Munchie Monday: Instant Pot Cold Start Yogurt!

Many months ago I was making soy milk yogurt in the Instant Pot.  I did not like it, even though it worked very well.  This time I used dairy milk.  It was really so good!

To make Instant Pot Cold-Start Yogurt

Ultra-Filtered Whole Milk
Plain Greek Yogurt
Clean pint canning jars with lids
Instant Pot (I used an 8-quart Instant Pot but a 6-quart Instant Pot would likely work)

What I did:

In a large scrupulously clean glass bowl pour one bottle (just under 2-quart size) Fairlife milk.  Add 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt and whisk until completely dissolved in the milk.

Pour the mixed milk and yogurt into the pint jars and put on the covers but don't tighten. After spilling a lot into the first jar I moved the jars to the sink and cleaned up the counter and floor.  For some reason, maybe since I was pouring from a height, there was no more spilling.

Place the filledand covered  jars in the inner stainless steel liner of the Instant Pot.

Set the Yogurt button to Medium temperature and the timer to 8 hours.  Put on the lid.

Now just  go about your other business and wait for 8 hours.  It was closer to 9 hours before I got back to the Instant Pot and removed the jars to chill in the refrigerator overnight.

That is it.  Now it is ready to use.

This yogurt came out perfectly and so beautifully thick.

This morning we sliced up some cleaned fresh strawberries, poured on some sugar (TOO MUCH as it turned out...as the strawberry yogurt was so very sweet I could barely eat it.  Dear One loved it!) and sprinkled in a lot of cinnamon and stirred well.

This does not really look that yummy but Dear One was so pleased with it.  The texture really was lovely, just too sweet.  We used one pint of yogurt, two cups sliced strawberries and 1/3 cup sugar...just to let you know how much sugar is way too much.

Sunflower Crochet!

 Well, crochet has called my name. Here is a small naked sunflower. Hopefully I will get one or more leaves and a stem made soon.  It is really necessary to take things slow or the old hands really scream.

This really does make me smile. I would like to make a big bouquet of them. Maybe someday.

New Spinning Toy

 Many years ago my dear friend Elsie gave me an Ashford Traveller spinning wheel. I began spinning, not well, but spinning. I was given a number of raw fleeces which I learned how to process/skirt/scour and then sent them to a small mill at an alpaca farm in New Hampshire where the owner turned these fleeces into wonderful roving to spin. I still have much of that roving.

The last few Halloweens I have used that spinning wheel on our front porch in a witch hat spinning up yarn singles.  The very last Halloween I attempted Navajo plying on that  Ashford wheel and was unsuccessful. I really wanted that three-ply yarn but put away the wheel while watching more videos on how to Navajo ply.

Over the winter I saw lots of videos on plying on an Ashford E-Spinner 3 as well as on an Electric Eel Spinner. The electric Eel was not in stock and was not going to be available until May but I had every intention of getting one. I started putting half of my retirement income  in my savings account and knew I would have enough money for the EE6. 

Well, after watching lots of Ashford videos I decided not to go with the plastic 3-D printed EE6, especially since the real wheel was Ashford and the two rigid heddle looms were Ashford and I loved their quality…so I decided to go with the much more expensive Ashford E-Spinner 3. 

When I learned that Andrea Mowry was hosting a 100 days of long-draw spinning starting April first I decided to jump on it. I did have the savings but it would totally wipe that money out so I used our credit card with intention to pay the money into our family account over the next few months. 

May I say that I have the most generous kind husband!  When the e-spinner arrive, he said to me, “Happy Birthday.”  Is that the best, or what?!!

Here is a rather poor photo but this is the Ashford E-Spinner 3 with my first long draw day’s work.

This is my first plied yarn on the Ashford. I used the singles I had spun last fall and which I was not successful plying at that time. It is ghastly yarn but I am totally thrilled with it.  I expect to continue to make yarn every day.

Another Cardinal Sighting

 One of my favorite birds-especially after hearing that they bring good luck.

Looking out the dining room window-the only window on the front of the house facing the street on the downstairs level.

In this case, the ground-feeding cardinal is perched on the bird feeder. So nice. When we are eating supper between four and five the sun makes this bird gloriously shiny and red.

Productive Day!

 Today I finally had an outside productive day. This makes me so happy. The front of the house has a lot of shrubs that were planted before we arrived at this house. The HOA has rules about plant care. I have been shirking. Friends have come over and helped both last fall and this spring. This made me happy but I did rather feel like a slug since it was work I should have done myself. Dear One mows the lawn even when his back is killing him and it is 90 degrees out. Not me. I hibernate in the air-conditioning and knit or do genealogy or read. Or once in a while, make a meal.

Today I planned to go out first thing to pull some more pricker vines then mulch that front bed. Did not happen then, however directly following breakfast, which was actually brunch, I did go out and yanked up some pricker vines and a few other weeds (not many, lest you think I am a hero) then laid down four bags of black pine chip mulch. The boy at the hardware store who loaded ten bags of mulch told me this would be great because it would heat up the ground and kill the weeds underneath.  I hope that is true. It was 88 degrees yesterday and 87 degrees today. More heat is coming…

Dragging the bags to the location, yanking open the bags, hefting them up and flipping them around so the opening was facing downwards, dumping the mulch, then kicking it around a little bit certainly heated ME up! I was ready for a nap.  

This is not a very exciting photograph, except to me because it is evidence that I actually accomplished something productive today!

Nap report: I happened to note a text which had some absolutely darling crocheted flowers in plant pots there in my inbox. I just had to go look at them on YouTube.  There went the nap…!  Man, are they cute! I have every intention of making at least one. Just not today. Or even tomorrow. That shawl keeps calling my name. Must knit at least one hour every day to get it done by the deadline sometime in May.  The good news there is that I have started the second (of 3) batches of yarn.  I probably will not finish it the way the designer calls for as it is becoming rather tedious.  Look it up in Ravelry.com :Pressed Flowers Shawl by Amy Christoffers. Nice shawl. Great for process knitters but becomes a bit much for project knitters-the ones who just want the results…which would be me.

Knitting Today: Rose

 Actually this is crocheted but many people see me knitting and ask me if I like to crochet. Sure. Yes. I do like to crochet BUT I cannot do as much crocheting in one sitting as I can knitting. It does in my wrist. 

Very nifty thing I just discovered: you can remove the cluttered background with the tap of a button! Nice.  I don’t know how it will look published though. Hoping for the best. (Ps: it did not work. Back to the full photo.)

As it happens I was taking a break from the shawl knitting and found quite a few crocheted flowers. You might see more…

Some Days You Just Feel Smarter…

 Yesterday I had to go out for a bit. After backing out of the garage I pressed the garage door opener on the visor. Nothing happened. Huh! What is that about…? So I got out of the car(leaving the car running and the door open…), went into the house through the garage shutting the garage door as I went by the switch, then out the front door locking it behind me then off on the junket which took a few hours.  When I got home I pressed the door opener again. Huh! It did not open the door. I had forgotten it did not work anymore.

For some crazy reason the door not opening again made me move into analytic mode.  If you know me well, you know that analytic is NOT my middle name.  So out of the blue it came to me that perhaps the battery was dead in the opener. That was good news. Dear One has a supply of various batteries. I thought for sure he would have the right one for the job.

Here is that nifty little door helper on the visor. 

After looking at it I knew I needed professional help and did not want to ask  Dear One who happens to be going through a spell of thinking I am pretty smart. Did not want to disillusion him…so I went to my other favorite helper: YouTube. I typed in “garage door opener” and the first video that came up had a picture of our opener!  The very first thing the helpful guy said was to take off the metal visor clip and pry open the case. I stopped listening, tried it;  it worked so THEN I asked Dear One for a battery.  In about a minute he placed the battery in my hand. I removed the dead one, putting that bad guy into my pocket for disposal, snapped the case back on then tried the opener from my blue platform rocker inside the house. 

It worked!  So you see why I said sometime I feel smarter than other times….

Time Flies!

 It has been almost two weeks since I wrote. All is well. At least, mostly well. Much of my time has been focused on a knitting KAL I am doing-mostly because I want the item we are knitting: a shawl. This is The Woolley Thistle Shawl KAL. I will talk about it soon, but not today.

Today is plants, specifically the azalea a kind friend gave us three years ago and which, very shortly after we put  it in the ground, the lawnmower man ran over it, not recognizing it as a precious new plant.

Here is that now happy azalea! Amazing since it was only a short little bunch of sticks after the mowing episode!

Munchie Monday: Strawberry Lasagna

There is wonderful fresh produce near us at the Dorr Farms.  I like to go over there every week or two to find what they have available.  Right now they have broccoli (BEAUTIFUL LUSCIOUS BROCCOLI!!), kale, other greens, sweet potatoes, onions, honey, etc.  Their biggest seller is the strawberries!  Yes, strawberries.  For a Vermonter it is hard to believe that we could get strawberries out of the garden in March.

The Dorr Farms also has a Facebook page. I love to go there.  About a month ago they had a recipe for No-Bake Strawberry Lasagna on that page.  You can bet that I immediately downloaded the recipe and waited the two weeks until strawberries were ripe.  Yesterday we had Strawberry Lasagna for lunch.

 Here is the recipe.  I do not know where it originated but I found it on Dorr Farms Facebook page.  I will note below my changes.

No Bake Strawberry Lasagna

2 cups strawberries, sliced

2 cups heavy cream

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons milk

1 package graham crackers, mashed into crumbs

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

In mixing bowl, beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks form then set aside.

In another bowl, mix the cream cheese and sugar, vanilla extract, and milk until smooth.

Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture gently.

Mix the melted butter into the graham cracker crumbs.

Spread half of the buttered cracker crumbs into the bottom of a serving dish to form the first layer.

Spread half of the cream cheese whipped cream mixture over the top.  

Add a sprinkle of white chocolate chips then a layer of sliced strawberries.

Put the remaining graham cracker crumbs over the top then the remaining creamy mixture, white chocolate chips, and finally another layer of sliced strawberies.

Refrigerate for at least one hour, or until set.

THINGS I DID DIFFERENTLY

The first thing was that I forgot the vanilla and milk to mix into the cream cheese and sugar mixture.  It worked just fine.  I was using the KitchenAid mixer and the whisk attachment which worked extremely well.

I forgot also the chocolate chips on the first creamy layer. Oh well.  I did remember them for the top.  It was enough.  I did not use them all.

The requirement of "1 package graham crackers" was a bit confusing until I realized they meant one plastic-wrapped package of three in the box of graham crackers.

Also, I did not know what size pan to use so...I used the smaller pan.

Before placing in the refrigerator I covered with plastic wrap since the dish was going to be there overnight.  Cream picks up any erroneous flavors you might have around.  Since I had hoed out the refrigerator very recently I was not really concerned about that but thought: why not just do it?  We have the plastic wrap.  Probably enough to last until the end of the decade...since I talked Dear One into buying a Food Service box a couple of years ago!

The report on this Strawberry Lasagna:  it was very very good!  I used an 8 by 8 or maybe it is 9 by 9 pan.  It might have been smarter to use a slightly larger serving dish but the people who ate it all thought it was just fine. It was very thick, as you can see from the picture.  I myself did not eat a large serving and was completely satisfied.  After our guest and Dear One helped themselves, and Dear One finished his self-served bowl, he started forking out more from the pan. I thought that was pretty funny!  Our guest definitely felt part of the family with that kind of a performance!

Knitting Today: Kate Atherley Custom Socks

 Last week in our Handwork/Knitting Chat group two of us started knitting socks using Kate Atherley's book Custom Socks.  We both are using worsted weight yarn to make nice thick easy to pull on, and even to use as bed socks.  Some of us have cold feet at night which interrupts sleep!

The book is a good book, I would say, but you have to have your wits about you while you are planning your socks!  It would be so easy just to knit someone else's pattern but you cannot count on the socks fitting in any way...thus the Custom Socks book.

This is the beginning of my first sock.  It is knit with Briggs and Little Tuffy sock yarn, a sock yarn I just found out about.  It is a number 4 yarn which I am knitting on US#4 needles to make it nice and firm.  We shall see how they turn out!

Knitting Today: Swiss Darning or is it Duplicate Stitch?

 Recently I knitted a hat for a grandson.  I knitted in his initials in a circle all around the hat.  I knit a hat for his brother but thought I would try Swiss darning.  I had heard it was easy.  Well, I have found out that the answer to that is--yes and no!

 

Here is the hat in a box ready to send.  (Under that hat is a pile of potpourri bags with one Cadbury egg in each bag.,,a last minute idea since I had the bags handy.)

You can see that the Swiss darning is not stellar...but I bet our grandson will be able to distinguish this had from his brother's hat!

Spring Florals in Full Swing

 Last week I went to the temple two days in a row.  It was spring, also!  On the second day all of a sudden there was wisteria everywhere!  In the temple parking lot, on the drive home, even near our neighborhood.  I love the look of it.  Come to find out, I really do like purple. And lavender. And mauve.  And probably more!

This is not a fabulous picture but I was worn to a frazzle and too much of a slug to get out of the car and go right up to the branch for a better picture.  Not that being a slug is a bad thing, just not always useful in accomplishing some activities.

Knitting Today: Blue Bird of Happiness

 Last week our Book Group discussed Indigo Girl about a girl in South Carolina in the 1700's and the beginnings of the culture of indigo here.  It was suggested that the treats be blue.  I wanted to have a few blue decorations also, but had absolutely none.  

While browsing through Ravelry.com I saw a Blue Bird of Happiness pattern!  It was so easy to knit.  I did only knit one at the time but planned to make more.  No time. And now have moved on to other things.

This is hard to see here, but for a variety of reasons, I am not putting in a better one.  You will probably note that, as usual, I did not make a face/eyes on this guy.  I thought I might use some light blue yarn for eyes but did not get to it before Book Group.

Indigo Girl is a worthwhile book to read.  At least all of us at Book Group who read it did really like it.

Munchie Monday: Soft Cut Out Sugar Cookies!

 In our house the preferred cookies are soft cookies. At least that is preferred by one of us.  The other of us doesn't care...almost any cookie is a good cookie.  Or it was until health issues made them verboten.

We had a Church Easter activity to which I was invited to bring a dozen sugar cookies that would be decorated by attendees at the activity.  Dear One is not a fan of sugar cookies, so in some sense it did not matter what recipe I made since I did not expect him to eat any.

For some reason I seem to not have the source of this recipe. It was online and when I just searched, I did not find it.  I will share what I did.

Soft Cut Out Sugar Cookies

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup soft butter
3/4 granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (both my sister and a dear friend made vanilla last year and each gifted me with some.  I used 5 caps full of vanilla!  Not sure how much it was but the dough smelled delicious.)

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together.  In an electric mixer bowl add the butter and sugar and beat until nice and fluffy, or rather,  smooth and creamy.  Add the egg and vanilla and combine on high speed until fluffy.  Stop after about a minute and scrape down sides of bowl then mix again until fluffy.  Stir in the flour mixture and beat briefly, until dry ingredients disappear.

Divide batter in two parts.  Place each part on a lightly floured parchment paper then, with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out each section to about 1/4 inch thick.  Put one piece of parchment paper on a small sheet pan then place the second sheet of rolled-out dough on top and place in refrigerator for at least one hour.  Don't skip this step.

Remove dough from refrigerator and cut out to your heart's delight.  I used a smallish bunny cookie cutter and was able to cut out 17.  The last three were the dough scraps from the cut-outs melded together by hand and then re-rolled. I got two more bunnies and one round cookie with the final bit of dough.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 11 or so minutes until the cookies are slightly brown at the edges.  SLIGHTLY brown.  Ours were thick enough that they took 14 minutes.  

Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes then remove to a rack to cool completely before frosting and decorating.  Fortunately for me, that step was out of my hands!  I say fortunately because I often have too much icing then stick my fingers in and lick them.  Not such a great idea.  Unless you are checking to see if the icing is good enough for the project...!

It is a good idea to turn the cookie sheet around in the oven about halfway through, especially if you suspect your oven of have uneven baking spots.  I don't suspect it but turned the pan anyway.  Sadly, I put my oven-mitt-covered thumb into one of the cookies which marred its ears badly so that one had to stay home.  It did not last long here.

We took 14 cookies over to the church.  When they were hot out of the oven, after cooling the five minutes, I took the round one to Dear One who had NO TROUBLE AT ALL scarfing it down.  Even though he "hates" sugar cookies.  I asked him about it and he said it was "pretty good."  I then had no qualms about taking them to the Church for the activity.

A Good Morning's Work!

 This morning I woke up pretty early.  This was a surprise since I originally awoke at 11:30 last night and was awake until 2:30 AM.  I did accomplish a lot while up those three hours but still, no sleep.

So there is supposed to be a substantial amount of rain over the next few days, starting today.  Those pricker vines in front of the house have been staring me down for a long time...since last fall.  Now they all have blossoms, which makes them kind of pretty BUT makes me worry that they are hoping to continue propagating like crazy.  Last night while awake I was thinking about what to do this morning and decided I really HAD to get out there and pull up those miserable little guys before the rain.  Of course, after the rain it might be pretty easy to pull them as well.

Shortly after seven I went outside with headphones and iphone and a book in the Michael Vey series to keep me working.  I don't know about you but when I have a job to do that is not my favorite or for which I need a little encouragement, I put on the current audio book, or sometimes sessions of General Conference, and listen away as my hands are working. (And speaking of hands: the only reason I am really out working this job is that we acquired some fabulous heavy thick leather gloves that protect our hands from the prickers.)

These gloves make all the difference between working and not working!

A few times over the next hour-plus ( and that is NOT normal for me...I usually can only keep up the good work for fifteen or twenty minutes.  Sad, but true.) I dealt with dizziness and almost pitched headfirst into those miserable prickers, but did just manage to avoid that fate.  In the end I had stuffed many many vines into the black trash barrel we use for plant refuse.  Surprisingly, the city plant-picker-upper truck came by while I was out there.  If you don't have yard waste out the night before pick up day, you will be too late!  This batch of plants will wait until next week.

Here is some of the results of my labors this morning...

One other result of the job was this wound...fairly deep but I am sure it will heal up just fine. Pretty sure...

That is all the report for today.  I feel pretty good about that project...and even though there is more to do there by the holly tree, a large part of weeding in front of the house is done.  For now!  I am not so silly as to think those guys are gone forever though that would be ever so nice.

The side of the house has a huge infestation.  Perhaps later on today, if it is not raining too much, or tomorrow afternoon, I can get to those guys.  Once our very kind neighbor said she wanted her yard men to help us along that side of the house.  Yikes!  We did not realize how bad it looked.  Or how generous she truly is.

Now on to the next, which today is the wonderful "Handwork Chat Group" we have here at the house every Friday morning.  It is so wonderful to meet with others who like to keep their hands busy while chatting up a storm!  Recently we have had some new young knitters join us.  They are knitting their first hats. I think today they are ready for decreasing the crowns and finishing off.  They have been doing such good work and have bought into the idea that if they don't like it, they rip out their work and start again.  It is better the second, or third, time!

Fun Stuff: Jewelry Making

 Years ago our daughter made me some French ear wires to use for making earrings.  I made a pair that I really loved.  About three weeks ago one of those earrings was lost.  I thought it happened when I took a nap with my earrings on.  Nope.  Could not find that lost treasure anywhere in the bedroom, bathroom, workroom, no place at home.

Fast forward to today.  We are having Book Group at our house.  We read Indigo Girl.  It was suggested that if we had a favorite blue treat, that would be the thing to bring to share.  I had decided to make blue punch: Gallon Blue Hawaiian Punch, 2 liters 7-Up, 12-ounce can frozen lemonade made up.

AND I thought I should make some blue earrings!  I did not have any blue beads. I also did not have a crimper tool that I needed to use to make stitch markers...so off to Michaels I went.

This is what I made:

You will notice that I used split rings instead of jump rings to put things together.  It works but is not great.

AND THE BEST NEWS:  when I was putting the packages in the car after shopping the sun was shining brightly into the car and there on the floor hooked to the foot mat in the back seat was the red earring!  The lost is found!  This makes me so happy.

Immediately upon finding it, I put it in my ear.  (I did not have earrings in even though some people I know and love dearly have told me I should not leave my room in the morning without being duded up...I am not at all high maintenance even though some people suggest that it would be a good thing.  Maybe some day.  Well, now I have blue earrings...!)

Whoops!

 We have some very nice driveway lights to light our way at night.  When our children came to visit last June to celebrate with us, the boys very kindly moved the lights a foot or more away from the actual driveway.  That was such a good thing.  They did it by purchasing some PVC pipe, cutting into a good length, pounding them into the lawn then setting the light stem into the PVC.  So great!

Sadly, they probably should have been moved further away!

Backing out of the garage one day last week was rather harrowing for this particular driveway light!  I apologized to the light but there was no response.  This is not the first time this has happened!  May I say also that I am not the only person who has run over one of those lights...!  Even visitors have run over lights.  

What did I do after crashing over the light?  First thing I did was tell Dear One about the incident, which he took rather well, if I do say,  I then drove over to Lowes where I purchased two more.  (I had already crashed another light and had not replaced it...so it was time.). If you look carefully at the photo, you can see the newly broken light.  You also see a round black thing that is actually the top of a priorly smashed light that Dear One has left out with the suncatcher face up so it collects sunlight and electricity so at night time it will give light also even though it is not on a stand.

You might ask why I don't just back straight out of the garage.  Well, I DO back straight out but sometimes I am a bit closer to the right edge of the garage.  That is when the problems happen.  We never had a problem when we just had one vehicle.  Now with a car and a truck the rolling stock has to snuggle up close to each other.  Even that can be a problem.  Sometimes Dear One pulls the car in and slides right out and heads into the house.  On occasion I go out in the morning to hop into the car and head out, or I did when I was making lots of visits which are no longer necessary, and I find that I cannot open the door enough to get into the car.  This is a sad sad thing...just another indication that I really MUST reduce drastically.  Maybe soon.  In those cases I have to call on Dear One for help getting the car out of the garage.  He is always so kind and willing to help.

Going back to the opening sentence...in some ways we don't need these lights since we RARELY go out at night.  We are old. We do not like driving in the dark.  At least, I don't like driving in the dark.

What A Day!!

 Today started moderately early after a not-to-bad night.  First thing both Dear One and I sent text messages to our child who turned 50 YEARS OLD today!  Hard to believe, but true.  I remember that activity very well.  It was a very long day, ten extra people in the delivery room (after all, it was a teaching hospital...) and finally he was born about 9 :00 PM.  Forceps delivery.  Lots of stitches then around 11:30 PM the nurse came in where I was still being stitched up and said, "Your little boy is going to all right, after all."  After all?!!  What the heck?  I had no idea there was anything wrong with him.  As I recall they told me he had a a"retracted rib cage."  I did not know what it was then and I still don't know.  All I know is that "after all" he is just celebrating his fiftieth birthday.  I am very glad for that.  He was a wonderful oldest brother.

After scripture study and a tiny bit of knitting I went downstairs to see what I could do to improve the kitchen.  The last two days were so busy and no dishes got washed plus the bags that came into the house were just where they were dropped since there was nothing cold in them. So, I put on my headphones, started listening to the Saturday Afternoon session of October 2023 General Conference to keep me company while I worked, and set to work.

We have an "instant on" or "on demand" hot water situation in our house but it is on the other side of the garage.  To get hot water in the sink, I put a 2-gallon bucket in the sink so I could collect the water for the plants and turned on the faucet.  The first bucket got emptied into the Greenstalk garden tower on the back deck and I came back for more water since the hot water had not yet turned up.  One more bucket out to the Greenstalk and then the water was hot.

Washing, washing, washing and by the time my legs and back gave out, I had filled the counter with clean dishes.  This was into the fourth General Conference talk...!  I sat down in my very old blue platform rocker that Dear One purchased for me in West Lebanon, New Hampshire in the building that used to house J W Barber's store. I have long since forgotten what JW had in the store, but I do remember the name.

Picking up some knitting I kept listening to the Conference talks and was touched by every one of them.  Elder Ronald Rasband invited more couples to become Senior Missionaries.  His talk was lovely and took me back to our time in the Oregon Portland Mission in 2017-2019.  How we loved that service!

As I sat there knitting, Dear One came downstairs, saw me sitting in my chair, saw the counter full of clean dishes then, without saying a word, he started putting them away.  He next opened the dishwasher and put away all the clean dishes from there...the whole reason I was washing by hand was that the dishwasher was full and I was afraid I would deflect myself from the dirty dishes if I stopped there and put away the dishwasher dishes.  I know.  Dumb thinking, but...

When the dishes were all put away I had recouped a bit of energy and we went outside where we bagged up some brush and I took the small hand saw that Dear One had retrieved for me on Tuesday and I started pruning the live oak tree on the front lawn.  With the branches hanging down low it was hard for the lawnmower man (Dear One!) to mow without getting jabbed by the tree.

This is the tree now with no low-hanging branches.  I am rather pleased with that job.  I wish I had opened the garage door and gotten out my new heavy leather gloves which would have protected my hands somewhat.  Slivers were not fun.

While I was sawing off branches I saw something that gave me great joy:

Last fall I found a package of daffodil bulbs at the dollar store.  After a few weeks I finally put them into the mulch at the base of that live oak tree.  Will you look at this!!!  One of those daffodils survived.  I would love to see the sweet face on this plant sometime.

Later in the day Dear One noticed that it was Pi Day and that Marcos Pizza was having a sale with a medium pizza at $3.14 if you bought a large one.  Dear One is a pizza guy.  You had to order online or with their app.  I had the app but could not order through it.  I kept getting the happy note that my password was wrong.  After about ten tries I went online to order.  Same story. I told Dear One today was not his day for pizza.

He went out to mow some more of the lawn and when he came in the second time he said he would try his phone. (By this I knew that he really did want some pizza even though we had some perfectly good food in the refrigerator...) He was successful in ordering a large pizza and a medium pizza.  Of course,  it was not the Pi Day deal!  So annoying.  But he got his pizza.

Many other things happened on this day but now I am calling it quits and will probably be in bed way before my usual time.

The pitsy thing about the day is that I had put my watch on the charger before starting the dishes so many hours ago and never picked it up again until 5:00.  I did not "get credit" for all that moving I did today...so sad.  I really like those little pats on the head from my watch and the Health app.  Oh well.

Knitting Woes!

 The last few months I have worked on several small knitting projects.  One of the projects is some darling potpourri bags.  In the last two weeks I have now THREE TIMES cut the yarn before finishing the bind off!  I cannot believe it.  These are really not mindless knitting projects but I seem to space out.

You can see where I had to tie on some more yarn to finish the bind off.  This is, of course, the inside of the bag.  When the whole project is done, I will take a picture.  Except for this glitch, I am pretty happy with these little guys.  My first designed knitting pattern.

The way I knit these little bags is to cast on onto one Chiaogoo circular needle then pick up and increase with a second Chiaogoo circular needle.  The bag is then on two needles so I knit down one side of the tube then knit the other side with the second needle.... It is really like knitting socks on two circular needles.

WELL the problem has been that I get to the end of one circular needle and just merrily cut the yarn, pull it tight and get ready to weave in the ends.  Rats!  So very annoyed with myself and today I did it for the third time.  It may be about the end of the little potpourri bag project!

When I am done I will publish the pattern here in case anyone else wants to knit them.  They really are pretty cute.

The Best Banana Muffins

 Today our former Relief Society presidency is meeting to finish up some old business. To sweeten the occasion I promised some muffin tops. When I went to bed last night I thought maybe I would ditch that idea and buy something at the store. Fast forward to 3:30 this morning.

Since I was awake I decided to go ahead, find a recipe, and make the muffins.  I did find a recipe called The Best Banana Muffins and decided to give it a try.

This is how they turned out:

Here they are in a nice glass dish ready to go.  I did use up the batter in a different pan which was not as successful. Rather, getting the muffins OUT of the pan was not as successful. Those taste pretty good even though they are not as pretty as the muffin tops.

The only thing I  did differently than the recipe called for was to shake into the batter some chocolate chips when stirring in the flour. Worked like a charm.

https://sugarspunrun.com/wprm_print/12105

The above URL should take you to the recipe…I am creating this post on my phone and don’t seem able to embed the address…Looking forward to being with my dear sisters again in a few hours. Now back to bed to finish my night of sleep!

Knitting Today: Mitered Square for Blanket

 It has been a very hectic week with many activities and lots of knitting in between. I noticed it has been a week since I posted...  Today's knitting was working on a mitered square to add to the Barbara Walker Learn To Knit Afghan I have been working on for some little time. Of course BW does not have a mitered square as I recall, but I don't like some her squares though they really are great for learning new stitches.  In this case, on this afghan, I am just trying to use up that Hilda Yates yarn on this afghan, There are supposed to be 63 blocks but I am hoping the yarn runs out before then...!

There are many different designers making virtually the same mitered square, just different yarns and either an even number of stitches cast on or an odd number of stitches cast on.  I saw Very Pink Knits had a mitered square with 40 stitches cast on. I liked that but then discovered she had you knit all the squares then sew them together.  NOT a fan of all that sewing together so I continued looking.

Then I found Snufflebean Knits had a Join As You Go mitered square.  Love it!

Cheryl Brunette also has a wonderful mitered square pattern/plan where you can knit small squares like this one and then make larger and larger ones, all sewn together...though I would Join As I Went.

This is where I am so far.  Because of my poor camera skills, the lighter green square looks larger, but it is not.  The lower left of that square is a little wonky because I was knitting from memory--not always the best idea--so I finally went online and found the Very Pink Knits video again and had my mind refreshed...  I had only been doing the K2tog and I needed to also SSK!  Made a huge difference.  Of course, in this case part of the wonkiness is because instead of only knitting K2tog, slip marker, SSK on the right side rows, I had to catch up with decreasing so I did the decreasing every row for about four rows then let it go. I thought it might be close enough.  Well, it is a blanket and is NOT going on display though I do plan to give it to one of our grandchildren...

So the knitting is going well, or at least well-ish.  I am about ready to do some knitting on the Brother KX350 flatbed knitting machine.  I signed up for a class on making a sweater in five days.  Of course I will need to give away that sweater because I do not believe I will be able to knit my size on the machine but then...I have not done a gauge swatch and might be surprised.  In this case, I would really like to be surprised.  I will be using up some of the Hobby Lobby yarn to give it a try.  When I am down to more empty yarn bins, I can then purchase some higher quality/wool yarn in good conscience.  Maybe by then I will be a different size.  One can always hope!

Gardening Today!

 Some time ago a dear friend gave us some Mexican Petunia starts.  I did not get them planted immediately.  I did not even get them watered.  Having said that, the second day I set the bucket out in the front garden in case any rain might fall.  Well I guess Heavenly Father likes those little plants because the very evening I set the plants out the rain fell.

Now, finally, I have gone out to pull a few weeds along the side of the house and found a place for those Mexican Petunias.  I know absolutely that they will grow and thrive and take over that part of the border by the house!  I look forward to that.

Here they are!  In a few months they will be very happy I believe. 

The plan had been to plant them starting by the beautiful azalea plant another friend gave us years ago.  As I started pulling the pricker-y vines  near the azalea I nearly fell over into the weeds.  Dizzy for a moment.  So annoying.  Probably because I had not yet eaten.  Either way, I decided not to continue pulling weeds there and moved to a bit of virgin territory!  If not virgin, at least with many fewer prickers.  I did get a few out and put in the "Mex Pets" then returned to the house to find something to eat.

As it happens, there were dishes in the sink (you see a pattern here--lots of stuff left undone) so I washed them up.  Almost all of them!  The ones I did not wash were a couple of saucepans that needed a little more soaking before washing.  

Finally I was ready for food...and put some eggs on to hard boil and some cauliflower in the microwave to steam.  It is going to be a fun breakfast.  Not one Dear One will enjoy. I expect he will eat Honeynut Cheerios.  He really likes them.

Roots Tech Starts Tomorrow!!

 For years now I have been excited for Roots Tech to arrive. It is a three-day Family History and Genealogy conference in Salt Lake City sponsored by FamilySearch.  FamilySearch is the largest free online worldwide family tree. (Go to FamilySearch.org to sign up for a free account and start your family tree.)

Roots Tech has many many classes, a lot of which are available online. Not only are they available online during the conference but they are available for at least a year afterward so you can watch and learn at your convenience.  I have learned a ton from them.

If you are interested in checking your DNA, usually the major DNA testing sites have sales during Roots Tech.  It is very interesting to meet new family members based on DNA!

One year at Roots Tech there was a vendor I learned about who could print a 13-generation chart. Here is a picture of ours:

There are many empty spots as you can see!  Roots Tech classes help me fill in the blanks.

To register for free for the online classes go to RootsTech.org

Even one class can help you find family. Or help you write your own story. Or help you learn how to do research in a foreign country.

Knitting Today: Re-Knitting a Sleeve on the Mama Christa's Shell

 When I finished the Mama Christa's Shell last December, the sleeve was a little snug when I put it on over the dress over which I will wear it.  I did not make much of it at the time because I was thinking I was on a weight loss journey.  Well, last week I put on the Shell and found that my weight loss journey had dead ended.  Sort of like most weight loss journeys I have been on recently.

So...I found the remaining (12!!!) yards of yarn, pulled out the side seam stitches for a couple of inches, then frogged the sleeves.  There had been four rounds of garter ridges in those sleeves.  Before re-knitting I divided the little ball of white Plymouth Encore yarn that was left from the project and attached half of it to the unraveled yarn from each sleeve and balled it up again.

At that point I started at the shoulder seam and, using a 16" circular Chiaogoo lace needle in US 6, picked up stitches down to the side seam on the first side of the sleeve then back to the top and picked up another set of stitches until the side seam.  There were 65 stitches for each sleeve.  I decided to knit until there was just enough yarn left to bind off.  Then repeated for the other sleeve.  I knitted in the round and had enough yarn to knit three garter ridges for each sleeve.  There was a minute ball of yarn left for each sleeve, so this time the Yarn Chicken did NOT win!!!

This was not a very long re-knitting project and came out pretty well.  You can see that there is plenty of room in the sleeve, even though it is not worn over the correct dress.  I am happy with it.

This is the sleeve bind off. I just learned this particular bind off.

1.  Knit the first stitch

2. Knit the second stitch

3. Insert the left needle into those two stitches

4. Knit through the back loop

5. From there just knit the next stitch and repeat steps 3 and 4. 

Works like a charm and is nice and flexible and stretchy.

Garden 2024: And So It Begins!

 Two weeks ago I took some “bathroom tissue” tubes and put them in a container to which I added potting soil and a few tomato seeds-Culinary Blend so who knows what will happen.

Here they are at both ends of the same day.

It is amazing how fast they can grow in one day!  I need to see if we still have the grow light so we can slow down  the legginess.

New Kitchen Toy!

 For years I have thought of purchasing this tool to help with bread-making but have held off. Partly I held off because if I make bread, I eat bread! Right out of the oven.  Hot bread with butter melting into it is a delicious delight  that becomes an addiction. I always eat too much so bread baking is just not a good idea to make on a regular basis.

Fast forward to Ben Starr on YouTube and his Sourdough English Muffins For Lazy People tutorial.  He uses this tool and says you can use it for way more than for making bread.  SO I bought in to that idea and purchased the one he suggested. Soon, maybe next week after all the other baked goods in the house have been consumed or given away…then I can in good conscience take the implement out of its protective wrapping.  

Does anyone use this? What do you use it to make?

Is Life A Puzzle?

 This question comes up because our oldest son gave us a puzzle (with 1000 puzzle pieces as it happens) of the state flags of every  state of the United States. Dear One got started in the puzzle right away and laid  the pieces all out on the dining room table right side up.  It was so chaotic but after weeks of trying to put a few pieces together I began thinking about how to make it work. It was not working for me to have all that chaos. Something new I learned about myself…!

It happened that the puzzle has rows of the state names under their flags.  I thought if I was able to put those rows of state names  in order, then I could just fill in with the flags and remaining pieces…so today I got out a piece of foam core  I had leftover from some project or other.  I picked up all the puzzle pieces from the table that had no writing or partial writing  on them and put them back in the puzzle box to wait their turn at the foam core. After that the foam core took its place on the table and I started putting the “important” pieces together. 

This is the newly started puzzle with foam core underneath. If we had  dinner guests we could move the puzzle. I see this as a long term project….

This is the dining room table after most of the puzzle pieces were put back in the box to wait.

Did not get far.  Dear One even sat down and worked a bit. This is good to keep the little gray cells moving.  Another thing to add to the  list of  “things to do a few minutes every day”.  I am convinced that I can get it together and have a clean and tidy house and an organized life if I spend a few minutes every day, EVERY day, on the things I need to do/want to do. Wish me luck.  Allergy season seems to be here and it saps my energy and resolve. That is why I am writing it down so people I care about can hold me accountable…

Ashford Rigid Heddle Loom Weaving Progress

 Probably two months ago I began weaving on the 16” Ashford Rigid Heddle loom we acquired (for a great deal of money!) in July. I had committed myself to completing several knitting projects before starting the weaving. Well, I did start weaving then came up with a question about the space between the cloths that made me stop weaving.

Back story—many years ago a good friend in Vermont brought me five large leaf bags full of yarn. You can imagine my delight. You can also imagine Dear One’s despair!!! Three of the bags (as I remember) were full of Sugar and Cream cotton worsted weight yarn. I used the Bond Incredible Sweater Machine and the Ultimate Sweater Machine to make a huge blanket. Did not even make a dent in the yarn. 

Since that blanket I have hand-knit many many dishcloths. I love them and others seem to love them, too.  My hands are beginning to object to hours of hand knitting so I decided to weave dishcloths with that yarn.

This is where I am. 

What you are seeing is part of the warp and weft between dishcloth two and dishcloth three plus the space between them where I tried to do hem stitching.

Today I finally sat down and attempted that hem stitching between cloth two and cloth three. 

After the weaving brought up a question back last month (how do I know when the cloth is the size I want it to be so I can add a space before weaving the next one?) I had stopped weaving for a while. Somehow I put away the bobbins to a very safe place.  As often happens!  And they did not turn up after somewhat extensive searching. So, as any edgy weaver would do, I ordered more bobbins from The Woolery. They arrived last week and today, after this poorly executed hem stitching was completed, I wound the new ten bobbins which are now ready to use in the boat shuttle I am using for the weaving picks.  Almost certainly the lost bobbins will turn up now…!

The warp on this project is a multicolor yarn in pinks and the weft is the plain bright pink.  I think the ball band is Bernat yarn. The first one off the loom will go to a very kind gentleman.  I hope he does not mind pink. 

Munchie Monday: 6-Week Bran Muffin Tops!

 The first iteration of those muffins was very good…but too much muffin.  We have a wonderful Chicago Metallic non-stick muffin top pan.  I pulled it out and used a 2-Tablespoon portion scoop to make six muffin tops.  I baked them in the oven at 400 degrees F…until they were done. Well, about 15 minutes in all.  That was too much but they were not badly burned.  They are dark because they are bran muffins but the dates in them got a bit over cooked.

These tasted good. I just heard peanut butter is good to help fight inflammation so I put peanut butter on the bottom of one of the tops hoping it would take some of the curse off all the sugar in the muffins.  Someone with real scientific information can correct me.  What you read on social media is usually wrong,  though I think this info came from Mayo Clinic.

Knitting Today: The Yarn Chicken Won!

 The last few weeks I have been working diligently on knitting a baby blanket. It is now done.  That makes me happy. I think it is really pretty.

This was knit using Plymouth Yarn Company Hot Cakes in two different colorways on US #8 Chiaogoo circular needles.  They did rather go to well together.  

Sadly, as you can see from the bottom (closest to you) the yarn chicken won.  Still, I rwas able to bind off and pass the blanket along.  Next time...well, I was going to say I was going buy an extra skein when I start a new project to avoid yarn chicken BUT I am hoping not to buy yarn for a very long time.  There is plenty of yarn on the premises. AND when the yarn on the premises is used up there is a LOT of roving in white and also a bag or two of colors of roving or combed top, though NOT like the fiber braids you see these days. 

All the fiber I have was acquired a decade and a half ago, or more.  In fact all the white fiber is fiber that I received from shepherds in our Vermont town as a fleece. I did the skirting of the fleece and the washing of the fleece myself on our back lawn.  After cleaning it, I took it to a yarn mill in New Hampshire on the way to the seacoast whose name escapes me now and where they picked it and did other things to it and eventually prepared five large bags of gorgeous roving.  I am looking forward to the day when the spinning of yarn comes to the top of the priority queue.  That is hopefully going to be one day very soon...!

Knitting Today: Izzy Teddy Bear Dolls

 We have had some babies born around here lately. I like to knit for babies. Today I knit two Izzy Teddy Bear Dolls. One was more successful than the other. I do not know why.

Yes, he really does have two eyes even though you cannot see the other one.  I tell myself the baby won’t care…

Faces are a big bugaboo for me.  One face came out okay; the other came out really nice.  Same person knitting, same yarn, same photo suggestion, totally different faces.

This pattern was a free pattern by Esther Braithwaite at www.stitchandshare.weebly.com.

The yarn used was Hobby Lobby’s I Love This Yarn acrylic in worsted weight. I used US #3 needles to get a very firm fabric to keep the stuffing inside.  I used the Chiaogoo double pointed steel needles. Working at that gauge has my hands talking to me tonight…but it was for a good cause and the knitting gave me a great deal of pleasure imagining happy babies. 

More Lifestock…!

 Today I arrived home mid-afternoon and had a phone call before I even shut off the car. I sat there and had a conversation for quite some time. Long enough that our bird friends lost their fear and alighted to feed again.

It is a joy to see all these little guys.

Tonight when we returned from our FamilySearch class we heard either some amphibians at the pond. Or large reptiles singing. Hopefully it is frogs—though we have never seen or heard them before.

A New Neighbor With A Blue Coat...!

 This afternoon I was standing at the kitchen sink and looked out the window.  There on the railing of our back deck was a beautiful blue-coated bird.  I don't know if it is an actual bluebird but it is so pretty and has a sort of orange-y breast.  The sweet little guy stayed there long enough for me to get my phone and move to the sliding door so I could take a picture through clear glass and not through screen...!  Such a good little bird!

Here he is in all his glory!  I do not believe we have had any of this brand of birds yet.  At least I have not seen them.

It is getting close to time to put out the hummingbird feeder.  Probably time to bring it in and scrub it within an inch of its life so it is ready for this years crop of hummers.  

Another good thing to do on the deck would be to pull the last of the dead plants from last year and actually plant spinach and spring onions, maybe even lettuce.

Two-Minute Crocheted Heart

 Not too long ago I Googled “knitted heart” thinking I  would find some quick and easy heart gift to make for my people.  Instead I found this two-minute crocheted heart at the website of Hooked by Robin. I made one then another and another. This is what I ended up with:

The yarn I used was I Love  This Yarn by Hobby Lobby (though I don’t really. It is just that it is easily available when I need some yarn quickly…). I used a hook that worked with the yarn but don’t remember which size. Now that I think of it…probably a 6 mm/J hook since that is one of two hook with ergonomic handles-the only ones that don’t irritate the hand.

Crochet Tiny Hearts WRITTEN PATTERN

USA STITCH TERMS

Hook Size(s): according to your yarn

Note, the thicker the yarn and the bigger the hook size, the larger your heart will be. 

Abbreviations:

• Ch = Chain

• Sl St = Slip Stitch

• Tr = Treble Crochet 

• St = Stitch

• Sl St = Slip Stitch

Foundation: Create Magic Ring.

Ch 2, place 3 TR inside the magic ring. 

3 DC inside the magic ring. Ch 1. 

1 TR in the magic ring. Ch 1.

(You have completed half the heart) 

3 DC inside the magic ring. 

3 TR inside the magic ring. Ch 2.

Sl st into the magic ring. Ch 1. 

Cut yarn, leaving long tail. Pull tail tight.

Close magic ring. 

Weave in any loose ends!

If you spot any errors in the written pattern please do let me know.

Happy Crocheting!

Robin

—————

This little garland was fun to make and makes me smile when I remember our oldest granddaughter as a very little girl telling me I should decorate for holidays…! After all these years I am doing a little bit of decorating.