Diana Sullivan from Austin, Texas is a fabulous knitting machine tutorial maker. I have learned so much from her. Last year or the year before she published a Handknit Round Dishcloth pattern book. There are eleven different cloths. Yesterday I knit one and today I knit another one.
Here is one of them:
Last week as we were driving along I-95 we stopped at BUC-EE’S in both directions. Tuesday morning we noticed there were many people there. It is a crazy store that has EVERYTHING you could want if you want pre-packaged hot foods and all kinds of souvenirs. We stopped just long enough for the facilities and to pick up a soda (Dear One) and a box of graham crackers for both of us.
On Saturday afternoon two days after Thanksgiving there were many multiples of more people there. At the burrito display there were people 6 or 8 deep ordering fresh burritos. For us, we just pulled two burritos off the rack of burritos which had just been made. When we managed finally to squeeze our way through the crowd and to the checkout, we took our burritos to the car and both had a few bites then we got in line to get out of the parking lot and back on 95 South.
Well!! That was quite an experience. It took us more than thirty minutes to get out of that traffic. Such a surprise. The burritos were really delicious BUT at least one person in the car did not think they were worth the hassle. And I did not even manage to get through the chaos to get to the facilities. So we stopped at a rest area a few miles down the road.
What has your experience been at the Beaver’s big store?
When we were driving north we saw some of the cotton harvest in the field.
Of all the pies that were taken to the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point today, this was the prettiest:
We do not have pets in our home anymore. Except, of course, for the knitted and stuffed rabbit with a red jacket.
Just not right away. Still more projects in the queue.
Thrift store shopping can be very enjoyable. And productive.
This basket is my most recent buy. I love it! It has so many uses.
It was two days until our vacation when I decided I wanted to work on making a pair of slippers big enough so they would fit my feet. I had knit them two years ago when I realized that cement slab foundations were very cold in the winter, BUT the second slipper was too short for my foot. Something else must have taken priority but now was the time to do a re-make.
The pattern is in Knit One Knit All by Elizabeth Zimmermann. These are all in garter stitch and so easy. They are made so you can make a double or even triple sole to make them extra warm and snuggly though I only knit the one sole. Well, a brand new sole so it is the third sole I have knit. After finishing the first slipper’s new sole, I decided to re-do the second one as well.
It has been a wonderful week here at the ocean. It has been mostly restful and so great to spend many days with my sister and her husband.
Today was our last full day where I snapped this photo:
This photo touches my heart! For a few reasons, not the least of which is that he is wearing a shirt he chose when he went to a thrift store with my sister and me, an activity always in the plans when we get together!
Last week I cast on for Mama Christa's Shell, partially because I need some sort of warmish topper to wear in the temple, and partially because Iroc Knits is having a Knit A Long. With prizes! I thought it would be win win, even though one is not sure of winning a prize.
So, the Shell is supposed to be knitted in two pieces, flat, then sewn together at the side seams. I do not do a good job with sewing seams so I thought I would avoid the whole thing by knitting in the round. I had heard Cori of Iroc Knits say she was knitting the shell in the round so I sent her a little email. She very kindly responded and even told me how to do the knitting in the round. I started immediately.
Today I spent nearly all day knitting and made great progress: at least I was well into the second row pattern repeat, when I decided to measure to check if the size was going to be right. As I was straightening the knitting out to check I found a terrible problem: the stitches were twisted! Even though I was absolutely careful to not have that first round twisted. Well, clue one, I was not careful enough!!! Rats, rats, rats!!!
So I tore it out, or frogged it as some knitters say. And started over.
Since I could not stand it, I bit the bullet, worked through the discomfort, and cast on again, this time two flat pieces which are almost impossible to twist the stitches. There are seven pattern repeats horizontally and we are supposed to knit 21 row pattern repeats but I think I will not be knitting that many repeats. Once I get up a few repeats I will measure and see how far I want to go. I will have 1000 yards of yarn on Saturday. I am hoping this will not be yarn chicken but...having had the twisting problem, I would not be surprised. Oh well.
Next week there may be more news, but the knitting for today is done. Probably will just spend the time watching knitting podcasts. Or maybe a Family History Library tutorial...
Last week a notification popped up on my phone with the title: When Is The Best Time To Exercise For Weight Loss. I wanted to watch this Dr Michael Greger Nutrition Facts. org podcast but did not have the time until this morning. It gave some really interesting facts.
What I got out of the message was: for weight loss it is best to (using walking as the exercise) walk before eating breakfast, especially if you walk for about 60 minutes. If not before breakfast then after fasting at least six hours and then walking before eating.
If you are diabetic, it is better to walk AFTER eating, for 10 minutes or more. We actually did this when I was at Parkview Hospital's Lifestyle Improvement Program years ago. It worked then. I don't know why I stopped.
This seems so do-able and makes me want to get my act together and actually do it again. (I just read the scripture that says "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." James 1:22. This scripture might have application here!)
How I love the beauties of this world! Yesterday we saw some very lovely flowers when we went to the consignment boutique.
These pink flowers are so sweet.
These light purple flowers are also gorgeous. I don't know what either of these flowers is named.
On our mission we had the fun of learning to play Qwirkle for the first time with another Senior Missionary Couple. We really enjoyed those evenings playing with the J's.
Tonight we played Qwirkle with my sister and her husband while here at the beach on our vacation. So fun.
This is a game that is perfect for everyone from 3 year olds to those approaching later years. Very enjoyable. Especially when we can hear the ocean outside our window...
Yesterday I had the privilege of making a long-ish drive through several counties. One of the things I saw gave me joy: fields of cotton plants ready to be harvested. Many fields had already been harvested.
This fluff in the field always catches my attention. I just love to see these cotton bolls ready to harvest. In fact, I would love to harvest some myself then turn them into cotton yarn. So far I have not found a cotton grower to speak with to get permission to harvest a few plants. I am not so silly as to think that I would be a great spinner-of-cotton-yarn. After all, I am not a great spinner of wool yarn which is purported to be much easier than spinning cotton.
In the meantime, I love this photo!
We have been here four years. In that time we have had an umbrella on the deck so we could enjoy the outside but not have the sun beating down on us. We are on our THIRD umbrella since they go to heck pretty readily. This last once broke just as I realized our money tree plant could afford to be staked. (I bit the bullet and tried pruning leaves and tying up up the stems so it might grow straight up. We shall see...)
Well, perhaps two months ago I tried to break off the "stakes" from this defunct umbrella. I was only able to break off one of them. I used pliers but found that my hands were just not strong enough anymore to do a job like that. This was very deflating to me.
Today I was out on the deck and decided to give another look at that umbrella. (Yes, it was still there cluttering up the deck to Dear One's disgust...) I moved the umbrella fabric out of the way and discovered I could unscrew the finial on top of the umbrella. With that off I could easily remove the fabric. Score!!! So great!! I set that aside. There is lots of fabric so I think I will use it to line some little bags I am thinking of making. I will let you know!
The next thing I noticed was that there were lots of screws holding the thing together. I brought the metal piece inside the house, got out our trusty orange screwdriver that has four different heads on it and started unscrewing the various screws. Pretty soon things started falling apart!! So great.
Here are the stakes installed, but only partially shored up. I will not tell you what I am using for soft stretchy connectors from the tree to the stakes. You would be shocked. But the one that is already there works ever so well and does not damage the stems!
So as far as I am concerned, that is a day's work satisfyingly complete. Of course, I was exhausted and wanted to take a nap BUT I was up for a dentist appointment and had only a few minutes before I had to leave.
This just goes to show that sometimes a little brain work is more successful than brawn work. You can do it, too!
Here is another recipe from YouTube. I did not really trust it but I had ingredients I wanted to use up so I gave it a try.
This recipe is called Two Ingredient English Muffins. I spoke with our daughter about it and she said it sounded like biscuits to her. It did to me, too, but still, I had ingredients to use so I tried them.
In the recipe the lady uses:
We did not any Greek yogurt (earlier in the week I had put a container of furry stuff in the bin...) but we DID have an abundance of homemade milk kefir that I was needing to use up. The lady also used cornmeal on her counter but I did not.
What I did was sift 2 cups self-rising store brand flour into a big glass bowl. I added the kefir that I had in a pint jar which, when I measured it, was just over 1 cup. Score! So I mixed with a sturdy wooden spoon until the dough came together.
It seems to me that I let it sit covered for a few minutes. (I had stayed home from church due to a VERY unpleasant intestinal problem and though it was only yesterday, I have forgotten that "waiting" point. I don't think it can hurt.)
After flouring the counter well, I poured the dough out and gave it a few turns of kneading then divided into six pieces. Each piece was rolled into a ball in my hands then patted flat to about 1/2 inch thick circles.
The cast iron skillet was ready to cook the muffins. Well, actually it was MORE than ready! I had washed the pan before starting the dough then put it on the stove to dry out over medium heat. You will notice that the YouTube lady said to put the muffins into a pan that was on the very lowest heat. I turned the burner down to that BUT as you can see from the picture, it was a mite too hot!
When I was making these muffins, I did not go back and check the directions. I thought I remembered that she put some oil in the frying pan, so I did that. After putting all six muffins in the pan--it is a 12-inch Lodge cast iron skillet-I put the cover on and set the timer for 20 minutes. I feel sure she said to cook for 20 minutes ON EACH SIDE. After about ten minutes I checked. Yikes! They were really cooking so I checked to be sure the heat was on the lowest setting and let them cook a little more.
About two minutes later I decided I needed to flip them so I did. Three of them were pretty chocolate-y, so to speak. I let them cook, covered until 20 minutes was up. They were nice and puffy and looked like English muffins so I pulled them off the heat and out of the pan to cool. I took the most-burned-looking one, split it in half, buttered it, put on some Smuckers Natural Triple Berry Jam (this is good stuff with NO high fructose corn syrup. Yes, I buy into the idea that high fructose corn syrup is the devil and do my best to avoid it...), and ate it. It did NOT taste burned. It really did remind me strongly of English muffins.
Dear One had no trouble scarfing down three of them! That did make me happy. Of course, it was his first food after fasting twenty-four hours...so almost anything would taste pretty good.
The next day I split the last two and "toasted" them in the air fryer. They were still pretty good, more English muffin-y than biscuit, but heading in that direction. I will certainly make them again when the kefir gets ahead of us. (You can only drink so much kefir smoothie stuff. At least, there is a limit to what I can drink. Dear One might be a different matter. If I make it for him, he is all in. At least for a while.)
Another thing I really like to do with my hands is to make cards and envelopes. Last year I decided I wanted to make a birthday card and pretty envelope for each of our sisters in the church. It is now November and I have accomplished that goal. Having said that, I just made the last 40-plus cool envelopes.
It has been such a joy to knit these potpourri bags. Improving upon someone else's idea is really enjoyable. I saw the Pressed Flowers Shawl by Amy Christoffers and purchased the pattern. I had just become interested in mosaic knitting and wanted to give it a try. I have not yet knitted the shawl but I have been playing with the flowers and making a bag of my own design. I am almost ready to "publish" the pattern to anyone who would like it. Most of the issues have been solved.
Here are two of a recent iteration of the bags without their drawstrings.
