Healthy Recipe- Desert Gardens Dips- Chive & Garlic, Jalapeno Vegetable

This is more of a recommendation than an actual recipe, since I basically made up these dips exactly as directed on the packages, though I used Lite Sour Cream, and Lite Miracle Whip rather than Mayo (yeah, I know... abomination... but Miracle Whip is the sandwich spread of my youth and I have always preferred it to real Mayo, though most of my friends cringe at the very thought).

Anyway, I found these dip mixes at the grocery store today- both from Desert Gardens ( http://www.comfortfoods.com/products.php?brand=dg ) and decided to try a couple. I chose Chive & Garlic, and Jalapeno Vegetable, and mixed them as I mentioned above, with Lite Sour Cream and Miracle Whip, chilled for a couple of hours, and then served them (in the *good* dishes, as you can see) with a plate of fresh veggies for dipping. They were a big hit- the Chive & Garlic (the bowl to the right) was light and tasty, and the Jalapeno Vegetable (on the left) had a nice bite to it.

Of course, these dips would be great with chips (if we ate chips these days, which we don't), and I suspect they'd both be really good with smoked salmon... I wish I had some smoked salmon right now.

Serving Size: 2 tbsp

Jalapeno Vegetable: 53 calories, 2 gr carb (more calories if you use real mayo and sour cream, but the same carbs)

Chive & Garlic: 40 calories, 2 gr carb (ditto on the above parenthetical note)

Neither the veggie calories nor the carbs will add up to much, but keep the totals in mind if you're doing the diabetic thing.

Doesn't Anybody Stay In One Place Any More...

(that's what happens when you spin roving called So Far Away)

So, I finished spinning and plying the So Far Away roving. This is my first time with BFL, which has long been touted as perfect sock wool. I loved spinning this roving- it was perfectly dyed, and the fiber nearly spun itself. My Navajo 3-plying is getting better, and though the yarn is (still) not 100 yds per oz, it's fairly even, and a good fingering weight for socks. I should be able to knit this up on Size 2 needles with my usual generic sock pattern (56-60 sts, 16 rnds ribbing, 6" cuff, short row heel, 6" foot, Star Toe). It should knit up in stripes of teal-y blue, yellow-y green, and butterscotch. And the 2 larger skeins should match up, stripe-wise, fairly well. The last little hank won't match the striping of the bigger ones, but it'll just be for toes if I need it.

I ended up with 3.8 ozs of yarn (started out with 4ozs- some always vanishes into the ether) and 275 yards of 3-ply yarn, which is enough for a pair of socks for me. I'll have some left over, which will go in a pile for future *crazy* socks.

The roving came from Yummy Yarns (link in Stash Enhancers), and I think she has more on hand. I am seriously eyeing her Lemongrass roving.

Thursday Tab- Brooke and Erin, 1973 Pattern Catalog PDs

These files have been removed at the request of the original pattern catalog artist. My apologies to the artist for using the images without permission.

Web Slinger

My four year old gandson is obsessed with Spiderman, and he spends a lot of time flinging imaginary webs at all of us. He's not here today, but he would be delighted with the silk hankie I've been spinning- it's perfect Spiderman-material.

I got these 2 hand-dyed silk hankies in a trade for some ginned cotton that I had on hand (my friend Ann sent me about 15lbs worth- I like spinning cotton, but it would take years to spin all of that, so I used some to trade for other fibers). I'm using the little laceweight millefiori spindle that I got from Butterflygirl Designs (link in Stash Enhancers on the right side of the page). It's a perfect weight for the threadweight silk single that I am spinning.

Spinning silk hankies (like spinning silk bells) is fairly easy- you pull a layer of silk off the surface of the hankie, stretch it out, and then spin it. It's easier than spinning silk top, though the yarn is never totally even (there are lumps and slubs, albeit teeny lumps and slubs). The biggest problem is that the silk fibers will hang up on microscopic snags on your skin and clothing, much like real spider webs. But the resultant yarn is gorgeous.

A silk hankie weighs about 7gr, and I have spun 3gr of the green one already. I have no idea how much yardage I'll get from these 2 hankies, but I'll bet the farm that it'll be more than 100yds per oz (this single is very fine), even after plying. I have some undyed silk bells on hand (same principle, different shape)- I think I'll ply these hankies with white silk from the bells.

Here's a tutorial on making silk hankies: http://www.wormspit.com/mawatas.htm (this is not something I'm tempted to try myself, but it's fascinating).

Here's an article on spinning silk hankies by Amy Singer (and she's right about them being very easy to spin): http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/FEATsilkhankies.html .

And here's a tutorial on spinning silk bells, which reminded me that you can knit unspun silk just as easily as the spun stuff: http://www.hjsstudio.com/silkcaps.html

But You're So Far Away

It's easy to come up with song references when your roving is named after a tune on one of your favorite albums of all time. The So Far Away BFL (blue faced leicester) roving, from Yummy Yarns, is spinning up beautifully, and my Navajo 3-plying is getting better. I still have whoopie-doos (a Technical Carpentry Term that I learned from my husband) in my joins, but they're fewer, and smoother than before.

This hank is 1.6 ozs (out of a total 4ozs of roving- though you alway lose some in the spinning), and 119 yds, a nice fingering weight 3-ply. It's coming out nicely striped, in wonderful butterscotch, blues and greens. My 2 larger skeins should match up pretty well because the roving was very evenly dyed in repeats. There will be a smaller skein left over with all of the colors but a different stripe repeat, and I may need that for the toes (which won't show anyway). What? Of course, it's going to be sock yarn.

And after I finished the Book Sock, and plying last night's skein, I had about a half hour left, so I picked up the Ravelry sock again (it's not cheating if there was nothing else I could do for that half hour)(well, I could have cleaned toilets, but that's just plain silly). I ripped out the cuff (to the ribbing), increased 2 sts, and reknit it with the smaller size 2 (2.75mm) needles. I am much happier with the fabric now, and shouldn't have to tear it out again. These are going to be gorgeous socks

Like Something Out of Fairy Tale

A real, functional glass spinning wheel...

This spinner's long draw technique is fantastic (I only do long-draw when I'm spinning cotton, otherwise I'm a short-draw spinner).

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lzYB1o9YRUc

My Cheatin' Heart

Shhhhhh.... don't tell my editor this, but yesterday my husband and I took a short road trip, and the current sock book sock is too complicated for car knitting, and there are no uncomplicated socks left to knit for the book, and I can't be in a car without knitting... sooooooo..... I wound the Ravelry 3-ply handspun yarn (from yesterday's post) into a ball and cast on a sock for me. Not for work, not for publication (except here, which doesn't count in the publication-sense). Just for fun. For me...

Though the yarn is 21WPI, it still felt too heavy for small needles, so I cast on with Size 3 needles (54 sts, 15 rnds K3P3), and then started the cuff. I didn't get very far before I realized that the fabric was too loose. I tore it out and dropped to Size 2 (3.0 mm) needles. That's what you see in the pic. But, I think that might still be too loose. I won't tear out the ribbing, but I think I am going to rip the cuff, and drop back to 2.75 size 2's (and inc 2 sts to 56, which is the low end of my normal fingering weight sock number). Right now I'm getting 7 sts to the inch and that doesn't feel tight enough to wear well.

The yarn is knitting up in lovely narrow stripes, and it's more bouncy than I expected. The sheen is gorgeous and I love the colors. I doubt my pair will match, stripewise, because I wasn't consistent when I tore strips from the roving for spinning, but they'll match well enough to be called a pair.

Since I am not going on a road trip today, I'll stay true to the Book What Brung Me. But I hear the siren call of The Other Sock, and I am sorely tempted to cheat again.