The Mock croc socks in the hand painted yarn are finished! I used the smaller size by accident, so I knit looser and I am delighted with the socks. I love the color and the pattern. Someday, I will make another pair. This is a free pattern from Knit picks, Just click on the red letters and it should take you to the pattern. Now, I need to decide if I should start another pair of socks during this season or whether I have plenty of other projects that should get finished this year. It would be great to get a couple of the flimsies quilted.
Category Archive: Knitting
Mock Croc socks finished
Mock Croc socks, pumpkin soup and new puppy
These are the Mock Crock socks started October 9. Am I really that slow? I have about 4″ of the foot done, so I’m hoping that another week will see these finished. For those of you doing several pairs of socks each month, what are you doing? How do you knit so fast? The detail on this pair of socks is Cascade Farms Heritage Paints and these are hand painted. The pattern is a Knit Picks (free) pattern. I like how the yarn works up in this easy pattern.
Isn’t this one of the cutest puppies going? She is also a sweetheart who thinks everyone should pick her up and love her back. At 8 weeks of age, she is the newest member of the neighborhood and no, she’s not ours. She belongs to the neighbors next door.
Yes, I did get a menu done for a week and a half, which will help me get food on the table without too much thinking. Today we had pumpkin soup, based on a recipe on the Territorial Seed Company.
Pumpkin soup recipe:
I started with a 3.5# sweet pie pumpkin, cleaned out the seeds and strings, then salted the inside. I then blended 3/4 cup of cashews with a quart of water and 3 cloves of garlic plus a teaspoon of ground sage. I put this in the pumpkin. All went into the oven in a casserole dish for 1.5 hours on 375 degrees. The dish was in case the pumpkin didn’t hold up. It was collapsing as I removed it. So I skinned the pumpkin, put the milk and pumpkin in the blender until smooth and served. It was a good thick soup and was enough for the two of us for 3 meals. I served it with a salad. It was so easy and so good, it will be served again and again this winter. The plan was to have the pumpkin be a fancy serving bowl, but it didn’t hold up. Maybe if I had cooked it a bit less or if I had had a larger pumpkin, it might have held up better. – I don’t know. I am sure one could use other milks with this.
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Update on the Croc socks
So much has been happening lately, that I’ve had some time to work on these socks, but not much else. This morning we had to take one of our guardian dogs to the vet as she hasn’t been eating. The report so far is that she had a high temperature and the blood work that came back indicated she has pancreitis. So she will be there at least 2 days. We are so blessed to have vets who can help us through some of these issues.
The carpet was installed in the rental today as well and the back deck is being put together. I think I only have to pick up the deck railing and the heaters and I will be done. The tenants have moved in and they will be wonderful neighbors.
Maybe tomorrow will be normal – I can hope there is still such a thing.
Mock Croc socks and a busy day
Mock Croc socks – a Knit Picks pattern by Susan Lawrence, has been started. Actually, they were cast on two weeks ago. But life has been very busy around here and I haven’t worked on them much – just a row here and there. No, they will not be done by the end of the month. There are just too many projects calling my name. I chose this pattern because it looks like both the pattern and the changing colors will work well together and it won’t be another plain pattern which does get boring.
In addition to two rows today, there was a doctor’s appointment and then filling the car again for a run to the dump. We thought they closed at 5, in fact it is 4.30. We were the last car in and I am so glad that stinky stuff doesn’t have to sit in the car until Sunday. The “car” is an older station wagon that we keep as a “farm wagon”. The poor thing hauls very thing from animals, to animal feed, to garbage and still maintains a good attitude. When ” old faithful” finally gives up, it will have earned a celebration of life. After that run, it will take the recycling to the recycle place.
Have a blessed Sabbath and safe weekend.
Road trip to Portland, then back to bananas
Our road trip started with threatening skies overhead. We went to visit
our daughter and grandson in the Portland area. He will be a teenager this coming month. It is amazing how much the younger generation knows about computers. I have asked him to learn how to make a website so he can put one up for the sheep and fleeces I hope to have for sale in the spring.
We had a lovely visit and had 2 special events that evening. First, we went to the church and watched slides from a trip a gentleman had recently made to Israel. I had never noticed before how much rubble there is in the area from prior buildings. He said that they try to put back the pieces that were original rather than use new materials. His slides reminded me a lot of the trip we took to Turkey a few years ago.
Then we went home and DH really wanted to watch African Queen which we all enjoyed.
DH didn’t feel so well today so we skipped the art museum and I drove home in pouring rain.
I peeled and sliced 100# of bananas when after we arrived home. They are now in the freezer. I will do the last 40# tomorrow. It is wonderful to have them all ready frozen when we get the urge to blend them and add berries for a treat. No it’s not “just like ice cream”, but it is a wonderful healthy substitute.
And this is the amount of knitting that I did on the trip. That’s correct. Only a sock cast on. So that means I have a project for the rest of the month. But it is really hard to knit and drive and I didn’t feel like knitting through the movie, so didn’t. I hope some of you understand. And I did not take a computer either. It really was “get away from it all”. The animals were excited to see us again as well.
Red striped socks are finished
The red socks are finished and I’m very happy with how they knitted up. These are made with Cascadia Yarns “Heritage paints”, a hand painted yarn. The yarn is a superwash with 75% merino and 25% nylon, which means “throw in washer and dryer”. They were knit on US size #2 needles. I cast on 64 stitches and knit very plain stockinette with a one inch 2 x 2 ribbing.
Zucchini is done!
Since tomorrow is the day to post our knitting this week, it is time to show that some progress has been made. These were started mid August, so my goal will be to finish them by the end of September. Since I’m on the foot, I should be able to achieve that (pending interruptions in the schedule)
This is what I wrote yesterday. “So tomorrow’s goals are to finish weeding the hoop house, make bread, pick apples, and finish the quilt and to make applesauce” . So who thinks that actually happened? Instead, this is what happened.
The olive bread and rolls were made and another sponge is started. The apples, hoop house and quilt were untouched. They go on tomorrow’s list.
Instead, today the 9 huge zucchini called to me, and I made 18 cups of relish,
30 patties from a recipe my sister sent me. Most of these are going into the freezer. There is a large kettle of grated zucchini in the refrigerator that I will cook into soup for the weekend and 16 cups of grated zucchini is now in the freezer. There are only 2 very small zucchini left and they will go into a salad. There will be no more zucchini this year as I pulled the plants.
These peppers
and these carrots, along with some previously picked onions were part of today’s ingredients. I did can 7 pints of applesauce out of previously picked apples.
This was a lovely small sugar pumpkin until the chickens found it. They also enjoy doing this to carrots and beets. So we just plant enough for both of us.
Tonight I get to crawl into nice clean sheets to dream about the new adventures awaiting me tomorrow.
Then we picked corn, green beans, beets, and carrots with which to play tomorrow. And we must not forget to pick the apples before the raccoons and deer get to them.
Socks and honey
Slowly, but surely, with little minutes here and there. The gussets are nearly done. I think I’m a slow knitter because it takes me 18-20 hours to do a pair of socks -time dependent on how much cuff and how many stitches I drop and have to pick up and how many times I have to lay the project down and pick it up again.
No photo, but I spent an hour in the dentist chair this afternoon having 2 small cavities filled.
On the way there, I stopped and bought 2 gallons of honey from a friend who has many hives of bees and has them at various people’s farms. I learned that our hardware store now sells food grade buckets for food. And guess what, their logo gets spread around. DH believes that everything one sells should have something to help sales. This qualifies.
The last thing to purchase was a storm door for the hoop house which will be recovered this weekend.
And here’s a HINT: for all these holidays coming up. Buy yardage, serge or hem the edge, pop it on your table to look all cheery and when the holiday is over, you can save it for next time, or make something else from it.
End of August
The heel flap is done and next comes the heel. Progress is slow. The summer is winding down and maybe when the weather turns cold, I’ll be more interested in hand work. But right now, I want to be outside enjoying what summer is left. My guess is that we may get an early fall.
Another inch knit this week. Slow and steady, they will get done. Another slow and steady has been the elliptical machine. Just 5 minutes a day, but every day. In October, I’m planning to increase the time, when other activities calm down. So I push myself for those 5 minutes and 10,000 steps daily thinking I must keep moving or get old.