Pickles and Aprons

I bought myself an apron.  I don't have a picture of it yet but soon, I promise.  There is something about putting on an apron that enlivens the domestic superhero in me.   Yesterday my aproned alter ego decided to try out her new canning kit and Ashley English's book on canning.  It was quite an adventure and hopefully she prevailed. 
Things to know about making pickles (and canning in general) :

1.  Timing is everything. 

I decided I would wait to sterilize my jars until I had everything else prepped.  I ended up waiting for the water to boil and jars to be sterilized. Part of this goes into lesson two...

2. Use the right size pot or invest in a canner.

Because processing the jars requires a rack in your pot for water circulation under and around the jars, I ended up using a stock pot made for seafood  boils.  These come with a basket but are REALLY big.  It  took a couple hours (not exaggerating) to get the pot to a rolling boil
(absolutely necessary in canning) and I fear this may have affected the contents of my jar plus it's just an enormous waste of energy.

3. Follow the recipe

This is not something I am good at in any respect but in this case I ended up with way less pickles (2 jars) and a great deal of extra brine and sterilized jars then needed. Not a HUGE issue but something I need to consider next time around and really preserving foods should occur in big batches. But let's just say I was getting my feet wet this time around.

4. Invest in the right tools.
My canning kit included a pot rack (which fits NONE of my pots), canning tongs (essential), a magnetic lid grabber(essential), cheesecloth (I think this is for jams and jellies), and a couple of other items which I have NO idea how to use. Canning is a dangerous business, burns are pretty much a given. Although I escaped with just a very minor finger burn yesterday,   I want to get a glove that I can wear. I do have a pressure cooker that I plan to use in the future but baby steps for now.