Nov 17, 2018

GB's Awesome Brownie Kit

November 17, 2018 Ginna Gordon No comments

My go to brownie recipe, from Mrs. Fields Cookie Book. My version is doubled and has less sugar.

I love getting my baking kits together now that I have my Julia Child bowl set from my friend, Gail. All those years, in all those many kitchens, I never had a tiny glass bowl.

GB’s Awesome Brownies

325˚

Baking spray

jelly roll or ½ size “hotel” sheet pan

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate

8 ounces butter

8 eggs

3 1/2 cups superfine bakers' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

1 cup chocolate chips

Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl set over warm water (or, sigh, in a glass bowl in the microwave, I can't believe I just said that).

In KitchenAid bowl, beat eggs at medium speed until pale yellow, about three minutes. Slowly add sugar to egg mixture. Add vanilla and chocolate/butter mixture. Add salt and flour and mix well.

Pour into sprayed jelly roll pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Bake about 30 minutes,

or until center is firm. Do not over bake.

Cool completely and then cut away edges before

serving.

Makes 24 brownies.

Wrist Warmers

October 22, 2018 Ginna Gordon 1 comment

I am never without a knitting project. I use short, bamboo needles that fit in my purse. I can knit during a meeting, at the coffee house, even at dinner, if it looks like a long evening. I knit in the car, if I don't have to drive.

This time of year I get requests for the wrist warmers pattern, a good pocket or purse project. It's really simple, even fore a beginner. My basic pattern is like this: knit a 6.5 inch square in the pattern of your choice, fold it over, sew up the sides, leaving at 1 1/2 inches open for your thumb, beginning about an inch from the top.

If you use a worsted weight yarn, use size 7 needles and start with 42 stitches. Fingering weight yarn is best on size 5 needles, and for these Rusty Garden Ornament items on the right I cast on 38 stitches.

These sizes are based on a Woman's Medium. You make them wider by casting on more stitches and longer by knitting more rows.

You can get fancy with patterns and stitches: dots, hearts, cables... The green warmers above are created with the seed stitch, which is all knit, purl, knit, purl: knitting into the purls and purl into the knits.

I started with ribbing on the red and black item on the needles below and increased one stitch at each end before I started with the Midnight Black for a total of 36 stitches. The ribbing adds a nice touch and creates more of a cuff for the wrist.

One of the joys of these little gift items is how little time they take to make, unless you decide to create a Santa Face or get tricky with other colorways. I like to keep it simple so I can knit and watch a movie, talk with friends, listen to an audio book, but not all at once.

Afghan Parts

October 12, 2018 Ginna Gordon No comments

All the parts for the colorful Afghan are finished, with the exception of 12 feet of 3 inch trim.

Blocking was challenging, but I took care with the steam iron and didn't let it rest on the fibers for very long. I mostly hovered above it, afraid to scorch the few man-made fibers in the yarn.

I draped the panels over a card table while sewing them together. Each panel is 54 inches by 68 inches, so when trimmed and finished, it will be 5 x 7 feet, the biggest knitted item I've ever made.

To the right, the afghan is spread out on tables at my friend, Anne's studio. She was kind enough to let me spread it out flat for measuring. (You can't get much of a measurement while draping it over the bed or a table.)

Infinity Scarves

August 31, 2018 Ginna Gordon No comments

Infinity scarves are so easy to make. Here, I use Sky Ranch Fiber's hand-dyed fingering weight yarn. Midnight is about 50 inches long, and the green, which the designer, Becky Mann calls Autumn (though I prefer Rusty Garden Ornament) is a bit longer. Make a scarf in the yarn and pattern you like up to 55 inches, sew the ends together. Wrap it around your neck once or twice. Seriously.