Hi, Jan,
The cherries have been piling up in my freezer. I’m not making enough pies, obviously, but you know, I’d just eat them if I did and there would be more room in the freezer and less in my clothes. When I noticed one of the packages had 2006 written on it, I knew it was time to take action. Cherry jam action.
Making jam is even more suspenseful than typical canning. Not only do you wait for the pings, you cross your fingers that things will set up. I followed the directions with care - wow, 6 cups of sugar to 4 cups of cherries! It is fun watching it mix in - it goes from a solid to a soup in about 45 seconds as the sugar draws the juice out of the cherries.
And then we have the most dangerous thing in the kitchen - hot syrup. All of it got into the jars and not on me, and at the end of a long afternoon I had a tower of rubies. And today, I can report that it seemed to set up very well.
.
.
My Bohus hat is making me happy, too. I subbed in a couple of colors from Forest Darkness in order to do the complete design repeat - I only had yarn from the wristers extras that I’d received from Susanna for doing some knitting for her. That dark olive was not completely settling in when I had just added it, but now that it is balanced by more of the dark teal, it is adding a little jazz without stubbing your eye.
I’m going to spend the rest of the evening finishing the hat off. Even though we are having a wonderfully warm Labor Day, you can never be too prepared in MN!
Love,
Ellen
P.S. I got around to publishing this a day after I wrote it, and yes, the hat is done. Pictures to come…
Jan and Ellen are identical twins who have always had an innate fashion sense. Crafting is an integral part of their lives and they stay stitched together sharing their love of knitting, family and community.
September 7th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Love the Bohus hat; love the cherries; am curious about the zucchini cubes…..
September 8th, 2009 at 8:17 am
The hat looks great! And I really like the olive in it, too.
Too many cherries in the freezer sounds like a problem I’d like to have. Smoothies, sorbet, cherry scones….mmm….
September 8th, 2009 at 11:21 am
The jam looks soooo yummy and I love your Bohus. I’ve been meaning to make that one.
September 8th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
My DH would love some of that cherry jelly. He is quite the cherry guy. I have only done Strawberry Jam. Maybe one day I will branch out.
September 8th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I’m glad I’m not the only one whose eyes get stubbed on colors
The cherry jam looks absolutely delicious, and the hat is gorgeous. I can’t wait to see the finished photos…
September 8th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Okay, so maybe I could be convinced to do a Bohus hat…and mittens. It’s the miles of solid colored stockinette in a sweater that don’t appeal to me.
I could easily be convinced to eat cherry jam…especially if served with cherry scones and a side of cherry sorbet.
September 8th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Hey,
Have you tried surejell? I make my Jam using the low sugar no sugar variety of surejell (the pink box) and it allows me to use about half the sugar the recipe calls for usually. I like it because it turns out not soooo sweet which I prefer.
September 8th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Seems that I’m running across Bohus a lot this week, which makes me think it must be time to knit myself something in the Bohus tradition. The hat is every bit as delicious as the cherries, and makes me wonder when I’m going to start knitting my own winter hat (considering that I purchased the yarn nearly five months ago).
September 12th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Love the hat! And the cherry jam and the idea of zucchini cubes–now I finally know what to do with those!
We had a cherry tree here that in ten years we got one single cherry from. But the squirrels were happy, till the thing finally succumbed, probably to old age.