Fuchsia Fairy

When you're known as being the auntie who MAKES THINGS, well, sometimes you get asked to make things. My niece is starting a fairy garden, and her mom reached out to ask if I would make this fairy for Piper for Christmas.

The answer was no. There was *no way* I could order the yarn, get the wires for shaping and the little eyes early enough to have time to complete the project before Christmas. But....Piper's birthday was in February. I did have time to make one before then, and the best part was that nobody would be expecting it for her birthday. So I stealthily crocheted the fairy, and I bet everyone was REAL surprised, because....well, it was late. I'm sure they thought I forgot her birthday. They live about 1600 miles away, so I had to mail the package, and it arrived a few days after the big day. It was a big hit, though.

This is by far the tiniest thing I've ever crocheted. I was worried it might not turn out well, but I think it did. So does my niece, which is the part that really matters.

March Solo Sock Club Yarn and Pattern

I am really excited about March's draw for the Solo Sock Club. I was SO excited that I cast on and knit for quite a while before it occurred to me to take a picture of the yarn to post on the blog. Facepalm.

This is how the yarn looked before I lost control and cast on. The bottom set is closest to these colors.

The yarn is Bashful Gradient Dyed Cupcakes, which was previously sold under Bashful Bags and Fibers. I followed a link to their etsy page, but it doesn't appear that they still have any active listings. If you really want to get your hands on some, you might get lucky and find a stashed set on ravelry with which someone would be willing to part.

For this yarn, I really want to use up every little bit of that scrumptious color. I've opted for a toe-up pattern, Laxo Socks.

Using a toe-up pattern means that I can keep knitting until all the yarn is used up, ensuring I get all of that lovely color worked into my project. I can't wait to see how these ones turn out. Since I already have a head-start on March, I will likely have these finished well before the month ends.

February Solo Sock Club

It turns out February kept me quite busy at my day job. Since only about 2 people read this blog, day job won out over blog posts. I did, however, finish my February socks a while back. The yarn I pulled for February was a self-striping yarn in an American flag pattern.

The yarn is from Artistic Yarn by Abi. Truth be told, this one has been in stash for a loooooooong time. I don't think she sells this pattern any longer; she may have changed her business name since I bought this yarn. That's one of the features of the Solo Sock Club, though - I get to use up amazing yarns that have been languishing in storage so long that I forgot I even owned them. Because this is a self-striping yarn, I opted for a vanilla pattern to let the colors shine on this pair. I am very pleased that this yarn was pulled early in the year...recall that I didn't label the bags and I'm choosing them at random. I'm glad I will have the flag socks ready to go for Memorial Day and the 4th of July. I mean, I won't hesitate to wear them any time of year, but it's nice to have themed socks available when a holiday rolls around. Stay tuned to see the March sock club yarn and pattern.

February Solo Sock Club Yarn and Pattern

It's March! I know what you're thinking, but I didn't skip February in the sock club. I simply didn't post about it (I know). The January socks turned out great. Here's the yarn for the February socks:

Due to the self-striping nature of the sock yarn, these will be knit up in a vanilla sock pattern so that it doesn't look too busy with all the color changes. Stay tuned to see the finished socks!

January Solo Sock Club

I'm still enjoying the self-curated Solo Sock Club, inspired by the Yarn Harlot. I made good progress. Here are my finished January socks:

The yarn is one I dyed myself, I called the colorway Caramel Apple from World on a String Designs. The base is 75% superwash merino and 25% nylon. I dyed it in a way that would prevent color pooling around the heel area. This used a vanilla sock pattern. January is in the books; I'll post about February soon.

Solo Sock Club

We are 6 days into 2024. On New Year's Day, I noticed this Instagram Post by the Yarn Harlot. She pulled 12 skeins of sock yarn from her stash and paired each one with an appropriate pattern, bagged them up and BOOM - she calls it her Self-Imposed Sock Club. This is such a GENIUS idea, and I cannot believe my luck that I saw it on the very first day of the year. I went to the basement, retrieved 12 forgotten favorites of sock yarn and then proceeded to my Ravelry favorites section and matched them up with patterns. I bagged mine up and put them under the Christmas tree.

In lieu of a subscription that will come once a month, I will simply grab a bag and get to work. Bonus, this idea also helps work down my stash of yarn that I already have, and it's budget friendly, too. I've collected all the bags on a wooden tray. My brother and sister-in-law sent us a Harry & David gift box for Christmas, and along with the goodies came this lovely little tray. I thought it would make the perfect spot to keep my makeshift sock club. Eventually, we will put the Christmas tree away, and I feel as though the tray is a place that provides a bit of organization to the project - and if it is determined to be "in the way" at a future point, the tray can be easily moved to a new home.

When I saw the original post and decided I wanted to do this also, I was mid-project on a pair of socks. I was determined to finish them ASAP so that I could dig into the first bag of my 2024 Sock Club. Never had a project FELT like it took so long. I did complete them yesterday, and immediately asked my husband to choose a bag for me. He graciously obliged, and I opened it to find this:

This is a skein of yarn that was hand dyed by me and was originally dyed for my Etsy shop. It never did sell, but it was always a favorite of mine, so I pulled it for my sock club. This is the only skein out of the year that I dyed myself. It is a blend of 75% superwash merino and 25% nylon. The colorway is called Caramel Apple. It works up with short bursts of mini stripes in the contrast color. I'm nearly ready to turn the heel on the first sock.

Due to the way that the colors in the yarn will work up, I opted for a vanilla sock pattern in this case. I find that in knitting projects, either the colors or the textures will pop. For yarn with lots of colors, a simple pattern will show them off. For a pattern with oodles of texture, a solid and light-colored yarn will really show off those pattern details. I am using a plain pattern here to allow the dye job to really shine in my finished socks. I will post the finished socks once they are finished. Follow along, as I will have updates on all of the monthly sock knits.

How to Render Lard

Nearly all the meat our family consumes is grown within a mile of our home. We raise and process our own meat chickens. We also buy a pig and a half a cow from our neighbors, who raise them. One of the perks of this is that I request the pig fat when the animals are processed, so I can render it into lard. Home-rendered lard is a fabulous thing to have on hand. The best of the lard is great for baking - it results in flaky pie crusts, with a mild (and not porky) flavor. While lard gets a bad rep, it is really the shelf-stable lard from the grocery store (which is shelf stable because it has been hydrogenated) that is the real villian. Home-rendered lard has not gone through that process, and doesn't have the same unhealthy characteristics - the shelf stable version contains trans fats, whereas the home-rendered version does not. Shelf stability is a great feature on an industrialized scale, as it reduces waste and cost. However, on our small homestead, we simply store the unrendered fat in the freezer, and the rendered lard in the fridge until we are ready to use it. Problem solved! The result is delicious lard for our family without the health risks of hydrogenated fats.

We use lard a lot for frying eggs or meat, or for anything we want to make crispy. I often make freezer batches of breakfast burritos, and when put in the microwave, the tortillas get soft and sometimes soggy. I heat them in the microwave, then finish them off on the stove in a bit of rendered lard. They crisp right up and taste amazing. Lard is also great for frying pretty much anything and gives delightfully crispy results. So *how* does one home render lard, you ask? Great question; I'd love to tell you. Our pig fat comes from the butcher in a large, several-pound package, vacuum sealed like our meat. I use a crock pot to melt it down, and the first step is cutting up the fat.

I start with the fat frozen solid. It takes a bit of elbow grease to get through the thicker parts, but as the fat warms it will start to melt on hands and can make the process quite slippery. I start by cutting the fat down into big strips that are no wider than my knife is long. Then, I cut off slices about 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick. Next, I cube these down, then add them to my crock pot over low heat.

The smaller the chunks, the faster the lard will render. You certainly want them to be chunks of 1" or less. I aim for 1/2 to 1/4-inch chunks, and this is often led by how much available time I have to dice it up - on a busy morning, the pieces are larger. If your butcher will grind it for you, or if you have a grinder, such as this KitchenAid attachment, then it will significantly cut down on processing time. I have the KitchenAid attachment, but I normally just cut it up with a knife, as I don't want to bother cleaning fat out of the grinder attachment and typically I don't mind if it sits in the crock pot a few hours longer.

As the fat heats, it will gradually melt. I come back every couple of hours, and when there is enough liquid, I simply scoop some off the top and store in a Mason jar. I do filter my lard, and I do this with a funnel and cheesecloth.

As you can see, the liquid fat is an off-white color and semi-transparent. As it cools, however, it will harden into a snow-white solid in the jar.

I highly recommend givnig this a try. Your home-rendered lard can serve a replacement for anything you'd use lard or Crisco to prepare in your kitchen, and it does it without unhealthy trans fats. You will gain more control and confidence about what you are consuming, where it came from, and how the animals were treated. If you don't have access to your own pig fat, you may be able to obtain some from your local butcher - it's worth an ask. Leaf fat is the prime material for this job; it is the fat around the kidneys of a pig. This was prepared with back fat, which contains more meaty bits. I find that the first draw of liquid from the back fat is completely suitable for pastry baking, and it has an odorless product. The closer you get to the end of the render, there may be more color and potentially a bit of a piggy flavor...sort of like bacon. This is great for frying eggs, making biscuits, or any savory type of cooking. Just save your first draw and label it well for pastries and sweets.