2008

As two thousand eight comes to a close, I would like to remember those projects that made me laugh, made me cry, made me curse and swear I will never knit again.

Sweater, Baby

Jen & Steve Espach are proud to announce the birth of

Woodland Henley Espach

Born September 30, 2008

Conceived December 30, 2007

Size 60"/ Weight 2lbs

Color - Brown

Oh, What a Night!

I would like to take a moment to thank my parents for a wonderful

wedding reception.

On Sunday, September 7 John & Jodie Wood held a beautiful reception for Steve & I at Maxwell Silverman's Toolhouse Restaurant. After surprising our families with a casual wedding in July (see Party Planning: Columbian Military Style ), they gave us the gift of a elegant cocktail party. We entertain 80 of our closest family & friends on a gorgeous night early September. It was a festive way to close out an incredible summer.

Photos by Greg Shevchuk
Cake by Lyn Kaminski

Party Planning: Columbian Military Style

On July 2, 2008 FARC guerillas were led into a ruse by the Columbian military to free former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 3 American contractors.

They never saw it coming.

On July 3, 2008 Steven Espach & Jennifer Wood held an BBQ/Fireworks party. After dinner guests were informed a wedding would take place.

They never saw it coming.

Steven & Jennifer Espach

July 3, 2008

Pickles!

This summer, when your garden has produced the produce that you gardened, you may be looking for recipes for all that good vegetation. Here is a great pickle recipe I got from my Nana.

Half Sour Pickles

1 dozen small pickling cukes (6 or 7 if they are larger)

1/2 gallon of water

3 stalks fresh dill

3/4 cup white vinegar 1 tsp garlic, minced

1/2 cup Kosher or Sea Salt 5 or 6 peppercorns

fistful of pickling spice (seriously, that's what the recipe says, fistful)

1/2 onion, cut into chunks

Bring the water to a boil and set aside to cool. Dissolve salt in vinegar with some of the hot water.

Wash & pack cukes in a container that has a lid.

Add spices, dill & garlic.

When the water is cool, pour water/salt mixture over cukes, then pour remaining water in. (Warm water will cause cukes to get soft. Make sure water has cooled.)

Cover & refrigerate. Ready to eat in 3 - 7 days. Depends on your taste.

Next time: What the Hell Am I Gonna Do With All These Tomatoes?

East Meets on West

As some of you may know, we divide our time (in the warmer months) between our home on the Eastside of Worcester & the Westside. Last year, after making some great new friends at EYC (Espress Yourself Coffee, 2C Richmond Ave), we celebrated the end of summer with dinner at Westside Steak & BBQ (2A Richmond Ave). This year we started the summer off with the same idea. On June 1 we gathered with friends for an evening of BBQ, beer & music. Luckily, one of the attendees is a fabulous photographer and captured the event. The rest of the pix can be seen at http://gallery.mac.com/sespach#100009

If you are interested in joining the next dinner, look for us at the end of summer. Or look for us on any given day or night at EYC.

Westside Steak & BBQ won Best BBQ in Worcester Magazine Best Of 2008. They also were runner-up in the Best Ribs & Best Wings categories.

Photos by Greg Shevchuk

Louise & Jen Wood's Summer Sweet Tea

This sweet tea recipe was created by Louise Wood (my friend's mom, no relation). I have tweaked it in the last few years. We drink this all summer at our house.

Summer Sweet Tea

3 tea bags (any black tea will do.

we use Red Rose cuz you get a little animal figurine in every box.)

2 or 3 stalks of fresh mint

2 or 3 stalks of fresh lemon balm

boiling water

3 TBSP sugar

I use a 2 1/4 qt pitcher (anything smaller & you may want to use less tea bags & herbs).

Pour water over tea bags & herbs.

Steep for 15 mins.

Remove tea bags & herbs.

Add 3 TBSP sugar.

I usually let it cool for another 15 or 20 mins before putting it in fridge.

Give it a couple of hours to chill &

Enjoy

If you do not have fresh mint or lemon balm you can omit them, it's delicious without them.

If you would like fresh mint or lemon balm, please let me know.

If you have ever planted mint in your garden, then you know how much one can have.

Mint is like that friend you have that comes around so much that your other friends start coming around less often. You don't want to get rid of them, you just need some breathing room.

You must stay on top of trimming or it will kill you in your sleep.

35 Going on 9

In the last week I have rediscovered 2 things from my childhood. First, I found my favorite book on EBay. It is the tale of King Pilaf, of Mulligatawny, in search of a queen who can bake gingerbread. He finds Princess Calliope who also has some marriage requirements. She is in search of a husband who can play the slide trombone. It is based on a German folktale. I would take this book out every time my Mom & I went to the library.

I was a weird kid.

Second, I found a cartoon on YouTube that no one seems to remember. So I thought.
These are The Barbapapas. I think they were on really early on Saturday or Sunday.
I don't remember much about them. They seem to be a family of blobs. They are each a different color.

A Knitter's Sigh of Relief

DEATH, TAXES & THE MOON?

Dear IRS,

They say you can't get blood from a stone. You can, however, get my tax payment from one really big stone.

I saw a report on 60 Minutes this week about NASA spending $ .15 per person per day on the space program. I assume this is my tax money being used. I do not support the space program. I, like most people, barely have a handle on this planet. Therefore, I believe that NASA owes me $54.75 this year. I have been working & paying taxes now for 19 years. That is now a total of $1,040.25.

I'm not sure who at NASA you should speak to, but I would like to use this towards my tax payment for this year (2007). Please send the outstanding bill to Mr. George W. Bush, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC. I'm sure his company has misused other moneys that I paid to you for, what I was assuming, important things here on Earth.

Thank you,

Jennifer Wood

Thank You Ralph

Ralph Moberly

1945 - 2008

Local Legend & Entrepreneur

You will be greatly missed.

Thanks for the memories.

The Best of Me

About a month ago I started the Top Seed Shawl from Cast On (issue May-July 2007). I did my gauge swatches, found the right needles & was off and running. I was very pleased with the yarn I

 chose. Reynolds Saucy Sport. A lovely sage green. I was so lucky to have purchased 10 skeins from someone in my weekly knitting group (thanks Erin).

Right from the start I knew I was short 1 or 2 skeins. The corner cutter that I am, I thought I could slip 1 or 2 skeins of another dye lot

 in without anyone noticing. WRRRONG! I got about 10" done before I noticed. Honestly, I didn't even notice. The lighting in my house is so terrible I couldn't see that my beautiful Tiny Bowknot stitch was 2 very different colors. It was embarrassingly pointed out to me. Devastated, I took it home & threw it in the corner. It took me 2 weeks to confront it. I finally frogged it, rewound the yarn and started it all over. I had a plan (really it was Steve's plan). I would knit the body with the 10 skeins of "good yarn", as I began calling it, and do the sleeves with the 2 skeins of "bad yarn".

10" along, again, I discovered that I still won't have enough yarn to do the body! I also had decided this would be a Mother's Day gift. With a little over a month to go, I would need to knit about 2.5 - 3" every day to finish.

Back to not having enough yarn. I am getting gauge, but it is 4" wider than it is suppose to be. Why? I have no friggin idea. I am, however, getting 5" of length out of each skein. It doesn't take a genius to figure out if I cut 4" of width off I will have enough yarn for the body.

I just keep knitting. I am in denial. This is exactly what I do with everything. Just keep going & pretend it's not there. It's April 7 & I haven't even looked at my taxes. Say no more.

I love knitting, but there is something that I am missing. The ability to stop when things aren't going right & do it over & over & over if it's necessary. I think, "It's not perfect, so what." Why put all that work into it if it's not wearable?

I started the sleeves & put the body away for a bit. Let's be honest, there is more frogging in my future. Good news, I get to cut 18 stitches off of pattern when I start over.

IN SICKNESS...

On Friday February 15 at 10am, my love & bipedially challenged, Steve hit the deck. He fell in our yard on a spot of ice breaking his left ankle. We spent a romantic afternoon in the ER at UMASS with our wonderful Murse, Eduardo.

Steve spent the next week at home waiting to see an Orthopedic surgeon (thanks to Aunt Lyn, it only took a week). Surgery was scheduled for Tuesday February 26, 7:30am. After 6 1/2 hours of surgery, he had a plate & 7 screws installed to the fibula and 2 screws to the tibia malleoli.We spent the next 3 DAYS hanging out at the hospital! Thank you to Murse, Peter for a great job.


Spent another 4 days at home, before returning


to work Tuesday March 4.
Steve had his stitches out this week & got an air cast. He is still on crutches, but can do a little more for himself.

Steve has been a wonderful patient. No complaints, no demands, no whining. He has been made aware our differences in this area & is still willing to marry me. I should probably take him up on it before I get seriously injured. You don't often get to try out the marriage vows before the wedding.

ROLLER BOOGIE

Last night my sister's friends threw her a 30th birthday party at Skylite Roller Rink. It was a blast. I haven't been on skates in about 22 years. Her friends, boyfriend & some of our family attended. Both of our aunts & uncles skated! I couldn't believe the number of us that took the chance.


Of course, Betsy was dressed for the occassion. She bought that silver jacket just for the evening & her boyfriend gave her new skates for her birthday. When are those gonna come in handy again? The best I could do was my off the shoulder Flashdance sweatshirt & rented skates(the latter I wouldn't have been caught dead in 22 years ago)

From the 4th grade to about 7th, my best friend KellyD & I went to the roller rink reliously. When I say reliously I mean we spent every Sunday all day instead of church. We had our own skates(white w/ red or blue wheels were acceptable), lycra skating skirts worn with nylons(makes your pasty pre-pubescent legs look tan. hot, huh?)& skate covers(who wants to see your laces, yuck!) My skating skirt was the most incredible shade of aqua blue that would make Toni Basil spontaneously break into a cheerleader pyramid. I looked like a string bean in a mini skirt. Last time I skated I didn't have any boobs. Now, not only am I worried about that, I have an ass to haul around too. Center of gravity has changed. Good times!

FINALLY, A SWEATER FOR ME!

I started this cardigan during the frustration period of the project below. It's coming along wonderfully. There is a problem in the armhole decrease math. I am winging it. I have contacted 2 people doing this project. Neither seems to have been bothered by the mistake. So I motor on,

 optimistic. The back is done, as you can see. The stitch pattern is so easy, but looks complicated to non-knitters. I felt like the back came out a bit small for my size, so I bumped up the size of the front panels(which I am doing at the same time on one needle) by 2 stitches. Gotta make sure they cover "the girls".