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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This block is for an autumn wall quilt that I’m wanting t make . It is a corner block from “Merry, Merry Christmas Quilt” by Debby Kratovil in her Quilt Block-a-Day Calendar 2006. I liked this block, but didn’t want it for Christmas so changed the colors to autumn colors and now need to decide if I want to stop here or add motifs to it. These 4 blocks are done, and I’m thinking perhaps pumpkins, turkeys, and another motif will become part of this. One thought is to put pumpkins in the corners and these between the pumpkins. My quilts often morph as I build them. No I’m not late, just early for next autumn. At least the plan is to get the flimsy done this next week and get the quilting done by then.
I did finish one 
Now all this garden is ready for winter, except the strawberry patch and I’m not sure how to mulch that without killing the plants. As you can see in the distance, even the pond, which has been dry since mid June, is now filling up. Maybe, it’s filling because we had 10.04″ of rain in October. Usually the pond is full about the first of October, so it had some making up to do.
Just a reminder that this is the weekend we lose an hour of sleep. For us it won’t matter much, since the forecast is for rain. But maybe, I’ll get some sewing or knitting time in. What about you, have you started more winter activities?
Today we used the pintuck foot on the coverstitch part of our serger for a variety of looks. The first is ordinary pintucks.
After gym this morning, I went across the street to the grocery store for 3 items. The produce man helped me load the cart with free pumpkins. I checked out and went to the car. My phone rang and it is DH. “If you are still at the store, will you buy ….?” Being a good wife, I went back in and purchased that for which he asked and also loaded the cart once again with free pumpkins. I got out to the car and looked at the first receipt. She forgot to give me the 7% senior discount on that purchase, so back into the store to get that refund. I arrived home to a husband who wanted to know what I’m going to do with all those large pumpkins. I sure hope the sheep like pumpkin. I think I will have to split them first and I’m not sure how to do that. But next sunny day, I’ll be outside with a hatchet. There’s no rush to use them as they will last all winter in the barn or garage.
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.
