The Yarnarian cooks Indian

I have this immense love of Indian food.  It started many many years ago when friends took me to an Indian restaurant in Kenilworth, NJ.  Oh my gosh!  What tastes!  What textures!

Fast forward to a couple of years ago.  So, now, I can no longer eat anything very spicy.  No chilies, no over-abundance of black pepper, not bland, but nothing that will stir up my miserable GERD.  If I eat something with chilies, no matter how mild, or how much yogurt with it, I will wake up at 2 AM with a massive attack of GERD.  I can't breathe, the bile is scorching as it comes up, etc, etc.  Believe me when I tell you that no chilies are worth that misery.  Yes, I've had an endoscopy.  Yes, I know how to control this illness with diet and a healthy sleeping position.  But I miss Indian food.

If I go to an Indian restaurant, and there are tons of them in my neck of NJ, I can't get non-spicy food.  The waiters always tell me that "It's very very mild".  Yes, for you, but any of the dreaded chilies will do a number on me.  No more Chand Palace with the most amazing vegetarian food in existence.  Bummer.

But I can cook my own food and leave out the offending ingredients.  Nope, it isn't what someone from India would like, no zip, no incredible taste, but I can eat it and enjoy it.  The thing is that chilies have taste, not just heat.  I figured this out a few months ago when I had a teensy piece of a samosa that had a teensy bit of chili in it.  Argh.  But as my mouth dealt with the heat, I realized that there was a smoky pepper taste that I loved.  So, being the daughter of Hungarian Jews, I know my paprika.  Nope, not the spicy one, but the noble sweet one.  Édesnemes in Hungarian stores.  Not the icky stuff you get at the supermarket, but the real bright, very tasty paprika.  If I substitute this paprika for the chilies or cayenne, it gives me a bit of the brightness but not the heat.  Not a bad solution.

I've always had Indian cookbooks, a couple by Raghavan Iyer, Madhur Jaffrey, etc, etc.  I've been adding new ones as I go along.  We bought an Instant Pot back in late December, and now I use it almost exclusively for Indian recipes.

So, after this very long introduction, let me show you what I made an hour ago:

This is Jackfruit with channa dal,  from Manali Singh's Vegetarian Indian Cooking with your Instant Pot.  Left out the chilies, put in a tsp of paprika.  Used whole spices 'cause I now have them.  It is beyond wonderful!  I had some of it for lunch with roti and my tastebuds are still singing.  We went to Patel Bros to buy the canned jackfruit.  Weird stuff but amazingly tasty.  Who knows what I'll make tomorrow.

Sock Madness 13

It's that time of year again:  Sock Madness on Ravelry.  This is SM 13.  You begin with a qualifying round, and here are my socks, Smock Madness.  Knitted very loosely to fit the large Hubz feet.  If you don't think that gauge matters, then this should convince you.  Had I knitted to gauge, it would have fit Miss P's feet.  Me?  I have small narrow feet and none of the SM socks ever really fit me.  But my gauge was much looser so that he could have new socks.

This is a close-up of the leg beginning.  You can see the pattern and how loose my gauge is.

My yarn was an ancient ball of Lion Brand Sock-ease.  Somehow I acquired 3 balls of this stuff for free, and I don't much like the color.  So I'm planning on using it for the initial pairs of SM socks.  The color leaves something to be desired, but the Hubz doesn't care, and neither will Miss P, should she get the next pair. 

Thanks, Deborah Hamilton!  He does like them, which is good since they won't fit anyone else.

Wow! An actual sweater!

Can you imagine?  I've finally finished a sweater for DD in the FN (Frozen Northland).  Took me long enough.  Actually I finished it a few weeks ago, tried it on (what fits DD will fit me, except in length) and the sleeves were way too tight.  I have no idea why I did this, but they went back to the frog pond and I made them wider.  Since I pick up my sleeves from the armhole and work them down, this isn't a major rehaul.  I just had to make sure that the underarm stitches, which are live, are not dropped in the frogging.  What took much longer was that the Little Guy had a sock crisis, and I had to churn out a bunch of socks.  So....here's a lace sweater. (if she doesn't like it, I'll take it)

The yarn is Palette (Knit Picks), which I love to work in.  Very soft yarn with no merino.  So it wears rather well.  Size 3 needles, worked in the round from bottom up.  Separated at the armhole, and worked back and forth until the shoulder. Front, of course, had neck opening worked. Joined the fronts and back, picked up the armhole stitches and worked down (twice, sigh).  Gave it a gentle wash on Fri, and here it is, ready to be mailed out.  Stitch pattern is from one of my lace books, but I tossed the copy, so I don't know where I found it.  But it's very simple and a nice break from the endless stockinette.

And then, just because I like making helix socks, one more pair for the Little Guy.  3 different yarns worked in a helical pattern.  Mindlessly easy, although you constantly have to untwist the yarns.

The big ball is a turquoise that I dyed some years ago.  I don't think that there is nylon in this yarn, so I didn't use it where there would be stress.  Bottom left is some leftover from who-knows-what, and the bottom right was used to make these socks from the last posting.

So here are the new socks with these 3 yarns.

Here are the two socks, the first worked only in that yarn, and the second with the 3 yarns.

Isn't that fun?  This is a great way to use up leftovers, although I now have leftovers of my leftovers.  It never ends.

Two more

The next 2 pairs of Little Kid socks. 

That's pretty much it!  I started another pair of Helical Socks for him, but I'm not rushing through it.  I need a break from non-stop plain vanilla sock knitting.

And another pair

Emergency call from the FN (Frozen Northland):  the little kid needs socks!  So I'm knitting as fast as I can.  Made this pair in 4 days.  I could go faster, but it would hurt my hands.

This is a ragg kind of yarn, and rather rugged in appearance. 

I started another pair last night and should finish in a few days.

There are other goodies on the needles:  a lace sweater for DD#2, and a faded yoke for me, but they all have to wait until the little kid gets his socks.

A pair of socks

The Little Guy (6 years old) needs socks.  He lives in the Frozen Northland, and it's cold and his little tootsies are not happy.  So that's what I'm doing these days.

One pair of Helical Socks for him.  The lovely stripes are done by using 3 leftoverballs of sock yarn, and rotating them as I knit.  The funny thing down the center happens when you switch yarns.  On the leg and foot, it looks just fine.  I suppose I could try to work that joining place differently, but who cares.  It works out just fine, and Helical Socks are fiddly enough and I just want to motor along.

Now I have to stop making them, and get on with the quick knitting:  just one sad ball of yarn/pair.  Alas.

Upward and onward to more socks.  Gotta keep his feet warm.

Kids knits

The latest sweaters (and a pair of socks) for the little kid, who will turn 6 at the end of the month. 

A close-up of the slip-stitch pattern:

This blue sweater was knitted in my usual fashion:  bottom up in the round, with the shoulders joined by knitting them off together.  Sleeves picked up from the armhole and worked down, also in the round.  I have to say that I much prefer working with stranded knitting than with slip stitches, but it is an interesting technique and the stripes have a texture to them that stranded knitting would not do.

This is a top-down yoke sweater, which may not fit him well.  We shall see.  The sleeves may be too long.  If it's too big, he'll grow and maybe use it later this season.  If it doesn't work at all, then his mom can donate to a charity. I love making yoke sweaters, but the fit confounds me (and I've made a lot of yoke sweaters).  Without him here to try on, it may not work at all.  Still, it was fun and I love stranded knitting.

And a pair of socks for him.  Again, I'm making them without trying on, so who knows if they will fit.

And finally, a sweater for me that I finished just before Thanksgiving. 

I've been on a cable binge, and this was the 3rd one I made.  Loved every minute of it.

Since July, I've made 7 sweaters, the ones not shown were not photographed.  I'm now taking a week or two off from them and knitting shawls.  Sweaters are very fast knits for me, but lace shawls take time and go slowly, and my hands need slow work.

Quilting?  What's that?  Do I remember how to sew?