Seriously?????

Ok.  Deep breath.  Remember that last post where things were going along swimmingly after not doing so for a few days?  Remember how I was going to start my Flyingdales that night? Well......

I got out my yarn and my pattern and grudgingly happily like no other knitters every knitter I know, did a guage swatch.  And it was too small.  So I went up a needle size.  And it was still to small.  So I went up another needle size.  And it was still to small. (Doesn't this sound like The Very Hungry Caterpillar and how he was still hungry???)  Then I didn't like that the fabric was getting so loose, and resigned myself to the fact that my yarn was in fact worsted weight and not heavy worsted as the pattern called for.  My yarn label did not specify this, by the way.  It simply had the yardage and the ounces, which I figured out to be about worsted weight but thought it would still work for this pattern.  It didn't.  So, I looked though my new A Fine Fleece book and found some other patterns that I liked.  And did some guage swatches.  They just didn't work.  Seriously????  After all my searching and planning and waiting????  Here is my 10 mile long gauge swatch:

 So I was back to the drawing board and searched Ravelry again.  Through 30 pages of potential worsted weight cardigan patterns.  I found the Bloody Mary cardigan and swatched for that. The swatches for that are actually at the top of the picture above, since I didn't keep track of the sections I knitted below it with the same size needles and had to re-knit them.  Another winner move.  But, things were looking up and I almost had guage with a size 7 needle and did have gauge with a size 8 needle.  Hooray! 

I was getting ready to go ahead and cast on with the size 8 needle, and that little annoying voice in the back of my head said, "You better wash that swatch.  If you are getting guage with a size 8, it's going to get bigger after you wash it. Remember that huge sweater you made that you love but is really way too big for you?  It's because you didn't do a swatch, started knitting the sweater, measured the guage a few inches in, and it was already too big, and you kept knitting anyway, then when you washed it, it became ginormous. So, really, you better wash it."
So......

....I washed it. And the voice was right.  Once I washed it, the guage with the size 7 needle was now perfect and the size 8 was too big.  Now that I have all this definitive proof about the merits of swatching, I'm still probably not going to swatch often going to swatch all the time.

And now, I'm almost done with the 5 1/2 inches of 2 X 2 ribbing at the bottom on the back:

Here are some pictures from the Ravelry page:

In case you were wondering, the name is based on a cocktail.  The designer named a lot of her patterns after cocktails.  There is a cute one called Vodka Lemonade.  She is also the same designer of my Cranberry Capelet.  I like her stuff.

So, I promised you two easy as pie recipes.  By the way, I have no idea why they say "easy as pie".  I do not think  pie is easy to make.  Probably because I don't like it.

Recipe #1:
My mom passed along this one through the Facebook.
A 45 Second Oatmeal Cookie!  It is from The Wellness Maven blog, who go it from the Carrots 'N Cake blog who created it and calls it the 3 Minute Oatmeal Cookie.
It's a little tiny recipe that makes a healthy cookiesand is really quick to put together and cook in the microwave.

1/4 cup oats

1/8 cup liquid egg whites

2 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp raisins

Cinnamon to taste

Mix everything together, put in a microwave safe bowl, flatten the mixture to the bottom of the bowl and microwave for 45 seconds.  I used chocolate chips instead of raisins.  Mmmmmm.

Before cooking

After cooking

Since these are healthy, they are not the most amazing cookie you've ever had.   A little tough/chewy.  BUT, it's a darn good alternative to a whole package of oreos.  Or jelly beans.  Or peeps.  The few chocolate chips are just the thing it needs.

Recipe #2:
Crock Pot Chicken and Stuffing

• 1 lb. chicken breasts
• 6 oz box of Stove Top Stuffing
• 1 10oz can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Put chicken in the crock pot.  Put dry stuffing mix on top. Mix soup and sour cream (I used half and half since I didn't have sour cream) and pour over the stuffing.  Cook on low for 4 hours.

I know, doesn't look like much.  But it's yummy!

So easy and really yummy.  I love my crock pot.

I also promised you a book review!
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: This was the 850 page book I started a couple of weeks ago.  I think it took me about a week and a half to read. It was good!  Not over-the-top good, but very entertaining and it kept me engaged.  I had seen some conflicting reviews on Goodreads but overall the reviews were positive.  I had been under the impression that this was an historical fiction book and quickly realized that it's a romance as well.  The story takes place in post WWII Scotland.  Claire, a former army nurse, is on a second honeymoon with her husband, when she visits a Stonehenge-type ruin and falls through a crack in one of the stones.... into the year 1743.  So now, she has a life and a husband in one century and a romance with a clansman in another century.  The storyline was engaging, with clan border wars, Claire needing to adapt to a much more primitive way of life, and her struggle to come to terms with this new romance.  In a way, it reminded me of a soap opera.... can't stop watching, wanting to know what happens next, and romance.  In case you need to be warned, there are some pretty graphic love scenes.  But they don't take over the whole book.  And also some graphic descriptions of torture and injuries -- I had to cover my eyes for some of those. 

This is the first in a series of several books and I will likely read the next one some day.  It would be a good beach read.

Whew.  That's it.  I'm off to work on Bloody Mary.  (Ugh- doesn't that sound awful?)

Ribbons!

Paul and I headed to the Altamont Fair on Wednesday night.  He is displaying his car in the "Cars Past Present and Future" building, so he wanted to check on it:

It was fine (but very dusty).  Discussion ensued about whether or not to dust it off.  He decided against it since it's just so dusty there anyway.  He'll give it a good Paul-once-over once it gets home.

And I wanted to see how my judged items did.  We got to the Wool Nook in the Sheep Barn and perused the cases:

And there is my shawl with a Fourth Place ribbon!:

And my skein of yarn with a Second Place ribbon!:

Third from the right, the skinny purple-y one.

It's so exciting to see my items on display.  WITH RIBBONS!!!!  There were so many beautiful entries.

In Other Knitting News:
As promised, pictures of the Cranberry Capelet after it was blocked:

That sideways thing is SO annoying!  At any rate, that's me wearing it. (I told Jana just to get just the capelet because I had just come from babysitting and i was tired and sweaty and my hair was a mess.)

Here's a better view on the mannequin:

Except it's sideways again.  The neck definitely relaxed, as did the rest of the ribbing and it is VERY comfy and cozy -- can't wait for the cooler weather!

I started my Watermelon Slice Socks!:

Soon come the black beads (for the watermelon seeds) but I have to check out some online tutorials for how to add the beads to my knitting....

After I got that far in the socks, I took a short break to knit the Vite Cowl:

Unblocked - blocked picture to come next post...

Made with Cascade Magnum and size 15 needles, this is a super bulky yarn which makes for a super quick knit. I made it in about 3 1/2 hours.  To give you an idea of how thick the yarn is, here is a picture of the ball of yarn with a strand of medium weight yarn next to it (which I used to make the capelet):

The tape measure reads 7 inches across.  That's fat yarn.  It's so fun to knit something so quickly.  This is knit flat and then, after blocking, I will seam it into a loop that will be doubled around the neck for a nice cozy, warm cowl.

In Gardening News:
Here is my bounty of sugar pumpkins:

We had a second crop coming (three or four more pumpkins started growing much later than these) but someone may or may not have accidentally cut the vine they were attached to when trying to clean up the other vines.  So, this is it. This weekend I will be making roasted pumpkin puree to freeze and make pumpkin bread in the fall.  Or now.  I love Love LOVE pumpkin bread.

And we have a gazillion tomatoes (ok, I weighed them and it is "only" 6 pounds worth) so I'm going to make and freeze tomato sauce this weekend.  I decided against canning since I don't have a lot of tomatoes at one time.  I guess "a lot" is relative.  Not enough for me to drag out all the canning stuff anyway.

More on my processing progress next post...

Didn't, Didn't, Didn't

We made our yearly trip to the Buick Performance Group Nationals in Hebron, Ohio this past weekend.  It was a weekend of things that just didn't go as planned.

We didn't have a terribly smooth trip out there.  When we got about here in Pennsylvania:

We heard a big BOOM! which was this:

A blown trailer tire.

Which led, of course, to this:

Thank goodness Paul is extremely organized and prepared.  Aside from having to take the ATV out of the trailer (and almost roll it into that ditch) to get to the spare tire under the floor, everything went very smoothly and we were back on the road in, no joke, about 15 minutes.  He changes tires so many times on his race car that he could do it in his sleep.  And luckily his friend Rob had a smart phone and found a tire place 5 miles away so we could get a new spare (one more reason to add to my list of 80,000 reasons why maybe someday I might think about potentially getting a smart phone).

Then Friday, the first race day, didn't go very well.  Ray (Rob's dad) and I made several trips to another tire shop to get all new tires for the trailer, since a couple of others look suspiciously like the blown one.  Paul was very distracted getting the tires off the trailer etc, and didn't do well in his races that day.  Plus it was hot.  REALLY hot.  (YES, I had my shaved ice but I had quite a scare because the usual guy/cart was not there and I had to hunt for another cart that had it....)  And then there was Rob's car...

That is Paul and Rob taking the motor out of Rob's car to give to a guy to bring back to his shop in Michigan because it ate the bearings (I think.  I got shown little tiny bits of them in the oil filter.).  So, he didn't race.  He was not happy.  On top of all this, the racing was different this year  in that the organizers decided to have some night racing.  We didn't leave the track until 10:30pm and we were exhausted.

Saturday was the last race day and it didn't get much better.  It was hotter than hot.  It was sticky, muggy, wet-air HOT. 

That is Paul trying to stay cool while waiting his turn.  The racers have to wear long pants and long sleeves as well as a helmet, so you can imagine how hot they get.  Plus the windows have to be rolled up.  AND the inside of Paul's car is all black. UGH.

In the burnout box warming up the slicks (big, fat race tires).

I took a little video of Paul's last run.  The one where he didn't win. : (

(I hope you can play this.  I've never put a video in the blog before.)

BUT, he did come in second, which came with some prize money that covered our gas bill for the trip! (Yay, a silver lining!)

The threat of storms was looming for the end of the day so the race organizers were trying to push things along to finish up early.  Because of this, we decided we would at least start back home later in the day rather than wait until Sunday morning.  So Ray and I (the ever faithful pit crew) went back to the hotel to check out and get all our stuff.  Then the races went until 6pm anyway and we didn't leave until almost 7pm.  Again, things were not going as we planned.  But wait!  There's more!

We started home, got several hours under our belt and started looking for a place to stay.  We tried a couple of places but either the area was really seedy looking or the parking lots were not big enough for two trucks and car trailers.  Soooooooo. We decided to drive through the night.

Yup, I took a picture of the night for you. 3:00am-ish.

And the sunrise at the last rest stop.

It was ok for a while.  Then it was just torture.  Tired and wanting to get home.  But we made it home at 6:30am and immediately went to sleep.  Now we are recovering.  They can't all go terrifically, so this one didn't.  We'll hope for better luck on the next one!  (I've typed "didn't" so many times in this post, it doesn't look like I'm spelling it right anymore!)

In Knitting News:

On the trip out, I worked on my Cranberry Capelet and it was coming along nicely:

Then, I didn't touch it for the rest of the weekend because it was too HOT!  Now, I'm a little nervous because there are only 7 days left to complete it and have a chance to win a prize.

Also, I got completely obsessed with these:

Watermelon Slice Socks

And had to order the kit which was waiting for me when I got home and now I really want to start them but I'm not letting myself until I am done with my capelet.  Don't they look so cute and... refreshing?

In Book News:

The lastest book I've read is Goodnight Nobody: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner.  The author and I were in the same class in high school!  She is VERY witty and has written several books including In Her Shoes  which was made into a movie.  I'm working my way through them and have liked all the ones I've read so far.  This was her first crack at a mystery and I really enjoyed it.  A stay-at-home mom, struggling to identify with the other moms in her new suburban neighborhood (after moving from NYC), discovers the dead body of one of her neighbors and then proceeds to investigate the murder.  Intertwined with the investigation is the story of her life and relationships with her husband, best friend and a lost love.  And lots of wit sprinkled in, which, in my opinion, is a specialty of Jen's.

An extra bonus for me when reading her books is the little references to the town we lived in and her life.   Jen and I had the pleasure of being part of the enchanted forest during a summer theater musical production of Peter Pan when we were on college break. (What this means is that we were trees.  Yes, trees.  We had tree costumes and had to stand like trees, allowing ourselves to "sway" our branches when our arms got too tired.  Ooh, and we also danced with the other woodland creatures.  It was so fun to be in these productions during the summer, that I really didn't mind being a tree at age 18.)  Jen referenced being a tree in Peter Pan in one of her books.  It was so funny because I was reading along, got to this part and just laughed out loud remembering.  Do I dare try to find a picture to share with you???

In Other News:
This opened up nearby:

I was excited because when we go visit Paul's brother and his family in Virginia, there is always something interesting and yummy from Trader Joe's at their house.  The last visit, it was sweet potato chips.  So yummy.  I got some today.  It was crowded since it just opened 2 days ago, but I saw some great stuff that I will go back to get. (Not terribly pricey as I had anticipated, which was a bonus!)

And on the way there, I saw this:

OMG.  He's wearing a seat belt and GOGGLES. Cutest. Thing. Ever. (the dog, that is...)

The Tally

It's not a secret that Paul and I love, Love, LOVE ice cream.  Especially soft ice cream, which is seasonal.  Often in the summer, dinner will revolve around whether or not we are going for ice cream.  And sometimes dinner IS ice cream.  So, I've decided to keep a tally of the ice cream that Paul and I get this season!  Don't ask me why -- chances are you will be shocked by the number of times we go out for ice cream (for example in this past week it has been 3).  Then again, I'm trying to eat a little healthier these days, so maybe I'll be able to exercise some restraint once the novelty of ice cream stands being open wears off....  When I figure out how, I'll put a little counter somewhere on the blog page.  Ok, full disclosure -- this is more for me than for you.  I was curious how much ice cream we ate and a blog counter seemed a good way of keeping track.  You probably don't give a hoot.  Hopefully there is something else in this blog post that interests you...

Yesterday, we ventured down to Chappaqua, NY to the Northeast GS/GN Buick club spring meeting.  Paul usually goes to this by himself, or with Rob and Raymond, but for some reason this year he invited me to come along.  I was one of three women there (all of us guests of club members, not members ourselves), among about 60 car-loving-racing-loving men.  Lots of bench racing going on....

I chatted a little, but mostly daydreamed listened intently.  I can usually keep up with the conversation, but then there's a point where I get a little overloaded.  So, what else did I do?

Sold tickets for the 50/50 and raffle prizes.  Gave me a chance to walk around a little.  There was a "business" meeting first (upcoming drag racing events to participate in, nominations for new officers etc) and then we all ate an 80 foot long sub.   Paul and I didn't win any of the raffle prizes (mostly car wash things, which I, of course, would put to good use.....).

On the way home was:

#3 of the week and the season.  The Red Rooster Drive-In in Brewster, NY.  Yum.  Isn't that such a classic looking drive-in??????

In Knitting News:
On the drive to the meeting I worked on the Summer Flies shawl:

I can't spread it out too well yet, since there are so many stitches on my needles, but I'm almost done and will show it to you next post.  So, here's the thing.  I wasn't supposed to start anything new without working on/finishing-if-possible a work-in-progress right?  Ha.  Apparently I'm having trouble with that.  In my defense, this was a potential summer time class project so I wanted to knit it asap to determine if it would be a good class. And if so, it should also be finished soon so it could go up as a sample in the shop.  Pretty good defense, I think.  Jury is still out about the class. I'm waiting to finish it before I decide.

I've also been working on my Cranberry Capelet, also a potential class, but in the fall:

The collar and beginning of the decreases.  Getting familiar with the pattern took some doing but now I'm on a roll.  Looks weird right now.  That's a cable in the middle, which will be more obvious when I do the next one.

Finished my Swirl Hat for the charity knitting collection at The Spinning Room yarn shop:

Great pattern - very easy to remember.  Knitted up fairly quickly, but it's fingering weight on a size 3, so at times it didn't seem so quick.  But, really, it was.  Wonderful, lightweight hat for spring summer, or even as an indoor accessory in the winter.

In Gardening News:
The crazy weather continues, as now it is back to 40 degrees, and it's expected to get to 16 degrees tonight.  I'm worried about our daffodils:

...which actually will be started to die off soon anyway.  But they are in full bloom now!
And our pretty Bleeding Heart that did horribly last year and we put it in a new spot for this year and already it looks a gazillion times better than last year....

....I think we had about three leaves on it last year (really).  I don't want it to die before the pretty pretty pretty flowers come out.

And our rhododendron:

...Just about to bloom.  This one also seems to be doing better than last year, with tons of buds.  We'll do the best we can to cover everything up.  But SIXTEEN degrees????  I hope they make it.

In Book News:
I'm in the middle of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt: A Novel, by Beth Hoffman and will give a review of it soon.  I have also met yet another person who told me that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo really does get much better so I'm thinking about picking it up again.
But, in real book news, Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, Book 3), has been purchased for the Nook!Paul has started it, so i have to wait for him to finish it before I can read it. I hope he hurries up.

Ah, Spring

Gorgeous, gorgeous weather, warm temps, light breezes and crocuses blooming:

But, there is a downside to spring for someone in our household....

Mandy is mad at us....

She desperately needed a bath and yesterday was so nice and warm, so she got one.  We even filled up buckets with WARM water, instead of using the hose (except to rinse her belly).  Now, I think that's pretty considerate of us.   I was soaked, my shoes were soaked, Paul was soaked, so it wasn't all fun and games for us either. But no, still getting the cold shoulder.

But now she is nice and soft and fluffy and smells nice.  I'm sure she'll forgive us soon.

Since it was such a beautiful weekend, Paul and I took the opportunity to take a drive.  Just around.  Nowhere special, as long as we ended up at a Target to run an errand.  We also ended up here:

Giffy's Bar-B-Q in Clifton Park.  Mmmmmmmm...... bar-b-q.

And to Guptill's Coney Express for our first ice cream of the season:

Sorry, too excited to remember to take a picture of the actual ice cream.  It was yummy.

In Gardening News....
Not much news, since it's still too early to do much, but I just ordered these from Amazon:

I'm very excited to have a garden this year!

In Knitting News....
I've been crazy busy this week teaching knitting classes.  Thursday was the first Daybreak session, Friday was the first Car Seat Blanket Session, Saturday was the first 2-Socks-on-1-Needle session and the first Baby Kimono session, and Sunday was the first Sycamore Vest session.  Whew.  I was a little wiped out Sunday afternoon (at which time we decided to tackle the aforementioned bath....).

So for knitting I've been sticking to the Skew socks:

A little less complicated than getting into the Cranberry Capelet which I hope to work on this week.  Yes, they are crooked.  They are supposed to be, hence the name "Skew".

I also started the Swirl Hat which The Spinning Room is doing for a charity knit-a-long:.

Yes, that's my new favorite way to take a picture of my yarn...

These hats will be donated to a local hospital's child and adult cancer centers.  The pattern is nice and easy so it's nice to have that to knit while I watch tv.

In Book News:
I'm reading First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, Book 1) by Darynda Jones  (kindle version:First Grave on the Right) on a sort-of recommendation from a knitting friend.  She actually recommended the next book, Second Grave on the Left (Charley Davidson, Book 2) (kindle version: Second Grave on the Left )  but I didn't remember the name correctly when I went to get it.  I didn't mind, though, because sometimes I get a little finicky about reading a book series and I would have wanted to start from the beginning anyway.  At any rate, so far I'm liking it and I will give you more details when I'm done (soon).

Also book related, Paul went on a business trip and I convinced him to take my Nook with him so he could read The Hunger Games (kindle version: The Hunger Games).  It actually did take some convincing because Paul is not really a gadget guy.  First, he sort of wrinkled his nose because I think he was resisting the idea of using a gadget since he thinks there are too many in the world (and he thinks I have all of them, which I don't.  I have a couple.  There are way more people who have way more gadgets than me.), and he didn't want anyone to think he was one of those gadgety people.  Then he was all, "I don't know how it works."  And I was all, "I'll SHOW you."  At that point he was really out of arguments.  So I showed him and he read on the plane.   He couldn't put it down either!!!!  Then, he started reading the second one and is in the middle of that.  We both can't wait to see the movie.