What to do on a rainy day

On Wednesday morning I went walking with two of my friends. It was chilly but dry. Thursday was grey and very windy. Bo and I had a lazy day.

I got some knitting done, and took a nap. This will be a child's sweater for Wool-Aid. I'm writing the pattern in five sizes. So far the body is written, but sleeves and neckband still need to be done. The yarn is left over from a sweater knit last year for a customer, and is Lambs Pride wool.

Friday saw more wind, rain, and sleet. The morning walk wasn't bad, the wet weather held off until later. In the evening, we were crossing a busy street when the sleet hit. Bo was not happy, although he calmed down a minute later.

This morning, we saw this as we were heading home. A quick shot, while Bo stood still. We were about three feet away, so I tried a quick shot, out of focus.  Next time I'll try to give the phone time to focus.

We see deer often on our walks. They have nibbled my green pepper tops and flowers from the mums in my front yard. So far they haven't eaten whole plants.

There certainly are days when I wouldn't walk if I didn't have a dog. A canine exercise partner won't take no for an answer. Most days however, I feel good once I'm out and moving!

Wet Wool

Hanging in my basement. Clean wool that used to be a big warm comfy sweater. Too big!! I unraveled the sweater during the Olympics. It took a while to make all the hanks, so I could wash it. Some of them are a bit tangled, and will have to be wound by hand into balls again. I may rewind with the ball winder. I still need to rework the pattern, but I'm not ready to start knitting yet. There are a few clean socks on the line too. As long as I was washing wool......

I've been working on a pair of socks for a birthday present. One sock is finished, but no photos until after the birthday.

I finally put some patterns up for sale on Ravelry. Reworked two patterns with new PDFs and put up a new sock pattern, McClay Gardens Socks. Tomorrow, I'll put them on Patternfish and send the socks to DD# 5 for inclusion in her online store.

It's a peaceful holiday weekend. The grass is mowed! I still have veggies and flowers to put in the ground, but the weather should be good for that..

Another scarf finished

Thursday
Planting happened. I moved a number of plants before my sister arrived. She brought 7 hostas from her yard. I had some dusty-miller/ plants that made a nice border last year. They didn't die over the winter, and this year they grew and grew. looking on Google, I still don't know if they are annuals or perennials. Last winter was mild. They might die off this year. At any rate I want to plant something else in that border next year. I'm thinking a combination of flowers and lettuce.

Friday
Busy day at work, finally! It's been so slow that it'll be hard to pay bills. I'm afraid to look at the bank account. today I had a couple of alterations jobs quick quick, because of the Jewish holidays. Easy hems as waist adjustments, and same day money. It works for me!

I finished a charity scarf made from off bits of yarn. there is a lot of Wool Ease in it, as well as some mystery yarns. I started with a chunky yarn and 20 sts. I doubled most of the rest of the yarns. Each square is 20 ridges, and is offset by 10 sts.

Tonight I cooked up the rest of my green beans and turned them into my favorite green bean salad. I found this salad in the heat of the summer when a neighbor gave me some fresh green beans. It  has lettuce and feta cheese. Dressing is olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and orange juice. Fennel seeds and dried cranberries are added. YUM!

This and that

Monday
Stocking #4 is finished. Only one more to go. Sometimes even one hour a day is a slog. When I get to the family stockings, it will  go better, since I'll design those. Right now I don't even know what the base color will be for each stocking. I know where to look it up. Both family stockings are for guys, so they'll be striped. I'm thinking peerie patterns.

The cooler weather is better if the house can be heated. Scott the furnace guy cam early this morning and diagnosed my problem as  a hidden switch that needed to be reset. The wind caused a back draft down my chimney. At least it didn't cost any money, since he was just here on Thursday fixing things. Bronte the dog was sure he had come just to pet her. She can act fiercely protective, but she's a different dog if you are in her circle of friends

I had a mystery soup  for dinner today. It was something unlabeled from the freezer. Now I wish i knew what the recipe was. It was a lentil soup and looked like it had spinach in it. Next thing out of the freezer will be turkey carcasses. It's time to make more broth. I'm not sure, but I think that what I froze is from turkey breasts, not enough to make broth from just one of them.

Tuesday
Good thing Scott showed me where that switch is. I had to reset the boiler again today.

Bronte the dog got to go to the vet for a check-up. It always seems to cost more money than I expect. At  least it's only once a year.

I made a white beans & shrimp recipe in the Crock pot. It was very good, but my sister is coming to Cleveland Thursday and I don't think I will serve it for lunch. It looks bland. There are many dishes that taste really good, but you shouldn't serve to company, because they don't look very good. In this case, a little color would have helped. All is not lost, I'll just eat it myself.

Knitting at the library tonight. Worked on my latest pair of socks. I resisted the free yarn give-away. I have lots of factory yarn that is to think to be hand knit as is. Resistance was easy.

Wednesdaty
Reset the boiler again. It's getting warmer, but still raining. Where was all this rain over the summer? The tomato avalanche has slowed down. there are still plenty of green tomatoes, but they're not ripening as fast.

I've decided that Thursday lunch will be Pumpkin & black bean soup. Dear sis will just be here for a few hours. She's bringing some hostas thinned from her yard. I need more plants in my yard. Many of the things I have bought over the years have died or been eaten by the rabbit.

I finished the name on the last customer stocking.

The Tomatoes are Ripe

Tomatoes
They have been ripe for a month. I have bags of frozen tomatoes. I've eaten salads and wrap sandwiches. I made tomato soup. I've roasted tomatoes. The variety is endless. I have lots of new recipes that I like. One of my favorites is chicken tomato pizza. I use preformed pizza dough, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, cooked chicken (a staple in my house), basil, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Stick in the oven until brown.

So far, all the extra tomatoes have gone in the freezer. I still might can some, but right now, I can't put my hands on my jar lifter. I really need it if I'm going to get jars our of boiling water. I can buy a new one for not much money, but I still have one more place to look. Also, if I don't actually get to canning, I won't need it.

Overnight oatmeal
A new discovery that one of my daughters found. It's made in a jar and eaten cold. So far I have tried blueberry, peach and apple. I may have tried more flavors, but they're not at the top of my mind. One daughter thinks the chocolate ones might make a good snack. Another daughter has made up large batches of pumpkin flavored jars. In looking for the link, I found a number of other recipes on Google. The one I've used combines the oats with yogurt, some of the others just use milk.

Sock Knitting

These were a birthday gift for oldest daughter. I thought of them as butterflies, but she's a quilter and saw them as bow ties. The technique is Mosaic, using only one color per row, and slipping the other color.


Daughter number three has a birthday the day after her sister. She got these socks. The dishcloth shows the stitch pattern.

Patterns for both pairs are available on Ravelry and Patternfish

We also have a granddaughter with a September birthday.. She was in town last weekend to celebrate and show off her son, who is 4 months old. She got the last pair of socks. I followed a Ravelry mystery pattern for these.

I also am knitting Christmas stockings. I have 5 identical stockings, except for name, to do for a commission job. Three are finished and I'm working on #4. As it's getting colder, I set myself the task of knitting on them at least one hour a day. I also have two family stockings to do, one for the new great grandson and one for a granddaughter's husband. Should have done that one last year. Every year or so, I knit stockings for other people. It's the same story. Grandma knit stockings until she couldn't any more and the family kept growing. I've knit a version of this pattern before. Most of what I've knit are old Bernat patterns. A few I've had to design myself. The family patterns are all original. I'll talk more about them when I get to that point.

Sunshine sweater
 This sweater looks almost like I wanted it to, but it doesn't work! There is no stability in the neckline, and it slid down as I wore it. Luckily it was just a dog walk of about 20 minutes. I'm now on try #3 of the neckline. I've kept the v-neck, but gone with a more conventional look. I'll wear it for a while before I call it done. I may have to crochet around the neck edge to keep it from stretching. I still love the yarn and stitch pattern, but I sure am ready for this to be really finished.

I finally figured out the time delay on my camera. It's a good thing that I'm not using up film on pictures the crop off part of my body.

Possibilities

 
This week is full of possibilities. Tomatoes are almost ripe on 3 plants (different varieties). The possibilities of ripe tomatoes are endless, from salads to soups to main dishes.

This basil had the potential for being made into pesto. I made two batches so far. The ice cube trays were frozen and the cubes popped out and bagged.

 

This batch has cheese.

The sweater is almost finished. I'm actually above the armholes now and running short of yarn. Not to worry, I can knit up the swatch and raid an old project for more of the solid yellow yarn if needed.

I missed tonight's guild meeting. My cousin popped into town, bringing my sister and her daughter with her. It's along story and a spur of the moment decision. Haven't seen cousin H from Michigan since 2005 for my other sister's 60th birthday. I'm Facebook friends with her daughter.

Back to knitting the sweater. I have to knit fast before I run out of yarn.

Focused Mindlessness

Watching the Olympics, I heard this phrase describing embroidery in the time of King Henry VIII. It is also an apt description of much of the knitting I do. This kind of knitting is ideal for tv watching, your hands keep working, but your mind is not totally engaged. It can also be used to describe other activities, like swimming, which I'm this summer for the first time in years. I forgot how much I enjoy it.

I've added to my solar powered collection. I now have an owl, which also looks good in the daytime. It sits on a table below the wind chime made by my youngest daughter. Her current hobby is making things from glass. She has an Etsy shop with lots of beautiful jewelry.

More Solar Power

I finally have photos of the solar powered lights that were added to my yard this year. The green lights are butterflies. Still don't have a good picture of those. In the front yard, the lights close to the house are insects, which change color. We have had lights before, but they wore out. all these are new. I makes me smile to look at them. Isn't that what you want from your yard?

I think I am surprising myself by how much time I'm spending working on the yard this year now that the whole thing is my responsibility. The lawn was DH's job, which he delegated to a landscaper the last few years. The short story is that we had a relatively new mower, and I won't cut down flowers.

I'm trying vegetables again this year. The tomatoes are doing well, although not red yet.

Last year, the rabbits ate all the leaves from my pepper plants. This year they are in containers on my porch. the first to ripen is a purple variety. It's about 2" long now. I'll pick it when it starts to turn red. I don't know what size it will be, so that seems the best way. The other peppers are coming along. the next biggest one is green.

 Business has picked up at work. The orders are bigger this week. One of the most interesting jobs involved making a sari blouse. The sari comes with fabric on one end for the blouse. In this case It was a coordinate, sewn to the end of the sari. Different from fashion blouses, these are very fitted and short. They are made with about 1" of fabric in the side seams to be let out if needed as the wearer grows/ages. These garments are kept for years, so the flexibility is needed. The sari itself is wrapped to fit every time it is put on.Other than that, it's been hem week at work. I probably do more hems than anything else.

Knitting has been a large pair of birthday socks. My Olympic knitting challenge will start when these are finished. These match a pair knit for my daughter earlier this year.

What a week

It started with a birthday party for the 5 yr old paleontologist. Not surprising, most of his gifts were dinosaur related, as was his cake, both of them. His day stared with a playground party with his friends. DD said it was the easiest party ever. Note that the cake is made of cupcakes, so easy to serve. DD#1 was there, having ridden her motorcycle in from Jacksonville, Florida. She's staying with them for the week.

My gift to him was a Stegosaurus hat, similar to one I had made for his brother at the same age.

Sunday night my nephew from Hawaii arrived in Ohio. Luckily for me, he was staying with my sister. His plane actually arrived at 1:00 AM Monday morning. The 5 hour time difference was in his favor. My sister and her DH went straight to bed. We had dinner with them Monday night. It made for a long day for me, since it's a 2 hour drive each way. I left work at 12:00 and had a nice afternoon with them. My bookworm granddaughter went down with me. She'll be a high school senior this next year, so it wasn't like herding cats, which I'm out of practice at. Nephew C is at the center. He hasn't been to Ohio for 25 years, since my mother died.

The photo was taken on Tuesday. My sister gave me a trunk load of plants for my yard on Monday. She noticed that my yard was sparsely planted and she had lots fo things that needed thinning. I spent Tuesday in the yard, in the heat, mowing, edging, weeding and planting. I also had bought more solar powered lights, which are now installed. Note to self - get a picture when they are lit. I also bought some dragonflies for the front yard. Half of them aren't dragonflies, but still pretty. It took me four days to notice the difference. They change color; red, blue, green. I am so tempted to buy some more, but I'm resisting so far!

Wednesday, I ate left overs from Tuesday. DD#5 flew into Ohio, but had a business meeting at Kent. She booked a hotel room and invited me to join her. The hotel room gave her peace and quiet to make notes and digest the meeting. She was treated to dinner, so I came down after work. We hung around for the evening , swimming in the pool, sitting in the hot tub, etc. I was knitting a sock for her DH who has a birthday in early August. The hotel is in Cuyahoga Falls, right on the falls. I had to get home quickly in the morning to let the dog out. DD had rented a car, so she came shortly after. She stayed with me Thursday night.

Thursday we were back at my sister's house for a baby shower. Her youngest daughter is due in September and it was a good time for another family gathering. It's a large family with all my kids and their families. At least one advantage of not being able to get everyone at one. Dear Nephew got to meet them gradually. Monday's dinner included DD#4 and her 3 kids. the kids stayed home Thursday. Those attending were Me, my son and his daughter (same as Monday's gathering), DD#1, DD#4, and DD#5. The shower was held in the garage, due to a 70% chance of rain. Of course, in thei drought stricken area, it didn't rain until we were driving home. Yes, I missed getting a picture of the mom-to-be.

Friday we gathered at DSon's house, just my family, so out of town daughters had a chance to spent time with siblings.

Saturday was a high school graduation party at DSon's. Sister came with nephew and her older daughter B. B had just arrived from New Yiork city. More getting to know each other better. She's becoming a teacher, and spent much time talkingtalking education theory with DD#5, a social psychology professor at Florida State. Phone numbers and e-mails were updated as well ad snail mail addresses. This is the year of more communication. One of the benefits of having my DH die. We realized that we needed to connect more with each other.

It's been a long, long time

For the past month, I've spent much of my free time in the yard. I've learned to operate the lawn mower and the weed whacker. The watering system has been conquered. Weeds have been pulled. Flowers, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs have been planted.I'm getting close to the maintenance phase of the job. I do enjoy it, but so many things this year have had a learning curve attached.

Knitting has occurred, but not as much. I haven't worked much on the yellow sweater, but this is what the yarn looks like. I finished a sleeve, and the back is started.


















I finished a pair of socks for myself. Crystal Palace Mini Mochi is not an indestructible yarn, so not suitable for gifts.


I've knit many dishcloths. This last batch was a wedding present for a kitting friend.



For mother's day we did the traditional family breakfast at Bob Evans, trying a new location near me this time. I received this picture of a group of silly little people and two measuring cups with markings I can read. The white rings can be read from the top.

I'm one of many people who keep using what we have, even when it should be replaced. apparently I said something about not being able to read markings on one of my measuring cups.

I've been in training for Ravelympics. The Stash Knit Down group has a training challenge. Right ow I'm doing endurance training, knit the same project for ten days. I started a pair of socks with a simple pattern last Friday night (June 1). I needed something to knit while my friend drove tot he wedding.  These socks also qualify for the Sock Knitters Anonymous challenge since I am using an under appreciated pattern. This one is from a 1994 Socka book. I can triple dip with the solid socks group since the yarn is semi-solid and green for this month.

In addition, it is a Crystal Palace yarn (Panda Silk) so will count toward the 12 month challenge in that group.

I skipped the sock challenge last month to finish my jacket and get the dishcloths done for the wedding. It's not like I need socks. What I need is to knit a few other things on my list!

That Sweater Again

Last night, I finished the back of the sweater. Celebration time! During the night, I wondered if the shoulders fit. Measure shoulders, stick out lower lip and pout. They were two inches too wide. There is no sense in leaving them too large, as this time the sweater is supposed to fit me instead of being over-sized.

I have re-figured the sweater body with new numbers for the armhole decreases and the neck shaping. Double checked that all adds up to the number of stitches actually on the needles. dis-assembled the sweater down to the armholes and started again. There were a couple of problems in the last iteration that I was ignoring. They are now gone and will not reappear. All the yarn from both sleeves of the original version is in this photo.

In the meantime, I must finish a birthday gift for a Monday birthday. I also have to finish putting together my tax info and get it to my accountant. Update - done!

At the yarn store knit-in, I got the sock done to the toe. There is a good chance of finishing tonight.

The weather is cold again here in NE Ohio, but I stopped at the garden center to see what they had. Most hings will be in for planting in late April. they have pansies now. I may get some next week if I can clean out where they go. I'm also thinking about a Hydrangea bush for the back yard. I saw bright pink and bright blue today. The ones in the front yard are pale green. today's task was to remove volunteer day lilies from the front lawn. It feels good to play in the dirt!

New Sock Designs

I've finished another pair of socks and still need to write the pattern, although the charts are done which is the hardest part. The yarn is from Knit Picks and the Solid socks group color was orange. SKA had a write your own pattern challenge this month, so I did. They also have a self-striping challenge, but I don't seem to have any yarn that qualifies. I do tend to buy solids and semi-solids because I like texture.

I have some yarn that I thought would stripe, but the color lengths are too short. I'm working on a pattern for that one that would have worked with stripes. The hitch is that they are supposed to move up and down by in creases and decreases, rather than just be straight.

Last weekend was busy. On Saturday, I had to work, but SKA had a photo scavenger hunt. All photos had to have a sock in progress in the photo. This is the first year I've participated. I asked lots of friends to help me. A neighbor provided the child under 12 on a bicycle. He was supposed to hold the sock, but he'd only had the bike about 5 days and was busy. Another friend in uniform held the sock, but I didn't realize he should have been on his bicycle. There was a limit of 10 photos. I think I posted 9. Some of my best ideas didn't work, but there's always next year. I went to see a world famous politician, but his monument was closed about 1/2 hour before I got there. There were hundreds of non-knitters in the cemetery too, but I needed to be knitting in front of them. DH will be put to work on more photos next year.

Sunday I went to Columbus, OH for the TNNA trade show. My LYS owner drove, so I got a lot of knitting done. Talked to many people about designing and got a few good handouts. I also had Jeni's ice cream for lunch ( a must if I'm in the area)

I'm growing tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in my garden this year as well as a few herbs and the usual flowers. Last year I tried tomatoes, but planted them under two trees. The area used to have lots of sunshine. I did get some tomatoes, but this year should be better.

Winding Up May

The last prom has been held. The orange dress had lots more rhinestones added to it. It wasn't hard, just time consuming. I can live without the glue covered fingers, however.

My last challenge was to shorten a dress from the middle. The skirt fit without hemming, but the top stood up from her shoulders. I took 3 1/2" out at the waist. I wasn't entirely happy with the fit, but it was a last minute job and had the advantage of lacing up the back.

We had our usual Memorial Day gathering at my daughter's house. It was warm enough for kids in the sprinkler, although the grass in back of the house was a swamp and we all sat on the driveway.

I finished another pair of socks, a mystery pair with beads strung on the yarn, a first for me. The design is called Artichoke.

I also finished a sweater that has been in the works since last August. The pattern was easy, so it was my go to project for when I needed mindless knitting. Once upon a time last summer, our guild had a scarf knit-along. I loved the yarn and there was lots left over, so i started a top down sweater, thinking that I could finish it with something else if the yarn ran out. I probably could knit a shawl with what's left now.

The pattern is fairly lacy, so I'll be wearing something under it. The picture tries to show the sheerness as well as the subtle colors. for a couple of hours, I had nothing on my needles except another fashionista scarf. From now until the September guild meeting, I'll be knitting scarves, although I've slowed down now. Total stands at 13 1/2 scarves.

This month';s sock challenge is DYO in one group and orange in another. Another option is stripes. Use self striping yarn, but pick a pattern that is not straight stripes, make them wave or do zigzags. I have a design for that too. I'm not sure my yarn qualifies for self striping, but will fit the DYO option. Photos later.

I've been working on the garden. All the annuals flowers are planted. Rain really slowed that job down. Every time I had the time. it rained. I also bought tomatoes and peppers in a number of varieties.

Remodeling continues. One bedroom is finished and another one needs to be emptied. DH decided that the guest be needed to be replaced, so we bought a bed frame. We'll keep the headboard. He also decided that it was time to replace the waterbed. The weight of it has caused damage to walls below it, and it will need to be moved for painting and electrical work. We bought a mattress to fit the frame. I'd really hate to give up the drawers under the bed. I'd have nowhere to put all my socks.

Remodeling daughter has given up sugar for the next month, so I'm having to get creative with the lunches I leave for her. Recently it's been salads, so I made dressing last week. I've found that I can use plain yogurt and sour cream as well as olive oil and wine vinegar. Mayo contains sugar, and I'm not ready to try making my own.

My favorite picnic salad is made from seedless watermelon, tomatoes, and fresh basil, dressed with olive oil and wine vinegar.

Mud season with a touch of green.

Progress continued on the yellow socks. One was finished. I have also started another mystery sock. Do i need more socks??? NO! Do I want more socks??? Yes! Why, because they're pretty, and fun to knit. The yarn for this one is really interesting. I bought it on the guild yarn hop last fall. I was at YarnMarket and it called to me. It's Ty-Dy Sock from Knit One Crochet Too.

The weekend cultural adventure did not see the sock. It was time to work on the shawl I keep in my purse. I probably showed this before, but not recently. The yarn is Zino from Plymouth Yarns. They asked me to make a shawl from it, but I'm getting no response to e-mails, so think they don't like what I've done. Therefore, I have little movitation to work on it.

What was the cultural adventure? Last time was ballet. This time it was opera. This is the third time that the Cleveland Orchestra has presented fully staged opera at Severance Hall. Our director imports the production from the Zurich Opera, which must have a similar stage, not build for theater with wings and fly loft, etc. Scenery is minimal, but effective. So far, all the operas have been by Mozart. This time it was Don Giovanni. We've seen another production of this in the past. This was very different. It also helps that we have seats in the fourth row, so we are right on top of the stage. I hope to see more operas live with the Cleveland Orchestra, but no plans have been announced.

Spring has come to NE Ohio. Warm weather, warm enough to wear my Birkenstocks. Cold weather, like today with a hint of snow. Lots of rain, causing mud. Green things poking out of the ground. So far, I've seen crocuses and snow drops on our dog walks. Nothing blooms in my yard yet, except mud, especially where the snow plow tore up the lawn.

I have been alternating the yellow socks with a one ball scarf. It's much longer now. I'll probably have to spread it out to see the pattern. The yarn is CPY Sausilito, which has color variation. The yellow socks are finished and the sun came out. Here's a view of the socks, some day lilies, and mud covered by dark mulch.

I now have all the clues for the mystery sock, so I'm working on that.

I also made myself a pair of slacks. I found some nice plaid fabric at a very good price. I used it as a muslin for a new pattern. Can't find the one I used last time, so I traced from the last pair of slacks. I like the new pattern better, but it needs a little more tweaking. I'm wearing the plaid slacks now. Nothing like wearing something to know if the fit is right. All it need now is a little taking in at the back waist. Next up is a knit top and then another version of the slacks.