I know this picture is sort of lame. But, when you don’t get out of the house all week, Eye Candy Friday photos become a bit of a challenge.

Happy Friday! Happy Weekend!

Before I get into today’s post, I just want to point out that one of you, probably today or perhaps tomorrow, is going to leave the 20,000th comment. Amazing! And there will, of course, be a special prize for the 20,000th commenter.

Okay, onward.

Those of you who have been around for a while will remember that Hannah started a dish cloth last year around this time. If you need a refresher, the post can be found here.

Guess when she finished the dish cloth? Last night. And she wouldn’t have finished it then except that I got on her case about having my favorite pair of Lantern Moon needles for a whole year.

So, I taught her to cast off and now it’s done. Perhaps not the finest effort but done is better than perfect.

We had a little chat about knitting while she was casting off. Apparently, she still hates it. She finds it stressful and figures that it’s not worth stressing herself out just to make me happy. I pointed out that we could knit together in the evenings and that if she kept at it she’d get much better. But she said no, she was done with knitting.

And yet, when I sarcastically asked her what she wanted to knit next, she picked up my copy of http://www.amazon.com/Knitting-Pretty-Kris-Percival/dp/0811835332/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196294432&sr=8-1 and started thumbing through it. Next thing I know, she announces that she is going to make “a bunch” of book marks for her friends and then when she finishes those she is going to make the super-long ribbed scarf.

All by Christmas.

I didn’t ask her if she meant this Christmas or next Christmas.

There’s something I haven’t told you. I’m sick. I’ve been sick for two weeks, in fact. I thought it was just a cold that wouldn’t go away but it turns out I’ve got bronchitis and sinusitis. I’ve about had it with hanging out on the couch but now that the antibiotics have kicked in and I have some energy again, the knitting time rocks. So, in the interest of not taxing my brain by trying to write paragraphs, I present a list.

~Dancing With The Stars. What to say? I love Marie but I thought the doll routine Monday night was really lame and I think her attitude about it hurt her. Mel was great but I don’t think she quite captured the hearts of the viewers the way Helio did. All in all, I’m pleased with the finals. How about you?

~There are only 3 days left for this year’s Knit Unto Others. However, Gale is looking for some handknits for a Tree of Warmth project. She’d love your help if you’re still inspired to do some charity knitting.

~My Christmas shopping is shaping up. As usual, I’ve done a fair amount of this online. I avoid the stores whenever possible.

~I have lost the quilted tablecloth that goes on my kitchen table. I put it away when I brought out the fall quilted table runner and now I can’t find it. My house is not that big and yet I have no idea where this could be. I’m pissed.

~You’ve seen Pay It Forward by now, right? I chased it around the internets a bit but finally got in on the deal over at Michelle’s.
The rules: I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this blog post requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet, and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.
I hope there are 3 of you left that haven’t already signed up to do this!

That’s all I’ve got. Time for some more tea and knitting on the couch.

Don’t look now, but I’ve got another cranberry and pecan recipe for you. See, on Sunday, Dale and I had to go to an Eagle Scout ceremony for one of the young men in Dale’s Boy Scout troop. I knew I should bring something for the dessert table and when I looked in the cupboard (don’t I sound like Old Mother Hubbard) I saw more pecans and cranberries. A pie wasn’t suitable for this occasion but I got to thinking that the pie should pretty readily translate into squares. And it did.

Cranberry Pecan Squares

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup coarsely chopped cranberries

Directions:
Crust: combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar and butter until crumbly. Press firmly into 13×9″ cake pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350*F for 15-18 minutes, or until light golden. (I will tell you that I had my doubts about this crust. It looked pretty dry when I patted it into the pan. But it turned out flaky and delicious, I promise.)

Topping: beat eggs, sugar, corn syrup and melted butter together until blended. Stir in pecans and cranberries. Pour evenly over crust. Bake about 40 minutes longer, or until set and golden. Cool completely on wire rack. Cut into bars.

I can’t take credit for creating the recipe, as I cobbled it together from some internet sources but I will brag that these are delicious – better than the pie, even.

Hannah wore her finished Central Park Hoodie on Thanksgiving, for which we were both thankful. She was thankful for a cozy new sweater and I was thankful that it fit because it sure seemed small to me. But Hannah assures me that it fits just the way she wanted and she has already worn it twice since then so I guess I finally hit the jackpot with a handknit for Hannah.

You’re really here for the pictures, though, aren’t you? Never let it be said that I don’t deliver.

The commitment to NaKniSweMo is complete!

The yarn is Plymouth Galway Highland Heather bought from kpixie.

The pattern, I understand, is currently unavailable as the issue of KnitScene is sold out. However, according to the Central Park Hoodie Knitalong Site, it will become available as a downloadable PDF from Knitting Daily some time in December 2007. So, if you haven’t bought this pattern yet, keep the faith. Frankly, a downloadable PDF would have been my preference as Interweave soaked me $5 shipping when I bought the back issue of KnitScene.

The buttons came from Saftlers.

The attitude came from the teenager.

The knitting skillz came from Mom. And that makes the teenager happy. I’m thankful that something does.

When your cranberries come straight from the bog, they tend to have sticks and leaves and things. But they are fresher and make better cranberry sauce. Which, of course, makes for the best day-after-Thanksgiving sandwiches.

Have a great weekend and enjoy those leftovers!

I’m thankful for so many things: my husband and kids and extended family, my health, my job, my home, my friends (that’s you guys!), knitting and yarn and spinning and everything else that’s good. I’m also thankful for the bad because it makes the good so much gooder. Or something like that. But you know what I mean, right?

Know what else I’m thankful for? I bet you can guess.

Pie!

Cranberry Pecan

Pumpkin

Mincemeat

The apple is in the oven and the chocolate cream is in the fridge. By the end of the day, they’ll all be in our bellies. Mmmm. Pie.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at CaroleKnits.

I know that several of you expressed an interest in the Cranberry Pecan Pie recipe. I always deliver – even if it means two posts in one day!

Cranberry Pecan Pie

Single pie crust
3 eggs
1 cup corn syrup
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup pecans

In a large bowl combine the eggs, corn syrup, sugar, butter and vanilla until blended. Stir in cranberries and pecans. Pour into pie crust.
Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake 35-40 minutes longer or until filling is almost set. Cool completely on a wire rack.

And, despite what Hannah asked, NO, you don’t have to peel the cranberries. That kid of mine, she cracks me up.

I have talked before about making pie crust but I thought today, in honor of the great pie holiday Thanksgiving, I would show you some photos of the process. Maybe this little pie crust tutorial will inspire you to make your own pie crust, too.

But first, a little pie crust history. My mother was the Queen of Pies in our family. She loved to cook and bake all kinds of things but pies were her true specialty. She just enjoyed the hell out of baking and serving pies. She was decorating her pies with leaves and such way before Martha, too. Just saying.

Anyway, growing up with the Pie Queen as a mom is sort of intimidating and I was scared to death of making my own pie crust. I’ll admit that I was rather content to just let my mom do it – I didn’t need to compete with that. This approached worked just fine until Thanksgiving 1996. Two things happened that year to make me change my mind about making my own pie crust. The first was that my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer, stage III. The second was that it was my first Thanksgiving with Dale. I really wanted to impress him with a home baked pie and I really wanted to make sure that I learned to make pie crust from the Pie Queen before she, well, to put it bluntly, died.

So, I made my first pie ever in 1996. And I haven’t looked back since! You want to know my secret for getting over my fear of the pie crust? I told myself, “self, it’s just flour, water and shortening. If you screw it up you can throw it out and start over.” I swear, I haven’t had a problem with pie crust since I adopted that attitude.

Here’s my recipe. It’s not exactly my mom’s, I’ve adapted it to my own specifications over the years.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur)
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/3 cup plus 1 T ice water

So, mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Then add the shortening in chunks. Like this:

Now get out that pastry blender (please don’t use two knives and you don’t need a food processor either) and start cutting the shortening into the flour. Keep working it until it looks like this:

See how the shortening is all mixed in and it looks all crumbly? That’s perfect.

Time to add that ice water. It’s important that the water is ice water. I don’t know why but it’s what my mom said so it’s what I do. So, you just pour that ice water over the flour mixture. I use the side of a rubber spatula to start mixing it all together. If the dough starts to stick together in clumps then you’ve added enough water. If not you can add another tablespoon or two of water but you don’t want it to be sticky so be careful with this part.

It looks like this when it’s done:

Divide the dough in half and stick each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Press it into a disc and wrap it up and stick it in the fridge for a while – like this:

Leave it there for at least a half an hour but up to 2 days. You can also freeze it at this point and then when you’re jonesing to make a pie all you’ve got to do is defrost your crust.

After the dough has chilled it’s time to roll it out. This is the fun part! Sprinkle some flour on your counter top and on your rolling pin and start rolling that disc into a bigger circle.

I don’t worry too much about the thickness of the crust. Generally, when it’s big enough to fit into the pie pan then it’s the right thickness, too. I fold it over my rolling pin and then plop it into my pie plate. Press it down into the bottom and up the sides – gently, don’t tear it! And then, if it’s a single crust pie, fold over the edges and make a nice fluted design. If you’re making a double crust pie then add your filling and then roll out the top crust and lay it gently over the top. Tuck the top crust under the edges of the bottom crust and then make that pinched fluted design again.

Proceed with whatever type of pie you’re making. For this Thanksgiving I’m making apple, pumpkin, mincemeat, cranberry pecan and chocolate cream. Come on back tomorrow so I can wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and show you some photos of those pies!

So, apparently Kim is worried that bloggers aren’t showing their knits in progress these days. Seems that perhaps there is a trend towards waiting until a project is finished and then having a great unveiling. Well, I’ll admit to that having done that several times but I wouldn’t consider it a habit.

And, to prove my point, here are today’s works in progress:

Mittens. One completed, one in progress. Okay, so the only part left is the thumb, but they aren’t done so that counts, right? These are for Knit Unto Others, of course.

Socks. Because, you know, there are always always socks in progress here at Carole Knits.

And that’s all I’m working on this week. Which means, if you’ve been paying attention, that Hannah’s Central Park Hoodie is done. I never showed you progress photos, did I? Whoops.

Okay, here’s a blocking photo. Does that count?