Tofu stuffed fried squash blossoms anyone?Went to the farmers' market today and cleaned up! These are what are left of the heirloom tomatoes. They were sooooo good. Some of them weren't any bigger than the tip of my little finger. They were as sweet as candy.

I picked up lots of peppers and some pretty pimento peppers. A huge eggplant for $2.00, which was quite a deal. A few green tomatoes, because who doesn't like fried green tomatoes?

And this is the squash blossoms before the stuffing and frying. They were very interesting. Quite good though. I've always wanted to try them and was surprised to find them at the market.

The day started out not too hot but by about 10:00 am it was really warming up out there. Plus the market is on blacktop. Whew. I was glad to get in the car to go to Whole Foods. Got some lovely arborio rice in the bulk food section that is destined to become a risotto of some sort. Why yes, I did get a couple of new cookbooks.

Okay, back to knitting and I'll post a couple of pictures of that soon.

Stay cool and see you soon.

Happy dancing all around! The shawl is finished. Blocked and folded away,ready to be worn as soon as it gets cool out. Although I don't ever think that will happen. *sigh*More tomorrow.

Looks like some yarn to me! I think it looks pretty good for a first attempt with a drop spindle. It made about 44 yards of a worsted weight and I can use it when I make another one of Kristin Nicholas' pair of socks or gloves. Just enough to use as an accent color.I am working on some more in a blue-grey color that should make about twice as much. I do enjoy the spinning though. Once I get going it's very relaxing and mesmerizing to watch the spindle go 'round and 'round.

This isn't a very good picture (it's hard to get a decent picture when you are sitting in the passenger seat and driving by) but it's the loveliest field of sunflowers. And not the gigantic kind, which to me are rather creepy, but the medium,rather managable sized kind.
As we drove by, a family had stopped and was taking a photo of the wife and kids in front of them. Should be a good shot.

It's just been to hot to cook so don't have any photos of any food. Lots of watermelon. Yum. And loads and loads of iced tea. On the plus side I am almost finished with the shawl...wooohooooo! Oly 14 more hexagons and then I have to figure out where I can pin it down to block it.

I can hardly wait for the weather to change so I can wear it. But that's obviously not going to happen for awhile. Especially since they are saying it's going to be 95* here on Saturday. I am NOT going out! I'm sure that I'm not the only one either.

Not the greatest pictures but you get the idea. This is my first spinning. I just used some roving that I got at my lys and so far it's going pretty well. I'm not convinced that it's right but it looks like yarn so I assume that it is correct.

Unfortunately I just found out that the Central Ohio Weaver's Guild was meeting down the street at the local park today. (www.cowg.org). Too bad I didn't know that before or I would've gone down. :(

Certainly easier than driving to Columbus.

Still so hot. I'm over the halfway mark on my swirl shawl so that's looking up. It's a good thing that I have some new dvd's to keep me occupied while knitting. Season 3 of Numbers and Newsradio. When they sell them in a package ...3 seasons for $14.99 it's hard to pass them up. So I have been enjoying those. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed that show.
Bought some more roving today. One of the local farmers' markets had a woman there who made felted bowls, animals, etc... and was selling some lovely undyed wool roving for about 1 ounce for $5.00. Got about 2 oz. worth and she was pretty generous. Filled a gallon-size Ziploc bag to the top so that should keep me busy for awile. One of our Quaker parrots (Rufus) really loves the drop spindle. I say "it's time to spin" and he comes running down from the top of his cage and goes up and down with the spindle. When I am finished he is so tired. But he will bob up and down as long as I keep spinning. I'd hate to see what he'd do with a spinning wheel!

The shawl is growing! It is almost addictive to watch it with each hexagon. Plus, it's just too freakin' hot to do anything else.

Be back soon.

Whew! It's HOT. Like so many other places I'm sure. I have been "hiding'' out in the house the last few days and just haven't left for anything. Been busy watching season 3 of Numbers and Michael Palin (he was my favorite of the Monty Python-ers...so cute) Pole to Pole. It's always nice to armchair travel.

On the upside, I've gotten alot of knitting done. This is the swirl shawl but it has grown exponentially.

The colors aren't true but you can see the general idea.
It's actually much longer now. I'm just starting the third row. There are 5 rows so it will be a nice sized shawl. The hexagons are addictive and I keep knitting so I can see what it looks like.

It's been too hot to turn on the stove or the oven so these are a few things that I made the other day.




These are breakfast sandwiches. English muffins with tofu eggs, Teese brand cheddar cheese and the apple-sage sausage that I made. A little yellow mustard and they are great to heat up and grab to run out the door.

The plate is scrambled tofu with vegetables, hash browns and whole-grain toast with the best watermelon jam that I found at a farmers' market.Both the recipes are from a great cookbook by Alicia Simpson called "Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food" and I haven't made one thing from it that hasn't been fabulous. A good cookbook to own for a nice overview of vegan cooking. Nothing too hard to find, ingredient-wise and nice, concise instructions.
This is just a pizza that I threw together with some flatbread that I had. Marinated, roasted portobella mushrooms, onion, home-grown tomatoes (which I am sorry to say will probably be the last of those since my tomato plant has developed some kind of nasty blight :( ...so sad) and fresh basil and mozzarella Daiya "cheese".

I wasn't too sure about the Daiya cheese when I first bought it. I think it's because I haven't had cheese in so long that the "fat mouth feel " (thank you Chef Amanda!) kind of made me queasy. But if I am not heavy-handed with it I find it to be quite tasty sprinkled on things.

I have also been making my own frozen soy lattes lately with Starbucks Via coffee. I wasn't sure
if I would like it as much as my 'bucks but it is fabulous!! I also use coffee soymilk and wowza! I'm impressed. And saving money so that's a plus.

Well, off to refill my iced tea and knit a few more hexagons. Take care and stay cool.

Excitement for me!!! Vegan cake slices from Whole Foods. WOOHOO! I love bakery cake with the sugary sweet icing and frosting roses but needless to say, I haven't had any in years. I couldn't believe it when I saw it in the display case. Plus, it's sooooo sweet that I split it in two and got to enjoy it twice!! I definately will buy it again.

A little peek at what I've been doing. These are dyed using the same colors even though it doesn't look like it! The yarn is KnitPicks Bare merino fingering weight and is dyed with some neon food coloring that I found at the grocery. It is being knit up into the Swirl Shawl and now that I have the pattern down it's pretty easy and fun.

I have another skein that dyed up inbetween colors but didn't take a picture of that. I decided to have a gradation of colors to make it really interesting. I've wanted to knit the pattern for years but never got around to ordering it. The only place that I could find it was at the Yarn Barn and by the time I added shipping it was almost $10.00 for the pattern. Cheaper to order the kit but could not decide which colorway to choose. But last year I found it at a "local" (about an hour away) yarn market that I go to every year. That was the only good thing I found. Unfortunately the guild that hosts it picked an impossible to find (unless you were from around there I suppose) place and only a few shops showed up. Plus, you never hear about it until the last minute and it's hard to plan for it. So I'm glad that I found the pattern because I probably will not be going again.

Been so hot (90*s and above) that I haven't been doing much but sitting in the air conditioning and knitting. Mostly socks but some hexagons for the swirl shawl.

Just finished a pair of socks made with Noro sock yarn and I have to say....I am really disappointed. I was looking forward to knitting with it but won't use it again. Some of the yarn was thick (which is fine) but some of it was so thin that you couldn't even pull on the stitch without it breaking. And I don't think that it will hold up very well on the parts that it was knitted. We'll see how they do throughout the winter.

I just love these patterns by Kristin Nicholas. This is the Autumn Leaves pattern from her book "Knit with Kristin". I'm about 1/2 way through the second one so should be finished by tomorrow if I don't spend alot of time online!

The yarn is mostly Deb Stoller's Stitch Nation Full 'o Sheep and the colors are just vibrant. My next big project is a large wrap (the kind you can throw over a jacket in the cold weather) and just got all the yarn for it. I like that JoAnn's takes competitor coupons and as many as you have as long as they aren't the same. I used a bunch of 50% off coupons to get all my yarn so ...yah...it only cost 1/2 as much. Good for me. Plus it will be my first steeked project so that should be a whole lotta angst. Teehee.
My first homegrown tomato!!! Looked a little raggedy but tasted great. I have about 7 more and 2 of them look like they are ripening up just fine.
My herbs are growing like gangbusters and I bought another basil plant at Trader Joe's the other day.

Couldn't beat the price. It was a good sized plant for $2.99. I like to make pesto and freeze it so the basil gets used up fast. I just bought some arugula today to make some more. Yum.
Here is my fabulous dinner from the other night. I used a Gardein "breast" (which is made of grains and veggies and all kinds of good things) and flattened it out and dredged it in some flour and fried it and topped it with a lovely caper/wine sauce. The greens are a collard green salad with a tamarind/miso dressing with sauteed pears on top.

Went to one of the farmer's markets today. One of the ones down in the city-Hyde Park. It's a more expensive area of town and the market was great! It was soooooo hot though and didn't help that it was set up on blacktop. Whew. Found some lovely garlic scapes (yah!). It's about the last of the season for those so I was happy to have found them. Got about 4 bunches. And some beautiful swiss chard that is destined for a millet, white bean and chard casserole. Some banana peppers and red onions (with the dirt still on them....now that's what I call fresh). I think I'm just going to saute up some of the scapes and toss them on top of some pasta with a little olive oil.

Amanda and I are always looking for a good veggie burger recipe and I have made several. This is the Better Black Bean burger from Robin Robertson's latest "Vegan on the Cheap" and I must say it is WONDERFUL! Fries up all crispy on the outside and not mushy at all. Put it on a good ciabatta bun with some mustard and soy mayo with leaf lettuce and a juicy tomato and a fabulous lunch.

I wish I could say that Amanda has some tomatoes on her plant. She did have about 11 or 12 but the deer that has been hanging around her yard obviously had a late night snack the other night. Man, is she mad. Of course I would be also.

And it was sleeping all curled up by the pot next to the patio.
I got fairly close to shoot this photo with my cell phone before it turned and sauntered off back into the woods.

She has entirely too much nature for living in a subdivision. A bunny nest in the front yard. A bird's nest in the rafter of the car port. Deer roaming through the yards and across the streets. And a whole bunch of coyotes in the woods. She and her neighbor watched one slink through the yard the other day. They are all over Cincinnati and quite the nuisance.

Alright. I am off to knit and stay cool. It's going to be in the 90*s the next few days. Just ridiculous for this time of year. Stay cool!

Knitting has commenced. Although I did finish this the other day before the finger splint.

I don't know what I did to my finger but you should have seen the bruise!I think I must have had a nasty bone bruise because it was the loveliest bunch of colors you have ever seen. And swollen. I could knit a little but it was slow going. I was sorely disappointed because last week I ordered a drop spindle learn to spin kit from Etsy and it came the same day I had to splint the finger.

I know, I know. Like I need something else to do. I've seen Robin's ( www.fortheloveoffiber.typepad.com) yarn that she has spun and it made me envious! Just beautiful. I know that "this way madness lies" teehee, but I think it looks like fun. We shall see.

Okay. I think I shall put the splint on for one more night so I'll be back with more in a few days.

This is why I am not knitting. :( Looks better in the photo.
And it makes typing 2 fingered so I'll see you in a day or two.

Here is what I did over the holiday weekend. Well, the fun part anyway. This is my new dyed yarn. It's KnitPicks Bare merino in a fingering weight and dyed with Wilton food coloring. Just 3 colors ...Royal Blue, Egg yellow and Fuschia made all the wonderful colors.

Easy to do with the microwave and I get so carried away with the dye that it's hard to stop. Here it is after being tediously rolled into a ball.

The colors are very cool.

I'm knitting a pair of plain socks with purls every so often to highlight some of the colors.

I have 3 more skeins of the Peruvian wool fingering weight that I was going to dye for socks but have decided to use for my swirl shawl. I didn't really have enough yarn (1100 yards of fingering) so I was going to double some lace weight that I have stashed. But, lo and behold, I can make my own for it so that is what I will do! I bought some great neon food colors at Krogers the other day and I bet it will make great yarn.

The weekend was fine. I was mowing the lawn the other day and forgot to put the gas cap back on after I filled the tank (duh) and ran over it and it shot down the driveway into the street. I didn't see it at the time since I was in the side yard by that time and spent a good 15 minutes searching in the yard for it. When I stopped and traced my steps I realized that it had rolled all the way down the drive into the four-lane street....arrrggghhhhh! Needless to say, the mower chewed it up quite nicely. Good job for me as it's not even 2 months old. So off to the Home Depot to buy a universal cap. It didn't look like the one I had ( smart me, I took the cap with me) and the sales clerk opened the package and then we went to the display of mowers and made sure it fit. Certainly was a deal for a $5.00 cap. But now the mower has a lovely new "lid" and the gas stays in, so all's well that ends well.

Just had the most wicked thunderstorm rolling through earlier. The thunder was so loud and the lightening was right overhead and it seemed like it was practically in the house. The booming was so loud at times that the house shook and I jumped about 2 feet in the air everytime it thundered. And it poured. Looked like the heavens opened. Thank God that's over. And no harm but some water in the basement by the walls. It was rushing over the gutters in streams and just running down the front of the house down into the basement. When it rains like that I don't think there is anything you can do to stop it but start mopping and putting down rags. But it is much cooler out right now so that's always nice.

As promised here is some knitting. I did write out this post the other night but then the computer froze and that was the end of that. I did have the foresight to save the post (or at least most of it).

These are the Atlantic/Pacific socks from "Kristin Knits". They certainly are bright, no? I like the bobbled edge.

I do like the vest now that I fiddled with it a little bit. I just picked up stitches at the bottom and continued the garter stitch border for a few more inches. Much better. It's made with Peaches and Creme yarn in the colorway "Juanita Rose". I think it will keep me warm this fall.

Right now it's been so hot that I am only working on socks.

I have a pile of "want to be started right now" projects but I want to get the ones on the needles finished first.

Just got finished mowing the lawn. Whew!! HOT! But at least that is done for a few days.

Really haven't done too much cooking these last few days since it's been so hot. But have made some ice (soy) cream. Blackberry and today I made cherry. Very tasty. And I also made a loaf of bread because the bread machine really does all the work.
Alright. I am going to go get something to eat since it's already 10:00 pm and I don't want to wait any later. Hope everyone has a safe Memorial Day.

Knitting has actually been occurring here. This is the start of the candle flame shawl (pattern is on Ravelry...but there are corrections) and I think it's going to be stunning. Not to mention warm. I put it away for awhile since the temperature has ratcheted up exceedingly fast for this time of year. Today was in the 80*s and rather humid from all the rain we've had the last few days. On Friday it was crazy!We had so much rain so fast that the wall in the basement had trickles of water running down them from the rain coming down the front of the house and just coming against the house. I suppose I need to put down some more mulch. That probably will help stop rain. Although when it's coming down in sheets and gushing down the street, it's hard to say if anything will stop it at that point.

We had gone to Trader Joe's earlier in the day...they FINALLY got in their gluten-free waffles (yah for mom!) and by the time we had checked out it was absolutely teaming down. Of course I was wearing a cotton shirt and capris and by the time I went out to get the car I was totally drenched. All the way to my underoos. A most miserable drive home. And the seats in the car are fabric so I didn't want to lean back and soak it. And then the inside of the car steamed up so much we couldn't even see out the windows. A most unfortunate trip. I was so glad to get home and change and dry my hair. Then, of course, it got much warmer out and I was dressed for cooler weather. By then I had just given up.
Found some lovely blackberries on sale yesterday and made the most delicious basil-blackberry crisp with balsamic vinegar and it so soooo good. Quite different with the basil. I probably should've gotten more basil plants since I practically stand over mine and wait for the leaves to grow! And I am proud to announce -I have 8 tomatoes on my plant!! I can't wait for them to be ready.
I'm also putting together some blackberry soy cream and a wonderful apple-arugula salad for tomorrow. When it starts warming up all I want is fruit and cold dishes and salads.
I am almost finished with the sampler vest. I tried it on the other day and it was a few inches shorter than I would've liked. Since the bottom is a garter stitch border I just seamed it up and picked up stitches and continued it on for another few inches. It looks much better. I am now on the border around the front edges and neck. Over 300 stitches so it takes awhile to get through a row. But I feel very satisfied when I get to the end.
Off to finish knitting (so I can start something else!). Stay cool.

As promised, here is a knitting photo. It's the Textured Sampler vest from Lion Brand and it's knit in Peaches and Cream cotton. I made one for mom last year and decided to make the shorter version for myself. I'm not sure if I will like it or not. It seems like it might be too short. But I will measure it against some of my other vests and probably will be surprised.Here is an apple cake that I made today. Very tasty. It's made with shredded Granny Smiths, applesauce, dried apples and apple juice in the glaze.
Well, just a check-in today. I have "the sinus" and a splitting headache. See you in a day or two.

Yarn stash. I bought this a month or so ago at Yarns and Fabrications. They had it listed as a fingering weight,which I thought was a little thin but what do I know? Turns out it's a lace weight so now I must find a pattern to knit. Anyone have a good pattern suggestion that takes less than 450 yards? Something like a shawl or wrap?

It's pretty though. It's Sekku and I really like the colors.This is what I made yesterday. Baked onion rings from my new cookbook "American Vegan Kitchen". OH MY! It's a good thing that I only made 1 onion worth because I totally could have made myself sick eating them. Soooooo good. And totally easy to prepare. So far everything that I've made from it has been a keeper.
And this is a collard green/red cabbage slaw-type salad that was the side dish.

No knitting pictures today but will post some in the next few days.

I planned on posting sooner this week but everytime I got on I had to do something with the computer...from having it freeze to having to uninstall and then re-install the virus program and by the time I'm finished dealing with all these things that are really much beyond my "ken" I am overwhelmed and just want to shut the thing down and walk away. While I really like the computer sometimes I miss the times before everyone had one. I mean, what did we all do before we all had cell phones? I still remember when I was in high school and the radio in my car "died" and I had to use a tape player with cassette tapes for music. Yeah, yeah, I know, I just really dated myself. That was before the big "boom" boxes. And now I have mp3 players and computer programs. Waxing nostalgic here it seems. But I do miss my mix tapes. And if I do say so myself... I used to make pretty good mix tapes.

Here is what I have finished last week. The good news is that it was cold enough the last 2 days to get to wear them! I dyed the yarn myself with KoolAid and am pretty pleased with them. The pattern is Zephyr from Ravelry and it went fast and they are so comfortable.
The yarn is Knit Picks Bare and quite a bargain. Over 400 yards for under $5.00. And have a decent ball left over.

I will definately dye my own again. And use the powdered drink mix as they look good.

Here are a few more pictures from the nursery. Isn't this just the cutest pony?

Bought a tomato plant last week and am keeping my fingers crossed that it will make it through living with me. I don't have the greatest track record at keeping plants alive although I do have the best intentions. I over obsess about watering them and must "love" them to death. So far I have 2 tiny tomatoes! We are under a frost advisory for tonight and I brought in all the herbs but couldn't carry the tomato because it's in a huge pot with about 60 lbs. of dirt. I had no idea that it would take that much dirt to fill the thing!
Here is the donkey. He was mostly interested in eating. I know how he feels.

Went to Starbucks today (and yesterday....fine, I can't help it) because they now have make your own Frappucinos. And they can be vegan. Woot! And at half-price you can't beat getting a big drink for under $2.50. Had a coffee, extra coffee Frappucino with no whip cream and oh my!! So good. I can see how these are addictive.

Don't have any food pictures this time but made the best noodle "pie/frittata" type thing that was fabulous. It's from a new book called "American Vegan Kitchen" and it's full of recipes that are reminiscent of diner meals and recipes. All kinds of things that I want to make. Including fried avocado wedges. Yeah that doesn't sound awful or anything...teehee.

Also got the new "Vegan on the Cheap" by Robin Robertson and so far everything has been a winner. Just not enough hours in the day to make and eat everything.

Well, back to the knitting. I have just cast on for a sampler vest for myself (don't judge me! I know I still have the celtic poncho. I'll get to it. Don't laugh!) and a season of Numbers to watch. See you soon.