11.09.08
Finished Up Another Yarn Project and a Bag of Chicharon
One of the yarn projects I want to get started on is the Babette Blanket. But before I do that, there are some knit requests my boys have for me that I need to complete first, so I’m holding off on the Babette for now and just daydreaming about the colors I want to use for it. However, last Thursday I happened to be in the area of one of the yarn shops that I heard was having a sale. Oh, oh. Danger, Wil Robinson. Danger. I had to remind myself that I’m already swimming in yarn at home, but I couldn’t convince myself, I had to stop. Just to take a peek. I am proud to say that I was good. I did not go overboard, and only purchased one crochet hook and two balls of sock yarn for one pair of socks.
The crochet hook was for a rug I had been wanting to make for my boys’ bathroom. I’ve had the wool for over a year now. I had actually knit up two rugs with some of the wool for my bathroom, but they were my first attempts at rug making, and the results were only so-so. That didn’t stop me from using them, tho, and they are still in my bathroom today. I much prefer them in there than with no rug at all, brrrr. And most of all, Brian appreciates them, so that’s a plus. I will say that a problem I had with knitting those two rugs is I didn’t have the proper size needles. I needed larger needles and longer needles than I had, and when I went to the shop for the proper size, they only had a needle that was even larger than I needed. So because I wanted to get started, I had to make due. The result was the fabric came out a little looser than I would have liked.
This time, however, I am much more satisfied with the needle size for this yarn. I picked up a “P,” but could have used an “O,.” which I don’t have. I will say that it does feel funny to work with such thick yarn and such big hooks after working with much smaller needles for socks. Above is a picture of some hooks for comparison size. The sock yarns use needles the size of the one on the far right with the white and blue handle, size 2. The next hook is a size F, which I like to use for things like my little amigurumi animals. The brown wooden one is the new one I got, which is a size P, and the big blue plastic one is a size Q, which I got because a rug making book I got recommended this size. So far, I haven’t used it, but plan to eventually.
So here’s why I mentioned the Babette Blanket. In order to get a little “fix,” I decided to use the Babette idea to make a small bathroom rug. Here’s a pic of the squares in progress.
Here’s a little closeup of a square in progress using the size P crochet hook. The great thing about using such thick yarn and large hooks is that the project works up pretty fast. It only took me a couple of days to complete, and I only worked leisurely on it.
And here’s the finished project.
The dimensions turned out to be 48″x71″. My boys are okay with it, so it’s now in their bathroom. A little funky, I know, but not too girlie looking, so they’re good with it, heheh. And the other plus is the weather is starting to cool down, so this should help to keep their toes a little toasty while in the bathroom.
Oh, before I end this post, I wanted to share a pic of the “best” pork rinds that I know of. My sisters just got back from the Philippines a couple weeks ago, and one of my sisters was kind enough to remember that I really like pork rinds, aka chicharon in Tagalog aka pork cracklins. And just to get the record straight because I was recently attacked by the food police, my diet is okay with pork rinds because I do maintain a relatively high fat diet ala Weston Price style. The person who attacked me apparently thought I’m on a low-fat diet, which is not the case. This is not a contradiction to my organic, whole foods diet. As a result of Weston Price’s studies on the health of 14 different racial groups, he was lead to believe that eating foods that your ancestors ate traditionally is beneficial. Since the common foods in my heritage were seafoods and pork, among other things, chicharon is good to go. So long as the pork rinds are free of other artificial flavorings, preservatives, and other additives, I’m good with them. These are just pork rinds and salt. Not to mention that fat is essential in the normal functioning of our bodies such as our nerves, brain, and bone marrow as well as necessary to properly utilize fat soluble vitamins the skin in pork rinds are also a source of collagen. If anyone is interested in learning more about the benefits of fat and cholesterol in our diets, I suggest checking out the Weston Price Foundation along with Price’s book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, the Price-Pottenger Foundation, the writings of Mary Enig such as Know Your Fats, and Uffe Ravnskov’s Cholesterol Myths. Between the boys and me, these were gone in less than two days, sigh.
I think it’s hard to read the top of the bag, but it reads, “The ‘Rolls Royce’ of Chicharon.” And they ain’t lying. . .
Marlakins
