Meet Mortimer
Last year I expressed an interest in a tea cozy to cover up my tea pot. I am an avid tea drinker as of late. I had been eyeing a cute tea cozy in a book that my friend Romelda had. She was knitting a tea cozy for someone else's birthday. I made a passing comment that I liked the sheep. Romelda filed that comment away for a later date.

Romelda quietly got started on my 2010 birthday present. I had no idea what she was up to. My birthday came and Romela showed me what she had been up to so that I would know she didn't forget my birthday. I have seen in over the last year in pieces, together, ripped out and then put together again.

I went recently to Romelda's for knitting and we had tea. Mortimer was the guest of honor.
Here is Mortimer from the back. Doesn't he have a cute backside??? And this is Mortimer from the front...
Isn't he cute from the front too? Now who wouldn't love a face like that? Thank you very much Mortimer maker. You did a nice job.

My Dirty Little Secret

We have lived in our current house for over eighteen years. With time comes complacency. Ever since I have been married we have moved every four years. So that means things are cleaned out, given away, sold at a yard sale or just thrown away. I have to admit that I have gotten lazy about keeping house the longer we stay here.

This is what laziness gets you; a big fat unorganized mish mosh of chemicals that have been there for who knows how long. Too long I think. So I felt inspired one day and decided to clean it up. I don't get inspiration too often so I had to go with it.
There was so much stuff under the sink, I piled it on the kitchen cart and stood on a three step kitchen ladder and took this picture. It's my private kitchen shame...
I really wanted to do the baskets that you can get that will slide in and out on a plastic track. We measured and we can't ft them in there because of the garbage disposal, pipes and misc. things hanging down.
So this has to be the solution for now. The plastic bin is for my bathroom cleaning supplies that I carry upstairs when I have to clean up there. Eventually I will have this stuff moved to the bathrooms I clean and then there will be more room under the sink again. This is the view on the right side of the divider board.
This is the left side. I have a metal tin for the sponges and rubber gloves. Below that in the green bucket I bought from the dollar store are all my dishcloths rolled up and stowed away. The tall metal tin are my kitchen garbage bags. I really don't like the boxes. Since this photo was taken I found another way to store those clear yard bags so I don't have to look at those boxes either. I found doubles and triples of cleaning fluids that I need to use up and get rid of for more earth friendly nature cleaners. It's going to take a few months, but I will whittle down the stock.

I know there are others out there who dirty little secrerts too. Clean them out and confess on your blog. You will empowered to move on to another little secret place that needs purging. I know I did.

It's Not Mine
The most wonderful thing about knitting, crocheting and spinning is the people who do these things. They are some of the most generous people I have ever met. One person comes to mind the most; Juanita. I have been lucky enough to get all kinds of things from her over the last few years that I have known her via my knitting group Yarn for Breakfast. (This link will only work if you are a member of Ravelry)

Between Juanita and I, we must have swapped a whole sheep one ball of roving at a time. I have given her roving and then she picks up something wonderful and she passes it on to me. It doesn't stop with roving, but now it's finished crocheted items like a hat, a flower for that hat, and a dishcloth with the state of Texas knitted in it. I know Juanita is more a crocheter than a knitter so the dishcloth will be a treasured item.

She has even give me zucchini and squash that someone else gave her that she couldn't use.
I made a vegetable and sausage lasagna and a grilled vegetable and penne pasta salad.











The other day when we were knitting at The Coffee Shoppe, she gave me two nice sized balls of the most wonderful cotton yarn. She said it came from a spool that she got from Walmart. While I loved the cotton balls, I decided I could not add them to my stash. So since one good turn deserves another, I made something for Juanita. I am hoping she will be surprised and happy.

I don't crochet very often but it seemed appropriate I should crochet something for the crocheter. So I did. I made Juanita a market bag. The pattern came from a search on Ravelry for a free crocheted market bag.

The pattern is called Crocheted Market Bag. If you are not a member of Ravelry you can find the free pattern here. It's super easy and was an extremely easy crochet. I did it in less than two days. It wouldn't have taken me that long but I ripped it out a few times to be sure I understood the directions. Like I said, it's been a while!

Here is the bag laying flat so you have some idea of size. This is laying on my couch and it takes up one cushion size and a wee bit of the second cushion. I have not put anything heavy in it. I will leave that to Juanita to do when she gets the bag.
I wrote this post a while ago and since have handed back the lovely cotton balls that were gifted to me back to the giver. I hope she enjoys it as much as I did making it.

Tour de Fleece
Every year that the Tour de France runs, Ravelry has a group that challenges themselves to do something every day the race is on. This year the YfB (Yarn for Breakfast) group I belong to decided to do a mini event. The challenge is to spin at least fifteen minutes a day for time the Tour de France.

Here is what was on the wheel. It's a wool, mohair and bamboo blend that I bought two years ago at a quilt show in Hampton, Virginia. I set it aside thinking I would be so excited about it I would be all over it: NOT. I started it and then for some reason wasn't happy with it and quit. Since I am limited on the amount of spools I have for the singles I spin, I had to get the stuff off of there. I figured I might as well finish it and be done with it.
Here is the finished product on the swift. It's not consistent spinning but there is one thing it is...FINISHED!
This is a close up of the yarn. I haven't weighed it yet nor have I figured out the wpi (wraps per inch) to see what size it is. At this point I am just glad it's done. Finding a project for it will be in the future.
I have seen other spinner's do this with a coin, so since I thought it looked cool, I did it for mine to. They put a coin under the singles or finished yarn to show how small the stuff is. Mine is not small but like I mentioned earlier, I am just glad it's done. I have more roving on the wheel right now and will blog about that stuff later. Without the Tour de Fleece challenge from my fellow spinners, that single spool would still be sitting upstairs for who knows how long.

I'm Feeling Blue

I'm Feeling Blue.

A blogger whose farm blog I really love reading admired some dishcloths that I have been knitting (check out the post before this one) and asked if I was going to sell them. Nope, nope, nope. I admired something she made and talked about on one of her blog posts. So I proposed we do a swap.

Even though I have been on a yarn diet, I figured a purchase to give to someone would be okay. Off to A.C. Moore I went. I was really surprised at how many blue cotton yarns there were. I never have noticed them before. I picked four different blues and one Ecru. I figured that I could use the Ecru to supplement the blues when the cake ran short. Sure enough some of them did.

I have knit somewhere around 40 of the same pattern of these dishcloths. Knitting these was a walk in the park. They are ready for shipping to parts unknown. I am excited they will be in a country kitchen and they will be used. Here they are!

This is a short post, but as you can tell from the last two posts all I really have been knitting is dishcloths. I think I started on May 2. I used a #6 Addi Turbo circular for every one, two stitch markers and a row counter. Such an easy project to carry in a bag stowed in the car to drag everywhere. Now, I just need to get her address and they will be off to a good new home.

It's Back!!!
I thought a few months back that I had lost or at least misplaced my knitting mojo. I fretted and wondered if I would ever be able to knit with the passion I have had in the past. It was such a simple thing that gave me back my knitting mojo. One word describes it...dishcloths.

I haven't ever gotten into dishcloths but for some reason doing them has given me back my desire to knit again. I say dishcloths but it started out was a washcloth for the husband. He likes the knitted washcloths. I have knit them in the past but for some reason they didn't last. So in the trash they went. Out with the old and in with the new in progress. So I am using the same pattern from Ravelry for both washcloths and dishcloths. It's the Waffle Knit Dish Cloth. I followed the link and it lead to me here. I had to laugh after I saw where to link lead me to. I have been reading this blog for a few years now and totally missed this dishcloth. I guess you don't see what you have to see until it's time to see it.

The Waffle Knit Dish Cloth is super easy to knit. It's great for those of us who need a project to drag around with us in the car for the kid's games, dentist/doctor appts, and for knitting groups where there is a lot of talking going on and the attention span is shot! Great project. I don't think I can have too many dish/washcloths in this pattern.

To this day I have completed nearly 30. I want to keep knitting these but I am running out of balls of cotton. So I guess I will have to move on to some other projects that are UFOs. At least I am knitting again and want to keep knitting. So here are the beauty shots...
Here is a stack of my work in progress. I have various colors but the same pattern for everything. It just works so well.
I especially love the white cloths and the Ecru with the green.
There are some solids and some variegated.

So as you can see, there is a really good reason why it's been a while since I have blogged about what I am knitting. I have been knitting these for over a month now. I have three medium sized balls left and then the marathon Waffle knit will be over. I am now looking for a new project.

A Childhood Memory Revisited

Last weekend was my husband's birthday. I am always at a loss about what to give him. This year I gave him back a memory he had as a kid. I have been hearing about this for years and years. We have been eating all kinds of cakes trying to figure out what the recipe was for this special memory cake he had. So I did some research on the Internet and came up with something that sounded like it was what he remembered.

I completely understand how a memory attached to a certain food is very powerful. So I tried to recreate something for him and kept my fingers crossed.

I got out the wax paper and put it on the cake plate. I saw this trick on a number of TV shows and it works great. Only thing is, I should have done smaller strips and not covered the whole plate. utting the wax paper on the cake plate helps to keep the edges clean when you frost the bake. It was a real bear pulling them from under the cake.
The recipe I was using called for a from scratch cake, but I cheated and used a box mix. It said it was a white cake, but it looked more like a light yellow cake to me...turned out okay though.
I wanted to make the cake a four layer cake so I cut each of the cakes in half. I don't have a turn table so it was wonky. It really didn't matter since it was going to be smeared with icing.
The icing is called a "7 minute boiled icing". It really doesn't boil and it didn't take seven minutes; it took longer. I used a white vanilla extract that my friend Julie (a professional cake decorator) recommended to keep white really white. Worked perfectly!
...iced the first two layers and then stacked the rest of and iced them.
When you cover the cake with something totally, you don't have to worry about how pretty your icing is done. No one will know you are not a professional.
Here is the finished product. My husband's wonderful memory about his grandmother Marylee was her coconut cake. Something so simple has been in that man's memory his whole life. Who knew that one recipe could make him tear up when he talked about her coconut cake?
Here is the birthday boy cutting his "Memory Cake".
I am thrilled that I could make something as simple as a coconut cake that would make my husband so happy about his birthday. Here is the recipe that I used. Unless you are hellbent on baking a cake from scratch, use a mix and save yourself some time and supplies. A white box cake and that fabulous icing is every bit as good as anything else. Ask my husband, he'll tell ya!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Farmer Brown's Garden June 2, 2011

I am not ready to post what I have been knitting on so I went out this morning and took shots of our backyard garden. We are very pleased the way things have gone so far, but if it doesn't rain soon everything will suffer. Here is what is going on in the garden today.

We have sixteen tomato plants. Some are in this bed and some are in pots around the rest of the garden. There are also carrots that are planted in the bare looking spot to the right. They are struggling but hanging in there so far. Some of our tomatoes are heirloom, some romas, some sandwich tomatoes and some really wonderful yellow pear tomatoes. We are just trying lots of different ones so we can see which ones we might use over and over again through the years.
This is one of two eggplants that are planted in pots. They are both Black Beauties. We planted the little skinny Japanese eggplants but grilling them on the grill was a bit of a challenge. So we are back to the black shiny eggplants.
This is a picture of another eggplant in a pot in the back. The front pot has two tomato plants. The pot you see the edge of has Provence Lavender.
It's really hard to tell but there are five pepper plants in the front of the box. The Jacob's Cattle beans take up the rest of the bed. Jacob's Cattle beans are for drying. So I don't pick them but let them dry on the bushes until the pods turn a light crispy brown. We have planted them two years on the past but really don't have enough to cook. So we are growing them again this year to save them for the winter cooking.
This bed is filled with bush beans, pole beans and carrots that are along the side of the bed. These beans are Haricot Verts. I love these green beans because there are very few strings and the are not as touch as some other green beans that we have grown. They can be tough if not picked when they are small. When I pick them, I leave them in the refrigerator until I think there is a pound. Then I get them ready for freezing. Last year we got over sixteen pounds of beans. Did I mention how much I love green beans??
This bed looks almost the same as the one above. There are more bush and pole Haricot Verts and a squash plant and baby carrots in the open spot.
This bed has eleven potato plants. It's our first time to do potatoes. So far, so good. There is also a pot of two tomato plants. As well as everything in the vegetable garden look, they still need lots of water. We need rain to fill up our water barrels. They forcasted rain for after midnight last night and not one drop. When our local Master Gardeners had the first of their two plant sales I bought this baby Japanese Maple. It seems to be doing really well. We already have one Japanese Maple in the backyard and since it has done so well, I decided we needed another one. I planted the petunias to give the baby tree some company.
I have always wanted to try Hens and Chicks. So I bought three pots of them and planted them in the strawberry pots I haven't used in about ten years. I think these guys will do just fine in them.
The Provence Lavender that I planted years ago is really starting to produce. It's hard to see but there is a bee about mid screen buzzing from stem to stem. It's time to pick the Lavender but I hate for the bees to miss out. So I usually pick about 2/3s of the stems and leave the rest of the bees.

So there is the garden up to date as of today. I am hoping it rains soon. If it rains really well, the garden usually increases it's size by about 1/3. We have baby tomatoes on almost all the tomato plants so I don't want to lose them. So now it's back to knitting. Hopefully soon I will be able to show what I have been doing for the last month. Nothing exciting, but very useful.

'Tis The Season

I talk about how much I love fall and winter and now for some reason my new favorite season is spring. I think I might have had cabin fever during these past winter months. While I enjoyed doing winter activities, hearty foods and football; I have been dying for spring. I have been bitten by the gardening bug BAD. The first day the weather looked anything like spring weather, I was outside thinking about what would be planted where in our garden. I don't have any garden pictures yet because there are still some bare spots but there are still colorful things blooming all over and I just had to share them. I went nuts on a nice day taking pictures. This is not about knitting in any way, shape or form. This about color and the happiness that spring and digging in the dirt brings me. I have never grown this kind of a flower before; Foxglove. I hear this a very popular flower for an English garden. I just bought it to attract hummingbirds. I only bought one plant to see how it goes.
I did research on the Internet about the kinds of flowers that hummingbirds love and this one is on the list; Hibiscus. I have never had Hibiscus before so there is a learning curve on this one. The blooms are so beautiful.
My face is not the only happy face in the garden lovin' spring. This Johnny Jump Up wintered over in a hanging box. Most of the ones that I planted made it. The Petunias didn't. They don't seem to be as hardy as the Petunia, Violas and Johnny Jump Ups.



I love all the color! I admire strength of enduring our 18" snow fall this past winter.
My parsley has wintered over for five years now. I want to put it into the ground but I am nervous it will not do as well. So for now it is waiting for the first caterpillar to come and consume it. I love that I am helping local butterflies. I just wish they stayed around longer so I can see them...
My French Thyme is blooming and soon will be nice and green. I plucked some off today, cut off the blooms and threw it in my chicken stock pot. I love having herbs in the garden both in the ground and in pots.
I think these two basil plants get the most use of the herbs. I love making pesto and I use it all summer and freeze what I can for the winter months. Just love this stuff!
So as you can see I am excited about spring and the garden. It's too bad that I am not that excited about knitting...I am knitting but it just doesn't excite me for now.