pjbknit

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!

Jam Up and Jelly Tight

That was one of my mother's expression, though I never heard the song. YouTube. I made lemon basil and cinnamon basil jellies. It seems like cheating to use the Certo liquid pectin and have jelly so fast, while everything else I have canned has had to cook for a while.

Basil jelly photo shoot. The lemon is the lighter, more yellow one.

That is Genovese basil in the blue jar.  It is in the tomato jams I made earlier. It has rooted in water.  I always wonder what my antique Mason jars have seen-what they have held in their lives.

  The other thing that I have canned this past week is a second batch of Salted Caramel Pear Butter. I had some Fleur de Sel sea salt that I got to make caramels last Christmas, that got put in the pears with the brown sugar and nutmeg. I also broke out the Ball Elite half pint jars, as I now have a canner in which they fit, with a flat rack.

 

Actual Knitting and Bathroom is Done

I started the Ragtop Mitts on March 1, after I got the Susan Lawrence pattern  (Ravelry link) and Malabrigo Rios from Blazing Needles in Salt Lake City. The color is Cumparsita.

Knitting in worsted goes really fast, compared to my knee sock in fingering yarn. Knit Picks Stroll in Tidepool Heather.

Lastly, the bathroom is finished! We were waiting for the shower door so the shower could be used.

All the fruit trees, Bradford pears and Japanese magnolia are blooming, and the bees are buzzing.

 

Bathroom Done, Almost

Just need the door for the shower stall.

We have a toilet. It is not Bancroft, it's a Kohler Highliner or something, in Biscuit to match the tub. It has one of the soft close lids. We have to stand around and watch it close. I am sure the novelty will wear off soon, LOL. The camera did not seem to want to focus on it. If any other photos look funny too, it's because I got tired of messing with the color balance.

We have a Bancroft toilet paper holder and towel bars

And, oh yeah, Bancroft robe hooks to replace the cup hooks in the door.

Vanity, because I am too lazy to look at previous posts to if I posted a photo before.

Mirror over vanity. Pretend the color balance is OK, and everything is sort of cream. That's a hand towel bar on the right.

The linen cabinet

The light fixture, rightside up this time.

The ceiling has crown molding now.

Top part of the Kohler Water Haven

Most of the rest of the Water Haven

A Few Little Things

The new light is up over the new bathroom vanity. It's high up because it goes over the top of the original mirror which is going back on the wall. DH and I both claim credit for picking out the light fixture with the porcelain tips to match the Bancroft faucet. I wish I had taken before photos. Imagine 50 year old rectangular metal floral looking fixtures and turquoise Kohler sinks, toilet and bathtub.

Delta (gasp) tub faucet (bought probably in protest against price of Kohler Bancroft fixtures.)  We couldn't find a tub faucet w/o the shower parts.

Kohler Shower Locker.  Look, the shelves actually serendipitously (is that a word and is it spelled right?) match the glass in the tile trim.

In other news, I participated in a tea swap with other Plurk-people. Two I actually know in real life, even! Here are my goodies from April:

Really pretty floral mug, and tea, tea, tea!
Adagio chocolate and apple chais and ginger peach tea
Mighty Leaf, in types I actually don't have: Organic Earl Grey (DH's fave, so he can share those), Organic Darjeeling Estate and Organic Breakfast, as well as Bombay Chai. Which should I try first?

We have a daffodil bud.

Assorted Stuff Again

There has not been much to post about the bathroom. The guys have been waiting for the furniture to come in at Lowes. We now have a Kraftmaid vanity and linen cabinet with Kohler Bancroft pulls. They had to get more screws because the ones in the boxes were not long enough. We also have a funky Bancroft faucet.

 

I couldn't walk on the newly grouted floor to get a better angle. This is the bottom of the linen cabinet with drawers and Bancroft pulls. The top part has three shelves for towels and things. I need to go get a few new towels, bathmat, etc. We also have Bancroft towel racks to be installed.

I made pumpkin cranberry chocolate chip granola bars today.

I also made falafel in the crock pot. I am using up things that I have on hand, like lots of garbanzos from my hummus phase. I needed bread crumbs for the falafel, so I chopped up bread in the food processor. I did about 1/3 of a leftover loaf, and froze the bread crumbs to have on hand.


I also took some knitting photos, and never remembered to upload them. I also left this bag of yarn outside overnight. It seemed to be OK, and I left the bag open for the condensation to get out. Plum is the color, I think.

I actually worked on DH's perennial sock, restarting for third time after I was inspired by finding the Harris Tweed pattern. Lorna's Laces Rainbow Shepherd Sock.

The second knee sock continues. I am past the calf now, and decreasing down to my usual sock size.

The dogs are enjoying the springlike sunshine. I think Ursula had too many bone-bones.

Belvedere enjoys the shade.

 

Tub Time

Time to put tile around it, that is. The tub has the glass trim around it too. That's a soap dish duct-taped to the wall.

The shower has a tile ceiling

Here's what the floor's pattern will look like:

Zumba socks! Ole!

Misc. Stuff

Like shower tile progress, yarn and daffodils.

I finally remembered to photograph my Knit Picks Chroma Sock yarn when it was daylight.

Roller skate colorway

U-pick colorway

Tiling continues on the shower

Yet More Bathroom Photos, with Tile

The last post was progress over  2-3 days. These photos are from today.

This is the trim that I picked out. Would never have thought of this with the brown, tan and cream colors, but Lowe's had it displayed together and I fell in love with it. The long glass pieces look like water to me.

Yet another look at the tub

The blue stuff is where the Kohler storage locker goes to hold shampoo, etc.  The shower will have a Kohler Waterhaven shower tower. It has several shower heads and they slide to adjust the height. They are discontinued, and we reportedly got the last one in the US. Note tile and  trim on the shower seat.

And, just because it was on the camera, the languishing neckwarmer with mitered squares. All three of the Christmas cactus plants in my office have many buds for Valentine's Day again.

 

More Bathroom Photos

Yes, I don't know how I come up with these creative titles. Not. Bathroom renovation is continuing. Ooh, I forgot to take a photo of where the asphalt driveway was dug up to so the septic tank can be pumped. DH says the bathroom project is over budget. We have new wiring and new plumbing and lights and faucets in two bathrooms now.

We will have a new Kohler medicine cabinet here soon.

 
The  walls around the tub are coming along. The jets have been tested on the whirlpool tub, I hear.

 
There is a new light and fan in the shower. I disliked not being able to see well in the other shower stall.

All this renovation is tiring, say Punkin and Belvedere