Here's a few more shots of the garden from the other day. Cute bench. I'm not sure how comfortable it would be though. This was just outside the building.

Another shot of the walkway.

I will post some more pictures soon. I'm rather out of sorts so I think I'll go and knit for awhile.

Went somewhere different the other day. In the park district is a park called Glenwood Gardens and they were having a small quilt display.

I really enjoy seeing quilts (now, I can't learn to quilt because if I start one more hobby something else will have to leave my head..teehee) and it was such a nice day that it was the perfect thing to do.

The park is a lovely place and the buildings look like something you would find in the Cotswolds.

Here is walking up to the initial building.
Getting closer now.The covered walkway was lovely.

The quilts were in a small room and not very many but lovely all the same.

Unfortunately I couldn't get close enough to show the photo that this quilt is based on. They are for a theme of nature.

And of course I really liked all the teacup blocks.

The lady bugs were in the style of Charlie Harper and had been made from a kit in a class that they had.

The rest of the trip was just as pleasant. The park there has a section called Highland Discovery Garden that is set up for children. I have read about it before and it has always gotten really good write-ups as a great place to go and explore. We were wandering around the gift shop when one of the park volunteers came up and asked us if we would enjoy seeing the children's garden and gave us free passes to go in. (It normally costs $5.00 for adults and $4.00 for the little rugrats.) Totally worth the money. We had the best time poking around and discovering all the little hidden items and places and beautiful plants. I have many more photos to share next time.

Right now I am knitting a scarf for a friend of sis's so I am off to try and get more done on it. Stay cool and see you soon.

I do enjoy spinning. This is my latest attempt. Plying this time. It certainly does make a difference in how the yarn looks when plyed together. Much smoother. I'm pretty pleased with it if I do say so myself. Since one of the local yarn shops is closing here--Yarns and Fabrications--I went up the other day to look and see if there was anything that I couldn't live without. As you can see this lovely skein of Wisdom sock yarn followed me home. I have been looking at this for several trips now and decided that I'd better buy it since it was probably the last chance. It's a lovely metallic yarn and the hardest thing was deciding which color to pick. I'm happy with it though. Have to find just the right pattern for it.
I think for next year I shall do what I've seen others do this year. I am going to make my own sock of the month club. I seem to be almost paralyzed with indecision about which pattern for which sock...as if the "sock police" would come and with a loud speaker demand that I "put down the yarn and needles and step away from that pattern" and take me away because I used the absolutely wrong pattern for that yarn. See what I mean? So much to choose from. So I think putting each yarn in a ziplock with a pattern and throwing them in a box to choose makes infinitely more sense.
It cooled down just a bit these past few days so cooking recommenced here. Which was good because I was almost reduced to having a bowl of cereal for dinner. Not that I mind a good cereal for dinner but after awhile I begin to crave "real" food. This are "fish" tacos that are made by pressing tofu and then breading them.
The trick is using kelp granules which gives them the "fishy" taste. I got the recipe from "Vegan Comfort Food" by Alicia Simpson and they are WONDERFUL! I haven't made one thing yet from this book that I haven't loved.

Went to Jungle Jim's the other day and picked up some 10 oz. ramekins so I can make myself some individual baked desserts. It will be nice not to have a huge pan of dessert but something small and managable.
Just got back from running to Hobby Lobby to look for a specific yarn. Has anyone been there lately? I was pleasantly surprised at the nice selection that they have now and picked up 2 skeins of Patons Lace. Just lovely. Who knew they made a lace-weight? Not me. Now I will have to go to Ravelry and find a good pattern. And then I can cast on....hahahaha. Not until I finish the projects that I am knitting right now. And yes! I am still working on the Celtic poncho. I figure that I will REALLY appreciate it since it took so long to finish.
Sorry had to pick myself up off the floor since I fell off the chair laughing. But I will finish it!

One sock finished!

I rather like them.
Of course it was much too hot to do much more than quickly try it on to make sure it fit!
More soon.

At least with wool it can be a small project. 'Cause in the mid-90*s it's much too hot to work on anything larger than a sock. These are destined to become the Fall Blooms socks by Mags Kandis (Vogue Knitting Fall 2008). I'm using Deb Stoller's Stitch Nation Full 'o Sheep yarn and it's moving along.

Today it was 96* with the heat index of 100-105* so I spent the majority of the day indoors with knitting and dvds. And a splitting headache which I'm sure is a result of the heat and the smog alert that has been going on as well. Just yuck. We go out and run errands early in the morning and then hunker down and try and keep cool. Lots of salads and not too much cooking happening right now. This is dinner from the other night. Sauteed swiss chard with miso and sesame, the best mushrooms ever (from "Vegan Lunchbox from Around the World"), half a bagel and Gardein "chicken" breasts" made like a chicken piccata in a lovely breading and fried up crispy. So good.

Got a bunch of portobella mushrooms at Jungle Jim's last week on the discount rack and made stuffed mushrooms with tomatoes and some purslane from the farmers' market. Topped with some panko and Daiya cheese. It's nice to have a few things already cooked to just heat up and eat.

Although it's about too hot to want to eat much of anything. Except popsicles!

Stay cool and see you soon.

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.