Successful bread!

I have figured out what I was doing wrong with my bread in the past. I was not proofing the yeast enough! I would mix it with water or whatever the recipe called for and let it sit for a second until I saw a few small bubbles, then mix it in! That's not right at all. It's necessary to wait until it gets super foamy to have it work correctly! I'm so pleased to have figured it out.

I even took some pictures:

This is after the dough had been separated and let to rise again. It rose some more after this was taken.

These are my beautiful and delicious loaves. I made them Sunday and now the smaller of the two is already gone. I woke up this morning to find that G had eaten half of the loaf after I went to bed! We finished it off at lunch. Super delicious recipe.

I used the Amish Bread recipe found on Allrecipes.com. It makes two sweet and delicious loaves. Some of the commenters thought the bread was too dense, but I don't think so. It's a very good loaf of bread, imo. 

I also made some muffins:

They were not particularly successful. I took my favorite muffin recipe and altered it extensively to create a morning glory muffins, sadly, they are bland.

I also made some unsuccessful shoes for E. They are darling, but do not fit him correctly. I don't know if he just has fat feet, if I made them wrong or if the pattern is wrong somehow. I also made them more fraternal twins than identical, whoops! I sewed one with a much greater seam allowance than the other, but neither fit, so they have become cat toys.

So, to recap my week: I made some great bread! Nothing else that I experimented with went that well.

Projects that I would like to complete before 2017:

-make E some shoes!
-finish the quilt for E
-make a decent loaf of bread 5/22/2016
-complete the new garb for G
     -tunic
     -pants/hose
     -hat
     -undershirt
     -cloak/cape
-complete a 12th century Norman kit for me
     -bliaut
     -chemise
     -veil and wimple
-make some basic tablet woven fabric
-finish carding my fleece
-spin at least 1000 yards of yarn
-finish my cardigan

The beginning

I've decided to start a blog, mostly because I have no outlet for writing right now, and I do so love to write. I've recently become a stay at home mom to my little guy, meaning I have limited adult interaction throughout the day. I'm hoping writing a blog will help me to feel a little more connected to the outside world.

So, I'm going to use some of my very limited time to document my forays into various crafts and some of my cooking experiments. I think that it will help me keep track of what has worked in the past and remind me of what improvements to the process I thought of, so I don't immediately forget and remake the wheel every stupid time, like I do now.

I am very interested in historical costuming/clothing both for the renaissance faire and the SCA. I also am fascinated by the process of making cloth, so I'm learning how to weave and should be getting a rigid heddle loom sometime fairly soon. I have some small experience spinning, but I'd like to practice it more to develop into a competent spinner. I have dyed some fabrics using commercial dyes in my washer with some success, but would like to learn more complex dying techniques, such as printing, painting and batiking. I'm also working on becoming a decent embroiderer, but that's a long process and difficult with a baby.

I also do a variety of modern crafts, such as knitting and quilting. I'm currently working on a quilt for my son and a wool cardigan for me. I've successfully made one quilt and cut out and started a number of others. I am actually a pretty good knitter and am able to tackle most projects with success, with the exception of 3-D items such as stuffed animals. I suck at stuffed animals, I'm not sure why. I would like to become better at crocheting, but it's not really a priority, since I can do the basics as needed.

I am learning how to bake bread at the moment. A dear family friend passed away in the last year and she left me her bread recipe. She always made the most delicious bread. I attempted to make a loaf and it was a failure, entirely and completely. It tasted okay, but it was dense and tough, not at all what it should be. So, I'm working on learning basic bread techniques and I will hopefully be able to do her recipe justice someday.

So, anyway, this blog will hopefully help me to keep track of what projects I am working on and assist me in documenting both historical references and my screw-ups, so I don't do the same thing twice.

Projects that I would like to complete before 2017:
-finish the quilt for E
-make a decent loaf of bread
-complete the new garb for G
     -tunic
     -pants/hose
     -hat
     -undershirt
     -cloak/cape
-complete a 12th century Norman kit for me
     -bliaut
     -chemise
     -veil and wimple
-make some basic tablet woven fabric
-finish carding my fleece
-spin at least 1000 yards of yarn
-finish my cardigan

I'm sure I'll add to my list as the year progresses. Ideally, I'll update the list of projects regularly, to keep track of what I've finished and what still needs to be done.