Two At A Time

So last month I was at my local yarn store and was looking at some really beautiful soft sock yarn and another knitter was looking at the yarn, too.  We began talking about knitting styles, and she said "Have you ever done two at a time?".  Excuse me.  Two at a time?  Are we talking about knitting?  Then she said she magic loops socks two at a time (which I also magic loop and knit with one circular needle when making socks or other things with small circular diameters), but have only knit one sock at a time.  I told her I have read about two at a time but felt it would be too much trouble trying to keep the strands of yarn from being tangled all the time and keep each sock in order.  Well, she kind of made me feel that I was an inferior knitter because I did not knit socks two at a time.  Well, I thought, I'll show her.  So, I bought a book on the subject and looked at some resources on Ravelry.com and proceeded to knit my socks.  And by golly, I did it.  It took me a bit to get a system down to keep the strands of yarn from getting all tangled up, and at one point I did not think I was going to get through it.  Anyway, here are pics of the progress and end result and my granddaughter has been wearing these socks.

Homemade "Instant" Wonton Soup

When it gets cold outside, I usually want a bowl of steaming hot soup for dinner.  Here's my version of  a quick-to-fix wonton soup that will warm you all over.

It takes less than 30 minutes to make and will make you feel happy that you did!  The recipe:

1 bag Trader Joe's frozen Chicken Cilantro Mini Wontons
Couple of handfuls of roughly chopped Bok Choy (I used 1/2 package of the baby bok choy from Trader Joe's) Rinsed and then chopped.
2 cans (approx. 14.5 oz each) low sodium chicken broth
1 Tablespoon soy sauce

Pour chicken broth into a pan and bring to a boil.  Toss in the chopped bok choy and bring back up to a boil.  Add FROZEN wontons and bring back up to a simmer.  Gently simmer for 5-6 minutes until wontons are heated through.  Add soy sauce and serve & enjoy.  Makes 2 hearty main dish servings.
ETA:  Keep pan covered to prevent broth from evaporating while cooking.

Cocoa Hat

I just love this fast and easy hat pattern for dogs called "Cocoa Hat" from the knitting book called "Doggie Knits" by Corinne Niessner.

Hat for Daisy

We had our first snow the other day and it has put me in the mood for knitting, much to the dismay of my dog, Daisy.

Turkey white bean pumpkin chili

We got a dusting of snow the other day, and that is my cue to start making soups, stews and chilis.  Turkey white bean pumpkin chili is one of my favorites, and you can find the recipe in the crockpot section of www.skinnytaste.com

The ingredients

The result

Autumn is my favorite time of year.  I love the changing color of leaves, pumpkins and hot steaming cups of tea, coffee or cocoa.

OK.  For all you UW Huskies fans.  I knit the sweetest baby earflap hat using merino dk from Fancy Image Yarns.  It will be for a newborn baby boy whose parents both went to UW.

A friend of mine just had a new grandson and her daughter requested a knitted hat with bright colors - no pastels!  I found the cutest hat kits for newborns at Fancy Image Yarn and these are so stinkin' cute!  It knits up in just one night!

 

I finally finished knitting that hat I started for my hubby.  My grandson was wearing the hat that I knit for him a year ago and it has stood up to wear and washing.



 



Ahhh.  A pedicure after a 48 hour work week.  OPI Pompeii Purple.

Well, fall is in the air.  Got down to freezing last night and we had to cover the plants in the garden overnight.  We'll baby them as long as we can and hopefully be able to harvest a little more.  I am starting to take out the knitting needles more.  Still working on that hat I started for the hubby.  In the meantime, I like to knit quick projects for instant gratification like dishcloths!  100% cotton dishcloths that seem to last forever.  This pattern is called Tweedish Cloth by Patricia Lawrence and is a free download on Ravelry.

 

Today was perfect with the high about 80 and the low tonight to be in the 40's.  I'm in the middle of a 48 hour work week and decided to keep things simple for Labor Day.  We had a simple dinner of shrimp scampi with linguine and figs drizzled with honey and cheese for dessert.  Walnuts would have been wonderful with the figs, but I think someone in this house must have ate them all!

Last month we took our granddaughter to the ocean and stopped at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and she was fascinated by the seahorses.  I decided to knit her a cotton washcloth for bath time.  This quick and easy pattern called Baby Seahorse Cloth by Elaine Fitzpatrick is free on Ravelry.

 

ETA:  Here is the Baby Starfish Cloth to go with the Seahorse Cloth.

 

I just love the weather in central Oregon this time of year.  The days are sunny in the 70's and the nights are cool and crisp in the 40's.  The feeling of autumn is just around the corner ~ my favorite time of year.

Today my granddaughter turned 4 years old!  I can't believe time has gone by so fast.  I was going through some stuff and came across a tiny pair of MaryJane booties I had knit for her when she was a newborn.  She wore them a couple of times and I had put them away and forgotten that I still had them.

I was hot here today, 91, and that is above the usual mid 80's we have this time of year.  I did get some knitting done, but with weather this warm, I don't seem very inspired.  Here's what I'm working on.  There is some cable in the design but is difficult to see in the picture.  I will post a picture when I'm done with this.  Just don't expect that to happen very quickly the way I'm going.

I had started a new hobby as of last winter, and that was making my own cards.  I went to a Stampin'up party last November and have been hooked ever since.  My knitting has only been sporatic during the summer as I don't feel that motivated to knit when the weather is warm.  That will all change in a month, and I will start cranking out the hats, mittens, socks etc.  For now, because we have a wedding to go to next month, I made a card using the wedding colors and luckily had those colors of card stock already on hand.  I'm not very fast and it takes me some time to make 1 card.  I guess I should start on the Christmas cards if I want to have them ready by the holidays!

A summer's day at the fair

Today is the first day at my new blog.  We took our granddaughter to the county fair and what a fun day that was!  She took to the rides like any little kid would.  We ate too much "fair food" like ice cream, corn dogs and cotton candy to name a few.  We were so tired after the fun filled afternoon.