Today I worked on charting out a knitting pattern. I'm thinking about knitting a sweater for my niece, though I'm not at all sure if I'm even capable of it yet. Probably, but it'll take a lot of math and a lot of patience. I couldn't find a free pattern that looked appealing to me, so I'm making adjustments to this one. Mine would have that same shape, but I'd change the yoke (the colorful part of the sweater near the neck) and have the body of the sweater be a solid color (instead of having all those flecks of color). My niece really loves dinosaurs (I'll obviously check with her again about that before starting this project, just to make sure she's still as into them as she has been for the past 2 years), so I want to try incorporating this chart instead of the zig-zags and diamonds used in the original pattern. This means that I have to alter the original pattern a bit so that the yoke is a multiple of 15 stitches (that's the size of the pattern)... which will require some careful reading and a suspicious amount of algebra.
I also bought groceries, and some necessary household items and toiletries. I made an "Autumn Millet Bake" for dinner tonight. It turned out pretty good, but probably could have used a bit more time in the oven for the first phase of baking. Some of the millet was a little chewier than I like. I'm glad I made it though, I've been wanting to play around with grains for quite some time now.
I'm also trying my hand at making porridge in the crock pot again. I've used it to make oatmeal before, with mixed results. Still, I love the idea of waking up and finding a steaming hot pot of porridge waiting for me. And I'm getting a little sick of my usual oatmeal. I used a recipe from a cook book I found at the library. Unfortunately I can't remember the title of the book, and it was returned weeks ago. The porridge involves:
4 1/2 c water
1/3 c brown rice
1/3 c red rice
1/4 c quinoa
2 t cinnamon
I put it all in the slow cooker and set it on low for 8-10 hrs. Though mine will be more like 11 hrs... I should probably go throw in another 1/4 c of water...
I'm also making yogurt for the first time. I used Owlhaven's recipe, though of course that's not the limit of my research. So far so good. I heated the milk until it was nice and foamy (yes I used a thermometer. But had to borrow my roommate's, because apparently I didn't do enough research when investing in that meat thermometer last November. I don't need a giant face labeling the safe cooking temperature from various meats, but I do need a thermometer to read low temps as well as high ones), then poured it into jars and stirred in some active cultures. Hopefully it works... but now I think about it, it might not. I think I forgot to let the milk cool a bit before stirring in the cultures... oops. Well, we'll see what happens.
I also bought groceries, and some necessary household items and toiletries. I made an "Autumn Millet Bake" for dinner tonight. It turned out pretty good, but probably could have used a bit more time in the oven for the first phase of baking. Some of the millet was a little chewier than I like. I'm glad I made it though, I've been wanting to play around with grains for quite some time now.
I'm also trying my hand at making porridge in the crock pot again. I've used it to make oatmeal before, with mixed results. Still, I love the idea of waking up and finding a steaming hot pot of porridge waiting for me. And I'm getting a little sick of my usual oatmeal. I used a recipe from a cook book I found at the library. Unfortunately I can't remember the title of the book, and it was returned weeks ago. The porridge involves:
4 1/2 c water
1/3 c brown rice
1/3 c red rice
1/4 c quinoa
2 t cinnamon
I put it all in the slow cooker and set it on low for 8-10 hrs. Though mine will be more like 11 hrs... I should probably go throw in another 1/4 c of water...
I'm also making yogurt for the first time. I used Owlhaven's recipe, though of course that's not the limit of my research. So far so good. I heated the milk until it was nice and foamy (yes I used a thermometer. But had to borrow my roommate's, because apparently I didn't do enough research when investing in that meat thermometer last November. I don't need a giant face labeling the safe cooking temperature from various meats, but I do need a thermometer to read low temps as well as high ones), then poured it into jars and stirred in some active cultures. Hopefully it works... but now I think about it, it might not. I think I forgot to let the milk cool a bit before stirring in the cultures... oops. Well, we'll see what happens.
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