« Plans for Spring | Main | Gainfully Employed »

May 6, 2007

Baking, Spinning, Knitting, & A Job!

You know, I really meant to be better. But posting to your blog is one of those habits that it's easy to get out of the habit of. Sort of like knitting or spinning or well, just about anything that we do in our lives. It isn't that I haven't been doing a lot of things that deserve some blog-time, but I didn't make time to talk about them. The good news - and I mean really good - is that I finally got a job and I start tomorrow! As much as I've enjoyed being a complete slug, I'm really excited about having a job again. It's only part-time, but there's a good chance it will work into full time in the fall. So, for now I'm working for the city doing prosecution work. I'll be the one prosecuting traffic offenses and dui's, stuff like that. It's from 8 to noon every day. That means I have my afternoons free to knit, spin, work in my garden (more on that at a later date), bake, and maybe even ride the horses once in awhile. I'm nervous. I didn't think I would be because it's a really small office and I really liked the girls that work there, but it's Sunday night and I need to think about what I'm going to wear and what I need to take with me, and I'm nervous. I imagine things will be fine about 15 minutes after I get there, but I'm just going to have to be nervous until then.

Baking has always been one of things that I love to do. I find that it's a great way to relieve stress. It's kind of like knitting - you take a bunch of ingredients and mix it all together and when you're done you end up with something that makes you happy. I'm lucky my husband likes to eat baked goods (and has the metabolism to handle it). Lately I've been doing A LOT of bread. I joined A Year In Bread, which is probably when the desire to improve my skills started. Since then I've been baking up a storm and I think I might be getting pretty good at it. I've made Farmgirl's Oatmeal Toasting Bread a couple of times and it's been a big hit with everyone I've given a loaf too.

Next time I make this bread I think I'll make a couple of regular loafs and the third I might make the cinnamon swirl version from Kitchen Mage. I love this bread - it's moist and yummy and it freezes great!

Yesterday was sourdough bread day. I made sourdough bread a couple of weeks ago and it was terrible - blah and yucky. I don't know that it was anything I did or it might have just been the recipe. So, yesterday I made the sourdough bread from How To Be A Domestic Goddess - with a few modifications.

I didn't add the yeast the recipe called for, but just relied on the wild yeast in the sourdough starter. I also let it rest for 20 minutes before I added the salt (as Farmgirl Susan recommends). This bread is really good and I'm quite happy with it (and I'm impressed that I could make something that tastes this good). It's nice and moist with just the right amount of "sour." I'd like to get a good bread cookbook, but there are so many that it's hard to decide. I guess for now I'll just continue on with the recipes and cookbooks I have (and it isn't like I don't have a whole lot of them) and see if I can get better at this bread business.

My major knitting project lately has been Butterfly (yes, I know - exciting!).

I was really excited because I thought I was almost at the point of starting the armhole steeks and for some reason that milestone seemed important. Then last night I remembered that while I'm knitting the petite size (yeah, who would have thought I'd ever be petite) for the width, I was supposed to be knitting the medium size for length (or a combination of the petite and medium - it's complicated). That means that rather than starting the armhole steeks at 26cm, I need 31cm. I know, it doesn't seem like a lot, but it is! The good news is that it's still fun, which I think is kinda the point.

And the miracles just keep happening here at chez Unwind. Yesterday, I sat down at my spinning wheel! I know, shocking. I tried spinning the alpaca over the fold and it worked.

It's slow going, but I seem to be having an easier time making even singles. And once again, it was fun! I probably spun for 4 hours and I put it away feeling good about it, so I think I'll have an easier time making time again (maybe even on Friday!)

I hope that as I get back into the swing of steady employment, my old blogging habits will resurface. I miss you guys when I hole up and do my hermit thing, so I'll at least let you know how the new job's going this week. Thanks for sticking with me through what can only be described as a troubling time in my life. I don't know what I'd do without friends like you.

Edited to add: There seems to be some sort of problem with my comments. I sent Living Dot a help ticket and they say they've forwarded it to the appropriate department (whatever that means). I'm hopeful that they'll get it fixed asap. In the meantime, if you can't comment, send me an e-mail - I love to hear from you guys. It's fixed!

Posted by Stephanie on May 6, 2007 6:40 PM