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.

At the Beep.....

Hi,you've reached the blog of Ka'a Christian. She is currently trying to spot river otters in Yosemite and knitting on top of rocks in the middle of rivers. Please leave a message at he beep and she'll get back to you on Wednesday. Till then enjoy this picture of her last trip to Yosemite with the girls:

Lemon Tea Cookies

I bet you're wondering why my blog is named The naked Baker and why the first two posts were not about baking.

First part, I bake often in the morning on the weekends. This means I roll out of bed, toss something together to eat, and  either mix my cookie dough or bread and leave it in the fridge or to rise and go on with the rest of my morning. When I come back to check on things I'm often times fresh out of the shower, or I'm switching batches out of the oven, right before I get dressed. It's dangerous, and I've had a couple burns. Not as bad though as an old roommate that upon first meeting decided to demonstrate our clothing optional rule and whipped off his sole piece of clothing (his board shorts) while frying something. But it's how I roll.

As for the post topics, since they were made on a Wednesday and Friday I had nothing to show. I had already eaten my baked goods from the weekend. But Mondays are the days that I will show you what I cooked!

I received this recipe from a friend in Russia, and spent the better part of an hour translating it and discussing spoons and their uses.

I suggest doubling the recipe because you can't stop at just one!

Makes 32 cookies

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter, melted
3 tbsp powered sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 pinch salt
zest of a lemon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp starch, corn or potato
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup powered sugar for tossing hot cookies in

While mixer is running add the butter, sugar, juice, salt, baking soda, and starch together.

Once well mixed begin to slowly add the flour till you have to knead the dough together. The dough will be greasy, but don't add extra flour!

Roll into logs that about 1-1.25" think. Wrap tightly with saran wrap and place in the refrigerator for an hour.

Top one is already wrapped

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with ungreased parchment paper.

Using a sharp knife cut the logs into coins that are about 5/16" thick and place on the cookie sheet.

Bake for 12-15 mins. Prep a baggy with the remaining powdered sugar.

Once cookies are removed from the oven pop them into the baggie with sugar and shake it up so that they are covered.

Enjoy!