Monday, December 30, 2013

Monday Musings--a compilation of home working

Monday started with Banana bread breakfast this morning.
 
I baked a DOUBLE recipe of Banana Bread Friday and here is how fast is flies.


Out of the oven

 
24 hours later




and 48 hours later...........it goes fast!  That's why I doubled the recipe. It is a simple one I found in a very vintage recipe book from 1979. The name of it is "Think Christmas" and was compiled and published by The Junior League of The City of Washington, Inc. I've had it for about 5 or 6 years now found in a junkin' store.
 
 I really needed a few more bananas but I made do with what I had.
 
The basic recipe is :    (remember to double if making it in a cake pan)

1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of butter, softened
2 eggs, well-beaten
3 large bananas, mashed or 6 small ones
1 tsp of baking soda
2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of chopped nuts (I used pecans)

If using for only this recipe and not doubled,

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
Cream sugar and butter
Add eggs and bananas
Add sifted flour and soda
Add nuts and mix well
Pour in greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.

Now, when I doubled it, then I poured all this in a tube pan and baked at 300-325 instead for about 1 hour 10 minutes or so.

Makes great dessert, or a breakfast bread or a good midnight snack!!!! You can also freeze some of it.

On the stitching front, here is my progress on At Home with Jane Austen.............(designer, The Sampler Girl)



I finished the flower motifs and now on the last band of flowers at the end.
 
As for knitting, I have started and now have sections of a scarf I'm putting together with some serendipity.
 
I will combine all the sections. I found this wonderful FREE Chunky Lace Scarf pattern on You Tube over the weekend and it's a 6 row repeat.
 
Here is one section of the 6 rows. It makes a lovely scalloped pattern. I will do another row or two of this and decrease gradually to fit the gartered sections on each end.
 
 



I'm using straight needles for this because I don't have a 13 circular, I so wish I did!!!!!


I adjusted the pattern by decreasing by 10 cast on stitches and still this is a cramped fit on my 14 in straights.
I "unbunched" some stitches to show more of the lace pattern.


I would love to work this pattern on circulars in a shawl. This pattern practices ssk, ssk2p, YO, K, P.

You can find the pattern here  http://www.thecastingoncouch.com/ along with many others.
This is under freebies. It will also lead you to the You Tube tutorial. Please don't make the mistake of just Googling Cast on Couch as it also leads to some kind of porn videos.........wacko and not intended at all.

I like to follow her knitting as she knits like I do in English style.

Speaking of English style, there was a great replay of the last episode of Downton Abbey last night on PBS and another show for sneak season 4 previews. I LOVED IT. I didn't love watching the death of one of the main characters, Matthew, though. They said season 4 will start 6 months AFTER this happens, so next Sunday night we are glued to watch the new season start.

I hope by this time I am on to model stitching my Downton Abbey design. The colors I chose are so pretty. So, when I finish this band of flowers on At Home with Jane, I will be picking up my design of Downton Abbey pretty quickly. It's a large design. I plan to make some smaller designs from this series in between as well so stay tuned!

Keep calm and stitch on,
Jennifer

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing the recipe. The bread looks yummy. I so wish I could knit. I can crochet, but could never catch on to knitting. Love the cross stitch piece. Happy New Year.
    Angela

    ReplyDelete
  2. this bread looks delicious!
    I have not learned to knit...,,,yet.
    Still plugging away off and on with it!
    The cross stitch is lovely!
    Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy Newyear to you: How on earth do you eat that much bread and not gain weight, I love banana bread but make small loaves and freeze the rest so I am not tempted to eat it all.
    Love your knitting and cross stitching.

    Catherine

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I hope you find some useful information and gentle inspiration for your day.
Jennifer