Colorwork

A sweater and a pair of mittens kept me bust during October.  I am still working on Boyland Knitworks' Sipila Sweater.  I have made more progress and am now almost done with the yoke.  I am also finishing the Till Death mitten mystery knit-along.

Fascism 101

This morning I posted on Facebook after I spent about 45 seconds hunting for an article that touches on each point made by this sign. They are listed below in the comments. I could have made better choices to illustrate the points, but I will leave it up the my friends to add what they think are more salient examples.  My Facebook list is here .

1) Trump’s Nationalism Is Arbitrary, Dangerous, Incoherent, and Silly Nationalism has anew voice. That makes it all the more imperative to take its claims seriously and meet them head on. By Paul D. Miller

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2) US quits'biased' UN human rights council BBC World News 

**Today after I posted this, FLOTUS actually put on a jacket that perfectly summarized the current administration's position on human rights.  I thought it was something from the Onion, but truth continue to be stranger than fiction when the sitting president et al are involved.

Melania dons jacket reading, "I really don't care.  Do U? CNN

3) The definitive rankings of Donald Trump's nicknames for his political enemies By Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

4) Trump’s military parade gets support from House Republicans by Shane Leo III, Military Times

5) RESEARCH FINDS THAT RACISM, SEXISM, AND STATUS FEARS DROVE TRUMP VOTERS by Tom Jacobs, Pacific Standard

6) Department Of Homeland Security Compiling Database OfJournalists And 'Media Influencers' By Michelle Fabio, Forbes 

7) Trump Orders Establishment of Space Force as Sixth MilitaryBranch By Katie Rogers, New York Times

8) Jeff Sessions used religion to justify family separation —his own church called him out By Maham Ahedi, Global News

9) Trump's Corporate Cabinet Corporate Presidency, Public Citizen

10) Trump signs executive orders aimed at loosening clout offederal labor unions By Gregory Korte, USA Today

11) Trump’s Budget Again Proposes Elimination of Public TV, ArtsFunding By Ted Johnson, Variety

12) The Trump Administration’s Death Penalty Daydream: The president has called for capital punishmentof drug dealers. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is trying to make that happen. By Matt Ford, The New Republic

  

13) The Magnitude of Trump’s Cronyism Is Off the Charts—Even forWashington By Nomi Prins, The Nation

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14) HOW REPUBLICANS ARE TRYING TO RIG ELECTIONS IN TRUMP'SAMERICA By Chirs Riotta, Newsweek

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Tina the Love Llama

I'm Teaching Again at the Fuzzy Goat

     Come join me February 10th, from 3-5 PM at the Fuzzy Goat in Thomasville and make the softest hat you can imagine.  I am teaching a class on the Colvin hat which is made holding a strand of worsted together with a strand of lace weight mohair.

The Colvin Hat

     This pattern is free on Ravelry.  And no, my head is actually a normal shape...I was so excited to finish the hat that I took photos before any blocking.  The yarns I used are listed here in my Ravelry page where I am LilyDixon.

Lily & Dixon

Dixon & Lily on Dixon's Gotcha Day

Sleeping on the couch like book ends

Learning to knit

I have made a few simple projects.  Lily got a snood for those days when her ears need to be warm. 

So far it has only gotten into the high 60Fs at night with temperatures in the low 90Fs during the day.  She won't need to wear this outside for a little while, but many of the visitors to our house know that with the AC running, she might like it in the house!

Lily was toasty warn and fell asleep.

Done in garter stitch and sewn together.

Bead embroidery

A pendant I made for my mom.

West Cork Sand Circles

Nazca oops

Baking, not Beading

Getting ready to put together Russian tea biscuits

My mom came to take care of me in June after I had surgery.  Every time she visits I ask her to bring one thing - Russian tea biscuits.  This time I think she brought me some from Lucy's Sweet Surrender, but I will take them from almost anywhere. If you don't know what these are, you probably haven't visited Cleveland, Ohio.  I search a bit and found their origin is a bit foggy and often confused with Russian tea cakes aka Mexican wedding cookies. You can see here and here that while their origin is mysterious, you can find them all over Cleveland and if you discover them elsewhere, ask if the baker is from northeastern Ohio.

We planned to make Russian tea biscuits last month when she was here.  One thing led to another and we never got around to it.  Yesterday I decided it was time.  I hoarded a number of recipes on Pinterest and decided to make this one from "Do you know a good recipe for...?"  I actually planned to make this recipe from Salon because of the discussion of Cleveland and Lax & Mandel bakery, but some wires were crossed when I got working.  My mom brought from Ohio Braswell's red raspberry jam that turns out to have been made in Statesboro, Georgia.  It is perfect for this recipe.

I had a little help from a small, sleepy sous chef.

I made the dough the day before and refrigerated it.  In the morning, I chopped all the nuts and fruits for the filling.  Since this is Georgia, and I didn't want to make a run to the grocery store, I used pecans instead of walnuts.  My pecans came from a local orchard, Clover Pecan Company, and are the Stuart variety.  I bought them in May at the Valdosta Farm Days market and popped them in the freezer (my favorite way to store nuts, dried chiles, and ginger).  My recipe called for raisins and dates/figs.  I prefer sultans or currants, but those aren't to be found in Valdosta except around the winter holidays so I used golden raisins and dates. Remi and I planted a fig tree this spring which has grown a whopping six fruits.  Next year we should have enough that I will use home grown figs.

Rolled pastry getting an egg white wash and sprinkle of sugar.

I had divided the dough into four parts and as I rolled and filled each I learned a little something useful.  Rolling this dough between sheets of plastic wrap makes it much easier to get it to the proper shape and thickness.  I also discovered that after topping the dough with jam, nuts, raisins, and figs that using the wrap to assist rolling the 14 inch long piece helped me to get a tight roll and to place it seam side down.  After spending some more time in the fridge, the dough logs get sliced, brushed with frothy egg white, and topped with sugar.

Ready to go in the oven.

20 minutes later

They are delicious!  I was worried that I would not get that Cleveland deli taste, but they are so good that I took a few to my brand new neighbors.