Quick and easy scarf

My Grandma O would have been 95 today, but she passed away about six weeks ago. So I thought I'd tell you about the scarf I made from her yarn that was gifted to me when she had to be moved out of her room at the lodge shortly before her passing. 

I got to this scarf pattern through Pinterest, so thanks for my friend for pinning it and to Jenkeng for posting the free instructions on her blog. I make no claims to this idea!
http://classycrochet.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/free-pattern-diamond-lattice-chain-crochet-infinity-scarf/

I had a few different yarns from Grandma to choose from and went with this variegated one because I thought it would be a bit fun. It definitely makes a scarf that is a more casual look and I've been wearing it with jeans and a vest. If you go with a yarn that is a solid colour and has a bit of sparkle I think you could "class it up" a notch.

My first step was to untangle the yarn I had. Most of it was still in a skein, but there was a bunch wrapped around the skein and had something sticky on it. Grandma loved peanut butter cups, so it may actually have been chocolate that she was hiding from my mom and aunts. (Grandma's classic line was "I'll be good tomorrow.") When I unwrapped and got rid of the sticky bits, I had several lengths of yarn, some of which were about 6 inches long all tied together. I have no idea why she bothered saving all those little pieces and I kind of felt bad throwing them out, but I didn't want to deal with all those knots in the yarn.

When I was finally ready to start, I followed the pattern as given. After starting, I thought the five-chain loops looked too big and I didn't like that it was a slip stitch to join in the loops, so I pulled that all apart. It wasn't a big deal because I wasn't too far in.

For my second attempt, I went with four-chain loops and started with a chain of 36 stitches. I also changed to a single crochet to join into the loops. I was several rows in to that scarf before I discovered that this particular size made all the variegation line up, so it was a strip down the middle of the yellow/green and all the pink/burgundy was along the edges. Ripped it apart again. The beauty of crochet that it comes undone very easily.

For the third (and final) attempt, it was a starting chain of 32 stitches and four-chain loops. Once I figured this would actually work, it was a just a matter of watching TV and crocheting! Four chain stitches and a single crochet don't take a lot of brain power. :)

I just kept going and figured I'd use up all the yarn I had. When I got to the end, I discovered it was too long for two wraps around my neck, but too short for three wraps. Argh! So I pulled several rows out again to end up with a good length for a double loop around the neck. 

I decided to do the infinity scarf (with the twist in it), though I actually have no idea why that's better than without the twist. The one thing I did get right the first time around was to make sure I ended up with the opposite pattern at each end of the scarf so that when I joined them together it would look like the pattern just continued and there was no obvious place that they joined.

The original pattern has it that you continued with the chain loops to join the two ends, but I went with more single crochet stitches so it doesn't have the final row sticking out of the pattern. 

All together it took me three evenings to make this scarf. The first night was all the trial runs I was doing, but did finally settle on my final version. I made most of it the second evening and probably would have finished it at this point if I knew it was going to end up too long anyway. I spent maybe 45 minutes on the third night to finish using up the yarn, ripping a good portion of that out since it was too long, and joining the ends together. If you're already experienced with crocheting and don't end up starting over as many times as I did, you can probably do it all in one long evening. 

Here's me wearing the scarf! 

(I have a hard time getting the camera lined up correctly for a selfie. Usually I manage to catch my forehead and the ceiling or my left ear and a bunch of wall, so it took me several tries to get the one above. It was even funnier to try and line it up for the picture to be mostly scarf.)

~Lisa

Finally, the pickles!

This is what started it all. And since we had no idea that we'd do anything with the story, we don't have pictures of the pickling process. But we had lots of fun staging the jars back on the Thanksgiving weekend, so please enjoy our artistry :)

Now, I wasn't involved in the initial conversation, so I may have to get Jess to update that part. All I know is that Mom called me asking if I wanted to make some pickled beans because Jess loves them and wants to make some. I have no doubt that the conversation likely went down a little differently from how it was presented to me, but I agreed anyway since it was getting to the end of summer I was just finishing up a couple university courses. I thought it would be a nice way just to have a chance to visit with my sister and my mom and we'd have something at the end of it all.

Well, turns out Mom doesn't really like pickled beans and didn't want to make any. However, my mom can't not help in the kitchen, so of course she was right in there. In fact, she was supposed to be sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her hair dye to process, but she's tossing out instructions to us about how to pack the jars and then HAD to unload the dishwasher at that exact moment. Yep, in the kitchen where we're trying to work, where we're moving around with hot vinegar, and with her hair dye still in. It was at this point that we all started laughing and Mom said we should start a blog because we'd have good stories. So thanks to Mom we got started!

For the pickles themselves, we did some general searches for recipes on-line and most seemed pretty similar so we kind of picked one in the middle. Lots of them suggested that you could pickle other crunchy vegetables, so we decided to throw some cauliflower and carrots into the mix. We also experimented with some having just plain pickling spice and some with chili flakes for a little kick. The beauty of something like this is that Mom has all the supplies we need, which makes it so easy to experiment with new ideas. She had the jars, the lids, the big pots, free beans and dill in the garden, even the salt and vinegar for the brine. I think all we had to buy was the carrots, cauliflower, and chili flakes.

Here's the general recipe we went with.
Brine:
- 2.5 cups vinegar
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup salt
Bring to a boil so that you can hot-pack your pickles and it should seal the jars. This is enough to fill two quart sealers, so we ended up having to make at least three batches of this brine to fill all the jars we had. Do NOT breathe the vapours in as it will burn your nose. I learned the hard way that hot vinegar is not a pleasant smell.

Vegetables:
- Green beans
- Yellow beans
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
Tip the beans to get rid of the stem and cut your vegetables into whatever size you'd like. Bigger pieces will take longer to pickle though, so keep that in mind. We did some jars with long beans, some as cut beans, and some with a mix of all the vegetables.

Fixin's:
- garlic cloves
- fresh dill
- pickling spice
- chili flakes

In our small pint jars:
Vegetables
1 clove garlic
1 head of dill
1 tsp pickling spice

The taller quart jars:
Vegetables
1 clove of garlic
2 heads of dill (one at the bottom of the jar, one packed on top)
1/8 tsp chili flakes

Clean the jars with hot soapy water and then rinse with hot water. Have your jar lids boiling on the stove so they are sterilized and the rubber is soft for sealing. There are lots of websites out there that can provide more specific details on canning if you need.

Put your Fixin's in the bottom of the jar, pack tightly with vegetables, pour the hot brine to 1/4 inch from the top of the jar, and put your lid on. Set them aside on the counter to cool away from any breeze, which could crack the jars. They should seal within a few hours as the hot brine cools down. We had one jar that didn't seal, so we just brought the brine to a boil again and poured it back in and it worked the second time. Then you have to let them sit for at least six weeks so they turn into pickled vegetables.

I found the beans aren't as crunchy as the cauliflower and carrots, but they're still good. The spicy version (in the taller jars) has just enough of a little kick but doesn't burn your mouth. If you like spicy, feel free to add some more chili flakes to your jar.

Enjoy!
~Lisa

Red Stamp

Crafting handmade cards is one of my favourite hobbies. But there are times when a digital card is easier to send, and makes more sense. I have been using the Red Stamp app for a while now. It is super easy to use, it has a vast collection, and it will even help you with writing the message! Try it out. Send me a Red Stamp card!

The other day was my friends' birthday, I wouldn't be able to see her on her special day but I wanted her to know I was thinking of her. Perfect time to use Red Stamp.

I texted her a beautiful card so she would know that Miss R and I send her love and good wishes for her birthday.

In looking for the perfect card for her I browsed through many of the collections. I found some very nice background images that the 'crafty girl' in me knew I could use in other ways.  I saved the images to the camera roll on my phone to use at a later date.

When the update came for iOS7 I installed it. And then regretted doing it! I know I just have to get used to it. Everything is so different and my old wallpaper didn't look as good with the new colours. Thankfully I had some saved Red Stamp images to choose from. I used one as my home screen and rotated another one 180 degrees and then set it for my lock screen. Beautiful and so easy!

~Jess