Making marmalade

We’re leaving for Chicago tomorrow, which means finishing off side projects.  The candied citrus peels, alas, won’t be quite ready – the cold floored me badly enough that I didn’t reboil them every day, as planned – so they’re going into the fridge while we’re gone.  Not ideal, but I couldn’t think of a better option.

I also had several pounds of mandarin oranges which I had bought with the intention of making marmalade – a sweeter, less bitter version than the usual Seville orange marmalade.  These wouldn’t last another five days without the peel drying out, so I chopped them up yesterday evening and made about 1.5 gallons of marmalade.  This will go nicely over duck and into chocolates.  It’s one of my favorite jams, after the sun-cooked strawberry jam I make every summer.

At this point I am pretty well set with Autumn Splendor.  I have finished weaving one dark panel and am halfway through one light panel.  I think I can complete that today.  That leaves one dark panel to weave and the entire batch to wet-finish/dye over the weekend of January 7th.  It also leaves weft for one dark and one light panel in reserve, should I happen to mis-cut a panel.  After that I can start sewing!