JR's stripey toque (using Fair Isle to make the stripes)

JR requested a red and blue toque (beanie), stripes which were balanced like ying and yang. I wanted to knit so that the blue and red came into a ying yang swirl at the top - but this is difficult with knitting. My sister Wendy stopped me from using all these lengths of cut strings so I could have diagonal stripes (like how you change colours to knit a picture) and showed my this amazing simple knitting method called Fair Isle.

Basically you use two colours of wool at once, knitting 3 stitches of one then the other colour, just looping the unused colour round the back (in this case I did this on 3 double pointed needles so it went round and round). (You can also do 4 stitches of each.) Basically you have one extra stitch total in the round, so additional to the multiples of 3 (or 4 if you are doing 4), so the pattern is staggered by one each row.  I charted how multiples of 3 or 4 would look, and chose a multiple of 3 as the stripes were thicker.

I still wanted to try to swirl the stripes into ying-yangs at the end, but it just wasn't the easy way the medium wanted to go. I did decrease only at the start and end of each needle so the hat kept swirling in a cool way at the top - decreasing did not wreck the pattern.

How to make hot chilli pepper jelly (and preserving info)

This is the best thing I ever made from my garden produce.

So simple to make, but the finest.  You simply blender hot chillis, capsicums (peppers in North American) and vinegar.  I found the recipe here at this great publication about chilli peppers and capsicums, "Peppers: Safe Methods to Store, Preserve, and Enjoy"    (Content reviewed and revised by LINDA J. HARRIS, Food Safety and Applied Microbiology, Specialist, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis.)  Their recipes were adapted from “So Easy to Preserve,” 2nd Edition, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Georgia.

This is because I couldn't just try a recipe blindly.  I was learning to live off the land, and preserve my garden produce - possibly for a long time, so I had to learn how to do it safely (and yummily!).

My favourite recipes in this publication was the "Pepper Jelly" (p.11), followed by "Hot Chilli Salsa" (p.8).  But one of the reasons it tasted so amazing was the produce - fresh from my own garden, and using a variety of amazing heirloom and interesting tomatoes ranging from jam tomatoes, various coloured tomatoes, to different shapes of varieties.

Here is the recipe for Hot Chilli Pepper Jelly (sometimes called Red Pepper Jelly) but omitting a few drops of food colouring as I like completely natural foods.  For the info I needed on preserving in general, go to the full scientific paper on preserving peppers, here.  It is so easy!  Just blender, and bottle.  An amazing food with cheese, or on meats.

Hot Chilli Pepper Jelly

Makes 5 half-pint (250-ml) jars.

4 or 5 jalapeño or other hot peppers cored and chopped

4 medium green or red bell peppers cored and chopped

1 cup white vinegar (5%) or 250 ml

5 cups sugar or 1.25 L

1 pouch liquid pectin

1. Put half the peppers and half the vinegar into a blender; cover and process until

peppers are liquefied. Repeat with remaining peppers and vinegar. 

2. Combine the pepper and vinegar mixture with the sugar in a large saucepan and

boil slowly for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Add liquid pectin and boil hard for 1 minute. 

4. Skim foam off the top of the jelly and pour jelly immediately into canning jars, leaving 1⁄4 inch (0.5 cm) of headspace.

5. Wipe jar rims with a clean, damp cloth and secure lids and ring bands.

6. Process the jars of jelly in a boiling water bath as prescribed in Table 7.

Table 7. Recommended Processing Time for Pepper Jelly in a Water Bath Canner

Processing Time at Various Altitudes

For jar size of half-pint or pint: 

Altitude 0–1,000 ft  is 5 min processing time

Altitude 1,001–6,000 ft is 10 min processing time

Altitude above 6,000 ft is 15 min processing time

Knitted jumper for unipegasus (sweater)

Jumper (sweater) for Uni-pegasus as it's colder here in Canada (Troy's request). Troy has also requested jeans and shoes for Uni but these things take time.

I just sewed pieces together - a back piece with large buttonhole for wings (I put half the stitches on hold, and knitted one side at a time, then rejoined to finish top). Then I did a bottom piece shaped like an hourglass to go make room for the legs. After sewing back and front together I knitted and sewed on the ribbed sleeves. All while visiting, so wasn't tedious.

How to repair a hole in your jeans - or anything.

Cut patch.
Smooth it so it lies right, then pin it.
Sew around it while hanging out with friends or family.  (Big needles are less fiddly to use.)  You can patch on the inside or outside.  If you loop the needle through each loop as you go round, it will make a nice pattern.  When you are done sewing round, "heal" the hole by sewing it down until the edges will no longer fray.

Also - when you start using a needle (you can keep a few big needles and some thread around - don't be fussy or it's no fun) you can use your skill for many things. 

How to make a good old-fashioned slingshot

Cool idea from my father.

"This is the way we used to make slingshots as kids."

How did you make this slingshot today, Dad?

"That stick was a forked branch from a plum tree. I peeled the bark off it. Notice that I notched the top of the forked branches. Notice that I cut a pouch out of leather. I used a strip of inner tube rubber, I stretched it around the notches and wound cotton around to fasten the edges. Lucan stretched the rubber into the holes in the leather, and I used cotton string to tie it."

Glass Milk Bottles seen in Kimberley BC (Canada) that you return for a deposit

Just visiting my good friend who lives in Kimberley, BC, Canada - and was so happy and hopeful to see that they are using a system of actual glass milk bottles there that you return for a deposit and get refilled!

This makes me more happy than one normally feels - at seeing milk sold in a grocery store.

Beautiful.

An Amazingly Beautiful Bathroom in Kawakawa (in the far north) of New Zealand