Knitting Today: Pink Chicken Started

 That Emotional Support Chicken pattern was pretty easy to do (in retrospect!) and I thought I would start another one, also using up yarn from the house collection.  I can tell you that if I keep making a chicken a week until the end of the year, I might, possibly, use up all the worsted weight yarn we have.  I would like to do that actually.  Great goal.

Of course, if I use all the yarn on chickens, what will I use for weaving?  Oh yes, I have other yarn for weaving.  Probably!  However, without getting the cart before the horse, I will just plan on working on this pink chicken downstairs and work on other projects upstairs.  And yet another project when I go out (that one is the Pi Shawl by Elizabeth Zimmermann that I started months ago then moved on to a shawl I could get done.  Which I did complete but it did not fit the way I wanted it to fit.  For some reason all these young designers of today  call a scarf/bib a shawl.   In my book, a shawl is something that you throw around your shoulders to wrap you up so you will stay warm.  A scarf is something you wrap around your neck.  A bib is something you tie around your neck and it hangs down onto your chest in order to keep food off your clothes.  THESE THINGS ARE NOT SHAWLS!!). Moving on from off the soapbox now.  But not really.  I really HATE to see people "style" a scarf around their neck and call it a shawl...both as a named pattern and as a piece of work. Gets my goat.  Every time.

Here are the pink tail feather pieces ready to stitch together:

My thought is that this chicken will take more than a week due to the amount of downstairs time I will have to devote to her.

Wednesday Works in Progress

 Among my favorite social media there are people who post their Wednesday WIPS (Works in Progress).  Some are knitting projects.  Some are crochet projects. Some are weaving projects.  Today I am going to share a housecleaning WIP.  Because I have no shame.  AND because I appreciate all the kind people who urge me onward in doing good works...!

My sister was here for a few hours over the weekend.  I had done a good deal of hoeing out/cleaning/organizing but almost exclusively so she would have a nice clean bed to sleep in and a place to unload her luggage.  That was really the extent of what I did.  The guest room was previously  really a very useful staging area for organizing but not very useful for sleeping earlier last week.  I did get the aforementioned items taken care of. (Many bins of yarn and other projects found new homes.  At least temporarily!)

When she was walking in the front door into our dining room she noted that "you have a lot more stuff than the last time we were here..."  She did say it nicely but I did grasp her meaning.  And she was right.  The table was entirely full of Ashford E-Spinner, Battery pack, Fiber basket, many strips prepared for making a quilt that has been in the works for decades (yes!), plus other partial projects as well as salt, pepper, Old Bay Seasoning, and placemats and napkins.  Since it was Fast Sunday weekend we were not going to sit down at the table for food so I did not worry about that part of the job.

On Monday morning as I was lying in bed in that stage between sleeping and waking I had the idea that now was the time to actually get the house emptied and organized so when the day comes that someone needs to clean up after my passing  they will not be cursing my bad housekeeping skills quietly to themselves or out loud so I can be humiliated as I am watching and listening from the Spirit World.

SO... I started.  It does not look like much but it is a start.

The left end of the table,  that which you see first when you enter the house, is now almost empty.  Since the photo was taken, the paper bag in the chair has gone to that happy recycling bin in the sky...or at least, the trash men cameth and took it away.  Along with the rest of the trash.  Sadly, our town does not to household recycling pick up any more.

So, each day I will do a little more emptying and organizing and maybe the next time my sister comes it will not be so horrifying to her.  I can say that her house is always immaculate when we visit.  AND I expect it is that way most of the time.

As I type I just heard our friendly alligator in the pond.  I guess the electric storm woke him up...

Recent Small Crochet Project: Mug Cozy

 Lately I have seen a lot of mug cozies.  So many of them are pretty cute.  I made a sunflower cozy!  It is not very good but it was fun to make.  If I make more, they might be better!  After all, practice makes better.

The flower was crocheted with the puff stitch.  (This is not the video I watched but it shows you how to do the puff stitch.) For that stitch you pull up yarn loops on your needle until they are about an inch long and you have 9 loops...or whatever number you want to make a plump puff.

After making the flower, if you want to make the mug cozy,  crochet a band to go around the mug.  This is the video I watched.

As you can see, it is somewhat pitiful if compared to other people projects BUT I am not big on comparing to others.  It made me happy to make it and it does look sort of sunflower-ish and that is good enough for me.  I will probably make more of these and each one will be better.  And by better I mean tighter, less floppy looking.

A word to the wise:  I used cotton yarn for this.  When I put the cozy on the mug, the cotton stretched out a lot. It then did not really fit the mug I gifted it with to my friend.  SO...probably only put it on the mug you want.  Or use wool yarn which has memory.

Munchie Monday: Fritz's Settlers Baked Beans

 Whew!  It has been a long time since I sat down to write.  All is well, just have not taken the extra time needed to write.  Plus  I had to excavate the computer from its Family History location...

Today was Break the Fast at church.  (The first Sunday of every month members of our church around the world fast for two meals and donate the money they would have spent on feeding their family to the local bishop or branch president to use to help the poor and needy.  Many people who are physically unable to fast also donate money to the Fast Fund to help those in need. It is a good thing.  We all benefit physically and spiritually.)

In our particular church unit there has always been a theme to the Break the Fast meals.  Today it was Father's Favorites.  Dear One has always loved baked beans.  I asked him what we should bring. That was his immediate response.  I asked if it would be acceptable to use a recipe we acquired in the last few months.  He was agreeable.  This is it.

Fritz’s Settlers baked  beans
1/2 lb Bacon, chopped 
1 lb ground chuck beef
1 med. Onion
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1/3 cup white Sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup BBQ sauce - sweet baby ray’s original. 
1/2 tsp pepper, less probably 
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Dry Mustard 
2-16 oz cans pork and beans
2-15 oz cans Navy white beans. 

Slice bacon into half inch pieces - easiest if still slightly frozen. Brown in fry pan on low heat. Covered, which keeps the grease spatter to a minimum.

Chop onion and cook on low heat in covered Dutch oven with a little bit of oil until just tender. Add ground beef and finish cooking with it. 

Combine brown sugar, white sugar, freshly ground pepper, salt and dry mustard. Mix well with fork.

 Add ketchup and Barbecue sauce and stir. This can just be added to the cooked meats with the beans and not combined first if time does not allow. 

Rinse kidney beans/black beans if using
Rinse navy/white beans
Add to Dutch oven. Cook covered for 1 hour at 350.

These are the beans we used.  So easy.  I did not look at the labels to be scared into making my own baked beans this time...

What I Did

First I decided to double the recipe since a lot of people are there for Break the Fast and since we have a 7-quart crockpot.  

Next, I decided not to add the two sugars.  There was enough sweet in the canned beans. I did not put in salt for the same reason plus I forgot. I also forgot the dry mustard and the pepper. We can add pepper at the table.  I added a chopped bell pepper with the onions.  The beans we used were Bush's Homestyle Baked Beans plus Luck's Pinto Beans with Onions.  I did not rinse any of them.

The hamburger was from a local butcher so there were fewer steps between the hoof and our kitchen.  It was pretty expensive but only buying meat every month or two makes it acceptable to our pocketbook.  The hamburger was put into our large dutch oven then the chopped onions and peppers were added and cooked until the meat was done.  After that I added all the other ingredients and stirred well.  The addition of that small amount of bacon really made the flavors pop.

This was popular for all who ate it.  Me and Dear One most especially.  Also my sister who was on a flying visit.

Knitting the Fleegle Heel

 Currently we are working on socks knit in worsted weight yarn. My knitting partner in this project is knitting her socks in a very soft acrylic to use as bed socks.  I am using  Briggs and Little Tuffy yarn, a Canadian wool with a little nylon in them. I will just wear them in my shoes since my shoes are somewhat stretched out.

We started out following the recipe in Custom Socks by Kate Atherley. The instructions were a little rugged to follow/plan out. I found a pattern by Purl Together podcast on YouTube and finished the first Tuffy sock with Purl Together’s heel. I liked it.

Since finishing that first sock I found a recipe for the Fleegle Heel. I was ready for the second sock heel so I gave it a try. I just finished that heel and started up the leg.

This is such a simple heel and seems to fit really well though I won’t know for certain until they are finished and on the feet.  After another pair or two I will have this heel memorized. There are two row repeats—k2, m1, knit almost to the end then m1, k2. The other row is just knitting. These stitches are for the gusset increases then  the heel turn is back and forth. There is a little more to it than what I have written but it really is simple.

There are 8 more rounds to knit on the leg to match the first sock then (I think) 10 rounds of K1, P1 ribbing and Jeny’s Super Stretchy  Bind Off. I could probably finish this sock before bed BUT it has been a day and I may hit the hay earlier than usual so the old body can recover.  (I arrived at the dentist for a cleaning and had to cancel the appointment due to intestinal issues that made me uncertain…this took it out of me for sure.) 

Pressed Flowers Shawl:FINISHED!

 Since late March I have had my nose to the grindstone knitting this shawl. I just finished it fifteen minutes ago. It will be great in highly air-conditioned rooms over the next few months.

You can see more about this shawl on Ravelry in thecountrywife pages. Or if I can get to my computer I will try to link it.

Weaving in a Rigid Heddle Loom

 In my life I have owned two floor looms-a 36” Harrisville  Designs loom given to me by my dear Aunt Freda and a Leclerc 8-harness floor loom which I was thinking was a 24” but looking online I don’t find them in 24”. I have given away both looms- one because I did not believe it would arrive safely in South Carolina and the other because I was not using it and it was too big for the space.

Still, I had a lot of cotton yarn to use up and my hands were beginning to object to knitting with that yarn. I began researching rigid heddle looms which are way smaller and much simpler to use. One day last summer one became available on Facebook so Dear One and I made the two hour trip to look at it and purchased it on the spot. It came with several nice accompaniments. It was VERY expensive for a used loom but…we bought it. It was a 16” Ashford. I love the Ashford spinning wheel we have so thought that was a good brand.

A few months ago a 32” Ashford became available for way less money. It also was two hours away. This time I went by myself and found that it was in great shape-only used once by the wife according to her husband who was selling it. It also had the old-style stand which had shelves on each

side—ideal for holding the shuttle between picks—in this case a boat shuttle which I love. 

In the past few weeks I have used the 16” and made 17 cloths (dish-, wash-, dust-) and am so pleased with them. Using up the yarn in such a fun way is very satisfying.

Today I am using the 32” loom for the first time. I warped it on Tuesday and wove and hem stitched the first cloth. I just now finished the second cloth and began the third and am forcing myself to move on to other things on To Do list for today.

You can see the fun hem stitches on cloth two. It is just about time to sew the hem stitches cloth three but I really won’t be able to tear myself away if I get started on them.  The day has been productive-starting with an early morning swim where I met a nice lady named Charlotte -so I don’t want to stop the forward momentum. There are nearly a dozen other items on that list…!