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.