Party People Over There!

Over here, we have quiet people. Pop Pop and Pretty are people who walk and read and knit. At our daughter's house, they have Party People! Especially since this little party-er turned ONE this month!

I mean, if you're gonna get new toys, it is definitely Party Time! And he got some good ones! Of course, his mommy (and others) also cooked and baked their hearts out, as is proper for a birthday...

But it was mostly about the toys, and the cousins, and the friends who joined us!

But when we got to the cake, let's just say that Party Boy (and his brother) had their fair share...and Pappy took picture after picture!

There was even a juggler, lol...

and giant, foam fingers! You young ladies are #1!

And now that the birthday is in our rear view, it's time to move onto the next party occasion. I think we will be at the boys' house this year, handing out candy until bedtime, yay! It's gonna be some fun, that's for sure!

What are your plans for All Hallows' Eve? Candy? Costumes? Or are you quiet people, like Pop Pop and Pretty? Whatever your plan, I hope you all have a very Happy Day!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health (in between the candy breaks)!

A Tale of Two Saturdays

Football, Knitting and the Lake House. It's been a pretty perfect couple of Satudays! Well, let's be clear about who I am...it's way more about the knitting and the lake house than the football! But I am looking forward to a sports themed little celebration for the littlest of the littles this afternoon...and there will be cuppy-cakes (my daughter is so talented)!

In preparation, I have knit sports-themed balls...

...and a tiny wallaby! (This is #12...I really can't get enough of this pattern!)

I finished the wallaby last weekend, in between the donuts... 

friends and phones...

and the food! Oh, the food and the cooking! 

Apple-Pie Crisp...Check out the
Pretty Good Recipes page!

Even though the weekend was a little chilly and wet, we laughed, and we knit and we had such a fun time, as we do each time we visit the lake house!

It is wet and chilly again this weekend, but we will enjoy the family (and the food!), and we will celebrate the little man's first trip around the sun...Happy 1st Birthday, Little Bug!

I hope that you have had a lovely week, and if you have not, I pray that your soul will find rest over the weekend. Everyone needs a moment to breathe. While you are breathing, may you find something fun to do with your hands, and perhaps someone fun to spend time with. Whatever you're up to, I sure am glad that you stopped in for a minute!

Knit in Good Health, and enjoy the game! (Any game. Football. Baseball. Board game. Whatever. Enjoy!)

Lakeside Weekend

For those of you in the know, you know that I have a local knitting group that I love! I love them even more than my medium-sized pumpkin loves my front stoop...

For the past two years, our efforts to get together have often been thwarted by a worldwide pandemic, and nervousness surrounding Covid-19 and its variants. (sigh!)

This weekend, however, we are going to spend some time together at Lakeside, and I could not be happier about that! I am about as happy as a stack of knitted pumpkins! 

You may ask yourself, "How happy is that, exactly?" Well, I'll show you.

Very Happy!

Yes, very happy indeed! Happy enough, in fact, to motivate me to finish the Wonderful Wallaby I've been working on for the last few days...yay! I can't wait to show you a picture of it finished, but for now, here's where I was when I left...I hope I don't run out of yarn!

What will you work on this weekend? Whatever it is, I hope it makes you as happy as a stack of knitted pumpkins!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Harvest Time

Some days are made for being outside. Warm. Sunny. Blue skies. Just the perfect fall weather. 

Last Sunday was not that kind of day, but we went apple picking anyway!

Mommy and Bubbo put on their raincoats, and we picked apples...

And we tasted apples...

And we explored the orchard with Pop Pop...

And we looked through the pumpkin patch to find just the right place to wait with Linus for the Great Pumpkin! (We also picked a pumpkin or three to take home!)

Do you believe in the Great Pumpkin?

It was a lot of fun, and I made apple cake that was full of butter, sugar, eggs and flour (but I forgot to take a picture of that). I did take a picture of the apple haul, tho...Wow! 

When we got home, we were muddy and damp, and slightly chilled. It was not a perfect day for apple picking, but it was a very good (and wet and chilly) day!

I wonder what adventures we will find this weekend? 

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health! 

...and sometimes I knit tiny pumpkins...

My Favorite Wooden Spoon

Today, I bake bread. 

Last night, I took out the starter, fed it and waited for the moment to really dig in.

As I mixed flour, water and salt into the levan this morning, something small stood out to me: my wooden spoon. I mean, I have 5 wooden spoons, 

but as I reached for a mixing tool this morning, I went out of my way to find my favorite wooden spoon. 

That's right. One of them is my favorite. 

I also have a favorite spatula, but that's a story for another day. Can you guess which of these spoons is my favorite?

Positioned this way, it's pretty easy to spot. It is also easy to see that I have a fairly serious case of "What-is-the-best-configuration-of-these-spoons-for-a-blog-photo Disease," as finding just the right arrangement took me twenty-five minutes. 

But I digress, so let's get back to it.

This is my favorite wooden spoon:

It is the oldest in my utensil drawer, where all spoons face forward and all spatulas face back, in case you were wondering. Thank you OCD. (FWIW, if you're not a spoon or a spatula, all bets are off. Scoopers and spaghetti grabbers, you're on your own.)

My favorite wooden spoon is the one I grab most for baking, whether it's cookies, bread, cake, or pie.

My favorite wooden spoon is the one I grab most for cooking, too. 

My favorite wooden spoon is not my best wooden spoon, but it is the one I grab most often and the one I hold most dear in my kitchen adventures. 

It is flawed. There's a crack in the handle, and I remember hearing it happen some years ago while mixing stiff cookie dough. But it still mixes well. (When the doughing gets tough, however, I often look for another spoon.) 

The bowl of the spoon is well-seasoned and darkened from decades of use in grease, oil and water. It is also nicked and worn in some places. It is so imperfect that it is suddenly perfect for everything, and it still has a lot of life left in it!

I love this spoon because it is like me. Imperfect, but still useful. Worn, but weathered well. Well-used, but not used up. 

Being a helper by nature, I embrace most opportunities to do things for others, and I like this about me. I am versatile and a quick learner, and these qualities make me a pretty good spoon for most mixes. I also recognize that sometimes there's a better spoon for the job. 

It's a hard lesson, and these are the times that I am most thankful to be surrounded by a community of friends and family in the great utensil drawer of life. I may not always be facing the right direction, but you guys help me to get reoriented. You wash the muck out of my brain and heart, and you reach for me again and again. Thank you.

Are you somebody's favorite wooden spoon? Do you think that's just the weirdest metaphor? Me too. But there it is, just like my favorite utensil of all time. Perhaps I should knit it a cozy for winter. And perhaps not.

Now I'm off to knit and bake, and I hope that you also have nice plans for this lovely Saturday. 

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit (or whatever) in Good Health!