Busy, somewhat productive, Day!

For several days I have been going back and forth with a donor from FREECYCLE for a blue wingback chair and ottoman.  Finally this morning I was able to pick it up in Hanover, where she kindly agreed to bring it...rather than making me drive to Grafton, NH where she lived.  It is just exactly what I love in a chair with the added bonus of the ottoman.

Chair in place near the fire.  Needs a very big bath, though.  Also there are supports under the chair which are missing.  Maybe Jonathan can help me make new ones.

After the chair pickup I went to the hospital blood lab for bloodwork prior to Friday's annual physical.  Two sticks finally got as much as they needed for the tubes.  They told me the problems were because my hands were too cold. I had taken the bus from Lot 9 then walked into the north entrance.  Glad that is over.  There is only a smallish area of bruising this time.

Next was a trip to Lavalley's to share the dimensions of the kitchen counter and get an estimate of the cost of same.Way more than I was expecting, and I failed to ask about clearance for the dishwasher.  Once we place the order it will be about ten days for the  construction of the custom-made counter topping.  Sadly, because of our corner sink, we cannot use the preformed material which has the lovely rounded edges.  We will have a square edge on both the counter-topping and the back-splash.  It will be fine, even though it will not be beautiful.

When I finally arrived home I discovered that we were not going visiting teaching as our sister had forgotten our visit and was doing something else.  Today that was good news!  I pulled the soft pretzel dough out of the bucket and made 6 of them.  When I finally finished the process I discovered how ugly they were.  Oh, well.  They were nice and chewy.  Since it was a pain to go through all the process of making them (mixing, rising, chilling, forming, rising, boiling, draining, egg washing, cooking)  I formed the rest of the dough into one oblong loaf and egg-washed it and applied sesame seeds.  The loaf looks wonderful.  It feels a little heavy.  Tomorrow we will slice it and see how it came out.  The recipe came from "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day".  Again!  I love that book. 

"Bagel: bread on parchment paper, baked on pizza pan, not pizza stone

Before the pretzel/bread project, I helped Bob put the cover back on the pickup bed since tomorrow we are expecting our first really big snowstorm of the season--4-19 inches,  depending on who you listen to.  I also picked up several tarps, folded/balled up, and put into the car port and moved seven wheel/tires into the carport BEHIND the snow blower instead of in front of the snow blower.  Next I chipped out another very large cart of firewood and, after a very great effort, got it up onto the ramp and in place outside the back door on the "loading dock'.  As we were eating supper, Bob asked what I did with the small blue tarp which he had folded up when we were working on the truck project.  I had mentioned that I never sewed the cover I wanted to make for wood cart, which brought up the subject. I went out with my headlamp and found the tarp just where it had been, though more or less nicely folded. I brought it to the loading dock and covered the wood in case we really do have snow tonight.

While working on the bread project I moved the plastic table which Bob and Owen had been using for sheetrock/tiling project tools upstairs and which Bob had brought downstairs and scrubbed up.  I took it over for a better temporary kitchen in the addition.  This is kind of clutter-y and in the way but much more convenient.  If you think the water in the 'rinse bucket' looks dirty, it really is dirty. I had just put in a mug that had held hot chocolate earlier this afternoon when I was trying to get warm from the inside out.  Didn't work this time.

This is MUCH better than the most recent "kitchen", though that one caused miles of walking back and forth to the living room 'coffee table'.

There was more to the day but that is enough to write.  Tomorrow I look forward to babysitting the little ones, or at least Leah.  I picked up some fruit-flavored candy canes for a quarter at Walgreens today.  Yes, I am trying to buy her off, or at least keep her mind of the fact that Mom is gone for a few hours.

Early-ish morning walk--and other stuff

Well, will wonders ever cease!  This morning I crawled out of  bed, dressed, put on the ankle braces, added headphones and iPod, and headed out.  I walked out to Quail John Road and had a lovely time listening to David Reidy, (from the Sticks and String podcast in Australia--not knitting today but still interesting) and looking at the various winter plants, though no animals today.

It was interesting to note that the neighbor's bushy-tree-like thing had a full set of catkins on it.  On January 9, no less!  I guess the fearsome cold weather we had early last week made the plants all think it was winter, then the 30's and 40's at the end of the week fooled the plants in great shape.  The lilac bushes also had leaf buds all over them.  Great day for a walk.  About 16 degrees F. and sunny.  I was glad to get back into the toasty warm house and stand by the wood fire for a while.

After doing a minimal amount of picking up I became edgy to get my knitting machine weights coated in plastic.  I have probably mentioned the Bond Incredible Knitting machine.  To have success in knitting you have to have the knitted fabric weighted.  I found some lead bank weights at the department store, some 4-ounce and some 2-ounce. I had four of the 4-ounce ones before.  Bob had drilled the ends of two thrift store forks and bent over the tines so they would grab the knitted fabric.  Two were great but we needed more so I hitched the other two to paper clips.  After a while I got nervous about the "lead" content, so today...

There was a person on YouTube who showed how she made some covered weights for her knitting machine.  She used several different solutions, including Plasti Dip.  I found that container at Dan and Whit's in Norwich and this morning set up a system for dipping the weights, taking into account the suggestions of the working men...  Voila, as they say...They are now drying after two coatings.  To do a really nice job I should probably coat again, then four hours minimum of drying time.  In the meantime, while drying between coats I had a breakfast salad, then set up for blanket for Britta's photography.  It may work, with the emphasis totally on "may"!

Notice the drips!

These look pretty good after two dips. 

You probably caught on that we are back to "construction zone" living (you see the table closed up behind the dipping set-up), which is a tad disheartening after having the main level so tidy and empty and home-like for Christmas and the next few days....but...it needs to be convenient for the men who are doing the work.  I can go off by myself and sulk somewhere, or perhaps do a bit of housework anyway.

Empty pantry having had last coat of sheet rock mud installed.

Contents of pantry in "kitchen".  See the refrigerator and stove hidden behind the shelves?  So easy to operate both appliances...not!  But soon.

This morning I spoke with Lavalley's about measuring for counter topping.  Yay!!  That is such good news.  Buddy will call and/or drop by tomorrow to measure then we can get a quote.  Once we have the counter topping, then we can call our plumber and THEN we can have a kitchen sink.  You can only guess at home happy that will make me!!!

The Year Ends as well as The Christmas Knitting Project!

Today is the last day of the year 2011.  It is hard to believe the days have flown by so quickly.  The weather is rather nasty, and unsafe for driving, so I am enjoying a morning at home...though there is no milk in the house and I feel edgy thinking of getting through a weekend without milk...so a little later I hope the roads are better (no ice) so I can go out for milk.

Yesterday I finished the final part of The Christmas Knitting Project (which was actually a crochet project) and this morning boxed them up for shipping.  Janus told the girls on Christmas Day that their sweaters were imminent, so I will get them in the mail on Tuesday.

Lauren's Sweater with blossom buttons

Lauren's sweater (and Grace's white sweater) was knit with Caron's Simply Soft yarn on the Bond Incredible Sweater Machine though I knit up all the ribbings on all three sweaters by hand.  I learned a good deal while doing this. I hope the girls are not too shocked by the variety!

The next part of The Christmas Knitting Project was a blanket knit in three panels on the Bond ISM and seamed as I went along.  It was fairly simple and the learning curve on the "seam as you go" was pretty narrow.  I cast on 80 needles for each panel.  I had thought that I had lots of scraps of the Bartlettyarn that I purchased from Hilda Yates at her farm yarn sale over the years, but you can see the central panel has very few scraps after all.

A big concern of mine had been the roughness of the yarn, which was rather harsh on my hands as I handknit the garter stitch ribbing around the blanket but I threw the completed blanket (including weaving in the yarn ends!!!) into the washing machine on gentle cycle with warm wash and cold rinse, then into the dryer for a few minutes on gentle low-heat drying and the blanket turned out really soft and pleasant.  I hope it is about the right size to cover legs and lap while sitting on the living room couch.  We actually tried it out on our bed as an extra blanket the night is was finished. I thought it was great, but being 100% wool, Bob found it too warm and too heavy.

Intended for Janus.  Notice the nice seams.  I like the way they turned out.

Once the knit blanket was completed on Wednesday I took up the crocheted blanket project.  I needed to finish edging the Granny Rounds, having about 20 left to crochet, then I started sewing together the strips. I made 5 strips of 15 Granny Rounds and 4 strips of 14 Granny Rounds.  On Friday while Bob was gone to help at Ben's house with Jonathan and Owen,  I turned on "A Touch of Frost" on the Netflix TV screen and started crocheting the strips together.  It took most of the day but by the end of the 4th "Frost", I discovered that I had crocheted two 15s together! Argh-h-h!

To solve the problem I remembered that I still had a few of the Granny Rounds in the satchel downstairs so I brought up the satchel, chose some Granny Rounds and sewed them into place so the blanket was all 15 Granny Rounds long.  After one last round of single crochet around the outer edge I called it a day, wove in a few yarn ends then clipped off the rest and headed downstairs to do some actual housework, something that has not been seen in the house for two and a half weeks!

Granny Round blanket meant for Laura. 

By the time Bob got home I had swept the floor, brought in a cartload of wood from the woodpile, dealt with the sink vanity delivery man, given away the warm loaf of bread and gotten another loaf of bread risen (and cooked, too), emptied the table, scrubbed it, wiped it dry and then put on the horrible but new clear plastic tablecloth to protect it until we can get a glass covering made (I say this as if it is a done deal...having no idea at all of the cost of such a thing and how stable it might be...), and I even got three days of dishes washed (a real pain with our current set-up. I don't know why I wait until there is a tremendous pile to do...dumb...) and some really tasty "refrigerator" soup made.  When Bob asked about the soup, he thought I said "garbage" soup.  Some people may think so, but I thought is was really delicious.

Bulging box containing The Christmas Knitting Project 2011 ready to be shipped on Tuesday

Inside the box I threw the leftover yarn from the three sweaters and the Granny Round blanket.  Laura crochets beautifully and she may want to fill in the holes at the conjunction of each of the Rounds.  If I waited to send the box until I had completed that it would be the end of the next Millennium, I am sure!  I am not sure Laura will even want those pretty diamonds filled in, though. I thought they looked fine empty.

Happy New Year to All!  May your next year be healthy, happy, prosperous, and one of continued enlightenment and service, which will bring real joy.

Merry Christmas! and sweater update

It is a beautiful snowy Christmas morning here in Vermont.  We hope each of you finds peace and joy as you celebrate the birth of our dear Savior which happened so far away and long ago, but which is fresh and new each Christmas season.  With best wishes to you all!

As far as sweater update:  two sweaters are completely done and the smallest is only missing part of the ribbing and the buttons.  With good fortune it will be completed before bed tonight.  Then the blanket ribbings....

Here is a picture of the two completed 'new' sweaters (meant as Christmas gifts) and three other items that I never handed out then decided to hold until today:  a wool colorwork hat,  my first Bond sweater with flower buttons on the front, and a pair of requested armwarmers.

Hat, armwarmers, and button detail

Merry Christmas  and Happy New Year to All!

Sweater Number 1: Done!

At Thanksgiving Megan took some measurements from Grace, Anne, and Lauren so I could make them sweaters since we drew their name for Christmas.  What with one thing or another, I was not able to start knitting (on our Bond Incredible Sweater Machine) until last Monday.  I have finally put the last button on sweater number one.  I knitted them as as pullovers with 5 extra stitches at center front so I could do a steek to make them cardigans.

Here is a picture of the inside detail of the crocheted steek:

Here is the front of the sweater:

OK, so it is not fabulous, but I think it will work for a jacket/sweater for a while!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

The last few days have been quite busy in our house as in most other houses.  This year we are having bread bowls and soup for Thanksgiving dinner...a first, but a royal treat as we LOVE Alissa's soups and you cannot beat a good bread bowl.  We are trying the "Farmer Wheat" bread bowls this time (from Price Chopper).  Their artisan bread bowls are great.  We will see about this flavor!

Yesterday I made a Layered Toffee-Pumpkin Cheesecake which recipe I found either on "Our Best Bites" blog or "Mel's Kitchen Cafe" blog, or maybe another blog.  It sounds good, and it actually looks pretty good, too.  The only glitch in the system is that I did not have any ground ginger available...out in the garage in a box from the move in April...and no reasonable way to get it...so it will not have the same tang to the pumpkin part of the cheesecake.  Oh, well.

Pie crust was made and refrigerated yesterday.  This morning I was up at 5 to make the blueberry pie.  It is now cooked, but there was almost certainly not enough cornstarch in the recipe. I am likely to give up on blueberry pies, at least ones that are cooked in the crust. I did see a recipe that advocated par-baking the crust, cooking the filling, then putting the filling into the crust, topping with more crust and baking for a shortish period of time.  I didn't plan to do that so I did not save the recipe.  Bummer.

Yesterday I also made some very cute Oreo cookie/Peanut Butter cup/Whopper/Candy Corn turkeys for plate decorations for dinner.  They really are cute, even if the execution wasn't very good!  "Our Best Bites" has them perfectly executed.  I loved their Pilgrim hats, too, but didn't notice them until too late to make them for our local grandchildren.

In the meantime I have gotten out the Bond Incredible Sweater Machine and set it up in the addition to work on while Bob watches "24" and other blood-pressure-raising programs on NetFlix.  I had thought of making some simple sweaters for the grandchildren on the machine.  As a warmup I made a Christmas stocking in white for the temple.  The short row heels and toes on the Bond are likely to make me bald.  No lie!  They are a nightmare.  I cannot for the life of me figure out why the stitches drop off the needles.  Not every row, of course, but pretty often. I am getting better at re-seating them, but it is REALLY aggravating.

This is the first sock, knitting done and ready for sewing up, for the temple for people who have casts or need to wear their street shoes for some reason rather than white temple shoes.  The Matron asked if I would make some.  I will gladly make them.  More gladly after I get the short-row heels and toes together!

 At Halloween I found some cute mummies on "Our Best Bites", I think.  I thought they were so cute that the children would love them.  If I think of it, I will put some mustard eyes on them.  The top photo is after baking them.

Leg Warmers

Leah has sweet little legs which can get cold in winter so I knit up some leg warmers for her.  I could not find any legwarmer patterns handy so I made up my own.

Using Galway Chunky yarn and size 8 and size 13 needles.

Cast on 28 stitches with the size 8 needles.

Knit 2, purl 2 for about an inch.

Switch to size 13 needles and knit all rounds for 10 inches.

Knit 2, purl 2  for an inch, then bind off in rib.  If you think the little leg is too small to do the final rib using the size 13 needles, go down to a size 10.  For chubby legs, knit the knee ribbing with the size 13 needles.

Hopefully Leah will allow me to photograph her legs in the warmers, but that is not a foregone certainty.  She has a mind of her own at age 2-plus!