn't have to buy a toaster oven. 

The toaster oven is  a handy way of not heating up the entire stove to roast a few vegetables, all part of my attempt to hold down fuel costs this winter.  

Getting one on Freecycle which works a treat, yesterday roast potato to accompany quick quiche, freed up some $$ to get the Kindle.  My economies are a bit byzantine, but they do work.

I really thank the kind people who tried to help with the Kindle situation, since, as Mary said, reading freely is a quality of life issue around here.  

So I'll patiently try to find my way around the PW, which is not very responsive at this point. I think it's one of those situations where once you've finally got the damn taskbar to appear, the device learns that and it's more responsive as you go. 

It's configured quite differently from the ancient Kindle I had, which was so simple I only needed to learn how to locate books to download, because the process after that was intuitive.

And speaking of annoying things,  for people still interested in yesterday's  puzzle questions: 

A peacock can't lay an egg, so the situation doesn't arise. The peahen takes care of the eggs.

The yolk of an egg aren't white, it are yellow!

And you don't bury survivors. They get to go home, vowing not to use that airline again.

It's all about misdirection -- the quickness of the 'and deceives the h'eye. 

Happy day everyone,  Want to hear about the priest, the imam and the rabbit who walk into a clinic to donate blood? Clinic attendant asks the rabbit "What blood group are you, sir?" Rabbit replies sadly "I'm afraid I'm a Type O."

It may take a minute..

Just a note to my dear Russian readers: my steadfast support for Ukraine is not in any way a criticism of Russian people, dear friends, but of the actions of one man whom you're not responsible for.  Just to be clear.

 

Cooking extravaganza

Yesterday, to use the time of my sister's Celebration of Life far away, and the part I'd written, see yesterday's post, I decided on an afternoon of cooking prep. Displacement activity.

I don't like mashing the bananas for banana bread, but you can do it ahead and freeze it.And I liked the quick quiche enough to actually buy bell peppers to do it again.Also granny Smith apples, plenty for prepping filling for future crumbles. 

This is how I eat well, when the prep is already done when I decide to cook. 

Some of the  quiche ended up as yesterday's supper.

And the bananas and apples, the latter macerated and completely ready for filling s couple of crumbles, are all in the freezer until called on.

Full disclosure, the resulting debris in the sink

I had already made leek, potato and parsley soup, and I'll do this again, really happy combo, the parsley lifting it up to very good.

All the trimmings from food prep go into the stock bag in the freezer ready to make stock next time.  I feel so smug!

Meanwhile I read this hilarious mystery, another one set in a retirement community, the kind which keeps on surprising

And I'm proceeding with the two socks-in-one project

The different color yarns are scrap yarn setting up the ability to insert a heel in the lower one, sock one, then a separation point, and then the top of the picture is the start of sock two. This will end in a toe, after which I separate the two socks, insert heels, and a cuff for one, toe for the other.

I've changed her pattern a bit because I think it's more complicated than it need be, but basically I'm following the idea. I will do shortrow heels, more comfortable than the bind off design she likes. I'll do the toes as in the pattern though.

I don't recommend this idea for beginners. You need experience in knitting socks in order to fathom how this will work. It's interesting to try though.

Having seen off a couple of bags of Handsome Son's stuff via Freecycle, I'm off this morning to pick up a freecycled toaster oven to replace my old one which is nearly defunct. 

And there's a possibility I will be receiving an old Kindle Paperwhite today, all being well, locally. All being well.

Here's some women's art to be going on with

Happy day everyone, cook on, and if you're not the household cook, enjoy being served.

Pray for the people in Ukraine suffering the revenge today for the destruction of the Crimea-Russia bridge on Putin's birthday.

Always something to learn

 Here's today's sock situation

And once this pair's done, here's the next Sock Ministry adventure

, 

It's very clever engineering, where you knit one long thing, with the toe and heel places organized with scrap yarn. Then you separate it into two socks, add in toes and heels and that's it.

The toes and heels are identical, and are the same as the toes I do for tube socks. Heck, I could even knit two PAIRS at once, but perhaps I shouldn't get carried away.

I needed a new adventure for a contrast with the personal and general news.

The jigsaw puzzle is proceeding verrrrrry slowly. 

I was told yesterday that the local library now lends out puzzles on the library card. I doubt if they'd be thrilled at the kind of long-term loan I'd need, at this rate, but the suggestion was kindly made.

I may get the streets of San Francisco completed before the next Big One changes them. We'll see.

Meanwhile, happy day everyone,  desperate news from Putin's latest try, let's hope it fizzles.  And that the special master judge on TFG's antics holds firm to not having your cake and eating it. 

Meanwhile, Sock Central is set.