Changing Blogsites

I'm changing blogsites. My new site is: http://knittinggalnokc.wordpress.com/

Hope to see you there!!

Black Friday

While I did not want to stay home Friday, I sure wasn't going out with the masses to shop. So what did I do? I spent my Black Friday as a Knitting Friday at Gourmet Yarn. Yes, I think I left a butt-print on Margaret's sofa. I arrived before 11 and did not leave until closing time.

The question came up of what Black Friday actually meant. I always thought it was one shopping day of the year where retailers were guaranteed to be in the black on their books for sales that day. Or maybe that one day could put the business in the black. If you know what it really means, leave a comment and let us know.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day knitting on the Regia Silk sock (above). As you can see I turned the heel and picked up the stitches. Yikes!! This is the part that I'm shakey on. Let's hope I don't mess this up at this point.





Here is the Irish Hiking Scarf. I'm on my third skein of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran. Needless to say the scarf is getting longer. Hmmmmm, I heard on the weather yesterday that by Wednesday we'll have the coldest weather so far this season. Do you think I can have this finished by then? (I wouldn't hold my breath!! lol)









And of course I HAD to buy this Schaefer Anne yarn. After all, it's in my signature colors, green and blue. It reminds you of a peacock, doesn't it?

I have a feeling if I dug in my stash, I'd find about 4 other skeins of Schaefer Anne with somewhat similar colors. Sigh!!!!









Poor Lexi. She isn't used to company and especially company that spends the night. Let alone a BIG BROTHER!! Michael tried and tried to win her over. Let's just say Lexi isn't easy. She's one tough nut to crack. She did come sniff his foot and she did finally lay down in the floor across the room from him. She also gave him an early wake up call by playing with her jingle bell fish. He told me she'd grab it and pull and make it jingle and then she'd stop and look at him to see if he was awake. What a girl!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ok, no this is not Lexi. I "borrowed" this picture from another blog I read. I thought it was a funny shot for T-day. I cooked this year. Not only did I cook I invited my mother and her boyfriend and my son to dinner. And other than the fact that my kitchen is the size of a postage stamp, I think everything turned out pretty good. With a table full of the traditional feast items, the best thing of all........the iced tea. The turkey was great, brined and baked, moist and tender. The dressing was pretty good, great mashed potatoes and gravy, English peas, fruit salad, cranberry sauce, black and green olives, pickled okra, yeast rolls, cherry and pumpkin pie. All great...but the iced tea was the BEST! lol The reason? I have not made any iced tea for months!! My mother and I have this "thing" about our tea with our holiday meal. The tea is always fresh brewed and sweet. Anyone who helps clear the table knows the rules...never, ever remove our tea glasses. We will sip, refill and sip all day into the evening. I did take a tip from Alton Brown....I made a simple syrup to sweeten the tea this year. It does make a difference. And since my mother does not have a computer or one that is connected to the internet and will never read this, her boyfriend was semi-social today!!!!!! lol Long story, but believe me it is a definite improvement.

I tried to show my mother how to knit. I finally decided she was going to get more frustrated than me so I gave her a set of needles, some cotton yarn and my Debbie Bliss How to Knit book and told her to practice. I had to do a "show n tell" and then hooked the boyfriend into it by saying she could knit him warm woolen socks to keep him warm in the winter months. He seemed to like that idea.....lots more than she did! lol Anyway, we'll see if she makes any progress by Christmas.

I am thankful for having the small bit of family I have in this state here today. I am thankful for all the friends I've made thru my hobby. I am thankful for this beautiful day.

And Lexi says: Dude, there are strangers in my house and they keep TALKING to me.



Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Sleepy Saturday

This is the newest on my knitting front. I started a gift sock. I'm using Regia Silk and I LOVE the yarn. It has some really nice cush to it. It's a little hard to tell in the pic but I'm doing a seed stitch rib. Thought it would be less boring than a 3 X 1 rib! lol Still on the needles: Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Irish Hiking Scarf, Blue Heron Rayon Metallic Clapotis, Nina Shawl out of Classic Elite Provence (I don't know if this will ever get completed...I'm very disappointed with it), a hat out of Teseo Dive for my niece. Darn, some of those have been on the needles so long that I had to look in my bag to see what I had. That's not good is it? Oh well....I have knitting to do.


Lexi says: If I lay here long enough she might come by and give me some foot lovin's.

A Bowl of Red

I know I said I'd post this recipe a couple of weeks ago but I forgot. So here it is. This is a two day chili and I hope you will find it well worth it. Other chilis always have that "bite" from the chili powder. Not this one. It's very smooth. It's also important to let it set a day in the fridge as this allows the spices to blend together. Also, in my humble opinion, true chili has no beans or tomato in it. That's why this is called a True Bowl of Red. Any of this can be adjusted to your own preferences.

A Bowl of Red


4-8 dried chiles
2 lbs of coarse grind chili meat
1 to 2 cups of beef stock or water
2 T minced garlic
1 yellow onion finely chopped
2 T cumin
1 T ground oregano
2 T paprika
Salt to taste

Trim the stems and remove seeds from the dried chiles. Place in a small saucepan and add water to barely cover. Bring to a boil, remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 15 minutes. Transfer the chiles and their soaking water to a blender or a food processor fitted with metal blade. Purée until smooth. Set aside.

Brown the meat in a large skillet over high heat for 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer the meat and juices to a heavy pot and add the puréed chiles. Place over low heat and bring to a simmer. Add enough stock or water to cover the meat. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
Add the garlic, onion, cumin, oregano, salt to taste, paprika and cilantro and continue to simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the meat is very tender, about 30 minutes. Add a little liquid if the mixture begins to stick. Cool and place in refrigerator overnight or for several hours. Next day remove hardened fat and reheat. Makes 4 servings.

Would You Look At This!!!

It's a SOCK!!! I didn't plan on doing the Kitchener tonight. I just came home and sat down and decided I'll try this. I had a website with good picture instructions and I followed it and here it is! Yarn: Opal Chameleon Needles: Size 2 Addi Turbos Pattern: I winged it. Sorta. lol I started out looking at a pattern and then decided a pattern would be foolish with this self striping yarn so I morphed into a rib stitch. Rosemary assisted at many points so props to her!






The Sock minus my ashy leg. Isn't she pretty?? Don't ask when the second sock will get started. It may NEVER get started but I now know I can knit a sock!! Yippee!!












And Lexi says: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Lemons, Cats, Hats and Calendars!

Yes, that is a lemon under that tiny itty bitty hat. Someone told me the hospitals often needed hats small enough to fit over a lemon so I thought that might be a good way to display. My intention was to make that cute little umbilical cord thing at the top. But after knitting a few rows with this yarn I thought I'll get finished with this as quick as I can. I'll probably step on a few toes with this one but whoever said Caron Simply Soft was soft doesn't have the same touch I do. This stuff irritated my fingertips so much they felt like I'd been rubbing them on fine sandpaper! I'll use something else in the future. And yes, there were oranges nearby so I used those to help support the lemon! lol

This is a picture of my 2006 November calendar page at work.

I love this calendar. It's Cats on the Greek Isle. So not only do I get a great cat picture I also get to see scenery or buildings in Greece. You'll notice this is one unadulterated picture. I have a boss with a sense of humor. He loves to use stickies and make hats or flowers or bows or something to "dress" up a cat each month. Last month the cat had the Billie Holiday look with a bright yellow flower to one side of her ear. lol He used to sneak into my office and do it while I was at lunch or away from my desk but that was hard to do I guess. So now when he comes to sit down and I see him grab a pad of stickies and scissors I know what he's going to do.





I talked to Susan this afternoon. She sounds so chipper and upbeat. You'd never know she'd was one week out of brain surgery. She hopes to get out mid week and return home to her sweet Sugar. She misses her a lot.


Today's question is this: What type of dressing do you have on Thanksgiving? I grew up with cornbread dressing with what some may think is one unusual ingredient, pecans. My grandmother made her dressing with pecans too. We had to change a bit when we discovered my son has an anaphylactic reaction to pecans soooooooo we started making two dishes of dressing, one with and one without for my son. These days there are so few of us for Thanksgiving dinner we only make one dish of dressing without pecans. So leave a comment and tell me your family's tradition with dressing.

Speaking of cats, this is the cat I came home to yesterday.
She looks a bit relaxed doesn't she? That's because I left the

ceiling fans on while I was gone!!

I'm making progress on the Irish Hiking Scarf although not enough to show you any pictures. Lexi has taken a liking to that yarn. If she sees it dangling anywhere she'll try to chew it into. I think it's jealousy.

Fraidy Cat

As most of you know this is Lexi. Those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile know of her fear of ceiling fans not turned on. Lexi had a traumatic day today. Before I left to go out of town I turned off BOTH ceiling fans. When I turned the bedroom fan off she was in the bathtub which meant she had to walk thru the bedroom to get out. I thought I'd carry her into the bedroom and if I spoke to her gently she'd hopefully be ok and maybe accept it if I was with her. Wrong. She nearly tore me up trying to leap out of my arms when she saw the still blades. I turned the fan off in the living room just before I walked out the door. I offered her the traditional "goodbye" foot lovins standing in the hallway to the living room. Nothing doing. She wasn't budging out of the den. So I left. I did not get home until after 6 and she was hiding in the extra bedroom closet. I've turned the living fan on but she isn't buying it. She has not gone past the hall and did at least peek at the MOVING fan. Any suggestions?


On the knitting front....this is the Irish Knitting Scarf. I've completed approximately 14 inches. I will need at least 2 more skeins in addition to the 4 I bought the other day. This is Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran in Quartz. It is a lovely lucious yarn. It does not split easily at all. It's an easy knit both the pattern and the yarn. I'm hoping with some blocking that the width will expand a bit. I like how the beginning edge of the scarf does it's own "ruffle" effect. I don't think it needs fringe at all.

Knitting or Football???

Give me a break!! lol Click on this link to see further details.

Fannie Pie


Make sure you leave a comment on the blog she links!

Mid-Term Election Day

I'm taking my lead from Fannie Pie in Tulsa. Please remember to vote today. I'm not going to push one party over the other. Just vote.

November Knit In

We had quite a show at the Knit-In last night at Gourmet Yarn. I've been to many knitting events and while all are great company and great motivational opporunities I always have the most fun at Margaret's.

Could it be the company I keep? lol As you can see Karen is very tickled by something. Anita is looking on wondering what on earth she's laughing so about.





Karen sees that she has some "gifts" and I'm sure Anita is thinking....what on earth??















Now Karen is really laughing hard. She knew the joke that Terri thought of and the rest of us were in on. Anita is biting her lip wanting to know what's so funny in that paper bag.

Last week Terri and Karen had a conversation about travel and hotel stays. It seems that Karen has a little "habit" that goes beyond what the norm is. Not only does she take the little soaps and shampoos in the room, she takes the toilet paper also!! So Terri decided it would be a great joke to gather bunches of partial rolls of toilet paper and "gift" Karen. It really was hilarious.

Speaking of Karen, I hope she doesn't mind that I'm going to tell about the contest she participated in recently. A local radio station was giving away $500 to the best time saving tip. Karen entered with her tip of using white vinegar in the dishwasher instead of the expensive rinse agents. I thought it was a GREAT tip!! Well, it was good enough she won $50. Not the top prize but still yet. Congratulations Karen!! I have the dishwasher running as I type with white vinegar in the rinse dispenser.


We also had ENTERTAINMENT at the Knit-In!! Anita is an accomplished autoharp-ist. (Is that the appropriate way to say that? lol) Not only does she play well she sings too! She played a couple of songs for us. Here she is just starting to play.











This is Anita singing the next song where she taught us to yodel. I could tell she's taught more than one crowd how to yodel. Yay Anita!! Thank you so much for playing and singing for us. You made it a very special evening.













On the knitting front: For some reason the Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran in Quartz caught my attention last night. As usual I had to take a skein to the table to see if I could bond with it. No problem. It's nice and cushy so it passed the squeeze test. Then I rubbed it over the inside of my forearm. Wow. It is a lucious feeling yarn. I found the pattern for an Irish Hiking Scarf on the net the other day and fell in love with it. So!! That is what I'm knitting with the Silkroad Aran.




If you read Knitter's Review you probably read about these needles on the newsletter Clara put out this week. (If you haven't discovered Knitter's Review please do!! It's a great resource plus a fantastic enabler for knitters! www.knittersreview.com) Anyway, I discovered these needles a few months ago. I rarely ever use DPN's but I fell in love with the tin. My hardest decision was whether to buy a size I might need or to choose the tin color I liked best. Sigh!!! the size of needles won out. These needles are very pricey for 5 DPN's. $28. Yikes. I'm almost embarrassed to admit I paid that much but I was really buying it for the tin. I was a bit disappointed when it arrived and I saw it was so small. I thought it would be a larger tin. Anway, I won't be paying that much for anymore. I had made that decision previous to the not-so-good review Clara gave the needles. But since there seem to be issues with them maybe they'll reduce the price OR maybe they'll sell the tins for needle storage!! Hey! That isn't a bad idea!


This is the latest on the cuff down sock I've been knitting. As you can see I'm at the end of the toe. No, I've not done the killer kitchener stitch yet but I will once more attempt to do so. Grrrrrr!! I'll be using a video on the internet that is supposed to be excellent. Keep your fingers crossed for me!! If I'm successful with this toe, I'm going to start a pair of gift socks immediately. By the time I finish those, I'll be ready to finish the second sock of the Chameleon.

MIA at the knit-in last night: Emily, Linen and Nina, Christy, Shelly and Rosemary. Ya'll missed a fantastic Knit in!!

All Saints Day

In my last post I asked for soup recipes. I got a few that sound really good. I haven't tried any of those yet as I had one recipe I found on a blog a few weeks ago that I was dying to try. It was for Potato Cream Cheese Soup. It was a comedy of errors trying to make this recipe. First I didn't have many of the called for ingredients. So I made a run to the store and got what I thought was everything. You know how that goes!! lol I had to make like 2 trips to get everything. Then we had a warm spell...I want soup when it's cold outside!! Anyway, last night was the night. I got home early and changed clothes and got in the kitchen to start this soup. It called for two large potatoes, shredded or a package of the Simply Shreds. I have a food processor so I shredded two large potatoes. I started the onions and celery saute'ing and was excited about this soup. Well, when I added the shredded potatoes to the chicken broth/onion/celery mixture the picture didn't look so good. The mixture turned into an instant thick concoction and long story short, the shreds did not cook very quickly. I thnk I stood and stirred so the mess wouldn't scorch for over half an hour. I went ahead and added the milk and cream cheese hoping that would be the miraculous turn and it was not. I ended up pouring the whole thing down the garbage disposal. So!!! I'm ready to try one of the other recipes posted on my blog. Surely I can't mess one of those up!! lol

Can you believe this? (Plaque in picture above) SOMEONE (aka Margaret) had the NERVE to give this to me! I don't have a single clue why I'm to blame.


Sunday I dropped by Gourmet Yarn to knit a bit. Nina and Linen were there. Linen has to be the sweetest dog in the whole world. Here she is loving and soaking up lovin's from Susan. Linen later give my arm some good doggie kisses. Lexi sure was sniffing me when I got home. She knew Linen had kissed her mama.









This is what I've been working on in the knitting area. I am so determined to learn how to knit a wearable sock that I started this cuff down and will conquer Kitchner if it KILLS me!! It's not too much further until we find out if it does. Maybe I'll live to see Christmas this year. :-)










And the lovely Lexi says all is well with the world just let me sleep.