I always knew that “white” wool could be dyed at home but it just never occurred to me to try dying “brown” wool. Inspired by the great colour chart and even better directions on this website, I had a go at it today.

The wool in my plan was a skein of sport-weight handspun I’d bought at the Highland Games held in Woodland earlier this year:

Just add water (and some vinegar and four packets of Berry Blue Kool-Aid):

After a trip through the microwave, I ended up with a skein of beautiful blue-green wool!

This is a colour I’ll enjoy a lot more; I can’t wait to knit with it!

Should I buy corn or not? The Spawn doesn’t like corn and I haven’t eaten too much food requiring the use of my front teeth since I broke them last summer.

“That’s the best corn in the world.” The farmer lady was talking to the woman next to me. I smiled and wondered to myself if she’d been taking sales lessons from the Asian pear guy across the way. He had the sales pitch of a circus barker down pat…”Get yer fresh mountain pears here! Only a dollar a pound!”

So do I buy some or not? Heavy sigh of indecision.

And with that heavy sigh, the scent of corn. Standing over the ears, I could smell the sweetness of the kernels inside the tightly wrapped husks. Definitely, I should buy some.

One of the ears of corn was scraped that evening with the kernels making up one component of a summer salad. The sweetness of each kernel immediately brought to mind a corn pudding I’d had several years ago. A friend had brought this dish made with John Cope’s Dried Corn, a Pennsylvania Dutch speciality, to a potluck and, as I’d moaned so much about it, purchased and sent to me two boxes of the primary ingredient.

The sweetness of this year’s fresh corn is the only time since then that I’ve had any corn that even came close to the same flavour as that corn pudding. Needless to say, I was bound and determined to put up my own dried corn!

Yesterday’s market saw me filling my market bag with twelve ears of that super sweet corn and this morning, it was readied for a spell in a borrowed food dehydrator.

First the corn was shucked:

Then it was blanched. I’ve always read that blanching corn “sets” the milk and kind of pooh-poohed the idea. But it’s true! There was far less milk escaping from the blanched kernels than from raw ones!

(And check out the colour change!)

Finally, the kernels were cut from the cob:

And then it was into the dehydrator for a minimum of ten hours!

I’m really hoping I’ll be making corn pudding for Thanksgiving dinner this year!

This weekend’s trip to the market had me buying a few pounds of Roma tomatoes and a bunch of hot Italian peppers. The tomatoes were peeled, sealed, and put in the freezer; the peppers were roasted and then frozen. I’ll do this several more times while tomatoes and peppers are in season and then use the veggies up over the winter. There is nothing quite like eating those tomatoes in the dead of winter…it’s like summer in your mouth!

Alas, I have no pictures of those beautiful tomatoes or peppers to share so here is a recipe for all you gardeners wondering what to do with all that zucchini you grew!

Note: this is an old recipe from my grandmother’s recipe box.

Zucchini Relish

6 lg. zucchini (about 4 lbs.)
4 lg. onions, peeled
1 green bell pepper, seeded
1 sweet red bell pepper, seeded
1/2 c. pickling salt (if you can’t find pickling salt, the best substitution would be kosher salt)
1 c. water
3 c. sugar
3 c. vinegar
1/2 c. water
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp celery seed

Cut ends off zucchini but do not peel. Chip zucchini, onions, and peppers finely by hand. Place vegetables in a large bowl; sprinkle with salt. Cover with ice water; let stand for one hour. Drain then rinse well under cold running water. Drain thoroughly.

In a saucepan, boil together sugar, vinegar, water, turmeric, & celery seed for 3 minutes. Add vegetable mixture; bring to a boil then simmer for 10-15 minutes or until of desired consistency. Spoon hot relish into hot, sterilised jars; seal at once. Process in boiling water bath 15 minutes.

Makes about 8 pints.

Note: The pattern for Cabana contains two sets of directions; one for sizes XS through L and one for sizes L through 3X.

Sizes
XS (S, M, L)

Finished Size
Bust: 35″ (40″, 44″, 49″)
To fit bust: 30″ (34″, 38″, 42″)

Yarn
Patons Grace (100% mercerized cotton; 50g = approx. 125m/136 yards); Colour: natural: 4 (4, 4, 5) balls

Sizes
L (1X, 2X, 3X)
Finished Size
Bust: 49″ (54″, 58″, 63″)
To fit bust: 42″ (46″, 50″, 54″)
Yarn
Patons Grace (100% mercerized cotton; 50g = approx. 125m/136 yards); Colour: natural: 5 (5, 6, 6) balls

Needles and Other Supplies
“    32″ circular needle in size US 6
“    Stitch markers
“    Tapestry needle
“    Satin ribbon

Gauge
12 stitches = 4 inches or 3st/in. in Cat’s Eye Netting stitch.

$2.00

Casting On for the Armhole

Cabana uses a slightly novel cast on for the armhole section. If you’re having trouble visualising it, here is a little photo essay that might help…

First you bind off the stitches. The working yarn is on the right-hand needle:

Transfer the last stitch on the RH needle to the LH needle. Knit on 1 stitch. Cable cast on specified number of stitches.

The work now looks like this:

Knit across the new stitches.

The new stitches are not joined to the original body stitches until the next row, when you just work across them.

(Detail from a carving made from a photograph of a Civil War Union POW.)