Ruth’s Crafterly » Blog Archive » Successful Experiments

It’s been awhile (my apologies). Life events and situations keep me from blogging, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been knitting/cooking/sewing! A couple projects in the kitchen ended up pretty successful (hubby was happily eating my experiments).

Sweet Chili Glazed Chicken Wings - Got the recipe from a friend. Talk about YUM!! Sweet, asian flavors, with a slight chili kick, and tender chicken meat. I have been requested by the hubby to keep this recipe on a regular dinner rotation. And yep, they are as juicy as they look:

Broiled Oysters on the half shell - This one I sort of made up. Pretty good for someone who has a bit of a cooking phobia with shellfish (there’s something gruesome about purchasing your dinner “live” and killing them in the cooking process). However, this does not deter me from my love of EATING shellfish or any type of seafood for that matter. Raw, cooked, I love them all. In anycase, I looked up some recipes online, did some research on oyster shucking, and this came out:

Pretty much I added a tab of butter/mustard mixture with a breadcrumb/dried herbs/cheese mixture, and broiled them on the half shell. What a cinch. (Except for the shucking part, those little suckers are strong!) They came out piping hot, crispy bubby tops, with tender soft insides.

And from the sewing room, an Amy Butler bag! This is one of her Madison bags. Sewing it was pretty fun. I’m a bit rusty, so her bag projects have been good at getting my gears back into sewing. I also added some pockets to the lining, as I remember some of my friends mentioning that she didn’t have any pockets in her pattern. Overall, it was a fun project - this bag isn’t particularly my personal style, but I loved the process of making it, plus the freedom to choose my own fun fabrics.

Lastly, a knitting project. I can safely say, this is my first pair of socks that I was ESTATIC about finishing. I liked the fit, the feel, and the overall simpleness of it. I used Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn, and the pattern was a very basic sock pattern from the inside label. The downside was the handpainted “stripes”. I loved the colorway, but the thing with handpainted yarns, you never know how they’ll knit up. There’s a bit of pooling, and some striping, but not as uniform as I normally like. But those that like the slight pooling effect, it works out.

I also think that my feet probably work best with a short-row heel rather than a traditional heel flap. But that’s okay. These socks totally work for me, plus, the yarn is superwash. I threw it in the washer, then tossed it in the dryer for delicate cycle, and ta-da! Nice, clean, soft, funky, wearable socks. =)

20 Comments so far

Ooo I’m drooling over that Sweet Chili Glazed Chicken Wings and Amy Butler bag! That bag is so it! Care to share the Chicken Wing Recipe? :)

I’ve just added the chicken wing recipe as a link in the post above, if anyone else wants it. Yummy! =)

ruth, the chicken looks heavenly. I’m starving just looking at those wings. I will have to tell my sister about this recipe so we can make it one of these nights. :) thanks for the link!

Hi Ruth! It was great to hear from you - - it’s been too long. Thanks for admiring the new look on my blog. Hey, love those socks!

Hey Ruth,
I love all the cooking and crafting! The bag you made was beautiful. I think I’ll actually try the two recipes. Here, on the Gulf Coast, I worry a bit about Bill eating oysters on the half-shell. There have been to many health alerts over the years for me to trust these oysters raw. You give a recipe he will eat and that should also take care of the health issues. I will definitely try the chicken recipe too. do you think it would turn out well with boneless chicken breasts? Billy won’t eat any chicken on the bone.

Your socks are beautiful. I’m so jealous that you have so much to show creatively in such a short period of time. Such a talented girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE the Amy Butler bag and have been planning to make one of my own. I think I might just have to do it now :) The colors in your socks are great, too! I really like the way the colors pooled.

I’m drooling over the chicken wings and the oysters! They look soooo yummmm! Did you make mods to the chicken wing recipe? Todd loves wings so I gotta try them someday.
The AB bag looks great! The Madison bag isn’t quite my style either but I thought that maybe it would be a good small project knitting bag?
The socks look *awesome*! What do you think of the Jitterbug sock yarn?

OOH…i have that SAME COLORWAY! hahaha great minds think alike. I haven’t used it yet though. tee-hee…savoring it. hahaha. but your socks look so awesome. i can’t wait to knit mine up.

the food all looks so good too. mmmm…you are a good wife. :) hehehehe.

and that bag is to die for. you are making me want to learn how to sew. you conquered your fears..i should too. :)

The socks look good. Don’t worry about them not matching. That’s half the fun with handpainted yarns, right? They are unpredictable!

The food looks good too. Yum!

That bag is stunning - and the socks look good enough to eat :)

I should really try to knit a sock again..

Wow! You’ve been quite a busy bee. Everything looks great, and I really love that bag. It’s totally cute.

Ruth - everything looks great - the food, the socks and the bag!

Wow, the food looks delish!

Socks wonderful as always ;o) and what a cute bag!!

Ruth, Love the bag! Your sewing skills don’t look too rusty to me. Socks are great also!

Love your bag and socks! The colours in the socks are so bright and beautiful!

What a wonderful bag!

Those dishes look delicious! As for the socks, they are cute just the way they are. :)

Your socks are gorgeous!!! I love the lines on the top of your handbag too. You did a ‘pro’ sewing job on it, love the lining too. You have been accomplishing so much! I’m still stuck on a guage for a winter hat. The pattern calls for size 5 needles and I’m using a size 2 and still 1/4 ” too large on the gauge swatch. Our guest bedroom bed is covered in knitting needles….I must get that stuff put away today for sure. There is a sheep & wool weekend coming up in MD May 5th & 6th. We are going to try to go…I’ve heard its fabulous. Lots of yarns and roving…wheels and demo’s. We’ve had the most gorgeous snowfall and its a winter wonderland outside. Off I go to get the camera…hope you have a great week-end Ruth!

I love your socks! Nice job!

That chicken wings look so good that I am drooling as I typed this. Doesn’t help that it’s dinner time here as well.

Can’t wait to try out that recipe!

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

Shop!

Ravelry

Categories

Archives

Meta