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.

Stuff and Etc.

Since I haven't posted in a while, here are puppy pictures. I was trying to get a close up photo of Belvedere, who was not paying attention to me in the first photo, as carpenter bees were hovering around our heads.

Whut?

I started this sweater, Sedona, in Rowan Calmer yarn last August, according to Ravelry. Still plugging away when I feel like it. It is in a really boring stage for a few inches, but it is the last part, since the sleeves are done. The actual color is closer to denim.

I got this kit in the mail for the Freemans Alley mitts. This is for the Bright color. I already had the pattern, oh well. I had been looking at the kits ever since they became available. It is neat to have the small amounts of Koigu yarn.

Dude, look what I got at Big Lots. Yes, indeed, these are made in Vegas, baby. Mega Jackpot size. Love the chips on the label. DH says they are imported from a fun place to a really boring place.  I went in there to get DH some Kashi Go Lean protein bars and came out with the one box they had and lots of other snacks. I have seen them at Sams, hope they still have them there. 

I also went to Target with a handful of coupons, and still spent a lot. Like Big Lots, Target has stuff we can't find anywhere else. They did not have the Food Saver handheld vacuum thingie, for which I had both a manufacturers' coupon and a Target coupon, which would have theoretically made it free.

No more bargain k-cups at Kohl's though. I did not see any Nantucket iced coffee at all. Last time I went,  I found some for $3.59 a box.

 

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.

 

 

Knitting Again

First, a garden photo. I planted a handful of shallots and one came up. The flash went off in the shade. Another one is sprouting.

Someone is tired. What else is new?

Belvedere, Ursula and Beau's back

Our new addition, Beauregard. Beau lost part of his ear when he was a puppy. Think he got the muzzle scar then too. DH's friend brought the dog to us  from Birmingham. Beau is wagging his whole body and grabbing biscuits out of Belvedere's mouth.


OK, I have been knitting on the 3 Button Wrap in Plymouth Llama Silk. It is a burgundy color.  Yes, I did have fun taking pictures. The last two are more like the color.

 

 I went searching for the three buttons for the wrap on Etsy, and found polymer clay ones at Rock  Paper Scissors.

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?

 

 

Knitting and Jamming

So I have made jam/butter etc. out of stuff from the yard and the garden: tomatoes, peaches, figs, and blueberries from the freezer.

yellow and orange cherry tomato jam

blueberry butter is a little thick, but tastes good.

oh yeah, made a pound cake in there somewhere

We also took time to bathe Belvedere. Boy, does his fur feel better. He likes the washing part, and especially loves drying, but hates rinsing. He escaped once with shampoo all over him.

We had a few peaches left on the ground, for a little jam

Saturday, I made pesto, tomato sauce and fig jam (above). The figs are just starting to ripen, and the mockingbirds are happy, though not wth me.

I actually did a little knitting, startng on Sedona wth Rowan Calmer yarn in a  denim color. It's in the container with the parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, hee hee.

 

 

 

In Which We Go for a R-i-d-e

DH made the mistake of asking Belvedere if he wanted to go car-car. So he was excited for a couple of days. Belv needed routine shots and was limping. I think it is from a broken toenail-but he wasn't letting the vet look at it after he stuck needles in his back. I have to get heavy duty nail clippers, as I could only trim a little bit of the nail.

Anyway, that morning Belv looked very disappointed when I went grocery shopping without him, so when DH went to clean out the back of the truck cab, he was determined to go in the truck. So we got to the vet early. Most of the way, Belv had the front part of his body and legs on the center console between us. He was a pretty good boy, even when a  brave Chihuahua yipped at him. Belv always attracts a lot of attention, and people want to know his weight (187) and how much he eats.

He knows where we are-but he likes going to the vet.

OK, I will get off the console. He lay down, with his nose between the console and the passenger seat.

Yes, I have been knitting, still on Zoe. The yarn, Cascade Cotton Club, is a little greener than this.

No Title Comes to Mind

DH planted my sweet potatoes today. They are Bush Porto Rico, so are not supposed to vine all over. We have a soaker hose for them. Hope they do well, as it is a little late to plant them. We let them grow up a little before transplanting.

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Lemon Queen sunflowers reseeded themselves from last year.

Tomatoes in the garden. One Brandy Boy tomato plant is as tall as I am

I used some angel food cake that was getting dry to make Red, white and blueberry trifle.

Belvedere loves having his chest scratched.