Come for the yarn, stay for the chocolate.
I’m a chemistry professor by day, and a knitter, knit wear designer, and chocolatier by night. Now that my early retirement from the university is on the horizon, I’m exploring how to devote more attention to my two hobbies. Well, three hobbies really, because collecting yarn and knitting that yarn are two separate activities.
I have been purchasing and stashing yarn since I learned to knit sweaters while I was in college – over 30 years ago. In those 30 years, I tried to learn something new with each knitting project. Now I’m learning how to design and write patterns. For the past 1.5 years, I have been teaching continuing education intermediate knitting classes at my community college. This has been great fun for me and I do love to see the finished projects from these classes!
In January, I added my first for sale pattern to Ravelry, and in March I had my first knitting pattern published in Knit Simple – a national knitting magazine. Since then, I’ve had additional patterns published and accepted for publication. (So not just a fluke. You know, impostor syndrome is real and has plagued me for years, especially in my chemistry career.) I’m still learning a lot with every new project. Now I’m learning about blogging.
The chocolate part of this discussion will come later in the year, during chocolate season, which is typically October through March. The cool months. Each year, I make about 100 pounds of chocolate truffles to give as gifts to family and friends. I’ve gotten quite good at it. I own 3 table top chocolate temperers and all kinds of gadgets. I typically prepare about 35-40 different flavors of chocolate truffles, 5-6 flavors of caramel (covered in chocolate), and 6-8 flavors of chocolate barks filled with nuts, cookies, and dried fruits. In October and November I make chocolate-covered caramel apples. In February, I make chocolate hearts and chocolate-covered strawberries.
All this chocolate obsession began in 1996-ish with a recipe that recommended using confectioners coating rather than real chocolate because “monitoring the temperature of real chocolate was like working in a laboratory.” As a chemist, I thought I might actually enjoy all that monitoring and lab-like stuff, so I tried it. Lots of chocolate experiments later, here I am, using hundreds of pounds of chocolate every year.
I also teach a couple of food chemistry classes at my real job. Chocolate manufacture and preparation is a hefty part of both of those classes. This past year, I’ve been teaching chocolate classes at a local kitchenware shop. It’s been great fun!
So, those are my credentials in the knitting, chocolatiering, and teaching worlds.
Yarn and Chocolate 