Author: Lorette

I did a little stash reorganization last month. My entire stash is photographed and recorded in a database by numbered box, but it’s gotten pretty haphazard over the years. The boxes were mostly filled by vintage rather than type of yarn or project, and that had really started to bother me. So I dragged it all out and reorganized the whole mess. I found some real gems that I’d forgotten. I also culled out a small box full of stuff that I wanted to send off to Goodwill or somewhere else besides this house.

Predictably, I’ve already dragged two lots of yarn out of that reject box and started new projects. Here’s the first one.

The yarn is Sirdar Balmoral, it’s a lovely wool/alpaca/silk blend. I bought enough of it for a sweater. The first problem is that I don’t really need sweaters with alpaca in them, it’s too warm. The second problem is that color. I’m not sure what I was thinking. Actually I do, the color name is Corgi. There you go. Lewey says it doesn’t look anything like him.

But it’s nice yarn, despite the color. And it’s been discontinued. And it wasn’t all that cheap. So I pulled it off the top of the reject pile and started a shawl. I figure I can overdye it when it’s knit up. It’s way more than a shawl’s worth, but I’ll either put the leftovers back in the reject box, or make mittens or something out of it. This is Cheryl Oberle’s Wool Peddler shawl.

The second “reject” is for John. He saw this and thought it was ridiculous to get rid of perfectly good “guy” sock yarn. This is Lang Jawoll superwash sock yarn, the color looks like a black tartan plaid.

That one is really deep stash, I don’t have a purchase date, but I probably got that not too long after I learned to knit (1999). I guess it’s probably time I used it. And John has been hinting around for a pair of socks for him. I’m not sure why it went into the discard box, it’s actually quite nice to knit with. It’s a nice, basic sock yarn, and has a bonus spool of reinforcing thread in the middle of the skein for the heels and toes.

I’ll let you know if any of the other reject yarn turns into projects in the future. It’s pretty tough to actually toss out useable yarn, even if I have enough to last well into my next lifetime.

I’ll leave you with a cat photo. Will and Zoe are getting along pretty well.

I finished the edging on the Blue Blue Blue Baby Blanket late last night. I decided to save the grafting bit until daylight when I was rested (I know, an uncharacteristic decision for me).

Grafting went quickly and here it is.

Not blocked, but done, done, done!

I have to get it in the mail on Thursday if it's getting out of here before our vacation, so I'm off to soak the thing. We'll see if it dries in time.

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John and I bought an Instant Pot a month or so ago, and LOVE it. We had a traditional stove top pressure cooker that we've used for years, and have upgraded that once or twice over time to better technology. We eat a lot of beans and lentil-y kinds of things, so a pressure cooker really comes in handy.

We finally decided to cave and replace the one-pony-show stovetop thing with this. You can sauté in it, pressure cook, and slow cook, though we haven't used it for that yet. It makes hard boiled eggs like nobody's business. Once you set it, you can walk away and not worry about leaving a pressure cooker on an open flame.

Today's feature is bean soup. The place I buy most of my dried beans and legumes from is Purcell Mountain Farms. They have a huge variety, they are fresh, and the beans are impeccably clean. We eat a lot of beans, so it matters to me where they come from.

This started with a pound of their Paris Bistro Mix.

Lorette's Paris Inspired Bean Soup

1 Pound mixed beans/legumes/grains

Chopped yellow onion, about a cup, but whatever. If you have half of a big onion use it, or all of a smaller onion. Leeks would be good, too.

Olive oil, for sautéing (or your favorite substitute, we often use avocado oil for this)

Some Garlic. I used 2 big cloves. Your mileage may vary. This was for me to freeze for work lunches, so I didn't want to overdo it.

Sliced celery. Again, I used about a cup. As you might notice, I'm not big on specifics.

Carrots, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, and sliced. About the same amount. You can vary all of these by what you have. ***

A small bell pepper, diced, this was a purple one I had in the fridge from last week's farmers market foray.

A handful of fresh herbs, chopped. This had parsley, marjoram, thyme, and oregano from our patio herb garden. And a bay leaf.

Pepper, fresh ground. To taste. I like pepper, so a big hearty couple teaspoons, sometimes I use more.

A half a can of diced tomatoes, more or less, partly drained. Freeze the other half of the can for the next batch of beans.

1 32 ounce box of chicken stock

1/2-3/4 cup of white wine, or vermouth

1/2 lemon, juiced

Salt, again, to taste. See below for comments on salt.

Water. You want enough to cover the beans by at least 2-3 inches, but don't overfill the pot. The pot should not be more than 2/3 full.

You could use all stock, or all water. I tend to use a mix of both, since canned and boxed chicken stock is pretty salty.

Sauté the onion, celery, and pepper in some oil. Add the other ingredients, bring to a simmer. Change your settings to the pressure setting, and put your lid on etc based on your cooker's instructions.

Bring up to pressure, cook for 20-25 minutes. This will vary depending on the bean varieties you pick. The Purcell Paris Bistro blend took 23 minutes at pressure to all get soft. If you're not sure, go a few minutes low and do a quick release to check. I hate mushy beans, especially if they are going into the freezer.

Quick release, taste, add more time if you need to.

I'm not going to get into whether you should salt beans before you start cooking, at the end, or somewhere in between. When I cook them on the stove top, I tend to add the salt about 3/4 of the way through the cooking time. It's more fidgety to do that with a pressure cooker. I'm not 100% convinced that adding salt at the beginning is a bad thing, especially if your beans aren't from five years ago. And it changes the flavor when you add it just at the end, like a lot of seasoning. Since this was the first time I did this mix in the IP, I started at 18 minutes, it wasn't quite done, so added the salt and did another 5 minutes. The canned tomatoes and chicken stock add some salt, so take that into account.

I didn't soak these beans, since most of these were pretty small so I didn't bother. If you are using bean varieties that are larger, I'd probably soak.

And there you have it. Bean soup! I'll portion this out into serving size containers, and freeze for my lunches****.

Four for the freezer, and a larger one for me to eat this week!

***Other veggies work too, and you could do potatoes, or add some rice or pasta at the end. If you are using softer veggies, I'd cook the beans, release, add the stuff that doesn't take much cooking, then cook on the sauté setting until those were done. Since I'm freezing this for lunch food, I don't usually add stuff that turns to mush in the freezer.

****Of course, there won't be wine with my work lunches. Drat.

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