Achievement unlocked - basic woodworking

Butt testing the new cat seat

The cats have a new place to sit!

Over all I'm rather satisfied with this, it went together with relatively little drama, (an hour yesterday, 4 or so hours today) it's sturdy, it went together "quickly" and I didn't put an eye out making it.

Things I did right:

• The original plans called for making a narrower 3 shelf bookshelf (from 2x4 Furniture), I was able to modify the plans to make something that would fit the space (under a window)
• The original plans were seriously over-engineered, and I needed nowhere near as much hardware.
• I only had to make one trip to the local Home Despot.
• I have a little leftover wood from the shelves, and a serious chunk of leftover backing board.
• I have leftover hardware too, and glue.  I shouldn't need to buy them for my next project.
• Successful use of power tools.

Things I didn't do right:

• I bought enough board feet of wood, but I didn't buy the right configuration, so I had to make the shelves a little narrower and shorter than originally planned. (If I make another one this size, 1-8' board, 1-10' board)
• I had to fight with it to get it square.  I didn't have the clamps the parts list considered "useful" (more like darn near essential).
• I couldn't find my carpenter square (the plans call for a "framer's square" as another "useful" thing).  the house has temporarily eaten it, which means replacing it.  I was sort of able to make do, but I'd rather have the correct tool (it's really a rafter square), as it doubles as a straight edge for the jigsaw.
• I had to re-saw the board ends to get them straight (the jigsaw wasn't quite accurate enough.) which meant a little narrower, and a little shorter).
• I killed my palm sander.  I was trying to sand the edge of the backing board to get it level with the bottom shelf, and bang, the sander makes noise, but it's not sanding,   Replacing this tools is going to run $20-30.  Nuts.

Things left to do:

Let the glue finish drying

Use some wood putty to cover some checks on the boards (I used #2 quality pine boards) and some of the screw heads so they'are not that visible

Pick out a stain or a paint to finish it. (and then do that)

Fill it with books.  That won't be difficult, though I may want to get some 2x4's bit so I can double stack paperbacks.

Probably make a cushion for the cat butts.  I don't think I've got anything quite the right size, though I have enough fabric in the stash to fold up.

Persuading the perverse fuzzy creatures to actually use it may be another matter.  The picture was posed,

J. M. A. socks test knit (2 of quite a few)

My selected yarns

 This one's about checking for gauge.  I've gotten yarn, and dug through my stash and I think I've got enough different yarns to do this.  I also bought size 1 needles, and cast on for a swatch.   I didn't get it done as quickly I thought I would (next swatch, fewer stitches.)

Clearance clown barf yarn.

I went for inexpensive yarns, the idea being that this is a test sock, and although I might wear it, how pretty it looks isn't a first consideration.  Of course, I also wear fuschia with blaze orange, so my taste is probably questionable.  The clown barf is very nice and soft, it's Loops & Threads, Luxury Sock Super Fine, and the color way is properly "Spring Fling" merino and cashmere.

The Finished Swatch.

I had the purple first, and started with that, probably too much, but I am looking for how it handles as well as gauge.  I am looking for 36 stitches X 48 rows = 4 inches, or 9 stitches and 12 rows to the inch.

Sizing tomorrow/later, because the light where I'm trying to measure isn't great, and I've not a flashlight to use.

Edit to add:
purple 9 stitches 12 rows
tan 12 rows 9 stitches
clown barf 12 rows 9 stitches
brown  9 stitches 12 rows

and some asprin-esque for the resulting headache.

Lobster Macaroni and Cheese, sort of

half price lobster from the ShopRite near work.

It all started on Friday morning when this fine fellow crawled into my basket while I was getting some food for lunch etc.

I asked for ideas for what to do with him and the one suggestion that came in was for lobster mac'n'cheese.  It sounded good, but I needed to hit the supermarket after cleaning the meat from the shell.  I didn't have cheese, macaroni, or enough milk to make it.  That, and it was about time for the weekly grocery run anyway.  We didn't find out we were sans cheese grater/shredder until we got home, but it was possible to make the cheese disassembled with a meat grinder.  Washing that afterwards was enough to put a cheese grater on the shopping list for next time.

almost 3/4 lb lobster = 5 oz lobster meat

Seriously.  I don't like washing that thing, it's got too many parts and is has to be dried in the oven.

I couldn't find a recipe for "Mac'n'Cheese with Lobster" in either of our cookbooks (The Joy of Cooking from 1964 and The Doubleday Cookbook from 1992), and I felt too lazy to go hunting on the web for a recipe, so I decided to see what I could kitbash from "cooked macaroni" and "cheesy stuff" with lobster added for fun.

I had cheese, mainly cheddar, rather grated, and I had butter, milk, flour and spices.  I had a recipe from The Joy of Cooking and made some changes.

Cheese sauce (modified)

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon paprika
a few grains cayenne
1-1/2 cups milk
1 cup or so of mild grated cheese (mine was mainly cheddar, with some american, swiss, and provelone)

gloop gloop

Melt the butter, add the flour until it's blended (that's the roux).  I added the spices to the flour instead of adding them last.  Stir in the milk slowly, and keep stirring until it's smooth and hot.
Take off the heat, stir in the cheese and keep stirring until the cheese is part of the sauce.  I kept it on the heat and stirring from time to time.  It ended up gloopy, but that didn't affect the taste, and I taste tested it a couple of times while cooking the pasta.

The original calls for a cup or less of cheese, and suggested adding dry mustard as part of the spices.  I left that last off, I'm not sure how it'd blend with lobster, and I didn't want to screw that up.  I'm not likely to get the chance to make this again in the near future.  The main part of this treat is rather expensive.

Cavatappi =/= macaroni

Cavatappi isn't Macaroni, but they're both pastas, and the shape of cavatappi is like macaroni on steroids, so it worked as a substitute, and I'm afraid I didn't realize the difference until after I got home.

It cooked up well all the same, though 1-1/2 cups of pasta swelled, and then swelled some more. I had some concerns that I hadn't used a large enough saucepan.  I probably cooked it too long (15 minutes, the package suggested 8), and I didn't rinse it in cold water after I drained it and dumped it into a bowl.

I tore up the lobster, added it to the hot pasta, stirred them together, then added some cheese sauce.

lobster mac-n-cheese soup

Then I added some more.  It ended up being a bit soupy (see the last picture) and the sauce ended up being a bit rough in texture, but as I said, it didn't affect the taste of the food, and the lobster blends well with the cheeses and the spices I used.

The leftovers from this afternoon are going to be dinner, and I have ideas for next time I get lobster.  Looking for mac-n-cheese recipes, I found one for quiche, a cup of lobster can substitute for the bacon in Quiche Lorraine.

Next time.

J. M. A. socks test knit (1 of quite a few)

I am a member of Ravelry, and didn't quite realize it, but I volunteered to test knit a pattern written up by a fellow member of Ravelry.  After getting over the Socrates moment  (see "Real Genius"), and looking over the directions and reviewing my stash of tools and fiber I realized that I normally don't work as fine as the patterned called for, and I certainly don't think I have the colors called for, never mind working in light-fingering weight wool at almost 10 stitches per inch.

Figure 1, the swatch has begun

One trip to the local fabric big box store (actually, the second one, didn't like the selection or the prices at the first) netted me needles and a bag of mill ends in the appropriate weight, even if what I found was purple and gray variegated and the pattern calls for brown, red, and olive, and the original pattern looks like it either ran out of red and switched orange or changed dye batches halfway through the second sock.

Cast on 66 stitches and am starting to swatch,  More to come.  The picture makes the wool look much bluer than it is.  I suspect the red was washed out by the red background.  And the cat hair.  I am making decent project on the swatch, but purling at that scale makes my hands ache a bit.

ravelry pattern is here but might not be public facing.

Chicken Stock 1/4/14

I worked from home yesterday, and had most of the ingredients, so I made chicken stock.  I was bored, and had the leftovers from backing a different chicken leg quarter for dinner Thursday night (sauteed a cut up onion in olive oil and drizzled on the chicken)

This is based mostly on the chicken stock recipe from the Doubleday Cook Book

2 quarts water
1 tablespoon chicken soup base
1 teaspoon beef base
1 chicken leg quarter
1 stalk of celery (broken into quarters)
1 carrot (peeled and broken into quarters)
1 onion (quartered again)
leftover olive oil and chicken fat with onion bits

Put the water and the soup base in the sauce pan and stir until the base is dissolved.  Add the chicken leg quarter, celery, carrot, onion and bring to a boil, add the olive oil, turn the heat down, cover and simmer for 2 hours.

Come back, turn the heat off, strain the broth and pick the meat off the chicken, tossing the skin and the bones, pull the meat apart and toss it back in with the stock.  Cut up the carrot and the onion and put that back in with the stock, the celery doesn't have much flavor left so either nosh or toss it, nor does the chicken, but the remaining flavor is a bit sweet and the texture is good.

This keeps in the fridge in pint containers, I ended up with 3 pints, one pint was used to make a rice dish that evening.

Duncan - measurements 11/24/2013

for pants:
waist = 57 1/2"
waist to ankle bone (outseam) = 39"
crotch = 45"
inseam = 30"

would like elastic and a tie at the waist

sample tunic

T-Tunic measurements:
neck 3.5" straight from edge to center (22" around)
center front to sleeve end 32"
armpit to sleeve end 18"
length 35"
waist 48"
neck slit 5"

tunic is 1 piece, no shoulder seam, no armscye.

length breaks about 5-10" short of the knee.

there is a reverse facing about 3" deep