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

 

 

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)

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Years at Callaway Gardens

I spent the weekend at Callaway Gardens with 24 of my siblings, nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews. The "old people" were in one villa, and the rowdy people in another. We had Christmas again. I gave out 18 jars of preserves, jam, jelly, etc.

On Friday night, everybody went to the Fantasy in Lights display. We heard there were 8 million light bulbs. No, my pictures did not come out.  On Saturday, the old people went to the Day Butterfly Center, Ida Cason Callaway Memorial Chapel, the Sibley Horticultural Center and Mr. Cason's Vegetable Garden to see the Victory Garden and any gift shop along the way.

Those look like real antlers to me

Too bad my photo of my sister and sister-in-law straightening the bows did not turn out

It sounded as though there was a big waterfall behind the chapel, but it turned out to be a small one on big rocks.

Mountain Weekend

I  spent the weekend with my sister in the North Georgia  mountains. We stayed in Sautee-Nacoochee at Lucille's Mountaintop Inn. It was literally on a mountaintop. The weather was really nice, and the leaves are just starting to change. We had great breakfasts and desserts in the afternoon.

We met in Dahlonega, at Magical Threads quilt/yarn shop. I thought that was a great combination, and a tuxedo kitty cat who batted at the ties on my pants. I got some Berrocco Sox yarn in purple. I didn't get any quilting stuff. We closed down the store and got out of Dahlonega right before the streets were closed for Gold Rush Days.

We went to the Georgia Literary Festival on Saturday, and went to Hofer's of Helen for dinner, along with everybody else around there  for Oktoberfest.

I got a yarn bowl, something that I did not even know I wanted until I spotted it in the Gallery Too at the Sautee Nacoochee Center

Now for some mountain pictures for my sister

This branch caught my eye, and I kept trying to capture it.

The gazebo was in a little garden below our room. The covered walkway behind it goes from the inn to the spa.

Heading South

Or at least getting ready to head south. My knitting has not changed much, because I have not done much of it lately. (The i key on my laptop sticks or something-I can spell.)  I have been waiting to get more Rowan Calmer yarn for Sedona. I got some on eBay and it was even the same dye lot.

I made pumpkin spice granola today. I had not found canned pumpkin, but had to get a pie punkin and cook it to make puree. I misread the recipe and added less brown sugar, but it tastes good anyway.

So I thought I would distract you with hummingbirds. (Not only shiny, but iridescent. )  I bought a 10 pound bag of sugar today. I have been canning and DH has been feeding hummies.

We are covered up in tiny, twittering brids zooming by our heads. They perch on plants, the basketball goal, the pecan tree beside the house and the wires for the antenna. No longer on the TV antenna, however, which fell over during the April tornado.

Of course, some of us here are not fazed by 20 or so twittering, zooming things around the patio.

Hummingbirds? What hummngbirds?

 

 

Canning and Caterpillars

I saw some decapitated parsley plants, and kept looking for swallowtail caterpillars. I found some in the next couple of days after finding the chewed parsley. They were on the dill in the next planter.  I was wondering if frass serves as fertilizer.The red in the background of the caterpillar shot is the periwinkle (vinca) that DH has nutured through 2 winters.

I left the pupa alone to try to see the butterfly emerge. I always wanted to do that when I was young, but my mother would rather have the parsley and dill plants.

I made real old fashioned fig preserves yesterday. No ginger, just figsm sugar and lemon. I have one Dutch oven that six pounds of figs and five pounds of sugar barely fit into. I cooked it over an hour, which is about how long it takes the canner to boil on the extra burner because we have a ceramic cooktop. I really have to start using the hot water pot.

I also made some more crushed tomatoes today-using the 5.5 qt Crock pot, rather than several. I made some oven-roasted sauce with onions and garlic and fresh basil, rosemary, thyme and oregano for lunch.

Speaking of tomatoes, I picked some cherry tomatoes (below) and froze them whole, after being inspired by this blog post. The Virginia Peach was too pretty to cook today.

In other gardening news, the gourd vine is encroaching on the patio. I have dubbed it the John L. Ells, Sr. memorial gourd vine because my FIL loved to grow gourds and make birdhouses. We think the seed was from one of his gourds. One year, a vine went up the gutter and on the roof and TV antenna.

Look, knitting! I have gotten a lot done on Sedona (in Rowan Calmer yarn) in the past couple of days. DH had gasric bypass surgery Wednesday, and I knitted in waiting rooms and his room. I have the pdf of the pattern on my new ASUS Transformer tablet. It is an Android 3.2 tablet, which looked really different from my Android phone, until the phone updated itself to Android 2.3.  Now they both really look pretty much the same. At least I only have to get used to the new operating system once. Does that even make sense?

UPS brought me a new canner. I broke down and ordered the Ball Elite stainless steel canner. I could hardly get my graniteware pint canner's lid to close yesterday with six pints of fig preserves. It does better with half pints.

I did not can anything today because I had a bad headache, plus, after it was gone, I spent time getting that label off. I peeled part of it off right away. I should have listened to the reviewers and either set the box outside for a time, or used a blow dryer on the glue. I refused to use Goo Gone and bring back my headache, so I tried soaking it in soapy water, and got the paper off. Then I Googled, and tried rubbing alcohol. Then I found the Simple Green and sprayed the glue and let it sit. Then I was able to get the glue off with an old  toothbrush and elbow grease.  There is a Ball logo above the label. as well as on the glass lid. It has a flat rack, which allows more jars to fit. I  need to pick figs.

Please Help with Disaster Relief

Please help disaster victims across the South, or wherever you choose to donate.  I will gift a person drawn randomly from comments on this blog post or the previous one with a skein of Wollmeise Twin wool/nylon sock yarn. The label says, "We're different." It is RED. The yarn is posing on  a downed tree limb. Please leave a comment telling me you have donated to the agency of your choice by midnight Central Time May 6. We do have power now, so I can tell time, LOL.

Some suggestions:

Americares

Red Cross Mid Alabama Region or text 90999 to REDCROSS ($10 added to cell phone bill)

Salvation Army or call 1-800-SAL-ARMY and designate April 2011 Tornado Outbreak.  Donors may text “GIVE” to 80888.  Checks may be made out to The Salvation Army Disaster Relief, P.O. Box 100339, Atlanta, GA 30384-0339.

 

 

Knitting and Storm

Wednesday night I did take my Xmas stocking in the basement with flashlight and Belvedere and Junior the chow/lab mix. I knitted by lantern light while they tried to crawl under my legs. As soon as the big storm passed Belvedere relaxed and slept through the next round of thunder and lightning. He was nervous all day Wednesday and stuck to DH or me. A storm came through around 6 in the morning and we lost power. JSU delayed opening until 10 am, then closed at noon. We had sunshine and blue skies for hours, then the big storm hit, after it traveled from Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. We lost power again at 7 pm or so. The power cooperative says it could be 7-10 days for the county, as the TVA lines were all knocked down. t seems as if it happened a long time ago. The TV antenna bent double, but the satellite dish was fine. a lot of trees and limbs are down. We have water, and our house and lives and animals. A cold shower is nothing compared to what people lost a few miles away.

DH's sister brought a generator from Atlanta, and 10 gallons of gas. We run the deep freeze and refrigerator and a lamp, box fan and TV. Even crockpot last night.

The neat part is the control and key start indoors

DH has been picking up limbs and debris with the help of his cleanup buddies.

Look at the sky the day after.

We feel very lucky to only have bent antenna and downed trees.

 
I have knit on third Xmas stocking. I had an LED knitting light that goes around my neck. I turned the heel last night

 

 

 

 

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.

 

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.