A Clever Zippered Pocket

My aunt Esther got me this handwork bag and I love it.  But the metal zipper on the pocket developed bent teeth that could not be fixed by orthodontia.  I looked at it more closely, and marveled at the clever design of this zippered pocket.

The zipper is topstitched on one side to the top of the pocket flap, and then topstitched on the other side to the bag itself, with both ends sewn down.  So simple and functional.  It was easy to remove the broken zipper and put in a new one.

This is my knitting bag, so I keep little items in the pocket like a measuring tape, rubber needle tips, yarn needle, etc.

Currently, I'm working on a Nola Cloche for myself that I fell in love with from the photos.  I hope my version turns out just as beautifully.

Phoebe's House

Genevieve seized the big box that her Christmas beanbag chair came in and made it into a house for Phoebe.  She did it swiftly with a box cutter and so effectively with the fold-up door and a handhold. Let us not overlook the curtain, either.

Phoebe was thrilled. She wore her new red socks, fresh off my knitting needles, and sat down for a good play with her doctor kit.  I used the same pattern as before, with thrift-store red wool.

Flushed with success, Genevieve made a more ambitious cardboard structure, a boat of sorts, for her little cousin.  I am afraid it may have gotten smashed in the presents' melee at my parents' house, but no one seemed upset.

A Real Winter Soup

Happy New Year, everybody! I am done with cookies and meat and cheese balls.  Let's put a pot of real old-fashioned soup on the stove because it is so cold outside that school has been canceled for the day (yes, really, how ridiculous).

I love making a pot of soup that stays on the stove for a long time, throwing in some more veggies as I run through the kitchen, tasting a bit later and adding more something.  Worcestershire sauce or fish sauce is a bit of soup magic.  Or freshly ground pepper or a bay leaf.  I love building the flavors of soup over a few hours.  Throw in a loaf of fresh bread because I'm home all day out of the cold, and that is why I love winter suppers.

I had some radish tops, so I put them in the borsch too.  And look at Phoebe, just totally happy with her new easel in the winter sun. Her big thing these days is dressing and undressing; it's rarely appropriate to the circumstances, which cracks us all up.

Russian Borsch - from the More With Less with tweaks by me, and please taste and tweak as you go along; I tried to accurately record what I did, but ultimately, soup-making is an art which varies with mood and pantry realities

If you have a beef bone, preferably a meaty, fatty bone, from roast beef, simmer it in 2 quarts water in a soup pot for at least 12 hours with 1 tsp. salt and 1 Tbsp. vinegar. I did mine 18 hours, starting the night before. (More With Less recommends a mutton neck or lamb bones - good for you if you can get those). And if your cupboard is bare and you have no bone, use whatever meat stock or broth you have.

Take out and discard the bone. Add to the stock:
1 large onion, chopped
2 big potatoes, diced
1 medium red beet, shredded
1 cup pureed tomatoes
1 tsp. fresh-ground pepper
1 dried red pepper
3 bay leaves
1 Tbsp. dill seed

Simmer covered for 1 hour or so. Taste, and if the broth seems thin, I like to add some powdered beef bouillon instead of just salt.

Add:
4 cups shredded green cabbage
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp. dillweed

Simmer another 30 minutes or so.  Taste and add more salt if needed (or a splash of Worcestershire!). Serve with dollops of plain yogurt or several tablespoons of heavy cream in each bowl. When you stir it in, the borsch will turn creamy red-purple, which is exactly what I remember from Russia.

"The Savior promised long"

"Rejoice, rejoice! the Savior comes, the Savior promised long. . . He comes the broken heart to bind, the bleeding soul to cure. . . and heav'n's eternal arches ring with your beloved name!"

from the hymn text by James Montgomery, early 1800s

 Our modern-day nativity on Christmas Eve, fulfilling one of my mother-wishes to see my children in tinsel halos.  There's my soccer-angel and farmer-angel.  Merry Christmas, all!

Using Curly Girl Method for my Wavy Hair

For about 10 years, I've been wearing my hair up and frizzy in the summer, and then in the winter I straighten it with product and blow dryer and wear it down. For the last few years, I've had to fight it considerably to get it straight in the winter.  After reading Jennifer's post, Rebecca texted me:  "your hair would do that!"  So I bought some new products, poked around on the Curly Girl website (totally overwhelming!), checked the Curly Girl book out of the library (less overwhelming), and tried some things.

Here's what I've been doing for 3 weeks now.

To wash my hair, I put a quarter-size amount of sulfate-free shampoo on my fingertips and put it only on my roots.  I scrub my scalp with my fingertips and ignore the rest of my hair.  I rinse it well with cool water by standing under the stream of water and just lifting and scrunching my hair to get all the soapy parts rinsed. I usually count to 60 to make sure I'm really getting it rinsed.  I do not swirl, rub, or otherwise roughly disturb my hair.  My reasons:  shampoo, even sulfate-free, can still be drying to hair and curly hair needs so much more moisture than I ever imagined. Cool water is less drying than hot water. Even while wet, curly hair is trying to keep its curl pattern, so I don't want to mess it up unduly.

Then I squirt apple cider vinegar directly on my scalp and give it a quick rinse. My reasons: my scalp likes to get itchy and flaky quickly, and the vinegar helps to disrupt that pattern.  Plus, it removes any product build-up on my hair.

To condition, I use a half-dollar size amount of sulfate-free conditioner.  This time, I ignore my scalp and scrunch it through my ends, getting to within an inch or two of my head. Then, I run my hands lightly over the top of my head, to hit the "hair canopy" where most of the frizz would be. I let the conditioner soak in for the rest of my shower ablutions. Then I stand under the water, cool again, for just a few quick rinses. My reasons: conditioner is going to moisturize my hair, not my scalp.

Just done putting on gel: drowned rat look.

As soon as I'm out of the shower, I squeeze the ends of my hair in a towel - no rubbing whatsoever! But no special towel, either, as Curly Girl would have me use.  I just blot the water out of the ends. 

Immediately, I flip over my head and scrunch DevaCurl Light Defining Gel through the ends and up to about an inch from my scalp. I stand up and ignore my hair as much as possible until it's thoroughly dry, several hours. It will look fairly crunchy and 1980s gelled, which is a scary look, but Curly Girl calls this a "gel cast" and says you can break it by shaking your head and shuffling the roots.  I find that just general living with kids breaks my gel cast before I get around to it.

The next two days, in the morning, I spray my hair generously with water with a few drops of lavender essential oil in it.  When it's quite wet and the curls are springing back, I flip my head over and scrunch in One and Only Argan Oil Styling Cream. Then let it alone completely until it dries.

Some issues, notes, and questions I have:
1. Lorraine Massey (Curly Girl method) says frizz is just parched hair reaching out into the atmosphere for moisture; it's a curl-in-waiting.  My hair is hardly frizzy at all anymore!

2. I'm not sure if I actually love how my hair looks.  I can see it's healthier and I'm not fighting its natural wave, but do I actually like it?  Thinking this might be a reason to seek out a Deva salon to get a good cut.

3. Apparently my wavy hair will adjust and develop more the longer I stay on this routine.  I'm curious to see if I like the looks more, or if it gets more curly?  I know it will be more curly in the summer humidity.

4. If sulfates are so drying for hair, should I ditch all the sudsy sulfate shampoos in our house?

5. My scalp is less itchy, but more flaky than pre-Curly Girl method.  Not sure I have the stamina to brave the Curly Girl forums and do research.

Please chime in with what you know about curly hair, wavy hair, or hair care in general.

A Wool Cape for Genevieve

My neighbor went KonMari on her attic, so she gave me a load of patterns and fabric.  There was a gorgeous length of double-sided wool, and since Genevieve had outgrown her Sunday coat, I wondered if she would like a Sunday cape.  Indeed yes!

 Over the years, we have received some dressy coats as gifts or hand me downs, or I have found them at thrift stores for a few dollars.  I don't usually set out to look for a dressy coat, although there was the time Ben requested one and I do love to support my children's interest in looking good. I doubt I would have bought Genevieve this cape, but since the wool and pattern fell into my lap, I seized the opportunity. 

I'm glad I had already sewn a cape from this pattern with fleece for Ben.  I lined the cape with satin, but I didn't follow the pattern precisely.  I essentially made a second cape out of grey satin, where the pattern was excluding front panels for the lining, which I couldn't understand. I used the red side of the wool inside the placket and hood so that it would show (I was afraid that a full red cape would always and forever mean "Little Red Riding Hood" in a tiresome way). 

I also made more of a placket for the buttonholes than the pattern directed, but this wool was so plush that keeping it smooth under the presser foot was very tricky.  I think I should have used my walking foot when I was sewing double thickness.  I would like to pick out one of the placket seams and straighten it out a bit, but I'm worried that I'm going to snip the wool in the process because the stitches are so deep in the plush. Oh well. 

Genevieve adores the cape, and (don't tell!) I'm going to make her a muff to go with it.  She probably needs a lantern in her hand, too, don't you think?  She was hoping I would make it floor-length like Ben's, but I thought it would look so costume-y that she would have to switch her wardrobe to hoop skirts and bonnets. 

As it is, if she keeps growing straight up the way she has been doing since toddlerhood, this cape should fit her forever, even as it becomes above-the-knee length.

Gingerbread Cookies and Snow

I made the gingerbread dough and turned it over to Ben and Genevieve, who fought over it and cut out cookies.  I helped Phoebe cut out a few cookies, too.  Genevieve was so excited to do these cookies, even though she doesn't like them all that much, because she says they are Christmas at our house.  I guess we have traditions now!

This year, I tweaked the recipe just slightly and they got so good!  Plus, the kids did the cookie decorating, too, and landed on a genius flavor combination.  Genevieve made a simple powdered sugar frosting for the cookies and sprinkled crushed candy canes on top. Pow! The spicy cookies plus the sweet frosting plus the sharp peppermint:  so delicious.

Gingerbread cookies and snow - so festive! The children even had a two-hour delay and sledding out of the snow, so they were thrilled.

Gingerbread Cookies - from Colonial Williamsburg, tweaked a bit by me
Stir together in large bowl:
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Stir in:
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup melted shortening
1/2 cup heavy cream (or evaporated milk)
1 cup blackstrap unsulfured molasses
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
2-4 drops food-grade lemon essential oil (or 3/4 tsp. lemon extract)

Stir in 1 cup at a time, mixing after each cup:
2 cups whole wheat all-purpose flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Dough should be stiff enough to handle and not too sticky - may add up to 1/2 cup of flour if needed.

Roll to 1/4" thickness on floured surface.  Cut into shapes. Place on silpat-lined baking sheets (or greased). Bake 375 for 10 minutes, just until top springs back when touched.