Lapskaus

It's raining and it's going to keep raining till we get a wee break next week, then we're to get more rain. I love the rain, I know we need it, but I also hate the cold.

My weapons against the rain are as follows:

• Wearing Layers
• Sturdy Leather Boots
• My Red Peacoat 
• Handknit Wool Socks
• A Handmade Cowl/Scarf
• My Plaid Umbrella
• Lapskaus

Most of these you are more then likely familiar with, with the exception of the Lapskaus. 

I grew up in a very Norwegian-American family, and we did not have stew. I actually had no idea what stew was till my mother started dating my step father who grew up in England (trust me when I tell you that I know bland food). My mother couldn't cook, but my grandmother, and great grandmother Fugelseth cooked lapskaus when it rained and served it over rice, or tossed rice into it when it was getting to the bottom of the pot and we needed to make it stretch for one more meal. I still make lapskaus as the weather starts to turn cold, but it's not exactly the lapskaus of my childhood.

We all have those foods that we try to recreate from our childhoods, but having grown up thinking there were only 2 spices (salt and pepper), I kind of gather whatever hits my fancy when I'm at the store, or is on sale. My best friend Anna has my aunt Thea's lapskaus recipe, which is fairly close to what my grandmother made, but rather then rely on a ton of salt for seasoning I prefer a dark beer.

Lapskaus

• 2 lbs of meat, pork preferred, any cut
• 1 bottle of dark beer, I preferred Shinerbock for a light taste, Rasputin Stout for a strong flavor
• 2-4 carrots
• 2 parsnips
• 1 yellow onion
• 3-4 medium red skin potatoes
• 4 stalks celery

Note: You'll need to start this the night before and plan to toss the vegetables in the next morning.  

1. Put the meat, whole, into a large crockpot and pour the beer over it. Cover, let sit for 2 hours on high, and then let sit overnight on low/warm.
2. Chop all vegetables into bite size cubes and toss in the next morning. I like to chop them all while I wait for the meat on high the night before, pop all the chopped vegetables into the fridge overnight, and dump them into the pot as I get ready to go to work the next morning.
3. Let cook for at least 5-6 hours.
4. Serve & provide people with salt and pepper.

This is seriously the easiest thing to make and it makes the house smell wonderful all day long. You can serve with bread or rice.

Woops

I was gone a little longer then expected. Work has been hectic and Ben is going through midterms, so things are crazy around here.

To bring you up to speed:

The Smokey Orchid yarn is taking a time out and is back in the stash.

It's about to rain for a couple weeks here so I've pulled my Uggs and winter coat back out (judge me all you want, but I don't care).

The high tea we at at Dori's Tea House was amazing. I bought the cookbook and made the egg salad because it was shockingly good at the tea house.


I'm currently knitting a scarf with some butter yellow lace weight yarn that uses the center panel of the Leaf and Nupp shawl.

I started by casting on 75 stitches, and knit this lace edging twice on size US3.

Your cast on will consist of the following:

2 extra stitches + 8 edge stitches + 14 stitches * 4 repeats + 7 edge stitches + 2 extra stitches

Keep in mind that you'll have 2 extra stitches on the edges of the lace edging, these I just knit. It makes the math easier then you start the center panel.

Once you knit 1 edge put it on a stitch holder, because you'll then knit the second edge, knit the center panel, and then using a kitchener stitch, attach the first edge you knit.

Also, I garter stitched the edges to match the nupp strips in the center, and added a fourth nupp to form a diamond rather then a V. You can do what you like.

After the edging just follow the directions for the center chart of the shawl.

I used one of my needles to help open up the pattern for a photo. Don't you just hate how lace just looks like a tangled mess before hard blocking? The yarn is Alpaca with a Twist, Fino (70/30 Alpaca/Silk) in colorway 5010. It's been sitting in my stash for a while, but I bought it at Green Planet Yarn.

What hat?

The hat is having issues and therefore is not complete. Actually the hat is in a little time out as I had plan on only using one ball of my Pioneer yarn that costs $26.00 for 50grams. It's pricey because it's grown by sheep here in California, milled in the US, and then dyed in small batches at the wonderful A Verb for Keeping Warm. I've knit an entire short sleeved fair isle sweater from it and adore this yarn for all it stands for (though I would love for it to be 3 ply instead of 2), and am using the leftover yarn to knit a matching hat. It has plowed through the first ball and while in the second ball my increasing and decreasing math left something to be desired.

I have been knitting these instead:

Currently on the heel flap of the
second sock

This is my take on the Dublin Bay Socks knit with Malabrigo, bought at Knitterly, in a colorway I cannot name because I lost the label a while ago when it was destined to become another pair of socks that went the way of frogging. I grabbed this yarn because it reminds me of rain and since it has been raining recently I thought is was appropriate. I'm a simple kind of gal.

This year I have a goal to knit myself 7 pairs of socks so that when Ben and I go to the cabin on the lake I will not freeze like I normally do. Wool socks are a must there as there are no carpets, and it's not heated unless someone is there, which is never during the winter. We love going in the winter as not many people are in town. We spent our anniversary there and went to the country club nearby for a great dinner. It really is the best way to vacation. I'd honestly live there year round if possible.