BrambleStitches

The Man is out in the field all week training, and I said I’d have the house all decorated by the time he gets home. Olga and I are making paper chains out of colored construction paper, and she’s using her brand new pair of green scissors to cut the strips all by herself. (Thanks Baba!!) They’re all a little wobbly, which makes them even more perfect. It’s been super fun. Yesterday the kids and I went out to get our tree and a few decorations. We only had a very small box of ornaments and one strand of lights, so we bought a pretty wreath, some new lights, and a few garlands to round things out a bit. Olga really wanted a reindeer ornament, so I let her pick one out. When we got back home we quickly tidied up the living room and got everything set up. Olga is learning the “pick up your toys” drill, so she helped quite a bit. (I keep a big basket empty by the front door for the occasion, since we usually do our tidying while Gavin is napping. After he wakes up, we put the stuff from the basket away in their room.)

Now the tree is up and decorated, and so beautiful. Olga put most of the ornaments up herself. I was a little worried that Gavin would take too much interest in the tree and try to pull it over, or yank the lights off, but so far he only admires and points at it. Thank goodness! Even so, I make it a point to not allow Olga to rearrange the ornaments while he’s in the room. I don’t want him to get any ideas. A couple years ago I knit stockings for all of us, so we put them up, too. You can see Erik’s stocking above. The rest are a bit simpler, but they’ve all got a name or initial stitched on somehow.

It’s so much fun watching the kids. I know Gavin doesn’t really get what’s going on yet, but he’s enjoying things anyway. This year Olga is really getting into it. She’s even learning some Christmas carols, though she doesn’t differentiate between them and regular songs, unless she knows the words Santa, reindeer, or Christmas are somewhere in the lyrics.

Erik will most likely be deployed for Christmas next year, so we’re going to try our very best to take lots of pictures this year for the kids.

Homemaking, This dream of mine

No doubt about it, this weekend ushered in the chilly weather here. Gavin has been outgrowing his clothing at an alarming rate, so the only sweater that fits him now is the one I made for him when he was a baby. The sleeves are starting to get a little short, but the body is quite stretchy, so it will fit for the rest of the winter, I think. The yarn is wool that I hand spun, and the pattern is based on Elizabeth Zimmerman’s  sweater formulas in Knitting Without Tears. I modified it by adding a split neck with buttons (like a Henley). I made the hat (and a matching one for the Man) this spring.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, joined by a couple of Marines Erik works with. It was my most successful dinner party by far. All of the dishes looked pretty and tasted delicious. I don’t have the best track record, so I’m wonderfully proud of myself for pulling this off. At the last minute I threw together an experiment. I took two jars of carrots that I canned up a few weeks ago, threw them in a skillet with a few peeled purple pearl onions (I first boiled the onions for three minutes, then peeled them), and sauteed them together for a few minutes in olive oil. Then I added a tablespoon of butter and a couple tablespoons of brown sugar, and kept shuffling them around on low until everything was dissolved and the veggies were nice and shiny. That was it! It took about six minutes total, and it was delicious! If you start with fresh carrots it probably would take a few more minutes.

Homemaking, Knitting

Yesterday, while my little man was napping, Olga and I got a bunch done in the kitchen. She’s getting to be a great helper, and always wants to be involved in whatever Mama and Daddy are doing. When we’re in the kitchen, she sits up on one of the barstools to reach the counter. We’re making pumpkin pies from scratch for Thanksgiving, so I had Olga scoop out the pumpkin seeds for me while I checked over my ingredients and shopping list.

Then I steamed the pumpkins for ten minutes, let them cool to touch, and scooped out the flesh. I’ll make the pies on Wednesday, so I put the pulp in the fridge (it only lasts a few days in the fridge, so freeze it if you’re steaming your pumpkins farther in advance).

Next we turned about ten pounds of apples into applesauce. I have an apple peeler similar to this model at Lehman’s Hardware (mine is green). In my opinion, it’s absolutely worth the investment. Besides, it’s fun to play with. Olga was begging to use it, so I let her peel and slice the apples. We really love the French Applesauce recipe from Joy of Cooking.

Here it is; double, triple, or quadruple as needed:

3 pounds apples, cored, peeled, sliced (use a variety of apples for the best sauce)
.5 to .75 cup apple juice or cider
1 to 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice (if desired)
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Cover and simmer until tender and applesauce-like (we like ours chunky), then add:

6 tablespoons honey
.5 to 1 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
.5 teaspoon ground mace (optional)

Cook another minute or so until the honey has blended in well, then remove from heat and add:

.75 to 1 teaspoon vanilla

[Added 26 November: In order to keep this safely for storage, you'll need to water bath can the apple sauce. Check your Ball Blue Book for the correct time for your altitude. Also another note, above is the original recipe, written for about 3 pounds of apples. When I made my batch, I started with about 10 pounds of apples, so I tripled the recipe.]

Chunky applesauce like this is great to eat on toast, with pork, on ice cream, with oatmeal, with a little cream… or really, just about anytime. I got eight pints out of this batch. (A safety note: If you’re going to make applesauce to feed to your little babies, make sure you do not use honey–it can contain traces of botulism which babies under one year of age will not tolerate well. Generally, by one year old babies will have enough various “good” digestion helpers in their gut to safely consume honey.)

Homemaking

I’ll admit it: Ever since deadline, I’ve been avoiding my computer. This issue was grueling for me. I’ve needed all week just to get my house back in order, tame my wild children, and feed my half-starved man.

To catch up a bit–the dress I started a few weeks ago to wear to the Marine Corps Ball is still hanging, partially completed, in my sewing room. The pattern is lovely, but the dress just needed “something” and I didn’t have time to think about it or work on it during deadline. So instead, I looked thru my closet and found this dress I made a couple years ago (for a Ball we ended up not attending) that just needed a little finishing work. I finished it, we looked fabulous, I forgot my camera. Sorry.

The yellow/gold dress will still go on to become a real, finished dress, just maybe not one fancy enough to wear to next year’s Ball.

Right now my children and husband are all napping, so I’m taking a bit of a break. I starched some linens earlier, to use on Thanksgiving Day. We’re expecting to feed a few of the younger Marines in Erik’s unit, so I’m planning to cook for an army, as they say… though that’s really not right, because you’d never say an army of Marines… But anyway, we’re going to stick to the basics this year, just lots of them: turkey, cranberry sauce, rolls, greenbeans, yams, pumpkin pie (Jackie Clay’s recipe is the – best – ever!), stuffing, and some good brewski.

Homemaking, Life in the Corps, This dream of mine

Over the weekend my friend Katie and I got together and learned how to use a pressure canner. Katie gave me a 22 quart Mirro pressure canner a couple weeks ago, because she had never used it, didn’t have a manual, and didn’t know where to begin–and her kitchen is way too small to make a big mess in. I ordered a new weight, an additional aluminum rack, and the manual, and now I’m in business. Katie brought over a bunch of produce (the commissary had a great deal on green beans the other day) and jars, and we successfully pressure-canned two dozen pints of green beans, potatoes, glazed carrots, cream-style corn, and applesauce (apple sauce doesn’t require a pressure canner, but we were having a bit too much fun…).

In issue # 70, BHM published an article by Charles Sanders on making unusual jams and jellies, so I found the directions for making corn cob jelly in order to eek out every edible drop from our hours in the kitchen. The recipe calls for red corn cobs, but we just used regular sweet corn cobs, so our jars don’t have the pretty red blush Sanders talks about. I also saved the peels and cores from my applesauce, and will finish making apple peel jelly this afternoon.

I feel that we accomplished more than just a few dozen pints of canned goods. We checked off a useful tool that was on our list, and learned a new and important skill that will serve our families well. Now we can take advantage of the harvest, whether it is a super deal at the commissary, a roadside stand, or from our own gardens. (P.S. Every jar sealed but one — it’s in the refrigerator right now, and we’ll gobble it up for dinner.)

And speaking of important tools, last month we bought a Stihl chainsaw and a proper ax (we had a very small hatchet). There are areas on base where the man can chop already downed trees for firewood. It’s all still very wet, of course, but should be nicely seasoned by next winter.

Homemaking

The rest of the house is pretty much unpacked–at least enough that we’re comfortable, can find the stuff we need on a day-to-day, and aren’t tripping over boxes or bags of anything–so it’s time for me to start settling into my sewing room. Yes… SEWING ROOM! No more hot dark garage for me! I get my very own room! There is, of course, a catch. The deal was that if I could fit ALL of my craft stuff in the room, then I could have it. I can’t store it in the garage, bedroom, kitchen cupboards, or anywhere else in the house.

No problem, right?

Well. I can get all my stuff in there, alright. The problem is actually getting myself in there, getting some manner of sewing table in there, and still being able to find stuff. Oh, my. I have. so. much. stuff.

So. That’s right folks, it’s time to clean out my craft supplies. Books, fabric, yarn, tools–I’m going through everything, and paring way back. Last night I hauled all my yarn into the living room and decided to keep less than half of what I own. I’ll be putting tons (possibly literally) of stuff on ebay over the next couple weeks. Check out the cool supplies I’m selling. If that link doesn’t work, just look for username "Bramblestitches" at www.ebay.com.

With a little luck I’ll having things fairly well cleared out in a couple weeks. As soon as I can start crafting again, I’ll be making up a bunch of cool new tutorials for you that I’ve been promising for ages, like how to make the lined zippered pouches from waaay back, and my pattern for the double-thick crocheted pot holders.

Homemaking

We’ve lived in this house for about a year and a half, now. It’s adequate for our family of four, it’s in a quiet neighborhood, where we know our neighbors (and aren’t afraid of them), and the price is right. The problem with this house is it’s been an abused and neglected rental for years. The doors are patched around the doorknobs, where someone must have kicked them in. There are large dents and poor patches in the walls. The last time the interior was painted, huge patches of wall and ceiling got missed, and paint was rolled onto the windows and spilled on the carpet. The trim work has separated from the walls in many places. Even the kitchen cabinets (which must have been taken from other houses, as they are quite mismatched) are sagging from the cieling, and the lower cabinets wobble from side to side. Nobody ever loved this house.

My hope is that over the next few months this house can come to be a reflection of the love I have for my family, and the appreciation I have for my husband, who makes it possible for me to stay home with our children.

Homemaking

Every January one of my "resolutions" is to clean up my crafty stash and organize, donate, sell, or trash stuff. This year is especially important, because in March/April we are packing up all this stuff and moving back to Oregon.

This year I’m participating in a group-effort organize-along and ufo-along with some of my dear internet friends. (For those of you unfamiliar with the term ufo, in the craft world it is an UnFinished Object.) Our goal is to motivate each other to finish up all those projects lurking in the dark recesses of our homes, freeing ourselves of the associated guilt, and releasing a bit of storage space for the coming year’s projects. It’s also a time to take stock of what we have, make decisions on what to keep, and put things away neatly so we might actually be able to find all that great stuff again in the coming year, when we are actually looking for it.

Since tomorrow is the official kickoff of the "organizalong" I’ll start by posting photos of the current state of my stash. Yes, you’ll be privy to the dark, secret, embarrasing truth of how much fabric/lace/yarn/etcetera I really have. I know you don’t want to miss out on my dirty laundry, so check in regularly on my progress, and post comments to encourage me. And while you’re at it, check into my shop and help me out.

Homemaking