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!

Oh, The Weather

One day I go out early to walk Bo, and find this, frost on the ground. 

The next day it is gloomy and raining, but warmer. Variety is the spice of life. 

Last night, I made overnight apple butter.  10 apples went into the slow cooker, along with a cup of brown sugar and half a cup of honey. Spices were added. This morning, I smooshed the apples and cooked the mess some more. 3 3/4 half pint jars.

Three of them went in the freezer. 

I also made tomato tarts from garden tomatoes. For some reason, the homegrown ones are meatier than store bought. Tastier too. Pie crust, ricotta, Asiago cheese, and basil. Yum!

I cut them on quarters and put them in short muffins cups for a knitting guild potluck/holiday party. We don't meet in December. I brought home enough pieces for lunch tomorrow, as well as a corn muffin donated by another knitter who didn't need to take all her leftovers home. 

Am I Getting Old?

Not that the alternative is better. I've had a few things go missing recently, and I wonder if I'm losing my mind. I keep losing the Bluetooth earpiece for my phone. It is small and black. I misplaced the drawer money at work. It gets put in a small flat bag at the end of the day. I slipped in my computer case, and it fell into a pocket. Found it s few days later. Lost the Bluetooth again, found it again. I do have another one, because this has happened before. I leave it in a pocket and forget that I wore the garment when looking. It has only gone in the wash once. I had to replace it,because they are not designed to swim. Usually I plug it in at night along with my phone. That limits where it might be hiding.

This train of thought was triggered by my latest lost and found. I have been planning for over a week to make overnight apple butter. I checked the recipe and made sure to have all the ingredients. Then I lost the recipe. I thought it was on my iPad with my other electronic recipes, but couldn't find it. I was looking under the wrong name and the recipe collection has no index, to say nothing of an apple butter category. All's well now. I should put it together tomorrow night, because I'll have tie, in the morning to strain and package it.

What have I been doing besides knitting? Of course I've been knitting. A lot of what I have finished is Christmas gifts for family who read the blog and follow Facebook. What I've been doing is training my new dog and walking miles with him for exercise. I'm slowing down now that it's dark after work. He's a rescue dog. I have spent many dollars on him for shots neutering and training, which limits spending elsewhere. I have picked up another dry cleaner to do alterations for, so that will help pay back my savings account. 

Bo is about one year old and is the most loving dog, sometimes too much so. He's quiet and well trained enough to go to work with my on my days off if I need to work extra to meet deadlines.

I Think It's Spring

It's hard to tell, because it's still cold. We had a few days of warmth, enough to melt the snow piles! Things are starting to poke up out of the ground, but I've seen daffodils get snowed on.maybe this year will be different.

It is different, because I have already finished two Christmas presents. I'm sewing more birthday presents this year, which is quicker than knitting them. The one I just finished is a pair of socks.

The pattern was a challenge for Ravelry's Sock Knitters Anonymous. The category was under-appreciated patterns. I was the 4th person to knit this one. I found a mistake in the chart, but it was easy to knit correctly.

The other gift is a warm hat.

I've been working on a new sweater for myself. The body is about 1/2 done, 2" more before the armholes. The yarn was dyed by my local yarn store owner, and was my birthday gift to myself. I waited six months from the time I first admired it, and whenit was still there in the color I wanted, it became mine.

The back is longer than the front. It's a simple pattern.

Other than that, it's the same old thing, work, exercise, knit with friends, cook a few meals. I have a house guest this week. He arrived last evening. Don't get any ideas, he's a great guy married to his college sweetheart. Anyway, it was Friday in Lent, so I wanted something meatless that could be a big pot of goodness if he wanted dinner when he got in. This time I made Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup. I made a kit on Thursday, when I was off work. I did all the chopping and sautéing and set out the rest of the ingredients: black beans, pumpkin, diced tomatoes, veggie broth. Friday morning, I set the slow cooker on warm, and put everything in. Nothing needed cooking. When I came home from work it was ready.

Grey sweater even better

I wore the sweater yesterday, and the collar wouldn't stay folded down.

This morning I undid the bind off and added to the collar, starting at the top of the buttons and adding fewer stitches for each row until I had added another 2". This is more what I had in mind originally.

Recycle Success Grey Sweater Version

Over a year ago, I sat down in front of the Olympics and took a part a sweater. Ravelry called the event "Aerial Unwind" in their version of the Olympics. I had loved the sweater when I was a bigger person. I loved the yarn, so soft and squishy. It was my TKGA Masters program challenge, which means I designed it. I had the pattern in my computer.

I started here.

At the end of the Olympics, it had became a basket of yarn. I did a little bit each day and it was very freeing.

The yarn needed washing, which required a session with the yarn swift.to turn the balls into hanks.

After hanging in the basement to dry, it went into a laundry basket, and one hank at a time was put back on the swift and run through the ball winder.  Luckily I have acquired a lot of yarn toys like this over the years.

I had to rewrite the pattern in a much smaller size, leaving out some of the cable patterns that didn't fit, but all is finished. Yesterday, I finished the sweater, complete with buttons.

Today, I am wearing the sweater. It feels just as good as I imagined. I wound up the last of the yarn and put it away. There is over 500 yards of beautiful yarn, enough to do something with eventually. 

As with many people, I'm tired of winter and tired of wearing the same warm clothes. It's nice to have a new cuddley sweater!

Musings on a Very Cold Day

The weather here is still Arctic! We're not equipped to handle this much cold weather or continued snow. The driveways that get plowed have huge mountains at the street. It's supposed to warm up a little tomorrow.

I've been knitting. No surprise there! I finally made the mittens I need. The yarn was bought over a year ago when the previous mittens started growing holes.

My gray sweater has, not only a back, but two sleeves and two front pieces. I'm working on the front ribbing/collar now, 3" wide. Here's the latest photo from a week or so ago.

Can't take a photo now when it is scrunched up on the needle.

I finished a really warm hat today. I had a request from one family for warm hats as Christmas gifts and have been looking at patterns. This will be a gift for someone, but not the grandchildren of the request. I have something else in mind for them.

One of my neighbors got tired of the cold/snow/windchill that is keeping children home from school. There's a chili cook off at her house tonight. My oldest daughter sent me a recipe for Jalapeño Cheddar cornbread. I cooked it this morning. I happened to have all the ingredients. Should be fun.