Drama in the Coop!

Dear Mom,
Gloria has gone broody.  She sat on the golf balls...all night.  This morning, she was fiercely protecting her nest. 

Golda and Marge looked on as Gloria screeched at me and puffed out her feathers.  And if "looks could kill", then I might be dead. 

Since there is nothing for Gloria to "hatch", I will have to work with her to keep her off the nest.  We have some warmer days ahead, and I think a couple of field trips out in the back yard will do her some good!

Love, Bonnie Jo

Not So Great

Dear Mom (and Kim),
The weather must be getting to the cookies, too.  My Martha's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies were . . . not so great.  When I think of oatmeal raisin cookies, I think of chewy on the inside, crispy edges, sugary, moist with raisins.  Martha's recipe calls for Wheat Germ.  . . . . . ick.  It was a long day and we are also getting freezing rain.  I wanted warm-fuzzy oatmeal raisin cookies.  These oatmeal raisin cookies were more "for your own good" cookies.

On a happy note, though:  in the midst of our financial aftershock--after the initial financial earthquake a year ago, this has been a week of much kindness from friends.  I have been struggling recently---really needing to find kindness, care and compassion again.  Kindness did come small, sweet as well as large and very unexpected.  I shared a warm muffin and a made-for-me espresso with a friend.  I had a friend bring some warm loaves of bread; another friend gave boxes of Pop-Tarts to the kids!!  Yet another friend shared columbine seeds for planting and still another friend GAVE me her refurbished Kitchen-Aid mixer!!!  To encourage me with my cookie of the week!!
I also have the best sisters that anyone could ask for.  Kim and Bonnie Jo are different from one another and yet they both encouraged me (the baby!) so that my heart grew three sizes this day!!  Thank you, Kim, for ordering pillowcases!  And thank you, Bonnie Jo, for ordering my photo notecards!!  Kisses and hugs to both of you!
Love,
Wendy

Freezing rain

Dear Mom,
This day has been cold and icy and relentlessly damp enough that I found myself looking on the internet to see if they still make these:

They do.
I decided I would like buy lots of them and knit hot water bottle cosies and put one in every bed and give one to everyone I know.  It is too cold and rainy to go out looking to see if the local CVS has any in stock.
I think the weather might be getting to me.
Love,
Kim
P.S. A Batch of homemade cookies from Wendy's kitchen would warm me up, too!

Sock #3

Dear Mom,
At this point I am wondering if the true challenge is not in getting the socks done, but in taking an interesting variety of pictures of them.
Sock #3 is Koigu yarn. The yarn label is lost and I can't tell anyone what the color is. I did a mock cable to spice up the boring bit of k2p2 ribbing, It was still boring. Seems I don't like ribbing much, no matter what I do to try to make it exciting. The leg of this sock is only as long as I could stand to keep at it, and only long enough not to be an anklet. This one may end up with a fraternal twin (same yarn, different pattern), I don't know if I have it in me to do another ribbing marathon.

Love,
Kim

Frozen Jeans and a Sweater Shaver

Dear Mom,
Today I learned how to remove a whole pack of gum that was stuck inside the pocket of a pair of jeans after going through a wash cycle.
Love, Bonnie Jo

more pretty stuff

Dear Mom,
I lost track of most of an evening spinning about half of the roving that Dianne sent to me.
This may be the prettiest stuff yet.

I draped it on the back of a dining room chair and spent some time admiring it yesterday while I knitted on a sweater. I am collecting pretty scarf and shawl patterns now- small projects and simple patterns that will show off the yarn.
Thanks to some Pacers basketball tickets and the Colts game over the weekend, I am ahead of the sock schedule. With the damp, grey weather, I just wish I could stay ahead of the mud.
Love,
Kim

Why I went back to bed this morning....

Dear Mom,
I am not going to blame the premiere of Project Runway on the few hours of sleep I got. I will admit that I got to bed later because of it, but it was the Loud Snoring that awakened me at 3:30 and kept me up. This time it was so loud that I stumbled down the hall to the guest room to try to get a little sleep before the alarm went off. For a moment there, I thought that the dog was going to follow me.
The rough night convinced me to go back to bed after the bus took my kids away. Not much convincing is needed to get me to do that, but this time I didn't feel so guilty about it.
Especially since it became clear to me, after yesterday, that I need my beauty sleep. Lots of it.
You see, I did a bit of running around after school, picking the Young Man up from an after school meeting, and then taking the Young Lady to and from Art Class. It must have been quota day for the local police, because twice The Young Lady and I saw drivers pulled over, getting tickets. The Young Lady didn't comment on the first driver. He must have looked like someone you would expect to see pulled over. The second driver was different.
"That was a Grandma!", the Young Lady announced. (Clearly Grandmas do not speed.)
"It was? Oh dear."
"Yeah, she was a little older than you, in her 50's."
...!!!.....
"I AM ALMOST 50! I AM NOT A GRANDMA! Do I look like a Grandma?"
"NO, Mom, I said she was older than you. In her 50'ssss. Plus she had on big sunglasses."

Yep. Lots of beauty sleep.

Love,
Kim

Just Four Ingredients!

Dear Mom,
This was a recipe I got from a friend that I met when the Teenager was in preschool!!  We make it A LOT in our house because it is stupid-easy.  Just 4 ingredients.  I'm not a chemist so I can't really explain just how these four ingredients can come together to make the most fabulous peanut butter cookies.  But these are the best. The Best! peanut butter cookies!  Ever!  And every time I pull out my recipe card, I laugh because written on the card are literally 4 ingredients.  And nothing else!
But enough already!

And here is the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup chunky peanut butter

1 egg

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients together.  Drop by rounded teaspoonful on a cookie sheet.  Press down with a fork to make the fun cross-marks on the top of the cookie!  Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.

Enjoy!

Seriously?!?!  About 2 minutes to mix everything together.

Go ahead!  Impress your family!  Your neighbors!  Your friends!  And then go make some more!

Love,

Wendy

Sock #2

Dear Mom,

Love,

Kim

Roving Report

Dear Mom,

On Saturday, I took CarolWhoseHouseGotStruckbyLightening up to Tabby Tree Weaver. She wanted to investigate the weaving and I wanted to look at more roving. We spent a couple of hours soaking in the fibery goodness and before we left, CarolWHGSbL signed up to take a weaving class.
I brought with me some roving that I found on sale from Yarnhollow and I wanted to check out the menu at Tabby Tree to see what I might ply it with. Thanks to the enablers   experts there, I found some mohair which I will combine with my bag o' wool, and then spin and ply it with the hand-dyed roving from Yarnhollow.

The rusty orange and turquoise are the mohair roving I purchased on Saturday. The bright multi-colored roving is the stuff I got from Yarnhollow and that spool has a little bit of the wool I spun from the bag o'wool.

Alice, who taught my spinning class, offered me the use of her drum carder. I am now on a mission to get all my wool washed and ready for the carder when I pick it up at the next Open Spin, in February. The drum carder will speed up the process of getting the wool ready to spin, and hopefully the roving I produce with the drum carder will be more consistent than what I am making with my hand carders.

It wasn't all spinning all weekend around here, though. In addition to working on sock #2, I started a sweater.

 

This will be for me. Another version of my Merry Poppins cardigan. I am test knitting my own instructions and tweaking the neckline a bit. I have the wool for a coordinating skirt. And the idea of a classic cabled cardigan in Navy is dancing around in my head. I'd better get knitting.

Love,

Kim

Good things

Dear Mom,
It is easy to lose track of the Good out there. Especially on bleak winter days, or every time you turn on the television. It is easy to feel alone, an alien on your own planet. That might be a clue to why I read my favorite blogs. They give me little peeks into the lives of other people who like and value the same sorts of things I do.
When we started this blog I didn't really think about the people peeking in here, to see what we do. I am surprised to find that I have made a couple of blog friends. Modern day pen pals.
One of these blog friends sent me a generous gift of roving from sheep on her farm.
Dianne has been very encouraging of my spinning. "I'd like to send you a fiber sample", she wrote.

This is a box with 8 oz of natural color roving for me to play with! I can't tell you how magical this box is to me. A kind and generous gift, from someone I never met, in a world that, if you pay attention to the news, is harsh and nearly hopeless. This box of soft wool is proof that it is not. That there are good people out there, doing quiet, caring things that might not seem much on the surface, but they are Little Things That Matter, things that warm the hearts of others.

And more proof that I am reeaaallllllyyyy liking spinning...... I did not knit ONE STITCH yesterday. I spent HOURS with my spinning wheel. And I am liking the yarn I spun so much that I can't decide what to do with it. I want whatever it is going to be to be Perfect.

Love,

Kim

Snow Days and Warm Cookies

Dear Mom,
We are getting beautiful snow and it was a snow day for the kids.  So.  The girls baked.  Hmmmm our favorite cookies.  We did just enjoy these over Christmas break; Santa gets treated to these on Christmas Eve (or, in our house, Christmas morning since no one can go to sleep before 2:00 a.m. because of all of the excitement-even with threats and warnings that Santa doesn't come when children are wide awake!)  Anyhooo----Chocolate Crinkles!

Chocolate Crinkles

3/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

6 oz. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

In a large bowl, mix together the melted butter, cocoa powder and sugar.  Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.  In a medium-size bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Refrigerate the dough for approx. 2 hours (or--do what we did today--mix the dough, stick in the fridge; put all of your snowpants and coats and hats and gloves and scarves on; pull out the sleds.  Sled and play outside.  Come back in, take everything off. Drink hot chocolate and THEN the dough will be chilled!!)  Heat the oven to 350.  Form the dough into 1" balls and roll them in the confectioners' sugar.  Bake the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.  Try not to eat them all while they are still warm!!!

Enjoy your snow day, too!!!

Love,

Wendy

Sock #1

Dear Mom,

So far so good.

Love,

Kim

Sunday's spinning

Dear Mom,
Here we have Elle modeling the results of Sunday afternoon's Open Spin at Tabby Tree Weaver.

This is about 130 yards of hand painted Merino from Yarnhollow, plied with a charcoal Merino wool from Hello Yarn. I still have more of each roving to spin and ply, so I may actually end up with enough yardage to make more than a hat- possibly a cowl and some fingerless mitts. Like this and these.

I haven't choked my vacuum cleaner yet, but I have emptied the canister a few times in my quest to get Back to Normal now that the kids are back in school. I didn't even mind the 6 o'clock alarm. And while I did not flit through the house singing to woodland animals and harmonizing with a blue bird perched on my shoulder, I sure felt like I could, such was the feeling of having the house to myself. Even if it is spent cleaning.

Love,

Kim

The last and the first

Dear Mom,

This is the last project started and finished in 2009, another baby gift.

Girls Cotton Bamboo Dress and North Porch Hat, Jr

And this is the first knitting project, started and completed in 2010.

North Porch Hat

It is also my first knitting project using my own handspun yarn. It also demonstrates my lack of handspinning consistency, but I will defend some of those "inconsistencies" by stating that the entire project (except for the direct sheep care and shearing parts) was done by my hands. I washed and hand-carded the fleece and spun enough to knit the hat.

I don't generally make New Year's resolutions, but this year I am using the the New Year as an opportunity to get a grip on the yarn I have stashed away. Specifically, my sock yarn. It is just too easy to buy sock yarn. So, with that effort in mind, and after talking it over with GinaWhoCanParallelPark, I will state here, for the public record, that I will ( maybe, I hope) make One Sock per Week this year. Read that again. That is NOT one PAIR of socks. That says ONE SOCK. By year's end I should have 26 pairs of socks. I haven't taken sock yarn inventory, but I am pretty sure I have the stash to support my goal. Since I started a sock on New Year's Eve, I will make Wednesday my weekly sock deadline.



Love,
Kim

New Year's Resolutions

Dear Mom,
Happy New Year!  January 1 is always a time for reflection, rest, resolutions.
I'm not resolving to lose weight; I eat healthy and exercise daily.  I'm not resolving to save more money; we are extremely frugal (read:  cheap); I'm also not resolving to find the love of my life this year; I already have one of those, thank you very much.
My resolutions are more of the reflection-type.  I would like to actually knit with the yarn I have in my home already.  Oh the sweaters, socks and mittens that are just waiting to be made!  I would like to actually sew with the fabric I already have!  Oh the Amy Butler skirts, blouses and purses that are just waiting to be sewn!  I would like to actually paint the dining room with the paint I bought in August when I foolishly thought that since swim team was over, I'd have time to paint!  Same with the bedroom.  I would like to actually read those books that are waiting by my bedside.  I would like to be a bit more organized and try to control the clutter (read:  junk!) that comes into the house.
I have also decided to make a special cookie every week.  I love to bake.  I bake daily.  I bake with the kids and I bake for therapy.  I usually share my baked goodies with friends and neighbors.  I am going to share with you a different cookie that we have baked each week.  Starting today, on the day of all things new, this week's cookie is a white chocolate chip craisin cookie.  Serve them on your favorite polish pottery plate and eat them warm.  They go especially well with Monopoly.

White Chocolate Chip Craisin Cookies

3 c flour

1 tsp soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 c unsalted butter

1 c brown sugar

3/4 c sugar

2 eggs          

1 Tbls vanilla

1c crasins

1 1/2 c white chocolate chips

1 c chopped nuts (I use whatever kind of nut we have in the pantry!)

Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Slowly add the flour mixtures to the cream mixture. Stir until almost incorporated. Add the crasins, white chocolate, and nuts. Mix until everything is just together.

I rolled into heaping spoonfuls and bake at 350F for 11 minutes.

May your new year be filled with much happiness, love, laughter and cookies!

Love,

Wendy

Preemptive Strike

Dear Mom,

In an effort to thwart the grey gloomy winter feeling that I feel encroaching upon me, I spent a meager $1.49 on a pure pick-me-up, guaranteed to beat the winter blahs.

A Delft Blue Hyacinth bulb. Pre-chilled and ready to go. Plopped into a bulb vase with water to entice its roots to grow and then set upon the kitchen windowsill.

For 25 cents each, I bought 2 more bulbs that were not pre-chilled. They are now taking a 6 week nap in a brown paper sack in the back of the fridge. My plan is that they will be ready to wake up about the time this bulb has worn itself out. The colors of the 25 cent bulbs are a mystery- definitely hyacinths, but separated and rearranged when an unsupervised child played with the hyacinth bulbs at the garden shop last fall.

With all the grey days our winters usually bring, I will have a hopeful little reminder of Spring to pull me through.

Love,
Kim

Proof that you are never too old to get a doll for Christmas

Dear Mom,
I bet you thought you were done giving me dolls for Christmas. This one doesn't have a head. Or arms. Or legs. She doesn't talk or eat or wet. But I can dress her up and that is exactly why I asked for her. She is my resident fashion model, and she will make it easier for me to photograph my knitting designs.
Because she is my exclusive model, I have named her Elle. Much to the dismay of the rest of my family, who needed tv's or batteries to play with their gifts, I was able to play with my new toy right away! I took a few photos of her modeling the knitted skirt and scarf I gave to you. It was a complete shift in reality- the Mom playing while the rest of the family waited, but I wanted to take a good photo of the gift I gave to you.

This is the Simple Yet Effective Shawl and the skirt is my design, and I am still trying to think of a name for it. Any ideas?

Today Elle had her first official photo shoot, with wardrobe changes. She was most cooperative.
Here are some of the pictures....

"Merry Poppins"

Lace Duster

With my Christmas knitting, baking, wrapping and cleaning behind me, I was able to finish my sister-in-law's socks,

Generic sock pattern, Claudia's Handpainted Yarn "Teal Party"

and start and finish a baby gift.

This is Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater from her book Knitter's Almanac, and my North Porch Hat, Jr. pattern. The yarn for both is Knitterly Things Vesper Sock yarn. The sweater uses her semi-solid "Magenta" and the hat used leftover "In The Wildwood" from another project. The photo makes the stripes look more red, but they are magenta like the sweater. I covered the buttons with the same shade of green, using gingham fabric to coordinate the set.

I have one more baby gift to complete and then I hope to cast on something for me..... although the Young Lady has been raiding my supply of hand knit socks and I should probably knit a few pairs of socks to keep us both warm.
And with snow on the ground and BRRRRR it is cold outside, we need all the warm we can get our toes into.
Love,
Kim

Santa's Little Helper

Dear Mom,
Benny holds down the wrapping paper for me while I cut...

and he guards the packages to be sure there is no peeking before Christmas morning!

Love, Bonnie Jo

Cranberry Cordial

Dear Mom,
The cranberry cordial takes about 6 weeks to work its magic...but it is well worth the wait, don't you think?! I have been savoring it drizzled over a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a spoonful of those special cranberries and some mini chocolate chips sprinkled on top.  Mmmmmmmm......

Cranberry Cordial

2 lbs (8 cups) fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped

6 cups sugar

1 liter light rum

In a gallon jar, combine cranberries, sugar and rum.  Close tightly and shake gently to blend.  Store in a cool, dark place for 4-6 weeks, shaking the jar gently every day.  Strain to remove the berries.  Strain the cordial several times through cheesecloth to remove the seeds.  Pour into decorative bottles and seal with corks. 

I would suggest using a food processor to chop the cranberries, and be sure to use a jar with a wide mouth.  The "bottling" process can be quite messy, so be sure to munch on the cranberries while straining the seeds, as it seems to make the experience a whole lot more fun!!  The cranberries keep well in the refrigerator. 

While the cranberry cordial is good over ice cream, I still prefer it as it is intended...

Cheers!!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Bonnie Jo