Woolythyme

Yarnalong...WIP Wednesday

Bridgewater (by Jared Flood) is finished but for the applied border.  Ha!  Finished???...but for the 768 stitches that each get 13 x 2 stitches knit in order to bite off one stitch--or....19,968 stitches to the finish line.  (You can tell I'm rather bored with this project when I start doing the math.)  Ordinarily, if I had a great audiobook, or a good movie---I'd be sticking this out....but

 

Dan Brown's new book came in the mail yesterday.  I'm hooked.  Of course, I'm hooked.  I love Robert Langdon (I was an art history major, too--spent a year studying iconography!)...I love Florence....I actually read the Inferno once upon a time and didn't hate it.....and those short little chapters suck me in every time---you know, just one more...oh, the next is only two pages long....OK, one more....and the next thing you know---the characters are in the middle of a crisis, and you just HAVE to read a bit further.  It probably won't win any literary awards, unless you consider shooting to the top of the NYTimes bestseller list is an "award", but it sure is a page turner----and I'm not able to knit a border and turn pages at the same time.

 

So the little green blob is going to be a dress for the Maggie Rabbit that I will make someday after the kit arrives.  I'm sort of putting the dress before the rabbit (cart before the horse) thing.  It has some mindless knitting that will allow some reading and page turning.  

 

 

 

Like jam making....I can crush, stir, read, and turn pages.....couldn't get that French tarragon planted, though!

 

I can't let go....

 

 

Oh, Sunny (Sunbeam).  (sigh)  A couple times a year I threaten her.  (She's coming up on 42 years old.  She pretty much ignores me now, although last year she threw a beater.  I had it coming.)  For the most part, she behaves beautifully; actually 'beautifully', might be a slight exaggeration, but she gets the job done adequately.  Most of the time.  She really struggled with mixing this bread and got dough all stuck in the beater connections....so I gave her a hand.  It's bread.  My fault.  I should have just kneaded it by hand like bread is intended to be made.

 

I have dreams of owning a fancy Kitchen Aid.  I've even gone (several times) to the store with the specific goal of bringing one home.  Have you ever tried lifting one of those things?  And all the attachments?  And the storage it would need?  Each time, I come home empty handed, pull Sunny off the shelf, give her a good cleaning, and smile.  I really do like her.  

 

She put me in the appliance-thinking mode today as I was q-tipping the gunk out of the gears.  She's not the oldest appliance I own--by far!

 

I'd like you to meet "THE WORLD'S BEST BLENDER" (a title bestowed on him by a friend who has spent years and more $$$$ than anyone should--- trying to find a blender that crushes ice as well as this one.)

 

I fondly remember the day my dad drove me to Sears (I couldn't yet drive---and he was still driving---must have been AT LEAST 1964!!!), handed me the credit card, and said--'Mom wants a blender; pick out a good one! I'll wait in the car.'

 

Still going strong, that blender.  The base is slightly  cracked, the glass pitcher was replaced years ago, but that motor.....still purring, and still making the 'world's best strawberry daiquiries'! 

 

And he is a mere baby compared to ......

 

my mother-in-law's waffle maker.  Don't you love the deco design on the top---and the wooden handles?  This baby is SEASONED!!!  Best waffles ever!

 

#1 Daughter has my mom's waffle maker---which is actually a bit older than this one.  Come to think of it.....my #1 Daughter-in-law has my mom's Sunbeam mixer!!

 

Can we genetically not let go of appliances?  Or do they really not make them like they used to?

 

 

************************

 

The bread that started all this....turned out pretty good!!

 

Herb Sour Cream Bread 

 

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp  each: dried thyme, dried marjoram, dried oregano

2 pkg quick rising dry yeast

1 c sour cream

1/2 c water

6 T butter

2 eggs

 

In a large bowl, combine 3 1/2 c flour and next 6 ingredients (counting the herbs as 3 ingredients).  Heat sour cream, water, and butter until hot.  Stir into dry ingredients.  Add eggs.  (This is where Sunny messed up!)  Mix enough of remaining flour to make a stiff batter.  Cover and let stand 10 minutes.

 

Stir down batter.  Pour (more like spoon in globs) into two greased 1-qt casserole dishes.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Cover and let rise in a warm place 30-40 minutes or until doubled in size.

 

Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes.  Cool on racks.  

Try not to eat it all before it's completely cooled.

 

From:  Today's Herbal Kitchen: how to cook and design with herbs through the seasons.

weekending.....

.

.

.

.

::  rebirth.  renewal.

::  Easter dinner with friends.....family was all afar.

::  a little baking....carrot cake from an old out of print cookbook

::  a peek of spring

         and----

::  meeting Ravelry/Blog friends!!!--in person!  (A Call to Yarns)  

charity weekending....

The crowds were huge for the third (annual) Empty Bowls project, benefiting the Community Kitchen.

.

.

.

How do you choose?

.

This year I went for something with a bit of whimsey.  A little 'art-y'.  A smile...

.

some hearts....

.

and a little happy cuppa!

.

The food was yummy.

.

My bowl didn't stay empty long.  

.

joining amanda at the habit of being for weekending!  Hope your weekend was wonderful!

weekending.....

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I spent the weekend roaming from room to room

:: wondering how I managed to get a whole bookshelf worth of books from the kitchen on to the living room bookshelves (might have had something to do with the pile of purged magazines awaiting the next recycling run)

::  relocating a collection of old wooden apples

:: getting used to the new kitchen color

:: spending time with Fred in our favorite chair (it's a chair and a half---I usually have the 'chair', he has the 'half'; he seems to have managed to hog the whole thing most of the weekend)

:: wondering what went in the empty space on the bathroom wall ????

:: taking an extra peek at the door lintels that are dust-free  (do you have any idea how much dust accumulates in 15 years!!!  Little Miss Susie Homemaker I'm obviously NOT)

:: loving the patched corner of the hallway (yes, that IS a collection of slugs...thank you, Jody!!!)

:: finding a new place for some plants

.

Now that the painting spree is over, it was so worth it.  (One of the great advantages of growing old is the fact that we most likely will never have to do this again!!!)  Every room went back together slightly differently; this 1000+ square foot space looks sort of fresh and new and the spring cleaning (for this decade) is done!

.

There was time left over for the fun stuff...

:: filling the cookie jar (chocolate chip, is there really any other kind?)

:: a little girlfriend time with my best friend (#1 daughter)--and scored an Eileen Fisher skirt (new with tags!) for $15 at the  thrift shop.

:: wrapping birthday presents (#1 son turns 40! next week; I'm not sure how that happened;  his daughter --our first grand--will be 10 just 3 days later.  C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-E good times, come on!!!)

:: 'refrigerator soup' inspired by this recipe from whole foods (only I added a potato and sour cream which probably made this healthy soup not-so-healthy after all, but it sure was tasty!)

:: finished this that had been waiting to be seamed since 1999.

and, of course.......

there was time for knitting!  and even a little...

 unknitting.  

Alga. (may you rest in peace)  Didn't like that stripey thing the yarn did, didn't like the fact that the sleeves were slightly darker than the rest (although it was all the 'same' color), and really wasn't all that thrilled with the final fit-look.  Three strikes---pretty easy to frog it.   

weekending....

.

.

.

Some weekends are good...some are great....and then once in a while along comes one that is just about perfect in every way.

We ventured to Oxford MS this weekend--to Camp Hopewell--for the LWW staff/volunteer retreat and celebration weekend.  About 4 hours in the car---two of which were knitting ones-- and we ended up at Knit1Oxford before even checking in to the camp!  (More about that another day.....but, let me assure you, it was FUN!!!)  PapaGeek is usually chomping at the bit to get to the camp....so this was a surprise---and real treat!!!

The rest of the time, we spent: 

:: catching up with old friends

::  making a few new ones

:: being a part of some strategic planning for the organization

:: celebrating the 'soon-to-be' retirement of the current director and founder of the organization

:: welcoming some of the new leadership

:: eating eating eating

:: enjoying the perfect weather outside during those few little breaks scattered throughout the weekend

As a volunteer.....I was among those served the most amazing dinner of duck stuffed with wild rice, oranged carrots, potatoes Lyonnaise, yummy salad, and a dark chocolate tart with cinnamon ice cream and raspberry sauce (I ALMOST licked my plate, but there were too many people watching)------by the staff.  (PapaGeek was staff....of course, I sat at his table...hee, hee!)

Fancy white linen tablecloths, candles, flowers on the table....

I've never seen such a transformation of a church camp dining hall.  It was lovely.  And so relaxing.  (My usual time at the camp is during training sessions....early starts, late nights, continuously running and putting out the proverbial fires, and  missing at least a few meals along the way.)

and......We  got back home in time for a "trip to Hawaii".....via dinner club.  

I didn't cook one single meal----ALL WEEKEND LONG!!!!

weekending....

Family, friends, food, fun, festivities....what more could a weekend hold?

 

:: sugar cookies...

always look better with sprinkles.

 

:: Community theatre's production of The Christmas Story

:: Dinner club's Christmas gathering

 

:: Dinner with #1Daughter and family....at a local restaurant known for their holiday light display....

 

it rained on our way....it poured while we had dinner.....it stopped while we wandered all through the light display.....and it stormed (complete with thunder and lightning) all the way home; I'd say perfect timing all the way around.  (and the mint sinker pie wasn't too shabby either!)

 

:: a little more elving

 

(cap got delivered to a very very very pregnant lady at church this morning)

:: a little wrapping....

which needs to turn into a lot of wrapping so I can do the laundry...

 

:: and a bit more decking....

 

 

yes, she's knitting.

 

 

joining amanda for weekending

Yarnalong and WIP wednesday.....

My Taproot arrived in the mail yesterday, and I'm saving it.....for what, I don't know.  Maybe that quiet, uninterrupted hour or two when I can just savor all it has to offer.  I took a quick peek.....Carrie Bostick Hoge has another wonderful pattern--a blanket to snuggle up with after the craziness of the holidays.  I might have to make that.    But for now, I'm enjoying the front cover artwork.

.

The other book is a fun little thing I got from the library....a compilation of recipes found between the covers of old books that had made their way to a bookseller's used book store.  Michael Popek says right out....he's a bookseller, not a cook.  But over the years, he's recovered over 500 handwritten recipes that had been stuck in the over 70,000+ books that have passed through his shop.  This book has a photocopy of the original handwritten recipe, a printed version of the recipe and shows the book in which the recipe was found.  I had to chuckle over one recipe for  sour milk biscuits that called for 2 cups  G. M. flour (which he 'translates' as some kind of graham flour.....C'mon, Michael----I'm sure that's Gold Medal !!!!)   He authors two blogs:  handwritten recipes and Forgotten bookmarks.

.

I'm working on the second sock of this pair  (I'm filling PapaGeek's Christmas stocking with handknit socks this year).  I'm usually not a big fan of Red Heart anything, but this sock yarn with aloe is actually very nice....70% superwash wool, 30% nylon.  I've made some other socks from it and they wear like steel, but are really nice and soft.  The first pair I made took more than a skein per sock....so, this time, I just bought three skeins......

.

I had this much left after sock #1.  Figures.

weekending....

::  Lots of bulky knitting...

 

I'm not sure exactly why this was in the stash (of course, I know why---did you see the price on that??!) because I pretty much hate knitting on needles larger than a size US 4 or with yarn heavier than dk.  But there it was (actually 2 skeins!!  I must have had something in mind for it at purchase time other than grabbing a great deal), and it was perfect for these.  

I found myself with no competition for the television this weekend....and there was a Castle marathon going on---and before I knew it...

two pairs!  I guess that bulky yarn has something going for it after all.  A sweater out of bulky---and I look like the Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters; but fingerless mitts in bulky work for anyone, and I got the two pairs from the one skein (with almost nothing left over).  Stash busting--holiday gifts--hours of Castle....that was so much fun, I went out and BOUGHT another skein of chunky, and made

.

.

the Hampstead wreath while listening to the latest Stephanie Plum, Notorious Nineteen.  It is exactly like all the other Stephanie Plum books (and I've read/listened to them all)--totally mindless, nothing whatsoever to redeem it stylistically, but I could wander around the house and let it keep running and not really miss more than a couple cars or vans getting blown up--and by the end of it, I had a wreath--and the stash had less in it than when the weekend began.

:: Lots of cookie making.

*Bourbon balls (a bit potent....little people were banned from tasting)

*cut out sugar cookies  (Darth Vadar with sprinkles all over his face?!)

*spritz cookies we couldn't get through the cookie press (I dumped my old press last year for a new and improved electric press---but we must have needed new batteries---and it was Black Friday---and we weren't going to ANY store THAT day for batteries) so we turned them into thumbprint cookies

*my mom's chocolate drop cookies.  

(First time ever.....more sprinkles ended up on the COOKIES than on the floor.  Major success.  Note the concentration on those faces....I obviously wasn't concentrating at all.)

.

  They don't look the least bit like Christmas cookies, but we only make them at the holidays because they are so good we always eat waaaaaay too many and who needs all those calories?  Special treat.  Once a year.  (Well, we usually end up making three or four batches of them during the holidays, but we count that as ONE.)

.

CHOCOLATE  DROP COOKIES

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup cocoa

2 cups flour

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup butter

1 tsp soda dissolved in 4-5 tbls hot water

Drop by the teaspoon and roll in granulated sugar.  Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.  The cookies should be puffy.

.

YES.  They are that good.

weekending....

.

.

.

.

.

.

::It was a rather ADD weekend.....maybe brought on a bit by the fact that I started it off with filling the cookie jar, and then proceeded to eat half a batch of cookies.  (that is only a slight exaggeration, although if you count all the cookie dough I also ate....maybe not)  I couldn't even decide which lens to put on my camera.....long? short? macro? 35 prime?  on-off-on-off-on-off all weekend.....

 

::I thought this was very very cute, but you can see, I got one little stocking knit (from Little Cotton Rabbits) and couldn't face knitting 22 more (I found another bitty stocking I knit at another time when I thought this was a project I wanted to do.....maybe sometime mid-century I might actually have this advent calendar project done.)

::I was talking to a friend who asked about a simple fair isle pattern.  Bitty sock was easy, but sort of fiddly on dps; the perfect quick fair isle knit (and a great holiday gift) is the snowflake headband---I hadn't even thought about that pattern in eons; think I'll cast on for one, too... I was sure I had some angora some place--the angora makes the snowflake really stand out!! but after tearing the stash apart and making a huge mess, I sort of remembered using it in something baby-ish a while back.....bummer. Alpaca works well, too, and; two partial skeins later--gone from the stash!  That was a win-win. Well, that was fun.  I almost didn't seam it up the back because I was totall out of the headband mood by then.  But I did.  (I felt rather grownup--showing such will power.)

::Dolly's nightie just needed some velcro closing.  She was so happy to finally have it done, I think she wiggled a bit and blurred the photo shot.

::We moved up our doggie walks to noon and Freddy was pleased (although he is certainly a creature of habit and still runs to the front door as soon as the last dinner dishes get put in the dishwasher---in spite of the fact that it's pitch black outside by then--one of those 'hope springs eternal' things).

::I love the past-peak colors of autumn the best (photo taken from the car window--I was multitasking)....especially when the low afternoon light turns the browns and reds to gemlike hues.  I couldn't resist stitching this little piece I found here.  (the 20 ct R & R Reproduction fabric was easy to see....stitched with #400 DMC)  I have no idea what it will turn in to.  Any suggestions?

 

::We rounded out the rest of the weekend with a basketball game, a quick run through some shops to see what we missed last weekend when they all had their open houses, a fund-raiser wreath auction/dinner (I got outbid on the two I liked),  AND..........

dinner out with friends and---- 007!!!!