Yes, I have shamefully neglected this blog but I'm here now.

I have been finishing up some of my wips so been knitting like crazy.

This is the Drift shawl by TinCan Knits and what a fun knit. This one is done with acrylic yarn and not blocked but I'm going to make it again in wool so it can be blocked. It should really open those cables and show them off.

These are some plain stockinette socks that I knit using leftover scraps of yarn. I think they are cute. Plus, I can use up all those little balls of yarn!

I was going to make an afghan or something out of them but decided socks were the best way to go.

Last week it was nice and warm and spent alot of time knitting at the park. Once it starts getting warmer it's nice to be able to pull under the leaves for the shade. The trees have just started filling out alot so it's nice there.  Although this weekend it will be stuffed with people so I'll give it a miss.

I've been designing some socks lately. The first pair I designed are being published in a book called "American Sock Knitting" being published by PlanetPurl.  And the pair that I designed and knit for the sample are going to be on the cover! Here's what it looks like.

I love the socks. They are worsted weight and the cables are all the way down the heel. I've made several pairs already.

Here's the pair that I'm working on now. I started these when the electric went out last fall for two days. The yarn is bright and easy to see by electric lantern. I was bored just knitting plain so started knitting different stitch patterns all along.

The next pair I'm going to make will be out of fingering weight.

I just signed up for another mystery knitalong from Craftsy (www.craftsy.com) for June. I'm looking forward to it because the designer is Laura Nelkin and I have taken several of her classes and love her designs. I enjoyed the last mystery kal that I did from them so I'm ready to knit. The fun thing about their mystery kals (knitalongs) is that they send you the yarn so you have no idea what you are going to be making or even what yarn or color you will be using.

This is the last one that I did. It's the Laera shawl by Grace Akhem.

When I first saw the yarn I thought it was pretty but wasn't sure about the pattern. But as it went on I really started to enjoy it. And the end product is quite nice. So I'm glad that I joined that one.

Okay, off to take the cinnamon coffee cake out of the oven! I probably better have a piece right away to make sure it's okay. Have a great Memorial Day!

 



Be here soon.

Finished seaming my Escape cardigan. I really like it alot. I didn't think I would like it as much as I do since these are not the colors I normally pick but it's great. So comfortable and a fun knit.http://www.ravelry.com/projects/knitsensei/escape

Been busy finishing some works in progress. This is the Skywalker shawl from  Mastering Knit Lace by Laura Nelkin on Craftsy. www.craftsy.com.  I am now working on the second shawl-Clarus and have really enjoyed the class. I've learned alot too. This is the first shawl that I've made with lace weight and haven't made a mistake! happy dancing all around.

Had some crazy weather this week. In the 80's on Wednesday and then the storms came. Now there's a frost warning for tonight. And it's been terribly windy all week. We had some wicked hail during the storms but not as bad as a few miles away.

The hail was about dime-sized but right down the street it was ping pong ball sized. Crazy.

Got a great cookbook the other day-all about bread machine baking and have really been going all out making bread. Yesterday I made (vegan) sour cream semolina with herb swirl bread that is just fantastic! Not the best picture, but you get the idea.

Here are a few of the things that I've cooked lately.

This is a fried "egg" sandwich from "Betty Goes Vegan". It's a vegan version of the Betty Crocker cookbook and ....yum! The "egg" is tofu and it's injected with a "cheesy" sauce that mimics the yolk. Absolutely fantabulous and I grilled the bread with vegan bacon and some hash browns. Making me hungry just writing about it. Too bad I don't have any.

This is an asparagus quiche from Robin Robertson's "Party Vegan" and it's the first pie crust that I've made that I've been pleased with. I most definitely will make it again.

Maple rum glazed stuffed baked apples in the slow cooker. Need I say anything else?

And, finally, I'm working on Spectra. I am loving the colors and it's an easy knit.

 

 

 

Yes, I've been busy finishing things. I'll post soon.

Oh poor neglected blog. I know I have been very bad about posting but honestly, it has been quite boring here the last month and why should I inflict all that boring on you?

Cold and overcast today. At least we didn't get the 2-5" of snow that was forecast for today. Odd weather-60* yesterday and so cold today. Ran to the grocery store this morning to pick up a few things and the newspaper and came right home. Brewed a pot of nice, hot tea and read the paper and had a lovely breakfast.

Now I am going to seam together my Escape cardigan by Cheryl Beckerich http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/escape-4 and I love it. The yarn is so yummy and the colorway is fantastic. It isn't a color that I would normally choose but once I started knitting it up I really fell in love with it. Cheryl Beckerich is really nice. I won this kit from www.ScarletFleece.com back in June '12 and have had it in my pile of things to knit. But getting Christmas knitting finished and kals put it aside for longer than I had intended. I grabbed it in February and cast on. I figured that it would make an excellent spring/fall sweater. A lovely, fast knit and I'm moving right along until 2 weeks ago. I knit the back and both sleeves ....lalalaalaaa I'll have this done by the time the weather warms up some.....oh. pride before the fall! I started on the left front and kept eyeing the skeins I had left and began to worry that I wasn't going to have enough. So I emailed Cheryl and the Scarlet Fleece to ask if I should be running out of yarn. Cheryl mailed me back instantly and said I should've had 8 skeins of yarn in the kit. Turns out I had 7. Thankfully she had one skein knocking around her place and she priority mailed it to me this week. I was only 9" from the end and was happy to pay for it but she was wonderful and helped me out. The owner of the Scarlet Fleece emailed me right away also to tell me to email Cheryl also. Very helpful and I love her patterns. The yarn came yesterday and I pulled out my (new) trusty nostepinne and wound it up and finished it off. All I have to is the 3-needle bind off on the shoulders, seam it and block it! I can't wait to wear it. Here's a picture of the yarn knit up as the back.

Also knit this for mom. It's called the "Bobble Cowl" and it's a free pattern on Red Heart's website.



She really likes cowls now and has a little collection of them. This was done with SuperSaver yarn and a fast knit.

Here's the last snow we had last week inbetween the 50* days, We had about 3 1/2" and it melted off the driveways and walks by the next day. It was a wet, heavy snow that snapped power lines in some areas but it sure was pretty on the trees, bushes, etc.

Okay, I have to go and get the tea. I'm off to seam my cardigan but will post a picture of the finished sweater soon. Stay warm.

Well, I tried to download photos from the computer and then blog from my tablet but that was a big ole bust. Couldn't get it to work the way I wanted. I suppose that I'll have to blog first, then attach the photos.

Here are some things that I've finished knitting since I've last blogged. The gloves are the Sebastion gloves by Kristin Nichols and they are great. So much fun to knit (loves me some cables)  and there are several variations to make. I will more than likely make another pair also.

The socks are "Gimli" by Claire Ellen on Ravelry and I knit those for the January kal for the SolidSockKnitters group. I had never knit a yellow pair of socks before but I love them. The yarn is Cascade Heritage Sock yarn, which I really like to knit with, and I think the pattern really shows well. The cables are knit through the back loop so they really stand out.

Not much has been happening around here lately. The weather has been off and on-freezing cold and icy and then 50*. Crazy. On the days when it's not raining,snowing, freezing rain/sleet, then it's too cold to want to go out.

A few Sundays ago we went down to one of the indoor farmer's markets to see what was in stock. Rather disappointing though. The one booth was sold out of whatever greens they brought and not alot else. I was going to buy some heritage beans but they were $8.00-10.00 a pound. Now, I realize the price is about normal for those ( I looked it up online) but that was somewhat more than I was willing to pay. Got some all natural lavender lip balm and some vegan lavender cookies/graham crackers. They are good...different, but good. I want to go to the Loveland Farmers Market on Tuesday afternoon one week 'cause it looks like they have more booths. I miss going to the market every week. I always got such great bunches of greens there. Well, I guess summer will be here soon enough.

Here are a few things that I've been cooking.

The buns are called 50/50 buns and they are absolutely the most delicious hamburger buns ever. I got the recipe from "American Vegan Kitchen" by Tamasin Noyes and they were so easy. I was amazed.

 

The cake is a blueberry bundt cake from "Happy Herbivore Abroad" and it has no oil in it. I really like her cookbooks because they are quite easy to make and low-fat and mostly no oil. I've made alot of her recipes and they are great.

The soup is Drunken noodle soup with mushrooms. I don't know what makes it drunken -maybe the jalapeno's- but it was excellent! The recipe is in "Chloe's Kitchen" by Chloe Coscarelli. (Yes, I own alot of cookbooks....I can't really make anything without a recipe. Usually it is cruddy.) The simple roasted broccoli is the best way to have broccoli ever....of course, the broccoli soup is also fabulous. So hard to decide which to make.

  

These are the bacon-cheddar meatloaves from "Betty Goes Vegan" by Annie and Dan Shannon. I know I say this alot but this is a FABULOUS cookbook. I've read some comments by people about it and the main complaint is that it's heavy on the mock meat products. Well, yeah, but it's based on Betty Crocker's book and it was mostly meat. Yes, it has alot of that but you can always substitute beans or tofu or tempeh for most of it. There are a few that can't be substituted -like the vegan shrimp product by May Wah (which can't be found anywhere around here :( ) but there are so many other recipes that I don't think it'll be a hardship.

Okay, I have some chili in the slow cooker and it's ready to eat so I'm off to have dinner. Have a great weekend.

 I know, I know. I've been really remiss about writing here. No reason except I've been totally unmotivated to write. Or spend much time on the computer.

On the upside, I've been getting a lot of knitting done. These are 2 cowls that I made for mom. The pattern is called "The Key to Warmth" and she love it. The grey one is made with varigated yarn that she really liked.

It's an easy, fairly fast knit and quite enjoyable. Which is good because I've now made it 4 times. One of which was for sis for Christmas.

The yellow is "Gimli" from Claire Ellen Designs for the Solid Sock Knitters group on Ravelry. The theme this month is yellow.

I just finished the first one and getting ready to knit the second. Also have been working on my cabled vest. The pattern is from the Plymouth Company and is knit side to side. I made the first one in a nice autumn color and this one will be in grey.

I've also signed up for the mystery kal on Craftsy for February. I've never joined a mystery kal that I've not known what the yarn will be but it just came in the mail the other day and it's beautiful! I only know that the pattern is going to be a shawl and if the yarn is any indication, it will be lovely.

Here's what I've been cooking lately. This is the deep dish pizza from "Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker". I used mushrooms, onion, vegan bacon, and Daiya "mozzarella" vegan cheese. You can't tell from the photo but it's about 2'' thick and just delicious! And so easy. Just make the dough and let it rise and then put it in the slow cooker with the toppings to cook for about an hour and a half. I'll probably have some more for dinner.



This is the cool thing that I won from Go Max Go Foods! It's their line of vegan candy bars! I loved candy and haven't had any candy bars for years. I started with the Thumbs Up bar, which is like a Butterfinger. Oh my!!! Best candy bar EVER. I'm trying to make them last because Whole Foods only carries the Twilight and the Jokerz. But I've been thinking about them all day. The people at the company seem really nice. If you're on Facebook, go and find them.

Alright. Short post today 'cause I have some things to do. I PROMISE that I'll be back soon.

Didn't realize that I could post from my tablet. Cool for me. It's late and I have to get up early but I'll definitely post soon. Plus I can take really nice photos with this so I'll have to play.

Sorry about not posting for so long. I just couldn't seem to get up enough interest to be on the computer, much less post on here. But here I am so hopefully I can make it up to you. If there's actually anyone out there reading this. Hope everyone had a great holiday.

Yesterday we had some nasty weather (as I'm sure many did). Lots of ice on the driveway,which was then covered with snow. Shoveling the drive was like mowing the lawn with the lawnmower strapped to your back! So tired afterward that I didn't care that we had some more snow on top of it. I got the rest of it scraped off today. But I certainly did enjoy putting on my jimjams and wobie and making a very large pot of tea after I came in. Nothing better than slippers and knitting and a hot cuppa on a windy, freezing cold night.

Been doing alot of cooking. Seems like it's such a cozy thing to have the slow cooker running and making the whole house smell so good. Today I made braciole-style stuffed eggplant from "Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker'' by Robin Robertson and it's just fabulous.

These are bierocks -a German style stuffed bun, filled with tempeh and sauerkraut that you then bake right in the bun.

The recipe is from "Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day" which I love 'cause lately I really like sandwiches. I never did that much but this book has so many different choices that I can't get enough.

This is a vegan "cheese" which is a brie with mushrooms and truffle oil. This is the blog that has the recipe on it http://www.artisanveganlife.com/ and I have made quite a few of the cheeses from her book. I first found them in the cheese issue of VegNews and sooooo good. Who knew that vegan cheese could be so good. I need to make some more so I think the next batch will be the "emmanthaler" which is like a swiss cheese. Although...the mushroom truffled brie was so fabulous that I may have to  make that again.

The knitting has been going full blast. I made an oversized cabled vest (the pattern is on the Plymouth site) and a bunch of socks and some gloves.

These are the Put-it-all-together gloves from "Kristin Knits". I love to make her patterns, so much fun.

I also did a mystery shawl knitalong with the KnitLike Crazy group on Ravelry. Alot of fun and the first lace shawl I've made without a mistake. Woohoo!

I would've liked to have blocked it with points but I'm not that great at blocking yet. I really like the pattern though and would make it bigger next time. I did make this one bigger though- it's about 63" by 21" or something close to that. Very  enjoyable.

Okay. The laundry is finished so I will run down and hang it up. Have a great night and stay warm.

I'm here but knitting. Will post soon.



Seriously? Where did the time go to ? Been a crazy few weeks and sometimes the days just seem to run together. But I have gotten some projects knitted.

This is called "The Age of Brass and Steam" from Ravelry and it's a little shawlette.



I made it using the Rambling Rose yarn (Eggplant color) that I won and it's so soft and the color variation is just lovely. I had a little left over but not enough to make it any bigger, which is a pity. I have several shawlettes but am trying to make them bigger as I knit new ones.

This is a knitalong that I'm doing right now from Jen Lucas' Knitting Like Crazy group on Ravelry. It's a mystery shawl and I'm really enjoying it. Plus, she gave options to make it bigger so I'm going for that. Because I have a lot of yarn left over.

I used this color because I had it in my stash for something else. I am on a yarn embargo diet for awhile because last week the car had to go to the mechanic and got itself a lovely new radiator, timing belt, waterpump and various other sundry bits and pieces and over $700.00 later--voila! Quite a crimp in the yarn cookbooks extra budgets. But it's cheaper than a car payment and it runs great.

Here is the other project I finished. It's a cape from Vogue Knitting and I love the buttons.

 

The color is off but it's a lovely burgundy color with cables down the front and a center cable down the back.

Okay. I have to go and run an errand but I will be back with more.

 

 

What a week. I finally started to feel better from whatever "grunge" I had when it hit again. I mostly was freezing cold (I'm sure it was a fever) and just sat slumped in a chair wrapped in a sweater and my woobie robe. Couldn't even sum up enough apathy to want to watch tv. Just kind of sat and stared at the wall. And slept alot. I think it was a nasty sinus/allergy infection but Praise the Lord, I'm better!

Needless to say, I didn't get much knitting done. Plus, so tired from having those weird "fever" dreams while trying to sleep that I couldn't follow a knitting chart if someone had held my needles to my head.

But I have been working on this. It's an oversized, cabled vest from Plymouth yarns.



I bought the pattern awhile ago at my yarn store but I just got my new Patternworks and it's on the 3rd or 4th page. I like the yarn colorway and am also going to knit it in grey. It's knit sideways so it's going slowly but I think I'll really like it.

The red cups are back!!

I  don't know why it's exciting to see them back at Starbucks but I suppose it's the break in the routine of white cups. I don't get the specialty drinks....they are waaaayyyy too sweet for me but once a year I do treat myself to a soy gingerbread latte with only a few pumps of syrup and no whipped cream. Still sweet but not as tooth-rotting.

So. The other day I'm talking to my neighbor ( I call her to check everyday-she's in her late 80's ) and she told me about all the excitement I missed the night before. Seems that some man was walking up the side street where she lives and he had a gun. Now, I live on a four-lane state highway across the street from a business and a Krogers and a bank. It used to be all houses there but now is retail/office. Behind us is a little subdivison that deadends into an old school, which is now the Board of Education building for the school district of this area. So other than our subdivision it's alot of restaurants, businesses, a big retirement building, etc.... You get the point. Not someplace that one would normally see an armed man strolling along. Next to my house is a house that is now a dental clinic so it's empty at night and then the houses' start. So this man was walking up my neighbor's driveway and the people that live next to her saw the man on the sidewalk. They called the police and then everyone (but me) heard 2 or 3 gunshots and the man broke the neighbors' car window. My friend said that 3 police cars came and questioned her and the neighbors and brought a police dog who was even in my back yard searching for the guy. All of our yards touch at some point. I was sitting right in the kitchen all night, knitting and watching dvd and never heard a thing. Unfortunately, they didn't catch the guy but I did her that the husband of the woman who called got arrested! I know, right? Turns out he had a warrant in another county for traffic violations and I guess his wife didn't know and when they ran the plates on the car they found out. Ooops. And it was the weekend so they couldn't bail him out. I don't know what happened since then because my friend hasn't talked to the woman but geeze, what a mess. Several of the neighbors heard the shots but assumed it was fireworks because the general quote is "Those couldn't have been shots, this is too nice a neighborhood.'' Hello! It can happen anywhere, especially when you leave your cars parked on the street and in the driveways. What a mess.

Okay. I have to go and get some knitting done. I'm doing a mystery shawl knitalong from Knitting Like Crazy.

 See you soon!

Well, since I posted here the last time that I didn't feel well I had some kind of  bug and then was feeling better and the other day must have picked it up again. I think it was sinus related 'cause had the worst sinus headache ever and I think was a fever because I was freezing! Had on a sweater, a robe and 3 blankets. Then was so tired that spent the next 2 days in a heap. So I didn't get much done.

But I did get this finished.

So, I definitely will be posting in a few days!

Brrrrr. I'm thankful I don't live on the East coast but man, it's windy and cold here. I just can't seem to get warm even with my lovely handknit socks.

I've been busily knitting to get a vest done for mom and just seamed it up this morning. I figured she would need it with it getting colder and she's lost so much weight from eating gluten-free. So she seems to like it.

Here's the front.

And here's the back.

I used Impeccable Loops and Threads from Michael's and it just used one big skein of it. Less than 850 yards. Plus, I used a 50% coupon and got it for under $5.00.  A winner all around. The pattern is the Textured vest from Lion Brand (www.lionbrand.com). Very fast and easy. I've already knit this twice but they were WAY too big.

Been busy cooking also. This week I was cooking from Robin Robertson's "Fresh from the Vegan Slow Cooker" and it's fabulous. Yesterday I made moroccan inspired stuffed squash with a kabocha squash that is great. And also quinoa stuffed peppers. I wasn't sure that I would like the slow cooker because I never have before but the slow cooker rules! The best part is the fast clean up. My favorite!

Also made some chocolate stout chili and some beer yeast rolls from the leftover beer.

 

 Here are some lovely fall shots. We stopped wherever we saw something beautiful.

 

Which is good, because I think this will be it for the leaves. Especially since we are going to be under a wind advisory for the next few days. I just hope that the leaves all blow out of my yard!

These 2 photos are from a park in the city that isn't particularly safe but there were alot of people there and we just drove through. 

I love mums. They're so pretty.

I drove past this tree this morning and all empty of leaves.

But it sure was pretty.

Okay. I'm not feeling 100% so I'm going to make a cuppa and lie down for awhile. Stay safe and warm and keep knitting.