CucumberZest on Etsy

Darling Daughter - Girl Far From Home (who is no longer Far From Home) has started her own etsy shop. It is called CucumberZest. She is back in school (college) studying to become a teacher and working full time, but she started this both for fun and to make a little money before she found her new job.  She is just beginning but has some cute things - the pink planter is on my patio and the plant is very happy.  It is nice because it is not rigid and so can hang or sit about anywhere.  The little felted pods can be used as air plant planters or dirt plant planters (with a dish underneath) or as handy little bowls for keeping things in.  

Look if you have any interest.  Check back later to see if she has added anything new because she has some really fun ideas in mind.  Give her shop a heart if you feel like it.

Teresa

Cooking

 Maddie and I decided that we needed to do some cooking.

Those are leeks, potatoes, and onions.

I chopped the leeks and onions and cooked them in butter until they were soft. 

Then I tossed the sliced potatoes in with a bunch of chicken broth.

Cooked that until everything was soft then blended it all together and put through a sieve to make it smooth.  I added some milk, regular cream and then brought it to a boil before putting through the sieve again.  Chilled it and added some heavy whipping cream.

 Et voila!  Vichessoise - delicious!

 Then Mads and I peeled a few dozen lemons and added the peels to bottles of vodka.

The juice went towards cocktails and lemonade.

In a week or so, we will add simple syrup and this will become Limoncella!!!

Teresa 

One more bear

I have made so very many of these bears now.  Dena says I like to knit the same thing a hundred times - like the hundred felted hedgehogs I knit.  She may be right.  It feels like I have knit a hundred of these bears so far.  It hasn't been that many, but I have reached my limit for now.

Anyway, it seems that I knit them for grandchildren, strangers' children, friends' children and everyone but my own children.  Turns out that one of my children wanted one.  So this little light brown bear is for Steffie.

It knit up pretty fast.  That could be because I think I have memorized the pattern.

 The other bears in the house helped - one helped knit, another put on eyes and BearBear helped stuff the new friend.  It is quick work when you have so many helpers!

 Then we took some group photos.  A couple of the little Grateful Dead bears got in on one photo but the bigger bears shooed them away for the second photo.

Then the new little bear stole BearBear's overalls and left to go live in Kennesaw.

BearBear has no overalls but best buds have no clothing at all!

Teresa

Baby Doll

This is yet another Annita Wilschut Pattern - Jutta.

Until recently this was not available through Ravelry or in English.  

Annita is Dutch and her patterns are all available in that language on her website

Zijmaakthet

You can see tons of really cute photos of them on her blog.

I had so much fun knitting Vera bears that I sent her a message and asked if maybe she would consider translating a few other patterns, especially Jutta - this little baby doll.

She responded that she was working on a translation and looking for an English speaker to read it and possibly test knit it.  I immediately volunteered to do both.

This is my baby doll - no gratuitous butt shots, but let me tell you she has a really cute butt!

Jutta the baby finished and wearing her overalls.  Each strand of hair is an icord.  It took forever to knit them all, but they really turned out cute.  She has an alternate method for giving the doll hair that I will probably try on the next doll I knit.  I really love this doll - mine is made with Aran weight yarn and just the perfect size for some little girl to love!

Teresa

Sock Knitting

Sock knitting has been happening.

This is a pattern designed by Wendy Gaal of Knitter's Brewing Company 

to honor Anna Zilboorg.  It was meant to be embroidered and the kit came with a 

few smaller amounts of yarn in different colors for embroidery.

I really liked the cable pattern just as it was so I didn't embroider it.

I am embroidering the Anna sweater I knit though - photos of that later.

I also knit an actual Anna sock pattern.  This is Arcturus from Anna's Socks for Sandals and Clogs book.  The book is long out of print, but thanks to Anna it has been made available as an ebook through Ravelry pattern sales (in it's entirety or as individual patterns).

Arcturus was one of the original free sole sandal patterns but is done slightly differently from the modern patterns.  It is also knit in sport weight yarn rather than fingering.

 It is a fun pattern to knit and since it is knit in a larger gauge, it is a quick pattern to knit.

 I think it looks good too!

Teresa

Dogwoods in Bloom

A younger friend of ours let us know she was having a baby girl.  

She wanted a lacy, pretty baby blanket in pale yellow.

Dogwood by Tin Can Knits seemed just right and I had wanted to knit it anyway.

It is knit in blocks from the center out.

 After I knit the blocks and blocked them to shape, I decided that I wasn't going to sew them together.

I tried several knitting patterns and settled on this one - a lacy little bit to knit the two blocks together.

 Knitting together was pretty quick and easy.

Then I had to figure out the edging.

I used pretty much the same pattern around the outside for the edging.

And the baby blanket was finished and delivered before the baby arrived!

Teresa

Another Anna Design

These are the gauge swatches for yet another new Anna Zilboorg pattern.  

Sadly, I messed up and purled the stitches that were supposed to be knit and knit the stitches that were supposed to be purled.

So, I knit the swatches again, correctly - the blue dots do look better when done correctly.

 Anna decided that she liked the gray as the background and the blue as accent best (I have enough yarn to knit the sweater both ways and might).  We decided on the bottom section of the last photo as the distance between the dots.

I should be able to show a bigger chunk of the sweater soon . . . .

Teresa