Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here

This weekend was an impromptu family reunion of the Gentlemens. Some certain family member who does not wish to be named has been rather ill, so everybody flew into Chicago for a visit. This involved sisters from the left coast, the right coast, the United Kingdom, and even me and E flying on Thursday and Friday all to the center of the country. So we've all been here. It's very nice. We hardly get together like this.

And the ill person seems to be doing a bit better.

Flame out

After much futzing, I have produced my Tree Beret for Ravelympics.
I had to take the picture with my camera because I'm at my grandpa's in Chicago. It's really very pretty. But it's too big for me.

Prisoner updates

Remember Ole' Crap-o-tee? The evil knit languishes in knitting jail. Seeing as how I know of no convention on the treatment of prisoner knits, today the punishment of this knit was made (notice the use of passive voice here) more severe. It's needles where taken away, and sent to another part of the country. There is no hope. Doomed.

And then there is the case of a certain Jeremy Clark-Erskine. According to the Indiana database of prisoners, he's supposed to be released from the custody of the state today. I believe that he has been convicted of another crime in Marion County, and am hoping that upon his release from state prison he was delivered to the care of that county to serve his sentence. A lot of people are hitting this blog today looking for information about him. If you know if he was really released, please contact me by commenting anonymously, and tell me if you want me to actually make your comment public. I have the option of keeping it for my eyes only.

A quick note

I'm still not done with that darn hat! There's been lots of picking out two or three rows and reknitting. Ugh. Frustration.

I'm in Chicago now, and I have a final tonight. Things have been pretty busy here since I arrived with school and family stuff. My flight back to Maryland is tomorrow morning.

Day 1: Disappointment of Olympic Proportions

Cry.

I cast on at precisely 8 am eastern.It was going so well. I got to row 19 of the Tree Beret and found an error. This is a Brioche Beret that is a cousin to the Windmill. I'd been knitting with only a few cases of picking back small portions steadily all day. And then I realized that I'd missed an increase in one section about, oh, seven rows back. I thought it was two rows back, but I tinked all those and then discovered the true horror of the situation.

Gasp. I'm pulling it all out now

On your marks,

Dude, I'm totally ready. My yarns are here. My needles are sharpened. I'm ready to take my team to victory. The mass cast on begins tomorrow morning at 8 am eastern time.

Ravelympics 2008

I have taken on the challenge, and it's not socks.

Don't get me wrong. I love the socks, and I love summer. But also love knitting, competing in amateur sports, and international camaraderie. So I've thrown my needles in the ring for the Bag-n-Tote Backstroke event in Ravelympics 2008. For 17 days during the games in Beijing, I'll take a break from my sock knitting to knit the Felted Stained Glass Fan Bag.

The new gear bag has taken its place next to my Summer of Socks bag our living room.

Stay tuned. Scott TC will be reporting on location.

Favorite Shabbat Dinner

Every Friday night I cook an especially good dinner. Sometimes it's a nice fish or roast chicken, but my favorite are stuffed onions. They take a little work, but are absolutely super.

Ingredients:

3 or 4 very large sweet onions
3/4 lb ground lamb
2 fresh tomatoes diced
1/2 cup long grain rice, soaked in water for 30 minutes
1 small can tomato sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tbs chopped parsley
2 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Juice from 1/2 lemon

Place unpeeled onions in a large pot and cover with water. Put the pot over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer the onions for 30 minutes. Remove onions from water and set aside to cool until they can be handled.

Drain the rice.

In a large mixing bowl, combine lamb, tomatoes, cinnamon, allspice, rice, parsley, salt, and pepper. Mix well with your hands.

Cut the root and stem ends off the unpeeled onions. Cut a slit the radius of each onion. That is, cut the onion from the outside to the center. Remove the peel and as many layers you need to to get to a layer that is edible and discard. Take off each layer of the onion as you can; you should get four or five good petals per onion. They will curl up on themselves. Set aside and repeat for each onion. Save the onion core for another dish.

Now stuff the onions. Handling the onion petals carefully so as not to tear them, place a few tablespoons to a half cup of the meat mixture into each petal and roll it up so it looks like a fat sausage. The amount used will depend on the size of the petal, but the onion should roll up somewhat on itself. Repeat until all stuffing is used.

Heat olive oil in a large lidded pan until it shimmers over medium heat. Place the onions seam side down into the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, chicken broth, and lemon juice. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for 45 minutes.

Serve four people with a green salad and chewy bread for dipping in the sauce.