Recently, we started doing a twice-weekly live show on our Facebook page called LIVE From the Kitchen. Starting at about 6:30pm PT (2:30am GMT) on Mondays and Fridays, we cook dinner and chat with you all about what we’re making, share cooking tips, and answer your questions about everything from cooking to how to care for cast iron. We even let the Shibakidz in not the fun (when they care to make themselves available) so y’all get a dose of furry faced (theirs… not ours) lovin’ from Apollo, Atlas, and Dallas. And, yes, Jason will wear THAT apron. If you’ve seen the show, you know the one we mean…

If you didn’t catch the show last Friday, you missed Jason’s Mac & Cheese. Seriously y’all… it’s the real deal. Yes, we’ll be posting recipes right here on our website and we’ll start things off with the legend that is Jason’s Mac & Cheese recipe!

We hope you’ll join us for the weeknight edition of LIVE From the Kitchen on Monday or for Fun Food Friday on… ummm… Friday. Oh… have a question about one of our recipes or a show? Leave a comment here or on our Facebook page here: Shibaguyz on Facebook

WHAT YA NEED:
SAUCE
3-4 strips of bacon cut into ½ pieces (plus 1-2 extra strips if you’re a nibbler… like us)
tablespoons unsalted butter
3 (ish) tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups whole milk or Half and Half
7 ounces Beechers Flagship cheese, grated (about 1 3/4 cups) or other tasty cheddar
4 ounces Aged Gouda cheese, grated (1/2 cup)
4 ounces other creamy cheese cheese, grated (1/2 cup) (Think Fontina, comte, double cream...)
½ teaspoon coarse salt
¼ to ½ teaspoon paprika powder
½ teaspoon mustard powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

PASTA
1 lb penne, rotini, elbow or fancy pants pasta.
1 ounce (1/4 cup) Beechers Flagship or cheddar cheese, grated
1 ounce (1/4 cup) other cheese, grated

WHAT YA DO:

1. Fry bacon till slightly crispy in the pan you will make your sauce in. Remove bacon, keep bacon drippings (that good stuff in the bottom of the pan) in a separate container.
2. Set bacon aside (NOTE: Make a couple extra strips of bacon because… well… it’s bacon! You’re going to want to nibble.)
3. Start your sauce: melt butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat and whisk in the flour all at once. Continue whisking and cook for 1-2 minutes.
4. Slowly add milk (or half and half if using), whisking constantly. Cook until sauce thickens, about 5-8 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Add cheeses, salt, paprika, mustard powder and garlic powder. Stir until cheese is melted and all ingredients are incorporated, about 3 minutes.
5. Taste and add salt/pepper as you like. (Always taste what you’re cooking!!)
6. At the same time you are making your sauce, put the pasta on to boil and cook until al dente: NOTE: Al dente describes pasta that is cooked so as to be firm when eaten. In other words: don’t cook your pasta to death! Usually 2 minutes less than package directions is about right. If in doubt, err on side of less time boiling. The pasta will continue to cook in the oven so you want it a little under done.
7. Drain Pasta well.
8. Combine pasta, bacon, and sauce in your pasta pot; mix carefully but thoroughly. Scrape the pasta into the prepared baking dish if baking. (You should probably go ahead and taste it again here because… MAC AND CHEESE!! But also to check for final seasoning.) Sprinkle top with remaining cheeses. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 min or Broil for 5. When we did the live show, we put it under a broiler to brown up the top because we didn’t have time to let it bake. We’ve also done this when it’s been a long day and we’re hungry and tired of waiting and there’s no more bacon to nibble on!!

Let stand 5 minutes before serving... if you can wait that long.

As every crocheter knows, turning chains have a habit of leaving large gaps in the sides of your crochet fabric. Especially in the case of taller stitches (e.g. double crochet, treble crochet, and taller), those gaps can be so pronounced as to destroy the look of an otherwise well-made piece. The technical term we utilize to describe the phenomenon of gapped, wavy edges like this is WONKY… yes, it's a highly technical bit of crochet terminology. Please adjust your lexicons accordingly.

​Wonky edges occur when a row of pattern instruction starts with a chain-up that is meant to be counted as the first stitch of the row: Chain 3, count as first double crochet of row. Because of how chain stitches sit on the outside of the fabric, these chain substitutes for the first stitch of a row create an unsightly gap where the first stitch should be. We hate that... I mean, REALLY hate that. And, from your emails and questions in classes, we know you're not particularly fond of wonky edges either. The outrage is totally understandable! We spend days/weeks/months working on the perfect crochet fabric; only to have the edges betray us. And don't even get us started on the difficulties these wonky edges create when sewing garment components together. Nope… not gonna go there right now because we're watching our blood pressure.

Breathe in… breathe out…

​Rather than pulling out large clumps of hair or screaming and ranting so that the Shibakidz go running for the hills, we set out on a quest of experimentation that lead us to a happy place full of unicorns, rainbows, cheesecake, chocolate, puppies... and straight edges (mmmm… chocolate cheesecake). We call this land, The Land of First-Stitches. (But let's get back to the chocolate and cheesecake thing soon…)

In order to reach this blissful place of non-wonkiness, we’ve developed a series of stitches we call First-Stitches designed to clean up those edges by replacing the chain ups at the beginnings of rows. In fact, we’ve come up with FOUR different options for first-stitches that we will be sharing with you over the next few weeks starting today! WOOHOO!! In today’s tutorial we'll focus on the first of these 4 First-Stitch techniques: The Stacked First-Stitch.

​



Work to the end of your row. Then turn your work.
Step 1. Without chaining up to the height of the new row, insert your hook into first stitch of row. Yup… you read that correctly, do not chain up to the height of the new row. You’ll see why this is important here in a minute.

​​Step 2. Yarn over and draw up a loop (you’ll have two loops on your hook now).

​Step 3. Yarn over and draw through both loops on your hook.

For those of you keeping track... yes, you just made a single crochet that is tilted on it’s side. This is due to the fact that we did not chain up to the height of the new working row and the head of the single crochet is now tilted to the side. This approximates the look of the base of a double crochet stitch.

Step 4. Chain up to the height of the stitches in your new row.

The photo to the right shows a completed Stacked First Dc (sc, and 2 chains).
If the stitch pattern in this row was based on treble crochets you'd probably have 3 chains. See what we said there? We say probably because, depending on the yarn weight/fiber you are using and your stitching gauge, the number of chains needed may vary. This is why you need to be sure to test your First-Stitches on your gauge swatch! There are definitely times when we only use one chain for a stacked first-dc and two for a stacked first-tr because of the weight of the yarn.

Here is what a Stacked First-Treble would look like.
Look carefully and you'll see (in this case) the single crochet followed by three chains. This mimics the base, post, and head of any following trebel crochet stitches closely enough that even the pickiest of crocheters will have a hard time seeing it as anything other than a treble on the edge of your fabric. This keeps your edge straight with no huge holes.

NOTE: Because of the height of stitches taller than a treble crochet, even this technique can leave your edges with a bit of a gap. It certainly won't be as severe as the gap from simply chaining up three or four times but it is more of a gap than we personally like. For that reason, with taller stitches and, in most cases, in the case of the first-treble crochet, we use on of the other first-stitch techniques we will be sharing with you in the coming weeks. Again, this isn't always the case but, as we said, it is best to test the stitches on your practice swatch and pick the one that works best for your crochet fabric.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
When using Stacked First-Stitches, it is important to insert your hook into the top chain of the stacked first stitch when making the last stitch of the following row. Remember, that top chain is standing in for the head of the first-stitch so you will insert your hook into the chain just as if it were the head of any other stitch. For example, if you worked a stacked first-double crochet at the beginning of Row 3, when you come to the last stitch of Row 4, insert your hook into the last chain of Row 3’s stacked first-double crochet. If you miss and make your stitch in the space made by the chains, you will create a hole in the edge of your fabric and it will not look as neat and tidy as you would like.

So there you have it, your first step into banishing those Wonky Edges!
Practice this stitch this week and come back next week to learn the second technique in your arsenal of First-Stitches: The Linked First-Stitch.
(You're going to loooooove this one!)

We were all taught it... "work to the end of the row, turn, chain up to the height of the stitches in that row". While this makes sense in the grand scheme of things, it also makes for some seriously wonky edges on any stitch taller than a single crochet. AND, speaking on our experience as designers and photographer for over 300 patterns, few things look worse on a great design than wonky edges! So how does one fix this problem?

Over the next few weeks we'll be sharing 4 different techniques that will clean up your crochet edges. Not only will your raw edges look better, this will make your life SO much easier when sewing seams. SOOOOO much easier!

In this series, we're going to show you four unique techniques for making crochet First-Stitches: a way of making the first stitch of your row of crochet stitches that will keep your edges neat and clean giving your swatch a FAB finished look while avoiding the dreaded "Wonky Edge."

Here are the 4 techniques we'll be covering in this series:

1. Stacked First-Stitches
2. Linked First-Stitches
3. Wrapped First-Stitches
4. Standing First-Stitches

For the ultimate crochet reference guide, don't miss our NEW book Complete Crochet Course available now online and at book sellers. See it by clicking the FAB little button below.

It's time to purchase tickets to our classes at this year's Sew Stitch Expo in Puyallup, WA. WOOHOO! We have a LOT of classes at Sew Expo this year including crochet, knitting, math for crocheters and knitters, alterations, taking proper measurements for crochet and knit garments, photography, and two lecture/demo sessions! In addition, we will be presenting two runway shows and will be sharing a booth with the most glamorous shepherdess on the planet, Katrina Walker of the Spoiled Sheep Flock. What a FAB weekend!!

Now we wouldn't want y'all to miss out on a minute of the FAB fun we have planned for you but, occasionally, we hear from folks that they have problems finding our classes and registering online. So this year we thought we'd put up a little walkthrough to help you with the process. The process does take a couple of steps, but is not difficult. Once it is all over, you end up with the best possible prize... a class with the Shibaguyz! [blush]

Here we GO…
First go to www.sewexpo.com