The downloadable pattern is called Hawaiian Lacy Fern Throw. I must say it was a bit confusing because although there was a errata page it’s labeled as a Lacy Fern afghan. After a few moments of digging, I learned that Hawaiian Lacy Fern Throw and the Lacy Fern Afghan, are the same pattern,they just have different names. If you’re looking for updated pattern information for the Hawaiian Lacy Fern Throw or the Lacy Fern Afghan, check out the errata page.
Initially I was planning on casting on another afghan from the book Gorgeous Knitted Afghans, but I couldn’t find an errata page. The afghan I loved had a lot of errors. While I still enjoy looking at the gorgeous afghans within that book, I’m a bit disappointed that the errata page isn’t easily found.
But back to my lovely afghan that I’m knitting…
This pattern consists of 12 rows, repeated 17 times. I’m just starting on repeat #6. I still have the humongous center panel to complete, and the right panel. Yep, this will take a while, but I’m enjoying this project immensely. It’s simple and relaxing a perfect project to knit, while hanging with my daughter.
I was finally able to cut the grass (we’ve been getting rain all week). We pulled weeds in our garden, and old plants were dug up and carted to the mulch pile. We also added more fall plants to our garden…
The fruit comes from our fig tree and grape vine that grow in our garden. Our grape vine produces a grape that’s not overly sweet and it’s tart too. We love them, and the grape jelly tastes the same way.
Canning: How long does it take jelly to set?
If you’re new to jelly making, don’t get discouraged if your jelly doesn’t set immediately. Sometimes it will take a while. 🙂 As a rule, I don’t gift anyone with the jelly until a few days later… simply for that reason. It’s perfectly edible before it sets, but I want it to be an actual jelly before I gift it to someone.
Yesterday it took about six hours for our grape jelly to set. There’s been occasions where our jelly has set almost immediately. This morning, almost 24 hours later, the grape jelly has become even more firm. The information included on the fruit-pectin packet, says it can take up to five days.
If you’re using a fruit pectin, such as Sure-Jell, make sure you follow the recommended suggestions. And although I rarely follow a recipe, when it comes to fruit pectin, I always use the recommended suggestions.
Since we had a lot of figs, there was plenty that was set aside for fig jam.
With the fig jam, I added orange and vanilla bean to my recipe and loved how it’s turned out. I’m not much of a sweet eater, but I’ll be sure to sample that fig jam again.
Fig jam being canned in a water bath. Hot water bath canning also called water-bath canning, is generally the method used to can high acid foods.
I use a smooth top stove, but have had not trouble canning. If you have a smooth top stove, make sure the surface of your pot is flat. If it isn’t you can always add a small metal cooling rack. I have a stainless steel cooling rack that I place onto the burner, and then I place some of my pots on that. I have a few pots that don’t have a flat surface.
Here’s all the preserves I’ve canned thus far this year… fig jam, peach jam, and grape jelly!
We now have 25 jars of jam and jelly. Of course some will be given away as gifts, the rest will be stored away to spread on freshly baked bread, or perhaps added to thumbprint cookies, jelly rolls, jelly cakes, etc., oh I could ramble for a while about the variety of ways I could use my preserves.
What will I be canning next?
Hot pepper jelly
Mint Jelly
Pickles
Salsa
And although I don’t measure, yes that carries over into canning too, I’ll be sure to make an exception or two and post some of the recipes here at Celebrate Life.
We didn’t can in the morning like I’d originally planned. I was much too busy for that. Also, we only canned one type of jam but, but we still had a lot of fun. Yesterday morning we had to rush to the store to purchase canning jars. I completely forgotten that I’d given all my small “jam and jelly” jars away to a friend who didn’t have any canning jars. And so… off to the store we went to purchase canning jars.
Here in the USA, it seems that many people use Ball or Korr jars for canning. They’re also referred to as ‘Mason jars’. A case of Ball canning jars contains twelve jars. We bought three cases. Two of the eight ounce canning jars, and one four ounce. I spent less than $8 per case.
I asked my daughter what she wanted to make, and her quick reply was peach jam. Fortunately, our peaches were picked and processed the day before (Wednesday). They were washed, cut and added to storage bags. Since our two peach trees are producing a lot of fruit, we had several bags to be put into the freezer.
Peaches from our garden. They’re getting ready to be turned into peach jam
When we returned home, I pulled out two bags of peaches from our storage freezer.
Before canning, you need to sterilize the canning jars. My daughter is pouring water over the jars that will be sterilized.
My daughter enjoyed sterilizing the canning jars. When cooking, she knows to be careful, and of course I’m right there to supervise everything she does.
She’s already a knowledgeable/experimental cook. Which is an awesome accomplishment for a nine-year old — in this age at least. She’s so much fun in the kitchen.
The water and the sterilized Ball jars look so pretty, but it’s look but don’t touch since the water is scalding hot.
Have you heard the expression, “A watched pot never boils?” Which really is a way of saying, when we’re impatiently waiting on something, the time spent waiting can seem to take forever.
We did watch this stockpot, and yes it finally started boiling… Yippee!
It’s always smart to set your freshly sterilized canning jars on something like a towel, setting them on a cool surface could cause them to crack.
Sugar, spices and few squeezes of lemon were added to peaches, and the end result was peach jam had been created!
Yeah, it’s time to add the peach jam to the canning jars…
A few spills were made, whoops! But most of the delicious jam ended up in the sterilized Ball jars.
Once the sterilized jars were filled with peach jam, I wiped each jars rim with a paper towel that I’d ran under warm water. I then screwed on the two piece lid.
And then added the peach jam into the stockpot, and made sure the jars were covered with about 2″ of water. It’s time for their hot water bath.
Hooray, all of our canned jars of peach jam have sealed!
The canned jars of peach jam were set aside on the towel seal. I spaced them about 2″ apart. I told my daughter not to touch them, since they needed to cool down from their boiling bath. The types of lids we purchase, allows you to hear the canned jars seal. They make a popping noise. 🙂 For me, that sounds never gets old. It still makes me smile.
Later today we’ll be canning fig jam, and perhaps some salsa too. We won’t be doing that until this evening. My morning is busy, and this afternoon, my daughter has soccer practice.We’ll be making grape jelly tomorrow.
Here’s a picture of our grapevine. The grapes are sweet, tangy, and delicious!
If it were only me, I’d have started canning at my normal wake up time of 3:30 (my internal alarm usually wakes me around this time) but , since my daughter really wants to help can I’m waiting…
Since I knew I’d have to wait on her to awaken, I decided to wait until this morning to pick grapes from our grapevine.
Our Chestnut tree….
Around 6:00 am you could find me headed toward our grapevine…
On the way, I was pleased to see our chestnut tree loaded with delicious chestnuts that were hidden beneath their prickly shells. Chestnuts shells are needle sharp, and quite painful if you get them stuck in your feet. The spines are so sharp, they’ll even piece thin soled shoes. I make sure the ground under the chestnut tree stays clean, to avoid any accidents. Did you know chestnuts are the only “nuts” that contain vitamin C?
My morning companion
While picking grapes, I did uncover a very disgruntled toad, he wasn’t pleased that his hide out (under a lawnmower) was removed. I imagine it was cooler under there, and was a perfect spot to stay hidden and feast on an array of insects who also called that location home.
This bucket is larger than it appears. I have enough to can several jars of grape jelly, and there’s still more grapes on the vine.
I was pleased with the amount of grapes harvested from our grape vine and I cannot wait to use some of them when I can later this morning.
It looks like I’ll need to pick some field peas, here’s a few hanging outside the fence. We have about one acre of garden, enclosed in a fence.
My daughter and I are looking forward to canning jams and jellies today; As I mentioned in yesterdays post we’ll be using figs, grapes, and peaches… all of them grow in our garden.
Our garden has received a lot of produce this year, we’re truly blessed. The end of summer usually marks the time that I begin canning, and so tomorrow my daughter and I’ll be kicking off our canning season by making jams and jellies.
First up on the menu will be fig jam, grape and peach jams and jellies. Figs, grapes, and peaches all grow in our garden. Which is perfect for us, since the only thing canning requires of me is time, ball jars, and big pot. I’ve got those.
My daughter is looking forward to canning day, and so am I since it means we’ll be stocking up on our homemade preserves. It makes for some wonderful bonding time too, chatting away, while I pass on the tradition of preserving foods on to my daughter.
As a child, I have fond memories of canning with my mother. The kitchen was hot, and so she did all her canning in the morning… with a fan turned upon us. My parents didn’t have air conditioners in our home during the 1970’s. During that time, I imagine that was true with many households. The butters, jams, and jellies my mother prepared were much better than the store bought variety. During the cooler months, I can remember being disappointed when our homemade jellies ran out since that meant mom would be purchasing them from the store. They simply couldn’t compare to what we made at home.
When it comes to cooking, my mother had a huge impact upon how I viewed food. I learned that I could do a much better job preparing food at home. Since I loved to experiment in the kitchen, it was a chance to unleash my creative culinary skills… and I had fun exploring, and trying new things. I rarely followed recipes. I’m still like that. You know what I enjoy? Sharing the joy of cooking with my daughter. It’s nice to see my daughter show the same enthusiasm as myself for cooking.
It seems I’m not the only one canning, Curls&Q, have recently written a few posts about canning. Check out their simple canned plum butter recipe.
In other news; Recycled bed sheets turned into clothes hamper cover and curtains
Earlier this week, I revamped our clothes hamper… by using a bed sheet. That clothes hamper is older than me, and it’s not the first time I’ve given it a facelift. The bed sheets still look new and therefore were a perfect candidate for the clothes hamper makeover. This morning, I made some curtains from the same bedsheets. I added a ruffle to the top of the curtain, and I fully lined them too. A sash was made with the same sheet, and I added a matching flower. No pattern was used and I must say I’m pleased with my sewn bathroom curtains.
I’ll be sure to post a picture those pictures will most likely will find it way into a finished object Friday post.
Last year, I discovered Ravelry. Ever since that discovery, it’s been my “go to” forum for crochet and knitting news. By the way, you can find me there as OpalT,
The site is chock full with patterns, a variety of forums, and so much helpful advice that it’s become a valuable resource for anything crochet and knitting related. I’ve received numerous ideas about crochet and knitting patterns from Ravelry, participated in numerous pattern tests, and met some interesting folk local and worldwide. Some of them I’ve met in person, and others I chat with through the forum, blog, or email.
Today, a fellow Ravelrer posted a link for vintage knitting (and a few crochet) digitized books! I love books, and have several hard copies of old books, some dating as far back as the 1700s. Naturally I was thrilled when I discovered the link for digitized vintage knitting books. I’m looking forward to checking out the books, seeing if I can figure out some of the patterns, along with some of the terms used. Naturally it will be all sorts of awesome to crochet or knit an item from one of the digitized books! Color me happy!
I’m definitely spoiled, since I’m use to pictures or logging online to watch online video tutorials if I run into problems. That wasn’t an option back then. The books range from 1800s to 1911. Enjoy!
Yesterday, I had every intention of finishing up the knitted amigurumi snake for Mr. B, our Shih Tzu. but after knitting a few rows, I put aside the amigurumi snake.
This past June, I’d mentioned that I’d set aside sweaters to unravel but I never got around to unravelling any of them, until yesterday. This sweater came from one of the bags I regularly receive from a second hand clothing store.
One day, I’ll take a picture of the amount of bags we receive. We move through the bags quickly, so they don’t stay long in our house I like a neat house. I go through the bags, and send them to a few local churches and homeless shelters. Some items, such as clothing that require special care (such as the above sweater) I set aside because the charity ministries want easy care clothing.
Not all sweaters can be unravelled for its yarn. Check the seams.
2 Corinthians 5:17
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
17Â Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come..
For some reason, while unravelling the sweater, the above Bible verse popped into my brain…
Last evening, while my daughter and I were playing games, I unravelled this Ralph Lauren sweater. Recycling items is practiced in our household, because I dislike wasting. So naturally I leap at the opportunity to recycle sweaters for the yarn. Not only does it add to my yarn stash, but the old item gets new life when it’s made into a lovely crochet or knitted project.
Here’s my first ball of yarn, the yarn had ended. I decided to make another yarn ball.
I’m thinking this sweater was seamed with a machine? Since I had to stop at the end of each knitting row and untangle knots.
Which made unravelling this sweater extremely slow…
My daughter and I had a giggle at the placement of these yarn balls. I didn’t even think about it until after I took the picture. 🙂
And that was perfectly fine, the time passed by quickly as my daughter and I spent time together. And due to how this sweater was constructed, a yarn ball winder wouldn’t have been much faster.
Yeah, I’ve almost finished unravelling this sweater for its yarn!
About three hours later, the end was in sight. My daughter commented on how long it took me to do this task. My response, never give up! Obstacles will appear throughout your life, keep moving forward.
Hooray, I’ve finished unravelling the sweater.
My perseverance was rewarded, as you can see I have four yarn balls. Yeah me! These yarn balls are a lot larger than they appear here. The good news is I now have a bulky weight wool/alpaca yarn. It’s extremely soft. I have enough of this yarn to create several small projects, and I know I’ll enjoy making hand-crafted items for my fiber worthy folks.
Unravelling sweaters normally don’t as long as this sweater, but again, that everything to do with how the sides were seamed.
This morning, after we return from our Lutheran church. I’ll wind the yarn into hanks, hand wash the yarn, and spread it out to dry. I’ll have to post pictures of my homemade yarn skein winder.
What will I unravel next?
Next to unravel, a 100% cashmere sweater. That sweater is hand-knit. It also came from one of those bags I received from the second hand shop. My skin is sensitive to most animal fibers, and it’s too big for me size 14Â (I’m a size 4). So while it’s lovely, I’ll be unravelling this sweater to make into into a lovely handcrafted item. The yarn is lace weight, and I believe at least one of the items I make from the yarn is a lacy scarf. Last evening, I unravelled a few rows, and am pleased that it’ll go much faster. I guess I should invest in a yarn ball winder, right? The latest sweater that I’m unravelling would be a perfect candidate for a yarn ball winder.
How do I unravel a sweater?
Unravelling sweaters for the yarn is nothing new to me, and it’s something I’ve done since I was a child. but if you’re new to it please check outHow to Spin Yarn’s YouTube tutorial on .
So much work was done yesterday..
