Friday, September 26, 2008

It is not the Great Pumpkin but ....


Here is the largest squmpkin growing in the garden. As the weather gets colder the foilage gets smaller and we are finding some fun things. The squmpkins are actually in the bushes. the vines grew over the bushes and then over the fence. As the squmpkins got heavier they got hidden in the middle of the bushes. I wonder what a little more creeping around in the bushes will reveal.

Today I did some trailer checks at the theater. I was able to watch about an hour of Eagle Eye before I had to go to the next auditorium. IT WAS REALLY GOOD! Lot's of action going on. If you had to choose one movie to go see, I recommend this one. Now I have to go and pay to get into the show to see the last half : )

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Squmpkins .....

I found a surprise in the garden tonight. The squash and pumpkin have branched out so much that were have not been able to look for fruit in the bushes and trees where they have grown out to. With the cold weather the foliage is dying back and WHA AA LA .... Tonight we found 2 very large squmpkins! Cross bred squash/pumpkins …. Hiding in the bushes. I am so surprised that we have missed them because they are huge. The real orange pumpkins are only a quarter of the size of these squmpkins. I don’t know if I want to carve them for Halloween or cook them. : ) It was too dark to take pictures of them so tomorrow after a couple of mystery shops I have a mission to take pictures of them. Perhaps we will have the only green pumpkins in town sitting on the porch on Halloween.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

pinwheel dishcloth made on a loom


Just wanted to show you one of the things you can do on a loom ... These are fun. Notice the stitch, you can make knit and purl stitches as well as the more loopy looking loom stitches. Somebody in one of my Yahoo groups made this spiral on a larger scale for a baby blanket. It would be a very fun baby blankie I think.

Monday, September 22, 2008

AH! My first 2 at a time socks are finished. They turned out pretty good except I do not have a small enough set of cable needles. The recipe says you should have a 40" cable and a size 2 needle. Do you know how hard it is to find 40" cables anywhere in town? I have searched everywhere. All any stores around here carry are 29" in the smaller needles and if you are lucky enough to find a 36" cable, the needles are always 13, or larger. Brother!

All the knitting/yarn shops are shutting down around here. So are a lot of other small stores (like the scrapbooking stores). I found a new kind of sock yarn with a little stretch in it at Hobby Lobby and am excited to use it for my next pair of socks.


Here is a fun recipe:
preheat your bar-b-que grill

what you need: Pizza sauce, green pepper diced, mushrooms sliced, tomatoes sliced or diced, shredded mozzarella cheese, pineapple chunks, sliced olives, pepperoni, cooked sausage, any other of your favorite pizza toppings. Several cutting boards will also be needed.

Make your pizza crust dough or go and bum a ball off of the closest pizza joint and divide it into small balls large enough for a 6 - 8 in crust. Give everyone a ball of dough and instruct them to flatten it out into a 6-8 in pizza crust on a cutting board. Then you let everyone create their ideal pizza and bring it over to the grill. Carefully slide the pizza off of the cutting board and place it onto the rack in the grill. Let the pizza cook watching the bottom of the crust. Once the crust is brown it is ready to eat. If you would like the toppings to be more melted and browner, lift it onto the top rack and let it continue to heat through. These are the best little pizzas! I love the crispy crust you get when cooking them this way.

We fed the missionaries this pizza last Saturday. They enjoyed it SO much I think they both ate 4 pizzas. One of them remarked that this was a night that would be written about in his journal.

Well, I am off to loom ...... tata

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Smitten with Knittin




So, I have become obsessed with knitting again. I have found the wonderful world of knitting looms. I have made baby afghans, socks, dish cloths, dog sweaters, purses, hats and scarves. Loom are so much fun to work with and the project goes much faster. With all the great yarns out there now, all I need is a good sale on yarn and I am looming again. Here are a couple of pictures of loomies ....

I loomed sweaters for Nicole's dog, both of Brandon's dogs, and also for my dogs. When I get pictures (maybe I should say IF I ever get pictures of all the dogs together) of these dogs in their sweaters I will post them. Most of the sweaters are made from the same yarn so they will be twins. I also made Nicole's dog a froggy hat and sweater so she can be a frog for halloween. She looks so funny in her costume. I wish she would come trick-or-treating here for pictures.

I have also been knitting dishcloths. Forget the old boring plain dishcloth. Now they have personality and flair. Thanks to the yahoo groups I am a member of and all the generous and friendly people there I will never make a boring plain old dishcloth again. Here are pictures of two cloths I finished today. Have been making several cloths a month. My stash is getting big.
















Can you see the butterfly? There are zillions of designs that people have generously made available for group members to use to make these fun dishcloths. I have been able to share a moose with Mom and a cat with Julie. Poor Laurie is getting a spider and web ...... but it was sure fun to make.

I am also experimenting with my first pair of 2 at a time socks. You knit them on the circular able needles and work both of the at the same time. This is GREAT because they end up being the same size and length. No more guessing or remembering row counts. I really hope they turn out and I want to make more this way.

Yesterday I started another sock on an oval extra fine gauge sock loom and I am wondering how this thing I am making is ever going to become a sock that can actually be worn. BUT, I have faith in the pattern so I will keep working on it and soon post a picture of this sock if it ever turns out.

Recommended fun read: Puddlejumpers by Mark Jean and Christopher C. Carlson
It is a fun book that is great for kids to read also. Come and see my bookshelf on Shelfari http://www.shelfari.com/o1518194267/shelf . What are you reading?

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Sad Day


Today is a sad day. A friend recently died from cancer and today was her funeral. The service was very nice and the weather was beautiful. The cemetery is also beautiful. But, there are young children who still need their mother and a man who still needs his wife. Sometimes life really stinks. Now sadness and grief will rule their lives for a time.

I am thankful for the knowledge I have that death on this earth is not an end to the family. It is just a parting for a while. I pray for them to feel the Lord's comforting hand in their lives until they are ready to face the world again.

It has been getting cooler here at night. The leaves are already trying to turn colors. I heard that the ski areas are thinking about making snow by the end of the month..... Where did the summer go?






These are the first tomatoes of the season. The garden has lain fallow for several years. I guess it liked that because this year it has yielded us some great squash, pumpkin, peppers, and tomatoes. We planted mid-June thinking nothing much would come of it. Boy are we ever surprised. The squash and pumpkin leaves have grown to be enormous. Pic on the right is a growing pumpkin. The flower is a squash blossom. It was larger than my hand. The colors in this garden are vibrant. I love just sitting in it and breathing in the green growing smells of it. As the garden grows it is escaping the garden and growing into the bushes and up the fence. One branch of pumpkin is over 20 feet long with those huge elephant ear leaves. The squash mountain was nearly impenetrable. Later I will post pictures of the fruit. We have been eating and freezing the early fruits of the garden but if the weather holds, there will be much more.