Sunday, August 24, 2008

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Rework


August 6th, 2008
I am lengthening my dad's sweater. I finished undoing a row yesterday and totally screwed it up but today I figured it out. I had to make the ribbing into a yarn ball again. The yarn totally cocooned itself. It's difficult to unravel and I have to pull at the edges very hard to separate it.

10:22 PM
I did not figure out anything. I have 76 stitches and I am supposed to have 78. I tend to think the instructor did not lose one on the end she unraveled so I lost 2 of them someplace. I made an extra one on the edge since it seems to be missing one but I have no idea where #78 went.

August 14th, 2008
Apparently you lose a stitch when you unravel. Like who knew, and why and am I even correct. Maybe I misunderstood. I went back 2 inches, even more and now am supposed to do the ribbing but have to measure to make sure I am not over the 2 inches. We don't want this to go from too short to very long.

August 16th-17th, 2008
You lose a stitch because you lose half a V on one side and half on the other. I was being stupid in the store again. I asked how to bind off, and like it did not matter because I did not have to match the sides since I did not even do them yet.

August 21st, 2008
I left a #8 at my parents of all people so I cannot do anything. Instructor increased one stitch since we are knitting backwards in a way how we increased on the shrug. I have to remember that. So there are 3 types so far, the shrug way, the knitted way and the in between pick up way. Think I remember the shrug way .. not. I need to stop talking about the lost stitch. I am so sorry I did not blog the making of this sweater. The story would have been worthy of some award no doubt.

August 24th, 2008
It seems like all I can do is knit. I cannot read, watch TV, walk etc. I knitted one of the sides back down. I cannot tell if I bound off well. I think it's too loose. I cannot believe I have a wrong stitch in this sweater. I have never had that before on anything I had worked on.

August 28th, 2008
I moved. I don't have anything to say about this, and do not wish this upon my worst enemy, well maybe the one who now lives across the street.

August 30th, 2008
Distressed.

4:40 PM
Super-distressed and under the influence of Merlot. Cannot imagine I used to do something so insane like knit and like it?

September 1, 2008
Tired. My apartment is totally dysfunctional. The building itself is relocation in progress at all times. The front door is always propped open regardless of time of day. There is several industrial sized dumpsters as you exit the building. I expected them to be gone over the weekend but the weekend came and went and the dumpsters remained. People are always walking in and out, hanging around the doors in conversation or congregating outside surrounded by furniture resting on the sidewalks. This is called writing with no inspiration but I wanted to say something about the building. Maybe I should have done a one sentence deal. I finally brought my knitting in but my bedroom has no light.

September 2nd, 2008
The knitting instructor gave me a lamp. That's all that happened today. I did not knit, or sew or anything. I should revisit the post that talks about why I dislike her, and like maybe think about eliminating it.

September 4th, 2008
I think Frederico Aubele performed today, and I missed it. I am going to write some stuff down here that I expect from an apartment.
1. Outlets
2. Refrigerator
3. Light
4. 3-4 floor or top floor but then elevator
5. Silence a.k.a not facing a street with cars or next to a major college campus
6. Window sills you can sit on
7. Window in bathroom
8. Ceiling fan
9. Water pressure
10. Balcony
11. Garage
12. The complex has to be nice .. mold
13 Closets
14. Owner occupancy
15. Bathtub I can use
16. Good area my standards ..
17. Sun!!
18. No plastic covered counter tops
19. No corner apartment because cold in winter


September 10th, 2008
I am sick in the new apartment. The apartment is one big miserability. The noise never stops here. Upstairs neighbors, the house next door, even now someone is outside hitting the trash cans with a ? hockey stick. This is the first and the worst rework I have ever done. I am not even trying. The instructor did most of the sewing. I think I had the indecency to tell her yesterday that something she did was OK. I don't know what my dad did with the button. I went to Good Yarn yesterday and they did not have it, but it's been a year almost. I may even have this button, but I think not. Anyway I cannot do anything until I find it, or buy new ones from the instructor. The rework looks terrible, I even made a mistake on something, like knitted the wrong way and the instructor sewed it in so you could not see. I have never consciously done that before in my entire knitting life.

Sometime in December, 2008
I am done. I sewed on a tiny snap so the bottom did not separate in different directions. I really should resew the buttons since they were not anchored properly and will fall out.

Monday, August 4, 2008

The Salon at 10 Newbury


This is in the bathroom of Salon 10

Swampscott



Mushrooms


New Hampshire Pick

This was in my parking lot ..

.. and this

.. and this


Favorite photo





Заготовка грибов впрок

This is the actual chapter heading above



Маринование.
Wash very well!

1. Cut the big caps in 2-4 pieces. The stems are cut vertically into 2-3 cm. We are in CM here. You have to marinate the stems separately from heads-caps.

Маслята - remove the lining of the cap
Моховик - pour boiling water over them, and then wash with cold water otherwise marinade will turn dark and will look unappetizing

2. You have to cook each type separately because different types cook at different temperatures and also bigger caps cook faster then smaller caps so you cannot put them in the same ? pot. You can prepare the mushrooms 2 ways, either cook in the marinade or cook in salt water and then pour marinade over them.

Способ #1:

В эмалированную кастрюлю:
1 кг mushrooms
1/3 cup water [stakan]
2/3 cups vinegar
1 tablespoon salt

When the water boils add the mushrooms and cook on low heat stirring occasionally. From the boiling point the cooking time is approximately 8-10 minutes however it varies slightly depending on the type.

Podosinovikki, Shampinyoni 20-25 minutes
Lisichki, Op'yata 25-30 minutes
Mushroom stems 15-20 minutes

Keep removing the foam as you cook from the top

When the marinade begins to lighten, the foam stops forming and the mushrooms will sink to the bottom you are done. 2-3 minutes before you turn off the stove add 1 teaspoon sugar (instructor does 2/3 salt to 1/3 sugar in proportion I think) 5 pepper corns, koritza? gvozdika, bay leaf and lemon juice on the tip of the knife.

Cool the mushrooms, place them in some sort of jars and pour the remaining marinade over them to fill the jar.



Способ #2:

1. Cook the mushrooms in salt water, 2 tablespoons salt per 1 LITER of water g-d only knows for how long since this book does not mention it. Put in banki .. and pour cooled marinade over them, apparently made in Способ #1. 1 kg mushrooms for 250-300 grams marinade. OK .. this is how you make it.

0.4 LITERS water
1 non-full teaspoon salt
6 peppercorns
bay leaf
koritza
gvozdika
lemon juice at the tip of the knife

cook the above for 20-30 minutes on low heat, then cook somewhat and add 1/3 glass vinegar ..

Tired. Too much Russian. Koritza is cinnamon, gvozdika is clove. I am not sure what that is in English either. I have never seen cinnamon in Russia?



Соление
OK. It says you need to soak them in water for 2-5 days changing the water 2-3 times per day so they so not skisli. It says that if you have a lot of mushrooms it's best to soak them in a a river. I cannot even tell if this is amusing. This is so the bitterness goes away.

Put in jar head first. I am glad I do not translate for the CNN and if they read this, they would be glad as well, and pour salt over each layer. Salt is 3% of the weight of mushrooms. This is straight out of a Russian mathematical exam. You can use garlic, dill, clove, leaves of black current and then the mandatory peppercorns, bay leaf and some normal pepper. The proportions in this book are a bit much, 20 grams bay leaf and 10 grams ground pepper per 100 KG of mushrooms. I am beginning to feel like the instructor gave me this book because she thought it would be funny, unless she really marinates 100 kgs of mushrooms.
This is some kind of mushroom prep book on an industrial scale. I am having some trouble with the following .. put a lid over the jar, a lid that like falls through because it's narrower then the barrel and over it put гнет из булыжников. I am not sure what гнет is and I thought I knew what булыжник was but then it said you cannot use кирпичи .. or something about izvest? It has to be булыжники otherwise it's all wrong. I did not realize Russian had such variety of terms for stone like objects. Then after 2-3 days pour out the water and add more mushrooms, continue until you fill the !!! barrel.

The above is the cold method. You can also cook them before, especially things that break easily because if you boil them 5-10 minutes they become more elastic. OK. I am done. The salt method is lost on me. I still do not know what the above are. Some kind of tubular.. things. The problem is when they are little, the tubes are so small they look solid and only when they are bigger they become tubular.
Did you notice that in Способ #1: you use 5 peppercorns and in Способ #2: .. 6. Very interesting.

By the way when I was in NH I saw a little maslenok and he had on a skirt, just like in the Russian Mushroom Book.


Semi-Dried
a.k.a left alone and unrefrigerated