Super Bowl Foods!!

Are you getting prepared for the big Super Bowl party?  What foods will you serve?  What will occupy your hands as the teams battle it out on the field?  I'm thinking I'll finish up a couple of knitting projects and try to catch all those cool advertisements.  And Of Course, EAT!  Okay, here's a list of delish recipes which I'll prepare in my kitchen.

A little something that is low carb from Kalyn's Kitchen

A favorite with all dippers--from A Sweetpea Chef

Then there must be sweets to top off the day!  This recipe from Recipe Snobs

 

Pearls--Wisdom?

a pearl of wisdom

an important piece of advice

Usage notes: This phrase is usually used humorously to mean the opposite.

 

From this fruit of the sea comes

Pearls of Wisdom--totally opposite sizes--both found in oysters!  One perfectly formed, the other a misshaped disaster--nature working at its finest--thank goodness, no broken tooth!   

Creativity!!!

Creativity surrounds us and here are just a few samples of that!...................

 

Let's all be creative today! 

Colors of Spin-In.................................

Do you love fiber as much as I do?  Here are just a few photos from the spinning fibers available at our January spin-in.

 

Must Reads?

While I'm walking the Emerald Coast Beaches of Florida, I'm contemplating what books I want to read in the near future--here is a list I found of books that some say should be read!!  Well, walking on the beach, I'm thinking--I want to read a trashy romance novel!!!

1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy*
3. Ulysess by James Joyce*
4. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville*
5. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace*
6. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien*
7. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky*
8. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo*
9. Pride & Predjudice by Jane Austen*
10. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee*
11. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
12. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov*
13. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell*
14. Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
15. The Bible
16. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte*
17. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez*
18. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller*
19. Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte* 

How many of these books have you read or want to read?  

Spin-in Treasures!

Every year spin-in hosts many vendors and every year I think I'll take time from my duties as coordinator, but each year, time seems to get away from me.  Not this year!  I shopped!  

This is a sock blank!  I know it doesn't look blank!  

It's from Gale's Art-- I'm going to have fun knitting these socks.  Gale will also have double sock blanks soon--that way you can knit TWO socks at a time instead of ONE!

This lovely Silk roving comes from River's Edge Fiber Arts--it is stunning!  Maybe, it will be a table decoration for awhile before spinning!

And from Ewephoric Fibers I found this Silk & FBL roving--just my colors!

 

This is going to spin like a dream!

And "Phoebe Blend"! Mohair, wool and alpaca fiber comes from Skyloom Weavers animals--nothing like buying locally!

 

 

And The Party Is Over!

 We go from this packed house of spin-in participants, who have been spinning for 4 days, shopping from 17 vendors, showing off their precious fiber garments and just plain having fun!

To this!  Totally empty room, quiet and just a little sadness--but then there is always 2016.

Oh NO! Another mystery!

This mystery will last several months--how can you resist when you can take your time to do this??  And the pattern is free!!!

Yarn: 1 skein Kells Sport (330 yds) from Three Irish Girls; ANY sport that is not single ply or loosely plied will be fine.
Needles: US 6 (4mm), 32“ circular or size that will get you gauge
Crochet Hook: F,G, or H
Other: 270 #6 beads, beading hook (or dental floss)
Gauge: 20 sts and 28 rows = 4“ (blocked)
It’s a complete mystery! You don’t know what you are knitting. Each month, January - May, a new piece of the knitting puzzle will be reveled in the K.O.M. River’s Knitting Guild group page.
The KAL is free and anyone is welcome to join us! When you arrive at the group page, chime in so we know you are ready to play and I’ll add you to the participant list.

January:  Here is the hard part: 

Let’s begin: Using the Crochet Chain Cast on, CO 1083 sts.

Yes. Seriously. 1083 sts. You have a month to do it. (well, we don't have quite a month left) It’s not hard, it’s just tedious. I would recommend you place a stitch marker every 50 - 100 stitches, double checking the count before moving on. It makes it easier to keep track and when you are finished you know you have the correct number of sts.

Fiddle Me--The Elements Shawl!

I so Love Mysteries--don't you know that by now??  And I LOVE this designer--Fiddleknits.    Sign up for this shawl knit, which begins April 1st--that's plenty of time to get my yarn and finish up other patterns.  Check out the pattern on Fiddleknits designs on Ravelry.
                                                                

Are you Square?

Let's become really square with this KAL:

 

Here are the colors for the year, so you can look through your stash.....................

January: Royal Blue

February: Grenadine (Deep Pink)

March: Sagebrush (Light Green)

April: Baby Yellow

May: Orchid

June: Baby Pink

July: Azure (Turquoise)

August: Really Red

September: Mustard (Gold)

October: Bittersweet (Orange)

November: Caramel (Light Brown)

December: Peacock or Pine Green (Teal/Green)
Check out Cherie's Website   If you are on Ravelry, go to the forum and get the pattern for FREE!  This is designed for both knitters and crochets!  Let's all become big Squares!

It's THAT Time Again!!

January Spin-In Has Rolled Around Again!!

It is time for spinners, their wheels and FUN!

 

We are meeting in Destin, FL--participants pre-registered for this 27th event!

Don't you Wish you Were Here!!

Socks! Socks! Socks!

 

Since the weather has turned colder, I have an opportunity to head to my

SOCK drawer!

Yes, I have a sock drawer!  Not just any socks--but all hand knit socks!  Oh, I take that back

See that one brightly colored, patterned pair in the photo--that pair was machine knit by a friend.

And that pair of fuzzy socks is my handspun angora (from my own bunny!)> I would wear these socks when we demoed for school groups--they could pet my feet and feel the bunny!

I love my hand knit socks! and the chance to wear them on cold winter days.

Swapping!

Have you ever been involved in a swap?  One where you draw a name and send them a gift?  Or just any swap of any kind?

Our spinning guild did a swap--an interesting swap--we each brought clean ready to spin fiber to the meeting, added our name to the list and let the coordinator do her 'thing'!

I sent indigo silk fiber, dyed with indigo

I received a fiber to spin

Then I sent the spun fiber to the next person on the list

and they finished the project.

 

Most people will knit but my finisher wove mine!

Every time I wear this scarf, I think of that project and the person who spun my fiber and the person who wove this lovely piece of art!

I wonder if the person who received my item, still thinks of me!??

Memories Abound

While at my mother's house, I sorted through some of her paperwork and looked for her medical information, especially the Living Will.  As I was searching through some of the cabinets and drawers, I came across this small box.  Of course, I was curious and opened it.  There, what to my wandering eyes was this woven necklace!  I had forgotten all about it!  Once made and out of my hands and heart, it is not remembered.  But, here was this piece I had made, oh maybe 20 years ago.  My mother had saved it--mostly, never worn; still intact, dust free, and packed into the back of a drawer.  Did she bring it out to look at?  Or did she just put it away for me to find some day?  I can't ask her as she doesn't remember even the smallest things. How would she remember this from 20 + years ago?  It doesn't really matter--at least, it has been found!  And memories abound for me!