I Got Your Back!

My quest for the perfect self-striping sock yarn for my Bright Axis sweater took me to an unexpected place this week. The land of canes and steroid packs for hip and back pain...

Don't worry about me too much, I'm fine...but I am moving a little slower. I'm not sure what I did exactly, but that hip pain that concerned me (please let my hip replacement be okay, and it is, whew!) was determined to be muscular, lower back pain. It was severe for a couple days, and I am eternally grateful to good friends who "had my back," so to speak! (Thanks for the fancy, flowered cane, Ruthann! It is just what I needed for physical and emotional support this week!)

With my extra down time, I shopped all the self-striping yarn dyers I love, and happened upon a perfect match sock set in the "Sesame" colorway from Must Stash Yarns! I've been lusting after this colorway for years, and just happened upon it this time...super yay! I mean, just look!

Some of the girls at our Thursday CKW Knit Night were having a "winding party," so I brought my new yarn (and my cane) with me, and look how perfect it's going to be: 

While I waited for Thursday, I worked on a new sock for one of our granddaughters in KP Felici. Sunset is the colorway, stunning is the sock!

All that knitting and planning has been therapeutic, and I am getting back to my old self! I am also getting ready to find my way to Sesame Street on my Bright Axis! Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street? These boys are excited to help me, as long as Sesame Street is at the bottom of this snowy hill! Lol...

Hahaha! One of them is way more into winter sports than the other, but they both love to be outside, in general! Pop Pop loves to be outside, too, so he's got their backs! 

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Anyone Want a Cookie?

For Christmas, I bought myself an embossed rolling pin. I have all this counter space now, I should definitely be baking more. And, if am going to bake, it is going to be fun! so I bought two pins and gave one to my daughter, then I made my first batch. Remember the sweater cookie from my last post? That dough was embossed with my first pin, and it was so much fun that I bought three more. Lolz... (Not a sponsored post, but here's where I got my pins: pastrymade.com)

Can I just say that these are super fun to work with! And they gave me the inspiration to find the perfect cookie recipe to use with them. One of the places I looked was my sister-in-law's recipe box. Remember these tin boxes that we all used in the 80s and 90s to store our treasured recipes?

This box first came into my possession a couple of weeks ago, and although I knew it would never be my permanent recipe box, I ventured inside to peruse the handwritten recipes, typed recipes, recipes clipped from newspapers and magazines and some other trinkets (and trick birthday candles). And yes, the family's favorite recipe for Santa Cookies, the first recipe I've tried with my new rolling pins.

Having put my hands on the recipe I was searching for, I stashed the rest in my own recipe box, and got ready to bake some cookies for my favorite cookie jar!

And they turned out pretty good. I have found that the finer details on the sheep only come out sometimes, so I will continue testing recipes for the right consistency. 

In the meantime, these are super tasty and nostalgic, after years of eating them at Cindy's house every Christmas, so I will use this recipe for iced cookies for the holidays. I am really enjoying the combination of vanilla and almond flavorings, and I've found that piping some melted chocolate onto the backs of these fancies ups the flavor and texture, since it would be a mistake to cover that embossing with icing! 

So I am still auditioning for the perfect embossed cookie recipe, and I have two or three that I've taken from the internet to try. 

The cat is not a fan of baking, since there are no laps to snuggle into when I'm in the kitchen. She would much rather I knit, so perhaps I will sign off now to indulge her (and my needles) a bit!

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe? I'd love to hear about the flavors that evoke nostalgia for you and your family, at the holidays and all year round. Drop a comment or send me an email to let me know, then grab your needles and knit with me for a bit!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

I Hope That You Are Proud of You, too!

Mr. Rogers used to sing me a song when I was little. 

I'm proud of you, I'm proud of you, I hope that you're as proud as I am.

Proud of you, I'm proud of youuuuu!

I hope that you are proud of you, too!

I know that "pride goeth before the fall," and all that jazz, but you know what? This week, I am proud of me! I don't know that I am as proud as Mr. Rogers was, but it has been a good week, and I have gotten through some hard things. Like this:

I found this on my desk. It crawled out from behind my wedding photo, and said, "Hey there, cutie. You look tasty," as it sized me up, licking its tiny chops. 

(Full disclosure, he-or-she said no such thing. But there was a voice in my head as soon as I saw this fat, fuzzy, dime-sized spider, and I am positive it was thinking along those lines.)

I'm proud that I did not scream or jump or wet myself when I saw it jump toward me. Instead, I got myself a container, scooped up the eight-legged wonder and deposited it in the winter wonderland that is the mulch under the church's hedgerow. Hence the dirty snow in the photo. 

After I returned to my desk, I looked him up to see how perilous my situation actually had been, and I am indeed glad to be alive. This was a Phidippus audax spider, maybe female (last photo, if you follow the link), and it's not at all dangerous. It is jumpy though! But I was brave, and she (he?) did not jump on me, or reappear on my desk before quittin' time. So, I'm proud of me!

I also finished a large-ish knitting project, but I'll have a hard time gifting it...it goes with everything in my house!

And I made beautiful, sugar cookies with my fancy, new rolling pin! (Then I stashed the recipe in my cool, new recipe box, next to the cookie jar...yay!)

Yes, I am "on a roll," for sure. I'll try to not let it all go to my head. 

(Full disclosure, it may be too late! Lol!)

I hope you're getting things done that you can be proud of, too. I know you are stronger than you think you are, and you can do it! You could also take a nap, and gather some strength first, if that's the kinda Saturday you're having. You do you, and I'm proud of you, too!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Snow A-Plenty

Well, they said it would happen. We know that living in Northeast Ohio pretty much guarantees that we will see snow in winter, so we were prepared, pretty much planning to just stay home on Thursday. Still, when Wednesday wandered in, I wondered if the predicted snow had been blown out of proportion, as it sometimes is.

But I had a significant project to work on, and that kept my mind off the snow. Access to almost endless hot cocoa, paired with mindless garter stitches, kept me calm and carefree as the snow approached.

And even though it was calm and cozy inside from sunrise (top) to sunset (bottom),

the predicted snow came. It came, and it kept coming,

and coming, 

and coming, 

and coming!

We even got a little fresh powder overnight last night! It sure is pretty out there!

So pretty, and so cold! Good thing I have a fresh shipment of yarn, in all the colors, to keep me busy indoors! 

How are you staying warm today? If you are Pat and Don, you are just living your life...in Florida! (Hi Pat and Don!) But for those of you who live a little more north, like me, I hope you have yarn and warm treats to keep you toasty and occupied!

Before I go, may I share a bit of wisdom from a friend? Franklin posted this as part of a longer post, and I see so much wisdom in it that I wanted to pass it along (with his permission, of course): 

"Let people enjoy their moments of happiness, y'all. Let them have their little victories.

If they don't ask for notes, don't give them any. Don't suggest how they can do it better next time. Just let them have the moment." 

I share this, having been on both the advice giving and receiving end of those notes. I tend to always think that my advice is helpful...but when I get unsolicited, "helpful and corrective" advice after achieving a small victory, that's just annoying. I'm going to try hard to be better at not giving advice like that, and I am NOT going to tell you the best way to shovel your driveway, or knit your sweater, or cook your dinner today. I'm just going to be glad that you've cleared the drive for my visit, so we can knit and break bread together, and I hope that you will do the same. 

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

PS - Franklin and I are social media friends only. He lives faraway, I've never known him in a face-to-face way, and I am sure our opinions differ on many things. Still, I like him a bunch, and I think he is one cool cat! As with many of my online friends, I am glad that we are friends, even though I can't call him to borrow a cup of sugar. Shipping that sugar would surely be cost prohibitive anyway!