Laddering: how to fix it

If you have ever worked a piece in round, you may be familiar with laddering. It happens to many knitters, especially when working on a small piece, both on double pointed needles and circular needles (using the magic loop technique). The problem is caused by the changes in tension, which happens at the same column every round.

I usually don't get too much laddering on my project. I think my tension is pretty constant now and it helps a lot for that. The occasional ladder I get is often subtle enough that it doesn't bother me. And if I'm using wool yarn, I don't mind it too much, because washing and blocking the piece will most likely get rid of it. Cotton yarn on the other hand is a tricky one...

 Nearly two years ago, I started this cardigan. I don't know why, but they don't sell the pattern anymore. Anyway, I like the look, and the sizing seems good so far. Actually, it's nearly finished, I only need to knit the collar part. But, you've guess it, it has a MAJOR laddering problem. I've never experienced this much laddering on a project. I think it's due to a combinations of factors.

First, the yarn. It's knitted it in comfy yarn which is 100% cotton. Don't get me wrong, I love this yarn. It super soft and is really nice to work with. I chose cotton because it's the perfect fiber for a light summer garment, which my wardrobe lacks. But cotton is known to be less resilient than wool.

Second, my technique. As I said, I've never had such a big laddering problem. At the time, my first instinct was to pull tighter on the yarn to make the bridge between these stitches shorter. It just seems intuitive, but it's NOT the way to go. By pulling the yarn, I worsened the difference in tension and likely made the problem more apparent.

Third, my laziness. If I had taken a couple of minutes to make some research, I would have find many videos showing me how to avoid that severe laddering. There are many ways you can improve your technique that will prevent this (using five double pointed needles instead of four, practicing to improve tension, moving stitches around so the first and last stitch of a needle aren't always the same etc).

Now that I know more about laddering, I won't make the same mistakes again. But what I need now is a way of fixing these ugly ladders, other than unraveling and starting over! I've looked around and haven't find much on the subject. Many mention washing and blocking as a way of diminishing the appearance of ladders, but I knew my cardigan needed more than that.

After a bit of trial and error, I have found a way to work the excess yarn back into the surrounding stitches.  I will show you how I do it, in hopes it can be useful to some of you out there!

The only things you need for this technique are: a lot of patience and a tool of your choice (small crochet hook, small knitting needle or darning needles are all good options). All you need to do really, is to pull the yarn slowly away from the ladder to spread the excess material.

Using a pointy tool, pick up the "bridge" of yarn between the first and second stitches next to the ladder. If you were to look at the wrong side of the garment, you would see that this little bit of yarn is actually the bumpy part of a purl stitch.

Pull gently towards you and away from the ladder. You won't get rid of the laddering right away so don't worry about the look right now, and don't pull too tight at first. 

See how it doesn't seem to fix anything? But don't worry, you just have to keep at it!

Once you've pull some yarn out between the first and second stitch, you have to spread it between the stitches to its right (or left if you are working on the other side of the ladder).

Repeat the same process of pulling the little bit of yarn between the stitches. The more you move away from the ladder, the less you should pull the yarn. This way, you leave a little extra yarn in each stitch. Three or four stitches (less if you started with a more subtle ladder) should be enough to spread the excess material you pull from the first "bridge".  Once you are done on a side of the ladder, repeat the exercise on the other side.

That's what I got after my first "pass". Still a big ladder, but a bit better than what I started with.

This is after second complete cycle of spreading the excess yarn. It looks kind of worst at this point, don't you think?

Third pass completed, you can really see the improvement now. After that, I keep doing it a bit more, but washing and blocking at this point would probably fix the rest.

This is another part I did. You can compare with the upper part that is not fixed. It's still a bit noticeable, but as I said, washing and blocking will also help.

Have you experience such laddering in the past? I sure hope this tip was useful to you!

How to: Fermented Hot Sauce

Yes, yet another kitchen post, but fear not my friends, crafty subjects will be back very soon. In the meantime, let me share with you this yummy experiment of mine.

Three weeks ago, I told you I was overwhelmed with the productivity of my spicy pepper plants. I made a drying string with a bunch of them but I had still many more to use. Sooooo, today, I'm going to share with you my technique to make Fermented Hot Sauce. What I like with this recipe (It's actually more of a technique then a recipe) is that it can really be customized to suit your tastes. Depending on the peppers you use it can range from a little spicy to blown-out-of-your-mind-spicy! You can also play with the texture, starting from the chunky kind to a smooth sauce of even a runnier product similar to tabasco. 

Why fermented you may ask. Well fermented foods are more nutritious than cooked ones, keep for far longer, have health benefits and taste delicious. (I plan on eventually, dedicating a post on all the benefits of fermented foods, and talk more about why I love them.)

Without further ado, here is what you need to make fermented hot sauce:

 

The sauce is basically composed of peppers and a bit of garlic (which is optional) that are let to ferment in brine. For my sauce, I use the cheyenne peppers growing on my balcony and some mild peppers I bought at the farmer's market.

 I have two advice about the kind of peppers to choose. 

First, go for local and organic as much as possible. I have read that imported and/or treated peppers would not ferment as well (or even ferment at all) because they may lack the bacterias responsible for lacto fermentation.

 Secondly, if you mix different colors you may end up with an odd looking sauce, which is perfectly fine if you don't mind (think poblanos and cherry bomb...brownish sauce!).

Now, how to prepare for the fermentation. The first thing you want to do, is to prepare you brine. One tablespoon of salt for two cups of water is a good ratio.

 Bring some water to a boil and pour over your sea salt. Stir to dissolve completely.

 Depending on the volume of peppers you have, you will need more or less brine. Two cups was just enough for my amount of pepper. Set the brine aside to cool.

While your brine is cooling down (never pour hot brine over your fruits or vegetables as it may kill the good bacterias), prepare your peppers. 

Slice the peppers. You can keeping the seeds and membranes, your choice.

And then, chop them roughly. They don't need to be minced, as they will be pureed once fermented. Look at these crunchy peppers!

Fermentation is best done in glass or ceramic containers as they are non-porous materials. Mason jars are perfect for the job. I filled one jar with the mild peppers, hoping that if the cheyenne were too pungent for my taste, I could mix them later to dilute the spiciness. More on this later.

Same preparation step with the cheyenne peppers. 

The garlic cloves only need to be peeled.

Again, keep the seeds or not depending on the spiciness and texture you like.

Fill the jars, adding a garlic clove in each, if you choose to use some.

They're not that visible, but on top of the peppers, I added glass weights. These weights are food safe and are made to keep the vegetables submerge in brine at all time. Floating vegetables can cause spoilage as they are exposed to air bacterias and not protected by the salty brine. I've seen people use other types of weight (ziploc bag filled with more brine, cabbage leaves, ceramic weights or even small plates in the case of bigger jars) just make sure they are food safe and clean.

Press the vegetables, crushing them as much as possible. You want a bit of headspace as the fermenting process will make things bubbling and expending a bit.

Pour the cooled brine on top of that and ensure there is enough to cover everything entirely.

Then, you need to cover the jar so nothing gets in them. Some people use pieces of fabric and rubber bands or an airlock device made to fit on mason jar covers. I use Pickle Pipes from Mason Tops and I like how simple and easy they are to use. They keep things out of the jar and still let gas/pressure escape so I don't have to remember to open the jar occasionally.    

Place the jars in a dark spot and forget about them for a while. It could range from a week to a month depending on the climate you live in. Colder temperatures make for a slower progress in fermentation. Taste the peppers after a week and see if you want to wait longer. The more you let them ferment, the more tangy they get.

This is what they looked like after a week and a half. Sadly the one on the right had molds on the inside top of the jar. Some seeds weren't submerged! I had to throw it out, not wanting to take any risks.

See all the bubbles and the sediments at the bottom? These are all good signs of a thriving ferment. 

I let the remaining jar ferment for another week or so. I removed the glass weight and gave it a stir before taking this picture to show you the peppers.

Poured out of the jar. Once fermented to your liking, you could just pop the jar in the fridge and eat the peppers, just like pickles. This could totally be your final result. 

If you want to make it into a sauce, carry on reading.

Drain the peppers, keeping the brine aside.

Puree in a blender or a food processor, adding brine a little at a time. Stop adding brine when you like the consistency.

This is a close up to show the texture I got. I added maybe 25% of the brine in my puree. For more liquid product, you could add all the brine and even strain the sauce in a fine sieve. You would end up with a texture closer to tabasco sauce. This sauce will keep for months if not years in the fridge. The fermentation process having acidified the peppers.

That's it for my hot sauce technique! What fermented food do you like? Do you make it yourself? I would like to hear from you!

How to dry hot peppers on a string

At the end of may, I bought some hot pepper plants at the market. I thought it would be nice to have some fresh peppers to cook with this summer and fall. Little did I know, I would end up with many many more peppers than expected!

These are cheyenne peppers. As you can see, when ripe, they turn a bright orange. About their spiciness, I would say they're a bit more intense than the well known jalapeno peppers. The flesh is a bit thinner too. 

This is only one of my plants. I have 6 crazy productive plants like this one. You can imagine, I've been searching for ways to preserve these little gems.

I've plan to make some fermented hot sauce with a bunch of them, but today's harvest is going to hang in the kitchen to dry. Dried peppers can be used whole (I would split them first) in slow cooked meals or crushed into flakes. You could even turn them in a fine powder with a food processor or a coffee grinder. 

On the pictures, you can see that I also picked a little onion and some blooming oregano from the balcony. 

My first idea was to make a ristra but I didn't have enough peppers for that. So I kept looking for some more ideas. That's when I came across pictures of espelette peppers. Espelette is a french town where they grow a specific pepper since the mid sixteen hundreds. Traditionally, the red peppers were picked when ripe and threaded on strings to dry on the south facing side of homes. 

I liked how these pepper garlands look so I made something similar with my little cheyenne peppers. If you want to try it too, here is how to proceed.

All you need for that quick project is a biggish needle, cotton thread (I used the kind you can crochet with), scissors and fresh hot peppers. Try to find really fresh peppers, with long stems. This will prevent the stems from splitting or breaking and letting out the thread. 

 What I like about the espelette peppers arrangement, is the way the peppers are aligned in a flat way. The trick to insure you get that nice and tidy look, is to place the curve of the pepper stems all upwards. You see how they all point towards the top? That's what makes all the difference! It keeps the pepper above from spinning on the thread.

To thread your peppers, start by pre-arranging all of them. Cut a piece of cotton thread of two or three times the length of your garland. Starting with the bottom pepper, pierce the very base of the stem and pull the thread to three inches for it's end.

Wrap the end around the stem a couple times and make a knot. This pepper is the one keeping all the others from slipping, you want it to stay in place.

 You can cut the thread end shorter if you want, just make sure it won't undo the knot.

Continue threading the hot peppers one after the other. Always pierce the stem in a way that makes the curve go upward.

 Push them delicately on the thread, too much pressure or too fast a move could split or break the stem (the pepper would still be good! But you couldn't thread it back).

Once all the peppers are on the thread, knot a little loop at the end and suspend your garland somewhere dry and well ventilated. Check it from time to time for molds and take out any suspicious pepper. You can use the peppers at any stage of dryness, to your liking. 

Give it a try, and send me a picture! I would love to see your garland!

6 Foods to can this Fall

All around me, I hear people say: No, not yet, not the end of summer already! But I, I don't mind because fall is my favorite season. Fresher days are perfect for cooking with open windows. Taking a long walk without toasting in the sun is nice too. The cool wind and the shorter days also bring back my knitting obsession! But that's not what I want to talk about today. Today, I want to show you my list of "must can" this coming season. Fall is, most of all, bounty season! So, it's time to use all those delicious and colorful fruits and vegetables. Put them in jars to preserve them for the months to come.

I based my list on my personal tastes but also on what I find to be a "good deal". I select canning recipes that contains mostly local and seasonal produces (remember, I live in eastern Canada). Also, it must be something I know we like to eat and that will be used within the next year. When canning, I find it important to choose ingredients and meals you know you eat regularly. Wasting home canned goods is not only wasting good food, it's also wasting your time and efforts!

So here it is, my list of 6 must can of the season!

Tomatoes

Diced, crushed, pureed or cooked in marinara sauce, tomatoes are just so versatile. I use them in homemade spaghetti sauce, casseroles and soups all the time. Canning tomatoes yourself means you can choose the type of tomatoes you prefer. Think italian tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, organic tomatoes, cherry tomatoes etc.

Vegetables in water

Just like the ones from the grocery store but better! Why better? Because they're made from vegetables that you choose yourself (local, organic or from your own garden!). Again, you choose, beets, carrots, beans, peas, potatoes etc. You even get to choose the color and the cut. Why not try yellow beets for a change or mix green and yellow beans in the same jar.

You ABSOLUTELY need a pressure canner to safely preserve these.

Fruits in syrup

Stone fruits come to mind first: Peaches, plums, apricots, pears and cherries. But berries can be preserved in syrup too. Strawberries, blueberries, gooseberries, even grapes and currants. I sometimes make jams, but I prefer fruits in syrup. The product is pretty (nice gift idea here!) and it's so good on sponge cake, pancakes, greek yogurt or oatmeal! For a little variety, try flavoring your syrup with a vanilla bean, a cinnamon stick or a citrus peel.

Applesauce

Apples are a staple of Quebec's fall. We grow many varieties. Some are sweet, others are tart. Some are better for cooking, others are at their best when eaten raw, but they're all delicious in their own way. I can applesauce in 500ml and 250ml jars to eat as a snack or to use in recipes (baking mostly). I can it plain, but you could add spices and sugar. Actually, adding two tablespoons of sugar per litre of product will extend it's life in the fridge once the jar is open.

Cubed winter squash

This one, I haven't tried yet. In the fall, I always go to the farmer's market and buy many winter squashes. I just love to see them so I decorate my apartment with them! When winter comes in, I end up with a ton of ziplock bags of pureed squash in my freezer. I do use them in soups and quick bread, but they take up space I would rather use for raw meat, seafood or bagels and bread. That's why I want to try canning cubed squash in water with my pressure canner and see if it makes good pie!

French onion soup

In fact, I want to try many kinds of soup in the pressure canner, but this one comes first! We love onion soup around here and onions are so cheap in the fall, I must give it a try. I want to try this recipe. I know, it's in french haha! If I like the result, I plan on sharing a translate version with you. This site is such a great resource. I've learned so much on pressure and water bath canning from this blogger, I wish everyone could read it!


There you have it, my priority list of foods to can this coming season. Have you tried any new canning recipe lately? What do you plan on canning this fall?