Or- Belgian wheat beer inspired shortbread?

So this gardening thing, it's an ongoing experiment. My little herb garden I planted is thriving, the Cilantro being the first to take off. I had a pretty green fountain of Coriander leaves and then one day it had suddenly bolted (flowering and gone to seed) and all the leaves were gone. At first I was disappointed I didn't harvest more not realizing it did this so quickly but then realized I now had my own coriander seeds!

I harvested the seeds and thought about what I could make with them. We use the seeds and ground coriander frequently in Indian cooking but I really wanted something simple that would let my little trove of spice shine. And I wanted it to be a baked good, because I have a compulsion.

Shortbread immediately came to mind, and I've often seen it made with different herb/spice variations. Coriander seeds have a nutty aroma with citrus notes of the lemony/orange persuasion. It is often used in Belgian wheat beer along with orange (Blue Moon being a recent favorite lent additional inspiration). I dry roasted the seeds to bring out their flavor further and ground them in my mortar and pestle - woh do they pack a much more concentrated aroma than store bought!

Coriander Shortbread

1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups cold unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon orange extract/zest (optional)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground coriander (slightly less if using freshly ground)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 275°F.

This can be made using a food processor or mixer.

For the food processor:
Process the sugars for a minute until sugars are very fine.
Add the butter, cut into 1 inch cubes and pulse until all sugar is combined. Add extract/zest if using.
In a separate bowl combine flour, coriander and salt.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture and pulse until crumbly and combined
Turn out dough and knead slightly to bring mixture together.

For an electric mixer or by hand:
Using softened butter, beat until smooth. Add sugars and beat until creamed together and light and fluffy.
Add flour in two parts mixing until holds together.

For both methods:
Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Press each half into an ungreased 8-inch round cake or tart pan.
Use the tines of a fork to press 3/4-inch lines radiating like rays of sun all around the perimeter of the dough. Prick the rest of the dough all over with the tines of the fork.
Bake for 60-70 minutes or until pale golden (do not brown). For even baking, rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking period.
Cool in the pans, on a wire rack, for 10 minutes.
Invert the shortbread onto flat cookie sheet and slide it onto a cutting board. While still warm, use a long sharp knife to cut each 8-inch round of shortbread into 8 pie-shaped wedges.
Transfer the wedges to wire racks to cool completely.

Have a good 4th of July!

 Posted by Jen at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

But I wanted to say...

Happy 3rd Anniversary to Mr. PieKnits!

Looking forward to many years as happy as the last three. :)

 Posted by Jen at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (28)

Short on words today. Enjoy photos.

My visiting niece has a new toy- seen here romping in the garden. Amazing herculean flowers withstand elephant tramping.

Inquisitive little thing

Awww, a wee tail.

Yarn: Cascade 220 in gray, stash yarn for little bits of white and pink
Pattern: "Baby Elephant" by Hansi Singh of Hansigurumi
Needles: US size 5
Mods: None! Great pattern and very unfiddly for a toy.

 Posted by Jen at 05:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

A little piece I couldn't help starting- so far I have the head for "Baby Elephant" by the very talented Hansi Singh of Hansigurumi.

I also got tagged with a fun meme.

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
I had just finished my Junior year in high school, thankfully. I remember I had bit off a bit more than I could chew that year.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
Send off some pattern details to wholesaler, return a book to library, groceries and last minute items/cleaning for in-laws coming tomorrow! (this is actually it's own entire list), take Aejaz to the groomers, compile knitting guild programs idea list for next year (on the board again!)

3. Snacks I enjoy.
Cookies, hummus, brownies, dry cereal by the handful (I have a wicked sweet tooth)

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire.
Boring stuff first like pay off all debts and set up family. Then I'd buy houses for us and family here and in India, this car (I'm infatuated), and travel everywhere we can. Would set up funds and donate for arts education, SPCA and world health charities.

5. Places I have lived.
Urbandale, Iowa (Coincidently 4 different places all within a couple square mile radius until I was 22) / Irving, TX / Flower Mound, TX

6. Jobs I've had.
Retail clerk at candy store, shop girl in my father's guitar shop, various soul-sucking customer service jobs, Artist hand painting ceramic drawer pulls and cabinet hardware, Web Designer/Developer, Multimedia Developer

7. Tagging - If you're so inclined feel free to join in!

In other news, I got my hair cut - like 8+ inches cut! (Unfortunately just a bit shy for Locks of Love). Please excuse the dim evening light, just quick snapped this.

 Posted by Jen at 05:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

My diet use to be woefully fruit deficient before I discovered the mango. (Well who am I kidding; it's still not that great.) But, my adoration of mangoes has proved at least to be a bit of gateway fruit. Definitely one of the things I love about stopping by the Indian grocer is the many varieties of mango flavored items. So while I was in a bread baking mood and came across this recipe it was a no-brainer.

My one quibble with this recipe is given the variety of mangoes it's not really clear simply saying "1 small". How small is small? In bread recipes, where ingredient measures need to be more exacting I find it a bit frustratingly vague. I just dumped all of mine in with out measuring and it must have been a more "medium" size as the dough was on the wet side. Next time I'll add the water more slowly to check for the right consistency.

The roll of dough didn't quite fit on the baking sheet either, so I had to curve it slightly- please excuse my Scoliosis loaf. The taste however, divine. And just so you know, it was makes awesome french toast the next day.

Mango Twist Bread

4 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 package instant (rapid-rise) dried yeast
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons brown sugar
9 teaspoons butter, cut into small pieces
1 small mango, peeled, cored, and pureed
2 tablespoons runny honey
1 cup tepid water (or less if mango is medium size)
2/3 cup golden raisins (optional)
1 egg, beaten
confectioners' (powdered) sugar, for dusting

Grease a baking sheet. Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Stir in yeast, ground ginger and brown sugar. Rub in butter with fingers.

Stir in the mango puree, honey, and most of the water adding enough to mix and form into dough.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 min until smooth (or you can use an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook). Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 hour).

Knead in raisins if using and shape dough into two sausage shapes, each 10” long. Twist the two sausage pieces together and pinch the ends to seal. Place dough on a baking sheet, cover and put in a warm place for another 40 minutes.

Brush the loaf with the egg and bake in a preheated over at 425 degrees F, for 30 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

 Posted by Jen at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

or Do-It-Yourself Upholstery

I do love my staple gun. When shopping for yours go for the Heavy Duty, do not entertain any others.

And so as promised, more escapades in re-upholstery!

While this piece is actually new, I found it at a closeout furniture shop for such a steal that I couldn't pass it up despite the undesired upholstery fabric. I figured even with the cost of new fabric it would still be a deal, and well - it was perfect.

This kind of couch, or settee as I took to calling it, is really more an elongated chair. Which is good - chair upholstery is one of the easiest. If you're not sure about tackling that sofa Grandma donated to you yet I'd recommend trying out a "drop-in" seat style chair first, like the one I did here.

Here's what I did if you're interested in following along to try it yourself.

Conveniently with this piece the "Some Assembly Required" part could wait until after I was done, thus saving a step. Otherwise your first step would to be unscrew the seat and any other parts on the piece.

Starting with the seat cushion, flip it over and the bottom will most likely be covered with some backing material. Using a flat head screwdriver and some pliers I removed all the staples and the fabric. Save this fabric, you will want to put it back when finished.

Now I'm one for using what you have and being thrifty but sometimes the right tools make all the difference - especially if that difference is not cursing out every single one of several hundred staples. After the backing was off I stopped, went out and got myself a Staple/Tack Remover.

I would recommend doing this step first.

Continue reading "Chicks with (Staple) Guns" »

 Posted by Jen at 05:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

The cast-on desire for a memorizable compact project was overwhelming of late. So I decided it had been far too long since a pair of socks was on the needles. With some stashed Jawoll yarn and an idea of what I wanted, I took to looking for a pattern. I was itching for something with eyelets but a little funky. After awhile I wandered over to the "Friend Activity" feature in Ravelry (something I like to do often) - I feel my friends have good taste!

Waiting there was Fluke, matching just what I was looking for! I pulled up the details page and it actually calls for Jawoll - how often does that happen?? Obviously it was meant to be so I didn't argue and cast on. See the twisted garter stitch band? I am amused by cranking my knitting around and around on purpose; I'm a dork.

Speaking of twisting around, there has been some spinning too.

Singles from some of my hand-dyed Yarn School fiber, all ready to be plied.

 Posted by Jen at 06:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

And now- Even More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About PieKnits!

Someone help me- I    can    not    keep    from    rambling! The questions were fun and challenging though- thanks again for reading and playing along everyone. If for some reason you're morbidly curious and missed Vol. I it's right here.

Susan asks "Tell me about your dream yarn." I guess I really love depth of color in a yarn and slightly rustic texture. Semi-solid/heather that's soft and springy with a little alpaca texture would do me in at the moment.

soknitpicky asks "How much time do you spend knitting on an average day?" Hmm not sure about average, I usually just grab a few moments-anywhere from 0 - 2 hours?

nanc asks "What's your inspiration when you create patterns and select colors? I find both of these items very unique to you, but happily acceptable for the general public." I think once I have an idea it usually has a bit of a theme, or feeling I want to evoke with it and the color is chosen to be inline with that. I love fonts, as you can see on my Patterns page and I always choose one for each pattern that ties in with that theme/look/feeling. I keep on eye on color and fashion forecasting but I've always subscribed to the idea that fashion should be a personal creative expression. Not just following what was decided somewhere that "this" is going to be what everyone should like and wear that season.

Danielle asks "Do your inlaws know about/read your blog? What do they think of the knitting/spinning/designing?" Yep, they do- along with several of my family (word has gotten around apparently). *waves at the fam.* They've been really sweet and seemed to like the stuff I've done. ;)

girljerry asks "How did you meet Mr. Pieknits?" He was a contract programmer working at where I got my first "real" job out of college as a web designer. When his contract ended and he was transferred to Dallas I picked up and followed him here (after a whole 3? months dating). Hehe, it paid off. ;)
Fun anecdote - For our wedding date we went to a Hindu priest to consult Vedic Astrology to pick an auspicious date, as is traditional. It wasn't until on our way to our wedding destination that it occurred to me, and verified with checking my cell phone's calendar that it was the exact same day we first met- auspicious indeed! :)

Navi asks "How big is your stash?" Well, I do have a bit of a stash as I like to plan and all of my yarn is purchased for an intended project - probably more than some, less than many. I have an older shot of my "yarn closet" here. Uh, it's no longer as neat and in need of some reorganization with a few more additions.

Chispy asks "What got you interested in designing?" This gave me pause, as honestly I can't think of an answer to that! I just wanted to from the beginning. (I generally prefer to do my own thing) ;) I think as far as actually publishing the patterns (as I suppose I could simply make up designs for myself to wear and that's it) it's the interaction and getting to see others make something that you envisioned.

Cindy asks "Have you frogged many projects?" I think I've only ever given up and completely frogged a project permanently once, otherwise I just can't let it go. :) With designing I feel I'm frequently ripping more than knitting though.

Cassie asks "Do you prefer flat or circular knitting? DPN's or fixed circs?" Well circular knitting seems easier simultaneous tv watching, but they each have their merits. I like dpns but otherwise I knit pretty much everything with my Denise circular needles (including flat knitting); I love them! Straight needles tend to bother me with the project weight resting at the needle ends.

Holly asks "Are you an English or continental knitter?" English, although I can do continental for colorwork and 2 stranded double knitting. I'm abysmal at purling continently though. I learned with English style and for awhile tried to train myself for continental for regular knitting as it seemed quicker but just couldn't do it - still feels more awkward.

Nicole asks "Did the name of your blog come before or after your knitted pie patterns?" Before actually. :) (Refer to Vol. I answers for name origination, ha). The pattern idea came to me because of the name.

Daphne asks "How's the piano playing going?" Good! :) I got some new music books and enjoying being reacquainted with my old ones

Lindsey asks "Has anyone recognized you on the street or randomly as a knitting designer?" Haha, no not on the street. A few people have at knitting stores/events though- which is always fun to meet knitters in "real life"!

Michelle asks "What is your favorite movie genre?" I'd have to say I'm a bit of a sucker for certain Sci-Fi and fantasy, as well as witty dialog and dark humor pieces. Lots of love for Tim Burton and Baz Luhrman.

PinkAdele asks "As a musician I have to ask; What's your favourite music? Do you share that interest with Mr Pieknits? (BTW, top marks for having a home with a piano!)" For music I listen to, I answered some in previous post but I've always played music as well. I grew up with it; my father is a guitarist and owned his own guitar shop. His current band even has a Myspace (which amuses me to no end) :) In addition to piano, I play guitar and was in band on clarinet, bass clarinet and cymbals in the drumline. So I play a lot of classical (penchant for pieces in the minor key, heh) with a little bit of musicals thrown in. Mr. PieKnits loves music but does not (Yet!) play - working on guitar and piano however. :)

Shelly asks "How long have you been knitting?" (Ooops missed this one last time!) Started sometime in February of 2005.

Phoebe asks "How did you learn to spin? Book, class, dvd? I'm dying to learn!" Haha, I don't know if I've really learned yet! I started learning on the spindle from the internet (w/ videos) and from library books. After I got my wheel I knew I really needed to see it demonstrated in person - so I went to Yarn School. I highly recommend it!

Anamarie asks "Do you stash, or do you buy yarn for each new project as you go?" Um, kinda a combo of both? I buy yarn only for a planned project, but sometimes that's rather in "advance" so it's stashed until then.

Red Sometimes asks "Where do you find the time needed to focus on knitting?" It's an ongoing effort isn't it? Usually I just fit it in whenever I'm not occupied with something else. Major times are end of the evening TV watching, sitting with the boy half while he plays Xbox, car riding, and in the kitchen while waiting for things (water boil, etc). Oh- and I day dream a lot through out the day. ;)

Jason asks "What is the air speed velocity of a coconut laden swallow?" An African or European swallow?

Elizabeth asks "If you were stuck in an alternate universe and could only knit one pattern for the next 10 years (I won't say the rest of your life, cause that would just be too overwhelming to contemplate) what would it be?" Wow- tough question! First thing that pops in my mind would probably be my Topi pattern. I'm slightly cheating here with a versatile pattern. It can really be done with any yarn/gauge and one could invent all kinds of stitch pattern variations. Plus it's a nice mix of dpn, circular and flat knitting with easy and trickier parts.

Turtle asks "When planting flowers which flower first catches your interest and which colors do you tend to lean towards?" Interesting question! I think I tend toward the more unusual or exotic and deep vibrant colors (purples, reds or whites).

Natalie asks "How long does it usually take for you to turn an idea into a finished, knitted piece?" You know, I really have Absolutely No Idea. And I've wondered often enough myself that I've been thinking of stopwatch timing my next project! Between so many variables and other projects going on I'm never really sure.

Jeanie asks "I am deathly afraid of making mistakes in knitting because I don't really know how to "frog" other than taking out the needles and undoing the work. How do you frog and still be able to pick up all your stitches without losing them? Or when you might do a crossed over type of stitch?" If I were to teach beginning knitting it would go: knit, purl, basic inc/dec then how to frog/tink and fix stitches! Nothing I have learned has been more liberating than this. I'd recommend really becoming comfortable picking up a dropped stitch with a crochet hook. Now that I am, I usually just pull out the needles and rip back without much fear of loosing a few stitches. However, when working on Liquid Silver the yarn was so slippery (with long rows) that dropped stitches ran like water. I was going nuts trying to pick them up after ripping when it dawned on me, duh- I could run an afterthought "life line" through the row I wanted to rip back to. Then all my stitches would be sitting safely for me after frogging. For undoing a small amount (like one or two rows) "TINKing" is probably easiest.

Kyla asks "Do you day-dream about your next baking creation when knitting or your next knitting creation when baking?" This literally made me laugh out loud! I had never thought about it but you're absolutely right- I do both. :) I think both are the type of activity where you can let you mind just kind of wander over all matter of things- good thinking time!

Juliana asks "Knitting in summer, how do you pull it off in that heat?" Um, I don't knit outside? Ha, honestly in our house most of the downstairs is all tiled and it keeps it very cool. Plus I'm one of those people that are always cold in A/C so the knitting with wool is never a problem. (It's finding days to wear it that's another issue.)

Margaret asks "Do you have real live knitting buddies, or does the sharing and enjoyment of your knitting world mostly take place with us - your virtual buddies?" For the longest time I didn't know any "real live" knitters. When I started it was on a whim and we hadn't lived here long so I didn't know many people. I finally decided that needed to change and started searching out groups. I remember at my first Dallas Hand Knitters Guild meeting I had never heard the word "skein" spoken aloud- I'd been saying it in my head wrong! ha. Unfortunately I don't make it out as much as I'd like so most is through virtual. :)

Miss T asks "What's your favorite kind of pie?" Actually, until more recently I used to not care for fruit pies. I love some french silk in chocolate or peanut butter though!

Alison Valtin asks "Do you have any secrets for perfect pie crust? I made a rhubarb pie last week, and it was yummy, but I can't manage a flaky crust with any regularity." I'm certainly not an accomplished pie maker but it seems the absolute minimum you handle the dough the better. Things such as rolling only once and even crimping the edges will toughen it.

Cassandra asks "Where do you find the time to be so crafty? Do other things suffer as a result? (ok that was 2 questions... but they are related!)" It really must all be relative- I think I don't get to half as much stuff as other people I see! :) But I do really work at finding a balance that my hobbies don't interfere (too much) with other responsibilities. I have slightly obsessive tendencies, hehe. Again, this is where Mr. PieKnits helps me out immensely. Basically I just work on my projects whenever everything else that needs to be done is done- or it's late enough to be just relaxing. (I don't feel guilty not vacuuming at 11pm and knitting instead you know?)

Sharon asks "Is there one particular craft you've been dying to try?" I'm kind of scared to take on anything completely new and add another! But I've really wanted to do a few fun cross stitch projects for some time now. I've done several when I was much younger but have only dabbled in recent years.

rockbridge asks "Your FO pics are always wonderful and i always notice not only your knits, but how clean and tidy your house is - how do you do it??" Got married to my husband. Haha, I'm kidding- well kind of. He's far tidier than I naturally am. That and moving to this city a few years back with only what fit in our cars- lot less stuff!

Aisling asks "Do you have a favorite (or least favorite) color to work with?" I'm not really a pastel kinda gal and I prefer my pink in more ironic doses. Sometimes the magazines/book editors send me colors I wouldn't necessarily choose myself but I enjoy being given the opportunities to branch out. I try to keep an open mind!

Love asks "What is your favorite ever food to cook/bake??" My really unoriginal answer is probably cookies. (Hard to say if that's process or result driven though, ha). But since I was a kid I've always loved doing fun and highly decorative pieces. On holidays I'd make stuff little edible turkeys and snowmen out of cookies and candies, stuff like that. I guess it's kind of like crafting with food.

Carishma asks "Non-knitting related - have you been to India? What do you think?" Well the first question is easy- Yes! As for the second it's always difficult to put into words. Before we went for our wedding I was excitedly looking at travel blogs and was a bit annoyed that most seemed to simply say "You have to go and experience it yourself." Now after I've been I find myself giving the same unsatisfactory answer. :) There are not enough words to describe the vibrant, wonderful extreme mix that is India. I'll try with: wonderful, crazy, fascinating, exhausting, exciting, frustrating, amazing, overwhelming, and so cool all at once.

RR asks "You are into a lot of Crafts. Is there any kind of craft that you don't like (Something like nahhhh)or something you think is not your cuppa tea" I don't see any scrapbooking in my future given that I've yet to even stick our wedding photos into an album. Then again it might be a good skill to pick up!

And yes, I have actually been knitting too. What? Swatching away for Classic Elite's spring line of yarns- pretty no?

 Posted by Jen at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Now as I've said many a time, I do love my cables. However it wasn't until knitting on a particularly cramped plane once that I suddenly became self aware enough to realize I was sticking my cable needle (and extra double point for that matter) in my mouth when not in use. Oh.
So what to do with it?

I know many rave about cabling without a cable needle and I do it for 1x1 cables sometimes but generally it's just not for me. (I end up feeling I'm strangling rather than working the cables). I like working fast though and all other methods have fallen short (sticking behind the ear- long hair bad idea / in the knitting - it falls out, split stitches / setting it down- the invisible gnomes abscond with it, etc).

With Mother Necessity nudging me, I set my mind to inventing a solution. I wanted a method that didn't require letting go of the knitting and liked a similar idea to the wrist pin cushion. After a few failed prototypes this is what I came up with and Eureka, it works perfectly!

This cable needle holder is worn like a ring on any finger that's comfortable. The elastic loop performs double duty as a button loop closure and holds the cable needle securely under tension. The cable needle is slipped in and out as needed without having to let go of the working yarn or needles.

What You Need (or what I used anyway):

• 2 1/2" long piece of round cord elastic
• 4" x 7/8" piece of fabric (approximately)
• Matching sewing thread
• One 1/2" button (with a shank strongly preferred)

If you'd like, you can print out this template for the fabric. First fold and press your hems, your final size should be 3" x 5/8". This final size is what matters, not the hem allowance. (Also, does pressing my folds with my hair straightener instead of the huge industrial iron make me a total freak?)

I used the fabric selvedge here as it was a little sturdier for attaching the elastic.

View from the right side. Note: if you have thin fingers (smaller than size 6), or would like to wear this on your pinky I'd recommend making the piece shorter.

Next fold the piece of elastic in half and secure it to the inside hem fabric making sure not to go through both layers. It's pictured here half unfolded on the right side. I found lashing down both ends by wrapping the thread around everything a few times help to initially secure it. Then work up and over each end in a figure 8 fashion being sure to pierce through the elastic a few times until it's nice and secure.

If you have greater finesse with a sewing machine than I, topstitch around all the edges to secure hem. Otherwise hand sew with backstitch.

Finally, sew on your button. If not using the recommended shank type button be sure you make a good strong thread shank. (You will be putting a lot a repeated tension on this closure.)

Now you're ready to zoom through your next cabling project!
I'm really rather fond of mine and happily wear it simply as jewelry. Definitely more stylish if forgotten than a needle behind the ear (or in the other stow-away place I’ve heard of- the cleavage)!

 Posted by Jen at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (27)