It's beginning to look a lot like beanies.

As seems to happen every year, my summer ambitions have given way to fall realities, and now I find myself staring the holiday season square in the face armed with bags full of half-finished projects.  My "hats for everyone" plan hasn't quite lived up to expectations, however according to the sidebar on this blog, I've finished seven whole hats, with two more about 50% completed.  Good thing I was keeping track, because before I checked, I didn't feel like I'd done that much.

Japanese commuter trains are not built
for Americans and their luggage.

I have a handful of other projects in the works (would-be Christmas presents, but time is running out).  And this weekend I'm getting on a plane for Japan to spend some time at Super Kamiokande (for my thesis work).  I like to travel light for these trips, because of the series of trains and buses I have to catch to travel from the airport (usually Tokyo, but this time it'll be Osaka) to the little mountain town of Mozumi where the experiment is located.  This means I have precious little space for yarn and needles, but I'll be there for three weeks without much entertainment.  And like I said, the holidays are upon us.

So the challenge is, what can I bring with me that will produce the most items, take up the least space, and be just the right amount for three weeks, but not so much that I'm taking a bunch of yarn home with me and cursing the wasted space.

Right now I'm thinking I'll just take a few skeins of red heart super saver multi and the size 5 16" circulars and churn out a few beanies.  Not terribly exciting, but simple is probably the way to go.

Looks like everyone will be getting their Christmas presents in January/February/next year.  Again.

This week's CSA bag.

Just picked up our CSA bag from Oahu Fresh, and I thought I would share with you all.  There's some salad greens, chives, choy sum, tomatoes, taro, and avocado.

I have no idea yet what to do with the choy sum or the taro, but thankfully we live in a world where all the information I could want and more is just a few keystrokes away.  Also, in case you can't identify what's in your bag, Oahu Fresh provides a list on their website and links to a few recipes to get you started.

You get all this for $20/week + delivery and an annual $10 "bag fee".  I found them by going to LocalHarvest.org and searching by zip code. That way you can see all the competing services in your area.

We chose this one because it supported a variety of farms and they have a convenient pickup location on campus.  And I think it was slightly cheaper too.

But, the question still remains, is it worth it?  I'm not really sure.  There's a farmer's market on campus twice a week, and I find myself going there to fill in the gaps--particularly for fruit.  The CSA is guaranteed local, but I don't know if it's organic (though I don't know how much I care).  Meanwhile, I've come to find that the "farmer's market" is only half local, and half who knows where.  The CSA gives you interesting surprises each week, while the market is reliably consistent.  I wonder if what I'm getting from the CSA is actually worth the $20, since I come away from the market with just as much or more for less money.

I don't have an answer yet, but I'm sticking with it while I ponder these issues.  I have a feeling that a lot of my concerns are unique to Hawaii, since it's hard to get everything you want/need from the local farms.  So please chime in if you have any experience with CSA's or farmer's markets in your area.

Now I'm off to read about how to prepare taro!

Homemade Vegan Mayo!

I got about 2 cups of mayo.

John wanted to make himself a BLT for lunch today, but we were out of mayo.  He was about to run to the store, but I told him to give me a few minutes, and if he didn't like it he could still go to the store.

In a continuing effort to move away from eggs and dairy, not to mention the refined sugar and preservatives that go into commercial mayonnaise, I've been meaning to try this recipe for a tofu based mayo.  And it was so simple, and turned out so great, I'm amazed I haven't been doing this for years.

I used the second recipe on this page, but I used a 20 oz block of tofu.  I actually didn't realized it was that big until it wouldn't blend with the amount of water they give.  I do buy my tofu from Costco, so I guess I should have known it was larger than standard.

Look at that!  It's mayonnaise!

So the important trick here is to freeze and then thaw out the tofu.  I don't remember where I learned this, but it has changed my life.  Once you've thawed it you can just squeeze all the water out of the tofu.  You could slice it at that point, or keep squeezing until it crumbles a bit.  Then it's really nice for tofu scrambles or mock tuna salad, or for blended recipes where the tofu is used as a thickener.

I think that step is key to getting the nice mayo texture.  Also, persistent blending and adding in the water and oil a little bit at a time.

ALT!

Ok, here's what I did:

20 oz. tofu, drained
6 tbsp water
6 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt

Throw it all in the blender, except for the oil.  Start it blending on a slow speed, and give it a little help if needed by scraping down the sides.  Add the oil while the blender is running, and keep adding more water and oil until you get the consistency you want.  I stepped up the speed to max at the end to get it really smooth.  You can also add more salt or lemon juice or some sweetener, or whatever other spices you feel like.

John says he likes it, he got his BLT, and I made myself an ALT (avocado lettuce tomato).   It's supposed to keep for about a week, which means I have a lot of mock tuna salad and potato salad in my near future.

Serge's dred hat

I forgot to take a clear shot of this hat before I gave it to Serge, but I think you get the idea.  I started out using some Red Heart acryllic, but I quickly realized that it was going to be way too hot for Hawaii weather.  So I switched to some cotton yarn, not the ideal colors unfortunately, but he seems to like it well enough.

Here's the link to the pattern:  http://www.chezcrochet.com/page60.html

And if you want to see more photos and information about my other projects, you can always visit me on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/people/physicsphaery

Return of the Teddy Bear Hat

Voila! It is done.

I switched patterns to this one, because I liked the earflaps a little better. But I still had to do the math to make sure I got a 21", adult-sized hat.

Nerd note: The "math" of which I speak is referred to as gauge in patterns. Gauge is just how many stitches you get per length. The first pattern I used said their gauge was 3.5 stitches per inch. The gauge I was knitting at was more like 4 st/in.

21" x 3.5 st/in = 74 st
21" x 4 st/in = 84 st

I should have done a swatch in the beginning, with the yarn and needles I wanted to use, and measured the gauge.  Then, I could have figured out how many stitches I needed for the size I wanted.  And then I adjust the pattern accordingly.

Without the ties.

But, live and learn.  Now I have a toddler-sized earflap hat done, so that's nice. A few ears and it's off to my niece.

Back to this hat: If you can get to my ravelry page you can see more details, but I basically improvised the ears. There's a little bit of stuffing in there to give them dimension. Hopefully they won't flap around too much. I added a single crochet edge to keep the curling down and give some more contrast.

And the ties are just simple braids, about a foot long.  You can see in the picture that without the ties, the flaps had more.... funkiness?  Which I kind of liked, but I also wanted the ties on there.  It still looks good and funky overall, but the flaps hang a little straighter.  I might make more earflap hats of this variety in the future without the ties.

It's a little snug on my head, but it should fit Fiona well. It was also quite warm for the weather here today, but again, should be good for Fiona's intended use.

Next on the needles is the Dead Fish Hat. Not sure who it's for yet, but I just felt it was time to get into this pattern.  So stay tuned!

Teddy bear hat continued

Well, the hat part is done.



What you can't tell from the picture is that it's child sized. I hate to frog it, so I'll just hang onto it for now. But unless Fiona's head is much smaller than mine, I'll need to start on a new one.

But who knows. My head is huge.



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EDIT: I measured and confirmed that it is toddler sized at 16" around and 6" long.  Adult female should be 21" around and 11" long.

Bear hat, take one

Started on my first earflap hat last night. This'll be Fiona's bear ears hat eventually.


I'm using this hat pattern and some knit amigurumi ears I found on Ravelry.

I'm not super happy with it, but it's better to press forward at this point. I'm told that blocking can hide a multitude of sins. Or, if I decide to start over, I might have a better idea of what went wrong when I see the whole hat.

To be continued...

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