Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Hats Belong on Heads

One of the best things in the world is getting a picture of someone wearing the item you knit for them. My beautiful great-neice Leila models her hat perfectly. They look SO much better on the baby's head. So cute!!

Monday, October 11, 2010

It's Not Easy Being Green

So we've come to the end of summer and I realize my much neglected garden has been picked clean of any semblance of red tomatoes by my puppy Spanky but it is flat out filled with green ones of all shapes and sizes. I planted (2) Cherry Tomatoes, (2) Sungold Tomatoes, and (2) Better Boy plants. While I haven't touched these plants in at least a month, the dog has thoroughly enjoyed their bounty but managed to leave enough I needed to figure out what to do with them. I searched through the recipes on AllRecipes and found an intriguing one for Green Tomato Relish. Since most of my tomatoes are not big enough to slice and fry, this seemed like a good option.

Therefore, Saturday I picked the remainder of the various tomatoes left in the small garden and filled about 1/3 of a typical reuse grocery bag. Then I sorted through them all and picked off stems and removed any icky tomatoes from the piles. I ended up with a large mixing bowl and a medium size split relish bowl filled with worthy bounty.
I love the shapes and colors in these! I decided I had about half the amount of tomatoes the recipe called for so I halved most of the ingredients in the recipe except for green peppers which I completely eliminated. I really don't like Green Peppers. I also made two jars worth with no Mustard seeds just for Mom to avoid her allergy issues. See Mom, I take care of ya!
The results are 12 jars of Relish and me trying to figure out who's going to eat all this stuff. It was pretty yummy when it went in the jar so I think I'll find some folks willing to give it a go. Good Christmas presents I think. :)

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Starry Citron

While touring Ravelry for a way to use my beautiful Dream in Color Starry, I came across this other knitters Citron with a beaded edge and I knew immediately I must use the beautiful, sparkly yarn I had in just this way. I also thought the sparkle in this yarn was perfect to put more sparkly on the edge and I really just love sparkly. Can you tell? Citron is one of the hot new patterns and adding these beads just seems to kick it up a notch. Love it! When I went to my local bead store in search of the perfect complementary bead, I just about lost it. They had a rainbow worth of colors but none seemed just right with the colors in the yarn. And then I moved a little further down the line to the stone beads and saw the hematite. I love hematite. I love the magnetic power in the stone and how you can't really say just what color it is. Is it black, grey, silver, I just don't know. But upclose next to this yarn, it's color is perfect!
I decided on a garter stitch ruffle and did 6 ridges. I might have been able to get a few more ridges out of the single skein I had but since I never beaded anything before, I wasn't sure what I would need and didn't want to risk it. I love the way this turned out!
I so loved my Starry Citron that I started thinking about the next one. I was shopping at the local Tuesday Morning and discovered some beautiful green beads and knew I had the beads for my next shawl. Then, what yarn to use? Well I have the most beautiful yarn from Dyeabolical and thought maybe it would work. Well, after winding it into a ball, I realized I can't get my crochet hook through my beads and I'm no longer certain this is the right yarn for a Citron; too much color variation I think. Tonight I hope to find the perfect pattern for the gorgeous yarn shown below.
Lastly, a quick little baby hat for the Great-Niece of my partner. Simple 48 stitches cast on, 2x2 rib for a while, stockinette for a while, decrease. Pretty cute.
Now I'm trying to decide what to take with me on a trip I am leaving for in the morning. Will it be a pair of socks? Another shawlette? A hat? Hmm..time to decide.




Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Falling for Fall

Don't be fooled, the photos below are not what I'm seeing out the window around herejust yet; they are what I am waiting for. I, like many others, really like this time of year. I like the cool weather. I like being able to use the oven again. But most of all, I like the colors and what they make me dream about.


Beautiful!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

End of Summer


So traffic on the way to work keeps getting heavier as schools start the new year and I feel a need to just get away. I decided to take a couple of days off and enjoy the end of the summer season. I often walk the dogs through this "naturalized" area of a local park and I have really enjoyed watching it change over the course of the seasons. Today as I rounded the corner to the walking path mown through the area, I encountered thousands of beautiful sunflowers.
My companions intrigued by local wildlife as we take a break in the shade.
My tomato plants had a rough time this year. I was worried about the signs of early blight I saw on the plants when an early morning sight clarified where the real threat lay. Spanky, the puppy in the red harness above has developed a huge craving for tomatoes. 2 days ago I checked the plants and found about 2 dozen cherry tomatoes just starting to blush with red. Yesterday I walked outside and realized the slight ring of green I had seen around Spanky's neck earlier in the day could be directly attributed to the fact that I no longer had a single tomato on my plants. Thankfully one of my coworkers brought it some homegrown tomatoes and I was able to enjoy the beautiful dinner pictured below. The basil from my garden was amazing with the yummy home grown tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. I added a dash of balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil and broke up a piece of nan I had left over from my Indian Food Extravaganza last Sunday. Anyway, it makes a beautiful plate and a yummy dinner.
Don't know if I showed these before but what pretty socks! I really like this Mini Mochi sock yarn and while I had to be careful with the splitty nature at times; the color change is fabulous and the end result is really soft and cozy.
Lastly, some pretty pictures of what I'm calling My Poison. It's the pattern for "My So Called Scarf" and a yarn from 100 Pure Wool, color named "Poison." See, aren't I clever. :) Here's a close up of the stitch pattern. Really pretty.
Here it is soaking in the sink. Just kinda cool
I also spent some time making a big patch of Pesto with my basil plant that needed to be used, and I mean now. And lastly, Hummus and fresh chicken stock from scratch. I am feeling very domestic and honestly enjoying every minute!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

A Gift From Down Under

I have a wonderful friend who recently returned from Australia and while she was there she actually took time to think about me (and trust me, much more exciting things were taking place) and she brought me back the following fabulousness:


I am a lucky girl.





Sunday, July 4, 2010

Walking on Sunshine

"Meret" modeled at Design Expo 2010
St. Louis Design Expo 2010
Traveling Woman Shawlette w/ Malabrigo Sock

Multnomah w/ Hand Spun Sheep Day 2010 yarn for Mom
Upstairs Lace Shawl w/ Dyeabolical Hand Dyed Lace Weight
First sock of Laguna Beach Hand Dyed from Yarn Lady in Bandwagon Pattern
Lily Pads at Forest Park
Walking path