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When Mother Lets Us Cook, by Constance Johnson. First published in 1916. Read for you by Kara Shallenberg.

A book of simple receipts for little folk with important cooking rules in rhyme together with handy lists of the materials and utensils needed for the preparation of each dish.

Part 4: Beef Tea, Milk Toast, Blackberry Bread, etc.

Come back next Monday for a new book!

(Impatient? Get the entire audio book for free here: http://librivox.org/when-mother-lets-us-cook-by-constance-johnson/)

My beautiful Surface cardigan is all done! I sewed on the buttons yesterday!

Pattern: Surface, by Norah Gaughan (free at knitty.com)

Yarn: 9 balls of KnitPicks’ Merino Style (which I won in a Knitpicks contest back in December). Color: cinnamon.

Needles: Knitpicks “Harmony” wooden circs, sizes 3 and 1 (for ribbing)

My Ravelry Page

Notes:
I was, of course, as usual, completely unable to get gauge. The nearest I could get was 21st/4 inches on size 3 needles in stockinette, and 18st/4 inches on size 3 needles in the blister pattern. Ok, whatever. So I just had to do a lot of math. It’s apparently my fate to NEVER get gauge. Luckily I am fearless about rewriting patterns :)

I worked the sleeves on 50 stitches, which gave me about 11 inches in the blister pattern, which is about right for the xs size (I have the world’s skinniest arms). The blister pattern was great fun! Looks fantastic and tricky, but is actually a piece of cake and super-simple to memorize.

I worked the smallest size around, and the third size in height, more or less. But smallest size armholes.

When the sleeves were done, I made the back, using short-row shaping for the shoulders, then worked the fronts both at once on one needle, working short-row shaping for the shoulders and then three-needle binding-off with the back.

I decided to seam before blocking. I hate pinning out curved edges. Sewed everything together easy as pie, knit the button bands, then decided to pick up stitches for the collar instead of working it separately — was sick and tired of seaming :) When the collar was done, I wet-blocked, then sewed on the buttons!

Here it is, blocking (no pins, you see):

Here’s another finished photo:

When Mother Lets Us Cook, by Constance Johnson. First published in 1916. Read for you by Kara Shallenberg.

A book of simple receipts for little folk with important cooking rules in rhyme together with handy lists of the materials and utensils needed for the preparation of each dish.

Part 3: Meat Loaf, Birthday Cake, etc.

(Impatient? Get the entire audio book for free here: http://librivox.org/when-mother-lets-us-cook-by-constance-johnson/)

I’m feeling a lot better — sore throat is gone and my head is just a little bit stuffy. I spent the whole weekend lounging on the couch, listening to podcasts (The Adam Carolla Show, mostly), knitting, watching TV with Dan, and playing a bit of WoW.

Speaking of TV, we discovered a show called Dexter a few weeks ago. I’m trying to remember how I heard of it. I think the actress who plays Rita (Julie Benz?) was on Loveline, and then I must have heard something about the show somewhere else, too. Anyway, something called it to my attention and I did a bit of googling and found that a lot of people like it, so we thought we’d give it a try. We watched the first episode of the first season about three weeks ago, just finished up the third season on Friday night, and are counting the days till the fourth season starts in March! What a show! It had its weak moments (what show doesn’t?) but overall was really excellent, though often extremely stressful and uncomfortable to watch, at first because of the implied violence but later because I grew fond of the characters and had to worry about their safety through every episode. The main character is a serial killer, by the way. I spent a lot of time NOT LOOKING, eyes on the knitting, eyes on the knitting.

Woke up with a little sore throat yesterday and I still have it. And a drippy nose. Bah. But the weather is cold and rainy and blustery, which makes me happy. While I help Henry with schoolwork I’m seaming my “Surface” sweater. That’s the one I won the yarn for from Knitpicks! Can’t remember if I’ve posted photos yet so here they are:

Sleeves:

Back:

Fronts, partway done:

I usually knit sweaters all-one-piece and top-down, but I figured I’d give the pattern as try as-is. The seaming is not that bad, but I’d still prefer being able to try on as I go! Some books say you must block before seaming, and some say you must seam before blocking. Seaming before blocking makes the most sense to me, so that’s what I’m doing and it’s working fine.

Busy day yesterday, my goodness. The Science Museum was free, so we were there a few minutes before they opened at 9:30 and stayed till about 11. Lots of fun, lots of neat science! Then we stopped at Target for binders and paper and whatnot, then came home, ate lunch, and did math and science until it was time to go to the Tuesday homeschooler park day. We went to it a few times when Henry was very little but then we moved too far away. Now we live only ten minutes away! The kids are mostly teenagers and Henry had a great time wandering around the park with them. I had a great time playing Scrabble with the moms, so we’re both looking forward to next Tuesday. Most of the kids go to a charter school called Dehesa, so if Mt. Everest doesn’t work for us we’ll have something else to try.

Current knitting projects:

Girasole blanket for Sal: Wool of the Andes, needles size 9. Terrific pattern!

Helena sweater for Jaylah: Swish DK, needles size 3. I’ve already divided for the sleeves, need to take a new photo!

And Dan wants fingertipless gloves, so I need to pick a pattern from my Selbuvotter book and get those started before summer comes!

When Mother Lets Us Cook, by Constance Johnson. First published in 1916. Read for you by Kara Shallenberg.

A book of simple receipts for little folk with important cooking rules in rhyme together with handy lists of the materials and utensils needed for the preparation of each dish.

Part 2: Sweet Omelet, Cereal Cakes, Pan Cakes, etc.

Come back next Monday for the next part!

(Impatient? Get the entire audio book for free here: http://librivox.org/when-mother-lets-us-cook-by-constance-johnson/)

Tuesday was Henry’s school performance of The Wiz! Henry played the Tinman, and he was just wonderful, singing and dancing and acting and everything! I was so proud! The whole cast did just great. Henry’s good friends played all the lead roles, and you could tell they were all having a lot of fun together. Tawni was the Wiz, Natalia was Dorothy (she was terribly ill with a fever and sore throat, poor thing), Sam was the Lion and Sierra was the Scarecrow. I forgot to take my camera, but I hope to get some photos from *someone* eventually… until then, here’s a photo of Henry in costume. We decorated the shoes and pants with chrome duct tape, the hat was a dollar at Target right before New Year’s Eve, and he has a glittery shirt on under the jacket. For the performance he skipped the hat but had really great make-up — silver face paint and dark lips and a drawn-on jaw hinge.

Here’s a photo of one of my bookshelves, as requested by Hugh:

It’s an Ikea “Ivar”, and it leans a little to the left — my fault. It leaned to the right until I “fixed” it, and then I was tired of trying to get it straight. That’s our wireless router thingy tied to the side and a tub of small balls of sock yarn on top. I’ve got another bookshelf near the piano, and when I get another Ivar (soon, I hope) the rest of my books can finally come in from the garage.

When Mother Lets Us Cook, by Constance Johnson. First published in 1916. Read for you by Kara Shallenberg.

A book of simple receipts for little folk with important cooking rules in rhyme together with handy lists of the materials and utensils needed for the preparation of each dish.

Part 1: Preface, Boiled Eggs, Boiled Rice, Jelly Warm-over, etc.

Come back next Monday for the next part!

(Impatient? Get the entire audio book for free here: http://librivox.org/when-mother-lets-us-cook-by-constance-johnson/)

Yesterday was Inauguration Day, hooray! We were up in time to watch streaming coverage of the ceremony on cnn.com. What can I say that hasn’t already been said a million times? I had my hankie handy and I needed it. For the first time in a frighteningly long time we have a president who seems intelligent, capable, and dignified. The ceremony was quite moving, and I thought that Mr. Obama’s speech was beautiful — well-written, clear, non-embellished, powerful, serious yet hopeful. If you haven’t yet, I suggest you go read it: Here’s the transcript on cnn.com.

Some of my favorite bits:

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
*******
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
*******
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers.
*******
…we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
*******
And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
*******
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.

And by the way, the first family is so lovely! There are a few slideshows of Mr. and Mrs. Obama and the girls on huffingtonpost.com. I stole this photo from them:

Good luck and best wishes to you and your family, President Obama!

As Hodg-man says, I wish I could post this every day forever:

If that doesn’t choke you up, you’re made of stone. How wonderful that after all his work for civil rights, Pete was able to lead this song at Obama’s inauguration concert. Thank you, Pete!

Here are the beauties who are visiting us:

Tab and Jaylah:

And more Jaylah, lying out in the sunshine:

Jaylah is such a sweet baby! She smiles and drools and babbles and loves to stare at our faces and gum on our fingers. She barely ever fusses, and if she does it’s usually just to let us know it’s time for food!

My sister-in-law, Tabatha, and her 6-month-old, Jaylah, are visiting from NY for a week! We’re having crazy hot sunny weather, which is a big treat for them.

I finally finished my Hopscotch Socks:

(Ravelry page)

And I made a pair of booties for little Jaylah and they turned out as cute as can be!

(Ravelry page)

Dan took some great portraits of Henry the other day. Here are two of my favorites:

Oh, and here’s one that I took when he was playing his bass the other day (sorry about the blur and clutter):

Handsome fellow!

Happy new year! I’m a bit sick, came down with something on Monday, but it’s not too bad. Had a little sore throat for a day and now I’m just stuffy and tired. I’m sure I’ll be feeling fine again soon. Anyway, I have to catch up here a little bit so here is some random info.

Last Saturday I took down the tree and then we went to Bob and Chloe’s house to watch the Chargers play. Very exciting game — it was tied at the end of the 4th quarter so they went into overtime and the Chargers won, so now they go to the playoffs! Looking forward to watching the next Chargers game with them on Sunday afternoon. I’ve never cared a fig about football, but it’s so much fun to watch with C&B, and they explain what’s going on.

This year, Henry’s set of little Homestarrunner figures joined the holy family at the manger:

I packed them with the Christmas stuff so they can attend next year.

Back in December, Knitpicks ran a yarn giveaway contest, and I won!! My prize yarn arrived yesterday — twelve skeins of beautifully soft Knitpicks Merino Style so I can knit a Surface cardigan. It’s lovely yarn without a hint of itchiness. It’ll make a great cardigan and would also be perfect for anything you’d wear next to the skin. I swatched it last night, with annoyingly predictable results (I’m a loose knitter). I’m supposed to get 23sts/4 inches on #5 needles. I get 21sts/4 inches on #3s. Sigh. Ok, I can do the math. I don’t want to, and I wish, as usual, that I could just GET GAUGE, but oh well. Also I am tempted to rewrite the pattern and work fronts and back all together at the same time.

Here’s a photo of my lovely yarn:

Upcoming knitting plans: I’m going to knit Jared Flood’s spectacular Girasole Blanket for Mom’s Christmas present using Knitpicks’ Wool of the Andes, but the color she wants was out of stock and should be in tomorrow (knock on wood) so that’s exciting! I already bought and printed out the pattern and it looks well-planned and fun. Also Dan just requested a pair of gloves with no fingertips, and I need a larger laptop bag for my new Macbook Pro, and everyone always needs socks. So that’s a lot of knitting coming up!

After driving Henry to his friend’s house to spend the night and buying a new set of tires, I went over to Chloe’s house yesterday afternoon to play. I took Ingenious along, and a new game that Henry’s uncle sent to us, Bananagrams, and four decks of cards. First we taught Bob to play Ingenious and played a couple times (great game, easy to learn and a nice mixture of luck and strategy) and then we tried out Bananagrams. It was tremendously fun! You have a pile of letter tiles and simply arrange them into a crossword-type grid. When you’ve used all your letters you’re supposed to shout PEEL! (or something… We opted not to shout out the banana-themed cues, and just shouted “END!” when someone came to the end of his letters.) at which point every player takes another letter from the remaining tiles and the game continues. You can rearrange your tiles as often as you want. When there are fewer remaining letters than players, the person who first uses up all his letters is the winner. Simple! And there are no turns, so there’s no waiting around for someone to figure out how to get the “V” on the triple letter score. Having a rich vocabulary is helpful, of course, but being flexible counts almost as much! It might be better to make lots of tiny simple words, and you might have to destroy a nice word so that you can use up some more letters. I can hardly wait to play again.

When Celia was sick of Banangrams, we played 4-way multiple solitaire, which I’m sure I’ve described here before but to reiterate — every player has his own deck, and lays out a hand of Klondike. Player sit facing each other around a common area where the aces are played. Any player can play to any ace. The player who plays the most cards to the aces, or who goes out first, wins. This is our family card game and is played at every family gathering, with up to 6 participants (any more than that and you have to THROW the cards toward the aces :)

Later on, B and C decided to buy a football game (Madden NFL All-Play 09) and brought it over to our house to play on our wii, heheheh. It was great fun to watch them playing. Football bewilders me, but it seemed like a really well-executed game, and it sure sounded just like a real football match! And Bob and I got into a Blood, Sweat, and Tears frenzy, somehow, and started singing snippets of Lucretia MacEvil etc. which probably drove Chloe up the wall :) Oh I know — it was after they stopped playing football and started tinkering with the wii aquarium, and the Eric Satie piece started playing, which made us think of the BS&T version.

Meanwhile I did a fantastic quest chain in Dragonblight, the one that ends with you fighting in the Undercity! Tremendous fun!

Lots of games, lots of fun, hope we can play more today!

The Book of Art for Young People, by Agnes Ethel Conway and Sir Martin Conway
First published in 1909. Read by Kara Shallenberg.

Chapter 15: The Nineteenth Century

Excerpt:

Since we began our voyagings together among the visionary worlds of the great painters, five hundred and thirty years ago, at the accession of King Richard II., we have journeyed far and wide, trudging from the rock where Cimabue found the boy Giotto drawing his sheep’s likeness. The battleship of Turner has now brought us to the mid-nineteenth century, a time within the memories of living men, and still our journey is not ended.

Here is the painting discussed in this chapter:

Red Ridinghood (by Watts)

Come back next Monday for the first chapter of our next book!

(Impatient? Get the entire audio book for free here: http://librivox.org/the-book-of-art-for-young-people-by-agnes-ethel-conway-and-sir-martin-conway/)

A friend of mine in England has a family business making and selling darling little papercraft people and animals. His wife does the artwork! They very kindly sent me a bundle of goodies a while back. Tonight my right hand, which has been very sore from too much Christmas knitting, finally felt well enough that I could use scissors, so I made two of the little animals into Christmas ornaments! They are printed in several layers, which you cut out and then assemble with little sticky foam pads between them to give a 3-D effect. Here’s a Polar Bear:

Doesn’t he look wistful under his mistletoe?

And here’s a jolly Christmas-tree bearing Camel:

And here’s how his components looked before he was assembled:

There are several more in the package — a turkey carrying a plum pudding, robins with crackers, and penguins playing in the snow, plus more poses from the camel and the bear. Can’t wait to make more!

We just didn’t get around to doing Christmas cards this year, so to all my dear wonderful friends and family — Merry Christmas! (Or, as a friend of mine typoed, “Married Christmas!”)

Here’s a little treat for you: NPR’s Tinsel Tales, an hour-long collection of NPR Christmas stories.

Christmas is a time of traditions, and over the years, NPR has created a few traditions of its own. In this hour-long special: Wistfulness, joy, doubt, hope, all the emotions we feel at this time of year, all summoned up in memorable stories from the NPR broadcast archives.

David Sedaris, Bailey White, John Henry Faulk — these and other NPR voices, past and present, tell stories of the season. It may be you’ll remember these tales fondly, or it may be you’ll fall in love with them for the first time.

Get comfy, pour a cup of something warm and tasty, and enjoy the stories. :)