Knit Wit

The other day I was looking for some jewelry findings and came across a little kit for the Knit Wit. Remember that? It came out in 1954 and basically is just weaving around pegs on a square or circle but after you finish the edges you turn the knob, retracting the pegs and it just pops off the Knit Wit. I remember seeing them advertised years ago but could not afford such a luxury at the time. Well, this time it was on clearance and I splurged a whole $1.08 with tax! It is in a cute little zippered bag and has both the square and round looms with two needles, instructions and even a little dvd. What a bargain! I haven't located any free patterns yet and seems a shame to spend $1.95 to download one off the www.knitwit.com website. It did actually come with two patterns but neither sparked my interest so if anyone has any suggestions on where to get free patterns let me know.

Week 7 of the Recipe Challenge

This past week has seen triple digit temperatures here making cooking very undesirable. So I took advantage of the sale on pineapples and tried my first fresh pineapple. Oh my gosh, it is wonderful! So sweet. However, instead of twisting off the top as the directions showed, I sliced it off so as to be able to try starting my own pineapple tree. My reading suggests letting it dry out a few days before planting. I will keep you posted as to the progress. I realize eating fresh fruit isn't exactly trying out a new recipe but it was the best I was willing to do this week. Hopefully next week we will be a little cooler.

Four Generations

Last week my daughter and granddaughter and I visited my mother and we took a photo of our hands so I played with the photo just for fun. I need to learn more about adjusting photos one of these days.

Dinner without cooking?

I harvested the first squash of the season tonight but since it was 104 today I did not cook. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little cooler. I could use more dinner recipes that do not require cooking or baking and I don't have a bbq either. Any suggestions besides salads? Hmmmmm, maybe a jello salad. Haven't done one of those in a long time.

Growth

OK I was warned and didn't listen. Darlene said that the watermellon plant would really spread out. But I never dreamed it would grow along the top of the fence! This could get interesting if fruit starts setting up there.

In the left corner is crook neck squash which is starting to produce while in between is garlic chives that really needs to be thinned out. The grape vine on the fence is doing well this year.

I need to get busy with my jewelry and use some of these interesting leaves. The pure silver grape leaves are especially stunning and I did some sketches last week of new ideas.

Week 6 of the Recipe Challenge

This week I did very little cooking so instead of trying a new recipe I just typed up the one I used for the peanut butter filling on the peanut butter cups for the graduation hat pops. Nice to have a back up copy on the computer of that piece of notebook paper that is in with the candy making supplies.

What You See

What you see...

May not be exactly what you get...

This is my rescue puppy, Schatten (German for shadow). A name that suits him in so many ways. I finally took him for a ride in my new car. I turned the vents in the back to hit him and cranked up the A/C as it was 97 degrees. I looked in my mirror to see him standing there with the air blowing those long hairs around his ears/face and this look was in his eyes that said "I LOVE mama's new car!" Ha that makes two of us!

Loads of Laundry Later

Well, it has been a few weeks now and I have done quite a few loads of laundry using the Woolly Dryer Balls. Living in an area of high humidity most of the year I cannot say that the antistatic aspect is as good as using other methods although this winter will prove that without question. However so far I have absolutely no complaints in that area.


What I have discovered is that my towels are so much fluffier that I can no longer fit them into the same space in the linen closet! This was an unexpected benefit that I thought I would share.

Crochet Baby Blanket and Boo Boo Bunny

I finally finished this baby blanket. The baby is only three weeks old so that's not too bad.




Then I made a Boo Boo Bunny. It always looks cute on top of the package and can be made in pink for a girl. (The glue will dry clear, it just wasn't dry yet when I took this photo.)




Here is a view from the back.


In case you aren't familiar with Boo Boo Bunnies, they hold a plastic ice cube that you can see in this second photo. The bunny is kept in the freezer and when the baby gets bigger and starts getting bumps and bruises you bring out the bunny and he soothes the boo boo and the little one is distracted by the cute holder.

Week 5 of the Recipe Challenge

Marinated Three Bean Salad was my choice this week. I added the photo to the recipe on my computer and printed it out. I usually make it when having pasta but it was also good with garlic bread for a light dinner when I didn't feel much like cooking with the hot days of summer only just beginning.

New Thread

Today I was killing a few minutes in Hobby Lobby until it was time to meet my daughter for lunch and ran across some beautiful tatting thread. It was just too coincidental as I had been looking at some tatting patterns just yesterday as I put them away and was wishing I had some nice variegated thread to make that butterfly bookmark and there it was hanging on a hook, the only one of its color, begging to be taken home! Yeah, I couldn't resist. I have been wanting to learn some new techniques so this may be the motivator.

Not that I don't already have a basket of yarn waiting it's turn to be crocheted into a jacket. That is among other projects. But it has been too long since I did any tatting so I will let you know which way it goes.

Full Strawberry Moon

It is full moon time again and I learned that the full moon in June is known as a Full Strawberry Moon. Makes sense as it is strawberry season. Now I can visualize some fun photos for this but no time for that today.

Cornhole

I learned something new this morning. I had never heard of cornhole. Well, the truth is I have actually played it and made it we just called it beanbag toss. I wonder if they fill the bags with corn instead of beans? I did not order the free instructions as I do not want to be on their mailing list. Besides it is pretty easy to see how it is made other than 'official regulation sizes'. Maybe I am just out of the loop not having any little ones around. Have you played cornhole lately?

Week 4 of the Recipe Challenge

For this week I actually tried a new recipe, which was the Cake Pops for the graduation party and the Hat Pops were a new version of the peanut butter cups so that should count as well. You can see photos of both on the June 5th and 6th posts. At any rate it was a busy week with graduation and working to finish up my back yard so not much cooking was done at meal time.

Graduation Party

Here is the dessert table from the graduation party. The pops made a nice display among the photos and were yummy as well. A nice day and a fun way to celebrate her accomplishment. We all appreciated her uncle hosting and cooking his famous burgers.

Finished. Or maybe...

It was nice again this morning so I took advantage of the weather and squeezed in the time to finish the other patio chair. I like how they came out even though I see the imperfections. It is too hard on my back and hands to go back and fix them. Then I noticed that the rim of this table has the plastic weave that matched the chairs and it is cracking too. I am wondering if I should replace it as well. Maybe another time. I have food to prepare today. This has been a nice project though. Did you notice the new caps on the chair legs that my grandson put on for me yesterday? A great finishing touch!

Graduation Goodies

My granddaughter graduates high school today. Well, she will walk as she actually finished early and has spent the last semester at college. At any rate she made these cake pops for the party tomorrow. I still think they need faces and will try to get her to add some with the edible ink pens now that they have dried. She says they are really good but sweet.

I stayed up till the wee hours this morning making these peanut butter cup caps. They would be quicker using store bought candies but I really wanted red caps for her school colors. And since I have a good recipe for imitating the peanut butter cup centers I just had to try this. They are a surprise and I have a couple of lolliop holders to display both the cake pops and the cap pops on.

Recipe Challenge Newcomer

Darlene over at Curious George http://www.george-cat.blogspot.com/ has joined the Recipe Challenge with a great choice. Welcome! I look forward to your recipes. They are always great and you are so generous to share them. You always keep me motivated.

Anniversary

Thirty two years ago today...thirty two years sounds like such a long time ago. How can that be when it seems like just last week? I guess spending time with your memories is a lot like living in the present because they all seem so real, so close, so immune to the passage of time. Age and gravity don't live on memory lane. No wonder it is such a nice place to visit!

Graduation Cards

Here are the cards I put together late last night. Very simple, quick and easy. I like the matching envelope liner. I know the red is a bit dark but I was using their school colors. I should have done these earlier to get more elaborate but just couldn't get to it when certain persons weren't around.

Not looking good

So do caterpillars sleep on their backs?

Something New Update

The caterpillar was starting to wander outside so I put him in the butterfly tent and brought him in. That meant that every few hours I had to go get a fresh leaf from the Milk Weed for him to munch on which has kept me occupied every time I was home today. But I think he has about doubled in size. I am not sure if you can tell from this angle or not.


One of my hobbies is tatting. I learned to shuttle tat a number of years ago but then discovered needle tatting a few years back at the Houston International Quilt Festival and was sold. If you have ever wanted to learn to tat I recommend Needle Tatting. So for awhile now I have belonged to a needle tatting group. While not terribly active at posting some are quite prolific tatters that I am in awe of. At any rate today while posting back and forth we got on the topic of weaving and I learned something that I did not know but want to try out, namely soaking the sticks in vinegar to 'rubberize' them. Won't be in the near future but something to keep in mind as one of my 'projects' is to weave a basket using pine needles from my son's yard.

Something New

It has been suggested that I post all that I do or learn on this blog. I fear I would spend too much time on the keyboard if I did, but I will try to post a little more information. I like to learn about new things. And I find most things interesting. So I tend to learn new things most every day.

Yesterday I went to measure to make some curtains for the portable the coaches will be moving into at my daughter's school and realized the yardstick I had grabbed was 40 inches long. Now that has never been a yard. So I asked and was told that it is a meter stick since the other side shows centimeter markings. When I went to school we were told about the metric system and told that someday the United States would surely convert but we were not required to learn it. Good thing since I just now learned that there are 40 inches to a meter! Many many years later! And we still haven't converted. Lucky for me!

Today I finally learned what Universal Time (UTC) is. It is really just Greenwich Mean Time, renamed. What I don't know is why the name change. After all it ISN'T 12:43 p.m. throughout the universe right now, nor even round the world because yes, the world is round! We have all agreed on that. I would love to learn the reasoning behind that. Anyone?

On a more fun note I just read that black jaguars are the only cats that swim underwater. I have a friend whose lab sticks her entire nose under water when she drinks. So is the swimming underwater genetic or could it be learned?

This morning I started restringing the other patio chair and got the verticals done before the mosquitoes drove me inside.

So are you sorry yet that you got me started doing this?