My Knitting Adventures – Socks 3A

I really love knitting socks.  Working on pair 3 AND 4 at the same time!  I had stalled on pair 3 and started on pair 4 at knitting group one week and have continued to switch back and forth.

This is sock 3A

Pair number three, first sock (Sock 3A)

The yarn is a cotton/nylon blend called Lagoon from Sara’s Colorwave yarns.    I purchased some crochet cotton from her in the past and was impressed with the quality of the base thread and her dyeing skills.  It was VERY reasonably priced – anytime I can get enough yarn for a pair of socks in size huge from one skein of yarn for less than $10 I am going for it!

Closeup of the yarn under my "daylight" lamp

I know the socks look kind of odd-shaped but that is what it takes to fit my feet.   They are a teeny bit short- about two more rows and they would be perfect.  Socks 3B are past the heel but I’m not happy with the sloppy way I did the heel turn.  A heel turn is not the time to watch a show you actually pay attention to.  Frogging is in the future.  The very near future.  Yuk.  But rather frog than SEE those holes (both of them…LOL) or know they are there.

I’ve been wanting to try some summer yarns – it gets pretty hot in Florida and I wore my first pair of wool blend socks and my feet were HOT.  And it isn’t really summer yet!  We have a couple of weeks before the night temps go above 85…LOL.  Cotton fiber socks are an option and I am aware that cotton yarns have the rep that they stretch all out of shape but I’m hoping the nylon in these will help hold the shape.

I did the ribbing for these sport socks in the same size needle as the rest of the sock – size US zero and it is much too loose.  I had a JoAnn’s coupon and bought the Susan Bates set of DPNs in sock sizes.  The 00 size will be used for the ribbing for socks 3B and if I like it better, guess what – I’ll rip out the ribbing on socks 3A and redo with the small needles. And then find circular needles in 00.  I can use DPNs but like circs MUCH better.

Some may think the ripping is excessive but I am learning more and more about knitting each time I try something, rip,  and then try something else.  The Toe-Up Gusseted Heel from Maia has been a fantastic heel and I can almost do it without looking at the instructions.  Not quite, but almost.  When studying sock construction I kept finding wrap and turn methods but they seemed…fiddly…to me.  Maia’s heel was straightforward and simply slipping the first stich allowed me to yank up the stitch tight to eliminate the holes.  Most of the time.  When I am paying attention to the knitting and not watching an episode of Chuck online.

eBay Postcard – Aquababe of St Petersburg

“Donna Jean Allcorn, one of the famous Aquababes of St Petersburg, builds sand castles on the Spa Beach in downtown St Petersburg.”  Click HERE to go to the ebay listing!

This card fascinated me.  A cute blond child playing in the sand on the beach.  I spent many an hour doing just this – playing in the sand, building castles on the beach.

I was interested that the name of the person was included.  I did find that in 1949 she was a flower girl in a wedding reported in the society pages of the St. Pete paper.

Aha…found another article and picture of her (sadly too dark to make out the details) as a Bahama Babe during a water carnival at the Bahama Shores Yacht Association.  She was costumed as a clown!

In 1950 there was a showing of the Warner Bros. Technicolor featurette “Wish You Were Here” and she is listed as having a part, again as one of the Bahama Babes.  The same article lists a couple of names as Aqua Belles, possibly the older members of the group?

How unusual it is to find a postcard with the name of the model on the reverse.  I wonder if she was a local legend.  What a treat!  I’m hoping someone that knows her or her famly sees the postcard on ebay and it can go to a home where it is appreciated for the bit of personal history it represents.

Amish Friendship Bread part 2

The AFB keeps growing and multiplying.  I only feed it once a week now and it appears sufficient to keep the little yeasties viable and making some GOOD pancakes!

The first pancakes I made from the AFB were the traditional way in a frying pan but I was standing there for quite some time.  Took FOREVER.  I could make cake or muffins only standing at the counter long enough to mix and clean up but hate to turn on the oven for an hour and heat up the kitchen.

Then I had the brilliant idea of getting out the Oster Sandwich Maker.  It was advertised years ago to use with sliced bread, tortillas, or corn muffin mix and will make triangle-shaped mini pizzas, fruit pie-things, muffins, or quesadillas.  The limit is your imagination.

Makes really good pancakes!  And mucho faster than my stovetop.  It was WAY under the cabinet and had to do my contortion act to retrieve it.  A little dusty, but a good cleaning and it was ready to go.  The pancakes really plump up wonderfully, browning on both sides and are done in just a few moments…although by the time the second batch comes out I have made inroads into the first batch, nearly burning my fingers as I grab one that is just a bit too warm.

First recipe was awesome, but of course I kept asking myself how could this be better?  I ate some of the leftovers of that batch warmed in the microwave (nuked) with canned pineapple over the top.  Great idea (only needed ice cream for a complete meal…LOL)!  So a week later I used canned pineapple and I substituted the juice for the milk in the recipe.   Lighter and fluffier, not as dense and eaten warm with the warm pineapple?  YUM.

Very tasty, but note to self:  CRUSHED pineapple will probably work better.

I just finished making my third recipe and with this one I added vanilla and substituted water for milk.   I like – has the fluffy and light texture as the batch with pineapple and the vanilla adds a nice flavor.

As I was standing there, waiting for the cooker light to go off, I thought about the chocolate chips I found in my expedition under the cabinet.  Giradeli semi-sweet chips.  YUM.  So I started sprinkling them over the batter after pouring it into the wells of the cooker.

Indescribably good.  I used to be addicted to Sam’s club muffins, especially the chocolate chip ones and these pancakes are a great reminder of that sweet goodness.  Or, on a cruise once they had chocolate croissants for breakfast.  It was enough to get me out of bed!

The message is…If you have a friend that wants to give you AFB, take it!  You do NOT have to feed it every 5 days, and once a week while stored in the fridge is fine.  Be aware – my batch makes my fridge smell like a brewery but some might enjoy that feature.