Getting fancy in the backyard

Last week, Sarah and I signed the lease on the building that is going to be home to our new shop. This is a pretty big step for us and it means that we will be moving out of downtown into a small neighborhood on the south side where we will have a little house that is all us. I will probably talk more about the new shop later, but for now I want to focus on the backyard. Only about half of the backyard is grass, the back half of the lot is overgrown, in a good way, with trees and honeysuckle bushes. The honeysuckle stretches the perimeter of the property making a nice foliage wall. I know that honeysuckle is an invasive species and many people would find this to be a bad thing, but for our use it is pretty perfect. Having so much available honeysuckle meant one thing to me- honeysuckle cocktails. With that in mind and some help from Sarah, I picked a ton of honeysuckle blossoms and took them home to infuse a simple syrup with their delightful flavor. Here is the recipe for the syrup, stay tuned for recipes using the syrup.

Honeysuckle Simple Syrup

1qt Mason jar filled to the rim with honeysuckle blossoms
4 cups sugar
2 cups filtered water
juice of half a lemon

In a medium saucepan, combine the water and half of the sugar. Turn burner to medium high heat, stir slowly adding the remaining sugar as the other dissolves. Once all of the sugar is dissolved, add the lemon juice and remove from heat. Slowly and carefully pour into the jar over the honeysuckle blossoms. They will want to float to the top so you might need to push them down with a spoon. Let the syrup sit until it reaches room temperature then cap it and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

Once the honeysuckle syrup has chilled you will want to put it through a fine mesh strainer to remove the blossoms. You should keep the finished syrup in the refrigerator for use in drinks and desserts.

Beehive Plushie

Every year the Lexington Public Library chooses a book for the community to read together. This year's title is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. My department created a woodsy display to promote the book that included a big black bear. For some reason, possibly because of all the Winnie the Pooh books I read as a child, I can't picture a bear without honey so I made this beehive plushie for our black bear to rob (though he might be a little disappointed to find it full of fiberfill instead of honey.) I made up the pattern as I went, but I made sure to write it down so I could share. Enjoy!!

Gauge:
22 sts = 4” in Stockinette stitch
Finished Size:
5” tall and 4” in diameter at widest part

Materials:
Yarn: Plymouth Tweed or any worsted
Needles: 1 set US6 dpns or size needed to obtain gauge
Notions: fiberfill for stuffing and tapestry needle for weaving in ends.

Definitions:
pfb: purl through the front loop and then purl through the back loop
sl1p: slip 1 stitch purlwise with yarn held to back

Pattern:
CO 6sts, pm, join to knit in the round
rnd 1: p
rnd 2: pfb all stitches to end (12 sts)
rnds 3-4: p
rnd 5: *p1, pfb, rep from * to end (18 sts)
rnds 6-7: k
rnd 8: *p1, pfb, p2, pfb, sl1p, rep from * to end (24 sts)
rnds 9-10: *p7, sl1p, rep from * to end
rnd 11: p3, pfb, p3, sl1p, rep from * to end (27 sts)
rnds 12-13: k
rnd 14: *p3, sl1p, p4, pfb, rep from * to end (30 sts)
rnds 15-16: *p3, sl1p, p6, rep from * to end
rnd 17: *p3, sl1p, p4, pfb, p1, rep from * to end (33 sts)
rnds 18-19: k
rnd 20: sl1p, p8, *sl1p, p3, pfb, p3, rep from * to end (36 sts)
rnds 21-22: *sl1p, p8, rep from * to end
rnd 23: *sl1p, p3, pfb, p4, rep from * to end (40 sts)
rnds 24-25: k
rnd 26: *pfb, p4, sl1p, p4, rep from * to end (44 sts)
rnds 27-28: *p6, sl1p, p3, rep from * to end
rnd 29: *p1, pfb, p4, sl1p, p4, rep from * to end (48 sts)
rnds 30-31: k
rnds 32-35: *p1, sl1p, p10, rep from * to end
rnds 36-37: k
rnds 38-41: *p7,sl1p, p4, rep from * to end
rnd 42: p
rnd 43: *p6, p2tog, rep from * to end
rnd 44: p
rnd 45: *p5, p2tog, rep from * to end
rnd 46: p
rnd 47: *p4, p2tog, rep from * to end
rnd 48: p
At this point you will want to pull the tail from the cast on to the inside of the hive and weave it in. Next, add stuffing and shape the hive.
rnd 49: *p3, p2tog, rep from * to end
rnd 50: *p2, p2tog, rep from * to end
rnd 51: *p1, p2tog, rep from * to end
rnd 52: *p2tog, rep from * to end
Cut yarn and pull through remaining stitches. If you choose to weight the bottom with beans, add them just before you pull the final stitches together.
Weave in end and shape.

1000 Dolls Project

My harmless armless monster

I love my city and I am a sucker for community art projects so I have been in love with the 1000 Dolls Project since the first I heard of it back in January. The project was organized by Kremena Todorova and Kurt Gohde, both professors at Transy, and is loosely based on Ed Franklin's doll scavenger hunts. The idea is to make 1000 dolls in all different mediums and scatter them along Limestone Street between the University of Kentucky and New Circle Rd to be kept by the finders. I have been following the dates for the doll making events, but they always happened on evenings I worked or had class (which these days is pretty much every evening.) Luckily, I found out last week that they still needed dolls and so I was able to whip up two dolls and get them to the organizers in time for the celebration and distribution. If you live in or around Lexington you should try and make it to the 1000 Dolls Community Celebration at the Kentucky Theater Wednesday evening where the dolls will be on display before they are scattered along Limestone. I personally can't wail to see all of the dolls together in one place.

My great purple whale