Kale Salad - SUPER YUM!

This summer I have eaten more kale than ever before in my life.  Why? Well, blame it on the local farmer's market.  Bunches of green leafy kale have been available all summer long and I've bought a bunch just about every week.  I learned this recipe (tho. I've personalized it) from the farmer's market managers.

Kale salad is cold, uncooked kale thrown together with just a few other ingredients.  It's simple and fast to make.  Even if you don't THINK you like kale - try this.

Follow the photo tutorial for step by step salad yum.

I ran out of Trader Joe's organic lemons and had to buy these at the regular grocery - good grief, what a difference, these looked great on the outside but were brown-ish and kinda dry on the inside.  

Can you tell I'm not big on measuring?

This next step is great fun for the kids - even the littlest ones can help with this.  Please wash their hands first! After you're done massaging your kale salad, you will have the fringe benefit of olive oil softened hands.  WIN WIN.

I've had the kale salad in a sealed container in the fridge for about a week and it was just fine.  One cup of raw chopped kale has your entire daily requirement of Vitamins A and C.  It's also great for increasing your iron intake.  Other nutritional benefits of kale are Calcium, B6 and magnesium.  And believe it or not, that same cup of chopped kale has about 3grams of protein.

What's not to love?  By the way, I've made this a few times when I was out of almonds.  I've added pecans and/or walnuts to substitute.  I've also used sunflower seeds.  I've opted for golden raisins when I was out of the dried cranberries and used all manner of cheeses from Trader Joe's Unexpected Chedder, to other flavored cheddars or Trader Joe's cheddar gruyere and once even crumbled blue cheese.

Enjoy!

Next up - Pitt coasters!

Stitching History

Just popping in to share ONE little stitch!  I took a trip down to Maryland last weekend to take part in this event.  Check it out -

Way back when I first started my blog - I made several posts about my applique project.  Of course - that is one LONG-TERM UFO that is currently sitting in plastic bags in my closed.  Check out my applique quilt HERE and HERE.

If you'd like to read more about this flag project, try these links:

The Maryland Historical Society Flag Event
The Smithsonian's Exhibit about the Mary Pickersgill Flag
The Human Flag story at Fort McHenry
Upcoming Flag Events at Fort McHenry

I started a new crochet project - I'll be sharing that really soon!

Stained Glass Coasters - a tutorial

I have been busy.  I haven't been busy with crochet.  So I really NEEDED to get busy with some crochet.  And I did.  In fact, I wrote a little tutorial to share with you.  AND... here it is.

So the other day, I was scrounging around in our "art room," (a room in the house that has evolved from being a kid's art room  and then changed to a music and recording studio for my teenagers and then changed to a bit of a storage area) and I came across this:

I'm not sure where it came from.  I don't plan to make friendship bracelets with it right now so I wondered if I could use it to do something CROCHET...

It's kind of like embroidery floss but thicker and less "splitty."  It comes with TWO EACH of every color you see pictured.  

I thought it might be cotton but it's not - as you can see it's wool and viscose.  Each tiny skein is just 3.28 yards.  That's not much.  The photo on the top left - the green squiggle there - well that's an entire skein!

so... I figured I'd have to get kind of creative with anything crochet.  I sat down and created a little tiny star/flower motif... I joined them together and created a stained glass coaster.

The first one I created looked like this:

I wanted a border around it so I made that addition.
And I wanted to re-create it and photograph the steps for a tutorial and now I have.

I sat here today and worked it all out for you.

And now I will present the step-by-step photo tutorial for the stained glass coaster. (Amer. crochet terms)

Make a magic (adjustable) ring.

chain 1, 8 sc in ring

Pull ring to tighten and join with a slip stitch.  Round 1 complete.

ch2, then sc in same stitch as join (ex 1)

*Skip the next stitch (see ex 2).  Then (sc, ch2, sc) in next stitch.  Repeat from * 3 more times, then sl st to join the round.

You now have a bit of a square (sorry for the blurry photos - I was outside with an camera phone).  Round 2 is now complete.

Perform the following stitches in the first ch2 space from the previous round: sc, dc, tr, dc, sc.  That completes your first corner petal.

Now, you are going to "dip down" to the skipped stitch from the second round and slip stitch in there.
That kind of defines a stronger petal shape.

*Into the next ch2 space (sc, dc, tr, dc, sc), then sl st into the skipped st from round 2, repeat from * 2 more times.  Finish off.

Ta dah! You have now completed ONE little star petal motif.  Pull the center string to tighten the middle and weave in the ends (if you are good you will weave in NOW) - often I'm lazy and wait to the end.  But it's easier to go on without little tails hanging about.

Next, grab another color and you will start right in on a second motif.

Complete Rounds 1 and 2 with the second color (pink in the example).  When you get to round 3, complete ONE petal (petal = sc, dc, tr, dc, sc) and one dip down slip stitch.

Then, complete the first half of the next petal (sc, dc, tr).  This is where you will make the join to the first motif.  Joining the green and pink motifs will require a join to the top of TWO petals.  I do the join on the second and third petals.  To make the join, I follow the basic procedure used by Lucy at Attic24 in her "join as you go method."  Basically - my method is the same concept.  Keep in mind that each joining stitch in this coaster pattern uses a slip stitch as the joining stitch.

So as seen in example 1 above, I have made 1.5 petals on the pink motif. In example 2, I put the hook through the two loops at the top of the tr-stitch on the green petal.  Yarn over with the pink and pull it through the green and pink loops.

In example 3 I have completed my first join and I have continued on to finish the rest of the petal by making a (dc, sc) in the same chain2 space.

Now, slip stitch into the skipped stitch from round 2.  Then make another half of a petal (sc, dc, tr), then make the second join with the green motif (see example 4) finish off the third petal by making a (dc, sc) in that same chain2 space.

Slip stitch in the next skipped stitch from round 2, complete one more petal (sc, dc, tr, dc, sc) - no joining needed on this one and  TA DAH!  Example 5 shows two happily joined star petal flowers.

I hope that makes sense.  Please feel free to contact me if you need further explanation.

Let's continue on.

The top left photo (above) shows THREE little motifs joined in a row.    When you get to motif to the second "row" of motifs you will need to join each motif at THREE of its four petals points rather than just at two.

When I join three sides, I like to make 1/2 a petal, join, then complete the petal.  Slip stitch (dip down), complete 1/2 of the next petal, join a second time (this time I join by going BETWEEN the joined space of the two motifs), then complete that petal.  Dip down slip stitch, then make 1/2 a petal.  Join one last time, complete the third petal, slip stitch and make a complete fourth petal all on it's own with no joining.

Remember a full petal is (sc, dc, tr, dc, sc) and a Joined petal is (sc, dc, tr, join, dc, sc).

Again, it's the same concept that Lucy describes in her join as you go method.  My joins are always done with a slip stitch for this project.  She clearly shows how to join on two sides and how to join on three sides.  She joins granny squares but the concept is very much the same.  My motif has only 4 corners, and no sides, so there are fewer places it needs to be joined.

Make and join three more motifs until there are a total of nine!  Voila!  There you have it.  A rainbow of tiny little star petal motifs all joined up together - three rows of three, a very nicely formed little square.

I decided that the motifs reminded me a bit of a stained glass window.  That's when I realized I wanted a border around the outside edge.  I came up with a really simple border - enough to just hold the square together and make it straighten out a bit.

Here's how.

Join a black yarn in any corner.  5sc in that corner.  *ch2.  dc into the same "dip down slip stitch" as in round 3 of the motif.  ch2.  dc over the join between the motifs.  ch 2.  dc, in the dip down slip stitch, ch 2, dc in the join, ch 2, dc in the dip down, ch2, 5sc in next corner.  Repeat from * 2 more times.  Now 3 sides of your square have a border.  On the last side, follow the same pattern, but when you get back around to the first corner join the first sc (of the 5sc) with a sl st to close the round.  Finish off and weave in all ends and clip them.

Easy, right?

And here's how that looks:

I love the way it seems like the flower motifs are floating inside the border, so unobtrusive!

Love it - and look how well it looks underneath of my icy cold water.  By the way - the icy cold water was a MUST HAVE for crocheting outside today cuz it was H-O-T and H-U-M-I-D today in my corner of the world. YUCK.

Feel free to share photos of your stained glass coaster on my facebook page if you make one!

Ta ta for now - Sher

A Rather Dishie Rainbow of Crochet

Rainbows are very happy - I mean with all those bright, fun colors striping together right next to one another in a curvy little arc... what more could you ask for color happy!

A rainbow comes at the end of a rain when the sun is peeking out again - that's pretty happy.

So, I'm sharing a bit of crochet rainbow happiness with you today.  For my crochet booth (see this post at my failed attempt at selling crochet) I made some happy little rainbow arches.  They are part of my Happy Hanger series.  What's a Happy Hanger?  Well, it's just a little something to hang around the house in a place you can enjoy it for no other reason than just looking at it might make you happy.

Here's my design, instructions and photo tutorial.  Enjoy.

First - I'm using Knit Picks Dishie Cotton Yarn.  I love this Dishie!!! (however, the yellow is a bit dull and they often run out of colors - but the shipping is fast and the price is right).   That said, in this example, I substituted Knit Picks CotLin dk for the yellow (canary).  The CotLin dk works up about the same as the Dishie - clearly making the Dishie a very very light worsted.  I used They say it's a worsted weight but I'd call it a slightly heavy dk if anything.  It's much thinner than any worsted here in the US.  I made rainbow Happy Hangers using E, F and G hook sizes... the small-ish hook makes for a nice tight rainbow that is good and firm.  For my photo tutorial, you can see I've used an E (3.5mm) hook.  You can of course vary the hook and yarn to your liking.  The tutorial instructions should work out the same.

Start with a magic ring.  Chain 2, make 10 hdc (American Crochet Terms) in ring.  Join ring with slip stitch and pull tight to close.

Join the next color (mine is orange).

Ch 2 and hdc in same stitch. 2 hdc in remaining stitches from round 1.  (20 hdc).  Finish off orange and join next color. (mine is yellow)

NOTE:  There is a great tutorial on making a flat circle from my all time, most favorite crochet gal - Lucy at Attic24.  Go here for her tute.  It's a common method for circle making but she describes and shows it very well and in great detail.

For the yellow round, ch 2, hdc in same stitch then hdc in next stitch *2hdc in next stitch, hdc in next stitch.  Repeat from * to end.  Join with sl stitch.  Add on next color (mine is green).

For the green round, ch 2, hdc in same stitch.  *hdc in next 2 stitches.  2hdc in next stitch.  Repeat from * to end of round, join w/ slip stitch.  Finish off.

Join next color (mine is blue).  ch 2, hdc in same stitch.  *hdc in next 3 stitches.  2 hdc in next stitch.  Repeat from * to end of round, join w/ slip stitch.  Finish off.

Join next color (mine is purple).

Make purple round the same as previous rounds but make hdc in 4 stitches and then 2hdc in next stitch and repeat that pattern to end.  Always join w/ a sl st and finish off.  OR.. use any joining method you like.  Sometimes I finish off and join each new round in a totally new place so I don't have a whole line of joining stitches in a row.  Sometimes I pull a new color thru to complete my sl st on the joining stitch.  There are a bunch of ways to join a new color when crocheting in the round - use your favorite method.

Next, join a final color (mine is pink).

Continue in same method.  Increase a stitch every 5 stitches.  You can increase more or less if your circle starts to curl or ripple.  At the end of this round, finish off.

I often weave ends in as I go.  In this circle I weave some ends in and others I don't.  The good thing about the rainbow hanger is that you don't have to weave the ends in.  They just live inside the rainbow - see the next photo.

Tuck all the strings in and fold the rainbow circle in half to form an arc.

To close the rainbow I use red.  I like to start and finish the rainbow with red.  Use a single stitch to join the two sides of the circle.  Go under both stitches (four loops), join the red yarn and then complete a single stitch.  Tuck the end inside the rainbow and continue single stitching around the arc.

Here the rainbow is finished in sc all the way around.  Finish off the red yarn but don't put it away.

To make a hanger loop, join the red by putting the hook under both loops of the center stitch on the sc row.
Make as many chain stitches as you wish or until the length of your hanger is at it's desired height when folded in half.

Join by making a sc in the same stitch where the yarn was joined.

Finish off the red.  I usually tie the ends in a tight knot then weave them in pulling the knot down into the top of the rainbow so it can't be seen.

TA DAH!  Your rainbow hanger is ready to make you happy!

 In this sample, you can see I crocheted the colors in reverse order from my tutorial.  I made several of these in both color orders.  I figure some people prefer to see more of the warm colors and other like the cooler colors... the rainbow can make even the warmest and coolest people happy!

Enjoy - Sher

Stay tuned for a few more Happy Hangers...