Life Is Good!

“Life is good, for the vast majority of us, when we see all the good in our life, first, before the negative. Life is good when we can recognize the good in other people, first, before the negative. Life is good when our lenses for looking at the world are trust, respect, compassion and genuine love.”

Yep!  Life is good when I finished my heart socks in time for Valentine’s Day!  Then I immediately cast on another pair—especially after I saw this Stephen West pattern!  Wish I wasn’t so tempted?

These socks!! Perfect with the Glittering shawl I’m knitting on (slowly)!   Just loved the texture features—fun to knit—stash diving I came across this yarn (very well aged) 

Malabrigo sock yarn!  I’m off and running, only I didn’t read instructions right—should be a knit row after each k2,p2 rows—oh well—life is good & I’m doing it my way! 

Reflection time—should have started day one of Lent knit along.  I just can’t decide on yarn to use.  I would like to use my handspun; just which grouping: 

Or

Or

I’m leaning to this one; it will need some yarns plied—should be enough to take us through the complete project too.  But, the ones above would be perfect as well. 

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions 

Almost, yes almost ready to end the Musselburgh hat.  What fun it has been.  Will need to do other hat patterns or my fingerless mitts. 

Life is good!  Just winging my senior days along. 

Stitchery

 Happy stitching all you stitchers out there!  Beginning today, February 18, you can begin 100 days of Stitch Meditation--join their Facebook page.  There will be lots of ideas popping up to assist you in your stitch meditaion.  During these quiet days and Lent reflection, we can use some meditation to keep our minds sharp and relaxed.

I began my stitching journey a few days ago--when I came upon Elefantz designs for tea towel--I've always thought about doing this on the edge of my handwoven towels--just didn't get around to it!

She also designed a block of the month with stitchery

I found this towel in my linen closet--one I had purchased when in Italy--tucked back where no one can find it--why is it in hiding?  Time to bring it out and make it shine.

It's 60% linen and 40% cotton--when I washed the towel, it wrinkled to beat the band!  It will need some more attention to get it soften  but onward we go.

I was wondering how to mark the pattern on this type of fabric; then I found this product--

Stick and press!  Perfect! for my project.

Cut off a piece, mark the pattern on the sheet and press to the cloth; when finished, wash away the paper!  Great!  Let's see if it works.

Hard to see, but I pressed the paper to the fabric where I wanted to stitch and began

So far so good!  It is little hard to push the needle through the paper with it's sticky backing

going good--paper wants to come up from the fabric at times+

My thread is my handspun silk--some are two ply (like in the heart and flowers photo) single ply in the wording photo.  The silk threads were skeined in small butterflies and when I did natural dye pots, I'd throw in a skein or two--what you see in the above photo are some of the ones I did in the past.

In my stitchery meditation, I will be using these hand spun, natural dyed silk yarns. Stitching on natural dyed fabrics. 

Join along and stitch.

Hearts to You!

Nothing like chocolate! Especially a heart shaped chocolate! 

Our hearts are so full!  We’ll be celebrating our great grandson’s first birthday February 17!  We didn’t know if this little dude would make it to this birthday—there were many surgeries, lengthy hospital stay after his birth; alas, he had a team of warriors who prayed for him and took his life into their hearts to heal him. He is fed through a G button and receives vital minerals and vitamins via a port.  He is eating soft foods now and recently he had a birthday shoot with practice cake and ice cream—

He is holding photo of himself after birth—look at his beautiful face and know that God has given us a miracle! 

He’s perfect on the outside but his insides were mixed up—he is a CDH MIRACLE! 

Our hearts swell with happiness!  

May your life be blessed with small and large miracles! 

 

Sock It To Me!

Laugh- In!   A super oldie but goldie TV hit!  There was a bit of comedy that said "Sock It To Me"!  Oh yes!  what a laugh!  Sorry to say, that sock it to me has been in my life lately!

Yes, I'm addicted

 to sock knitting now!  Having so much fun with different yarns, patterns, designs--My pattern for February is of course, hearts in Fucsia 

I've never knit with this color--there is Red pair of socks  but this bright pink will be interesting!

The pattern is "Piece of my heart" found on Ravelry by DKissinger and I"m sure I'll have enough yarn to make a matching set of FLG (fingerless Gloves) with hearts as well.

The start of heart socks—two at the same time! Best way to finish a Pair!!

I changed my mind and decided to knit ‘Key to My Heart’, designed by The Kitchen Sink Shop’ free on Ravelry—I’ll knit the other pattern later. 

Finished socks!  Had these two balls of yarn in my stash.  

Second pair for January! 

While rummaging through my handknit sock drawer, I came across a long forgotten pair of my handspun, hand knit fuzzy socks!  Ah so warm and comfortable to wear!  I pulled them out to set my feet warm on a rainy cool day.  

These were knit from my angora bunnies fiber--I would wear them when I demo-ed spinning at livestock show.  It was a chance for kiddos to touch my feet and feel the bunny.  Sometimes, I would have the bunny on my lap spinning her fiber as she slept.  It was always a fun demo.

The pattern for these socks was spiral stitch--I had a difficult time finding the pattern again--lots of searching the internet and my files and then there it was!  "Spiral knit tube socks by Leef Bloomenstiel--1991!  Unbelieveable that it has been that long ago that I knit these socks!

As I'm knitting away--my brain is thinking of the next pair I'll begin......

So Sock It To Me!

Now, For Something completely different!

 We were always Monty Python fans back in the day—loved when they made this announcement!  Our ears perked up to learn what was “completely different”! 

I definitely don't have anything different, though!  Sorry!  It's the same old, same old.  Oh, we did have a winter event that forced us to stay indoors--that's unusual for us Southerners!  !Of course, if you are forced to stay indoors, you just WANT to get out!  This forced me to do some chores I haven't done in the past few weeks.  There was a quilt that needed to be bound--first, needed to cut binding and make it ready to sew on the quilt.  Thank goodness, the evenings will still be quite cool and the quilt will be a super cover to my legs as I sit stitching the binding! 

Deciding on dinner is first on the agenda--what will it be?  It seems when it’s cold weather, you want to cook more and eat more!  Decisions? Pizza and salad?  Cioppino?  Cottage pie?  Stuffed peppers?  OR I just might go with my first thought--"MustGo"!  There is plenty in refrig to make a good Mustgo.  The start of fresh baked bread is in the rising period--last week, I made an attempt at King Cake--  it was okay--we did eat it!  So couldn't be too bad.

Okay, back to recipe for Mustgo==actually, there is no recipe for Mustgo--Just take any leftover food from frig and repurpose it for another meal and hopefully, fingers crossed, you will not have any more leftovers!  I love this recipe--(Mustgovian)a fabulous name for a simple meal.

Having read the book, "Kitchen Front" by Jennifer Ryan--Oh the joy of cooking during WWII with rations.  These women were quite ingenious with their menus--today, we'd have a terrible time working with such shortages, 

Here is your wartime food rations for one adult for one week

• meat in value 2 lbs mincemeat (hamburger) or one lb steak
• 2 oz cheese
• 4 oz margarine
• 2 oz butter
• 1 pt milk
• 8 oz sugar
• 2 oz jam
• 2 oz loose leaf tea
• 1 fresh egg plus 1 pkg dried egg powder, making 12 eggs, every month
• 3 oz sweets or candy

Would we whine and complain?  Probably!  but, this book took place during the war and everyone had to make do. 

Some of the recipes in the book are very interesting and creative.  

Just try to make do with what's in your pantry and frig for a few days, without a trip to the grocery.  It's a challenge!  That is something completely different for sure!

To DO LIST!

 Here comes another month--a short month too!  The month of love, according to advertisements.  We will celebrate Mardi Gras most of the month, then Fat Tuesday leading into Lent and here comes the best thing to do during Lent, especially if you knit.presented by Victoria Methodist Bristol Knitalongs--join their facebook group to receive the directions along with reflections as you knit along.  

I just returned from a whirl wind trip to Japan and the Far East—and I didn’t even leave my comfy chair!  Blogs will do that to you—catch ahold of one and off you go!  We sailed through cake baking, doryaki making, sock knitting techniques, whiskey making, and this Swedish Noir 

I seem to be on a food craze lately—love reading books that Circle food with people’s lives.  After finishing “Kitchen Front” by Jennifer Ryan, I found other books along food lines.  One tells the history of Chinese foods—history, myth, and legends of your favorite foods.

I'm ready for this book! and my mouth is watering for some good Chinese food!

"tales—based in real history and folklore—are filled with squabbling dragons, magical fruits, and hungry monks. This book will bring you to far-off times and marvelous  places, all while making your mouth water. And, along the way, you might just discover a deeper understanding of the resilience and triumph behind this food, and what makes it undeniably American."

The book on the left--"The Divine Proverb of Streusel"--A granddaughter goes through her late grandmother's belongings and finds an old fashion notebook filled with handwritten German recipes and wise sayings pulled from the Book of Proverbs--German recipes included as well!

The book on the left--"The Kamogawa Food Detectives" unusual topic for a book!  Just fascinating that the father-daughter advertise themelves as "food detectives"!  Perfect!  They are capable of recreating a dish from their customers pasts that may well hold the key to unlocking forgotten memories--a super read!

What's for dinner?  Maybe German, Chinese, or Japanese!  Oh what a choice!!

Happy reading and eating!

The Weekend

 Love me THE WEEKEND!  Even though we are retired, there seems to be many events that take place only on the weekend.  in our community, we have eleven (yes 11) high schools and during January and February, the fine arts department present their play productions.  Fine performances each and every one of these presentations!  We have only so much time to devote to seeing these interesting and entertaining events.  The price is right!  The locations are close!  The high schoolers are outstanding!  We can't believe we are watching 16-17 year olds on stage--they have such talent, poise, ability!  It makes one proud to see our future. 

We were fortunate to see three of these plays--One night we attened "Bright Star" a musical--we do love these plays the best!  WE are amazed at the singing voices of these "kids"!

We'd not heard of this play--written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell

" It is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in 1945–46 with flashbacks to 1923. The musical is inspired by their Grammy-winning collaboration on the 2013 bluegrass album Love Has Come for You^[1] and, in turn, the folk story of the Iron Mountain Baby"

It is definitely P13 rating as the topic is a tough one.

Another night we viewed "Pippin" Another musical--we once again could not believe the variety of these stage performances!

"Heir to the Frankish throne, the young prince Pippin is in search of the secret to true happiness and fulfillment. He seeks it in the glories of the battlefield, the temptations of the flesh and the intrigues of political power (after disposing of his father, King Charlemagne the Great).

The third night we attended "Tuck Everlasting" based on children's literature

There is only so much time in one weekend--we were unable to see the other productions--"Mama Mia", "Sponge Bob Musical", "Anastasia", "The Wiz", Arsenic and Old Lace", and "Beauty and the Beast" (which we'll see next weekend)  

Last year, we attended "Cinderella", Anastasia" and "Mama Mia"--all greatly loved!

The other schools presented their productions when we could not attend.  Ahh, so sad for us!

Next weekend we’ll attend another version of above play!  

Enjoy! each! every! minute!