bread and cir... uh, socks

[piranha]

i've mostly fallen off the wagon of productivity, *sigh*.

two small things; one went well, one not so much:

continuing experiments in bread baking have resulted in very yummy french bread -- i am mixing bread flour and pastry flour, letting the bread machine do the kneading, and baking it in the oven, spritzing it with saltwater. perfect crumb with just the right size of holes, great chewy crust, and all of that without the hard labour. it also seems to not take so long, which is entirely subjective -- it does take just as long, but having to do less work makes it seem like less time.

the sock experiment (with the tunisian crochet heel and toe) did not go so well. the heel and toe themselves worked out well, but i can't believe i was so stupid to use a variegated yarn for this -- that creates of course discontinuities where the crochet and knit part are sewn together. also, the yarn that i was using -- elann's esprit "sock it to me!" (98.3% cotton, 1.7% elastic) is way, way stretchier than i am used to, and consequently the sock i ended up with has a nice, thick, solid heel and toe (the heel fabric is pretty much perfect; just enough give), and a terribly slouchy everything else. i like the yarn, it feels great when working with it, and it's nice on the skin. but when using it i'll need to completely overhaul any pattern i have, to take into account that stretch that won't quit.

other than that, i am now watching BSG's first season. this does not suck as badly as it might have sucked; in fact i like it better than B5's first season, at least where the acting is concerned. if you're now sputtering, please take into account that i was not a fan of the original BSG, and have never in fact seen any of it. oh, you're sputtering because of what i said about B5? deal. the acting sucked so bad that for me it detracted from the show's otherwise more interesting scope. :)

Comments

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

That yarn looks a lot like the Cascade Fixation I used to make socks for papersky. I found it strange to knit with. Maybe my tension was much tighter than yours, because it didn't come out slouchy. My usual wool/acrylic comes out much looser.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're going to get any sputtering about B5. Even die-hard fans of the show generally agree that the first season blew chunks.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

*laugh* I'm with you on the B5 first season acting. An ex lured me into the series midway through season 3, and after a few episodes I got interested in the story arc; it was a couple of years before I had the opportunity to go back and watch it over from the start.

Dear gods, there were moments that stacked up against William Shatner's worst.

[submarine-bells.livejournal.com]

BSG's first season isn't bad, but it's a bit slow in places. Just wait until you get to season 2 of BSG! It's s2 that turned me into a diehard BSG fan. It's brilliant. Fast-paced, complex and unpredictable. And season 3 - so far it's been a totally intense roller-coaster. Wow.

I've recently finished re-watching B5 (for the first time in some years). I loved B5 when I first saw it, but I must say that it didn't do so well in the re-watching. The acting was pretty dire, and migoodness, JMS's continual bloviating and speechifying got wearing. For all that, it still had some good moments; but I think it'll be quite a long time before I re-watch it again!

BSG

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

SLOW!? you are a hardened junkie. :) i pause some of the episodes so my adrenaline can bleed off harmlessly while playing a little shisen-sho!

i am almost through season 1. only two episodes missing. which i don't have. *augh*.

[velochicdunord.livejournal.com]

Here's another bread experiement to throw in the works: This article in the NYT a few weeks back talks about a low yeast, long rise bread. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0716F73A5B0C7B8CDDA80994DE404482 It's slipped into the archives now, but was being emailed furiously two weeks ago. On all-recipes.com by now?

I tried the recipe, and it produces a really nice loaf with minimal sweat and worry. I've done a white bread and a whole wheat. I'm going to tweak the whole wheat a bit (adding a touch of xanthan gum and some soaked red river cereal) to get a loaf that's even closer to my liking.