today, a different green

Posted on Posted in designing, food and garden, projects

mmmm, smooooth . . .

sigh, i just love me a knit that’s fresh from the bath—so silky, so soft—feels lovely next to the skin. it’s the small luxury that keeps on giving; that much is clear as i observe it being pulled on by knitter after knitter at my class table.

i couldn’t be happier with the way this turned out. initially, i thought that the laceweight BFL and silk from fearless fibers might be just a tad too thin or wiry to hold its own in plain stockinette fabric.

and indeed, when observed right off the needles, the texture was questionable. love is blind however, and i was smitten by this mellifluous green color—no way was i giving up that easily. i was betting on a strong finish.

sure enough, it bloomed in the bath as fiber is wont to do, the stitches expanded and filled out, and the surface smoothed to a perfect expanse of green, glowing with inner light and broken only by the texture of a subtle stitch pattern along the back.

these gloves feel like a silk slip for my hands—just what i was after.
i immediately cast on for one more sample, to show off the alternate stitch pattern of openwork faggoting.

the pattern went to the proofreader today, so we should be all set to release it once i have that off the needles.

all of my other five or six knitting projects are secret, but i can tell you a funny baking story if you like . . .

last friday, when erica was on her way to ohio, i realized around noon that i had time to make a pie for dinner that night. i made up the crust and put it in the fridge to chill, got the berries out of the freezer, and then decided that if i had all the parts ready, i could bake it after dinner and it would still be warm when we ate it later in the evening. so far so good.

i’ve been baking pies with frozen blueberries all winter and it’s been rather an adventure to get the timing right, but i thought i had it down. i put the pie into a hot oven and let it bake away while we worked after dinner. since i’d put a top crust on it, i couldn’t exactly see the filling, but when it bubbled out the vents at the top and looked brown on the top and bottom, i figured it was done.

uhhh, apparently not.
when we cut it a half hour later, the filling was still liquid and the berries, though hot, were underdone and a bit tart. awwww—phooey.

well, erica ate her piece, but after that, the poor thing just sat in the fridge the rest of the weekend. now, you know i hate throwing anything away, but i especially hate throwing out food. i kept thinking i should try to do something with it, but what?

on monday morning after she took off, i had an idea—what about whipping up a blueberry crisp for the afternoon knitting class? they love everything as long as it’s called dessert . . .

i carefully removed the top crust, which came off in just a couple of pieces. i set those aside as i was considering using them in the crumble topping. (i later thought better of this, but i might try it another time).

i then poured the pie filling into a glass dish, which i’d coated with butter and cooking spray.

the topping is your classic crisp: oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter, piled generously on top. into a hot oven it goes and in about twenty minutes, it was done.

mmmmm

mmmmm

i couldn’t help digging into a corner just to be sure it worked. and do you know that those darn berries set up like a dream, just to taunt me? it looks like a photo from a cook book.

when i asked if anyone would like a warm fruit dessert they all looked at me like i was crazy . . uh, YES?

as i was passing it around i told them the back story; it wouldn’t be an anne dessert without some drama, after all.

when i was finished telling it, anne c. just looked at me and said (through a mouthful of dessert), “you mean to tell me that we’re eating re-purposed pie???”

we all burst out laughing and helped ourselves to another bite.

28 thoughts on “today, a different green

  1. Oh no! A berry pie takes at least an hour to bake at 375 – if it’s blueberry give it longer! The top has to almost go past what you think is the right brown. I work as a baker and those fruit pies take forever! So good – but forever to cook!

    The crisp looks sinful! I love it! Awesome fix!

  2. PS – the mitts are beautiful and I’m on my way to grab up some of that BFL/Silk!

  3. Wow! I never would have thought of doing this. I tend to let my pies get a little darker because I fear the same thing. Amazingly they’ve never been over done.

  4. My mouth is watering just looking at the desserts! YUM. I would have eaten the first pie. I probably would not have noticed. I’m so happy you were able to recycle your pie into something even better.

  5. Many years ago, my Mom taught me a trick that was taught to her by my Dad’s Aunt Betty. Aunt Betty at one time worked in a pie bakery and was the most expert pie baker. For blueberry pie, it’s best to make the filling ahead of time in a saucepan on the stovetop. You must stir it fairly constantly, but gently, until it thickens. When the filling has set, then let it cool before filling the pie crust. Then you just have to bake the pie until the crust is done.
    You never have to worry about undercooked blueberries again! Additionally, you can adjust the sweetness or tartness before you fill the pie.
    This is just one of the many useful tricks that Aunt Betty shared with us, and there’s nothing like licking the spatula after you fill the pie!
    p.s. Love the mitts!

  6. You already know I’m eagerly awaiting the mitts. Now you’ve got me thinking about dessert, although I already made donut muffins today. I like the suggestion above from ‘Aunt Betty’. Berries are notoriously unpredictable. I can also add that a pinch of cinnamon in that crisp topping is TDF with blueberries. In case you hadn’t already thought of that. And I am totally stealing ‘repurposed food’. It will take them a while to realize it means ‘leftovers’. Ha!

  7. Ha! I would probably have eaten the pie as it was – or else just put it back in the oven for another go-around. “Re-purposed pie”, though, is a great line.

  8. Make do and mend! We once were on a family day trip and stopped at a diner for supper. Uncharacteristically, we bought a coconut cream pie to take home. (My grandma is a great baker, so buying a pie was out of the norm.) When we got home, it was discovered that the filling had been made without sugar–not intentionally sugar-free, but mistakenly so. My grandma ate that pie over the course of the week anyway because she could not stand to throw out food. We still laugh about it 35 years later.

  9. I always seem to need something to keep my hands warm, but I’m not so fond of the bulk of normal fingerless mitts. These, however, look perfect. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the pattern release since you mentioned it. 🙂 Have you figured out yet what the yardage requirements are?

  10. ha! i’m excited you could recycle the pie filling, but i’m so sad i took off before the re-purposed pie was served. it looks delicious and i will be passing this baking tip along.

  11. Brilliant idea with the crisp, Anne. Didn’t we talk about making a trifle with a cake that fell apart once? Same general idea and why not? We recreate meals with other types of leftovers. Now I want blueberry crisp….sigh. Cute mitts!

  12. As a leather-glove addict (I have a collection of size 6 vintage. . .for my tiny hands) I am beside myself with glee re your “traditional stitching on top” gloves. Absolutely brilliant. I fell in love with your plain oatmeal laceweight mitts (for the fine gauge); now, I’m beyond hooked!!! BRAVO.

  13. one knitpick re the stitching detailing atop the mitts: Can you have it so the “stitches” fan out, to echo the way they appear on leather gloves?

  14. Your mitts look wonderful! The berry crisp looks delish. I may have to make one this weekend.

  15. I have never made desserts with blueberries before. They are really only available here in small quantities, so you can sprinkle a few on your cereal at breakfast. I might just have to see if I can buy them in larger amounts to make that crumble. It looks so yummy! We always had a family joke when I was little that any culinary disaster of the sweet variety would be ok with custard! I can well remember one or two rather overcooked cakes that were perfectly fine when warmed through and served with a dollop of custard! I am a serious custard addict to this day!

  16. Re firming up the fruit in pie: I dried apricot pieces to the mix. They plump up in the baking process, taking the juices with them

  17. some of the best successes come from an original mishap. I love that you never give up on anything.
    I love the mitts the colour and the simple styling.

  18. I love the look of your silky soft mittens – an excellent choice in using lace weight. I can just imagine how it feels on your hand.

  19. Haha, ‘re-purposed pie’!! What a great bit of re-purposing; I hate wasting food too!

    I can only imagine how nice your laceweight mitts feel on the skin. The colour is yummy enough! Looking forward to seeing the openwork faggoting version of the mitts, and your many secret projects!

  20. First, those gloves are spectacular. I love that color and the fit looks perfect! Second, I LOVE a good crisp – YUM. That was a creative way to save your pie 🙂

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