Ceres

$5.00 - pattern for hat and mitts

Finally, it's done.  :-)

Ceres is a simple top-down beanie with a narrow, rolled brim and matching mitts. Its main features are the colored ridges, which are created using exposed stranded colorwork. The specific stranding technique creates the illusion that the strands are braided together. Knit in the colors shown, this piece brings to mind a plaited grass crown, or grass peeking through a light, early-winter snowfall. Hence its being named for the Roman goddess of agriculture, whose mourning brings on the winter each year. Ceres works well in a variety of colors, however, and looks as good on a man as it does on a woman.

Sizing:  garments will comfortably stretch up to a couple of inches over the measurements given here.
Small (child) - 4" around wrist, 18" around head
Medium (woman) - 6" around wrist, 20" around head
Large (man) - 8" around wrist, 22" around head

Shown in medium

Skills:  knitting in the round, stranded colorwork, simple increases.

Big thanks to my husband, who shall remain nameless, for the photography. Thanks also to acucena, curiouskate, mugginsquilts, schokolilo, lnupermom and truki of Ravelry for testing the draft of my pattern. They were extremely helpful, and I love how their projects turned out!

You can purchase this through Ravelry, or just click the "buy now" button at the top of the page. If you have any questions, email me or check out About the Patterns.

Bluebonnets is copyright Sasha Evans, all rights reserved. By downloading this pattern, you agree not to redistribute it or to use it for commercial purposes, unless you ask me very very nicely and I say yes.

Fly Lady

It is with...mixed feelings...that I admit I have discovered the Fly Lady.  For those of you not familiar with this impossibly chipper force of house-cleaning-and-organizing nature, she's developed a system of practices and habits designed to keep the the dirt and clutter in your home under control.  She breaks daunting tasks into easily manageable chunks and sends out emails with reminders and encouragement each day to those who sign up for her email list.

These emails drive me freakin' crazy (but don't worry, we'll end on a positive note).  First, there are approximately eleventy billion sent out each day.  I suspect this is a clever, Fly Lady ploy to get you to organize your email inbox.  The sheer volume of email from her list alone forced me to create a system of folders and automatic filters for my Blue Carpet email that's also helped me keep reader comments and pattern correspondence straight as well.  So, um...thanks, Fly Lady.

The next step in my filter system is to filter out any of these emails that contain the word "testimonial."  Easily half of these emails are forwards from users gushing about products - either the cleaning products she sells in her shop, or some cleaning product she's agreed to push for another company.  Seems fake, gets old.  But hey, the good stuff's free, and a girl's gotta make a living, right?

The Fly Lady claims she's talking to everyone, that her system can work and her emails are intended for any type of person - stay at home mom, single working mom, single working dad, wantonly childfree student, gay, straight, Christian, Pastafarian, whoever.  And yet, though outwardly open, I get the feeling that her head is stuck quite firmly in the "middle-aged Christian woman with kids" mindset, and that's who she writes to.  Every time she mentions a "God Breeze," I roll my eyes, heathen that I am.  And dude, just look at her site.  Not so much my aesthetic.

And yet...in spite of myself...after reading a few of her emails, I'm left with this bewilderingly warm and comforted feeling.  It's the same kind of bizarrely calming feeling you get when you stumble blearily into the bathroom in the morning, and it's all shiny and clean, or when you flop into bed and the sheets are clean, and the kitty's curled up on it but not getting cat hair and kitty litter all over your sheets because it's made, and who cares if there's some cat hair on the foot of the comforter?  It's like...this shouldn't make me feel good...but it does.

Most importantly, her system really works.  And if she's subconsciously gearing it toward middle-aged women with kids, and it still works for Little Ms 20-Something-Cynicism, then wow.  It's not a lot of work.  Targeted cleaning happens in 2 or 15 minute chunks.  Things get clean calmly, over time, and they stay clean through establishing habits.  These habits are quick, simple, time-saving things that make you feel better about your space and yourself, which keeps you from throwing up your hands in despair like I, um...did...a few months ago...when we moved.  :-\

Her system will take some adapting, but it's adaptable.  No, Fly Lady, I will not put my face on every morning when I wake up or pretty much ever.  But I guess I can brush my hair every morning...instead of just pulling it back into a bun so tight no one sees the tangles.  And I really do feel like less of a schlub when I do that.  So, um...thanks, Fly Lady.

I'M NOT DEAD!!! Yet.

When last we left our heroine, she was tending to an incredible blonde lightening bolt while her boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, was tending to the estate of his mother, who had just passed away.  Then she fell off the face of the planet.

It's been a crazy set of months, hence the no blogging.  Or knitting.  Seriously, I like...tried to knit a wisp while I was sick, and it didn't go well.  That's pretty much been the extent of my knitting lately.  And I'm way too broke for yarn.  It's a sad state of affairs.

There have been many changes.  I no longer have blue carpet.  I now have ugly beige carpet in the most sketchy and dilapidated part of town I could find (but it's cheap).  This has, in fact, been a huge contributing factor to the lack of blogging.  It's hard to get revved up about domestic bliss when you're stuck in an apartment with mold in the basement, cigarette smoke wafting through the inoperable bathroom vent and boxes of still-unpacked stuff blocking your way to anything.  We don't even know how long we'll be here.  We've become transients, of a sort.

I also no longer have a boyfriend who shall remain nameless.  I have a HUSBAND who shall remain nameless!!!  (Hence the move away from the blue carpet).  The incredible blond lightening bolt is now my stepson!  And my husband, who shall remain nameless, is going to be a diplomat!  (Hence the transience - we'll be moving to DC soon, we just don't know when).  So things are looking up.  They're just looking up from a long way down.

Anyway.  The links for the pattern PDFs have been fixed (seems the file hosting service I was using stopped existing).  I've emailed the pattern to those of you who left email addresses.  Those who didn't, try the links again - they were broken, but they should work now.  I'm not abandoning the blog any more than I'm abandoning knitting, but it's definitely in hibernation.  I'll pop back on when I can and try to get it going again.  I need to stop thinking of my place as "the shit-hole" and work to make it nicer.  It is somewhat crucial to my mental state.  :-\

The Secret Ingredient is Lurve

The incredible blond lightening bolt turned 9 the other day, and he wanted a Pokemon cake. In addition to the fact that his father, who will remain nameless, and I are broke, said child is allergic to red dye! So it was looking grim.

Then we came up with this. He asked for a lemon cake with strawberry icing - easy, just add lemon juice in place of vanilla to a basic white layer cake recipe and mush up some strawberries into plain buttercream. It came out pretty much the shade of Mew, so we let our imaginations run from there. The incredible blond lightening bolt came up with pretty much the entire facial construction, and I did the tail. How lucky was it that we had this perfectly-shaped cutting board (which ordinarily looks like a swan)?

Not much knitting at all has been going on, I'm afraid, but I'll update you on that shortly all the same.

There is no snappy picture for this post.

I'd meant to have Ceres published by the 1st of the month, but clearly that did not happen. Instead, we (my nameless boyfriend, the incredible blonde lightening bolt and I) got a phone call, packed our things on a moment's notice and drove down to Arkansas where his mother has been battling cancer. I was going to give her a voodoo doll shaped like a brain tumor, but she's been unconscious since before we arrived.

Last night, she passed. Her son, who will remain nameless, was with her. The lightening bolt is here with me, playing obliviously with a robot monster on the couch. He's fed, he's bathed, he's dressed, and he won't find out until his father gets home. I have no idea when that will happen. And I have no idea what will happen when that happens.

Other People's Babies

Over the past month, I received news that two of my friends (ok...four, two couples) were expecting. They're all wonderful people and great parents. Both couples already have sons of about the same age, though they don't know each other, and both boys would make great big brothers. Both couples very much wanted their pregnancies, although one hadn't been sure it was possible after a bout with cancer, and everyone was excited for them.

Then, within the span of about three days, I received news that both couples had lost their babies. I am now much closer to understanding what the word "heartbroken" really means. It's shocking how something so absolutely and energetically good can just vanish. And it's frustrating not only because I have no idea what they need right now, but because even if I did, both couples (one of whom I'm very close friends with) are in Texas. There's only so much comfort that can be sent over the internet, and...it just doesn't seem a gift-sending occasion, so for now, I'll stay my knitting needles. I am, I think, going to mark the passings by lighting a candle...or something...in my own fumblingly pseudo-religious way. I don't believe that life begins at conception, and I certainly don't believe you have to be loved to have a soul, but...I think perhaps it may speed things along. These little people were very loved during their brief time in the world, and they still are.

In considerably happier news, my boyfriend (who will remain nameless) and I will be picking up his son from the airport next Saturday! He'll be with us all month, and we've decided to spend most of our time at my place, with a detour down south to the family farm (his family, not mine, but they're great). This has meant kitting out the "guest room" in the basement into something a little more kid friendly and less, well...basement-like, which has been a lot of fun! It's also involved a couple of new projects. Last summer, the incredible blond lightening bolt was quite attached to his army of stuffed animals. This summer, my boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, speculates that he may not have room in his luggage for any, as he's flying alone for the first time. Thus, currently, there is a pile of knitted, unstuffed rabbit parts. Soon there will be a rabbit. I figure if he thinks it's lame, I can foist it on my 8-month-old roommate. :-)

There is also (very nearly) a quilt (pictured above with my baby, Harlot)! I must admit, I'm making this quilt for myself because I absolutely hate my comforter. But it's occured to me that when my boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, and I finally get around to shacking up, it'll probably wind up on the incredible blond lightening bolt's bed. The overachiever who lives in my rian thinks I can have this done in time to put on his bed in the basement. The sane person who cohabitates with the overachiever in my brain is not so sure, but isn't worrying since there's more than enough bedding to go around...it's just not quite as snappy and hand-made. At any rate, it's coming along really nicely, and we'll just see when and for whom it comes out.

The Best Bread

Here's the bread recipe I've been promising you. Since discovering the idea of no-knead bread, I literally have not bought bread from the store. For months, I have enjoyed a steady supply of fresh, healthy, home-made bread. The secret is making a large quantity of dough that keeps for up to two weeks in your fridge. When you need more bread, you break off a hunk of dough, let it sit for an hour and a half, and then pop it in the oven. That's it. No kneading, no carefully timed rises. It's brainless, and involves about 5 minutes of actual work per loaf.

And it's GOOD! Crusty with a nice, moist crumb, this bread has the tiniest hint of tang, reminiscent of sourdough (though it's not a sourdough). The addition of wheat bran and germ round off that tang and make it a little bit rustic. I've looked and not found a recipe that works like this that involves whole wheat flour, so for now the bran and germ make it healthier than white bread. Well, that and the complete lack of additives of any kind. Unless you...like...wanted to add them...for some reason...then you could.

Here is the recipe. Try it and marvel at how insanely easy (and cheap!) it is to have fresh, crusty artisan bread on hand at all times.
Makes dough for three loaves
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp salt
3.5 cups warm water
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/4 cup wheat germ
6 cups all purpose flour

1. In a large bowl, mix together the yeast and salt.
2. Add the water.
3. Mix in the wheat bran and germ.
4. Add the flour, mixing thoroughly until all lumps are gone. This is most easily done 2 cups at a time, stirring between each addition. The dough will be quite wet and sticky, and not entirely smooth, but there should be no pockets of dry flour when the mixing is done.
5. Cover, but not with an airtight lid, and let sit for at least 2 hours and as many as five.
6. Bake now, or store dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
7. When ready to bake, break off 1/3 of the dough (per loaf), and place in a greased and floured bowl (a cereal bowl will do fine).
8. Sprinkle liberally with flour, and let sit for about an hour (up to two, if dough has been refrigerated). It's ok to be very approximate with this time.
   
9. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
   
10. Let bread stone warm to temperature as oven preheats.
11. Carefully transfer the dough from the bowl to the hot stone. The dough will still be very loose, but arrange in a nice, round mound. Slash the top three times with a sharp knife (this will be easier the more flour you dusted it with earlier).
12. Bake for 35 minutes, or until bread sounds hollow when thumped.
13. Cool on a wire rack until it's just cool enough not to burn you.
14. Slather with butter and devour while still warm.

Hints and Variations:

• This is a great recipe to add stuff into. Nuts, seeds, garlic, olives, mushrooms, cheese, dried fruit, diamonds...mix it in before you start adding the flour, maybe a handful per loaf.
• This bread can also be baked on a cookie sheet or in a greased loaf pan, but the baking stone really enhances the crust and the shape of the loaf.
• On a related note, these would probably make great dinner rolls. One slash on the top, maybe brushed with an egg wash. They'd need to be baked for a shorter time than a full loaf. I shall experiment and report back!
• When you're done stuffing your face, wrap the still-warm loaf in a cloth napkin until fully cool, then store in a zip bag. The warm bread will not become stale as it cools, even overnight, but it will become soggy if it cools in anything airtight.