winterlight

Posted on Posted in designing, food and garden, lace/shawls, projects

we had a lovely end-of-year weekend; did you?
beckie and i kicked off the mood on thursday by attending an afternoon tea party hosted by our friends helena and kris.

their cozy home was still decorated for christmas with lights, a tree, and a beautiful collection of christmas memorabilia

this advent calendar of (mostly) woodland creatures is my favorite.
aside from helena, that is, who was gussied up in the perfect dress and gauze wrap to model the crossings mitts.

we were joined by several friends for tea, snacks, and dessert—all yummy!

(helena made the cake from a tasha tudor recipe)

we all trailed home a little reluctantly as evening fell, though it was a lovely close to christmas week.

we didn’t do anything special on friday around here—just relaxed and worked on projects we’re trying to get in order before we go away this week.
saturday though, was a different story—i had soaked some dried salt cod during last week, which is something i always fix for christmas eve, but saved for new year’s day this year. i planned to cook it in tomatoes, capers, garlic, and olives and invited mark and beckie to join us.

beckie had expressed some interest in making peanut brittle, so we decided to get together on new year’s afternoon to do it. i have an old recipe from family circle magazine, circa 1982, that has four ingredients, is a snap to cook, and—here’s the kicker—does not require using a candy thermometer. the original recipe had twice as much butter but after the first year, i cut that back because it was too greasy. i bet you could cut it back even more . . .

unlike many other recipes i cook, which i don’t have written down and do not want to provide tech support for, i’m going to share this one with you, because it’s SO simple. please do not write me if it does not turn out well, haha; i have no troubleshooting skills for cooking whatsoever.

ok, here it is:
2 cups raw or roasted nuts (i prefer roasted)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 stick butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment and butter it or spray with p^m

the lovely beckie will demonstrate . . .

(kim, she specifically brought THIS apron in case she got blogged and you saw it, haha)

put everything in a skillet over medium heat. stir. stir. stir

soon it will boil; keep stirring.

then stir.

nothing will happen for a while; long enough that you will be sure you are doing something wrong. as soon as you start to think that, the mixture begins to turn tan, then a little while later, brown.

cook until very golden-brown, so that a little of the liquid looks clear, but not burnt. give it one last blending stir then QUICKLY spread it in the cookie sheet. spread as thin as possible

(these are slightly darker than optimal, but still super tasty. it’s better to be a little dark, than not cooked enough. but not burnt, ugh; that’s bad)

allow the mixture to cool until firm, then remove from pan to wire rack to finish. when it’s completely cool, break into chunks.

i’ve made this with literally every and all types of nuts and combinations, including coconut. you can also dip chunks of it in chocolate.
this year, we made four kinds:

new this year—mixed nut. divine.
we also made cashew, which is the hands-down favorite of david and my brother, joe (whose BD it is today, which is why i made the brittle. a box is winging its way to him as we speak)

my favorite is pecan—i don’t think that requires any explanation

and last, but not least—classic peanut. every kid’s favorite.

this is a very fast recipe to make; each batch takes maybe 15 minutes, i swear (just ask beckie). the pans clean right up with hot water and soap.

i ate way more of it that afternoon than i should have and now i’m a little nut brittle shy. i’m sure that won’t last . . . i’ll be serving it in knitting class today.

aside from cooking for new year’s, i spent quite a bit of time reacquainting myself with the knitting projects i left off before the christmas sweater madness began (what was i thinking?).

high on my priority list are these mitts i designed for the yarn4socks february not-so-sock-club kit. the theme is “my fair lady”.

i showed you the yarn about a month ago, when it arrived in the mail from our dear friend kim at the woolen rabbit. Lucent is her newest fingering blend of merino/cashmere/nylon that glows with a soft sheen. she dyed it the very perfect blue of spring flowers—lady slipper. but larkspur, forget-me-nots, campanula, snowdrops, and violets also come to mind. it’s just what i had in my head . . . i marvel every time i look at it.

i’ve known for months what i wanted these to look like, but had only swatched a little bit and had not figured out the pleating detail. it took a couple of sessions in between christmas prep to get the stitch combination, pleating, and proportions right. once i had what i wanted, it was just a matter of having some time free to knit them up.

there are still club kits available i think; the pattern will be available as a standalone item once all the club kits have been delivered (end of february).

as we get into deep winter, we are both finding that good hats are in order—i showed you david’s forest toque that i started in handspun last week—just a little more to knit on it. i love the yarn (my own handspun)

i’m waiting on some artisan merino yarn to arrive from mountain meadows wool to knit the actual pattern samples; i’m anxious to know if my written pattern will work out.

for my own hat, i want something warm and light. actually, i’m in need of another scarf as well. when i look at all the sample things i’ve knit and tried out, my warmest, coziest, and lightest weight favorite is my le ghirlande set in great northern yarns mink/cashmere DK.

i don’t know why weight is such an issue for me, but there’s nothing i hate more than a hat that slides off from its own weight. and there’s nothing nicer than a scarf that is impossibly light and airy, yet warm as the dickens.

i like the beret a lot, but i wanted a brighter color set with maybe a bit of a change in shape. i love that in this yarn, even massive cables do not feel bulky, stiff, or heavy; in fact, they are even desirable as an extra insulating layer. so i came up with something i think i’m going to like

not quite a beret . . . but still a little puffy. a swirl of oversized cables that form a monkey-bread shape. and in apple green—just the thing to go with my brown and plum coats. the scarf will be the same big cables all over. craig is out of the green at the moment, so i’m going to need to beg two skeins of thjis color from kim when i get to san diego, but i think she’ll be willing (i know she has it!).

i’m psyched to knit this on my trip—by the time i head out to NYC and the UK at the end of the month, i’ll have the scarf and hat i desire (and if not, i can finish it on one of the long plane rides, haha)

wasp and rose saw some airtime too—i’ve added a couple of rows, which doesn’t show much of a difference, but just having it back in my hands felt good. i don’t see any reason not to take this on our trip out west; even if i only work on it through the flights, that would be quite a bit of knitting time. the rows are getting long enough now that they are perfect for filling bigger blocks of knitting time. i still need to finalize the charts for the last section, yikes.

and then i have this . . . a new shawlette which i started before christmas as a possible gift, but which soon became a casualty of priority knitting for immediate family.

i’m so embarrassed not to have finished it—i really REALLY wanted to give it to a friend who got married on new year’s eve (someone whose initials are E-R-I-C-A). you might remember her as our friendly neighborhood kollage pusher pimp godmother—always sending beautiful yarn samples for us to drool over.

after i finished up the leafprints shawlette in kollage creamy, she sent me several skeins of the natural colorway for a possible spring thing. well, i knew all along that i wanted to knit her a shawlette with it to celebrate her winter wedding. i even knew exactly what stitch pattern i wanted for the hem—this adorable lily of the valley lace (and not a little becausue you can abbreviate it thusly: LOVe).

but the project got lost in the undertow of fall travel and project backlog—i just did not plan it all that well. but i’m thinking that she might forgive me, once she gets this thing in her hands; what do you think? if a bride has a year to send thank-yous, do i have a year to send a gift? i’m actually hoping for the end of this month, but i know better than to count my chickens before they hatch . . .

it was a bit dreary most of christmas week, but warmer, so all the snow has melted away. now it’s cold again, but sunny and dry; it might even be a good day to go for a walk, if i can squeeze it in before class.

anyway, what i DO know is that no one has to twist my arm to knit with this yarn—it’s as delicious now as it was for the other projects i’ve knit with it and i think perfect for this one in particular. soft, glowy, delicate—those little lily stems are positively pickable.

AND it will be a good traveler; what’s not to LOVe?

now here’s the bad news that came out of my reassessment of current knitting projects—i think this one needs to be completely rethought. i LOVE the yarn, love the colors, love the weight (LIGHT, yay), but i hate the combination. i have always pictured this project as the simplest of sweaters—maybe even in plain stockinette. why the heck did i add those heavy cables to it? they’d be better held in waiting for another project; they’re too heavy for this one.

it’s gotten to the point where i’m avoiding it—i keep saying i “should” work on it (which we all know is the kiss of death), but then i find something else to distract me. so i think i’m going to cut my losses and rip it out. i’m going to make the sweater i ought to have made to begin with.

i think it’s good to start the year off by ripping out projects that don’t work. i rarely, if ever, make new year’s resolutions, but i’m perfectly happy to rip out the old in favor of the new each january. very cleansing . . .

ok, then, i think we’re caught up. time for me to get ready for the arrival of my knitting class. this week i’m traveling to san diego where we will visit with kim’s family and attend TNNA. i’ll be seeing many of our favorite friends there. i have a couple of posts i’ll prepare in advance just in case i get stuck for a connection, as well as a pattern release either wednesday or friday. and i am, of course, planning on bringing you lots of sun, sun, sun, from sunny san diego.

i can’t WAIT.

25 thoughts on “winterlight

  1. I can’t wait either! I think your most recent visit to San Diego is when I first started reading your blog :-}
    What a tonic for a Michigan January it will be.

  2. Hello and happy 2011! My 89 year old father in law makes a few thousand (yes thousand) pounds of peanut brittle every fall/winter. Each batch is just a few pounds. His is more involved though-it has baking soda in it, which makes miniscule bubbles, so the final product isn’t ‘clear’. It’s the BEST peanut brittle I’ve ever had. He doesn’t use a thermometer either–he just ‘knows’, which is understandable after decades of making it.

    I love that new mitt out of the blue–when I saw the first picture I thought it would make a pretty sweater sleeve (upside down of course). I agree on the cable for that sweater. Better to rip it out now than to keep going! 🙂

  3. You DO have a year to finish gifts (says the woman with a half-finished wedding cross-stitch languishing in her basement . . .) And thank goodness, too.

  4. yum cannot decide which looks more delicious, the great northern pale color, the peanut brittle or the anticipation of a new shawlette!
    happy new year and happy travels. we look forward to seeing you in the big apple (big snow slush) at the end of the month.

  5. Oh, now, pleeze stop with the food all ready! I have to go on a diet since I took a chunk out of your peanut brittle (my iPad)! Too, too fattening. Love the blog and your beautiful model….

  6. Those mitts are so pretty! I’m really tempted…

    Do you start with raw or roasted nuts in the recipe?

  7. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

    Love the little LOV shawlette! and the wasp and rose ain’t no slouch either! (and I am averting my eyes from the nut brittle -noooooo!)

    and safe travels too!

  8. just fyi, it’s been nothing but rain in San Diego for the last 3 weeks! However, sun is forecast for the next several days…you are bringing sunshine here!

  9. That tea party looked just perfect – with proper china cups and saucers! The nut brittle looks delish, it cracked me up about your friend’s apron! And the soft purples in that yarn for the wrist warmers are just delightful. Great to catch up with all that’s been going on. Look forward to some sun!

  10. Oh, your pictures of the nut brittle had me mentally running through my pantry closet to remember what nuts I had on hand. It looks divine! And the lovely china teacups are oh so civilized. What a pretty party.

    It’s good that Craig is out of that green cashmere dk else I would have snapped it right up – it’s soooo yummy. Can’t wait to see the hat (and I don’t even wear hats!) Maybe I could be persuaded if it’s extra light.

    I love the idea of an “undertow” – it does feel like that sometimes, doesn’t it! Still, you are amazingly productive and not at all ‘swept away’!

    Have a great flight to sunny CA!

  11. Happiest of New years to you and David! What a lovely post you’ve shared with us today. Isn’t there something wonderful about a tea party with the china cups and delicate refreshments? I try whenever I can to pull out the good dishes and show my daughters, when they come to visit, how nice it can be. I think it’s a relief for them to get away from the plastic cups and plates that so often get used with small children.
    As usual, your yarns and projects are an inspiration. I’m still hoping to make it to Dallas in April. We’ll see.

  12. What a wonderful post this was to read and enjoy all of your food and knitting goodies from afar. Have a wonderful trip to San Diego. Can’t wait to see the new patterns.

  13. Thanks so much for sharing the beautiful mitts in that amazing colorway. I can’t wait until I get mine–there were a few spots left!!

    Cheers!

  14. Have you ever made the brittle in the microwave? I did so many batches this year and they were so simple and delish. Also, aside from Happy New Year to you and David, are you going to release the pattern for LOVE? I adore lilies of the valley. You add much joy Anne to my life each day. Thanks you for blessing so many of us with such pleasure. And thanks to David, too. What a gem that man is and oh so helpful. You are both lucky as you seem to be just the perfect match. He looked great in his Xmas sweater.

  15. Mmmm….that brittle looks wonderful. My aunt shared some with us on Christmas that she’d bought from an Amish lady, and it was melt-in-the-mouth wonderful, but my mom and aunt agreed that making it was just too difficult—but maybe we need to try this recipe!

    So many pretty knits around here! Such and inspiration. I really need to get this one sweater done for good (it’s a re-knit–I unintentionally made it to big the first time–silly row gauge) so I can get back to lovely laces. Just the seams left…

  16. I can’t wait, either!! And the sun was certainly out today – Tilly and I went for a nice long hike 🙂 I am absolutely LOVING those hats that you’re knitting – I’m in a hat sort of mood, and you’re striking my fancy. I will be waiting with bated breath… 🙂

  17. Happy New Year, to both you and David.

    I was trying so had to resist the yarn fumes but seeing your not-so-sock mitts I cracked and subscribed, the combination of your pattern and Kims yarn was just to much to withstand! (I am sitting here with a box of Briar Rose and a skein of Spirit Trail Nona that both arrived today hmmmm I wonder who enabled those! They are both lucious though so New Year, New Yarn!)

  18. Beautiful post Anne….i loved looking at all that knitting. I’m having a terrible case of start-itis right now but i think i’ll just go with it and enjoy the different knitting =)

  19. If you use almonds and then right after you put the brittle on the cookie sheet place chocolate chips all over the top – milk chocolate or dark chocolate – the heat will melt the chocolate and then when it cools, the chocolate cools as well. Break into pieces – wonderful!!! I’ve made it with pistachios, pecans and peanuts. My girlfriend loves the pecan milk chocolate ones. The almond ones with chocolate taste like almond roca.

    Thanks for sharing the recipe – have a great time in San Diego.

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