Christmas Eve

It is Christmas Eve as I am writing this, but since at St. Michael we do a midnight Christmas service, it is as though the holiday begins tonight. We are waiting until 9 pm to leave, and we just finished Narnia and are about to put in A Year Without a Santa Claus. Fun Christmas movies, and if you're interested, Little Women and While You were Sleeping also include Christmas. Sadly, I never did finish that lace scarf. Too many mistakes. I also made a CRAPPY pair of Fair Isle mittens with numerous mistakes, so now I am making some wool socks that will probably be Fair Isle so I can improve my techniques. If you haven't read The Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmermann (actually it is a collection of newsletters) you must if you are a knitter. It takes you to another time where most if not all yarn was wool and patterns were a thing to design yourself or share, but not sell. It is among the most charming books I have read (the other one being Barbara Kingsbury's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which I am reading right now).
Strange though it may sound, as we have yet to celebrate Christmas, I am already anticipating spring! My sister accused me of wanting to have no Christmas in order to have 'plant season' year 'round. (No! I do not! Winter is what makes spring special!) But I am looking at the price of strawberry and raspberry plants online, and homemade potting soil recipes to save money. I am also cutting up grocery bags to crochet more plant pots and eagerly doing chores to make a few extra bucks before spring planting time. Well, I am off to do more knitting and plant research - Merry Christmas (Eve)!
Oh, by the way, that tomato plant in the bathroom is still alive, and I am hoping to keep it alive until spring - and also take the ginger out so it can GROW in the summer sun! And I have permission to weed and plant the abandoned church garden! Well, that's really all, this time!

Sprouted Flour Giveaway!

Kitchen Stewardship is hosting a sprouted flour giveaway.
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/12/15/why-buy-sprouted-flour-giveaway-over-65-value/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kitchenstewardship%2FPgbo+%28Kitchen+Stewardship%29
Click the link to enter!

Adventures in Knitting : Arctic Lace

I already made a scarf from Knitted Lace of Estonia, but unfortunately it is wrapped for Christmas so I cannot take a picture. I also checked out a book called Arctic Lace, which is about native Alaskan knitters, knitting with qiviut (musk ox down), the warmest softest fiber in the world! I can't afford that stuff, so I just am making a scarf with Patons Laceweight. There is a picture of one pattern repeat at the top.

Lacto-fermented Pink Lemonade!

I love the lacto-fermented ginger ale recipe on Instructables, but I was out of ginger. So I omitted the ginger, doubled the lemon juice, and substituted maple syrup for the honey. Just one small problem, though. The whey was moldy! What was I to do? I decided to just dilute it and not ferment, but then it came to me - homemade beet kvass! It wasn't moldy and it had good bacteria, but the best part was that it made PINK lemonade! You can't even taste the beets, since it is only 2 tablespoons. Here is the recipe:
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp whey OR beet kvass for pink color
1 quart water
Mix all ingredients in a quart mason jar (or bottle, I suppose) and let ferment for 3 days. This is very strong, both sweet and sour, so dilute it 50/50 with water. Enjoy!
Note: I do not like this as much as the ginger ale!

Disturbing

I will now make a public confession and say that at the age of 16 I still like Care Bears. I am always looking for something to watch while I'm knitting and Care Bears has none of the paganism of Sailor Moon (in fact, the only real negative I see is oversimplified psychology). It actually started a few weeks ago when I saw the movie and checked it out from the library. I had seen the previews as a child and they looked SO cool. Unfortunately, I fell asleep watching it and didn't see the end. But no matter, I can still watch the episodes on the Internet.
But let's cut to the chase. So I found out that they made a new Care Bear series, so I thought, oh goody, easily accessible Care Bears. But although the colors are brighter, the bears (from what I could gather from the 3/4 episode I watched) are WAY more prone to jealousy and selfishness and probably other sins in other episodes. But that is not as disturbing to me as the fact that someone decided to make them THIN. I am not kidding. In the good old-fashioned '80s version, the bears were furry, muscular, and had nice, round butts. In other words, they looked like (cute) BEARS. I repeat, BEARS. NOT colored stick people with teddy bear heads. I know it is just a cartoon, but if it is not okay for a bear to be a little chubby, what does that say about people? Must we all conform to this stick figure while eating a high-carbohydrate diet in 'moderation' and still not become anorexic? Or do they WANT us to become anorexic? Seriously, to me, this is just WRONG.