A Toast to Tuesday and Happy Birthday to Connie!

Yes, it's Connie's birthday today (she has the blog Far Side on my blog list).  If you have a moment, stop by and wish her a Happy Birthday! All the best to you, Connie and I hope you had a great one!
I finished the spider cloth.......I enjoyed doing the 3 Halloween cloths but they are not t.v. watching projects.  Not for me anyway!

I was able to use the cord from the cloths for my cozy memory blanket which is really nice...the wooden needles and cord I was using were really too small and the wood was slowing me up.  I love my Hiya Hiya needles for this.   The square I'm working on now is really yellow but it looks like cream in this photo. 

2 of the 3 books I ordered from Thrift Books came today............(still no yarn)

The third one is All Creatures Great and Small and All Things Bright and Beautiful in one volume.  These are all books I want to read before I watch the movies and/or series.
When I went to the local grocers today they had these huge pots of mums with three colors in them for $5.00 so you bet I grabbed one.  Seasonal items don't last long in this town so when you see something you had better grab it!

I decorated my kitchen table for Fall with gourds and my Honey Crisp apples and  a few oranges.  The table runner is a tea towel that belonged to my Mother that she got from a neighbor who was from Wales.  There are Welsh recipes on it.  More recipes to try!  Speaking of recipes...my Breakfast Casserole from the Mama Dip's cookbook is in the oven....yes, breakfast for supper! LOL!  I'll let you know how I like it.

BTW, I was able to listen to the Chicago Bears football game against the Philadelphia Eagles last night on Free Football Radio   So now I can at least listen to football games.  I had to give it up about 9:30 as it was time for me to call it a day.  They lost...I can't remember the score but the Bears were winning when I first started listening and it went downhill after that.  See?  I think I am a jinx!
I hope you had a great day and that your week is going well!
Happy Trails!

It's Monday.....what are you reading, watching. listening to?

Happy Monday all!  I am reading some awesome books at the moment and even though I haven't read that much of them they grabbed me from their first pages!

AMAZON: "A remarkable story of a young man's loss of everything he deemed important, and his ultimate discovery that redemption can be taught by society's most dreaded outcasts." —John Grisham "Hilarious, astonishing, and deeply moving." —John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil The emotional, incredible true story of Neil White, a man who discovers the secret to happiness, leading a fulfilling life, and the importance of fatherhood in the most unlikely of places—the last leper colony in the continental United States. In the words of Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, White is “a splendid writer,” and In the Sanctuary of Outcasts “a book that will endure.”
This book is very hard to put down and he is a great writer.....this book is simply unbelievable....almost!  Truly enjoying it and I look forward to it each night when I go to bed.  The type of book you wish would never end.

 AMAZON: "For many anguished months Ben and Sarah Cooper's daughter has been on the run from the FBI, wanted for murder and acts of eco-terrorism.  But when Abbie's body is found embedded in the ice of a remote mountain creek, the family's devastation deepens into mystery. How did she die?  And what was the trail of events that led this golden child of a loving family so tragically astray?
 In a journey of discovery and redemption that takes us from the streets of New York to the daunting grandeur of the West, The Divide tells the story of a family fractured by betrayal.  It explores the pain we inflict on those we love the most and charts the passions and needs, the dashed hopes and disillusionments, that connect and divide all men and women."
This is sad but good as all Nicholas Evan's books are.  It is not going to give you bad dreams though.  He is another great storyteller especially when it comes to people's emotions.
I keep forgetting to read The Magic Of Tidying Up because I am not used to reading from a tablet.  I have got to write it on my todo list!
This book (finished) is a delight with it's beautiful illustrations and photos from the authors own home, life and childhood.  Mostly it takes one season and shares how to make the most of it!  There's recipes and traditions and lots of entertaining ideas and menus.  There are definitely some I will try.  I love the fact that I have this book....I could browse it's pages over and over for a "feel good" feeling!

 I also read this magazine from cover to cover and if there is a subscription I am getting one!  LOVE this magazine but if you can't afford it just go to King Arthur's website

 It is also wonderful and so informative if you love to bake!  Their recipes are top notch!
I finished listening to this funny audio and it was truly enjoyable....

 Now I'm listening to this one................these were shows on PBS if I remember correctly and his wife is the famous "she who must be obeyed". LOL!

This is a 2011 September issue of Real Simple so the "fashion" might be out of date but then so am I so it won't matter.  At least it is the September issue.........I haven't started it yet. 

As for watching this week....I've listened to Knitting Pipeline podcast, a few Bakery Bears and I started watching Mad Men on Netflix after looking for James Herriot episodes with no luck.  Does anyone know where I can find them?  They were British and a few years back.  I like series and the first Mad Men was interesting since I grew up in that era as a 1967 high school graduate.  The clothes and the decorating are interesting and all the smoking....whoa Nellie!  We all smoked back then!  So far so good although there's always female nudity but no male...so strange.  Not that I care for either but at least lets be fair.  I'll see how long I last watching this one.  It may be too "adult" for me! LOL!
If you're not familiar with Mad Men, it was a very popular HBO series about Advertising executives in Manhattan, N.Y. during the 60's. 

 That's all for this week!  I'm going to try and listen to a Chicago Bear's game tonight on Free Football Radio
Saturday I used it and was able to listen to the Iowa Hawkeye game which, unfortunately they lost to the North Dakota Bisons.  I hope I'm not a jinx!?!? It was their first loss.
Happy Trails!

YOP Week #12

Slow week here on the YOP front.  Remember last week when I said I ordered from Love Knitting?  Well, they are in the U.K. so hopefully I will get my yarn this week.  I need to order supplies weekly to keep  up with my projects! LOL!  I did manage to stay busy though.
I'm almost done with the last of the Halloween cloths........

I finished the heels on both socks and started the gusset on one but I need to review my circular needle videos on gussets because I am confused right now with the needle placement.........she's got me putting like 9 stitches out on the cord and I don't remember ever doing that before but we'll see.
Say a prayer as I don't want to rip a sock out at this point....

My Giant Granny was my t.v. watching/audio listening project that is on hold since I ran out of yarn (again) so I decided to start a Cozy Memory Blanket!  I've wanted to but heaven knows I have not knit enough socks to have leftovers for a blanket but I do have a load of acrylic worsted so that is what I am using.  I am using a U.S. size 7 (4.5 mm) circular needle with a 16" cord....too small but I'm  making do  until I can order some new needles.   I made a mistake on attaching the 3rd square but I've ripped it out and got it going in the right direction since I took this picture..........it is a wonderful watching/listening project and a good way to use up my stash of old acrylics plus I need a good sized blanket for my bed.  But that might take awhile. LOL!  Meanwhile, it will keep me warm while I am working on it.  The squares are about 3inches.  I am using this pattern on Ravelry

She used DK weight with size U.S. 6 needles and most of the podcasters are using sock yarn so you can use what you have and adjust your needles accordingly.  There are crochet ones out there also which I may make next with a white or off-white border in between each hexie or square.  The one I saw was on Stitched in Sweden  and she was using hexies.  Bakery Bear's Kay Jones used regular granny squares.  Any method you choose will be a delightfully fun way to use up stash.  Somehow they all end up looking gorgeous like a patchwork quilt.
I hope to finish the spider cloth today and get back to the socks.  I'm sending in another order for yarn for some Bankhead hats
for Christmas gifts and matching fingerless mitts for my sons and SIL
I also heard, on Knitting Pipeline audio podcast, about a cowl that looks like a shawlette.   I put it in my favorites and I want to make it, Zuzu's Petals.
I've been listening and catching up with Bakery Bears podcasts and Knitting Pipeline.  Paula, of Knitting Pipeline, was a friend of Elizabeth Zimmerman and also took many classes from her.  She has all kinds of wonderful knitting tips and techniques and is a designer of many patterns herself.  Her patterns have been featured on Quince & Co.  She also mentioned a great wool shop, The Woolen Rabbit
They have beautiful yarns and along with Quince & Co. she recommends them and has loved knitting with them and the finished products they produce.  What a selection of hand-dyed yarns!  Fairly reasonable too.
That' s all for this week...still waiting for Fall here in the Ozarks!  Enjoy yours!
Happy Trails! 

Fall....where are you?

Okay, so I know it's not officially Fall but I am so ready!  I went to Walmart yesterday and got "supplies" and a few extras...like some Indian corn to put on the front door and some gourds..........for a bowl inside..............

 and Honeycrisp apples which I have never had but I've heard they're really good.  Even the check out gal said "it's the only apple I'll eat anymore".   I had one last night and I think I agree with her.....best apple I've ever tasted!  Sweet, yet tangy, crisp and reminds me of the apples we used to get before they started growing them for "shipping" which were tasteless.  I really stopped buying much fruit because it had no flavor and so many times they weren't ripe or had been frozen.

I was pretty "tuckered" after shopping and unloading and putting everything away and by then it was almost supper time so I "kicked back" and did some handwork...........hopefully this will be done by Sunday for Year of Projects post.............this is the "spooky spider" for Sam.............

My yarn didn't come yet and I needed something fairly "mindless" for watching T.V. so I had been wanting to start a Cozy Memory blanket that has been on Ravelry 
and it seems every podcast I watch is working on one or multiples.  Most are using leftover sock yarn and I don't have that much sock yarn  but I do have a LOT of old acrylic worsted weight so I went up a needle size  as the pattern was for DK weight and I am off and knitting!  Yes, I know...another project but I am needing to use what I have as the yarn budget is on hold until next month! LOL!

I also picked up these nifty little shoelaces that require no tying and one size fits all shoes.....we shall see as Miss Peeps has destroyed several pairs of shoelaces....on top of that she chewed through my ear bud wires the other day!  I wonder if she's cutting her adult teeth? 

I'll let you know how they work. 
I know it's not Monday when I post about books but I can't wait to share this with you....it is so COOL!  What Should I Read Next
Check it out.....just enter an author or book that you really like and it will show you a whole list of similar books.  If you join (which is no big deal....they're not trying to sell you anything) they will keep your lists for you.  This is so fun and it came up with many I've found on my own but there were lots of new authors and books I hadn't heard of.  Try it....you'll love it!
I have loads of work to do today so I had better "get a move on".  I hope you have a wonderful Friday! 
Oh, BTW, Ben is doing much better and we found out that they had given him a "nerve blocker" shot which may have caused him not to be able to talk when he first woke up although I still think they gave him too much anesthesia as it took him almost 3 days to walk and talk properly.  He seems to be doing fine now although he will have a long recovery time.  He's such a worker bee that this is going to be very hard for him.  He was already saying his grass needs mowing and he can't do it.  Oh well....he needs to learn to relax a bit so maybe this will force him too.  I think he got it from me....we are not couch potatoes by any means! LOL!
Happy Trails!

It's Monday....what are you reading, listening to and/or watching?

This was a strange week as I was trying to keep my mind off my son Ben's surgery.  He's had an injured shoulder from work and he had surgery for it today at the University of Iowa.  The fact that he was at a top hospital really helped.  He is home now but not without a few tense moments.  He had never been under anesthesia before and evidently it worked really well....too well, in fact.  There were moments when he couldn't speak and then he panicked.  He had the surgery early this morning and in the afternoon he was still having problems.  The anesthesiologist was in quite a bit as all his vitals were fine.  It scared me because it sounded like a stroke.  I talked to him awhile ago and he's home now but he has not had any pain meds yet and he sounds like he is drugged up.  He's hungry though and that's a good sign and good to have something in his stomach before he takes any pain meds too.  I wish I was there but it would have been difficult and he assured me he would be fine.  So, if I have been a little pre-occupied this week that is why.  You think you don't worry about them anymore at that age but you do!

 Here is one of my favorite pictures of Ben and Uriah together.

I did get quite a bit of reading done this week!  I finished 3 books...okay, so one was really a children's book but I didn't know that until I received it in the mail.

This was my library book and I rate it about a 3 out of 5...those darn award winners!  This was a story about a family and it was well written and interesting if it had been true but it was a made up family and there was no plot or story line that I could see and the ending fell flat in my opinion.

This was a children's book and so young that I don't feel in a position to rate it although it reminded me of my summers with my Aunt and Uncle on the farm. 

 This was the best book of all and last night when I couldn't sleep, I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. and finished it! LOL!  I really enjoyed it and it is a great young adult book and the type of book I loved when I was young.  A book that inspires you to dream and work hard and be self-sufficient.  See, I still like those books!
  It is based on the author's childhood of he and his sister helping their parents run their apple orchard in New Mexico.  You also learn a lot about apple orchards and what it takes to care for one and there are diagrams too and some math.  I'm thinking my grandson Sam might enjoy this one as he is very detail oriented.  This was a pretty thick book though so it was adult size for sure.  I give it a 5!

 I am listening to another Agatha Christie mystery...Hercule Poirot in The Cretan Bull.  Very good!

 I'm reading this issue of Sift from King Arthur Flour but it is not the first issue evidently.  I'm thinking of getting my SIL a subscription for Christmas as this would be right up his alley and it truly is a beautiful magazine.  More great recipes too!

I'm still pouring over this beauty and it is really mostly recipes so far and lots of ingredients that we can't get down here. But it is definitely eye candy!

I went to the library today and took back my one book but found nothing inspiring or calling out to me and looked for several books but they didn't have them even when the online catalog said they did...oh well, Thrift Books here I come!  I do have some lined up though until my Thrift books arrive.............also I am still reading this book although it is slow....I can only digest so much de-cluttering at once.  I think I'm on Chapter 3.........

This is a book I found while digging through stuff 
de-cluttering...........I love a good memoir so I hope it is just that.

Then there's this one which is the only book by Nicolas Evans I haven't read.  I remember years ago being in Barnes & Noble and sighting The Horse Whisperer for the first time and I had to buy it right then and there!  It had just come out and I couldn't wait for the paperback.   It later became a film with Robert Redford.   I still have that hardcover book....I should re-read it and yes the book was better than the movie.....aren't they always?   There's always a lot of nature in his books and I love that.

Friday night at the movies with pizza didn't happen last Friday night.  There were phone calls and I had made Eggplant Parmesan to use up some eggplant and by the time I ate and hit the sack I didn't want to get involved with a movie so I watched a podcast and did some crocheting....I hadn't run out of yarn......... yet!  I am missing satellite a bit as I still enjoy football and I watched a "cartoon version" of the Bears game on NFL.com but when they lost after being ahead most of the game I was glad I wasn't paying $30 a month to watch them lose! LOL!  I'm trying to catch up with Bakery Bear podcasts and if you haven't watched them you really should.....they are such a cute couple and there is so much more than knitting.  They travel around England showing historical sights and where I am now was following the legend of Robin Hood and the movie sights where Kevin Costner was in England.  I have also been listening to another audio podcast; The Knitting Pipeline which is very informative and there are wonderful tips on techniques and patterns.  It's a great one!  That's about it for this week!  What are you reading, listening to and watching?
Happy Trails!

  

YOP Week #11

What a busy week here.  The temperature went down from the 90's to the 80's and I took advantage of it but now I am exhausted.  So, today really is a day of rest.  I did manage to work on a few things in the evenings when I had to put my legs up or they would have fallen off! LOL!  So sorry I haven't been out here blogging or reading either but I wait all summer for this weather and I have to "make hay while the sun shines"!
You'll never guess...I ran out of yarn again on my Giant Granny...of course, the project I love the most right now.  But I ordered more yarn from Love Knitting which is a new to me website.  The shipping is $4.95 and they have a great selection.  I don't know if they are in the U.S. or the U.K. as they carried many U.K. yarns but reviews were great and service was really impressive most stated.  The URL has US in it so maybe they are here in the states? We shall see!  They also have another site Love Crochet
I think I got 10 rounds done on my Giant Granny this week before I ran out of yarn........I'm on round 48 of 64 not counting the border edging.  L O V E!  Favorite project so far this year!

I am back working on my socks and hope to finish them this week.  I just finished the heel flap on both of them.
  I really like doing 2 concurrently because when I'm done I will actually have a pair (as in 2) finished socks!  No 2nd sock syndrome.

I have 2 of the 3 washcloths finished for the grands for Halloween........the ghost which you saw last week........

and now the witch.............

and I have cast on the spider............I like the results but I was a little disappointed in Knit Picks Dishie cotton worsted that I used.  On the ghost above his head you can see a gray mark.  This was in the yarn itself but then when I did the witch, see the loop on the very bottom row to the right?  That was a knot evidently where they connected more yarn?  Both are very noticeable and I'm not that picky but I make enough mistakes myself without the yarn goofing up! LOL!

I have not touched my Multnomah shawl but hopefully I will get back to it after I finish the socks and cloths this week.  I also need to work on joining the Maybelle Flower squares but I have to learn the Join As You Go method for it so I need a time when I can concentrate without interruption or being tired. (You wouldn't believe how my girls interrupt me all the time and when am I not tired?) 
I did a lot of cooking this week as I had items that needed to be used up and then I mowed Friday and that really exhausted me and I have a riding mower!  Getting old is very tiring evidently.
In the evenings I have spent time listening to podcasts.  Knitting Pipeline which is really good and full of lots of wonderful tips and knitting content.  It is an audio podcast and I have lots of catching up to do on it.  Susan Anderson recommended her and she was so right!  The other podcast is The Bakery Bears which is fun and has so much more than knitting in it!  I am finally into 2016 on their podcasts and I hope to catch up before too long.   I hope you had a great week and that Fall has arrived where you are!
Happy Trails!

It's Tuesday...what are you reading, listening to and watching?

Are you a seasonal reader?  I love reading books that take place in the season I am living in at the moment..ie.  Fall books in the Fall, Winter books in the Winter and even reading holiday books at the specific holiday.  Today, my Fall books arrived....oh be still my beating heart!  Not really, keep on beating....please.  So, without further ado,  I present you with my Fall book picks..........

 I have wanted this book for several years now and finally got my hands on a copy.  I have some other Susan Branch books and they are "keepers".  They're filled with her gorgeous drawings, wonderful recipes and crafts for the season.  This is a non-fiction, of course, and I will be starting it tonight!

 There are book lists on the internet and Pinterest that say they are Fall book lists but they don't necessarily fit my criteria.....which is.....a Fall book has to tell a story that takes place in the Fall!  This is not always easy to distinguish if you haven't read the book.  LOL!  But there are clues.
Such as this next book  has to do with an apple orchard so I imagine there will be harvesting in the Fall although I see Spring blossoms on the cover....I just noticed that.

AMAZON:

"With frostbitten fingers, sleepless nights and sore muscles, 14-year-old Jackson Jones and his posse of cousins discover the lost art of winging it when they take over an orchard of 300 wild apple trees. They know nothing about pruning or irrigation or pest control, but figure it out they must—if they are to avoid losing $8,000 (because of an unfair contract). 

 With spot illustrations for mechanical-loving readers—the gears of a tractor, a plow with disks—and with mathematical calculations of the great mount of money to be earned, this novel has the sort of can-do spirit and sense of earned independence not often found in today's fiction."    

 

Okay, so there's some frost in there which could indicate Spring or Fall and then maybe it tells the story of an entire year.  I'll let you know but I will be starting this one very soon!

This next book reminded me of my Summers spent with my Aunt and Uncle and how I hated to leave come Fall.
AMAZON:
"Just before leaving for the winter, Jemima visits one last time her favorite places on the farm, recalling the wonderful summer she spent there with her aunt."

This book is written by Crescent Dragonwagon who wrote one of my favorite cook books of all time.  Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread Cookbook.   She had a restaurant in Eureka Springs, Arkansas which was so good the Clintons stopped there when they were in the state.  So, Crescent and I go way back! LOL! 
That's all for Fall right now but please share if you have any favorite Fall books.
Now, as far as what I am still reading....quite a bit as this past week was busy taking care of (and cleaning up after) a very sick little dachsund and I am still not caught up but Annie is better!  She is 14 so I was really concerned and swore I would be off to the vet this morning if she wasn't better but she is.  I am still reading my library book...........which is just an easy read so far......
I am on page 221 of 357 so hopefully I will finish it this week.

   AMAZON:
 “It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon. . . . ” This is how Abby Whitshank always describes the day she fell in love with Red in July 1959. The Whitshanks are one of those families that radiate an indefinable kind of specialness, but like all families, their stories reveal only part of the picture: Abby and Red and their four grown children have accumulated not only tender moments, laughter, and celebrations, but also jealousies, disappointments, and carefully guarded secrets. From Red’s parents, newly arrived in Baltimore in the 1920s, to the grandchildren carrying the Whitshank legacy boisterously into the twenty-first century, here are four generations of lives unfolding in and around the sprawling, lovingly worn house that has always been their anchor.

I'm still reading this magazine........it's very interesting and I'm so glad I didn't throw them out.  Last night I read about a couple in their 80's giving up their home and cider and flour mill in Vermont that they have lived in since 1939.  This man was a genius and they powered their house with water before being "energy efficient" was even a word...or 2.  What a great house which had not been modernized....right up my alley!  So sad they had to leave but they were getting on in years and he was afraid he would not be able to maintain the place.
  The house itself had been built in the 1800's or earlier.

Still listening to this tape and they are short stories of Hercule Poirot that I had never heard of...very good ones too.

And I still have not made Mama Dip's Breakfast Casserole....I haven't made much of anything lately and I need to cook and bake...and mow...and iron....you get the picture....I am behind!

 

As for things I watched and listened to.  Friday, movie night, I watched St. Vincent which Connie recommended and it was good! Thanks Connie!  I've watched some Bakery Bear podcasts, Inside Number 23 and also listened to an audio podcast Knitting Pipeline which is excellent, and some Heartland Episodes.  I think I'm on Season 5 now...love!

I hope you all had a great weekend and those in the U.S. got a chance to celebrate Labor Day and thank you to those who had to work on that day.  Please let me know what you're watching, reading and listening too and especially if you have any Fall books you can recommend.  

Happy Trails!

YOP Week #10

A day late but YOP goes for a week so, in reality, I'm not late.  But I am behind!  I had a very sick little dachsund this week and have been cleaning ever since and I'm still not caught up!  My Spotbot and I have both been working overtime.  But poor little Annie ate something outside I think and it caused her to be very ill but thank goodness she is on the mend!
So, here's what I worked on this week.  I've managed to complete 7 rounds on my Giant Granny which means I am on round 47 of 68 not counting the border.

 I love this project and I love Sandra Paul's colors that she chose............

 There's been no work done on my Multnomah shawl until I get a lifeline put in.  Also, I haven't worked on my socks.  But I did finish my ghost wash cloth.........it needs to be blocked but I'll wait until all 3 cloths are done.

 I started on the witch cloth............you can just see the end of her broom and part of her dress..........

I'm almost done with this doily but not sure I like it very much.  It called for worsted so I used cotton worsted but either I don't like the variegated or the cotton or the pattern......not sure which.  I will make a solid one in worsted weight but not cotton and see if I like that better.  This is pretty awful I think......I may tear it out as I REALLY do not like it.

I finally dug out my I Spy squares from Maggie that I ordered for the 3 I Spy quilts for the 3 grand boys for Christmas.  She also sent me a little extra package for myself.  I can't wait to start pinning and sewing them together.  I will include the rules for the I Spy game with each little quilt.

Here's my little 'extra' package she sent me.  What a sweetie she is!

 I hope you're all enjoying your long weekend if you get one.  I'll be by to catch up later tonight and tomorrow.  Happy Trails!