Knitting for Victory

Today a friend of mine asked me for a crochet pattern from many years ago.  Apparently I had made her son a baby bunting when he was born.  I don't remember the pattern or what it looked like, but I thought I would look through my patterns to see if one of them sparked my memory.  It was fun looking through them.  I saw patterns for things I had made.  I saw patterns for things I wanted to make and a ton of patterns that I have no idea why I kept.

Rosie the Knitter

In the stack of books, I came across something that I had forgotten about.  A lot of the stuff I have came from my mother in law who would have been 100 years old yesterday, August 6.   The book I found was called Knitting for Victory.  Apparently during World War I and World War II, people on the home front helped in any way they could.  Many people knit for the troops.  Even Eleanor Roosevelt knit for the war effort when she was the first lady.  She was called the first knitter.  Even children and young adults would knit.  On November 24, 1941 Life magazine ran a cover story about it.  It is amazing to me that the country was so cohesive that everyone backed the troops, and that millions of items were hand knit for the cause.  It would be nice to have some of that patriotism and cooperation in this day and age.

This is a good article discussing in detail how people Knit for Victory.

 http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5722

Lemon Loaf

My Tuesday recipe is going to be another Facebook recipe that is making the rounds.   It is Lemon Loaf...supposedly the secret recipe from the lemon loaf they serve at Starbucks.  This one is very good.  I haven't had the best of luck with some of the recipes that have been posted on Facebook.  I made this last weekend for a picnic.  I have to apologize to those who were at the picnic because it had an off taste.  It wasn't the fault of the recipe.  It was my fault (sorry Beth).  I used lemon extract that was pretty old.  I googled it to see how long lemon extract would last.  It said that it doesn't expire, so I used it.  I hadn't tasted the final product before I cut it up and took it.  This week  I did buy new lemon extract and threw the old away.  The second attempt was delicious.  It is moist and lemony.

Top Secret recipe version of Starbucks Lemon loaf.

1 1/2 cup(s) FLOUR
1/2 teaspoon(s) BAKING SODA
1/2 teaspoon(s) BAKING POWDER
1/2 teaspoon(s) SALT
3 EGGS
1 cup(s) SUGAR
2 tablespoon(s) BUTTER; Softened.
1 teaspoon(s) VANILLA
1 teaspoon(s) LEMON EXTRACT
1/3 cup(s) LEMON JUICE
1/2 cup(s) OIL

LEMON ICING
1 cup(s) POWDERED SUGAR; Plus 1 Tablespoon.
2 tablespoon(s) WHOLE MILK; I Used 2%.
1/2 teaspoon(s) LEMON EXTRACT

Instructions
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Use a mixer to blend together the eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, lemon extract and lemon juice in a medium bowl.
Pour wet ingredient into the dry ingredients and blend until smooth.
Add oil and mix well.
Pour batter into a well greased 9x5-inch loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into center of the cake comes out clean.
Make the lemon icing by combining all the icing ingredients in a small bowl with an electric mixer on low speed.
When the loaf is cool, remove it from pan and frost the top with the icing.
Let the icing set up before slicing.

Coaster Doily made from Plarn

Here I go with the old sayings again, but "Necessity is the Mother of Invention".  Although I didn't invent this process, I had a necessity.  I wanted a large coaster to put on a table outside.  It couldn't be made of fabric because it would get damp and moldy.  It had to breath and dry quickly.  I had seen rugs and tote bags made out of plastic grocery bags.  I know we are all supposed to bring our own bags into stores to "Be Green",  but all of us have run into the store without our bags.  We did have some plastic bags on hand, so I googled it and found an easy technique for making Plarn (plastic yarn).

The first thing I did was to choose complimentary colors from the bags I had on hand.  I had a Dollar General light yellow, Gray from WalMart and a darker yellow from Festival Foods.

Lay a plastic bag flat.

Fold it in half.

Fold in half again.

Cut off the handles and the bottom.

Then cut across every inch or so.

Unfold to expose circular strips. 

I didn't know how to describe connecting the strips so this drawing shows the whole process.

Finally I rolled them into balls resembling yarn.

Start to crochet in a circle just like with yarn or thread.

Any pattern that works with yarn or thread will work with the plastic.  I used a "J" hook but a "K" or "L" will work fine.

The coaster is worked in a spiral; do not join at the end of rounds. It is helpful to use a stitch marker to keep rack of rounds. With B, ch 4, join to form a ring.
Round 1 (B): Ch 1, work 6 sc in ring — 6 sts.
Round 2 (R): 2 sc in each st around — 12 sts.
Round 3 (R): *2 sc in 1st st, 1 sc in next, rep from * around — 18 sts.
Round 4 (W): *2 sc in 1st st, 1 sc in each of the next 2 sts, rep from * around — 24 sts.
Round 5 (R): *2 sc in 1st st, 1 sc in each of the next 3 sts, rep from * around — 30 sts.
Round 6 (B): *2 sc in 1st st, 1 sc in each of the next 4 sts, rep from * around — 36 sts.

Work around increasing as necessary to keep the work flat.  Then just make it as big as you want.  The last row I put an edge on.  I used a single crochet, *skip next stitch, 5 single crochet in next stitch, skip next stitch, single crochet in next stitch* and repeat around.

The final plastic coaster doily made from plastic shoppiing bags.   

Final Day For Seeing AirVenture

Today is the final day for Oshkosh Wisconsin EAA AirVenture.  The last day is family day with special prices for families and anyone under 18 can get in free.  It is was an exciting week for those interested in aircraft of all kinds, but it will be nice to be able to go to Oshkosh and get around without the crowds.  Last night we attended a picnic our daughter and husband hosted at the airplane hangar they have.  We had a lot of good food, and then we were able to see some of the night airshow.  Although we didn't stay for the whole thing, it was amazing to see the planes fly in formations and do rolls and twists. We took my dad along thinking he may be able to see the show.  He has macular degeneration, and he has vision problems.  We thought the contrast of the night sky and the lighted airplanes would be easier for him to see.  He couldn't see them.  We felt bad for him and left early.  It is hard for me to photograph the planes with my equipment but here are a few highlights I was able to capture.

This was my favorite, the best little airplane and pilot of all.  My grandson Ewan.

A Mailbox That Looks Like An Airplane

Even though I have posted some of these photos on Facebook in the past, I haven't written about this on the blog.    The recent story I wrote about the Oshkosh AirVenture reminded me of this project my husband built for our son in law.  He is quite difficult to buy for, so my husband decided that  he would build him something airplane related.  We decided on a mailbox.  I went online and found a pattern for one.  When we downloaded it, it was gigantic.  It would be impossible to make it, so we scaled it down.  The painting was a challenge, and that didn't turn out.  Neither of us are artistic enough to be good painters.  Mike ended up painting a very simple design.  Here is the final product.

The Blackberries Are Getting Ripe

I posted earlier that I hoped we would get some ripe wild blackberries this year.  Many years we have blossoms and the start of green berries.  Then with hot temperatures and lack of rain, they dry up.  When we first bought the house, we had a lot of berries but they have diminished in recent years.  My dad loves berries with milk and sugar, so we buy the little 6 oz. domestically grown blackberries.  This year we will be able to pick some of our own.

Early in the spring we had a lot of blackberry blossoms.

Then with the rain we got in June, we got some green berries.

Here they are starting to ripen.

I actually was able to pick this small sauce dish of blackberries.  Hopefully there will be more.