Soured?

During the pandemic years, many people made sourdough bread...for fun. Dutch ovens and proofing baskets and mason jars were purchased, and there were varying degrees of success posted to social media. So, when I was offered a sourdough starter, I gladly accepted. 

And then I made sourdough, with varying degrees of success,  though I did not buy any new equipment to make that happen. Mostly, I enjoyed the process, and the bread...the bread that sometimes took two days to prepare for the baking. Two, labor-intensive days of measuring and mixing and checking and folding and checking and shaping and resting before baking, with constants stops to wash the sticky dough (and all of the moisture) from my fingers and hands. 

The bread is good, but I'm not sure it's worth the 48-hours of attention I've lost to it. It's really more of a hobby than a recipe.

Today, as the snow continued to gracefully and lightly accumulate, 

I made French bread with yeast. It took about three hours, and the most labor-intensive part was 8-10 minutes of kneading. This bread will be every bit as good as the sourdough, and we will gobble up every crumb over the next few days...yummm! 

Some things are worth hours and days of my time and attention...like a handknit sweater, or pair of socks...

Or watching my grandkids jump off the end of the slide in the backyard, until they have tired of shouting, "Watch me! Look at me, Gramma!"

I'm not really soured on sourdough, but I think I'll save my attention for knitting and playtime and recipes for French bread (and sweet rolls and fresh, white bread).

If you have a starter, and you look forward to making and eating sourdough regularly, I am so glad for you and your bread hobby! If you'd ever like to learn to knit or crochet, I'd be happy to help you get started with that hobby, too.

Whatever you give your time to, may it bring you great joy! 

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health! 

Sometimes, my joy comes from a
ceramic chicken dish on the table.

They Stood on the Porch in Their Underwear...

Many years ago, when my children were small, and Sweetie was in the Navy, and I didn't have a job that paid in anything more than peanut butter kisses and chocolate fingerprints on everything, I was a bit of a bored housewife. I mean, I treasured peanut butter kisses, and I didn't even mind the fingerprints (much), but I needed a hobby. Oh, I was already a yarnigan...and I had been crocheting for more than a decade, but I was looking for something new.

I looked around in the craft stores, and I finally decided on a victorian dollhouse kit. It cost a lot, especially on our then shoestring budget, but even Sweetie knew I needed something to fill my evenings after the kids went to bed. Wine and TV by myself on the sofa when Sweetie was deployed or on duty was no longer a healthy alternative! So, I shelled out the cash, and brought home the kit (and some paint, dollhouse wallpaper, an electrical kit, and a few pieces of upholstery fabric to use for carpeting). Go big or go home wasn't a big catch-phrase in my world back then, but it was apparently my dollhouse motto, in 1:12 scale!

I spent several months working on the dollhouse, and eventually I spent several months creating furniture and draperies in balsa, styrofoam, lightweight quilting fabric, wood glue and acrylic paint. I guarded the house...I had great plans for becoming a great miniaturist, and turning my dollhouse into a showpiece, so I never let my kids play with it. Then they were suddenly too old for it anyway, even before I put the shingles on and installed the electric kit, and I lost interest. A few years after that, I started to see the silliness in keeping it tucked safely away, unfinished and neglected. Eventually, I gifted it to a family with 5 girls who loved it well, and returned it to me just last year. (Thank you Becky, Jaime, Rachel, Sarah, Leah and Erin!)

As I received the house (still sans shingles, etc.), I spent quite a bit of time re-acquainting myself with it...this quite-average dollhouse that I had made from a kit with my own two hands. I dusted the remaining furniture that I had built, and cleaned up the wallpaper and upholstery the best I could. I regret that I was too uptight to ever let Dollface actually play with it. It was never a masterpiece, and I honestly think that it's now used status makes it more dear to me. As a matter of fact, Peanut will be coming to visit soon, and I am really looking forward to seeing if she likes it.

Of course, anticipation of the upcoming visit led me to the realization that a dollhouse isn't much fun without dolls to live in it, so I grabbed some yarn and set to work, creating these two:

And even though the man doll is 7-and-a-half-feet tall (to 1:12 scale, lol!), and his "wife" is just a bit shorter, I took the house down last night to see how they "fit." They walked around inside a bit, checked the mattress, and the sofa, and found that he could easily reach things for her from the top of the refrigerator. I also think I heard her planning a windowsill herb garden, so I think they will be very happy here. :) At the end of the evening, I promised that I would get busy with my needles to make some clothing, but they said there's no rush really...they kind of like the pants-optional prospects of owning their first home. That's what they said anyway, as they stood on the porch in their underwear.

Remember to call first if you're coming for a visit. Apparently my dolls' house is pants-optional, but I'll try to remedy that as quickly as I can. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Knit in Good Health!

Frosty the Snowmen...

Didja ever wonder what Frosty does in his off time? I've often wondered, and now I have some friends to ask. They look like they might be experts, and it all started with one tiny snowman...

OMGosh! Took like an hour to knit the snowman, maybe
fifteen minutes for the embroidery and scarf...quick!

These Mochimochi Tinies are soooo stinkin' cute...I can barely stand it! I got this pattern some time ago, but I can't remember when for sure. Now I've been smitten, and once I knit that first one, I couldn't seem to stop.

Remember "Take your Mochi to Work Day?"
Apparently there's one in November too.

I thought I might be done after five. Five is a good number, right? The Jackson Five were a happy bunch, right? Ummm, no. Donny Osmond has five brothers...and a sister. Now I'm re-thinking five...but, wait. What's this?

Wool snowmen are not at all afraid of melting.

Oh, of course. It's Number Six! Where did this one come from? And since when do snowmen snuggle up to cats? Or play cards?

Who wants to deal? Wait, is there
anyone here with thumbs?

Well, apparently snowmen don't play cards, they tell me. No one ever wants to deal...wait, I think we have a volunteer...

Now THIS should be interesting...

Something tells me this is going to be a very weird day...tiny snowmen snuggling up with cats and playing cards, and insisting on tagging along everywhere I go...just weird. I guess I could be up for some strange today...just like any other day...well, except for the snowmen. Today is a new day with a new and bizarre twist, and I can't wait to see what will happen! Stick around, if you can take it!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Mitts created and modeled by my good friend
Corrie, of Standby...Go! Beautimous!

All About the Mittens

I've always liked the idea of Advent Calenders as a way to count down the days until Christmas, but I have rarely observed this tradition. Even when my own kids were small, and we had a Christmas tree and stockings and lights, and all the stuff of Christmas, we usually did not have an Advent Calender on our wall. But, now that I have a grand-Peanut...

Yes, that is the Wallaby she is wearing!

I can't get enough of the idea of Advent! Preparing for Christmas...Preparing for a trip to see Gramma and Pop Pop...Preparing for any winter/Christmas event with little goodies each day, and a fun decoration to hang each year. So, a few weeks ago, I started to search Ravelry for the perfect thing...I'm a knitter, it's what I do! This is what I've come up with...

I thought about putting nails in the wall to display and photograph the
garland, but all my toothpaste is blue, so I just laid it on the table.

Twenty-four tiny Mittens, ready to be filled with goodies and strung up to count down the days! I have not decided what goodies I will fill the mitts with yet, but I'd be happy to take your suggestions...Peanut is not quite two years old, so we need to watch the hard candy, and stuff like that. What do you think would be good gifties?

Apparently mittens and coffee go together!
Peanut is not a fan of coffee, tho.

The mittens are knit in various colors of Red Heart Super Saver yarn (look away, Trish!), most of which I had in my stash already. (I did purchase the yellow. How did I not have any yellow?) They are soooo cute, with a little loop at the top of each one for hanging!

Yeah, you can't really see the loop,
can you? Bad photog! Sorry!

I knew I wanted to crochet some kindof garland to hang the mittens from, and it took me a little while to figure that out, until I found these:

Snowflakes and trees and stars! Oh, my!

The cutest clothespins to hang the mittens from, I crocheted them right into the garland hanger. Then I numbered each pin, from 1-24, so the kids can decide what order to hang the mittens. I'll send this all together this year, and as they take down the mittens to see the goodies, they can either hang them back up OR use them as additional Christmas tree ornaments. I hope it becomes a fun tradition for them, especially since they don't live close...this makes me feel like I'm a little bit closer to them during this fun time of year!

All in all, this was a fabulously fun knit, and I know I have enough yarn leftover to make one (or two?) more of these, so maybe I'll have one at my house this year, too...we'll see... What do YOU think I should fill the mittens with???

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Holy Stitching, Pretty!

It's been busy around here!  Checking in to let you know that I have finished the Peanut socks:

Two weeks for these tiny socks? Sheesh!

that match these Gramma Socks!

I can't wait to share my sock love with Peanut!

And I have been stitching my heart out on a t-shirt quilt...

I forgot how close my flesh gets to that needle...careful, Pretty!

I think this is my favorite shirt of the bunch:

Holy COW, indeed! 

This weekend, I hope to get a lot of the hand-stitching done so that this will be ready for gifting before summer...I can't wait!  And I am also dreaming of getting some more work done on the Baseball Sweater (no new pics, sorry!).  

I hope that your springtime busy is not stealing your stitching time...and if you're a mom (or a gramma or a mommy or "like a mom" to someone), I hope you get some time this week with your favorite members of the younger generation!  Happy day to you all!

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

Duck, Duck, Quilt!

Over the past month, I have made a new friend.  A Mama Mallard has nested under a bush near the building where I work.  She laid 11 eggs.  At first, I used my zoom lens to take photos of her and her nest, but she must have grown to trust me, because she lets me get really close, and I did not use a zoom lens or crop these photos at all...

On Friday morning, I took this photo of the first hatchling, just minutes after it escaped it's eggshell and moved under the mama for warmth:

And a little later, still under Mama's protective care, but all fluffy now:

By the time I left work yesterday, I could see four empty eggshells, but all of the babes were apparently safe and sound under the duck...no really new photo ops there, so I went home and grabbed some pics of my latest non-yarny creation, a t-shirt quilt for a friend! A couple nights ago, I turned a pile of shirts into a stack of squares...

Then I cut sashing fabric and threaded Old Faithful...

It was so fun to watch this come together, piece by piece...

I love the way this is turning out!

The top is nearly done, and I am planning to back it with cozy fleece...it's going to be the softest, coziest, funnest quilt I've ever put together!  In fact, my only regret with this quilt is that I will have to call it finished at some point, and I'd kindof like to work on it forever!  (No worries...Snake would like his MIL to make him one, too!)

I hope to get some work done on this later today, but I have been missing my baseball sweater.  It's a tough pattern, but I am starting to really like how it's turning out!

So, that's my week, in a nutshell (or an eggshell, I suppose!).  I hope that you are finding time to do what you love, even if you are busy!  Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Catching Your Eye. . .I Hope!

Don't forget the contest. . .today is the last day to enter!
Wow! That contest announcement has sure caught my black cat's eye!

It's funny what will catch your eye. . .sometimes it's cleavage (and until today, I had assumed that both of my female kitties were straight, but now,. . .well, who really knows for sure with a cat? Perhaps Miss Lohan can tell. . .?)

Anyway, here's something that caught the eye of my little crocheted "Dolly Draft Dodger" doll who sits at the front door, helping us to keep the heat in and the cold out. . .the popcorn tin from Christmas. I didn't have the heart to tell her that there is probably none left. . .or that whatever might be left is surely stale. . .what caught my eye here was her sheer determination! If you look at the left side of that tin, you will see that she has nearly gotten the thing open! Wow. . .

Here's something else that caught my eye this week. This is my Thursday night knitting group. We meet each week at my church, and we have a really good time. We usually meet in the library, and we usually sit on very "cushy" chairs, but with the flood last week, the coffee shop was the dry and finished room that was available to us, and we were thankful to have this space to meet in. . .

Every once in awhile, I look out at this group of knitters, and I am compelled to take a picture. I think I can somehow record in a picture the bonds that we have formed with one another, and the love that we feel. It's a losing battle. . .even words cannot adequately express how special these people are to me. Although, after posting the above picture on Facebook, and receiving comments on it before the knitting group had even called it a night (I love mobile technology!), I realized that I am not the only one who feels this way.

When Michelle jokingly commented, "Hey your knitting group isn't a bunch of old ladies!," we all had a pretty good laugh, and we agreed that Youth is a state of mind. . .and we all have it!But I think Corrie said it best when she commented, "That's what I like most about the group - it amazes me that women with such different ages and jobs and lives can so easily spend hours together. Definitely the best part of the day!" Heck!, we even have a knitter-man in our group! (Sorry I didn't get the camera out before you left, Tim! Forgive me?) The best part of the day is what prompts my TGIT(hursday) every week, dismissing the average person's obsession with that next day, just before the weekend! :)

And, since I am gushing about my knitting friends, I suppose it's also time to start gushing about some knitting. . .it is a knitting blog, after all!

These two pair of socks caught my eye just last night, and I wanted to write about them. They are very different socks, in very different yarns, started at different times, but they have one thing in common. . .both are nearly 75% done - Yay!

The Ski Trip Socks were started last weekend (on a ski trip), the yarn is Patons Stretch, the needles are 2.25mm and the pattern is Dublin Bay Socks! I am working them top down on 64 sts, and using a traditional flap heel. . .I picked the yarn because it reminds me of Good N'Plenty candy, one of my faves!, and I love how they are coming out. :o) I also love the smiley faces that hold my place when I have to put the knitting down for awhile. . .thank you Dawn, for the awesome stocking stuffer this Christmas! (I love the one that's not smiling, too. . .it's like that one "gets it" if I drop a stitch or something!)

I love my other pair just as much. . .the Starry, Starry Socks are toe up, in the Diamond Rib Socks from the Toe-Up pattern, and the yarn is Marathon Socks--North Pole. I am working these toe up on 2.25mm (magic loop because there are 6 reps of the lace, 3 front and 3 back), but I have changed the heel to a short row dealio. . .loving them, and I have actually just finished my second heel, so these should really cook now! Yay!

You may have also noticed the Row Counters in my sock photos. . .if you like what you see, and you would like one of your own, enter the contest by midnight tonight! Or, just stop by this shop on Etsy, and pick one up for yourself. . .I don't know how I ever knitted without them!

Thanks for letting me catch your eye today, and Knit in Good Health!

I think I need another hobby...

So, I knit.

And I crochet.

And I needlepoint.

And I paint.

And I play with clay.

And I play with wire and metal.

And I write.

And I Scrapbook...which is what I did with some of my Scrappin' friends last night! And I got quite a bit accomplished! Yay! DD's album did not have some major "Senior Year" stuff in it, so that was Priority One...and I am proud to report that I was able to complete 4 2-page layouts (that's 8 pages!) in my 6-hours!

Another friend did 20 pages! (I think she may be an overachiever...shhhh!)

I can, of course, say that because I do not have a problem with the overachieving. I do not have several hobbies that are constantly competing for my time. I do not make myself crazy, trying to be perfect at every single one of them. I do not fill all my "free" time with little things so I won't fidget. I do not constantly bug my friends by fishing for compliments on the various craft projects I complete each week.

Yeah. Right.

Anyhoo...
I am plugging right along on the Christmas Stocking Project. This is just the first one, and I plan on making at least 3. Possibly 5, and maybe more! Yes! I will make stockings for EVERYONE! And they will all be stunningly beautiful! Bwahahahahahahaaaaaaaa!

Hmmmm, I seem to have gone a bit mad. Perhaps I need a hobby...

Knit (and craft and live and love) in good health!

Contest Time! (Take 2)

First, here’s the booty again: (NORO Sock Yarn, and a set of PrettyKnittyJewelry Stitch Markers and Row Counter)

Just post a comment telling me how many of my blog posts you have read, and what your fave pastime/hobby is – other than knitting, of course! Winner announced May 1st!

Ok, along with learning my way around the computer, in the past 10 years or so, I have also learned how to navigate Yahoo, Yahoo Groups, Ravelry, Facebook, My Space, Google, Etsy, and now Blogger. I even designed a website for our church a few years back, and it was fun! (I have told you all how much I love the computer!)

Each time, I pretty much dove in head first, learning as I went, and this blog is no exception to that rule! The contest has helped me learn a little more about you guys, a little more about me, and a little more about blogging on Blogger. Mostly, it has been a rip-roaring good time! But, there have been one or two times that I have found myself just shaking my head, wondering how exactly to proceed. (Same story, new application!)

Aaaaanyway, so here I am, with about 68 new comments for my contest, and I am really wanting to reply to each one. Buuuuuut, I haven’t yet figured out how. . .I have replied to a few. . .but, for the most part, I can’t seem to find email addresses for individual commenters. So, as the contest continues (you have until Thursday, April 30th, at midnight EST to enter), let me take a moment to say:

• Wow! Knitters are a wide and varied group of people, enjoying every type of pastime from cooking and reading to riding motorcycles, working out and playing/watching all kinds of sports. You guys are all amazing!
• Spinning counts as not knitting, so all of those entries are completely valid. The same goes for collecting yarn (stash-ing), crochet, sewing and all other needle arts, as well as frogging (which I hope you don’t have to do, if it is painful for you).
• I have a beagle too! Aren’t they funny little dogs?! LOL
• Who doesn’t love a good cuddle on the couch? I always miss that when sticky-hot summer comes around. . .
• Mistaking “time at work” with “time with the dog” is not that uncommon. I work with a couple people, and sometimes they can be as much fun as my dog. . .sometimes not. . .
• Ummmm. . .I don’t know if sleeping should be counted as a hobby. . .but I’m gonna say ok to it. . .sometimes, when I sits down, I just falls asleep myself!
• Oh! And thanks for all the kind things you have all said about the blog and my shop! I guess if I had to pick a “second-place” hobby, it might be writing. One day, I even started writing a book. . .but that’s a story for another day!

I know that I did not respond to everyone, but I hope I have addressed any questions you might have left. If not, comment again, or PM me on Ravelry (PKJewelry), and I will get back to you the best I can!

For now, here’s what I have been up to –

More Millfiore - Blue Sweaters this time! These are newly listed Stitch Markers from the shop!

Mockery Socks – as part of a KAL on Cleveland Knits West (Ravelry).
And I seem to have Polymer Clay on the brain, so check the shop often for new additions!

Ciao, Baby! And may you all knit (and read, and ride motorcycles, and sleep, and play with your dogs) in good health!