Five For Friday 2/19/21
Around The World Quilt Block #2 - London
This month I decided to label my precut pieces, and it has made a world of difference. No more figuring out if it is the 1 1/2” wide block or the 1 3/4” wide block. I just look for the block with the right letter on it! So obvious, but I can’t believe I didn’t do this on the first block.
The Great Biscuit Bake Off Round 1
From left to right (or top to bottom): J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s Super Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits, Real Simple’s Easy Drop Biscuits, and America’s Test Kitchen’s Ultimate Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits.
Kenji’s recipe came together fine until the rolling out and cutting. Using the dimensions from the recipe of the dough and the cutter yielded super super thin biscuits that look nothing like the picture. We’re going to try it again and roll/cut it in a more reasonable size to see if that helps.
The drop biscuits were super tasty and dead simple to make.
I debated cutting the ATK biscuits into 4 or 6 pieces and should definitely have gone with 6. These were really dry and crumbly, and definitely not flaky.
Round 2 is tomorrow, where I will be testing Minimalist Baker’s Best Vegan Biscuits, Little Figgy’s Southern Biscuits (which interestingly enough have the exact same ingredients and amounts as the drop biscuits, just a different method), and Stella Park’s Buttermilk Biscuits.
Crochet Café Continues
This stuff is just too stinking cute. I have been cruising through this book like there was no tomorrow. There’s a bunch more stuff that is like 90% done, but I’m just waiting on some yarn to arrive because I ran out. I’ll definitely be putting together a dedicated post for everything I’ve made so far.
Mental Health Apps
You’ve probably heard of mindfulness apps like Headspace or Calm, but those cost money. It’s hard to find free apps that are actually shown to be effective, but here are some that you can check out.
The VA has developed a bunch of mental health apps that are free to the general public. Some were designed with veterans as the target audience, but some were designed to be used by anyone. Highlights include Mindfulness Coach, Insomnia Coach, and Move Coach.
Insight Timer - guided mediation, meditation livestreams, and more
Woebot - chat app that guides you through cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) exercises
Smiling Mind - mindfulness and sleep
Medito - mediation and mindfulness
Stitch Markers
I have a lot of stitch markers, but really, you can never have enough. There are two main styles of markers - solid rings and open rings. The solid rings are typically used for knitting. They hang on your needle between stitches and indicate the beginning of a round, a pattern repeat, or where you need to increase/decrease. The open rings are typically used for crochet, but are also useful in knitting. These are inserted directly into a stitch and can be removed easily. For crochet, they serve the same purpose as the solid rings. For both knitting and crochet, they can also be used to mark a point in your pattern where you need to measure from after working a certain amount. Or they can temporarily hold a stitch that you will need to pick up later.
They come in all sizes and styles, and the different colors can be used to differentiate what you are indicated. For example, the stitch markers in the bottom section of the container are the same ring size, but some of them are marked with a decorative element, like the Eiffel Tower, a leaf, and a cloud. The decorative element is often used to indicate the beginning of the round, and the plain ones are used for different parts within the round.
I’ve even 3D printed my own stitch markers, which are the middle size of the open style in the second picture. Why spend $4 to buy stitch markers when you could spend $400 on a 3D printer to make them yourself!
