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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Want this!

I saw this top for sale at Hot Topic yesterday (pictured in white to show the detail, but I first saw it in black), but they didn't have my size.  In fact, after scouring the internet, I'm convinced the manufacturer, Tripp NYC, only makes it in small and medium.  Anyhow, if I were making it for myself, I might do the neckline differently, so I thought I would try to find a pattern online.  No luck.  Can't find anything anywhere similar to this skull motif.  I've found a lot of lacey crochet tops, which might satisfy me.  But I think I should be able to figure this out from the picture.

I feel a little weird about it.  I've never ripped off a crochet designer before.  And don't get me wrong here, I would buy the shirt if they had my size, and I would gladly buy the pattern if it were available.  But it seems I'm on my own here.

Hats for Everyone!

I've decided to make a lot of hats this summer. There may be a few matching scarves and other items too, but mainly I've focused on hats because they are relatively quick and easy. Hopefully this will help me hone some skills, learn new stitches, and maybe build up some stock to start an etsy.com store.

To start with, though, I'm giving away the hats for free (to friends--sorry strangers). I put out the call for requests on facebook, and I've already got enough of a response that I felt the need to come here and start making a queue. I'd love for you to be able to fill out a request form and have it show up on a waiting list on the sidebar of this page. I haven't been able to find any pre-loaded gadgets for this, so I might have to make my own. Or I might just have to deal with the static list that I update manually which is already somewhere on the right sidebar.

For now, leave a comment to this post to request a hat. Let me know preferences for color, style, etc. And if you know the recipient's head circumference, that's ideal, but if not I'll use average sizes for adult/child/toddler/baby. There's a bit of stretch, so sizing isn't usually critical.

Here's the to-do list so far:

1. Yellow newborn hat for Mich's soon-to-be daughter
2. Brown bear hat with earflap ties for Fiona
3. Dead Fish(?) for Paige
4. unspecified hat for Christine
5. adult beret (Sarah)
6. baby frog (Sarah)
7. toddler Dead Fish (Sarah)
8. adult snow hat (Sarah)

Thanks for helping me learn to knit!