My First Knitted Project

When I was about twelve I saw a 'Teach Yourself: Knitting' kit on sale in a store and decided I was going to learn to knit. No such luck. Frustrated at my inability to make a slip knot I put the kit in my closet. Where it languish until I finally fond a 'Teach Yourself knitting book' that showed how to make a slip knot I could understand. Between the two books I finally learned. This bag is the first thing I made. Originally, it was going to be a pair of socks for my mom, but half way into making the first sock I realized my plan of making a flat piece of fabric and sewing it into a tube wasn't going to work and made it in to a purse instead. Mom uses it to pick vegetables when we have a good year. (Not that we've had a lot of those lately. Hint hint, Mother Nature.)

     Once I decided to make it into a purse I started having fun with the design, throwing in new stiches and adding in a new color to add drama to the fabric and reinforce what I had just learned. I think it came out rather pretty.

 The yarn used over all is Red Heart Super Saver in the Williamsburg print, it's one of my favorite color combinations, but like a lot of Red Heart Super Savers it's a little scratchy. It feels softer after you knit it, but I wouldn't recommend it for a baby blanket or anything like that. Of course, some of the Red Heart Super Saver yarns are really soft and study. I'm using their Café Latte color to make a horse and it's wonderfully soft. You really need to feel this yarn before you buy it because the difference in feel between prints is drastic. The add in color is Red Heart Super Saver Hunter Green which is kind of the family color. It's not quite as scratchy as the Williamsburg print. The handles are ones I bought, but can't remember where.

   I'm entering this in Interweaves' The story of your first knitting project contest if I win I would like:
Sage Koolhaas Knitted Hat Kit, Campbell Love is a Rose Crochet Kit, Metal Clay for Jewelry Makers The Complete Technique Guide, Resin Alchemy, and Crochet Aspen Infinity Cowl Kit in Twilight.
Want to enter your own story? Here is a link: http://bit.ly/BeregereSweeps4
                Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Eggs in the Incubator

We're afraid most of Amy's babies are roosters so Mom and I decided to hatch another batch of eggs. I'm also trying to get as many babies out of Abe as I can, because if he keeps going the way he's going, he's going to end up in a soup pot. 
   Anyway, I poured water in the moisture ring and plugged the incubator in to get it calibrated. Over three days we gathered eighteen of the choicest eggs, largish, no poop. Wrote the date on two sides, an 'X' on one, and an 'O' on another side and storing the eggs big end up in an egg carton in a cool room. Which was hard to find, it being summer and all. They went in the incubator on the eleventh and the next day I started turning them three times a day.
   We have a basic still air incubator. It works pretty well and fits about 40 chicken eggs, but you have to buy an automatic egg turner or do it by hand, so far I've been opting for the by hand method.  

  Naturally, five days after the eggs went in some storms blew through and the power went out for four hours. We put a blanket on the incubator, but when the power came back on the thermometer read 82. I'm not sure if any of the eggs are going to hatch, but I'm continuing to turn them and talk to them like I had been. Hopefully we'll have some little chippers come September.


      Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Shanghai Fried Noodles

As I've mentioned before Mom and I have been looking for recipes using egg noodles. Click here for the link to the post about us making egg noodles: http://batsbizarre.blogspot.com/2013/08/egg-noodles.html

 One of our favorites is my version of Shanghai Fried Noodles. The homemade noodles really make it pop. Mom and I like spicy food, but if you don't simply omit one of the hot sauces and/or the chili  peppers. This is a very customizable recipe, the first two times I made it I used some of the Japanese Eggplants from the garden, but we didn't have any last night so I used broccoli instead. I used the last of the kale, but any leafy vegetable (or snow peas) can work. I used half a chicken breast the first time, the recipe I worked from called for pork, and later on I used left over barbequed pork, so really any protein will work. But if you're using pre-cooked meat you should add it after the vegetables. Without any further ado here is my recipe for Shanghai Fried Noodles.   


                                                        Shanghai Fried Noodles                          serves 2

4 oz. pork cut into strips                                            Sauce:                       
1 teaspoon cornstarch                                              3 Tb. soy sauce
Water, enough to cover the noodles                       1  Tb. sugar
2 cups egg noodles                                                 1 teas.  rice wine or sherry
2 Tb. oil                                                                  1 teas. cornstarch
4 oz. kale                                                                3 Tb.   water
half an large onion                                                 1/2 teas. sesame oil
3  garlic cloves                                                      1 teas. oyster sauce
2 dried red chilies                                                  1 teas. chili bean paste
dash of sesame seeds                                             1 teas. Sichuan sauce
1 medium carrot                                                    dash of sesame seeds
1 medium eggplant                                                Salt and pepper to taste

  Mix your sauce ingredients together in a bowl.  In a large pot bring about 2 cups of water to a boil add noodles and let boil for five minutes. Let sit. Cover pork strips with cornstarch and set aside. Chop your vegetables. Put garlic, onions, chilies, a dash of sesame seeds, and 2 Tb. oil in a pan. Cook on medium heat until garlic turns brown. Add your chicken strips and stir-fry for about two minutes or until cooked. Add the vegetables except for the kale and cook for three minutes. Add kale, noodles and sauce. Cook until the sauce thickens.

Here is a printer friendly version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ekuyZiSZ1S7ONYk144bNcdt8ce0HUBAg2CJArHrl_Hs/edit?usp=sharing


              Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

An F- for AAA

   We needed to run some errands today. I thought it would be a good idea to run into town at get it over with before I wrote today's blog post or got involved in anything else. We went to buy feed, but when I went to start the truck and drive to the loading area it wouldn't start.
  Mom called AAA. She thought the truck's battery was dead, but the operator thought it sounded like something else, and told us a flatbed would be there by 3:15. 3:15 rolled around without a reactor rolling up. Mom called again... The operator had put the address in wrong! But according to the other operator that wasn't the hold up, the driver hadn't arrived at the auto parts store the first person had put in as the destination. At 3:40 he shows up, gives us a jump, because it was the battery just like Mom thought, and the truck starts right up. He didn't have a battery with him so he told us to drive home and call AAA and ask them to send someone out with a battery we could buy for $89. Mom called AAA again and asked how much a battery would cost, they said between 89 and 120, I don't know about any of you but if somebody tells me between two amounts it usually end up being the higher one. We ended up driving to O'reilly's (with the odometer dropping from the speed I was going to zero and all the lights, except for the low battery light, flashing on.) where one of the guys who works there checked to make sure the battery really was dead and replaced it for us. It ended up costing $119 without tax.
 My questions are: has anyone bought a battery from AAA and if so how much did it cost? How long is a typical wait?

                    Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog have a bat-tastic day!