Month: October 2013

Tuesday Fiber-Hazeltine Scarf

Originally posted in 2011 for Halloween, the Hazeltine Scarf is a cabled project that will help beginning/intermediate knitters ease into more complicated cables.

A basic to intermediate level cable that looks more complex that what it actually it is. The pattern does require that you understand basic cabling techniques.

Elongated Left Slanted Cable

Worked over 4 stitches

All even rows are purled

rows 1, 3, 5, 7- knit

rows 9 and 19- bring two stitches to the front, either air cabling or on a cable needle, k2, k2 from needle

rows 11, 13, 15, 17- knit

Elongated Right Slanted Cable

Worked over 4 stitches

All even rows are purled

rows 1, 3, 5, 7- knit

rows 9 and 19- bring two stitches to the back, either air cabling or on a cable needle, k2, k2 from needle

rows 11, 13, 15, 17- knit

Central Panel- Entwined Lozenges from Mon Tricot’s Knitting Dictionary*

worked over 16 stitches

all even rows are worked as presented (k the knit stitches and p the purl stitches)

Rows 1- k2, p4, k4, p4, k2

Row 3- k2, p4, work right leaning cable (leave 2 to the back, k2, knit 2 reserved stitches), p4, k2

row 5- cross 2 left (leave 2 stitches at front of work, p1, k2 reserved stitches), p2, cross 2 right (leave 1 stitches at back of work, k2, p1 reserved stitches), cross 2 left, p2, cross 2 right

row 7- p1, cross 2 left, cross 2 right, p2, cross 2 left, cross 2 right, p1

row 9- p2, work right leaning cable, p4, work right leaning cable, p2

row 11- p2, k4, p4, k4, p2

row 13- p2, work right leaning cable, p4, work right leaning cable, p2

row 15- p1, cross 2 right, cross 2 left, p2, cross 2 right, cross 2 left, p1

row 17- cross 2 right, p2, cross 2 left, cross 2 right, p2, cross 2 left

row 19- k2, p4, work right leaning cable (leave 2 to the back, k2, knit 2 reserved stitches), p4, k2

row 21- k2, p4, k4, p4, k2

Scarf

Cast on 34 stitches with yarn of your choice (gauge doesn’t matter). The scarf shown was knit on size 8 bamboo needles with 1 skein of red heart super saver in dark orchid.

Work 3 rows of garter stitch.

next row: k3, place marker, work row one of elongated right slanted cable, place marker, p2, place marker, work row one of central panel, place marker, p2, place marker, work first row of elongated left slanted cable, place marker, k3.

continue working in pattern until scarf is desired length. Work 3 rows of garter stitch and bind off.

*I believe the book was published in 1986 by the editors of Mon Tricot. All I can determine online is that it’s out of print. The pattern is found on page 77. I don’t claim ownership of this particular stitch.

Fall Into the Holidays #6

Remember! I’ll be pinning all entries linked up to the Fall Into the Holidays board-please let me know if you want to be removed.

It’s that time of year again! Time to start thinking autumn, holidays, and changing seasons! Feel free to share your seasonal recipes, diy, crafts, and other related material! Please link to entries, and not your blog main page. Click around the list and leave a few comments!

Featured Projects from Fall Into the Holidays #5

Seams Unbiased Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Black Fox Home’s Soaked Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Bloggers and readers! Horrific Knits has an opportunity for you! I am planning a 31 Days of Baking theme for the month of December. If you would like to submit a recipe or post about baking in any form-including memories-please email content and photos to horrificknits at gmail dot com by November 24th. All recipes welcome, as long as it pertains to baking.

Please remember to link back to this party on your entry and have fun! Please click the icon below. The link up loads in a new page.

On My Bookshelf

The Man Who Invented Christmas:How Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits Les Standiford

It’s odd what I take away from books. Did you know that Vincent Price starred in a version of A Christmas Carol? This is a look primarily at the events leading up to Dickens writing Carol and its impact on his life. It’s actually pretty astonishing how the book hit English culture and took off running. I do wish the book had stopped slightly earlier; it seemed like the last few chapters dragged. Overall though, a pretty interesting read.

This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War

Death is both exceptionally simple and terribly complicated. The American Civil War had one of the strongest and most lingering influences on the structures in place for the social conceptualization of death in the nation’s history; perhaps the only other major military events to shape attitudes to a greater degree were World War I and Vietnam. This is a fairly dense read, though fascinating, especially with its dealings with the concept of a good death. Modern readers used to a sanitized death behind hospital doors may not be aware of how much death changed in that four year period.

Pumpkinhead

Subtitle: how classism and cultural tourism will get you killed.

I love how 80s horror has this deep vein of ‘you’re a horrible person, middle America, and deserve everything you get’. A group of young adults heads into the back country to go to the lake, and on the way finds this quaint little town of the poorest of the poor. Taunted with the story of Pumpkinhead (but no explanation) they manage to kill a child. And of course since no one cares about poor kids, all hell breaks out. A deliberate choice of words, there.

I love the way that this film looks. Sitting somewhere between fairy tale and The Hills Have Eyes, there’s a fuzzy dreamlike yellowness to each shot that I’ve really started to like in the last year or so. In some scenes it starts to look like classic versions of Dracula or Frankenstein with the stereotypical Transylvanian fog.

I suppose that I should be upset about the method through which the titular villain comes into being-but if we can’t embrace our darkness then we’re only sort of half developed. And frankly, no one comes out smelling clean and fresh in a horror film.

Tuesday Fiber

Gift knitting. Not Christmas knitting, but still, a gift.

It’s a strange filter, but it gives the closest to true color on my phone.

Have you checked out this week’s Fall Into the Holidays?

Linked to-

Memories by the Mile

Love Bakes Good Cakes

Not So Creepy Halloween

Fall Vegetable Bake

I’ve started baking for Christmas; or rather, I’ve started screening recipes for December. But one cannot live on cookies alone-unless you ask my boyfriend, who would like to argue that point.

This is a simple, satisfying bake that’s endlessly modifiable. Add more or less of the vegetables that you like, or have. If you use a dairy-free cheese the dish is vegan. Try it for a fall meatless Monday meal.

*For best results, make sure you slice your vegetables as uniformly as possible. Use a mandolin for best results.

Fall Vegetable Bake

-assorted fall vegetables like squash, onions, potatoes, and apples

-favorite cheese

-cooking oil

-all purpose salt free spice mix

In a baking dish, layered sliced vegetables and apples. I don’t peel my potatoes or apples for this dish as long as they’re thinly sliced.

Spray or brush with cooking oil and season liberally with spice mix.

Cover with cheese and bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes.

Have you linked up to Fall Into the Holidays this week? Please stop by!

Linked to-

I should be mopping the floor Memories by the Mile Lamberts Lately

A Pinch of Joy Love Bakes Good Cakes

Clairejustine Mom’s Test Kitchen

The Chicken Chick Lady Behind the Curtain

Momnivore’s Dilemna Frugally Sustainable

Call Me PMC Cultured Palate

The Dedicated House

Seasonal Sunday Legends-Mirror, Mirror

The Victorians especially were incredibly interested in all the ways that Halloween could be used as a gateway into the future. Most of these games were fairly harmless, and some have survived to this era-though admittedly without the divination.

-If you peel an apple in one continuous spiral and through it into a bowl of water over your left hand shoulder the peel will fall into the shape of the first letter of the name of your future spouse.

All bets are off if it falls into an eldritch alphabet.

-More apples, with a similar idea. Twisting the stem off of an apple while reciting the alphabet will show you the first letter of the name of your future spouse at the letter the stem breaks.

-More apples. Apples were big for samhain and other root holidays. The first person to grab an apple while bobbing for apples would be the first to marry.

-We’re not done with the apples yet. Another game involved slipping a coin into an apple and dangling them from strings. Whoever bit into the apple with the coin first was guaranteed a successful year.

-Moving on from apples to hazelnuts, a couple would throw a hazelnut into a fire. If it exploded with a loud crack their relationship would last. If it just sort of rolled around and burned, their relationship was burned.

-This one finally doesn’t involved food. A game called puicini would be played where a group of people would be blindfolded. A series of bowls filled with different objects signifying different areas of luck (money, love, etc) would be passed and when the blindfolds were removed, the bowl they were holding indicated that person’s luck.

Fall Into the Holidays #5

Remember! I’ll be pinning all entries linked up to the Fall Into the Holidays board-please let me know if you want to be removed.

Featured Projects from Fall Into the Holidays #4

Sarah Howe’s Salted Caramel Pumpkin Latte Smoothie

The Pin Junkie’s Free Halloween Printables

Please remember to link back to this party on your entry and have fun! Please click the icon below. The link up loads in a new page.

Rambly Confessions

I’m planning on doing (American) Thanksgiving with my sister-of-choice and her family this year. Biologically I’m an only child but people have been filling in the ranks over the past few years. After last year’s Thanksgiving implosion I’m looking forward to a solid base number of people to feed anyway and she’s letting me use her kitchen so I won’t be driving a fully baked turkey around with me this time. I’m starting to work on the menu for that (tip: bake your turkey breast side down).

I forgot Canadian Thanksgiving outright this year. I ended up making mac and cheese Monday before work. Rather, I knew it was coming up but couldn’t get around to actually looking it up until one of my Canadian brethren online made a comment about Thanksgiving. People on this side of the border keep asking me why we have it-I think that people forget that it’s been several decades since I lived on that side of the border-but my response keeps amounting to the same: why not?

I need to start thinking about Christmas. I’m canning for casual friends and non-family members, but the only family I have any idea what to buy for is my mom. Mid keeps buying what he wants for himself. I may wait for his stuff until closer to Christmas. My dad really likes the Penzey’s catalog but I can’t give him just that.

If nothing else this is turning into a productive fiber fall. I’m almost done with my charity goals-I have been working on garter stitch scarves while I read my Kindle. I taught myself to do it while in college so I could get through my chemistry reading and it’s proving to be a useful skill. Now that my Inferno shawl’s off of my needles I’m working on the sweater that I started last winter. The Tuesday Fiber column is guilting me into productivity.

I have a few fall themed Pinterest boards that you may be interested in!

Fall Into the Holidays The Pumpkin Queen Two Thanksgivings