Prepping for Sock Summit…

On Friday I’ll be getting on the train and heading for Portland. Sock Summit starts next Wednesday. I’ll have five-ish days to visit with my daughter and extended family in Portland, and do some typical tourist stuff (breweries & pubs, yarn shops, book stores… all the must-see kinds of places) before my daughter and I leave the real world for four days and immerse ourselves in knitting heaven.

As I start packing for this trip, I’m having to go through my yarn, needles and UFOs (to find even more needles) to make sure I bring what I’ll need for my four workshops. In addition, I have to decide what I’m going to knit on the train. It’s a 24 hour trip. That’s a good batch of focused knitting time. My options are pretty much  limited by how much luggage I want to carry. A variety of small projects seems to be where I’m leaning.

My book proposal is progressing bit by bit. I’m finding I’m treating this project the same way I would a knitting project. Each knitting project has it’s own timeframe. Some get focused attention from start to finish, while others get a good start, periodic bursts of attention here and there, and eventually a boost of enthusiasm to get it done and the ends woven in. Kind of like the mitered square afghan I’ve currently got wrapped around me while I type. It took me several years to get this afghan done and I am thoroughly pleased with the finished result. I love this blanket!

In spite of the slow-down on my book proposal progress, research for the book continues. Beer & Knitting Classes will continue monthly through the end of the year. I’ve even gotten a request for Beer & Spinning Classes, so I plan to add those to the line up in 2010. Beer & Knitting Nights continue semi-regularly, with our next one taking place tonight at Koberl at Blue (check out their beer list!).

In the tradition of knitters everywhere, I’ve gotten an idea for my second book even though I haven’t finished my first one yet. Fortunately, having a second book concept already underway when I approach a publisher could give me the potential for a two-book contract. So my knitter tendencies may not be such a bad thing in this case. (Or am I just demonstrating my extensive rationalization skills here?) As long as my book projects don’t turn into UFOs, I should be okay!

The working title for my second book is A Knitter’s Guide to Non-Alcoholic Beverages. Beverage choices in restaurants and bars for non-alcohol drinkers are generally limited to coffee, tea, corn-syrup-laden sodas and water. In this book I plan to explore other alcohol-free beverage options, with a focus on businesses that are taking this area more seriously and creatively. Alcohol drinkers shouldn’t have all the fun! And, yes… contrary to what many 20-somethings believe, it is possible to have fun without drinking alcohol.

On the Rosacea front, I’ve made significant progress. As I mentioned in a previous post, Vitamin C has been a big help. Then I read Mark Hyman’s book The UltraMind Solution and put into action his recommendations to fix my digestion and improve my overall health. With each passing day my digestion improves and my Rosacea becomes less of a issue for me. I even had a glass of red wine a week ago, with no major flare up. Now that’s progress!

-Jenne Hiigel

Rosacea Progress…

My challenge with Rosacea, which started affecting my eyes last December, has definitely put a damper on my research efforts for my book. Since alcohol aggravates my condition, I reduced my beer consumption to 2-3 beers per month.

My Rosacea also affected my motivation to homebrew. It’s hard to justify brewing my own beer when I am only drinking 2-3 bottles per month. Assuming I would want to drink beer besides my own homebrew, one five-gallon batch would have lasted me about three years! So, I’ve put my homebrewing activities on hold for now.

In order for me to move forward with my book project, it became clear that I had to find a solution to my Rosacea problem… and after several months of research and trial and error, I have!

I said “no thanks” to my opthamologist’s offer of a prescription for life-long tetracycline and started looking elsewhere. Several things have helped to calm my Rosacea – diet changes, avoiding triggers, accupuncture, chinese herbs, reducing stress, Rosacea-calming facial cleansers and toners, etc., but the clear winner in my attempts to improve my condition has been Vitamin C! I was blown away that the ultimate solution to my Rosacea (and my seasonal allergies!!) would be something so simple.

After reading a couple of books about Orthomolcular Medicine and the success people have achieved with megadose vitamin therapy, I decided to give it a try. The clincher was the claim that large doses of Vitamin C would relieve allergy symptoms. Since May is the month where I either endure itchy eyes, sneezing and a runny nose or stay doped up on antihistamines until June, I was open to suggestion for another alternative.

I quickly built up my Vitamin C intake to about 10,000-15,000 mg per day and have been maintaining that for the past three weeks with very good results. My allergies are under control without antihistimines (for the first time in years!!) and my Rosacea is significantly improved. While my Rosacea is not yet cured, it’s getting better every week.

I’m now able to consume a few more bottles of beer each month, without causing serious aggravation of my Rosacea. Moderation will be key as I continue to allow my body to heal, but I now feel confident that I will be able to enjoy more frequent beer sessions, as part of the research for my book, and my own homebrew again sometime down the road. A Knitter’s Guide to Beer is back on track!

-Jenne Hiigel

Concept Statement #5…

I’ve learned a lot about how I want to approach my book from the six Beer & Knitting classes I recently taught. It’s not a huge change from my last outline, but I think I’m now able to write the book in a more useful and readable format.

As I update my book plans, my Concept Statement has to follow suit. So here it is. My current crack at my Concept Statement. This one is #5:

Not so long ago choosing a beer was a relatively easy task. That’s no longer the case. The explosion of craft breweries, along with an ever-increasing number of beer styles, has left many people standing dazed and confused in front of the beer section of the liquor store.

Relax. Help is here. In her book A Knitter’s Guide to Beer, Jenne Hiigel will explain the flavor characteristics of the main beer styles, show you how to make sense of the information on a beer label, and inspire you to explore beer in new directions. Pull up a chair, grab your yarn and needles, pour yourself a beer and let’s get started. And remember… when in doubt, drink Pale Ale when knitting socks.

I think I’m getting closer!

-Jenne Hiigel

Refreshing My Book Concept…

Ever since I started teaching Beer & Knitting classes last October, it seems as if I’ve shelved progress on my book project and my homebrewing. In addition to the classes, my time has been filled with holiday activities, family issues, and trying to find a solution to my Rosacea… which is aggravated by alcohol consumption.  In hindsight, though, it turns that everything is related (isn’t it always!) and that the experience I’ve gained through the Beer & Knitting classes has helped me to see a better way to approach my book project.

Even my Rosacea has a connection to beer… and not just because it can aggravate my condition. I found an amazing line of skin care products by Googling “rosacea hops”. I did this after noticing that IPAs with a high hop content don’t aggravate my Rosacea nearly as much as some other beers. My proving beer for this is Firestone’s Union Jack. Darn awesome stuff. The product that turned up in my Google search was evanhealy’s Blue Lavender Cleansing Milk, designed specifically for Rosacea and includes hop extract in the ingredients. Pretty cool! And the stuff works amazingly well.

As I was planning my Beer & Knitting class offering through the end of the year, and thinking about what I’ve learned from my previous five classes, I realized that the way I’m approaching my Beer & Knitting classes is how I want to approach my book. I’ve revised my Table of Contents and am motivated to start writing again. I’ve also decided to include several of my own knitting patterns in the book.

I’m making progress on my Rosacea, and have found that I can have a half-bottle of beer now and then without much problem. I now have hope that these two things in my life (beer & Rosacea) will be able to find a way to work together.

-Jenne Hiigel

Working Through A Quandary…

What’s a person to do when her current book project benefits from the regular consumption of beer, for research and inspiration, and her health condition is greatly improved by avoiding alcohol altogether? Hmmm…

I’ve had Rosacea for years and have learned to just accept my bright red face as an unavoidable side effect of my enjoyment of beer and wine. For those of you unfamiliar with Rosacea, the red face is not related to the amount of alcohol consumed. Some red wines will turn my face red after ONE SIP.

In December, however, my Rosacea developed into Blepharitis (a form of Ocular Rosacea) where the constant inflammation of the facial skin starts to affect the eyes. The dry-eye symptoms became difficult to just shrug off. It was clearly time to take my Rosacea more seriously and work towards improving my condition, rather than just managing my symptoms.

I have a great  appreciation for my eyesight and would prefer to not have it deteriorate… at least no more than age is already doing. I decided it was time to see a doctor to get a professional diagnosis and opinion. The ophthalmologist confirmed my Rosacea/Blepharitis diagnosis and offered me an ongoing prescription for tetracycline to help manage my eye symptoms.

Enduring the side effects of life-long antibiotic use for the sake of symptom relief just didn’t sit right with me, so I thanked him for the diagnosis and declined his prescription offer. I then went home and dove deeper into my research for alternative treatments to reduce my symptoms, rather than just mask them.

I’m now working at this issue from several angles including diet changes, Chinese medicine, homeopathy, herbal supplements, digestive aids, healing skin-care products, organ cleansing, and…  alcohol avoidance! Argh!!

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on my mood at the time), the alcohol avoidance is helping to improve my condition. I’ve limited my beer consumption to Beer & Knitting Classes (once a month) and Beer & Knitting Nights (approx every six weeks). It is my hope that as my Rosacea improves, I’ll eventually be able to enjoy a beer more frequently than once or twice a month.

On the plus side, the one beer that seems to aggravate my Rosacea the least is my current favorite… Firestone’s Union Jack. I’m not sure why this is, but since Union Jack has a massive hop content and hops aid digestion and Rosacea is related to digestive problems, then maybe that connection has something to do with it. Whatever the reason, I send thanks to Matt Brynildson for creating such an awesome beer!

My health is very important to me, but so is this book project. I will continue to work towards making progress in both areas.

-Jenne Hiigel

Getting Back On Track…

My writing project and homebrewing efforts have been somewhat derailed during the past two months, due to the holidays and various family activities. Things have settled down quite a bit in the past week and now it’s time to get back on track with both.

In spite of my distractions, Beer & Knitting classes continued in December and January… so I haven’t been a total slacker. Our December class was Christmas Beer & Ornaments. We kicked off the class with Anchor Christmas Ale and then everyone picked an ornament pattern and started knitting. We had a great selection of Christmas beers to taste, the favorites being Delirium Noel, Trader Joe’s 2008 Vintage Ale (brewed by Unibroue), and Santa’s Butt Porter. I had a variety of ornament patterns to choose from, including a Candy Cane Cozy for those who were concerned about the higher alcohol Christmas beers affecting their ability to knit anything too complicated. (Cast on 20 sts, knit 8 rows, cast off, sew it together.)

In January, the topic was Finishing. On the knitting side we focused on the mattress stitch (or weaving) for sewing up seams, one-row buttonholes, grafting, and some extra finishing touches by Nicky Epstein. On the beer side we discussed the beer drinker’s responsibility, from the time the beer is purchased until it’s served, to make the most of the hard work the brewer put into the beer.

We started the class with Red Seal Ale. Each student had two glasses in front of her. One was a typical pint glass and the other a pilsner glass. I had the Red Seal at two different temperatures – refrigerator temp and room temp. I poured the cold beer down the side of the pint glass, creating no head and maximizing the carbonation. The room temperature beer was poured straight down the center of the pilsner glass, allowing it to foam up nicely and release some of the carbonation.

The results were amazing. The students couldn’t believe the two glasses contained the same beer, even though they saw me pour it. Preferences were towards the beer in the pilsner glass with the slightly warmer temperature and nice batch of foam. They clearly learned that how the beer drinker handles and serves the beer makes a difference. We moved on to the other beers that were brought to the class, the favorites being Chimay Blue and Kostritzer Schwartzbier and Allagash White.

For all you Allagash White fans out there, I strongly recommend you try Allagash Fluxus. They refer to it as a double white beer and it is way yummy!

Next up… Fruit Beers & Knitted Hearts. This class will be on Valentine’s Day.

Jenne Hiigel

History Was Made!

The first ever Beer & Knitting Class (as far as I’m aware) took place on Saturday, Nov 8th and a great time was had by all. The subject was American Wheat Beer & Dishcloths and we had a full class of enthusiastic students, a great selection of beers to sample, and five dishcloth patterns to choose from.

We started the class with Lost Coast Great White and a welcoming toast. It’s not often that a knitting class starts with a toast. Since it seemed unnatural to talk about beer with all these knitters sitting there not knitting, everyone picked a dishcloth pattern and started casting on. When all projects were comfortably underway, we continued on with the beer side of the class.

After the Great White, we moved next to the Lost Coast Tangerine Wheat – which is a wheat beer with an different touch. [See Brewmaster Barbara Groom's clarification about the differences between the two beers in her comment on this post. Thanks for your input, Barbara!] From there we tasted and discussed hefeweizen by Widmer, Einhorn, Santa Cruz Mountain and Carmel Brewing, German hefeweizens by Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr, Belgian-style white beers by Allaghash, Anheuser-Busch and New Belgium, wheat beers by Sierra Nevada and North Coast, and a blueberry wheat beer by Sea Dog. We also had one bottle of dunkel weizen, which gave everyone a taste of the potential of the dark side of wheat beer.

The clear favorites of the night were Lost Coast Great White and Allagash White. Opinions were strongly split on our new local Einhorn Hefeweizen, and there were a few people who voiced a preference for German wheat beer over the American versions.

Only one of the dishcloth patterns was not chosen. Although everyone liked the look of the Vortex 5 Dishcloth, they decided to save this more challenging pattern for a time when they could focus a bit better. Instead the students chose a simple garter stitch pattern, a lace pattern, a circle cloth pattern, and a garter stitch entrelac pattern. By the end of the class, each person’s dishcloth was progressing nicely.

What a fun class! Everyone left with a greater appreciation of wheat beer, a list of their favorite beers to explore further, and a dishcloth that was well on its way to being completed.

Next up is Christmas Beer & Christmas Ornaments on Sat, Dec 13th. We’ll explore the fun flavors that are only available during the holidays while we knit up little gems to decorate our trees.

-Jenne Hiigel

Beer & Knitting Classes…

People have been baffled by my idea of combining beer and knitting into a book. Well, it’s time to take them to the next level of baffle-dom. I’ve decided to teach Beer & Knitting Classes. They will take place at Yarns…at the Adobe on the 2nd Saturday of each month from 2-5pm beginning in November. Here’s the lineup:

• Nov 8th… American Wheat Beers & Dishcloths
• Dec 13th… Christmas Beers & Knitted Ornaments
• Jan 10th… Finishing (finishing touches on your beer and your knitting)
• Feb 14th… Fruit Beers & Knitted Hearts
• Mar 14th… Stout & Mitered Square Afghan
• Apr 11th… North Coast Brewing Co & Pattern Design

We’ll discuss the beers and start tasting at the start of the class, and then get our knitting going while we finish our beer discussion. I plan to focus primarily on three different beers at each class. The knitting side will be fun projects and/or a couple of key techniques.

The other advantage of the classes is that the research I do for each class will help my book progress a bit faster. These should be fun and are already generating some enthusiasm.

-Jenne Hiigel

Porter, Writers’ Conference and Classes…

Homebrewing continues. I’ve made a second batch of the Fuller’s London Porter clone recipe, which was quite timely as I only have one bottle left of the previous batch. This new batch will be ready to drink in about a month. In the meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy the Alaskan Smoked Porter clone recipe that I brewed. Now that I’m satisified with my Porter brewing, I’ll be moving on to another beer style. I’m thinking either wheat or extra hops. We’ll soon see which recipe grabs my interest next.

I still want to move on from extract/grain brewing into all-grain brewing, but I have to wait until I save enough money to buy a mash tun, lauter tun and sparging equipment. Hopefully I’ll have the funds set aside by early next year. I’m working on scheduling a few Beer & Knitting classes, so that may help with my homebrew equipment goals.

I was chatting with Anne at Yarns…at the Adobe recently and trying to come up with some knitting class ideas. Classes are always challenging, because people regularly ask for them but don’t always sign up when they’re finally scheduled. So I was trying to come up with some ideas that might spark a little more enthusiasm. That’s when I decided on Beer & Knitting classes. In these classes we’ll discuss and sample a specific group of beers, and knit a complementary project and/or learn a specific knitting technique. Here are the classes I’ve come up with so far:

• American Wheat Beer & Dishcloths
• Christmas Beers & Knitted Ornaments
• Finishing (proper presentation of the beer and finishing techniques in knitting)
• Fruit Beers & Knitted Hearts (this class is on Valentine’s Day)
• Stout & Mitered Square Afghan
• North Coast Brewing Company & Pattern Design

The first class will take place in November and they’ll continue monthly through April. We’ll soon see how people like the Beer & Knitting class idea.

We recently wrapped up this year’s Cuesta College Writers’ Conference. It went very well and, once again, got me inspired to work on my writing more diligently. Last year the message I got from the conference presenters was to make time to write and that the early morning hours tend to be the most productive. I gave it a try and found out that they were absolutely right. If I can get myself out of bed an hour earlier I can make significant progress with my writing. It’s the getting out of bed that is the hard part, though!

The message I got this year from the conference was to write what I know AND write what I’m passionate about. That seemed to confirm to me that I am on the right track with my book about beer and knitting. Enthusiasm for the combination of crafts continues to grow, which is pretty cool. Anne (at Yarns…at the Adobe) says she now gets people in her shop wanting to find out more about the Beer & Knitting group.

At our last Beer & Knitting gathering at Woodstone Market in Avila Beach we had a reporter from the New Times come out and interview our group. There were about 16 of us in attendance that day and it was a beautiful day on their patio overlooking the creek while we knitted and enjoyed our beer and lunch. In the not-too-distant future there should be an article about us appearing in that newspaper. I’ll keep you posted!

-Jenne Hiigel

The Fog Begins To Clear…

About a week after I came to the conclusion that I would be writing my book primarily for knitters, I had lunch with a co-worker of mine who is not a knitter. I started explaining to him what my book was about; what brewing and knitting have in common, that I would be explaining the flavor differences between beer styles to make it easier to select a beer you might like, the effect that age and mishandling of beer can have on flavor and aroma (he was not aware that beer is a perishable product), why it’s important to drink beer out of a proper glass, and so on. By the time our lunch break was over he was very enthusiastic. He said, “I want to read your book!”

So… after struggling for months and then finally finding an epiphany that seemed to hold my answer, it’s clear that things continue to evolve. My book will be for knitters… and for anyone else who wants to learn more about beer, increase their enjoyment of the beer they drink, and expand their horizons in new beer directions. My book will also be about knitting. Not in the how-to sense, but in the heart and soul sense.

Now that my audience has become even clearer, I’ll take another stab at the Concept Statement for my book. Here’s Concept Statement #4:

Which beers do you like? Which ones do you dislike? Do you know why?

Through the harmonious pairing of knitting and brewing, A Knitter’s Guide to Beer will help you understand the various flavor components of beer, how to match beer styles to your current preferences, the importance of considering your mood when selecting a beer, the benefits using the proper glassware, the effect of age and mishandling on flavor and aroma, and the joys of being adventurous and delving into new beer territory.

Jenne Hiigel combines her knowledge of beer with her skills in knitting and homebrewing to enhance your appreciation of both crafts. Pull up a chair, grab your yarn and needles, pour yourself a beer and let’s get started. And remember… when in doubt, drink Pale Ale when knitting socks.

My Alaskan Smoked Porter clone turned out quite nice. It took almost a month before the carbonation was worthy, but now it’s a beer I can be proud of. I’m down to just a handful of bottles of my Fuller’s London Porter clone, so I brewed another batch a few days ago. This could very well be my session beer.

Now that I’m satisfied with my Porter brewing, I’m ready to branch off into new territory. I think I need hops. Lots of hops. It’s time to look for some IPA recipes.

Our local Writer’s Conference is coming up in less than a month. That conference always inspires me to get serious about my writing… again. This time it could stick.

-Jenne Hiigel