Knitting 1 Million Rows



A scarf

The Black Baby Alpaca for Teri's Shawl

This is the finished KAL



A Shawl and Winter Cap Set

As a regular reader you might have noticed that my rows knitted counter took a giant leap of 538 rows added today. So here are a few pictures of my latest creations. I am really bad about placing the pictures so lets just hope that they come out nicely. I hope to list them in my shop as soon as I can find the time.

I also included a picture of the Black baby alpaca yarn for Teri's new shawl. The first skein of yarn came off the spinning wheel today. I even started spinning the second skein of yarn today too.

New Glasses and More

Eric is still home sick. Eric now has a head cold and I honestly do not know how he caught it since he has been home for a full week. Last night was an every 2 hour night, but I did manage to grab a nap today.

I did not get through my whole to do list but I think with Eric home sick and me being up half the night I am really OK with that. 80% of the chores got done so that's not to bad. I choose not to do the finishing work I was planning to do because I was so tired I did not think I could see straight enough to weave in the ends. There is always tomorrow.

John and I managed to get out of the house for a couple hours tonight. The 1st stop was Pearl Vision for new glasses and sun glasses. My prescription took a jump and both had to be replaced. The surprise here was it took less than 1 hour to pick both frames and lens. This is a new record for me. It usually takes more than 1 hour just to pick the frames.  After trying on about a dozen pairs with some almost right I found one pair I really liked and stopped there. The sun glasses were easy Ray-Bans all the way. I just love the aviator frames.

This weekend I plan on doing some more zenning and make one or two more charity runs this week. I think I might have to move to the garage to get rid of more things. Maybe by the end of next year the garage will be as neat as the house. Well its time to go catch a Friday night program.

Semi Homemade Apple Pie

This recipe request is from my daughter Teri. This is a family favorite. It is great alone or served with vanilla ice cream


Semi Homemade Apple Pie

1 Package Pillsbury Pie Crust.

8 to 10 apples cored and sliced, leave the skin on. Use a tart & firm apple like Pippin or Granny Smith

1/2 cup of sugar

A Small Pinch of salt

1 Teaspoon of cinnamon

2 Tablespoons of flour

2 Tablespoons of sugar mixed with a few dashes of cinnamon (reserve)*

1 cookie sheet lined with foil

1 very deep pie pan 9 to 10 inches

For a glass or ceramic pie pan heat the oven to 325f for an aluminum pan heat the oven to 350f.

In a large bowl mix the apples, salt, cinnamon, flour and sugar until the apples are well coated. Use one pie crust to line the bottom of the pan, making sure that the crust is firmly in place. Fill the pie crust with the apple mixture. When you have reached the top of the pie crust, make a small mountain with the rest of the apples. Rinse your hands and get the pie crust edge wet, but not dripping. Carefully place the second pie crust on top and seal the edges by crimping the edges ( basically pressing the 2 pie crusts together.) Use any design you want for crimping, folding the excess dough into the crimping pattern. 

Make a small dime sized vent in the top of the pie along with 4 vent slits about 2 inches long. get the top of the pie crust damp and sprinkle with the reserved cinnamon sugar mix*.  Bake for 45 minutes. If the crust has not become golden cook a little longer until the crust has become golden.

Cool a minimum of 15 minutes before slicing. Serves between 4 and 10 people depending on the size of the slice.

* If you do not want that extra cinnamon flavor on the pie just use plain white or raw sugar for the dusting on top.

Good Friends

I find that good friends make life a whole lot easier when the going gets tough.  As you know Eric has been sick for a couple of days now. Which basically means that I am mostly home bound and sleep deprived. I have one friend, Lisa who has called in extra shifts this week so that I could get a little sleep and get to a couple of appointment's. Something I normally don't get to do when Eric is sick.

Another friend Nancy stop by today to pick up a few things that I needed to drop off at the Knitting Guild meeting tomorrow. Nancy has known me long enough to know that it will be at least 3 days before I get to leave the house for me. This also gave me a chance to give her a holiday present.

There are also a couple of friends in my social media circle who always give me encouragement when Eric is sick. Cindy of  Jacob's Reward Farm.  Could you send a few healing prayers her way this week. She had a pretty nasty fall and is now recouping at home.  Also there is Sandy of  Homestead Wool and Gift Farm. I just love her fiber and batts too. Hopefully Sandy and the sheep don't get hit to hard by the coming winter storm. Not to be forgotten is Joanna who used to work with Eric a long time ago and now has a family of her own.

Ladies you are all very wonderful and accomplished women in your own right. Thank you for being part of my life. It is truly a blessing to have you in my life. Thank you.

Day Gone Wild

Today turned into a Topsy turvey day with in 10 minutes of waking up this morning. Yes it was one of those wild eyrp days with 5 loads of eyrpy clothes to wash. I have since folded and put away 4 of those loads. Aren't you impressed.  UCP was able to get me coverage so I could go to my eye appointment. Yes new glasses are in order. I should have them by years end.

On the fiber arts side. I finished another hat and started another hat. I picked up a scarf that did not quite feel like a scarf while I was knitting it. The further I got into to it the more it said I want to be a small felted purse. With that decided the knitting went faster. I also pulled out all my black alpaca fiber and sorted it. The good news is that only 50% has to be washed. I am almost positive that I have enough to spin and knit an nice comfy shawl for Teri. Being the wonderful daughter she is it does not matter to her if I use a drop spindle or spinning wheel. I am pretty sure that Eric will not let me bring the wheel into his room so I might just use a drop spindle.

On the Eric front it seems like he now has a runny nose too, so I would not expect me anywhere this week. I just have to get an Eric sitter so I can make 1 other appointment this week. I will call a few people to pick up end of year drop offs for me too. Well the boss is calling so later all.

The Paradox

I have found a paradox in my quest for a cleaner house. The further along in the process I get, the less I have to do. All the same I want to continue moving more out of the house. Throwing more out or donating to charity, but I am running out of things that need to go. Conversely I find that I need to dust and vacuum more because there is no clutter to hide the dust. John and Teri agree that this is a good thing. Maybe some one can enlighten me of what to expect at this stage of zenning the house.

Doing laundry all day is good, but does not quite fill the need to toss. I also need to learn to carve out time to knit and spin while the guys are home.

Well I have to get ready for next week, not quiet as busy as last week, but I am still double booked on some days.

Hats and More Hats

I seem to be making a lot of hats lately. My goal is to get the scrap basket down to a reasonable size, i.e. almost empty. I have completed 2 hats in 2 days and started a 3rd hat tonight. My friend Lisa has not seen by scrap basket so low ever. I can actually tie down the top of the basket. I now know that the only way more will be added to the basket is when I complete other projects and throw the left over yarn in the basket. That is one benefit of the massive house cleaning that I have been doing this year.

This seems to be good knitting weather too. It was cold and rainy for the last 2 days with highs  in the mid to low 50's. I know all of you who read this blog in colder climates will think I am silly to complain about the weather with the current temperatures. The only thing good about the temperature now is that my wool hand knit socks actually feel good. I can also wear my cowls and woolly shawls out in public. My only solace is that spring will be here in about 5 months and I will have my wonderful weather back. Can you tell I am a summer person?

Well there will be another cold and deary day tomorrow so I foresee more knitting and gift making in my future. Although right now it is time to call it a day.