Can you imagine anyone making jam in the middlle of the night and then blogging about it? hahahahahah

I had this basket, full of Kumquats and a basket of lemons off my friend's tree, for about three days now. I have been so busy but today at 10 pm, I decided to make this Kumquat jam before they all spoiled. There is no time like the present they say. As you all know, these Kumquats are small little beasts.



So here I sit, watching Forensic files, cutting in halves and then in quarters and taking the seeds out of hundreds of Kumquats....(whatever posessed me).




Finally, I got done and started to chopp them in my chopper. I had about fourteen cups. I divided that in half. I don't follow recipes hahahahhah










Ok, I put in one cup of fresh lemon juice and three cups of fresh orange juice (from my trees). I cooked it for about 10 minutes, then added one pack of sure jell (even though these have a lot of pectin by themselves) and about 9 cups of sugar and did the jam cook and here is the first patch.

I decided to do the other patch. The dish full was just added to the new patch and more jars were filled. I can hear them popping as they seal themselves. I do the quick method. Pour the jam into the hot jars and turn them upside down for 5 minutes and they will seal in about 20 minutes. I had a small dish left and hubby and I immediatley had some on toast. It is to die for. I have never made this jam before and it was worth the work. Here is the entire batch

I think we are set for the rest of the winter hahahaha...I have already made the Guava jam and the Cranberry jam...now all that's left is the orange marmalade and strawberry....

I did manage to knit a back scrubber with my Bernat cotten. My order from Peaches and Cream came also. I can't wait to use those.

I am crazy about knitting dish cloths, wash rags, mats and back scrubbers. I just discovered this line of knitting. I'm sure it's been going on a long time, I just happened to find it while checking on knitting stuff.

You must use 100% cotton and it can be pricey unless you have a coupon for 40% off and you can get a nice 12 oz. bundle from JOAnns. They sell a Bernat brand which I know is good stuff...it comes in verigated blue, pink, some natural and some dull color.

Then I discovered this place .

http://www.peaches-creme.com/

Naturally, I bought lots of goodies. Some they sell as kits and that comes with the pattern to knit an entire bath set. It is so neat. They have a great price and ship ground for 10.00. I must have bought about 8 pounds so it's very reasonable. I have made a dish cloth with the Bernat and it's beautiful. I will never go back to store clothes. I am going to knit all our wash rags and back scrubbers, bath mats, table mats and will post them as I finish.

Above is the verigated blue one. I used it for dishes and washed it in clorax too....it is thick and thirsty. I got a pattern off the web and joined a yahoo group who knit a project a week. I downloaded lots of patterns as I do like a little design in the cloth. This one has an apple with leaves and stem. Cute eh?

Here is a link for lots of free patterns.

http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/dishcloths.php

This link is the best one. She is so Generous.

http://freepatterns.k1p1keepingyouinstitchesstudio.com/