Just Wait 5 Minutes

It was hot, hot!   Then all of a sudden the skies opened up.

But before the rain there was bread:

Why I did not listen to my own intuition when the book said to slash and my brain said " Don't do that", is beyond me.  My dough dropped down to three inches, it was still fluffy and cooked through but it was gloriously risen before I took the knife to it.  

This is my second recipe from A World of Breads by Dolores Casella.  The name of this bread is My Good Father's Shepherd's Bread, isn't that a hefty title?  It is a monster of a bread!

BTW, the downpour lasted 5 minutes and it is hot, hot again.

I Saw The Sign

As you can see Seamus Cuddy (yes I named my statue), is a little wet but has had plenty of small snails to keep him company.  We have had quite a bit of rain which started last Wednesday and has kept up ever since.  I am not really complaining, everything is green and fluffy and I am sure I will wish for rain when the sun comes burning through.

Last week I noticed that a used bookstore opened up in town.   My daughter had a friend visit over the weekend and it turned out that her grandmother owned the bookstore and her mother works there. Since I had to drop her off there I took that as the stars were in alignment.  I walked away with a handful of books and you will be surprised to know only one cookbook.  I see more trips there in the future.  

A Word of Breads by Dolores Casella 1966.  Oh my gosh!  Bread recipes galore.  I was in bread heaven.  I flipped through and made her Onion Rye Bread p.80-81.  Very good!  I made DH a sandwich with it when he arrived from Missouri last night and he asked for another one made from it for lunch today.   With 294 pages of bread recipes it will take me a while to bake through this book but it tastes like a winner already.  I paid $3 for my copy but I think on Amazon used I have seen them for $.29.  

Peg Loom Weaving

A while back I posted pictures of a rug in progress on my peg loom. After a year I have finally finished it.  Definitely a learning experience.  Here is my loom:

Purchased from Daisy Hill Handiworks.   Lynette is a doll to work with.   

I bought 3 cones of Sugar and Cream cotton yarn.  One solid color for the warp, hombre for the weft.  

I think I took so long, they discontinued the color.  I finally bucked up and finished.

Length:

Width:

All ends are woven in as not to tempt the cat.  

Tips I can give:

I had my loom made for me, with the smallest spacing, in the longest size.  If I want to use a thicker fiber I can just warp every other peg.

Using a single strand of yarn takes a long time to weave.  Double up or use a thicker material.

Cotton weft on a cotton warp is HEAVY.  If I had thought about it, I would have spaced it out by pushing the weft further down earlier on or used a material more able to handle the weight. 

It was so heavy that at the end the warp strings broke.  Not fun to deal with.  The rug is very compact because I was afraid of further breakage by pushing the weft down more.  

It is a pretty solid rug and I look forward to other projects on peg looms.