Better Au Gratin Potatos

Before Baking

Fairly Standard Au Gratin potatoes made better with...what else BACON!! (and cooper sharp cheese mmmmm)  If you are unfortunate enough to be unable to get cooper then make different potatoes cuz these will suck without it...And if your thinking bacos or baykin bitz you have been warned....

5 Medium sized Potatoes, washed and cut into 3/8" Slices (not peeled) (soak in water with a little lemon juice)
1 Medium onion peeled and chopped (slightly over a cup?)
1 1/2 C shredded Cheddar (I used sharp) (reserve a few tablespoons separate)
2 oz (3 slices) Copper Sharp..do not make this optional!!!!!
3 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 Cups milk
2 tbsp REAL bacon bits (do not blaspheme this dish by using fucking bacos!!!)

Lightly butter a casserole dish (i used 9 x 9 x 2) layer half the potatoes in the bottom, put the chopped onion on top, cover the onion with the rest of the potatoes, sprinkle with the REAL Bacon (you get diahrrea if you use fake bacon, the food gods will punish..)



melt butter over medium heat add flour and salt, wisk for one minute, add 2 cups milk slowly whisking all the while, bring to just about boiling (sauce will thicken) adde cheese all at once stir until smooth and melted (another minute) pour over potatos and stuff int he casserole.


Bake in a preheated 400°F Oven for about an hour and a half.  During last 10 minutes sprinkle with leftover cheese, serve....

Washcloth Madness

Attended a simple 2 hour dishcloth class at The Knitters Edge in Bethlehem.  For $6 you show up (usually ) with a pair of pointy sticks, they supply yarn and instruction in a variety of dishcloth patterns.  It is amazing.  And, they offer discounts as a class member on their entire stock including special deals on the yarn being used in the class!  Any way have not been able to stop my self.

My favorite is the fishy tawashi.  This pattern is available all over on the web and is a great, cute idea for kids.  While Tawashi is japanese for wash cloth I like to explain it to my friends as Fishy Tawashi's.  They are Fishies TO WASHY (tawashi).

Fireside Footsies

I saw these on Ravelry and had to cast them on as quickly as possible:

• I love felting
• I love wool slippers for winter and they make great gifts!!

This pattern has given me fits as the instructions are a little loose around the edges.  Thankfully others have posted hints, tips and suggestions on their websites and blogs to make these doable.  I think I will finish the pair and maybe re-work the pattern and then upload it to ravelry.

The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky -- hand dyed with Durkee NEON food colors.  They work wonders.  May have to  do a second skein though to finish the pair......

Feather & Fan Scarf

I have fallen in love with Noro Kureyon.  Then to realize it is not actually dyed in those gorgeous color progressions but spun that way slowly adding one color to another.. Gorgeous.  i bought two balls of color 255 If I had to pick a colorway I might call it autumn.

This is the scarf in the Noro.  i want to see how long it gets with one skein, since they seem to say it will get longer once washed and blocked.

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Still on Frame

Still on Frame
Originally uploaded by jdkcubed

Here is the project with its burlap backing still stretched over the frame. Notice the little bumps of the loops of wool cloth pulled through the background to the top to create the image. I like doing this craft

I have taken up hooking!!

I Stumbleupon an article on primitive rug hooking.  I was instantly taken by the craft.  So a few hours later and some succesful bids later I had a frame, a good hook, and a kit for trying this craft out.  Pictures below.  It seems to be an expensive hobby unless you want to comb thrift shops for old woolen clothes to slice and dye for your projects.  The tools are expensive as are the materials.  Anyway below are some pics of the sunflower.  I have to finish the backing yet (twill binding and some yarn wrapping).  PIcs Below in separate posts

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Back in the Saddles again!

So frogged the sleeve back to the 6th row right after the first increase.  Stopped using the funky (almost invisible increase, knit in stitch do not remove then knit in stitch below BEHIND the current stitch) too hard to see.  Went back to simple knit in front and back.   While I am on the subject of alternate types of stitches have you discovered the alternate ssk?  When used with entrelac it joins the squares without the funky color overlap you are used to seeing also much less visible and lays flatter:

Slip first  stitch as if to knit, slip second stitch as if to purl, knit both slipped through the back loop.  Found the reference here:

eHow: Alternate SSK

Anyway, slightly happier with the sleeve now, still hate that first row and almost frogged back to it.  The sleeves seem to large around for me 40 sts is 10" in diameter and measuring my wrists put me at about 8".  5% ease would make it 8.5 inches 10% ease would be 8.8 (9) or 36 sts, four less than I have so one inch smaller, But I worry if i tinker with the percentages my whole sweater will go out of kilter......

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Saddle Shoulder Non-sense

I saw some of the pictures of the finished product via Ravelry.  So far I am not enthused about the program.  I swatched my yarn (Knit Picks Shamrock)  in the round to get an accurate guage.  My gauge is 4 stitches per inch.  I double triple checked.  And I used the following measurements:

So using these measurements my number of body stitches is 200.  The sleeves are 1/5 or 40 stitches.  I used a knitted cast on (EZ's favorite) over two needles to give me the "loose" cast on she says is desirable, now I have this funky loose row and I hate it.  I am hoping when I add the "hem" with smaller needles it fixes this....and I have read the directions wrong and increased every 4tyh round instead of every 5th.  I was worried I had not increased or increased too quickly sine the sleeve was getting wide but not very long.  So I will have to frog the first thirty rows and start over.

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Saddle Shoulder Sweater

OK, I put it off long enough.  I have finally cast on for the saddle shoulder sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman in knitting without tears.  i cast on a sleeve.  I am unhappy with it so far.  I used a large cast on per the instructions and the edgei s funky and the increases seem to be coming too quick for me but i will persevere with the first sleeve and see how it goes.  Pics soon.

Beer Cozy Madness

I made the mistake of asking a friend for one of those plastic beer bottles to use as a felting form for my beer cozy.  Then I had to explain at dinner what I was doing.  Apparently i am now expected to crank out beer cozies as fast as humanly possible so everyone can have one.  Hmmmmm Christmas is coming.........

The Dailey [sock] grind!!

I do hate this project, not sure I want to do 2 at once ever again.  I definitely get the fact that 2@once overcomes the un-inertia of finishing the second sock of a pair. I definitely suffer from UFO sickness...It just takes twice as long reducing the im-making-progress-look-at-this-project-move factor.  Not sure if its a good trade off yet.  Below is the latest progress shot.  I have about 4 inches more to go before putting the two heel marker rows in then about 8" to the top of the sock...UUUUUUUUggggggghhhhhh  (PS look at thos damn pointy toes, uuuuhhhhnnnnnnnn)

Missing Needles

I realized last night that my entire pouch of Knit Picks Interchangeable needles has gone missing.  not missing as in stolen but simply SHIFTED to some other location.  The last time i had the pouch open was shortly before thanksgiving in order to start a dish cloth.  Now I want to start my beer cozy and the needles are nowhere to be found??  I have been racking my brain on where I might have shoved them while moving "stock" around for the holidays.

I hate when I do stuff like this because i distinctly remember saying to myself, "Oh, I will just put them here so i know where they are."  Famous last words.  So until the needles are found..........Beer Cozy on hold.......

As Time Goes By

I have relegated my two-at-once project to lunch knitting.  lets me put about an inch a day on the project.  Found one more toe up method for beginning that I want to try.  May do it for grins with some sock yarn to see if i like it and it works OK.  It is the short rows method from Knitty It looks fairly nice.  i guess I just need to try it to see.  I just hate the points on these toes..... but spurred on by my cohorts on MWK i will finish these.

Moving Along

Just to the point where I have done my increases and just getting to the tube.  Doing two at once is challenging but manageable.  The beginning was horrific. the small number of stitches, getting it onto 2 needles.  So far my socks (as you'll see below) look like latvian mittens.  So far not a real fan of these.  if they suck and are ugly I will felt them and wear them out but will NOT make a pair in my nifty hand dyed yarns.  I think I would have to start with like 10 stitches on each needle to make the toe look OK.

A note on hand dyeing.  Wools like acid dyes.  Basically an acidic environment and simple colors (usually FDC colors work great, hence kool-aid dyes) and the color automagically adheres to the wool when heated.  So while there are plenty of companies that offer a huge range of acid dyes there are readily available form of DYES you might not have thought of.  PASTE FOOD COLORINGS used by bakeries and available in a pretty wide selection of colors.  Wilton industries are the most widely available.  However if you have a pastry/candy supply shop near by they may have even more brands and colors.  Paste colors are ULTRA concentrated and some experimentation is necessary, but I have had good results....  pics tures of the hand dyed soon!!!  Still Thinking "Telquila Sunrise for my color way.  Deep yellow orange, Light lemony yellow and a pale pale yellow with red spots....(Wilton Colors Orange with some terra cotta, lemon yellow, daffodil yellow and christmas red)

Not as Easy as it Looks

Today I will be restarting my Two At Once socks for the third time.  The beginning is tough.  Not because the technique is tricky or two hard.  The hardest part is managing the two yarn streams and the two socks.  I have managed to twist my feed yarn through the middle of my two socks so have to pull it through the hole left over.  It sucks big time.  I will endeavor and think I can get it right.  Third times the charm right?

So I restarted and used the toe up starting method called EASY TOE (towards the bottom) and this worked fine.  However it seems that 5 stitches may be too few and my toes will be pointy!!  The yarn streams twist at the drop of a hat.  More as the project develops.

Proof of Concept

Before aggravating my self by just jumping into this with my new hand painted yarn I have decided to do a proof of concept pair in Patons Classic Wool. In Grey Mix to see how it works out for me.

The Plan

So the plan here is to use the Two At Once, Toe-Up pattern from Knitpicks.  However I am going to use size 11 needles and Bare Peruvian Highland Wool Bulky to make an over sized sock that Can then be felted.  I ordered my yarn in natural and will do a quick handpaint job for self striping.  I love dying wool.  its like magic the way the color just comes out of solution!

Anyway the numbers I am going to use are from another felted boot pattern, just done in a different technique.  The pattern I am using is from the Socks Soar on two Circular Needles by Cat Bordhi, just slightly modified for larger foots.  it is written from the cuff to the toe so working backwards.

The pattern says I should end with 10 stitches.  So i will start with 5, which will be doubled to 10.  Then increase until I hit 40 stitches the size of the foot area in my pattern.  Keep this until the heel row (after thought.)  The pattern has you starting with 48 stitches then doing the heal over 24 stitches

So maybe i will have to continue increases to 48 stitches then do the heal.  Their pattern also has you narrwoing towards the top for the ribbing.  We will not be narrowing since we are not doing ribbing.  Their heel is also done in stockinette stitch.  I may do it in garter for heel wear purposes.

So that is my plan thus far.  i think i am going to handpaint the yarn in a sort of tequila sunrise colorway.  A dark red with a yellow and orange sounds really fun!!!  Maybe orange, yellow and a pale yellow with red spots???  will think on it stay tuned.

Two At Once, Toe-Up Socks

My latest project will be to use this pattern with big needles and bulky yarn to make a feltable version of these socks for use as boot liners maybe..  I plan on removing the ribbing (no sense if your felting) andmaybe just working in some increases as i do the leg portions for better fit.

Will be hand dying the yarn before starting.  Colors are still up in the air.  ordered the yarn today!

Welcome!  Greetings and Salutations.  I will tie this blog to Ravelry so I can use it in conjunction with my current progress on whatever is next.  Note this is the project parade.  expect to see lots of projects started and very few finished.  I am always about new techniques or ideas and once I have them under my belt i fall out of love with the project.  Sorry just how i am.....