Raising Cane’s Sauce Dupe Recipe

I’m a big fan of Raising Cane’s sauce! Of all the chicken restaurant sauces, it’s definitely my favorite. I like KFC’s sauce, Chick-Fil-A, etc, but in my opinion Raising Cane’s sauce is the best. My nearest Raising Cane’s restaurant is a fair distance away, so I don’t go very often. I love that Chick-Fil-A sauce is available for purchase at the grocery store for home use, and I wish Raising Cane’s would do the same. I’ve heard that Walmart has a good duplicate… Great Value Chicken Finger Sauce.  It’s sold out everywhere, and people are reselling it on eBay for 10 times the price.  No thanks! I’ve looked up several dupe recipes online, as well as reading the comments. I’ve taken that all into account, and have come up with a recipe of my own. I love it, and hope you do, too.  Note: the “melding” time is crucial. I tasted this right after making it, and it didn’t taste anything like Raising Cane’s sauce. 12 hours later, I was amazed. Also, I know a lot of people might not have liquid smoke in their cupboard, but I think it is a crucial ingredient! I definitely recommend making sure to add it. Enjoy! 

 

Toilet Paper Alternative

In light of the current worldwide coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, and accompanying shortages, I’ve decided to save my dwindling toilet paper supplies for #2s. (Aka bowel movements, poopies, doo doos, or whatever euphemism you prefer.)

I’ve been informed that you men-folk don’t require TP for #1s, but us women and girls need to “dry off.”  And really, that’s all we’re doing... drying off.  Well, I’ve got a few things around that I can use to dry off.  Although urine is sterile, and Bear Grylls even drinks his, unless I’m desperate, I don’t REALLY want to use something (like a washcloth) that I may someday want to use to clean my face!

Enter some old cotton t-shirts that have seen better days.  Hmmm, these will work...

Here’s the plan... I’m going to have 2 buckets next to my toilet.  One for clean wipes, and the other for dirty.  As luck would have it, thanks to my dear friend Julie, I’m lucky enough to have a bucket with a lid for those dirty wipes.  Thanks, Julie! When the clean ones are running low, I’m going to give the dirty ones a nice hot wash and dry and back into the clean bucket they’ll go.

A few tips:

1 - Cotton or bamboo are both absorbent and delicate to your sensitive areas.
2 - You can use old t-shirts, old underwear, old hankies, old sheets, old cotton towels, or old cotton baby nappies/diapers!
3 - Wash those wipes in hot water with a bit of NapiSan or WhiteKing laundry powder.
4 - If available, try to use a laundry detergent with no dyes or perfumes.
5 - Don’t use fabric softener (it’s scented).
6 - Remember, these can’t be flushed!

I only had a pair of very strange kitchen scissors to use, so these wipes ain’t pretty, but honestly who cares!  I’ve cut up my first t-shirt (avoiding the decoration in the middle) and was able to get 22 wipes out of one XL T-shirt, even though the front had a decoration that made that part unusable.

Yes, my wipes are all cut a bit higgledy-piggledy, but that really doesn’t matter.  I’ve decided to be quite generous in my sizing for this first batch, because I have plenty of old shirts I can cut up in the future.

Are you going to try this out?  Let me know what you think and if you have any tips that you’d like to share.  Stay safe

Supplies: I actually only used one T-shirt for now

4 wipes from just the sleeves

And my gorgeous dog.  Just because she’s cute! 

2012 - Let's Get it Started. Crocheting for Charity

To get 2012 started on the right foot, I decided to focus on some crafting for others. Dawniedear, a Ravelry friend, does most of her knitting and crochet for charity, including an organisation that provides hats, etc, to the homeless.

I challenged myself to make at least 5 beanies for Dawn's charity before the 1st of March. While I was at it, I posed the challenge to the other members of Crochet Lovers Victoria on Ravelry. I'm happy to report many of the members have taken up the challenge with me! Some are making one or two beanies as they can, some taking the 5 beanie challenge, and some surpassing that number as well.

I did some stash diving and came up with yarn that was not slated for other projects and got to work. I was able to make 7 beanies by the March 1st deadline I set for myself. Some of them aren't the prettiest, but will go to helping keep some people warm during those cold Melbourne winter months.

Beanie #1Beanie #2
Beanie #3 Beanie #4

Beanie #5Beanie #6 Beanie#7

Another Ravelry friend, mareeknowscraft, is organising some blankets for donation to a nursing home in Eltham that was flooded out in the Christmas Day flood / hailstorm. Since I was already on a charity role...

The wool for this blanket was donated to me, and I decided to make it into a zig zag blanket. I just finished sewing in all the ends yesterday (my least favourite job), and now it is all ready to be taken to the home.

Bobble Hanger Cover - Free Crochet Pattern

Copyright © October 2011 by Letitia Sherriff

Materials Needed:•
* Approximately 35 grams of Lily Sugar’n Cream Cotton (or substitute any worsted weight yarn)
* 4.00mm crochet hook (US size G)
* One adult-sized wooden craft hanger
* Yarn needle for finishing
* Scissors
* (Optional) Approximately 15 cms (6 inches) of plastic tubing



Abbreviations Used:
CH = chain
SC = single crochet
ST = stitch
WS = wrong side
RS = right side
(US crochet terminology used)

Special Stitches:
Bobble Stitch = yarn over and insert hook in stitch, yarn over and draw up a loop (3 loops on hook), yarn over and draw through two loops (two loops on hook). Yarn over and insert hook in same stitch, yarn over and draw up a loop (four loops on hook), yarn over and draw through two loops (three loops on hook). Yarn over and insert hook in same stitch again, yarn over and draw up a loop (5 loops on hook), yarn over and draw through two loops (4 loops on hook), yarn over and draw through all four loops, leaving one loop on hook.

Hanger Cover:
Ch-52
Row 1: SC in 2nd CH from hook and each CH to end (51 SC).
Row 2: CH-1, turn. (WS) *SC in first ST, bobble (see special stitches) in next ST*. Repeat from * to * 24 times ending with SC in last ST. (26 SC & 25 bobbles made).
Tip: try to pull your SC stitches tight so the bobbles will “pop” more.
Row 3: ch-1, turn. (RS) SC in each ST. (51 sc)
Row 4: (WS) repeat row 3.
Row 5: (RS) repeat row 3.
Row 6: (WS) repeat row 2.
Row 7: (RS) repeat row 3.
Row 8: (WS) repeat row 3.

Finishing: Leaving tail of approximately 60 centimetres (24 inches), break yarn and secure last stitch. With RS facing out, whipstitch last row and beginning chain together. Insert hanger and align so bobbles are on the sides of the hanger, and whip stitch ends closed as well. Put plastic tubing over hanger hook if desired. You’re done!

Please note: This pattern is for free PERSONAL USE ONLY. You may not sell items made from this pattern, or republish this pattern in any form without the express written permission from the author.

Hang up

Perhaps it's from seeing Mommie Dearest too many times growing up, but I can NOT bring myself to use wire hangers.



The next natural choice, of course, is plastic. I've been using plastic hangers for as long as I can remember and have never had any problems. Now either they just don't make them like they used to, or the plastic hangers available here in Australia are just bad quality. But between my husband and I, we seem to break an average of 2 or 3 plastic hangers a week. It's expensive, it's wasteful, and it's frustrating.



I NEVER thought I'd be the kind of person who would want, or use, a crocheted hanger. I've always thought they were a bit daggy. Not to mention op shops / thrift stores seem to be choking with old unwanted ones. I suppose part of me never wanted to make one because it made me sad to think it would end up some day as an unwanted item in an op shop. But as they say, never say never.

Due to my frustration of the broken plastic hangers, I used some of my leftover Sugar & Cream and Peaches & Cream cotton to cover two hangers. Hhhhmmm, not too bad. They aren't too ugly. And they help cushion the clothes a bit versus just plain wood (and don't seem to leave those little pointed shoulder marks).





Recently the Crochet Lover's Victoria group on Ravelry had a trio of hangers swap. After looking up some of my partner's likes & dislikes in regard to colour, I got to work. First out of the gate was a plain SC hanger cover made from Moda Vera Isabella. It's acrylic but very soft and squishy. It's a fun bright blue with little flecks in it as well. I was worried my partner would think the hanger was a bit plain as is, so I picked up the yellow and orange of some of the flecks, and added a crocheted flower to it.







One down. Two to go. Second on the list was a lovely Tiffany-esque blue in Kate Espiga cotton. It's super soft and really shows off stitches well. I winged my own pattern of bobble stitches for the second hanger. I'm super happy with the results. I had a little bit of trouble sending this one off, I have to say!





Two down. One to go! For the third and final hanger, I decided to make a striped hanger. My partner's birthday is the 5th of December so I alternated the stripes based on those numbers... 5, 1, 2, repeat. This idea is good in theory, and I think it came out well, but the ends.... oh the ends!!!!! I didn't realise until I was about halfway done how many ends I would have to weave in! Trust me when I say I won't be doing this again. It took me about two hours to weave all those ends in. Way too much work for a hanger! Live and learn. For the finishing touch, I used the two colours together to add a little curlique.









I also received three lovely hangers in return from the person who had me for the swap.



While I was feeling the hanger vibe, I decided to make a couple more for myself. I'd eventually like to get rid of all those plastic hangers. I'm sure it won't take long. I'm not buying any more, and with how many break each week...

















These may well end up unwanted in an op shop someday, but I'm okay with that now. In the mean time they will be used and appreciated. And they will save me from all the frustration of nearly daily snapped plastic hangers. I think Mommie Dearest would be proud, too.

The Babette is Done!

Yippee, it's done, it's done!!!! Even after having to put it on hold for two weeks due to running out of the main colour, I still finished this sucker in less than a month. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm so proud of myself. I usually get "start-itis" - love starting things, but the finishing? Not so much.

Here are some (okay, a lot) of pics of the finished product.











Okay, I'm off to go do my happy dance now :)

Edited to add: I posted the following information for a fellow Babette-maker on Ravelry and was told it was very useful. So, I've decided to post it here in case anyone else is interested.

SPECIAL NOTES - HOW MUCH YARN I USED…

Well, I used 14 colours - and they were all 200 gram balls. But with the exception of the almond/cream which I ended up using a total of 280 grams of, I had heaps left over of the other 13 colours.

Being a bit of a nerd, and so I’d know for future Babette making, I actually went and weighed all my balls at the end to see how much I’d actually used. So in addition to the 280 grams of almond, here’s what else I used.

Celery (light green) = 115 grams
Guava (dark green) = 49 grams
Aster (lavender) = 115 grams
Blueberry (dark purple) = 90 grams
Butternut (peach) = 98 grams
Pumpkin (orange) = 92 grams
Rose pink (light pink) = 86 grams
Lipstick pink (dark pink) = 88 grams
Maize (light yellow) = 76 grams
Seaquest (light turquoise) = 72 grams
Poseidon (dark turquoise) = 85 grams
Iris (blue) = 97 grams
Periwinkle (light blue) = 88 grams

So that’s 1431 grams all up, which includes the SC join and two rounds of SC border. The actual blanket probably weights a little bit less as that includes all the yarn I used… so tails have been eliminated. I used a 4mm hook and BWM 8ply wool.

Babette

At the beginning of the year, when I received my new 2010 shade card from Bendigo Woollen Mills, several of the colours really jumped out at me. I'd previously seen the Babette blanket pattern and was very keen to make one. I pulled the appropriate colours from the shade card & set them aside for future "Babette-making."

Fast forward to October (geez, where'd the time go) and I FINALLY ordered the wool to make a Babette. Isn't it pretty?

Of course, this very wool went on sale less than a week after I'd ordered it all, but hey, them's the breaks.



I got to work that very day on making the Babette. The blanket is assembled in 10 different sections. I decided I would make the sections in order and assemble them as I go to help keep all those many, many squares organised. I also decided that I would follow the pattern as written, substituting my Bendigo Woollen Mills colours for the ones outlined in the pattern. The only main alteration I made was using a single crochet join instead of whipstitch.

It wasn't long before I had sections 1 through 5 complete.


Plus section 6....

Plus section 7...

And sections 8 and 9 ...


Then just as I was starting in to section 10 (the final section), I ran out of the cream/almond main colour! Oops. I quickly ordered some more. I was on such a roll and I'm so bummed I've had to put this project on hold for a week and a half now. Every day I wait for the wool delivery to come, but I'm still waiting... sigh...

In the meantime, my adorable doggie has given the blanket-thus-far her seal of approval.



Now if the postie would just hurry up with that wool already!