Madhu Knits and Cooks

My Most Ambitious (or at least Time Consuming) Knit Project to Date

I have really been wanting to challenge my knitting skills more ever since I hit my tenth year of knitting in 2010.  While at times, I feel I am not accomplishing that goal by not taking on more fair isle, entrelac, intarsia, and other "advanced" knitting techniques, the completion of my latest project is a reminder that I am continually challenging myself, just not in the ways I intend.  

After a year of knitting, I finally finished the Still Light Tunic, a great pattern by Veera Valimaki.  The pattern was not complicated - knit in one piece and almost entirely in stockinette - but just the sheer magnitude of completing a stockinette dress with a fingering weight yarn was fairly daunting to take on, and in fact, took a year to complete (though, of course, there have been several other lovely projects that have kept me occupied this past year).  I am really happy with the result, though it might be a little bigger than I would like (both width and lengthwise).  I have only worn it once though because of course I finished the alpaca dress when spring was in full swing, so I am looking forward to seeing more how it wears over time.  Project details follow the picture below.

Madhu's Still Light Tunic/Dress

Pattern:  Still Light by Veera Valimaki.  I made the smallest size of the tunic, and because I expected the dress to grow, I knit only 8 3/4 inches straight at the bottom of the tunic (instead of 10 inches) and knit the sleeves 9 inches from the underarm.

Yarn:  DROPS Alpaca, 7 skeins in color 0501m eco.

Needles:  US1 for neck border, and US2 for body of the dress.

Measurements:  Pre-blocking measurements of 25 1/2 inches long, 7 1/2 inch wide neck opening, 32 inches around at bust, 36 1/2 inches around at bottom of the dress.  Post-blocking measurements of 30 inches long, 7 1/2 inch wide neck opening, 30 inches around at bust, 35 inches around at bottom of the dress, and 10 inch long sleeves.

Blanket for Baby Arjun

Babies, babies, babies!  Such is the theme of 2012 :-)  Today's post is about the blanket I completed last month for baby Arjun.  I have been saving Kirsten Kapur's Abby Blanket in my knitting queue for some time, and was very, very excited for the opportunity to try it out.  The pattern turned out perfectly - the yarn showcases the pattern very well.  I was initially worried that the yarn may be too thick for this pattern, but that worry thankfully dissipated a few inches into the blanket.  The yarn - Cascade 220 - was also a great, bouncy yarn to work with for this project.  I also really like the color combo, and appreciate the help of the friendly owners of my new local yarn shop, Argyle Yarn Shop, for helping me with the lengthy decision-making process :-)

Arjun's Baby Blanket

Pattern:  Abby's Blanket by Kirsten Kapur.  I completed five repeats instead of the six called for in the pattern because I wanted a slightly smaller blanket.

Yarn:  Cascade 220 Superwash - 2 skeins in colorway 1910, and 0.5 skein in colorway 817.

Needles:  One US8 circular needle, and 5 US8 DPNs

Measurements:  The blanket was 25 inches (square) pre-blocking, and 27 inches post-blocking.

First Baby Blanket of the Year - Leafy Blanket for Baby Asha

Unfortunately, I am still WAY behind in blogging about my knitting projects over the past few months, so this is a quick post to get me back on track (I hope!).  Earlier this year, I completed a blanket for baby Asha who happened to arrive on my birthday.  Baby Asha's parents had told me about their intended color schemes before her birth, so I was able to spend some time looking for the perfect color and design pattern.  I settled on the Leafy Baby Blanket by Leyla Alieva, and some beautiful green yarn from my new local yarn shop, Argyle Yarn Shop.  The project turned out perfectly - the yarn was the ideal weight to showcase the design and I really liked the size of the finished blanket as well.  More details follow the picture of the completed blanket below.

Asha's Leafy Baby Blanket

Pattern:  Leafy Baby Blanket by Leyla Alieva

Yarn:  Cascade 220 Superwash Sport in Colorway 841, approx. 5.5 skeins

Needles:  One US9 circular

Measurements:  Pre-blocking measurements were 23 inches wide by 20 inches tall, and post-blocking measurements were 22 inches wide by 23 inches long.  I blocked the blanket using a washing machine and dryer on the delicate cycle.

Best Banana Bread Recipe to Date

I've experimented with many banana baked good recipes, including banana bread, banana oat muffins, and banana chocolate chip muffins, but as of a few weeks ago, I had still not found the "perfect" recipe.  I think that I can now report that I may have actually found that perfect recipe - the Martha Stewart online recipe which uses sour cream in addition to the standard muffin/cake/bread ingredients.  

I've made this recipe twice now, and the best part of it may not just be the flavor - despite using less banana than is called for both times and increasing the amount of sour cream/greek yogurt to adapt - but also the nice crisp outside to the bread that develops after baking.  As a result, the texture is much more bread-like than other recipes I have tried, but is still very moist inside the crust.  The first time I made the recipe I used low-fat sour cream, the second time, non-fat greek yogurt - I didn't notice a difference, but Andy thought the first loaf, with the sour cream, was more flavorful.  I also substituted about 1/2 cup chocolate chips for the nuts both times, and added in maybe 1/4 tsp. cinnamon.  I still have leftover banana bread in the fridge, and I am looking forward to eating it all in the coming days - or freezing it for enjoyment later!

Raw Kale Salad - Simple and Delicious

Thanks to my friend Ben - a MadhuKnitsandCooks.com reader - I now have another way to use kale instead of my almost-weekly round of kale chips.  This salad uses raw lacinto (aka dinosaur) kale, toasted panko bread crumbs, and a simple no-cook, lemon-y salad dressing to make a tasty and healthy dish.  I think the most time I spent preparing the salad was washing and spinning the kale dry, so it also is an easy way to add another course to whatever one is making for dinner.  The recipe that Ben sent me is based on a NY Times recipe, and the only modification I made was that I didn't use a mortar and pestle to grind the spices together, rather just used a knife to mince and then grind everything together.  The kale was still a little bitter when we were eating it, but I think that increasing the lemon or cheese can help offset the taste for anyone who is adverse to the flavor of raw, dark greens.

Mujaddara (or M'Jaddara) - Very Easy and Shockingly Delicious Recipe

I have had mujaddara - a Middle Eastern grain (I have had both bulgar wheat and rice versions) and lentil dish with fried onions - before in restaurants, but only attempted it at home for the first time a few weeks ago.  I was shocked at the ease in making this flavorful dish - just 5 ingredients (lentils, rice, olive oil, onions, and cumin) plus salt and pepper - and how hands off the preparation is, making it a perfect future party dish as well.  I used Victor Matiya's recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian book, and was pleased that it used olive oil instead of the butter that I imagined must be part of the dish to develop its rich flavor.  This recipe is so good that I am planning on making the dish again today!

Hot and Sour Cabbage - v2 a Success! (v3, not so much)

Just a quick post to describe my second and third attempts at the Vegetarian Times Hot and Sour Napa Cabbage recipe, from several weeks ago.  I had some leftover napa cabbage from a Chinese rice cake dish, and I decided to try the VT recipe again because I finally had napa cabbage on hand.  When I first tried this recipe, I ended up using savoy cabbage instead of napa cabbage.  The dish didn't turn out that well, and my memory - unaided because I failed to check this blog, thereby negating the purpose of the blog - seemed to indicate that the recipe didn't work out simply because of the cabbage, not because of the recipe's suggested ingredient list.  

So, without consulting this incredigly helpful blog, I decided to make the recipe again with the napa cabbage.  As it would turn out later, thankfully, I was unable to open my new bottle of balsamic vinegar while making the recipe so decided to forgo it.  The result was really good - good texture to the cabbage and just the right amount of soy sauce and spice.  I quickly finished my leftovers over the following days.  

The next time I made this recipe though - because I still had more napa cabbage in the fridge - Andy was able to open the balsamic vinegar bottle for me, so I ended up putting in a few splashes of it in the dish.  I think I used less than what the recipe had called for, but the extra flavor was not that pleasant - just too balsamic-y.  Of course, had I actually consulted my initial blog post about this recipe, I would have remembered this.  In any case, the leftovers were not consumed at all.

Lesson:  Read MadhuKnitsandCooks.com before trying to repeat a recipe!