pjbknit

More Stuff Again

Belvedere and his dignified look. I was laughing because his tongue was flapping when DH was scratching his back and chest. This is the look I got.

DH had some friends over today to celebrate Memorial Day. He cooked ribs from the Montgomery  Inn in Cinncinnati that we got for Christmas from my brother. He made sweet potato oven fries from our homegrown sweet potatoes. I made a Red, White and Blueberry Trifle. This is a great dessert, and is low fat and relatively healthy.

I had to work today, so I had ribs, sweet potatoes and trifle when I got home. We even have Montgomery Inn BBQ sauce.

In knitting news, I have been working on the Cabled Three-Button Wrap, 1164 that I started oh so long ago and the Sedona cardigan I started last August. They are getting too big to take to work.

Knit, Crochet, Plants, Etc.

One of the things is, the Granny Smith apple tree is blooming, later than the other apple trees.

I made a blueberry pound cake from a Cooking Light recipe from 1998. I remembered it all these years. I found some Chobani lemon yogurt and want to try it again.

It has been warm lately, and Belvedere comes in and lies on the cool floor, or near an A/C vent. Here he was tired from gallumping after the UPS truck.

The Bird of Paradise is budding. DH says we need to divide the plant into at least five. We got a truckload of potting soil yesterday. Wonder if he will need the machete?

I think the amaryllis missed the season. These are a some of a collection of Red Lion bulbs in a pot with the Norfolk Island pine, from Christmas presents and after-Xmas sales.

I dug up my fall-planted shallots in order to plant more seeds that are supposed to produce more shallots. We shall see.

I finished Sedona's sleeves to make sure I had enough yarn left for the body. Think I have two skeins left of the Rowan Calmer.

I started a market bag last year in crochet. The single crochet base hurt my hands, so I put it away for months, until I had the idea to pick up stitches around the base and knit the rest of the bag. The yarn is Sugar 'n' Cream.

We have tomato seedlings, plus six more at least this size in the Aerogarden. The short plants are peppers and basil. They are larger and in pots now.

Finally Finished

Well, I finished the Susie Rogers' Reading Mitts. These are made from Ultra Alpaca yarn. It is nice and fuzzy. Too bad it's a little too warm out to wear them now. The ends are even woven in, and the picot hems are done. The flowers are blooming, even the rosemary. Here is the link for the mitt blockers, although the website says they are sold out.

 

 

 A close look at the picots

 

 I could not resist this fabric from Erica's the other day when it was discussed on Plurk

 The "real" pear trees are all blooming, and they smell really strong with several in bloom, kinda similar to the smell of what DH calls the ersatz pears, AKA Bradford. The apples and peaches are blooming, but they are mostly past the photogenic stage.

pear

peach

 

 

Peach butter, Coca-cola, and honey BBQ sauce on a pork loin were my Crock-Pot adventure last weekend. Sorta kinda this recipe

 

 

It Was Spring Yesterday

Today it's cold and blustery. I just noticed that the Bradford pears and the plum trees and an apple tree were in bloom. Looks like white clouds. Of course, the Japanese magnolia is blooming.

 

 

The doggies are playing-this is Belvedere and Baron (Bo was next to me in the flowerbed)  in a moment when they weren't trying to chew on each other. Baron came from the shelter in the next county-he is Lab and Great Pyrenees. Baron was adopted, but did not get along with a 12-yr-old cat in the household. We have been feeding him, and Bo, satin balls to fatten them up a little.

 

 

I had been planning to make gumbo all week, but finally got it in the Crock-Pot today. (No chilies) It has sausage, chicken, shrimp and crab (fake). The okra kinda dissolved, so I might cook it for a shorter time next batch.

 

 

I got to the thumb gusset of the second of the Susie Rogers' Reading Mitts, then put them down to make Cable Curtain Tie Backs for the room-darkening curtains for my office. I also got some of the 3M Command hooks that will not damage the wall. The yarn is Sugar and Cream in Earth Ombre from stash I bought during a market bag phase. (I never finished one)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Little More Stuff

It was a cold and mostly gray day today, so Belvedere spent a lot of the day in his bed. There have been a few snowflakes. DH and I went to Target, Books-A-Million, and Martin's clothing store this morning and when we got home around midday and let Belv in, he went straight to bed.

I made Crock-Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup a week or so ago. It was good.

The Valentine's cactus have been blooming in my office. They haven't been blooming at Christmas, and I always forget to put them in darkness, so they bloom when they feel like it.

I went to Burke's Outlet in Jacksonville, AL,  to get a pair of jeans, and I found this top on 95% off clearance for 75 cents. It is a Gloria Vanderbilt cotton/rayon shirt.

I found some Meyer lemons at the grocery store. My tree has not produced its crop of one or two lately. Then I found a recipe in Weight Watchers Magazine for Meyer Lemon Chicken.  The recipe used two of them.

In knitting news, I have finished one of the Susie Rogers' Reading Mitts in the burgundy Ultra Alpaca yarn.

 

Christmas Time, With No Knitting

I think the last time I knitted was at lunchtime at work the week before our holidays started.  I have been baking instead. I had to make gingerbread of course, and I made three kinds of biscotti. Biscotti was made first, so that I had some for gifting.

Cranberry almond

Gingerbread biscotti was next. My first attempt got overbaked the second time, and was greatly enjoyed by the dogs. They all love gingerbread. I haven't found a photo of it yet.

The next type was chocolate chip cranberry almond biscotti from a Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix recipe. They were good, just not as crunchy as the others. Here they are in one of my fancy Martha Stewart cookie boxes.

I made the dogs their own gingerbread dog biscuits for Christmas. They also got Milk-Bones and rawhide shaped like gingerbread men from my SIL's family.

We did have real gingerbread cookies for the humans here.

I have been on a turkey panini kick here lately, and made some rosemary focaccia to use for panini making. I think the panini press had not been used in a year or two.

For the past two years at work, we have had a brunch on the last day for faculty. This year's was December 16, and  I made mini pecan stcky buns and cinnamon rolls, using Pillsbury crescent roll dough.

I cooked a turkey breast in the crock pot the day after Christmas. I also made some cheddar parmesan biscotti to have with soup.

Today, on the 27th, I made butternut squash soup and ciabatta bread. Tonight's panini was made wth the fresh-roasted turkey  and the fresh-baked ciabatta.

I found this photo that I had forgotten about on my phone.  This is right before the model woke up and ran away.

 

 

KitchenAid 7-Quart Bowl-Lift Residential Stand Mixer Giveaway

Now that I am off for Christmas break, I am thinking of making marshmallows using my Kitchenad mixer. I came across a giveaway for a more souped-up version, LOL. Head to to Mom Spotted for her Kitchenaid giveaway. A Mom Spotted reader will win a $550 KitchenAid® NEW 7-Quart Bowl-Lift Residential Stand Mixer in their choice of color. It’s available in Candy Apple Red, Medallion Silver, and Black Storm. I want Candy Apple Red myself. Look at this thing!

Socks at Last

I started these socks in March, and then set them aside during the summer for cotton sweaters and such. I kept thinking of them when knitting on the October Leaves fingerless mitt, and I was disgusted to see how close they were to being finished when I pulled them out a couple days ago.

These are knit from Sophie's Toes sock yarn in Autumn Leaves. The pattern is Twin Leaves, kinda like the mitts I did earlier. I sorta followed the pattern Roses for You and Wendy Johnson's toe up sock wth a flap heel. (I don't remember all this stuff-it's in Ravelry.)

And to celebrate finishing another pair of socks, I am giving away this book, of which I have 2 copies. So I am sharing with another sock knitter. Please leave a comment on this post by midnight Central Time, on Wednesday, November 9. The winner will be selected by a random drawing.

Here is the Applesauce Nut Bread that I have been wanting to try since I saw the recipe not long ago. Haven't tried it yet, as it is supposed to cool before you slice it.

 

New Project

What other knitting/sewing/crochet projects that are already started? I started Plymouth's 3 Button Wrap, Pattern 1164, in their Royal Llama Silk yarn in burgundy. (Despite its pink appearance in the sun.) This is a nice pattern, and the yarn feels very smooth and soft.  The seed stitch rib is more interesting than usual rib, and when you get tired of rib, there is the cable pattern.

There will be fewer bugs in the rosemary plant, I do believe.

Oh yeah, I forgot to note that since I have so much trouble finding Kash's Mayan Harvest Bake frozen entrees, I try to make something similar on occassion. It has polenta, grain pilaf,  black beans, sweet potato, kale, pineapple mango chipotle salsa and plaintains. Pumpkn seeds are sprinkled on top.

 

Pears, Honey

Actually, this is pear honey. (I used 2 cups of pineapple and cooked it in a 3.5 qt Crock Pot on High until it got thick) I did not quite have enough pears for a batch, so I had to run out to the tree. I grabbed a limb, shook it and got outta the way as pears rained down. I also didn't have crushed pineapple, so I put chunks in the food processor. Think it looks OK.  The recipe yielded the equivalent of 9 half pints, in a combination of 12 oz, 6 oz and 4 oz jars.

I have finally, finally, reached the sleeve divide of the raglan cardigan Sedona in Rowan Calmer yarn.

Yesterday, I got my Margarita sock yarn package from Woolgirl.  Mine was strawberry, and had all kinds of goodies, includng a pattern, bag, stitchmarker, Jelly Belly beans in drinkie flavors, flipflop notepad, much more, etc. All PINK.