Swirled Cowl

This is the second cowl pattern I am making for teachers this year. It is very pretty in the soft alpaca yarn.
Swirled Cowl for a loom
Supplies:
1 skein Bernat Alpaca Yarn, about 100 yards soft, bulky weight yarn
60 peg round loom or adjustable loom in ½ inch gauge (see pattern for variations for 48 pegs or 66 pegs)
Loom tool
Crochet hook
Movable peg marker
Swirled Cowl Pattern 

Copyright 2009- 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, all rights reserved. Personal use only.

Braille Cookbooks & Tea for Tuesday

I have 3 wonderful new braille cookbooks from a site called "Blind Mice". The books are "Pies for all Occasions", "Bars and Cookies Cookbook", and "The Bread Box Cookbook". They were very reasonable for braille books, and are comb-bound to lie flat. Wish they were plastic pages, because I make such a mess in the kitchen! There were many more cookbooks at Blind Mice, so I know I will be filling up my shelf.

Tea on Tuesday

Butternut Ginger Tea Bread

A beautiful golden loaf just meant to be slathered with Maple Pumpkin Butter and enjoyed. The bread can be made one week ahead and frozen,
defrosting overnight before serving. The instructions are for a food processor, but this can also be made with a mixer.

List of Ingredients

1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 TBSP.candied ginger, coarse chopped
1/3 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
1/4 cup milk
1 cup packed cooked butternut squash*
2 large eggs
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Fit a food processor bowl with the metal blade attachment. Place the
flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, ground ginger and candied ginger in the bowl. Pulse a few times to combine. Sprinkle the butter over the flour. Pulse a few seconds until the mixture looks or feels like cornmeal. Add the milk, eggs, and the squash. Pulse just until a smooth, thick batter
is formed. Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 40 - 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

*To cook the squash, cut the ends off of the butternut squash and cut the squash in half.Scoop out the seeds. Place the two halves cut side down in a close fitting shallow baking dish. Add 1/2 cup water and cover with foil. Bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees, until the squash is fork tender. The shallow end will cook faster, but do not be concerned about this. The squash just needs to be tender enough to scoop out. The food processor will puree it for a smooth batter.

Copyright 2000-2009 Renee's Tea Party, Invisible Loom and Craft, all rights reserved. For personal use only.

Lightly Laced Cowl

Lightly Laced CowlI joined the cowl group on ravelry, but there seemed to be only needle knitters and crochet patterns, so I worked on a few patterns of my own. This is one of 3.
The link to the pattern may be found on my pattern pages.

Copyright 2009 by Invisible Loom and Craft, all rights reserved. For personal use only

Tea on Tuesday

Tween girl found a wonderful Meyer Lemon on our little tree. It is perfect for Lemon Scones. The rest of the lemons are green, maybe they will be ready in January. But this one lemon we will make the most of!

Lemon Scones

2 and 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. (kosher) salt
zest of 2 lemons, finely grated
juice of 1 lemon (about 2 Tbsp.)
1/2 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1/4 tsp. vanilla
6 Tbsp. butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment or a silicon baking mat. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir in the zest. Add the butter and cut it in with a pastry blender or 2 knives. Combine the milk, egg and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture. Add the lemon juice and stir to from a soft ball. If the dough is sticky, add a little more flour. Divide the dough into two portions, and place both onto the prepared cookie sheet. Pat each piece of dough into a round about 3/4" thick. Cut each round into 6 triangles. Leave with the sides touching, and bake 15 to 17 minutes at 375 degrees. Gently divide and cool on a rack.

Copyright 2000-2009 Renee's Tea Party, Invisible Loom and Craft, all rights reserved. For Personal Use Only.

Peppermint Candy Tam

Peppermint Candy Tam

My entry for the Markman Farms holiday pattern contest. The pattern is available through the Markman Farms group at yahoogroups.com. It is a fun pattern, but not difficult. There is no increasing or decreasing, just shaping with the stitches and blocking. Enjoy! You may click on the photos to see them in a larger size.

Tea on Tuesday

Maple Pumpkin Butter

Maple syrup and pumpkin combine to make this a richly flavored butter that is simple to prepare. You may want to make double, as it tends to disappear quickly! The butter would also make a delicious tart filling.

List of Ingredients

2 cups pureed, cooked pumpkin (1 can)
1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP. pure Grade A maple syrup
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of mace
1/2 tsp. salt

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a 2 quart heavy bottomed sauce pan. Cook on lowest heat, stirring often, until very thick and no excess liquid remains, about 30 minutes. Cool and refrigerate for up to 1 month. Makes approx. 2 cups.

Copyright 2000-2009 by Renee's Tea Party, Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom and Craft. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

A Monday Book

A Book to Inspire

"Knit Tricks: Easy Shaping Techniques; 25 Stylish Projects from Simple Rectangles" by Rebecca Wat

This book is not for loom knitters, but the idea of working from rectangles is adaptable to the loom. The designer in this book uses different needles to shape many of the patterns, which does not always work on a loom.

Loom knitters do have different stitches that will increase or decrease our work while working on a loom that is not adjustable. The flat knit stitch will tighten and decrease loom stitch size, and the e-wrap knit will increase and loosen our stitches. 2 over 1 knitting will also decrease our stitches, while working on the same loom, so the ideas in this book are adaptable to a loom.

This is the scarf I was inspired to knit from the book:

It ties at the neck like a bow, and has 6 inches of bobble stitch rows at each end.

Wedgwood Inspired Jacket

Wedgwood Jacket

Inspired by the colors of blue and white china, and made from a simple shape, this is a lovely jacket to wear.

Supplies:
Small Afghan Loom with 90 or more pegs in ½ inch gauge.
600 yards WW wool (3 skeins Cascade 220 Heather in Light Blue used in example)
100 yards WW wool for contrast edging (Rowan Soft Lux in cream used in example)

Loom hook
Crochet hook

For the pattern, go to my pattern pages and follow the links to Ravelry. If you need a plain text version, please let me know and I will send it to you. Enjoy!

Copyright 2009 - 2011 Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy. All rights reserved. For Personal use only.

Tea on Tuesday

A recipe for your upcoming holiday gatherings:

Cheddar Chive Biscotti

Sharp cheddar cheese and cornmeal give this biscotti a lovely color and a nice crunch. This is a nice savory for your tea party, or a delicious accompaniment to a luncheon salad or appetizer tray.

List of Ingredients
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 TBSP. sugar
2 TBSP. finely minced fresh chives
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 large eggs
3 TBSP. vegetable oil
1/8 cup water

Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients, chives and cheddar cheese.

In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, oil and water. Pour the liquids into the dry mixture. Stir with a fork until moistened and crumbly. Mix by hand gently to form a ball of dough. Let rest a minute.

Divide the dough in two, and shape each half into logs 3/4 inch thick. Place on the parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes until firm to touch. Remove the sheet from the oven, but leave the oven on. Let cool two minutes on the baking sheet.

Transfer the biscotti to a cutting board with a large spatula.Carefully trim off the ends and slice each log into 8 slices.Lay the biscotti cut sides up on the baking sheet and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Cool on a rack.
Makes 16 biscotti.

Final Comments Recipe by Renee Van Hoy A recipe from Renee’s Tea Party http://www.geocities.com/rpvanhoy/Renees-Tea-Party.html Copyright 2000-2009 by Renee Van Hoy, Invisible Loom and Craft, all rights reserved