homemade bacon

Well, 3 days in a cure for the pig belly and this is what I got. I'm going to estimate that this was about 15% of the meat by weight and I've got 7-8lbs of bacon.

Having the confidence to leave meat out of the fridge, even in salt took some doing. having the confidence to believe the recipe that said it only took 3 days to cure took even more. But it's definitely bacon, hard, dry cure bacon, more suitable for cooking with thna for frying up with egg and saus on a Sunday morning, but this will add flavour to sauces and soups for months. I already tried a bit in a leek and potato soup and it was LOVELY.

As a first experiment in home curing meat, I've got to pronounce this a great success. We're already looking forward to the hams and I'm looking into the possibility of dry cure ham and home cured salt beef.

she-demon

I decided not to show off pictures of my latest efforts and instead concentrate on my daughter's work today.

I've bought half a pig. A significant proportion is currently in my conservatory looking very unappetising and turning into ham and bacon. The fact i think it looks icky did influence my decision not to share ickyness.

i'd also like to say a thank you to some of the people on Downsizer for some great gifties and swaps as well as their help in many things. You know who you are. Thankyou.

Cuteness

Couldn't resist showing off the cuteness. It's taken a while by she cat has calmed down and girlchild has calmed down and they are starting to make friends. They aren't actually asleep in that pic, just relaxed and happy.

Anyway, I've added a bunch of patterns to ravelry, just to keep track of what i've actually knitted in the last couple of months. Lots of socks and some other nice bits. I need to take a bunch of photos to show them off properly though. I've stuck that on my list of things to do tomorrow.

Need to pick a project to work on now though. I've knit my way through the baby surprise jacket, and need some inspiration to hit me. I'm hoping it will hit me in the direction of one of my multitude of WIP, although that is rarely likely. I'll wait and see.

basic baby bib

I had a look at the patterns for baby bibs that were available on ravellry and none of them really did anything for me. Simple is one thing, however, all the patterns I could find seemed to be completely unshaped like the one in Mason Dixon Knitting. Although that seems a very popular pattern, it just isn't my cup of tea, so I decided to design a bib myself with a bit of added shaping at the neck.


yarn: dishcloth cotton

100% cotton
machine washable
heavy DK/worstead weight

cost: £1.50

time: 2 hours to knit, 15 minutes to finish

knitability level: beginner

needles: 4.5mm/ US 7

gauge: 21 stitches/34 rows per 10cm in garter stitch

extras: 1.5cm diameter plastic button
sewing thread to attach button

instructions:

Cast on 36 stitches. Knit all rows until work measures 7 inches.
k14 turn (place remaining stitches on holder or waste yarn)
k14
ssk k10 k2tog
k12
ssk k8 k2tog
k10
ssk k6 k2tog
k8
ssk k4 k2tog
k6
knit all rows until work measures 11 inches in total.
cast off.




place remaining stitches back on needle.
cast off 8 stitches
k14
ssk k10 k2tog
k12
ssk k8 k2tog
k10
ssk k6 k2tog
k8
ssk k4 k2tog
k6
knit all rows until work measures 11 inches in total.

*k1 k2tog yo twice ssk
k3 p1 k2
knit 2 rows*
repeat from *to * 4 times

cast off

to finish:

sew in ends
sew on button to shorter ends


Many of the dishcloth patterns with a square garter stitch border could be used as the front panel for this bib, simply by adjusting the centre cast off of 8 to an appropriate size for the dishcloth patters. Or simple embroidery could be added for a personalised look.

the month of finished items

I've decided that january shall be the month of finishing many items. Some shal be new, sme shall be from my WIP's, some shall be small simple items like baby hats, some shall be more complex.

I started this a few days into the new year, when i finally started recovering from being ill over christmas, having then just started recovering from having been ill from october. it all really showed me quite how much stress I'd been under, how much damage to my system that having a large abscess can cause. A healthy adult is not ill for over 6 weeks with flu.

Anyway, I started a new project with sale yarn. I'd been knitting river in mint green KSH. Just not me, not my colour. So I frogged that and restarted in a pale lime (yes, i still like green) and knit until that was finished.

That was my first FO of the year. Since then, I've added to the list.

river in matchmaker 4ply.
6 charity baby hats in Dk acrylic
mp3 player pouch in calmer
2 pairs approx toddler socks in sirdar snuggly 4 ply
wavy headband
cable headband


I'm now about to go start on a pile of bibs in dishcloth cotton.

I'm back

After a long time away from the internet, various illnesses etc, I'm now back. I shall endeavour to start to blog regularly with loads of nice piccys when i get my decent computer fixed and therefore have a connection that is stable for more than 2 minutes at a time.

Anyway.

here are my knitting resolutions for 2008

1. i shall knit at least one charity item per week
2. i shall finish half of my WIP list. I need to update that. i intend to remove the sidebars and just link through to ravelry
3. I shall knit from stash or swap or charity shop purchases only until ally pally. The aim shall be that I can fit all of the stash on 3 shelves and in 4 boxes. The exception to this is yarn purchased for items 4 and 5, although this should be swapped for if possible
4. I shall knit one pair of socks per week.
5. I shall knit one lace item per month
6. I shall knit one item from or partially from handspun each month

general resolutions:

1. the house shall be clean and tidy before july
2. i shall grow more food this year
3. i shall read at least one book every week
4. I shall cull at least 200 crap books before july (possibly some through some form of swap system) This is to clear off enough space to store craft items on shelves.
5. i shall make a start on selling some of the stuff i have made for the buisness
6. I shall make enough jam over the summer so i don't run out before christmass