Now Norma Knits

Well, I Won't Be Going To Harvard Law Any Time Soon

I know this with certainty, because I know that I ran out of time in the logic games section and just filled in all the remaining bubbles as "D" (there is no penalty for wrong answers, so it behooves one to guess if need be) after the five-minute warning was given (and before the clock ran out). And "all D's" is not for Hahvud. 

And I am sure glad that the essay section is not graded, because mine was pure shite. It was the end of the long day, my brain was mush, I hate writing out in longhand (in No. 2 pencil, no less), and I was so exhausted by that point that I hardly felt that I could lift my arms, let alone with the extra weight of a pencil in one hand and the extra effort of trying to string two sentences together in any sort of coherent thought. But the rest seemed not unreasonable. I cannot hazard a guess as to my score, but I am just masochistic enough to think it was fun. There were some interesting characters there (my fellow test-takers), some fun interactions, and even some schmoozing. 

I couldn't have asked for a better testing environment -- it was a nice facility, I had lots of room to spread out my stuff, a comfortable chair, it was well lit, and nobody had a fit or coughed (much) or sniffled or tapped their pencils or wore eau de Glade air freshener (see this post if you don't know what I mean), or any other such nonsense that might have made it a miserable testing experience.

When I got home I carbo loaded at a local Italian restaurant and came home to have Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream topped with ginger vodka to celebrate, found Mr. Jefferies to be in an especially sweet and charming and cuddly mood, learned that there was a ton of crazy-mad activity (of the good kind) in the Knitspot Emergency Red Scarf Knitalong, that there is the promise of cheesecake on Monday from AnnaMarie, and my funky lengthwise striped seed stitch scarf on the needles proved to be an agreeable companion for the evening. 

Thank you for all your positive vibes and nice messages. You guys here and in Facebook are some kind of awesome.

The score will be available in 3-4 weeks. If it's too humiliating, I might not tell you what it is...or maybe I will. It'd be a character builder, eh?

Send Good Test-Taking Vibes

Today is the day.

I don't know what I'm going to do with this -- whether I'll take any next steps. I suppose if I do very well, that will help me decide. If I do poorly, that will probably help as well. All indications in the pretests are that I'm going to be right smack in the middle, right at the top of the bell curve. Unless something unusual happens either way in the actual testing environment, that's probably where I'll land, which will help me make decisions about any next steps NOT.IN.THE.LEAST. But either way, I will have done it, and that is just what I set out to do. The preparation has been fun and stimulating. I think I have done a fairly good, focused, and methodical job of it. It's been good food for my brain. And the process of sitting in the exam room, well, if it doesn't kill me, it will make me stronger. 

And so we will just see. I'll try to do you proud, and not just freeze or go brain-dead or something.

It Bears Repeating

Between knitting my own scarves, trying to make a living, trying to raise a granddog Yorkie into the wonderdog I know he can become, monitoring the Red Scarf Fund donations and prizes, monitoring and cheerleading in the many blog spaces and Ravelry spaces with regard to the Red Scarves, answering the many questions that all those things generate, trying to hang onto my good health, and getting ready to take the LSAT (just for the hell of it) on Saturday, I will admit to this: I'm feeling just a bit overwhelmed. I feel like I must sound like a broken record, droning on and on about it all, and because I've written so much about this project over the years, I feel like there can't be yet one more thing I have not said or one more lingering question.

I realize that's because I'm hideously self-centered and I figure that each and every one of you has read, digested, memorized and clung to every word I've ever written in my blog for six years. 

I am reminded daily (hourly!) that to many folks this is an entirely new project, and I am a blogger that they've never heard of as well. Gone are the halcyon days when there were, oh, maybe 100 bloggers, and *I* was one of the newbies, and everyone knew everyone. Now there are 200 million bloggers and 65 and a half trillion people on Ravelry, many of whom have never even heard of a blog, or if they have heard of them, they have negative-2-on-a-scale-of-1-to-10 interest in them. In other words, WE'RE DINOSAURS. I'm reminded of a memory that is a source of repeated belly laughs for me and my friend Leigh, with whom I have attended every New York Sheep & Wool (and a couple of Marylands) for the past six years. 

Two years ago, when Ravelry was in its relative infancy, but it had grown exponentially over the year previous, Sandy, Leigh and I were walking the grounds of Rhinebeck wearing our Ravelry ID badges. People would see the Ravelry buttons and rush up to other people to read their names, "Who are you? Who are you?" "Norma."  "Hm," one person said, looking me in the eye, squinting a bit. "Never heard of you." My friends and I laughed and really rather loved it, because this was an almost 180-degree turnaround to what might have happened to us just the year before. Then it would be, "Oh, Norma! Leigh! Sandy!" 

We had our moment in the sun, and it was eclipsed. We had become passé in just a year or two. It was kind of nice, actually. Much more relaxing a way to spend one's festival. 

But worse (or better?) than the "I've never heard of you" comment was the one that was addressed to Leigh, a little bit later that same day: "Are you someone important?" asked the questioner who had rushed over not to really see Leigh, but to see her nametag and find out if, yes indeed, she was someone IMPORTANT. 

Hello?  

Anyhoo. We can't stop laughing. Let me just share with you: Leigh has a design or two on Knitty. She has a blog that's been around longer than my blog, and has a much bigger subscriber list than mine. The thing is, her life's gotten so busy that she's not updating her blog much anymore. She's moved on. Me, I'm still clinging to it. But yes, indeed, she is important. 

And so are these folks:

 Photo used with permission of Gale Zucker -- Well, at least the first time I used it in a blog post she gave me her permission. I'm quite sure she will this time, too.

If you are new to my blog or new to this project, you might want to read this post. Or if you have been around all along and have digested, memorized and clung to my every word, you might just want to read it again.

And if you have questions about the guidelines, and why there are guidelines or whatnot that are not answered on the Orphan Foundation website, please peruse my Red Scarf blog or my Red Scarf Project category for reams and reams of clear and concise explanations. And the occasional rant. 

That's Gale and me in New Hampshire, on the day we first met, in January of 2007. It was the coldest day of the year (I swear!) and we met two delightful OFA students at one of their colleges, heard their stories, and photographed red scarves. 

 

In internet time, that is approximately 149 years ago. But Gale and I are both still here, plugging the Red Scarf goodness.

Be Sure To Have Your Seatbelt Fastened

We have a couple of new el primo prizes to add to the prize pool for the Red Scarf Fund fundraiser, and there is a new winner.

As Seen In Vogue Knitting, S. Kate has made us a set of these stunning copper and sterling silver stitch markers.  

SpindleCat Studio Handmade Copper and Sterling Stitch Marker Set
As seen on pp.10-11 in Vogue Knitting magazine - Fall 2009

6 - Copper 5-lobed Swirls, US8
6 - Copper rings, US8
6 - Sterling Silver rings, US8
6 - Copper rings, US6
6 - Sterling Silver rings, US6
4 - US4/US6 Rosy Hammered Copper Dual Duty
7 - US4/US6 Bright Copper Dual Duty

41 markers total, all corralled on a handmade hammered copper pin keeper. 

I am breathless at their intricate beauty, and so thrilled that Kate has donated these to our cause. And a bit of trivia re: the level of “handmadeness” of Kate's work – even the cord on her marker tag is her own handspun hand dyed silk.

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And Alisha is making me cry. This is so gorgeous I almost can't stand it. I can't win this, but one of you lucky, lucky people will:

Harvest Chocolate is mostly a brown that tends toward orange and red. Chocolate in the sunset, wheat in moonlight, crusty bread and a well-loved Teddy bear come to mind looking at this yarn.

Fling Silk Fingering is 100% silk, but it isn't oil-slick shiny. Instead, it is lustrous, the colors shift and shimmer, and it feels good wrapped around your body. Each skein weighs 3.5 ounces and is 400+ yards of yummy, rich color.

I'm sort of hitting myself over the head over this. Alisha made the offer for me to choose something from her shop for the prize pool, and instead of being smart and just buying this molten chocolate gorgeousness, I said I'd like this to be in the prize pool. STUPIDMESTUPIDMESTUPIDME 

If you haven't already donated, please do so today:  

It's been sooo heartening to see all the bloggers helping to spread the word and encourage people to knit scarves. The knitalong in the Knitspot Ravelry group has been especially enthusiastic and productive in a short time (Join today! She has prizes, too!). I'm constantly reading in the forum in there that people are surprised at how quickly their scarves are progressing and how much they can actually accomplish when they put their minds to it, and/or how they are realizing how quickly a few rows here and there -- while waiting for the tea kettle to boil, while waiting for something to upload on the computer, while waiting at a red light, while waiting in the doctor's office waiting room, while waiting for the pasta to cook -- can really add up. 

To wit, in my case, for example:

My number five scarf is now half done. I have come to love the colors. I wish I had done a straight knit row where it joins from saffron to blue, so that line would be smoother, but then I kind of like those gold seeds popping up in the blue field. I guess it's all good.

Also, please think about joining the (two overlapping, in a funny turn of events) Red Scarf Groups in Ravelry. And if you can't do a scarf now, please think about it the next time you are purchasing yarn or see yarn on sale, or need to fill up your online shopping cart in order to qualify for free shipping. Throw in a few skeins of DK red (or other unisex color) yarn with next year's Red Scarf Project in mind, and when you need a mindless project, cast on and knit a simple unisex scarf and hold onto it, so that next year when the time comes, you'll have scarves ready to go.

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And now, drum roll, please.......

LUCIA is the lucky winner of one of the two spectacularly beautiful bison lace yarn kits generously donated from our friends in Prince Edward Island, Fibre-Isle Fine Yarns. Congratulations Lucia, and thank you Jacques and Sylvie, for donating these beautiful kits. There is still one more left to win.

Yogurt in the Crockpot. You Got Questions, I Got Answers

Ann asked, "What's with the powdered milk?"

It adds more body, thickness, flavor, protein and calcium. What's not to love?

Jackie asked, "What are you using for starter?"

I used Stonyfield Farms plain nonfat yogurt. It was just what David happened to buy that day, so it's what was in the refrigerator with the freshest "use by" date. I wanted to use the freshest I could, so that I'd have good strong cultures. I also had some Greek yogurt (sadly not Fage) whose brand I cannot remember. If I didn't have the more-fresh Stonyfield, I would have used that. The Stonyfield is awesome in my book because it contains so many varied cultures. From now on, though, I have my own starter -- I'll just use a bit of my previously made yogurt.  

Sandy asked, "What about sweeteners?"

One reason I want to make my own yogurt is to avoid sweeteners, though I usually do add a teeny bit of maple syrup or honey or homemade jam (rose petal jam, anyone? OMGIT'SAWESOME) to the yogurt I eat. I put a large amount of yogurt in the bowl, and put maybe a teaspoon of one of those things on the top, and sometimes have it with half a banana or a few raisins. This way, though, I can make it a TEENY bit of sweetener to suit my taste, and I can control the amount that goes on there. David always eats his plain. And there is no other crap in the yogurt like gelatin or carageenan or high-fructose corn syrup or, egads, artificial colors. Not that I would buy yogurts that have those things in them, but still.  

Sandy also asked (Sandy had LOTS of questions, and then she went ahead and made her own yogurt, heh), "How did you wrap the towel around the crock pot?"

Well, actually I didn't. I tried to, but I was all fumbly, and I was paranoid that it would catch on fire in the oven or something. I used the oven because: My house is relatively cold, and so I was worried my crock would cool down too fast for proper fermentation if I did not put it in the oven. Bread doesn't rise here anymore unless I jack up the heat especially for it, but then I don't bake bread anymore, so it's not an issue. 

But anyway, here's what I did:  I turned on the oven to preheat it to "warm."  I have no idea what temperature that is for my oven. I turned the oven off. I put the still-warm crock full of milk with culture, with the lid on, inside the now-warm oven, and turned on the light to the oven. Then I went to bed. It just so happens that I had to get up before dawn the next morning (4 a.m.) because Abigail had to catch a plane, and that was the same time I wanted to take out my yogurt (6 hours' worth of fermentation was my goal), so it all worked out well. Next time I will start my yogurt early in the morning and be done before bedtime. But anyway, when I went to get it, I felt like that oven was HOT, even with just that light bulb on all night. And I was nervous that I had killed the culture. But nope, the yogurt was perfect and I hope the cultures are still alive. I won't know for sure, I guess, until I use them for my next batch (which will probably be today or tomorrow) and see if the cultures are still alive.

What I learned: This process is super-easy and relatively foolproof. For example, the original linked post where I got the recipe and info said to leave the crock with the lid on for something like 3 hours to cool down from 180 to 120 degrees F before putting in the culture. It had already taken my milk much longer than the 2 hours 45 minutes they said it would take to heat up to 180 (I used a whole gallon of milk, instead of a half), and so I was getting impatient by that point. I left the lid off, and even stirred the hot milk with a large metal spoon to cool it down more quickly to 120 -- about a half hour or less. And I didn't use the towel around my pot. And I'm not sure what other directions I did not follow, but because it all turned out so well, I am convinced that it is quite foolproof. 

Several people asked, "So that's yogurt. What extra steps do you do to make it Greek yogurt?"

I put a coffee filter inside a mesh strainer and placed it over a bowl. I filled it up with yogurt and let the whey drain off. Voila! Thick Greek-style yogurt. 

No one asked, but I'll answer it anyway:  Do you really save enough money to make it worth the effort?

First of all, there is really no effort. Seriously, it's the easiest thing I think I've ever done in the kitchen except open a can of Diet Pepsi, and it's just soooo much better for me. 

David eats about a gallon of plain yogurt per week. I had been avoiding dairy for many years, because I have those sinus issues that dairy adversely affects. But over the last year I have been cautiously incorporating more and more dairy into my diet again, and so far I seem to be not suffering any ill effects. So as a part of that, I have recently taken a big liking to Fage Greek yogurt. OMG, I've been eating it every day for breakfast. Love it, love it, love it; can't get enough of it. I've been buying it at my health food store, thinking it wouldn't be available at regular supermarkets. Then David noticed it was available, in the medium-sized container, at our supermarket, but he exclaimed at how expensive it was. $5.99 for the medium (only two cups) container. I asked, How much have I been paying for the LARGE container at the health food store, then?  (I'm notoriously bad at checking prices. I just buy and pay. Sometimes I gasp at the checkout counter, but that doesn't stop me from rinsing and repeating the whole process the next time I go in.)  The next time I went to my health food store, I checked the price. HOLY MOTHER OF L. BULGARICUS. Ten freakin' dollars for the large container, which lasts me four days. I guess in the scope of things, since it is so healthy -- very high in protein and calcium and it is REAL FOOD, and it constitutes my breakfast, that $2.50 per breakfast isn't really all that bad.  

BUT STILL.

I bought another gallon of Vermont milk (not certified organic or anything like that, but local milk anyway) for $2.99 the other night, which is really criminally cheap for a gallon of milk, but I digress. We usually pay from 4 to 6 TO TENNNNNNNNN dollars per quart for yogurt. My next FOUR QUARTS are going to cost slightly over $3 for all four. The savings are huge. It is easy and fun, and so why not?!

PLUS, I'M SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT: (ha)

Until they literally fall apart and can't hold yogurt anymore, I'm using the old plastic yogurt containers we had in the house for storing and serving the yogurt. After they die, I will use quart glass mason jars. All I will have to throw away send to the recycling center is one plastic gallon milk jug per week. If I really want to pull out all the stops, I might start buying the Vermont milk in glass returnable bottles. That is more expensive, but it would still be an overall savings. In the meantime, though, I'm sticking with the plastic milk jugs of Vermont milk that I can buy at my local convenience store.

I did use one Mason jar for storing my yogurt this time, and I can't stop looking at the beautiful white creaminess in the Mason jar. It's so beautiful, I'm thinking of just keeping this jar in the refrigerator as a decoration so I can open the door and gaze upon its loveliness any time I want. Good Lord, I'm a cheap date.

So what are you waiting for? Join the Bloggers' Crockpot Yogurt Brigade! (As opposed to the bloggers' CRACKPOT yogurt brigade. That's something different.)