Wool grab bag

Okay, so this is not an affiliate links post, I'm getting absolutely no credit from Jimmy Beans for posting this. This was the first time I've ever ordered a mystery grab bag of any kind [and I've had zero luck with mystery projects...] so I thought I'd post my thing. It's sort of like opening Christmas. I ordered the grab bag because A. it was on sale [41% off!] and B. I was ordering some wool sample balls for another project. So, why not. 

If you live on the west coast, Jimmy Bean's is in Nevada, so it would probably come faster than three days - AND I'M NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT TURN AROUND. They offer free shipping on orders $75 or more every day, so when I order, I try to order $75 of yarn, but this time I had a free shipping coupon code. Yay coupons. 

Also, they have great customer service. Which I feel is important for e-commerce. 

The mystery bag promised
 400g of yarn, a couple notions, a project bag, and a pattern. 

400g of yarn, some notions, and a project bag delivered.

Obviously, not pictured is the pattern. 

Honestly, I probably never would have ever bought cable needles or a wool soak. And I usually make my own project bags, but it's a nice little project bag, and I'll keep it because it's making a direct knitting reference. I'm glad they were upfront about the fiber content - the website says primary fiber is wool, and then where it says specific fiber: varies [this isn't just for the mystery color bag, it's for all of them]. I was a little dubious, fearing that I would get a bag of exclusively wool+acrylic blends, but as soon as I saw the Madelinetosh I knew it wasn't so. I'm a self-proclaimed fiber snob and I was kind of hoping I'd have a bag of exclusively 100% wool to work on this other project I've got, but no matter. The wool blends will be used for charity projects, probably cowls. 

Mitered square blanket

Original publish date, May 18, 2019
This project has outgrown the Basket-of-Currently-Working-On, and lives in one of those folding knitting baskets of yesteryear... and I mean yesteryear, it's turned wood dowels and in all honesty, is at least on its third fabric basket incarnation  - the one I removed because it was literally disintegrating looked to be circa 1970s.  

Back to the knitting project. 
[If you're on Ravelry, here's a link to my project page for this blanket]

Yes, there's a story behind why I started this, but I don't remember what it was. Probably something to do with having leftover bits of worsted wool from projects and not wanting to make a scrap hat/scarf/whatever. A friend cleaning out her stash gave me the natural colored wool, two skeins of Lion Brand's Natural Fisherman's Wool in Oatmeal. She had already used some of it to make wool dryer balls, but I wasn't in the mood to nit-pick over free wool... She had also tried dying said wool a vibrant amethyst purple, which had a negative impact on the wool fibers [you can see an exemplar of that wool sample in the middle row, third square down from the top]. Every few inches the yarn either grew thin or one of the plys had disappeared altogether, needing to be cut and rejoined.  

I started out not actually knitting mitered squares but trying to knit squares as samples of stitches. Which didn't last long, they weren't uniform in size and there were issues with the gauge I was too lazy to work out. 

The squares themselves are fast and easy to knit up. 
Some things that were not easy - 
Remembering that I was using size 6 US needles. [Update, 2/8/2020 - I'm glad I made note of this, it seems I've been condo knitting this project with anything between a 6 and a 9! >_<]
Remembering exactly how many stitches were in each square - 25, if you're curious. 
Remembering which side to begin the cast on so that the little miter ridges aligned - yes, it matters, and I had no idea for the first 4 rows or so what I was doing. 

The squares don't take a lot of yarn, at least knitting up a 3" square with size 6 needles and 25 stitches. I believe my initial thought was to use scraps of wool up but to be honest, I don't have that much wool laying around, and the thought of having this thing laying about unfinished for potentially years was an unpleasant thought. I started looking for scrap ends of wool yarn. 

any idea how hard it is to find scrap ends of yarn? pretty darn. 

Enter [shameless plug] Jimmy Bean's Wool and their 15-yard samples of Malabrigo worsted - and 15 yards is still more than enough for one of these little squares. I've purchased 29 different samples, and I think I'm finally close to maxing out this source of scrap [what am I doing with the leftover leftovers? Turning it into a giant yarn ball...].

Here are some picture updates! Okay. One picture update, one that's really of my cat, but you can sort of see the texture and the colors. I will have to take some close up pictures of some of the squares.  

Marmalade

I have no idea what possessed me to make marmalade. But I did. And, like most things homemade, it tastes amazing.

Pictured (from L - R) are the star ingredients - a tangerine of forgotten origins, a Cara Cara orange, a blood orange, and the inside bits of a second Cara Cara. Plus the saved, julienned rind of another orange (Cara Cara? Navel? IDK) 

A quick Pinterest search pulled up a daunting list of recipes. Without wanting to bore you, dear reader, with stories of my youth connected to orange marmalade, or where I first had it, here is the recipe. Important notes will follow. 

Ingredients:

4 oranges (I used three different kinds to impact the flavor profile)

The julienned rind of four oranges

Juice of half a lemon, plus julienned rind if you feel like it. 

2 cups of white sugar

2 cups (16 oz) of water

1 tbsp vanilla

Materials

Large spoon

Microplane or v. sharp paring knife 

Medium saucepan

V. Sharp paring knife

An immersion blender (optional)

Bowl for peel, fruit pieces 

Citrus mauler or juicer

Candy or another food thermometer (optional)

Timer or favorite time keeping device- I’m a huge fan of Hulu or Netflix (one 45 minute episode is about how much time it will take for the jelly to cook)

Clean Glass jar/jars to store product!

Any necessary canning equipment, such as water bath, canning funnel, et cetera, if you plan to preserve some of this goodness for later. If so, wash jars and bands/ glass lids in hot soapy water, and sterilize. I wash, then throw everything into the canning pot, and let it come to and boil as I prep and cook the ingredients. Bringing the water bath to boil and boiling for 15 minutes usually takes the same amount of time it takes to prep and cook. Also, boiling jars more than 15 minutes never killed anyone. 

*this recipe makes exactly 7 (seven) of the tiny, 1/4 pint Ball jars (that’s like 4oz per jar?)*

Method

*if you are planning to preserve the fruit of your labor, set the water bath up now, with the jars and lids inside with enough water to cover them by two inches, and for heavens sakes, don’t forget to turn the burner on 😉)*

Wash citrus in warm water to help remove any wax (it’s food safe but still. Eww). With a paring knife or Microplane, remove as much of outer rind without white pith as you can. The pith will make your marmalade bitter, so adjust to your own taste. Chop rinds into small segments if you have ribbons, about 1-2 inches long. 

Peel citrus, removing as much of the white pith as you can. Break apart the fruit into its individual petals. Chop fruit into smaller pieces, about 1 inch. Citrus does not need to be separated from the membrane, just remove white pith and seeds. Cut the lemon in half, zest outer rind and add to the orange rind, juice lemon, removing seeds.

Put fruit and water into a saucepan on medium heat. Incorporate sugar one cup at a time, stirring until dissolved. (Or throw it in all at once, but make sure you stir!); add vanilla.

***

At this time, it is important to remember that basically what you are making is a jelly. This takes more time than you might think if you haven’t done it before.

This is where setting a timer or Netflix comes in handy. Set a 45-minute timer or put on a 45-minute episode of something you wouldn't mind watching again and are fairly familiar with already. For me, this could be an episode of Star Trek, Firefly, the early seasons of NCIS or the BBC's Father Brown or Death in Paradise [crime drama much?]. The length of the show [45 minutes] is about how long it's going to take for the sugars and fruit to gel, maybe a little longer, and if you're anything like me, standing and stirring molten sugar water for 45 minutes gets boring. The thermometer is also handy, as jelly happens at 220* F. The jelly needs to be stirred or it will scorch, hence the familiar story.

Once the marmalade has reached 220*, it's ready! If not canning, funnel into a quart-size glass jar and cap. Let cool before refrigerating. [why glass? it doesn't leech chemicals when exposed to heat, unlike plastic]

If canning, ladle into glass jars one at a time; wipe rim, place lid and secure ring, replacing in water bath. Process for 15 minutes. Remove jars and listen for that magical pop sound; check that lids have sealed by examining the lid's dimple. If it's down, you're good. Anything that did not seal will have to be reprocessed or put in the refrigerator.  I didn't have 7 containers, I planned for 6, so I hastily cleaned a small glass jar that had pesto in it, and funneled the last bits of the marmalade into it. Paddington Bear would be proud.

If you're still confused, check out Alton Brown's marmalade instructions - his recipe will make more than mine, but he actually teaches you to cook, and tells you what to look for.