Another Pretty

I recently finished knitting my third shawl from Sivia Harding's Mezzaluna Club.

This is Niome which is the last shawl in the series of six crescent shaped small shawls.

Unblocked

 

Blocked and drying

 

The yarn used was Abstract Fiber Mighty Sock a 50% merino, 50% tencel blend in the Lake colorway. The yarn has a beautiful sheen and is very drapy after blocking.

I started with a very generous 100 gram ball and finished with a mere 9 grams left.

 

Of the shawls I have done in this club this has been the most challenging.  The top portion I knitted up rather quickly but when it came to adding the bottom section of lace I had to take my time as there was not a wrong side rest row but patterning on both the right and wrong sides.

 

After the first repeat I did add a lifeline but found in the long run it was just easier to tink back as needed.  Generally the time to step away from the yarn is when the tinking begins.

This became my morning knitting project.

 

I also marked the p2tog on the chart to help differentiate the ssp's from the p2tog's.

This was a very enjoyable but mindful knit.

 Sivia is a artistic designer of lace and her patterns are a delight.

 

And I always love the touch of the beads!

We Are Getting Pickled!

 

Remember last month I mentioned I was growing pickling cucumbers.

I'm finally getting enough  raw pickling cucumbers to process.



First I made some spears.

And then Jim ask that I make some slices because they are great on hamburgers.

I have been using Mrs. Wages Kosher Dill Pickle mix. I had to make a special trip to Walmart as my local Safeway and Bel Air did not carry the mix.  I am getting enough cucumbers for 4 pints at a time and I am using half a package of the mix with the suggested amounts of water and vinegar.

The spears are very zesty.

 Hopefully this weekend we will grill some hamburgers to try out the slices.

 

 

Crock Pot Stuffed Bell Peppers

My daughter Rachel's bff, Loren, recently shared a recipe she found on Facebook

for crock pot stuffed bell peppers.  I thought the recipe looked tasty and I liked the idea of cooking the bell peppers in the crock pot but I of course had to tweak the recipe.

 

I started by adding  1 pound of hot Italian sausage which I browned along with 1 pound of ground beef.  I used a16 oz.bag of frozen corn and a 15 oz. can of tomato sauce.

I eliminated the salt, garlic and pepper since I was using the spicy sausage, did a 2 cup combination of cheddar and mozzarella grated cheese, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce and a 1/4 cup chopped onion.

 

After browning the two meats I mixed all the ingredients together and slightly overfilled my cleaned and seeded red bell peppers.

 

I placed my peppers inside my crock pot and topped them with a 2 to 1 mixture of ketchup and sriracha hot sauce.  I always need to add a little kick to my food.

 

I cooked them on high for 3 1/2 hours and Voila.

 

The stuffed peppers were very tasty and since I had doubled the recipe,  I put the leftover meat mixture in the freezer so I just need more bell peppers to make them again.

 



Finished

Back in May I attended a retreat in Texas and started working on my Cotton Club quilt by Paula Barnes.

 

These are the blocks I finished at the retreat.

Before I left Texas I had finished all 45 blocks.

Then to add the sashing and borders and put it all together.

 

There was a little bit of an oops.  Actually there is two oops, one in the sashing,( hello, really) and one in the block, but they both got fixed.

 

I quilted an all over pattern on the long arm at the store and we are now using it on our bed.

 

Now to make a dent in the blocks for Dear  Jane.

 

 



Side By Side

Recently on the television we have been seeing advertisements for wine in a box and thought we'd give it a try.

 

"CABERNET SAUVIGNON

Valle Central, Chile

Black Box Wines Cabernet Sauvignon displays lovely aromas of black currants, with hints of mocha and toasty oak. Black cherry and chocolate flavors come together with smooth tannins, leading to a soft, lingering finish.
Delicious with filet mignon, roast duck, pork tenderloin or mushroom ravioli."

"What's the most delicious way to enjoy acclaimed wines without a hefty price tag? Lose the bottle. In 2003, Black Box Wines redefined the category by becoming the first U.S. vintner to offer super-premium, appellation-specific, vintage-dated wines in a box. Since then our expanding repertoire has earned 40 gold medals in wine competitions nationwide, yet still costs 40% less than comparable* bottled wines."

 

 

Jim came home with the small box today, a 2011 Cabernet Savignon,  that is equivalent to 3 glasses of wine to try with our dinner at a cost of $5.99.  The large box retails for $18.00 at our local grocery store which is equivalent to three bottles.

Saturday is his night to cook and we enjoyed a lovely grilled steak, steamed broccoli with strawberries and blackberries from the farmers market.

 

We also opened a bottle of Frank Family Cabernet 2006 which we paid approximately $38.00 a few years back.  Not really a fair comparison because one was able to age but should you age boxed wine?

 Even in a blind taste test there is no comparison and that is where the asterisk from the Black Box Wine statement above comes in.

 

* IRI, Total US Multi-Outlet and Convenience, 52 weeks ending 1/6/13. Comparison of average retail selling price of Black Box Wine and Super Premium category as reported by IRI. Please enjoy our wines responsibly. © 2013 Black Box Wines, Madera, CA

Considering we are talking a $6.00 bottle of wine what did we expect?

Passing the Time Away

Apparently I have a little too much time on my hands and I spent part of my day knitting a minion from The Despicable Me movie.

Who doesn't love a minion?

 I found the pattern on Just Crafty Enough and it was designed by Kat Lewinski.

I rummaged through my stash and found some Encore yarn that was the perfect colors.

The eyes are shank buttons I had in my button box and I used a black Sharpie to add the eyeballs.

  And as all curious minions seem to do mine checked out the container holding the crochet hooks.

 Maybe just a little to thoroughly.

 Oops.

 Fortunately he did right himself and I got him back out safely before he suffocated.

Who knows what trouble he'll get into tomorrow?

 

Did I mention I might have a little too much time on my hands?

Confession Time

I became a hooker this week. 

 

 I know many of you are thinking "Really, at your age?" but yes, I've learned how to crochet!

 

Several years ago I saw this crocheted afghan and feel in love.

 

 

This afghan is the brainchild of Lucy from the blog Attic24 and was posted back in 2008.

 

It was made using Rowan Handknit Cotton,

 

I am a knitter and my minimal crochet skills involve provisional cast on and placing beads on my knitwear with a crochet hook so I avoided this pattern.

 

Last year when Filati's, the yarn shop I had been working at, began their going out of business sale I thought why not buy the yarn now.  So back in August 2012 I guesstimated how much yarn I would need for this project. 

 

 

 And added it to my stash.

 

Saturday I took a crochet class for knitters.  Honestly it didn't really matter if we were knitters or not we still all needed to learn the basics of crochet and how to create the stitches and read a pattern.

 

After some fumbling and questioning and four hours later I felt rather confident in my skills as a hooker.

 

I came home and started on my afghan.

 

 

I'm really liking how it is progressing.

 

This should keep me off the streets for a while.
I'm sure a lot of you are thinking "Thank goodness".