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.

Fun Food: 6-Week Bran Muffins!

 Recently at our Handwork Chat group meeting a dear friend and fellow knitter reminded me about the 6-Week Bran Muffin recipe.  Many years ago Dear One had a colleague at school who made them and encouraged us to make them too.  You make the batter. Put it in the refrigerator, covered, overnight then the next day you take out what you want, put it in muffin tins and cook delicious muffins.  The batter stays good in the refrigerator for six weeks. If it is not all used up by then...!

This is the recipe I used:

6-Week Bran Muffins

1 box Raisin and Nut Bran Flakes with two meals-worth of cereal removed and eaten by "someone"
5 Cups all-purpose flour
3 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 cup cooking oil
5 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups buttermilk

This is how I made the batter:

In a large (13-quart) stainless steel bowl (which my parents gave us for a wedding gift almost 51 years ago) I combined the sugar and eggs until creamy.  Next I poured in the buttermilk and cooking oil and stirred well.  Finally I dumped in the box of cereal, the flour, the baking soda, and the salt and stirred until everything was well combined.  After moving the batter into a smaller glass bowl and covering it with plastic wrap I put it into the refrigerator on a space I had specifically emptied for the large bowl.

The next morning things were very chaotic at our house and I totally forgot I was looking forward to making a few muffins for breakfast.  Neither one of us even got breakfast.  Around 3:00 I arrived home, saw Dear One sitting on the couch, and after a bit of a round-up chat about how the day had gone I remembered the muffin batter and leaped up from my rocking chair---well, leaped might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I did get up, and went to the refrigerator and pulled out the bowl of batter.

At that moment I remembered I had put a container of very dry whole dates soaking in water the night before so I got a knife and separated the dates from their seeds then chopped the heck out of those babies...then added them to the batter with the last of the raisins in the bottom of the cannister...perhaps one-half cup raisins.

Since I was only going to cook six muffins, I decided to do it in the air fryer.  Google told me to cook at 320 degrees in the air fryer for 11-15 minutes.  Well that was not long enough at all so I gave them another 10 minutes.  They were some good!!!

The actual recipe I found online said to cook in the oven 20 minutes at 400 degrees F.  I may try that the next time...just to see the difference.  But maybe not tomorrow since I ate two of them myself and that is too much sweet.  In some ways I think they are more like cupcakes than muffins.  I asked Dear One what he thought.  He said, "Good!"  That is not something I hear very often!  Well,  I really don't make very good food...just good for you food.  At least sometimes.

Knitting Today: Sample Beanies

 We have some young knitters in our area.  Helping them with their knitting is a joy.  Before Christmas they started knitting beanies...each casting on a different number of stitches depending on the size of knitting needles they had. They were told to knit in the round on Knit 1, Purl 1 until they had 6 inches or a little more of knitting on their needles.

To prepare for helping them close up the crown I knit two little beanies and followed different instructions for decreasing the stitches on the tops.

These are the two beanies I knit.  You can see there is a vast difference in the size of the hats even though they both started with the same number of stitches: 80 stitches if I remember correctly.  I knit each of them to six inches then began the crown decreases.  The first pattern said to knit the decrease round then knit one round even then on to the next decrease rounds with knit rounds in between,  This turned out to be a very nice little hat.

The other hat decreases came every round with no plain rounds of knitting in between.  This made a much smaller hat.  Still, it is a nice hat and some small head will fit it some day.  It was a good learning experience for me...and thus for the young knitters when they get there.  Being young, they have many things on their plates including school, farm chores, family responsibilities, etc so their knitting is not going as quickly as mine did...

The yarn used on these hats was Patons Classic Wool Worsted.  It is one of my favorite yarns...mostly because it is available locally at Michaels, the only place for 100% wool, which is my preferred yarn.  Lately I have used a lot of Hobby Lobby Yarn Bee acrylic.  Not so nice on my hands but they do have many colors.  I have found ordering yarn online to be somewhat an exercise in disappointment as the colors do not match what the photographs show.  At least not as close a match as I was expecting.  

No. I am not going to start a local yarn store so I can get what I want...

A Different Post

 Dear One and I have been watching the Hank Smith/John Bytheway podcast nearly since they began. 

To get to the point  (I had a whole bunch of background information for those who do not know this podcast but deleted it all)...tonight we watched this year's Follow Him: Episode 6, Part 2 with Dr. Lili De Hoyos Anderson as the guest.  It was so touching and so very useful in how to live our lives that I just want to share it.  So many of us can benefit from what she has said.  I myself can really benefit from what she taught. 

 It is about an hour long and worth every moment...though some of it is hard to hear.  I will tell you sometime down the road if I have been able to carry out my desired personal changes.

This picture of Jesus and His healing hands seemed like a good one to share.

Healing Hands, by Adam Abram

May this podcast help you in your own life and if you still have children at home, also help you with raising them.

First "Planting" of 2024

 The tulips that were gifted to us have been glorious.  They bloomed and bloomed and then went by earlier this week.  Yesterday I went to Lowes and bought a small bag of garden soil.  (I have spoken rather openly about the icky orange soil that is native to our area or which has been brought in to our complex before houses were built.  Not good for glowing things really.)

This morning I went outside early and dug a small trench just outside the front door and mixed in some of the garden soil.

Next step was to carefully pull the spent tulips bulbs from the vase and plant them in the soil.

After covering them rather heavily with more soil, I wished them well then went back inside to prepare for our Knitting Class/Handwork Chat group.

With good fortune they will survive the spring and summer and grow through the fall then next spring give another beautiful display.

Knitting Today: Winter Chill Shawl

 A few weeks ago I started knitting a Pi Shawl by Elizabeth Zimmermann in fingering weight sock yarn with the idea of using up yarn that I did not seem to be knitting into socks.  It was looking so pretty but was taking FOREVER and I thought I would not get it done for this winter.  Well, I CERTAINLY was not going to be able to get it done this year at the rate I was knitting. 

 It happened that I found a Very Pink Knits podcast where she shows how to knit her Winter Chill Shawl pattern.  I thought a shawl would go faster in a worsted weight yarn.  (Of course I decided to rush over to Hobby Lobby before they closed that Saturday night to get a yarn cake of gradient yarn...sort of defeating the plan of using up what I had...). So I got started on that.  And it did seem to be going pretty fast. At least at first.

This is the beginning of that Winter Chill Shawl.  It was moving right along when I had the feeling that I needed to knit a baby blanket so the Winter Chill Shawl went into (hopefully short!) hibernation!  Baby blanket info soon!

Anyway, now I have multiple projects going...something I did not plan to do this year.  AND having had a few issues with sickness that kept the needles and yarn in the knitting bag for  a good long time, progress has not been really robust.  Feeling better now so perhaps....maybe a finished object coming up.  At least one thing might be done in the next week.  That is the plan, anyway!