Sourdough
I tested my starter again today, and it floated, unequivocally. And
all the more impressively because it had failed the test twice before. So I put
it in the refrigerator, and must now turn to the next chapter in the sourdough
books. I got a bag of strong bread flour in last week’s Tesco order. How is
your starter, Christine?
Kate Davies’ husband Tom posted about
sourdough-starter-making yesterday. He approaches it completely differently,
beginning with live yoghurt. And Queer Joe had a post yesterday wondering why we’re
all making bread. There’s plenty of bread.
Knitting
I went ahead and calculated K and cast on for an EPS. How
can EPS be on the snug side, Mary Lou? (comment Sunday). It can be any size you
want. Decide on desired circumference, multiply by results of swatch. Or do you
mean, tight under the arms? Maybe Arne’s principal of having a sleeve be half
of the body – rather than EZ’s 1/3 – works better?
I nearly made a colossally stupid mistake. I measured
various dear old sweaters and decided that 22” across would be about right. I
like some ease. Multiply by two to determine circumference. Then, for some
reason, I multiplied by two again. I had almost finished casting on when it was
time to break for lunch. I was uneasy. I checked my reasoning and soon found the
mistake. I had been marking off the stitches in groups of 50, so it was easy
enough to retrieve the error.
I have started the ribbing, knitting back and forth for a
few rows. Join-without-twisting is a good deal easier that way. The cast-on end
is going to have to be tidied away at some point and it might as well also be
employed to sew up the small gap.
Non-knit
Helen dropped by, and we did a single circuit of the
gardens. We lost a eucalyptus tree in a storm during the winter – I probably
told you – which I particularly regretted because it was the only tree I could
identify with certainty. So Helen and I are working on tree-identification. She
is better at it than I am. We’ve nailed beech and chestnut and ash and acer (maple)
and sycamore and deodar.
She’s got an app on her phone that claims to identify plants if you ask it to.
She’s got an app on her phone that claims to identify plants if you ask it to.
You are right, Jean. What I meant was tight under the arms and maybe short yoke depth. It's been a while. I feel as though the fit was more like the fitted jumpers of the 40's and 50's. I am not a fan of high, tight armholes, I would have been a fashion failure back then.
ReplyDeleteThis could be remedied by knitting more rows between joining the sleeves and beginning yoke decreases.
DeleteWe're baking bread because we need to avoid going out to stores, which would break our isolation.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do for milk, then? I read an article by an immunologist who suggested that the real risk of infection is the length of time of exposure as well as the exposure, so walking through a store shopping is not very dangerous, and eating in a restaurant is more dangerous, for example. I of course was relieved by this as I do go to stores (wearing a mask and moving along rapidly) but not restaurants. Time will tell, I guess. But my bread lasts longer than my milk (and can be frozen) and I haven't figured out how to get milk without shopping.
DeleteWe stocked up on powdered fat-free milk, in quart-producing packs. If mixed up the night before, hubby says it's fine on his cereal. (I have never been much of a milk consumer.)
DeleteI’m really surprised that a knitter, as a maker, would ask why we would make bread. It’s like the people who ask why we make socks when they can be had so easily and inexpensively....we do it because we want to, maybe we like the challenge, or whatever....it boggles my mind.....
ReplyDeleteOr was he just being facetious?
DeleteLike you I am having more success with the soughdough starter. It has never doubled in size but there are plenty of bubbles across its surface and I took your lead and tried the water test. It did exactly the same as yours, drowned instantly the first couple of times but now seems to have learnt how to float. I am somewhat apprehensive but what have I to lose so I will attempt to make some bread in the next day or so. Good luck with yours.
ReplyDeleteGood for you! I can identify maple and oak by leaves, and birch by bark, but aside from that... if I see fruit I can identify apple and cherry.
ReplyDeleteTimes like these make me glad I switched to dry milk years ago simply for convenience.
You can untwist the first row of Magic Loop if you have gotten that far, but Only the first row and I have found it easier to see if there is a problem that way. Of course if you have a massive amount of stitches (a fingering weight swoncho?) you might not want to go that far. The one gallon jug of milk at Costco seems to stay fresh for a really long time. There are only two of us and we use it mainly for coffee and recipes. Looked for dry milk early on and it was all gone. I fly thru the grocery store also. But have used online grocery shopping services too. Chloe
ReplyDeleteI’m heading to the store in a few minutes. I’m going for dog bones. Yes, risking my life for our dogs. I’ll be wearing both latex gloves and a face mask and it is very early in the day so there won’t be many shoppers. I think I’ll check for bread flour too.
ReplyDeleteMilk freezes also. I bought a gallon, froze it (over several repeats) in a muffin pan, and can use one or two cones as needed for baking. Not sure I’d drink it, though.
ReplyDeleteAbout tree identification: you're not in your native habitat, but Helen is. I'm confused over maples and sycamores. I believe there is also a tree called a sycamore maple, which doesn't help at all.
ReplyDelete