The middle part of a journey....

 

Today is a very important election day in the USA. The outcome of this election day will affect me and everyone else on this planet in some way or another. I am trying to be optimistic and believe in goodness, human decency, truth, and kindness, but our human history is convincing me otherwise. I have to admit I am scared of what will happen. Watching the news as stores are boarding up their windows in anticipation of violence and riots is rather depressing. The pandemic that we have been living through for the past several months is raging and seems unstoppable. I cannot help but think of my family and their experiences throughout their lives. My grandmother was one of approximately twelve millions of people who were forced labor during the World War II. She has survived and met my grandfather during that time. My mother had lived through the military occupation of our country and watched the army stay for 21 years while trying to raise her family. I guess my life has been rather easier in comparison. At the time when they were young they lived through forced labor and occupation, while I lived through the fall of Berlin Wall and Velvet Revolution. I have experienced the optimism and euphoria of freedom after the cold war. It kinds of make me wonder what my child will experience and I truly hope that there is a bright future for all of us. 

In some way today reminds me of the middle part of a fairytale. The time of tryout and testing, the time when the hero or heroine has to do the required task to reach the goal and overcome the villain. Unlike fairytales when we know the outcome, when we know that the good prevails and the villains are punished, in the real world we are not guaranteed that outcome. We might not have the happy forever fairytale ending. But we sure must try and hope for the best. 

On my part I will continue the journey and hope. 

As for my fairytale inspired knitting journey, you can see the little bread crumbs I left behind and follow...

The beginning

Winter Trees

Frances

Cat Pin Cushion

Witch's Hat

Frog Bag

Broomstick

Baking

And I am off to bake and knit to occupy my mind and hands until next time...

Work in progress

Another week went by.
I stayed at home. I baked. I cooked. I cleaned. I did laundry. I cooked. I cleaned. I cooked more. I baked. I read. I played with yarn and knitted. I took the dog for a walk. I took the dog for another walk. I talked to my mom on Skype. I took a lot of pictures, of nature, garden, our dog, knitting.  Etc, etc.

Baking week VIII

Pictured are Linzer cookies, Ginger Bread, Sourdough Bread, Panna Cotta, Sourdough Bread, Dandelion Honey, Sourdough bread, Sourdough Bread, Sourdough Bread. 
In some ways it might seem like a very limited entertainment, but on the other hand I have ventured into a new territory of sourdough baking. I am at the beginning of the journey and I continue to learn each time I try to make and bake a loaf of bread.  As you can see in my collage of baking I have baked quite a few loafs of bread. Each was slightly different and I learned something each time I baked the bread.

Dandelion Honey

I also made Dandelion honey. I remember it as a special treat my mom and grandmother used to make in the spring. It feels as if each jar is filled with childhood memories, sweet and tender.
Under the normal circumstances, I would never be able to make this. It is time consuming. Collecting the dandelions (carefully picked up flower heads, with enough behind to leave for the insect to feed on), simmering in water, allowing the aroma and flavors to intensify.

In my knitting world, the first clue for Leonard and Lola was released. Second clue is coming tomorrow. See my previous post Leonard and Lola, toy mystery KAL how to join the fun.

Leonard and Lola, yarn

We also have a new neighbor. Somewhere in the woods across the street lives a fox family. I keep seeing her and her four babies. It is amazing to watch them play and frolic around, while their momma is out hunting for food. I named her Frances. I managed to capture the fox babies on a video playing around. Even though I keep seeing them almost daily, my phone camera is not good enough to capture a decent close up image of them.  Bellow see the picture I took during one of my walks with the dog.

Fox babies

During these walks, I imagine that Frances is a single mom, busy running around trying to feed her babies. I am not sure if the father is around or what have happened, but this is what I imagine Frances might look like....

Frances and her baby 

And here is their encounter with our dog...

Frances, her baby, and T-Bone

 In the real life their encounter would be rather different, and I am making sure that they only see each other from far away.

I will spend this coming week working on the knitting pattern and after the test knitting, and TE is completed the pattern will be available.

Thank you for visiting.

Leonard and Lola, toy mystery KAL

As I mentioned in my previous post, the new toy mystery KAL is about to start.

Leonard and Lola

Leonard and Lola is the new toy mystery KAL, starting with clue one this week. The pattern will be released in four clues with the final pattern available June 9th.
Pictured is the yarn I used for Leonard. I have used Knitpicks Palette, fingering yarn held double. I will be using slightly different yarn (worsted Cascade 220 Superwash) for Lola. I have already knitted another sample about a year ago for a colleague from work. For her sample I used some random worsted weight yarn from my stash, held double to make the toy a bit larger.

More details and the pattern to download is here:
Leonard and Lola

Don't forget to join my group on Ravelry where you can find the coupon code and where you can participate in posting the work in progress pictures and chat with fellow knitters.
Stana's Critters Etc group

In my small stay at home world I continued on my baking adventures path. I baked my tried and successful recipes, some comfort food, and I tried few new thing. After many years of being asked to try and make the sourdough bread I have gone down the rabbit hole of sourdough baking. It is a challenge and I am not sure how successful I have been. I followed the book The Bread Baker's Apprentice  by Peter Reinhart and started my sourdough adventure last Monday morning with the Day one for Seed Culture, I continued with the Barm and yesterday evening we had the first sourdough bread. The sourdough bread didn't rise as much as my usual bread I bake using the commercial yeast, but it tasted good. I guess I just have to continue and I am sure with time and practice the bread will be better and better. Just like with knitting. My first attempts were so much different from what I am knitting these days. And it also took practice and perseverance.

Baking Week VII

 In my collage picture are: My first sourdough breads, Linzer cookies, Bread, Bread (I baked another), Focaccia (This time I added few thing on top to make it more interesting), Bundt Cake, Tortillas (my first time making them from scratch, they taste different from the store bought tortillas, and they were harder to use for Fajitas, but still tasted good), Ginger Bread (my mom's recipe, fast, easy and good tasting), and my Monday adventure of starting the sourdough seed culture, my bread (I baked it three times this week) and our comfort food of Chocolate Brownies (it's so good to bite into a warm, and soft chocolate brownie).

This week proved to be challenging for our garden. Last week we planted two Pear trees, Blueberry, Currant, and Raspberry bushes, and then this weekend we had a freezing temperatures overnight and it snowed. We will not know if the trees will make it through this temperature change and produce some fruit or not until late in the season.

Pear tree bloom

We also had our first crop of the season. We seeded the radishes early in March, in our new cold frame, and now they are maturing, and are ready to be picked and eaten.

Radishes

Yesterday, on my walk with our dog through the neighborhood I looked up and saw for a brief moment this wonderful heart shaped cloud.

Heart shaped cloud

I see this as a sign of hope, that we as humans will make it through this pandemic and learn to be better and kinder to each other and to the Earth especially.

Thank you for visiting.

Work in Progress and new toy mystery KAL

Another week went by. I am not sure anymore how long I have been at home, not going to my work and not receiving a real paycheck. I am not complaining. We are lucky, so far we are healthy and my husband continues to receive his paycheck and our bills are covered so far. Life is good.
According to my weekly baking pictures I have been baking six weeks already. This week was a rather adventurous. I tried for the first time to make croissants from scratch. It was a success. I also baked brioche bread. I used the middle class brioche recipe from the book  The Bread Baker's Apprentice, by Peter Reinhart. And of course I returned to some of my favorite comfort foods and desserts.

Pictured are: Salmon Cakes, Croissants, Brioche Bread and Buns, Bread (though this time it baked in a funny shape, mushrooms?), my mom's Crepe's recipe, Fruit Salad (it is a dessert though not baked), Apple Strudel, Chocolate filled Croissants, Brownies.

baking week VI

In the knitting world I managed to finish a work for a third party. I cannot post pictures until after the publication goes live, but I really enjoyed knitting this project.
I also made the Mask Buddy to help with wearing the face mask and I started to work on our next toy mystery KAL. Later this week I will post more details in my Ravelry Group and add the pattern to Ravelry. I have named them Leonard and Lola, but I might change my mind.  Pictured  is the yarn I am using for my Leonard and Lola.

May Toy Mystery KAL

Mask Buddies

Across the street we have a new family. Fox mama and her cubs are living somewhere in this small piece of wood that is surrounded by houses and we are so lucky to be able to see the fox family from time to time.
I am trying to capture the little foxes on my camera, but my phone camera is not good enough to zoom in and my real camera still uses film and I have not use the camera in a long time, and it seems to be harder and harder to actually find a place where the films are still developed.  As you can see foxes are one of my favorite animals to use in my knitting patterns.

Thank you for visiting.

Baking through the pandemic

We are living through some very interesting and difficult times. 

When I was growing up as a child I lived through practicing for nuclear war. We learned to walk in gas mask, raincoat, and plastic bags on our hands and feet to be protected from nuclear fallout. 

Then I lived through the fall of Berlin Wall and Velvet Revolution. I saw the world open up and be free.

Now I live through the world pandemic. I hope that we will make it through alive and healthy.

My work is non essential and I am staying home until my work reopen at some point in the future. 

As a way to keep myself busy with other things than house choirs, cleaning, doing laundry, and to provide food for my family I bake. I have been baking a lot these past weeks and I have sneaked in some pictures of my baking attempts.

Oreo cookie

Some were successful, and some were less. As the weeks go by, I keep trying new things, new recipes, things that takes days from start to finish. In a way it is like knitting. You start with the simple projects, and as you learn you try more adventurous knitting techniques. Sometimes you still return to those familiar projects that are fast, quick, and favorites. Sometimes you try something new.

Week I

Week II

Week III

Week IV

Week V

Pictured 

Week I: Monkey Bread, Bread, Chocolate Banana Walnut Cookies, Bundt Cake, Calzones, Blueberry Muffins

Week II: Blueberry-lemon Bread, Rohliky (Czech Bread Rolls), Herb Cheddar Scones, Strudel with cheese filling, Corn Bread, Bread, Brownies, Apple Strudel

Week III: Apple Strudel, Carrot Cake, Potato Pancakes, Cinnamon Buns with Maple Frosting, Bread, My mom's Crepes, Bread

Week IV: My mom's Crepes, Kale Corn and Jalapeno Muffins, Brownies, Focaccia, Bread, Croutons 

Week V: Linzer Cookies, Dog's Cookies, Leaf Shaped Fougasse Bread, Rohliky (Czech Bread Rolls), Bread, Ginger Bread (my mom's recipe), Two Layers Pizza, Panna Cotta, Future Croissants (dough after the third roll and fold)

Croissants - the beginning

 I have a book "Baking with Julia" written by Dorie Greenspan. Sometimes I look through it and one of the recipes that always caught my eye was the recipe for the Croissants. I have read the recipe so many times, yet I never tried to bake them. It is time consuming and previously my weekends were filled with choirs, housework, laundry, while trying to squeeze in some fun and relaxing stuff as well. This past weekend I finally decide to try and bake the croissants from scratch.

Croissants - WIP

I started on Saturday when I made the dough. Sunday morning I made the butter part and then spend the day rolling and folding the dough and butter together. This morning I rolled out the dough and made the croissants and baked them. I still have the second half of the dough to work on. I have to admit, the croissants turned out good. Would I bake them again? I am not sure. It was a lot of work, and like with knitting, sometimes it's good just to try something new.  

Croissants 

Thank you for visiting.

Work in progress

The toy mystery KAL for Cherie, Stella, or Brooke is more then half way through. I just uploaded the third clue of this fun knit a long. You can still join us on Ravelry.
So far it went from this

Beginning

 to this, after clue 1

clue 1

to this, after clue 2

clue 2

Also here is a picture of another week of baking....
pictured my mom's recipe crepes, Kale, corn, and jalapeno muffin (something new to try), favorite chocolate brownies, focaccia (it took two days to make it from scratch to finally try it), bread, and croutons from the leftover bread.

Thank you for visiting.

Work in progress...

Fox Pillow

Over the past week I have been taking pictures of my dog with the Fox pillow. Apparently it is his favorite pillow to sleep on.  It is quite entertaining to watch him sleep. And yeas I have been stuck in the house for about a month, so my entertainment is rather limited.....but I am not complaining. We are still alive, and breathing. Life is good.

Fox Pillow 

I also baked and cooked a lot. Normally I don't have that much time to cook or bake, but life is rather strange these days and I do enjoy the process of baking, or cooking. Though I dislike to clean up all those dishes afterwards. Pictured here are: Apple Strudel, Carrot Cake (we have a birthday to celebrate), potato pancakes, cinnamon buns with maple frosting, bread, Bundt cake, my mom's version of crepes, bread (I baked it twice this week).

week of baking III

Also, there is a storm coming our way and we might loose power and internet for few days. I guess we might be camping at home for our spring break.  If we loose the power I will not be able to update the second clue on time, therefore I have updated the pattern earlier.
For a moment we already lost the power. It came back, but who knows for how long. Stay safe, and have fun knitting.

T-Bone working on clue 1 :)

Thank you for visiting.

Toy Mystery KAL Cherie, Stella, or Brooke

Cherie, Stella, or Brooke

Life is strange these days. I hope that this fun toy mystery KAL will give you something else to think about and occupy your hands and mind.
Join us for this fun mystery KAL in my group on Ravelry
Stana's Critters etc

The pattern will be released in three parts, on these dates:
April 8th - first clue
April 15th - second clue
April 22nd - third clue
April 29th - final pattern.

Here is the link to the pattern:

Cherie, Stella, or Brooke

To get the pattern for free, join my group on Ravelry, and use the coupon code Hope during the checkout.  The code is valid during the mystery KAL.

Have fun knitting.

In my last blog post I have posted a collage picture of my baking through this time of distress. I have continued this week with more baking, as always some baking adventures were more successful than others.

Pictured are: Blueberry-lemon bread, rohliky (Czech bread rolls), Herb- cheddar scones, Strudel with cheese filling, corn bread, bread, brownies, apple strudel.
I am not sure what I will bake next week....the options are endless

Work in progress

Another week went by.
We are alive and breathing. Just few weeks ago it would seem strange to think about such a simple act as to breath in, and breath out. But that was few weeks ago. Now life is different.

I realized that I have been baking a lot over the past two weeks. I guess it's a way to feel like I am in control over something.  It all taste good and delicious, even though some of my baking attempts were less successful then others. Pictured here are Monkey Bread, Bread, Chocolate Banana Walnut Cookies, Bundt Cake, Calzone, Blueberry Muffins.

week of baking

I also managed to finish a project I have been working on over the past month. The knitting pattern is at the TE hands and will be available later this month. In the meantime here is a preview of my Fox Pillow.

Fox Pillow

I also started to play with yarn and work on our next toy mystery KAL. I will create the pattern page over the weekend and our fun toy mystery KAL should start next week. Here is a picture of the yarn I picked from my stash.

toy mystery KAL

Thank you for visiting.

Life as a work in progress...continues

heart

Today is Friday the 13th.
Life continues in a strange way. The world is trying to cope with the Coronavirus pandemic and I have to admit, I am scared.
I worry about my mom who lives alone across the ocean, and I cannot help her from here. It has always been difficult, but it seems impossible now with the travel ban, and borders closing. I talk to her every day and I am so thankful for the technology and all the possible way to communicate.
I hope that she will make it through and we will have another chance to see each other in person and I will be able to hold her in my arms.
Our everyday life here is changed. Schools have been cancelled, activities postponed. All of this have been done to help to slow down the spread of the Coronavirus.
To keep myself busy and distracted from everything that is happening, aside of spending plenty of hours with our dog, and knitting, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. It seems to me that baking is one of the ways I cope with stress, aside of yoga, and knitting.
Today I baked Banana bread. The recipe I use is from a dear friend of mine, and to keep things simple I use the same Bundt cake form for many of my baking recipes.

Banana Bread

Aside of baking, I also spent my afternoon outside and enjoyed the nice weather. The dog was tired from his nice long hike in the woods, and I got to watch my kid play, and knit few rounds on sample for one of my new knitting patterns.

WIP

Thank you for visiting.