Tea: Today’s tea is one of my absolute favorites! London Fruit & Herb Company’s Strawberry & Vanilla Fool tea, provided by my lovely friend StormCoast. This tea is very smooth and decadent, and tastes like the memory of a dish of strawberries and cream.
Knitting Content: I’ve made some progress on my Flirt Shawlette by Heidi Sharp Designs. I have added an extra eyelet section to the pattern, as I wanted to use up the remainder of my yarn. It’s knit in Bijou Basin Ranch Tibetan Dream in the Green-to-Black Fade colourway, specially dyed by ModeKnit Yarn, on size 3.75mm (US 5) needles. There was a bit of a knitting mishap, which you’ll be able to see more clearly in a photo at the end of the episode.
I picked up my Celestial Socks by Brandi Miller and noticed something a bit odd… tune in to find out why they’re being frogged AGAIN for the 4th or 5th time sigh
Bijou Basin KAL – don’t forget to join in. Post your progress pictures in the chatter thread, I’d love to see what you’re working on!
Thanks again to everyone who participated in the Annie Modesitt giveaway. Rosewin ‘s prize package has been mailed off!
Recipes that I talked about during the episode will be shared at some point this week on the blog. I tried to take more pictures during the process this time, and all recipes are my own creations.
Tea: I’m drinking Twinings of London’s Orange & Cinnamon Spice herbal tea. This is a subtle rooibos with Vietnamese cinnamon and orange peels that is warming and delicate without overpowering or being too sweet. Thanks to mandypinecone for this one!
Knitting Content:
Flirt Shawlette by Heidi Sharp Designs. Knit out of Bijou Basin Tibetan Dreams in the Green-to-Black Fade colourway, hand-dyed by modeknit on size 3.75mm (US 5) needles.
Mina Capelet by Emily Walton (for Expression Fiber Arts). Knit out of Bernat Softee Chunky in the Fern colourway on size 6mm (US 10) needles.
Bijou Basin KAL
Please head over to the KAL finished objects thread to save your spot. There is one (grand) prize that will be drawn from all finished objects, but there’s also a smaller prize that will be drawn from among all participants, whether they finish or not!
Annie Modesitt Fund giveaway
Thank you to all who participated and generously donated to help Annie deal with funeral expenses while she undergoes her fourth (and final) round of chemotherapy this week! A winner has been chosen, so tune in to see if you won 🙂 The winner has to PM me their address so I can get the prize package in the mail while I’m in the US (since Canada Post is currently on strike).
On Screen:
I blew through season 2 of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., then watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Last weekend, I binged all of season 1 of Daredevil, and I watched Ant Man this morning.
On Sundays, I generally go to my mom’s house for dinner. When I was a kid, we used to buy this canned cabbage soup we all loved (Habitant brand, in case anyone is curious). Sadly, they stopped making it when I was a teenager. A few years ago, I decided I needed to reverse-engineer the recipe, because we loved it SO MUCH. This recipe is the result.
Every year, Mom has me make a big batch so that she can freeze it and enjoy it all year long. This year, we got a bit ambitious and did three whole cabbages. That yielded somewhere between fourteen and sixteen quarts of soup, which was insane and took ALL AFTERNOON. I’m not going to share those quantities with you here.
Now the most dangerous part of all this is shredding the cabbage. I tend to prep it the same way I would for coleslaw or sauerkraut. Take a sharp paring knife and cut out the core, using medium diagonal cuts all the way around the stem. It doesn’t have to be perfect, you can cut out any extra bits of core after. Then place your cabbage on the cut end, and take a large knife (I prefer a santoku knife for stability, but you could also use a chef knife) and cut into quarters. Slice each quarter thinly, no more than 1/8″ thick. Prep your onions the same way. (although without the coring, obviously).
This soup is more about ratios than specific measurements – as long as you keep your 1 cabbage – 1 onion – 1 quart stock ratio relatively similar, you can scale this recipe up as high as your stock pot will let you. We had to dig out the big 20-quart pot this year for the three heads of cabbage 🙂 You can also add a 28-oz can of diced tomatoes to the mix if you prefer. I do this at home, but not when making the soup for my mom’s stockpile 😉 The seasonings are simple, but they work very well with this soup. Let me know if you try this recipe! I hope you enjoy it.
Simple Cabbage Soup
Ingredients
1 head green cabbage, quartered and thinly sliced
1 large white or sweet onion, quartered and thinly sliced
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced (optional)
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced (optional)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp black pepper
1 quart beef stock (if using unsalted stock, add 1 tsp sea salt – OR use 1 heaping Tbsp Better than Bouillon, beef flavor, and 1 quart water)
Heat olive oil in large skillet. Add onions and cabbage, and sauté over low heat until browned and soft, approximately 10-12 minutes. Place in stock pot with remaining ingredients. If stock does not cover cabbage, add enough stock to cover all vegetables. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce heat, and simmer for one hour. Serve, or freeze for later use. Serves 4-6.
Test knit: Mina Capelet by Emily Walton, for Expression Fiber Arts. This is likely the last time it will be shown before the pattern is released, so I don’t give away details of it!
Celestial Socks by Brandi Miller. Knit out of Fleece Artist Trail Socks hand-dyed by my friend Krystal on size 2.5mm (US 1.5) needles.
Today’s tea is David’s Tea Cream of Earl Grey. It’s a luxuriously smooth black tea that just feels like a nice warm hug. There’s a bit of a sweet note to it, as well as a minor bite from the black tea. It tastes full and rich, and almost custardy… and now that I say that, I TOTALLY want to steep this in some heavy whipping cream to make crème brulée!!!
There’s still time to get in on the draw for these fantastic prizes by donating to Annie Modesitt’s lymphoma fund before November 10th! Please see details in the thread here. Annie is a fantastic teacher, knitwear designer and indie dyer. She was recently diagnosed with a rather nasty form of Lymphoma that has attacked her spine, and has been undergoing chemotherapy… but while she’s been battling cancer, her husband Gerry, who has been battling Multiple Myeloma for ten years, passed away suddenly. Helping her defray the costs of a funeral and keeping afloat while she works out the rest of her treatment and recovery is a super generous thing for you all to be doing, and I’m so proud of our little group here for pushing their sleeves up and getting it done RoMillet!
I made it through the last few episodes of season one of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and onto Guardians of the Galaxy. I completely forgot to mention all the new podcasts that came out this week – there’s a new one from ARunnerBean on Hawthorn Cottage Crafts, some new non-knitty stuff from TrueCanuckGirl on Steeped in Books, some Must Love Yarn goodness from jrbirdkid and KellySpins, ANOTHER new episode from TheCATTLady, some new content from NinjaChickens (go see her new studio! Exciting stuff!!), a little bit of pumpkin carving fun and a Knit Crate review from MinaPhilipp on The Knitting Expat podcast, and a brand new episode from handmemyknitting!!!
Stash
My lovely friend krysknits thinks about you guys too!!! She gave me an absolutely stunning sock blank and a pretty skein of Tanis Fiber Arts, and suggested I use one for a giveaway. Now, as much as I LOVE LOVE LOVE this sock blank, I also know I would never take it apart to knit with it, and why be selfish and keep it if one of you could enjoy it? So the lovely skein of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label sock in the Lilac colourway will join my stash, and this gorgeous sock blank by CACTUS Yarn Studio, aptly called “Spring Crocus” will be used for a future giveaway on the podcast.
The Wayward Skein 