A Pretty Nice 74th!

 What a nice day it has been!  I woke up before 5:00 AM, laid in bed for nearly an hour thinking about what needed to be done today, then hopped out of bed before 6:00 AM.

We have an island in the kitchen which is beautiful.  It is also a very handy surface which collects all manner of stuff nearly continually.  This annoys me that I cannot seem to keep in empty and clean. This morning I fixed it! Also put all the leftover dishes in the dishwasher then cleaned and shined the sinks.  After that I went into the dining room to clear off THAT surface, too, BUT the new Ashford e-spinner called my name. I sat down for fifteen minutes and finished spinning the roving in the market basket I had purchased in Ogden, Utah many years ago and stuffed into my luggage to get it home.  It is one of those baskets that you soak in water for a while then pull it into the shape you would like.

Other things came to hand and after about two and a  half hours of constant productive action, I went upstairs, found Dear One still in bed (!!), then put some quilt fabric in the washing machine to prepare to make a quilt block this afternoon.

The Pressed Flowers Shawl came to hand for two garter ridges which made me happy. I had hoped to finish the shawl by today, but now am hopeful for a next week finish.

Dear One took us out to lunch at a Greek pizza buffet where we were able to eat a casual rather healthy meal. Even so, it was more food than I personally have eaten at one time in weeks.  Still, it was not so much that I felt stuffed.

Naptime was next, but a very short nap.

The nice clean empty island was ready for cutting out quilt block pieces.  I had a rather rugged time getting bobbins filled and successfully installed in the newish-to-me sewing machine but finally did it and eventually made these three quilt blocks.

Our Relief Society activity this month includes something with 8 by 8 inch quilt squares.  These are what I came up with.  It pretty much used up the rest of the day.

Later this evening we watched Follow Him, the episode for this week.  It was really good.  I knit another garter ridge but now am done in.  It has been such a nice day with many family members and dear friends sending birthday greetings.  Could not have been better...made me smile all day long.

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!