pjbknit

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

 

 

More Stuff

Yes, I am on a roll with blog post titles, right?

I sewed a coupon holder, but I think it is too big for my purse, sigh.

 

Here is my first mitt from Susie Rogers' Reading Mitt  pattern-finished with picot hems and all. The second one is at the thumb gusset. The yarn is Ultra Alpaca Lite

In other knitting news, I have new room darkening curtains in my office and need tiebacks. This is Sugar and Cream cotton yarn in Earth Ombre

 

 

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.

 

Some More Stuff

I went walking last week when it was cooler, and kept having to take my gloves off to mess with my smartphone in its armband, because the WBHM app kept crashing while I was trying to listen to All Things Considered on NPR. The reason I wore the gloves is because I have Raynaud's Syndrome, and it can be painful if my fingers get cold. Anyway, I researched sports gloves that work with touchscreens. I kept finding boring gray and black ones. (I have gray and black ones already, with fingers that are 2 or 3 inches too long.) I also kept finding colorful women's sports gloves at Zappo's. So when I went to the Zappo's site to reset my password, after their hacking incident, I ordered these Manzella gloves that have conductive fabric on the index fingers and thumbs. The fingers fit, too!

 

 After I ordered these, I discovered conductive thread, thanks to a post on Plurk. Then I discovered gloves with the conductve thread knit in, like this Knitty pattern. I now have this thread, and have ordered pink and turquoise too.

 

Then I had to open a Pinterest account to keep up with the links for conductive thread, etc., after my nephew's wife and great-niece both sent me invitations. That and recipes.

I made a New Year's resolution to exercise, so I started off with my new Leslie Sansone DVD, Walk Slim Five Big Miles. (I got it with a $3 off coupon.) So I did a different LS DVD for 5 days in a row, then walked outside on the weekend.  Now my doctor says I have tight hamstrings and irritated tendons behind my knees, sigh.

So I have been knitting on my Susie's Reading Mitts instead of exercising. These are knit in the Reynolds Ultra Alpaca Light that did not want to be boot cuffs.

 

 

Today, there is Chicken Enchilada Soup in the Crock-Pot. I now think I need a 5-quart Crock-Pot because I don't have a stainless steel one, or 5 qt.

 

More Assorted Stuff

I got my first order of CJ Kopec yarn, which I have heard about, but never ordered. This is Magic colorway in alpaca/merino/silk blend worsted. It is soooo soft.

Here's the finshed first Glam Glove, w/o ends woven in, or blue button for ring

Here is the toddler hat I crocheted for a 1-year old girl. The pattern is Angie, and this is the Kraemer Perfection worsted yarn. The darker pink  trim is Caron Simply Soft.

More Mitts and Yarn and Stuff

I started the Glam Gloves after finshing the October Leaves mitts. I strung 240 or so beads on the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock yarn  got from a Ravelry destasher. It is way lighter than the yarn for my socek, but oh well. I have finished one mitt, and added it to the Pile of Finished Objects (FOs) That Need nds Woven In. Sigh.

While I try to find a photo of the Glam Glove 1, here is some new yarn to distract you--ooh shiny.

Autumn Sky Handpanted Merino/Csahmere DK yarn from Wildethyme Art

Autumn Sky with Belvedere checking it out

Cranberry in Nebula Sock (merino, nylon, cashmere) from Ethereal Fibers on Etsy, which had to come to my house after I saw its photo on Plurk

I found the Glam Glove photo on Ravelry.  I will add a button to the ring finger for a ring. I cannot decide if I want to add a  bead bracelet to the second glove. I will have to use the crochet hook method , since I started the cuff w/o stringing the beads.

I went to  The Taming of the Ewe in Jacksonville, AL on Black Friday instead of shopping at the mall. I got this Kraemer Perfection yarn, and have crocheted a toddler hat and and a flower to sew to the hat. I have finshed that, hope to take a photo tomorrow.

I also got this Debbie Macomber Blossom Street Collection Petals Socks yarn in Flowering Cabbage colorway. I also watched about 2.5 Mrs. Miracle movies on Hallmark Saturday night, which made me think about the yarn. (Yeah, my brain works funny) At first, I thought I was allergic to its angora content, as I sneezed while in the LYSm but my sinuses are still bothering me, and I have not touched the yarn in a week.

The sugar snap peas and shallots seem to be happy with the weather

One October Leaves Mitt

In this case, Harvest Wind mitts too. That's the color name of the yarn-- Springvalley Yarns by Alabama Fiber Dreams Simply Fingering...With A Twist! I had put it aside in order to finish the second sock in the last post. It is a little  hard to photograph your own hand with a mitt while trying to show the cables on both sides.

 

More Mitt

I have finished the leaf gusset of the October Leaves mit, so I took it out to find an autumnal photo settng. The yarn is Springvalley Yarns by Alabama Fiber Dreams Simply Fingering...With A Twist! in the Harvest Wind colorway. The yarn has a nice twist and the colors are just the right color for the fall leaf motif on the gusset.

October Leaves Mitts

Well, I started them a few days before the end of October. These are October Leaves fingerless mitts, in Harvest Wind color from Springvalley Yarns by Alabama Fiber Dreams Simply Fingering...With A Twist!

Spring Break on Jekyll Island, with Knitting

We went to Jekyll Island, GA,  for Spring break. I had read about the ongoing revitalization project in the Florida Times-Union online. (I grew up reading the "Florida paper" in South GA and subscribe to the RSS feed.) Anyway, we did not know the Jekyll convention center and the shopping center were gone. We knew the Buccaneer, the hotel my family stayed in for decades, was torn down. So was the Ramada. We stayed in the Days Inn, the first hotel past the construction site. You had to go kinda through the middle of the island to get to things on the other side of the construction, such as the temporary location of the shopping center in trailers.  There is a new Dairy Queen and gas station on the causeway.

We planned to go to Savannah for a day trip, but I did not feel motivated to get up and make the 80-some mile  drive. We did not stay in Savannah because the hotel prices were high for St. Patrick's Day. DH said it was much quieter in Jekyll anyway, surrounded by the snowbirds. We always look for boat-tailed grackles, too, speaking of birds. Also sandpipers and seagulls.

We drove the length of the South Georgia Parkway, discussing the changes we could see in Albany Tifton, Waycross, etc. in five years or so. On Sunday,  we went to the Jekyll Island Art  Festival. We wandered around Goodyear Cottage looking at pottery, paintings, photography. One print I  got was of a bird reflected on the beach. I also got a set of notecards and a print of the marsh and palm trees (that I want to put in the new bathroom) by the same artist. 

We also went to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. I went through all the stations to get my form stamped and be a sea turtle for a day. We got to see several patients in their tanks. I also got a bracelet, a mug, a magnet, and stickers. All this shopping to help the sea turtles, right?

After that, we went to Brunswick and went to Books-A-Million and T. J. Maxx, where we went the week the stores opened, over 10 years ago. Wow! We ate at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, where they gave us enough fries for four people, I think. Then we went to Jekyll and walked on the beach. I am missing the seabreeze now when I go outside, and grackle screeches.

The next day we went to St. Simons Island, where the entrance was different, there were more traffic lights on Demere, and there was no traffic light where I told DH to turn left on Frederica Road. There is a new confusing roundabout, (pdf) instead. We went to the Stitchery, which was in a different location. We ate at Barbara Jean's, another place I have been going for years. After lunch we searched for Stepping Stones Quilts, which I knew was at the airport. It had not moved, but we drove around a lot. After we got home, I discovered the address was on my cell phone.

We had to walk through Neptune Park, which is where the public restrooms are, and down to the  St. Simons Lighthouse.  The pier was closed for repairs.

View of Jekyll from St. Simons. The tide was high, so there was no beach to walk on at SSI.

Then we went back to Jekyll and walked on the beach.  DH says he enjoyed walking for five miles and seeing two people, not crowds like Savannah or Destin. The weather was phenomenal, according to the TV  weather person in Jacksonville or Savannah. (Except for the last morning, when it was cloudy when DH planned to take photos of the sunrise, at 7:30.) Gee, WTOC has some of the same anchors and weatherman they had when I was at Georgia Southern long ago in the 80s.

I went back to St. Simons on Tuesday, and got a pedicure, then went to Brunswick to check Lowe's for paint, which I couldn't figure out, and ended up getting today at the Anniston store. I also had to go to the Publix supermarket store. I miss Publix, especially the bakery. I was hoping for Key Lime tarts, but had to settle for mini eclairs. DH drove everywhere, except for Tuesday, when I went to SSI and Brunswick.

Koala Bear-y, OPI

Palms on Jekyll


The Marshes of Glynn, and the Sidney Lanier bridge, from the observation deck at the Jekyll Island welcome center. I was more than six miles away from the bridge, on the Jekyll causeway.

I finished my second Ragtop Mitt, mainly while waiting for Farm Town on the Acer netbook. We had free, slow wi-fi in the hotel room. I didn't have the patience to blog. One mitt has the cuffs folded down, in convertible mode. Malabrigo Rios in Cumparsita, Ragtop pattern. After a failed attempt at a charted leaf toe-up sock pattern, I started the Roses for You socks, with the twin leaf lace pattern. I finished the toe before leaving on vacation. This is Sophie's Toes yarn in Autumn Leaves, I think. I did a couple of tiers on my entrelac throw, too.

Second Ragtop mitt

Finished mitt photos by DH

I got some more Malabrigo Rios at the Stitchery of St. Simons. Zarzamora

I also got Pagewood Farms Denali sock yarn in Woodsey.

I was in a purple mood, apparently. I got this Kroy FX sock yarn at Michael's.

Also, Belvedere says Happy St. Patrick's Day! I say I had to hold on to him, or he would knock off the headband and stomp on it, especially when I tried it on Punkin.