Always Expect the Unexpected; Tips for Knitting Stockinette Without Turning!; and, Something Delicious to do with a Dozen Apples

I may get out of the habit of ever thinking I can announce definite plans in this blog. Seems like every time I do, life intervenes to change things.

The other day, I announced I'd be spending Halloween evening at Panera Bread, and I invited knitters to join me if they wanted. But I deleted that post within an hour, because reality seemed to dictate that it wasn't going to be possible.

So yesterday, reality reversed itself again, and I did in fact spend the evening at Panera. For about a sixth of what we'd have had to spend on Trick-or-Treat candy to give away, I had a lovely bowl of broccoli cheddar soup and a nice, large iced tea (unsweetened, with lemon, and free refills!).


Scene from a Relaxed Evening

I read a little bit of Jasper Fforde's Well of Lost Plots, too. I'm trying to get more reading time into my life, and reading a chapter or two when I go Knitting Around at coffee shops could be a good way to do that. It gives your hands a little break from the knitting, too. I sometimes need that.

Otherwise, it was relaxing to sit and listen to the generic (but good) soft jazz music playing, to sit before the fireplace on the big, over-stuffed loveseat, and to people-watch. The staff was in costume, sometimes to amusing effect. One young man in pirate gear was befuddled when a customer asked, "Are you the Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee?" "Uh....sure," was his swiftest reply!

Diminishing Squares: A WIP Report

I'm making good progress on the Market Squares Bag. Of a total of (I think) 15 tiers, I'm on tier 11.


I Was Too Lazy to Stand Up and Pose the Bag Properly, So Here It Is On My Feet
Four tiers ago, the size of the squares in each tier started getting smaller by one stitch per tier. (The largest tiers, numbers 3 thru 6, were 12 stitches wide. On Tier 11 I'm down to 7 stitches). You stitch fewer rows as well, in proprotion to the width you're stitching.

Best unusual techniques I'm applying to this bag: after about Tier 5, I stopped turning the work at the end of every RS row and purling the row back. Since then, I have been knitting stockinette stitch from the Right Side only - which means my purl rows are actually being knitted as if I'm a mirror-knitting left-hander, I think.

Maybe this will be clearer.

For Normal Knitting, I work as follows:

1. I'm right handed. Normally, the knitting moves from my left-hand needle to my right-hand needle as I work.
2. I'm a Continental Knitter. As I knit, I carry the working yarn with my left hand, and instead of throwing it around the needle, I "pick" it with the right-hand needle to form a stitch
3. For a knit row, my right-hand needle goes into the front loop of the first stitch on the left hand needle, from left to right, then "picks" the working yarn and carries it through the stitch. The old stitch is dropped from the left-hand needle.
4. For a purl row, I turn my work around at the end of a knit row. The knitting still moves from left to right. My working yarn is carried at the front. My right-hand needle goes into the front loop of the first stitch on the left, but this time, from right to left. The needle point "picks" the yarn, carries it through the loop, and the old stitch is dropped.

For Flat Stockinette Knitting Without turning my work, I work as follows:

1. Knit rows are worked the same as for Normal Knitting.
2. For a purl row, I do not turn my work. I continue carrying the working yarn on my left hand as for a knit row. To form a stitch, my left-hand needle goes into the back loop of the first stitch on the right-hand needle, passing from left to right. I then "throw" the working yarn counter-clockwise around the tip of the left-hand needle. The left-hand needle pulls the loop thus formed through, and the old stitch is dropped from the right-hand needle.

The advantages of learning to do this are many. I no longer have to turn my work at the end of any row where I'm working stockinette stitch. While this may be a minimal nuisance when working a larger piece, think about short-row shaping, or the entre-lac squares I'm making in the current bag - lots of very short stretches and frequent turning of the work. Flat Stockinette without turning makes the work go much, much faster.

Could be a good mind-game to play at the next knitting circle - see how long it takes before your knitting friends notice that you haven't turned your work around in ages, that sometimes you're throwing, and sometimes you're picking...LOL!

The other unusual technique I'm using here - as the squares get smaller, it's getting harder for the piece to fit well on the 24" circular needle I'm using. So I pulled out another circular in the same size 8, and I'm converting over to the Knitting in the Round on Two Circulars approach - usually seen on socks and other small objects. Should work great here, though!

Apple Crisp, Another Way

It wasn't that long ago that I reported on making apple crisp from the recipe in the 1975 edition of the Joy of Cooking.

While that recipe was tasty, my Cooking Experiment Senses did start tingling...and I've been looking around for variations to work with. Eventually, I suppose, I'll come up with my own formula that takes the best of everything I learn and combines it into one Ultimate Folkcat Apple Crisp.

In the meantime, I might as well tell you about the trial runs.

Mary Q's Apple Crisp

Don't ask me how I found this blog. The important thing is, I found it, and I wasn't even looking for other apple crisp recipes yet.

But there it was - an apple crisp recipe a little different from any I'd tried before. Mary Q's Apple Crisp is a family recipe, with New England roots. (The blog author is originally from the Boston area.) The results are plentiful - the recipe calls for a full dozen apples, and bakes up in a 9x13 inch pan.

The topping is prepared to a streusel-like consistency, and after scattering it over the top of the peeled and sliced apples, it's drizzled with a stick of melted butter. (The original recipe calls for a full 10 Tablespoons of butter, melted - I reduced it by 2 tablespoons, and my impression was that it came out fine.


Golden and Tasty
The one other change I made was in the topping. A full 1 1/4 cups of sugar was specified in the recipe. As a nod to my borderline-diabetes (low-level and under control with oral meds), I substituted Splenda for 3/4 of a cup of the sugar. Again, I don't think my alteration harmed anything.

With such a huge pan of apple crisp, and only the two of us in the house to eat it (and our ability to discipline ourselves to only a serving a day), we're having ample opportunity to test how this holds up in the refrigerator over time, too. And I have to say, I think it's only improving with age.

Will I make this again? Absolutely. I like the topping a lot. I may blend some cinnamon and nutmeg directly into the topping next time, though, rather than sprinkling cinnamon on top as the recipe instructed. I might also consider using a little brown sugar to substitute for some of the white.

All in all, I'm pleased with this recipe. And I'd like to thank Amy Traverso of the California Eating blog for sharing it with the world.

Folkcat's Tip: Glad Press'n'Seal is one of the greatest inventions of the modern age. We are storing the apple crisp in its baking pan in the refrigerator, with a piece of Press'n'Seal on top, and it's holding up fine. Whatever miracle adhesive this plastic is coated with is sticking over and over again.

I have also used Press'n'Seal for non-cooking applications - when we moved our bead store, all the open top multiple compartment trays that loose beads were sold in were covered with Press'n'Seal. The trays traveled stacked in a box, and when we arrived at the new location, every bead was still in place.

Still To Come Later This Week:

• Making fresh apple cider
• Unusual produce
• "Home Kinks" - a vintage publication from Popular Science (no, it's not what you think!)
• Ongoing WIP reports
• And, Knitting Around with the Budweiser Clydesdales

Have a great day!

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