Unraveled Wednesday 4/9/25

 Hi Everyone,

How are you?  I hope all is well.  I'm good other than my back screaming for mercy this morning!

Iris seemed to be doing a little better yesterday...until late afternoon.  By that point she had not seen her Mama in 10 hours so she was fussy and cranky.  She did drink more from the bottle yesterday and Colin got her to nap for 30-45 minutes in the early afternoon (of course, holding her the entire time).  And he texted that after I left (at 4 p.m.) he managed to get her in a good mood and she drank another 4-5 oz!  So, progress is being made.

So here we are mid-week, hump day, Unraveled Wednesday!  Time to link up with Kat and her Merry Band of Unravelers.  Before I jump into what's going on knitting and reading-wise, let me tell you about yesterday morning.

Fletch and I typically do our grocery shopping on Tuesday morning.  Tuesday is Senior Day at Acme and seniors receive 5% off.  With the price of groceries these days, I will take advantage of any discount we can get.  Thanks to digital coupons and sales, we were able to score $50 worth of NY strip steaks for $22!  Not bad.  They also had fresh bluefish which Fletch loves.  I don't like it at all, but I do cook it for Fletch, so we got a couple of filets.  And cat food and the other usual weekly buys.  Then while we were in the check out line a woman from the office came up to us and said we had been picked as customers of the week.  I thanked her, said she was sweet and then she handed me a $50 gift card and told me we could get a free bakery item and free flowers.  Fletch pretty much gets pastries every week, but she said no...get something better and more expensive.  LOL. Luckily we can use that free offer next week.  I did pick out a lovely bunch of roses for free though!

That was such a nice surprise and an extra $50 off our grocery bill was wonderful!

OK, now down to business.  My lovely shawl (Semplice) was not worked on at all this past week.  I did, however, finish up my MedKNITation dishcloth and I really like how it turned out.

It is nice and big and soft and squishy!  I also started another one yesterday while Colin was getting Iris to nap.  This one is using a cotton yarn as well, but this yarn is harder on my hands (like Sugar and Cream).  Still, I was able to get a good amount done on it (roughly half way through the increase rows).

This is another corner-to-corner cloth, but this time I cast on 4, knit across one row and then started the pattern which is simple:  K2, YO, K across.  When I get to the halfway mark, the decrease rows will be K1, K2 together, YO, K2 together again, K across.

I do have some books to tell you about!  First up, thanks to Kim in Oregon I read The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths.  This book is not scheduled to be published till July, but somehow Kim managed to score two copies and she sent me one.  Thanks Kim!!  I loved Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series and was sorry when that ended.  This is the start of her new series.  My opinion was the book was just ok...time travel is involved which is not my thing, but that aside I didn't find the book terribly compelling.  Still, it was not bad.  If anyone would like the book, I'd be happy to send it along to you.  If no one wants it, I'll see if my library would like the advance copy.

I also read The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen.  I had recently read about a new series by her dubbed "The Martini Club" that sounded good (ex CIA agent and pals hang out in Maine and solve mysteries).  I stopped at my library but they did not have her new series available so I picked up this one.  Ghosts are involved and all I kept thinking about was "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" - LOL.  This book was ok, but easy to figure out who did it.  Still, an easy and slightly entertaining read.

Lastly, when I was at the library, I picked up a Billy Collins volume of poetry that I had not seen previously:  The Trouble With Poetry and Other Poems which, as I'm sure you can all guess, was simply marvelous and a lot of fun!

If you are still here, thanks for reading along!  Please check out what others are making and reading - you will find links on Kat's blog.  

Tiny Needle Tuesday 4/8/25

 Hi Everyone,

Well, we are back to howling winds coupled with cold temps (32 this morning - prediction for even colder tomorrow morning).  Good thing I did not put away any of my woolens yet!  Oh and dampness too.  Rain all day yesterday and more in the forecast for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Oy!  Colin installed rain chains at their house and let me tell you, looking at them dripping can be meditative or just about hypnotizing!

I had roughly 4 hours at Colin & Mailing's yesterday.  Iris is better at taking the bottle so she is not quite as hangry, but her naps are not all that restful or long enough.  Colin is successful at getting her to fall asleep in his arms, but the minute he attempts to transfer her to the crib she wakes and fusses.  But yesterday was the longest Iris was separated from Mailing and Colin was successful in getting Iris to drink 6+ oz from a bottle.  Progress.

I took some of our spicy red lentil soup over for Colin & Mailing.  He had made sourdough bread over the weekend and last night was a perfect night for soup and bread.  In return, he gave me a couple of ribs he had cooked with homemade BBQ sauce and some cornbread he had baked in a cast iron skillet.  So, dinner was settled for us.  I sautéed some cabbage to go with it.  Fletch pronounced the ribs and cornbread as real soul food!  It's wonderful to have family who love to cook:)

So now it is Tuesday and time for a TNT update.  The Kindness sampler saw a bit of love this past week.

It's hard to see, but a bunch more green has been added as well as a lot of brown (so much brown in this piece!).  Since helping out with Iris, I don't have as much time to knit or stitch, but that's ok.  Iris is so much more important and nothing is a race.

Fletch and I are going to do grocery shopping this morning and I will head back to snuggle Iris after lunch.

Make your Tuesday a good one!

Weekending 4/7/25

 Hello My Friends,

How are you?  Doing well, I hope.  We are well.  I had been scheduled for a colonoscopy today, but the surgery center cancelled it.  I was not disappointed.  LOL. Long story - I was diagnosed as having C-Diff last November.  Got on antibiotics, got rid of it.  BUT...the surgery center wanted to be sure, so I had to have another test.  All is clear and I need to reschedule the colonoscopy.  And I will...eventually.

Meanwhile I have been getting lots and lots of Iris snuggles.  Mailing went back to work last Tuesday and Colin is officially on paternity leave.  The only issue is that Colin can't nurse and Iris had taken an aversion to a bottle.  Therefore, she was pretty hangry during the day.  And tired from fussing.  That girl likes to be bounced or rocked or swayed all the time.  And she is heavy!  It's a workout for sure.  So, I was going over most days just to give Colin a break so that he could maybe grab a bite of lunch, or put a load of laundry in, etc.  Luckily Iris started drinking from a bottle over the weekend.  I'll be going back over today and am anxious to see how she is.

Our weekend was wet and chilly.  We had rain on both days and the temps hovered around 40 or 42.  I decided on Saturday to make a big pot of Spicy Red Lentil Soup and I also baked Cuban Bread.

A nice chewy bread with a good crust.  It went perfectly with the soup.

Sunday was filled with chores - laundry and scrubbing floors.  I still managed to find some time for reading, knitting and stitching.  So, overall, a lovely weekend.  

This morning I will call to re-schedule my colonoscopy (IF I can get through - the line is often busy or I'm on hold for 15+ minutes!).  And, I will head back to see Colin and Iris before lunch.  I'll take a book and knitting in case she decides it's ok to take a nap after all!

I hope your weekend was a good one and I hope your Monday is shaping up to be a great start to the week!

April is for Poetry!

Hello Everyone!

April is National Poetry Month (actually I think of every month as being for poetry...but that's another story).  This April I am joining Bonny, Kym, Kat, and Sarah to share poems each Thursday in April.  This week we are sharing poems about HOPE (which we all need right now!).

I looked through a lot of poetry books and then went down a number of rabbit holes on the Web and suddenly I came across this poem.  I had not heard of the poet previously, but this poem spoke to me in a way that others I considered did not.  I hope you enjoy it.

Hope

Hope has holes

in its pockets.

It leaves little

crumb trails

so that we,

when anxious,

can follow it.

Hope’s secret:

it doesn’t know

the destination

it knows only

that all roads

begin with one

foot in front

of the other.

 

 

- Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Here is a LINK to Wikipedia and more info on Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.

Unraveled Wednesday 4/2/25

 Hello My Friends,

The heat is back on in our house.  Yup.  It's a chilly morning here - right around 32 degrees.  And, it's Wednesday which means time for an Unraveled Wednesday post.  The first one of April 2025.  Let's link up with Kat and see what fun everyone is up to this week.

I'm happy to report that Semplice saw a bit of love this past week.  Another 12-15 rows have been added and I'm loving the way it is looking (not loving how long the rows are becoming...but that's life and that's the pattern).

You may recall that I said I would be true to Semplice and work only on that until it was finished.  Well...since I participated in the MedKNITation class last Friday I needed a mindless/easy thing to knit.  No counting involved.  I decided on a dishcloth.  It's not finished yet, but I am on the decrease rows.

A very simple pattern:  cast on 3 stitches.  Slip the first stitch (with yarn in front), knit next stitch through the front and back loops and then knit across.  Repeat till it is large enough for you (I went to 75 stitches).  The decrease rows are:  slip the first stitch (with yarn in front), knit two together and knit across.  So easy and so soothing - especially with yarn as soft as this - Dragon Tale Yarn.  It is 100% cotton, but oh so soft.  I have no idea where it came from, but the original skein was 1,600 yards and the price tag says $4.50!!  A bargain for sure.

The other thing we always talk about on Wednesdays are what we have read.  Unfortunately, I have no finished books to report on.  So, instead I will share a very easy, very quick and quite tasty cookie recipe that I tried last night.  What I like is that it is super easy and fast AND it does not make a whole bunch.  I managed to get 8 cookies from the batter (and plan to take 4 over to the kids today).  Fletch, who loves a hard, crisp cookie, was not in love with them - too moist for his taste.  I tried a piece of one and thought it was good.

Here's the recipe:

Mix together one mashed banana, 1/4 Cup peanut butter and 1 TBS maple syrup.  Then mix in 1 Cup of oatmeal.  Fold in 1/3 cup of chocolate chips and 1/3 cup of ground peanuts.  Scoop onto a prepped cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.  I'm thinking that dried fruit and other nuts would be good subs for the chocolate chips and peanuts.  I may need to experiment!

Be sure to head over to Kat's to see what everyone else is up to in the making and reading worlds.  Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Tiny Needle Tuesday 4/1/25

Hello!

April 1st - no kidding!  How did that happen so fast?

We had a loud and long thunderstorm last night.  It sounded wonderful.  By the time I went up to bed the thunder had ceased, but the rain continued.  The sound of rain hitting the roof was the perfect lullaby for falling asleep.  This morning the sun is shining brightly and I need to wake up.  I stayed in bed longer than usual and was tempted to stay there till lunch!  Now I am slowly sipping coffee and attempting to wake up. 

Time for a Tiny Needle update.  Last week found me able to squeeze in a little bit of stitching.  Not a lot, but some.

More green, more brown and a couple of petals were stitched in the orangey color.  I'm definitely not moving quickly on this one, but I am enjoying it.

Yesterday ended up being a pretty nice day and it got a little warm.  I decided to make a pasta primavera with shrimp for dinner.

I sautéed some broccoli, sugar snap peas, red peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and threw in Kalamata olives (why not?).  Then added the shrimp and once that was cooked added some white wine and tossed in the linguini I had cooked.  So easy and so good plus plenty of leftovers!

Still sunny out, but the winds have picked up to howling level!  I hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday - enjoy!

Weekending 3/31/25

 Good Morning!

We are having a quiet, lazy rain in Eastern PA.  Saturday it got up to 80 degrees!!  Yesterday was a bit cooler, but still nice.  How was your weekend?  Mine was nice.

Friday afternoon I took the MDK workshop MedKNITation which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Did I learn anything new?  Not necessarily, but the class was very relaxing...so much so that I ended up taking a 2 hour nap after the class!  Suzan Colón, who led the class and who wrote the book MedKNITation, is a lovely person.  Her speech is so soothing and calming.  Have I meditated since taking the class?  No.  But I do plan to try to get into a regular habit of meditating.  We shall see.

Speaking of MDK, I received two copies of the latest Field Guide:  Mosaic.  I only need one, so if anyone would like the extra copy, please let me know.

Once I woke up from my long nap, it was time to pull it together and head over to Colin & Mailing's for dinner.  Iris is growing by leaps and bounds!  She is a very happy baby and sits at the table while we all have our meal.  It won't be too long before she is eating food!  While we were having dinner, Talbot was hanging out in the office room.  

We skipped having a fire after dinner as it had started to rain, but it was still a lovely evening.  Colin is now officially on paternity leave for two months.  Mailing is going back to work tomorrow.

Saturday was a gorgeous day.  So warm, but also very breezy.  I walked around the garden and saw that the garlic is coming up nicely and spinach and cabbage are thriving in the cold frame.  Our fig tree has buds!  I'm excited for that.  And, the French Thyme that I planted last year has come back!  That was a nice surprise.

Fletcher scored a planter for the garden at a local Goodwill store.  It should be interesting to see how things grow in it.  I have a card imbedded with basil, parsley and chive seeds that I am going to bury in one of the "bins."  Fletch has other things planned for the remaining bins.

Sunday was noticeably cooler.  The sun did come out, but not till late afternoon.  Zhongren (Mailing's Dad) came over in the morning to pick up some books we were getting rid of.  He also wandered out to the back of our property where our bamboo is.  He was looking for bamboo shoots to harvest, but it was too early...he said probably another few weeks.

Dinner was a new-to-us dish of ground beef with Brussels sprouts.  I followed THIS RECIPE and it was delicious!  We had garlic bread to go with it.

Plenty of leftovers for another meal or several lunches.  YUM!!

All in all, a pretty full weekend filled with good things!  I hope your weekend was equally nice.