post office problems

Here in Israel our post office was privatized which I didn't much notice until this week when the papers announced that from Jan 1, 2011, all packages from abroad would have to be examined and for this unwanted deed, the cost would be another $10 added to the VAT and customs. Packages below the total value of $50 would only be liable now for the $10 which would not be going to the customs or tax authority. where will it go? I can only think it will go to make the private post office happy and apparently they want to be in t he same class as UPS and Fedex. For me this is a very big headache as aready all my books have to be valued at below $50 iincluding the postage. Postage on 2 books fromAmazon is $15 and add to that another $10 and each book now had an added cost of $12.50. For me this is just too much. Fortunately I have ordered the Kindle which will not be sent to me here because of the exorbitant customs and VAT. And if this announced new cost goes through, I will have to change my whole book buying procedures which means trying to use the Kindle more and ordering books only a few times a year which I can bring home on my trips abroad. As a knitter I will go and order on places like Ravelry where I can buy single patters for between $5-7 and immediately download them. For jewelry patterns there is bead-patterns and a few other sites. Most of the bead patterns that I like anyway are in magazines and this new ruling won't affect them. But as a trueblooded American who studied why the early settlers revolted when the British imposed the penny tea tax, this really upsets me. Apparently most Israelis are very calm about this unlike myself. My best friend tells me that they will just go on ordering and paying the extra $10.

another Kaffe Fassett

shayelle in baby surprise

Kaffe Fassett pullover

Finished knit projects

Not been doing any fairisles lately, but I think finishing two Kaffe Fassett sweaters make up for it. Right now they're drying but later I'll have pictures. One was in VK Fall 03 and consisted of knitting st st and garter st from sleeve to sleeve changing colors every row or so. lots of ends to sew in and quite a big job. I started it several years back using my Rowan glace mainly. The many colors are in the autumn and red color zone. with some blues and lavendar stuff to change it a bit. The other one Rowan magazine 31, Smoulder, was a more traditional big stripe thing knit from the bottom uo and I changed it from a raglan ( not really sure why I did th at) to a set-in sleeve. It's a cardi and the first one is a pullover which also included doing hems and a sc trim around the neck. For that one (the first one) I really had to pull out all my bag of tricks because at one point I had to cut off an extra amount when I had originally started it for my daughter. I used the Norwegian sewing thing trick. I'm quite proud of it.
I also finished a baby surprise and a small cardi in cotton for my little gd. this second one was with cables and my own design. I'm now at work on the Szabo Cross-country aran Twists and Turns, summer 01, which I made once before in Reynolds Cantata (long discontinued) in an off-white and this time in a very pretty cornflower blue. Also on the needles is a gorgeous absolutely great item for knitters. It's a cable and lace cardi using shetland stitches and this is a pattern from the Bliss Traditional knitting from the Scottish and Irish isles which also has some very nice fairisles. I'm knitting it in a kind of dull pink in a Jaeger dk weight yarn and it's done in one piece up to the armholes. Really great fun to knit,
also on the needles is Fiesta by Irene York which is a side to side cotton top with short sleeves. Again I'm now making this second time around with different yarns. I also have an entrelac in a Noro yarn which will probably have sleeves as it looks like I've got enough yarn for it.
I've started some other projects but they will come out when these get finished. Oh, I'm also working on a small baby cardi from the VK toddler knits books.
But my great hope is that this winter I'll be working on fairisles again from my big stash. They're are several ufos to begin with.

remaining swatches

The swatch on the top left is 15 sts and measures 2.5" wide and has 8 rows. On the top right we have the side panel which is 20 sts and 3" wide. The small swatch is a 4 row cable of 12 sts and measures 2".
Taking a good look now at the pattern, everything works out to measurements. But I might decide to have a break for a seam so I can knit it back and forth instead of in the round.

aran swatch

This is the first swatch from a pattern I paid for and downloaded on Ravelry. I was extremely disappointed in the way it is written because I have no choice now but to swatch each pattern and measure in order to figure out the size I want despite it is written in 12 sizes! Since the yarn I'm using is also machine washable I have to wash and measure again for the right measurement. The pattern was written in a way I have never seen before and hope never to see again. However the picture of the finished sweater was so pretty that I paid $8.50 for the pattern. Usually an aran sweater has a chart for each separate pattern showing the # of stitches and rows and also given a letter title such as A,B, etc. This pattern shows half the sweater which is written to be knit around and only gives the row numbers on the last page of the chart downloaded which makes it extremely difficult and most important of all, the chart is printed so small that even my magnifying glasses for close-up work hardly help. What did help was to use the Windows magnifier program in order to read the chart online and then understand it. The pattern uses twist cables and regular cables and the chart symbols themselves are not that well done. I have told a few knitters that I am disappointed and they seem to have heeded my warning. However I am very stubborn (a trait I got from my aunt Fanny who was not the most likeable person I ever met) and I intend to make this sweater and make it fit me too.

The swatch above is 5"wide and 4" in height using 3.75mm needles and Phildar 3.5 washable yarn. The yarn called for in the pattern is dk which this is. This is the main pattern of the sweater and it has 32 sts and 24 rows. The writer has also made it more difficult as she has split her pattern so that instead of saying to start on row... and end on row... she just shows the rows once more which I have also never seen and find not necessary either.

2009 Beadweaving books purchased

There just aren't many beadweaving books published and certinaly not in 2009. Each one I purchased added to my collection and I find them to be very useful. Let's hope t hat 2010 will continue to provide quality.
Seed bead fusion by Nelson-Smith has elements of other techniques that don't interest me. But hopefully this book will help me.
DeCoster's Beaded challenge is all about RAW. Actually she has more interesting patterns in some of the bead magazines.
Cube bead stitching by Jensen opened my eyes and I went out to find 1.5mm cube beads. This was a very worthy addition and also the patterns are quite easy but pretty.
Shaped beadwork by Diane Fitzgerald is a blockbuster of a book. Written in such a way that it leads on to more unexplored territory. All her books are useful but this one was the best for me.
Beaded sphere by Judy Walker was bought from a bead supplier as it's not on Amazon. Again another very important book.
In addition to the books, the magazines continue to lead the way. Sad that Step by step beads has been gobbled up by Interweave. Interweave Press was sold to another company and since that time, it has become a very aggressive marketing power but sometimes the books have to be checked before purchase.

2009 crochet books purchased

50 fabulous crochet squares was good purchase as was 99 granny squares to crochet from an earlier year but bought this year. The latter is a better book with twice as many patterns for the buck. But when it comes to grannies, I like all of them.
100 flowers to knit and crochet was bought because of the editor. good purchase.
Interweave crocheted gifts was also a good purchase. I hope to use it in the future.
Blueprint crochet is hard for me to understand but has some nice patterns. I notice that the author has done other patterns for magazines that are not charted and also this is not the first word on the subject as I have easier books published years before this one.
Freeform crochet and beyond Boght because I have another book by this author I like. This one doesn't come up to that one.
Tunisian crochet is good. Silverman designed everything and the many color photos look helpful. Plus I enjoy doing this anyway.

2009 knitting books purchased

I decided to check my purchases for 2009 on Amazon. I also bought some books in stores and on ABE but mainly Amazon.Overall I am quite disappointed. Somehow books were of higher quality years ago. Now it seems like each book has only a few patterns of interest. So I was recently in the far east and got to look at new books in actual bookstores. I was disappointed in most of them for the same reason that they promise a lot and don't deliver. I am going to itemize the books I bought now explaining what I think about each of them.
Knitting books:
Together or separate by McCauley. I was unhappy with her first book because all the necklines were done for someone with an abnormally long neck. This book didn't do that. Most of the items are really classic and a lot of them use cotton yarns. This book was a pleasant surprise.
All new homespun handknit. I bought this one because I thought it would come up to the level of a much earlier book but it didn't. It emphasizes handspun yarns and someone wrote me on that point, that I should not have been disppointed. There is a nice lace scarf from Nancy Bush, a shoulder lacey shawl and a lace scarf. The entrelac socks look good. Then there are several hats in colorwork. These are the interesting projects. It's possible that I might become more favorable towards this one in the future.
New stranded colorwork is a gorgeous book of Norwegian and some shetland knitting and since I like almost everything on that subject I was pleased with it. The main problem is that there are all kinds of yarns used so I would need to substitute for most of them. However that's probably academic as I'm just trying to use up my yarns and finish all my gorgeous projects that I've got.
Personal footprints by Bordhi was another disappointment as it mainly explains how to knit a perfect sock with one pattern. For me this is too bad I bought it.
Reversible knitting has 50 new stitch patterns and various projects. The patterns could be good but none of the projects interest me. Again I bought this one because I liked her earlier book on scarves which was definitely interesting.
99 yarns and counting was bought as I had been thinking of the earlier book from the Green Mountain spinnery but it looks like the whole group changed in the meantime. Unlike the first book, this one doesn't really list t he yarns used. Patterns are very simple so might be good for beginners but a big mistake for me.
Vintage baby knits was one of the few books I looked at before buying. There's a nice shawl but again not sure if this one will be of much use. The author prefers wool yarns and that is not practical as all the moms want something to put in the machine.
Norwegian handknits has a lot of nice small item patterns and a few large sweaters. Reminds me of growing up in Minnesota. Here I did feel I got a book that is worth the money. But not sure if I'll ever knit anything from it.
Knits from the North sea was criticized as not being very Shetland. I don't care. I feel the shawls and scarves are lovely. Happy with this purchase.
Amigurumi knits was another good purchase. Full of weird critters and different from the other Ami books which are all crochet.
Knit on down is a good collection of useful sweaters for all ages plus some hats and other stuff. Not disappointed with this one.
Knitting saddle style was another disappointment for me. There are no other books on this subject. Author doesn't explain how to design your own so you have to do the pattern her way. I wanted to know how long to make the sleeve and didn't get an answer.
Feminine knits was another disappointment.Main problem is that the yarns used are not American but primarily Danish. I didn't find anything I wanted to make but I could always change my mind. Mainly these patterns are not easy.
Knitting in the sun was another sad story. I found that t he gauges and yarns didn't work out mainly because each designer did her own thing. I tracked each yarn online to see what gauge was called for so if I decide to make anything, I'll have a general idea of the gauge I need. These are mainly sweaters for wamer climes which is good.
Custom knits might prove useful although I haven't bothered with it as the patterns are simple. I just noticed a cape from the top down which has no pattern stitches but might be helpful as I'd like to knit one.
Selbuvotter is in a class sof its own. I probably won't m ake any of the mittens but I'm interested in the fairisle/Norwegian patterns.
Knitted lace of Estonia is definitely a good purchase a nd I'm very pleased I've got it too.
So summing up: I need to be more careful in the future about what I buy. Wait until more reviews come in. The big problem is not to wait too long and the book goes out of print.

Beadwork for Dec 2010

I'm pretty unhappy with the latest Beadwork. I did enjoy all the interesting patterns in earlier issues but going back through them, I notice a big change when Melinda Barta became the editor. It seems to me that most of the patterns are doing the Laura McCabe rivoli type thing or RAW and actually t he patterns by Macia DeCoster in RAW are easier than most of the other ones. I enjoy Rivoli too and once learned it but I don't care to keep on with it all that much as it takes a long time for one thing. Now in this latest issue there is just about nothing that is easy. There are a few quickie easy ones at the beginning which don't appeal to me and also one bracelet Arabella near the end which has been done many times already. It's the peyote thing. The only difference here is that the embellishments are different. But frankly I don't even call that one a pattern. However, there is one interesting item in an adv in the back on page 104 the middle picture. It looks to me like brick stitch holding the ever increasing pie shape of beads which I learned to do this week from a Deb Roberti pattern. So maybe I'll try that one from the photo. The article on David Chatt is nice for him but rather sad for me as he seems to have abandoned beading for now. The actual projects only begin on p.40 after wading through pages of advertising. First one is a herringbone rope with a McCabe pendant, etc. Then come the three editorial quickies .DeCoster has an interesting pattern idea as long as I change the beads as I don't care for the pictures. The Kan necklace is another RAW with netting thing. The beaded tubes don't appeal to me. Next is another McCabe wannabe. Then a RAW cuff in two layers and I don't care for that idea either as it just makes it all that much heavier. Next is a peyote triangle with a spiral rope which might be ok if I adapt it as I definitely don't care for the colors. Then a bead embroidery which has been done often before a d finally a bracelet which looks nice but again is a McCabe wannabe. Final project of a brooch is a bit different but still RAW. So just about all of them are going to take a lot of work and are not for the beginner and probably not the intermediate beader either. The advanced beader can take out some ideas and do her own thing as she probably has her own copy of the McCabe book. Also the reason I am so disapppointed is that Interweave Press bought out Step by step beds and then forced it to go to easy beginner projects and then a few months later killed it. So now there is nowhere for the easy pretty patterns that were in that magazine unless Bead and button gets smart and sees there is a big opening for beginning projects. I'm making a bet with myself that Barta will be on her way sometime soon as people walk away from Beadwork. Really, for whom is the magazine now?
And going through my printed out patterns from all my magazines, I am not that surprised to see how many came from Step by step Beads when Rogalski was the editor. They were fairly easy to do, interesting, taught me something as well, and in a rather short beading time I was able to come up with a piece I enjoy still today. So where can the beginning beader or fairly new one now go?
One hopeful note for the end: happily the 4 beaders of the year are being replaced by 4 more. One is McCabe herself, two is Carole Ohl who is a favorite with me. The other two remain to be seen.

Eye of God earrings

This was a pattern in Beadwork and I used 1.5mm Toho cubes instead of the regular beads called for. I like it very much and these will be earrings and perhaps also part of a bracelet.

roberti bracelets

Worked according to the Roberti bracelet pattern but in 3 of the bracelets I c hanged the size of the cube to 1.5mm and I'm very happy with it. I'm using also in one of them a thread called Sonoho which I bought in Singapore. I'm told it's another name for Sono. Anyway it works like the 1G and the KO but it might be more economical as it comes on a much larger tube. I also used Fireline crystal in one of them but I find this difficult as the pattern is brick stitch. I also made a pair of earrings as I didn't have enough of that pink color for a bracelet.

patchwork bracelet

This lovely bracelet is from the August 2009 issue of Bead and button and is by Melissa van Diljk. It's a variation of the squares as in the Diane Fitzgerald book but since it was probably written up before her book was published then it came from some other source. I'm now making it in red and gold and might also make it for my daughter. It takes me about 2 weeks altogether not beading all the time. I also got a new book on cubes in beading by Virginia Jensen. The book is very interesting and full of good instructions and is meant more for the beginner to intermediate but I'm finding it very good and have discovered that Hobby here in Kfar Saba is an importer of Toho beads so I had a great time buying all sorts of 1.5mm cubes.

more new knitting books

Lots of new books to write about. Here are the knitting ones:

Cat Bordhi, Personal footprints for insouciant sock knitters. I have some of her previous books so had to pick this one up as well. She has some good ideas to make well fitted socks but I generally don't knit them unless I find my socks disappearing. My problem is my loose gauge and only size 2mm needles seem to work for me which isn't much fun.

I have the first book from Green Mountain Spinnery so bought the new one: 99 yarns and counting. I found this rather disappointing as compared to the first one. There are some nice children's sweaters and an aran hat at the beginning. They are all easy. I like the guernsey type cardi vest and the simple st st vest with a lace edging on the bottom. The shawl and scarf are very simple lace patterns. There's an easy fair isle cardi for children. Several hats and a pair of mittens follow and then the best item which is the Istanbul aran pullover with finished chest from 40-52". The aran patterns are all easy ones. Then come some Nordic hats in sock yarn and a fairisle hat which is attractive. there's an entrelac afghan using a brown variegated yarn. Followed by a raglan short cardi and a man's ribbed turtleneck. The whole book is on the easy side and the smaller items would make good fast gifts.

Next up is Lesley Stanfield's :100 flowers to knit and crochet. Very attractive book but I'm unsure just where I'll use them. Maybe that gray entrelac blanket would be a good choice if I bothered with it which I won't.

I have the scarf book by Lynne Barr so naturally went for Reversible knitting. One problem here is that the title is interpreted quite loosely. But she comes up with 50 unusual patterns and also has 20 projects from herself and other designers. I wasn't interested in any of the projects at this point but you never know, right?

OK. now for the last two books one of which surprised me and the other one didappointed me. Well, that happens when you buy sight unseen.
The bad news is All new homespun handknit edited by Amy Clarke Moore, editor of spin-off magazine. Actually that goes far to explain why I'm unhappy with it. I think if you are a spinner, it would be just right. Nowhere does she give you an alternative yarn but she does give needle size and gauge. Of the 25 small projects I did like the 3 shawl or scarf patterns and especially the one by Nancy Bush. Where needed there are good charts. I also liked the entrelac socks. There's a coin purse by Kathryn Alexander, mittens, socks, baby poncho, zipped baby hoodie (and the baby looks like he's choking as the zipper is in the back and over the back of his head). Moore herself comes up with a domino knit sweater which is done specifically for a child who is bigger in front than in back so she suggests basically that you make your own pattern and I ask then why do we need this pattern at all? Among the other small items are baby soakers.My daughter says no way will she go in that direction.

Now to end on a good note. Best for last. Mary Scott Huff's The New stranded colorwork. This is mainly Norwegian knitting brought up to date. There's tons of information here for the beginner who is scared of steeks for example. I like most of the 17 patterns (I'm not interested in bags and purses). She covers the whole family. Kjersten is a gorgeous green cardi for a woman using Brown Sheep nature spun sport in several colors. Being koi is a vest with t he Koi fish on the top and I love her colors of teals and poppy. Yarn is Harrisville shetland. Another nice vest is Queen of scots using Jamieson's spindrift. Houndstooth is a pullover with a doggie touch in a dk weight yarn. Norwegian blue is probably my favorite though and it also has Harrisville shetland as a cardi. Fleur de zebra is a pullover in Zarina yarns in black and white but with a great pink color to provide the punch. Wassily vest in a dk yarn is for size 44-49" finished chest size and is also nicely done. Finally the hardest one is Wedding belle in Dale of Norway Ull yarn and this is a cardi with lace and picot on the edges. I left out all the other projects like the baby bees sweater as I wouldn't put so much work into something like that but if you do Norwegian or fairisle definitely buy this one even sight unseen.Again, this is a great one for fairisle knitting and I want to use my J&S here.
Marian Poller m_poller@yahoo.com
http://www.Marianknits.blogspot.com
http://www

New books

It's autumn so I'm buying books again.
New knit books: Noble, Knits from the north sea. This got criticized on Amazon and my shawls email group because it wasn't strictly Shetland even though the second author comes from there. But I liked the patterns mainly and I have several of her books. Then Sue Flanders, Norwegian handknits. This with my Minnesota background brings back the memories but I doubt if I'll be doing anything as we no longer wear those warmies.
Crochet: Werker, Crocheted gifts. Has some nice quick projects especially the Willow hat. Leinhauser, Granny crochet favorites was ordered from ABE a nd my copy is pristine and I love it. Muriel Kent, Complete crochet course. bought sight unseen because of her Broomstick lace book. Similar material here too.
Rowan picked up this summer in England: magazines 43,44, 45. Classic alpaca book 13 and Purelife winter collection.
Ultimate design sourcebook for crafters to use when I do embroidery. I'm a little disappointed with it as the designs included don't really have what I'm looking for.
I just got the new Knitn style and the latest Interweave crochet which is really good this time. I know they changed editors so that might be the reason. Werker is a good editor but she was relying too much on her group which just hasn't got it yet.
I'm also wary of Interweave because they are bombarding me with lots of patterns for pay and these are mainly reprints from their older stuff
which I've got (if I could just settle down and find it).

I pulled out one of my fairisle projects which I started last winter. I changed it to be 9 1/2 repeats instead of the smallest size of 10 repeats as I generally get 7sts to the inch except that after I had to rip and restart as I had forgotten to start with the last 8 sts of the 32 st pattern, I then discovered that my gauge is exactly on which means what I'm knitting now will be 38" around and I want about 42". So I can't rip again as this pattern is flowery and giving me vision problems anyway. So I'm upping my needle size to 3.25mm which is called for in the pattern anyway, and if that doesn't work, I'll just block it out to be bigger when it's done.

Vision: well, two drs have examined me. I have 2 cataracts (I do have 2 eyes) and one is not ready which they both agree. But the left lazy eye might be ready and one of the drs wants to operate but the other one says to wait. So I'm beginning now to suffer. However I still passed the Israeli driver's eyetest by buying new lenses. I hate this ripoff. Spend the money and you pass. My friend J. who is quite deaf somehow passed it too (they also check hearing) but he spent a lot of $$ with them this summer on a multifocal with a very expensive Italian lense.

Books on broomstick lace

I promised a list of what I've got here on broomstick lace. I just received the newest book or pamphlet actually. "Broomstick crochet fashions" by Margaret Helen Wilkes. This is 32 pages paperback published by Search Press in 1986. ISBN 0 85532 591 7

I bought it on ABE which is a good source for used or op books. There are 7 patterns with color photos. Actually the stitch is always the same. She apparently owned something she wanted to sell to the public so she called it the Whizz Pin. She says in her instructions what size pin to use. She has a 25mm, and a 20mm. The crochet hook varies from 4mm to 7mm hook. Her materials go from mohair to aran yarns.
For her patterns she gives a stitch tension of one pattern which equals 1 inch.
In her step by step instructions which is illustrated, she suggests holding the whizz pin firmly between your knees. She calls for working 5 sts together and using double crochet but since this is English, it means single crochet. She also does not pull all the loops off t he pin at once but only 5 at a time (if you've watched youtube, you've seen Jennifer take them all off at once).
At the time this booklet was written, everything was oversized so you'd probably want to correct for that one.
Wilkes also did another book on regular crochet which I might buy sometime.
Ann Stearns, Batsford book of crochet, c1981. ISBN 0 7134 3312 4
on p. 37 she has something called extended stitch crochet patterns using a large wooden knitting needle or other suitable gauge. She works her loops by putting this large needle behind her hook and yarn and then working a sc over this needle. She then removes the knitting needle and turns the work. She then works the loops together 2, 3, 4 or 5 loops together.
I am not sure she was successful as she doesn't give project for anything in her book. She does have a chapter devoted to something called Turkish crochet as she went there to learn it.

Interweave crochet has 2 issues for which I found patterns: fall 2007 and summer 2009.
I bought by luck one issue of Crochet fantasy for summer 2005 # 181 and this was a goldmine of info on this stitch. pages 22-37. If you have this issue enough said, but if someone wants more info I'll be glad to oblige.

Leisure arts, The afghan book #63. Back cover has the afghan and it calls for a size 50 needle. Very nice item. designed by Marion Graham

McCalls afghan collection (so old the cover is missing so I don't know which one it was) but on p.30 there's a pretty afghan using 6 colors of Bear brand yarn and a size 50 pin. It works off 5 loops for each one. This is the booklet with some nice American flag afghans.

Bernat Treasury of afghans book #246. page 14 Uses 3 colors of Bernat yarn and size 50 needle. It uses 5 loops together and repeats two rows for each color.

Unger afghans vol 128. Uses Unger lovely in 3 colors and size 50 needle. Yarn is doubled and 5 loops are worked together.

Anyone have any more patterns?

from Jean Powers pattern

This took me two weeks of pretty intensive beading. I had some vision problems from my cataracts and also had to learn how to manipulate the thread which wanted to go elsewhere. I followed her instructions exactly and plan on making this next time as a necklace. Since it does go over my hand but feels a bit big, I might make it smaller next time.

zigzag chain

I gave away my zigzag necklace and when I got home I discovered I couldn't find my instructions as it makes a nice simple necklace with beads and 4mm Swarovski crystals. So I pulled out the Goodhue book and found on p.44 lots of zigzags but not the one I wanted. So then I started to bead. I remembered there were 3 beads sitting across from my crystal and you need to return to the last seed bead again always working up. The crystals sit first on the left and then on the right side with the seed beads zigzagging between them. What I did was to first make a circle of 9 beads with a good knot and go through again. Then I added 3 sb and one crystal and returned to the last sb on the circle. Next I added 3 more sb and 1 crystal and continued to return to t he sb before that and t hen going on through the 3sbs I just added. Seems to be ok.

kreplach vs dim sum

I started making kreplach when I was 4! The first attempt ended in me almost dying when I fell off a broken chair and grabbed the pot of boiling water on my way down. The Polish neighbor who was assisting me, grabbed a towel and pulled all the skin off my burned leg and I ended up going through several skin graft operations and treatments as I could no longer walk. But I didn't lose my love of kreplach. My aunt Fanny was a real kreplach maker but hers wern't very tasty unlike my aunt Dora's who was a great Roumanian cook. She taught me to use the best cheese I could find. One day we were driving in Winnipeg Lake beach where she had a summerhome. She pointed out a cow in a backyard and we stopped to buy some cheese from the cow's owner. The cheese was still warm. It made probably the best cheese kreplach I've ever tasted. After that it was a very long time until I could really make a decent kreplach. I think my dear sister Bev still can't do it. But then she's been wasting all these years working as a doctor.

In the following recipe I write how I roll out the dough. It wasn't like that before I saw how they do it in Kowloon. The traditional POlish or Jewish way of perogie or kreplach making is to take at least half the dough and roll it out into a big rectangle with a regular big rolling pin. The dough is rolled out to be quite thin. Then a glass or cup is used to make circles throughout the rectangle. The glass has to be coated on the bottom with some flour so it won't stick to the dough. The major problem is that a lot of the dough is left after all the circles are made and this dough is used again. The next time the dough is much tougher and drier so it's a difficult job. It also takes longer and the dough just isn't the same on this new batch.

In Kowloon I was waiting outside a dimsum restaurant and in the window there were some Chinese chefs making the dough for dim sum. They took pinches of dough and rolled each one out separately for one dim sum and they used a small rolling pin. I couldn't find it in Hongkong but I did actually find it in Israel. I explained this method to a Ukrainian friend who also makes kreplach and she switched to my way also.

red pepper pickled

1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
3 or 4 cloves or clove spice
black pepper optional
Bring to boil. Add 2 red peppers cut up and cook about 4 minutes. Serve with chicken.

kreplach recipe

My kreplach recipe is very low salt but you can add salt if you want to the dough or to the boiling water or after; however, try it this way as it's very tasty.
Begin by boiling 2 large pans filled with water.
Dough:
2 cups flour
1/3 cup cold water
1 egg
Add part of the water to the flour and egg in a food processer and continue adding water slowly until the dough begins to move as one piece (rather violenty too)
If you have too watery a dough, just continue to knead it with more flour.
Put aside and make the filling.

Cheese filling:
200 grams or 8 oz of low salt white cheese. Can be farmer's cheese. My cheese is about 50mg salt in 100 grams of cheese.
sugar to taste (up to 3 TBSP)
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, beaten
1 heaping TBSP sour cream (I use low fat 9%)
Mix all but the egg and taste. when taste is right, then add a beaten egg and mix well.

Blueberry or fruit fillings:
Fruit plus sugar
cinamon optional
Cornflour if watery.

Combining:
The pictures below show my small rolling pin.put flour on a level surface. I take a large pinch of dough and roll it into a circle about 2-3" in diameter. Roll fairly thin and then add cheese or fruit (small amount). I usually fold the circle over once and pinch up the edges. This technically is called perogie. To make kreplach, continue and take two corners and pinch them together.Be very careful that the dough is well sealed especially if the filling is fruit.

Boiling:
Add about 10 kreplach to the boiling water and after they all have reached the top of the pan, continue cooking about 10 minutes and then remove into a strainer. You might want to lower the heat while it's cooking and don't cover.

Serving:
For cheese I like melted butter (unsalted of course) and a little sour cream. For fruit, you might want to put a little sugar on each one. Taste first.

kreplach, cheese and blueberry

Diakeito crochet

I spent several hours today figuring out the pattern in the Diakeito magazine shown here (cover is the project). The yarn is Dialien and it's a beautiful pastel ribbon. Color is LE 605. I think it's a linen, cotton blend. The ball is 35 grams and is 123 m. The pattern calls for 230 grams so I have enough too. I began with the "magic loop" and then went on to make 2 hexagons and connect them. To my amazement I was spot on gauge which almost never happens to me. The hook is a Japanese 2.0 which is called for in the pattern.

cucumber salad

This recipe from my old Betty Crocker book.
2 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup water
2 TB sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper.
Slice cucumbers into bowl and add rest of ingredients. refrigerate 3 hours.
6 servings, 10 calories per serving