Crumbs and cubes

First, the yarn part of the gluten-free yarn nerd.  I finished a cowl, which just needs blocking, happily finding for once that a pattern from a pattern-a-day calendar had no mistakes.  This is faux Fair Isle, using multicolored and white.

Other things are still in progress.  Most of my interest has been in the Moon Shadows shawl, until I got to the point where it was clear I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish.  I ordered more, hoping the dye lot isn't too far off.  And although I used what I assumed was an equivalent yarn weight, mine looks denser in fingering yarn than what I see on the pattern.  Some of that will change with blocking, but either way I think it's going to be warm and beautiful.  I know shawls don't get a lot of interest in the auction, but part of this is me doing things I enjoy.  Progress on it: 

While I wait for more yarn (and since it seems silly to pay for shipping for one skein, sure, I'll take your $20 mystery bag of 6 random skeins, Knit Picks.  I'm sure I can come up with some way to use them.) I put more work into a mitten with half a butterfly.

After doing rows with 400+ stitches on the shawl, the mitten rounds seem to go really fast.  These mittens will be a separate fundraiser at the Warm and Fuzzy, with the proceeds going to Debra, whose symbol is a butterfly.

 I also took advantage of a flash sale to get more Addi Turbo circular needles from WEBS.  There is no such thing as too many needles, and I didn't have these sizes in 40".  Love the Turbos.

Second, the gluten-free part of the gluten-free yarn nerd.  It's spring, as you may have noticed - the goldfinch men are donning their yellow suits, grass is growing, pollen is making us miserable, so it's salad season, when I can stand to eat cold food.  With a three day weekend, I had time to make bread for crumbs and croutons.  That meant putting the bread together, letting it rise, and baking it, an investment of about 3 hours yesterday.

This recipe is from Betty Hagman's The Gluten Free Gourmet, the four-flour bean bread (although no beans in mine).  To my usual white flour mix (white rice, tapioca, potato starch), I added brown rice flour, sorghum flour, buckwheat flour, and ground flax seeds.  I almost added banana flour, but even though it was in its original bag (with a 2013 expiration date), the outer plastic container smelled strongly of aging plastic, so out it went.  This is not a good bread for slices, but it crumbles like a champ.  One loaf for crumbs, one for croutons.  Today I crumbled and diced, letting them dry at room temp for a while so as not to consume more fossil fuel than needed.  

Later they will go into the oven at 250F, with stirring every 30 minutes until completely dry, so add another few hours today to yesterday's efforts.  The cubes will get olive oil and seasoning before baking to complete their metamorphosis into croutons.  The crumbled bits will require yet more time in the food processor before they can be stored as crumbs.  Yes, I can buy gluten-free bread crumbs, but the price is high and the ingredients don't impress me.  These work well for breading and adding to meatballs, although they tend to burn more quickly than gluten bread crumbs.  But I can't tell you how delightful it is to have croutons to add to a salad!  You don't appreciate things until you have to do without.  Croutons are my reward for putting vegetables in my mouth.