Three on Thursday

I can't believe another Thursday has rolled around already.  Here's my three very random thoughts for the day:

1.  Thank you all for the lovely comments on my Burberry cowl. It was a fantastic project and I've already knit two more!  And now I've discovered a new pattern.

Yule Mitts

I'm tossing out all my other knitting projects and plan to knit Yule mitts for everyone.  Look at those awesome Christmas tree lights draped across them....  Awesome Christmas lights that will magically look like simple blips of color in January.  I hope.

December snow

2.  It snowed!  Snow in December!  Measurable snow in December is rather unheard of here in Virginia.

Snow stripe!

I added a white snow stripe to my weather cowl and went for a walk.

I didn't realize why my husband was laughing so hard at me when I returned until I looked at my poor attempt at a selfie.  I look like an abominable snowmanwoman!  I also had zero makeup on and was being pelted in the eyes with ice chunks.

via GIPHY

3.  I return to full time work tomorrow through New Year's and I'm in a bit of a panic.  We've been doing some remodeling and the house is a complete disaster zone.  Parts of the disaster area have been decorated, parts have been left alone with their light (some places not so light) coating of sawdust.  

The "must knit or die" gifts have been finished and now I'm left with the "really, really want to knit" gifts.  Oh, and those eight pair of Yule mitts!

The baking... Well, I did make a list of what needs to be baked and by when.  I passed the list to my daughter with a hug and good luck wishes.  Thank God for daughters who like to bake.  

And now, I'm going to go do some relaxing deep breathing exercises, knit a few rows and go to work.  I'll be back in January.

Photo Friday - Burberry Cowl

My new favorite pattern - the Burberry Inspired Cowl.

Burberry

It may not look like much but... What it is is fantastic!  It's a simple, once around the neck cowl, knit with worsted weight yarn on slightly too large needles with cables spread over 16 stitches and 30 rows.  Because the cables are so large and so spread out, you really don't 'see' them as cables.  They look more like folds than cables.  And the whole thing is knit with a fairly loose gauge so the resulting fabric is soft and drapey.  

And want to talk about soft?  I used Berroco Ginkgo that I picked up recently at my new local yarn shop, The Center of the Yarniverse.  The yarn is a 52% silk and 48% wool blend and is Heaven in a skein.

I loved the pattern so much, I cast on a second cowl the same day I finished this one.  And the whole time I've been knitting the second one, I've been thinking about what yarn I have stashed that would work for a third.  

Or maybe I should just go yarn shopping.  Again.

Three on Thursday

 Christmas is coming down to the wire.  I know it seems far off, or at least most days it does.  It's actually nineteen days away, if you count today.  But for me, because of my crazy work schedule, I need to have everything completed and ready to go by the fourteenth.  Eight days.  Gosh, I wish I hadn't counted.

But the point is, I have eight days to prepare for Christmas.  And that means, if I'm not frantically clicking the Add to Cart button or blindly tossing things into a real shopping cart like a mad woman, I'm knitting.  And what have I been watching while I knit?

1.  Ozark.  My goodness!  Have you watched this show?  I'm completely obsessed!  It's so good,  I'm choosing to binge watch it instead of Hallmark Christmas movies.  I cringe over the characters' behavior while immediately clicking Next Episode.  It's also got some great music tossed into the mix.

2.  Christine.  Netflix has just added the movie adaptation of Stephen King's Christine.  I ended up watching it twice because I missed important parts the first go round due to cables and beads.  Christmas knitting would have gone a Lot faster if I'd left out the beads!

3.  My Christmas cactus.  I swear, I can see the buds growing!  And I'm so excited to see it actually bloom.  Well, I'm excited to see multiple blooms on it.   Last year was the first year it bloomed and it only had one bud.  This year, it's covered in buds.  I can't wait for them to open!

Join me over at Carole's for Three on Thursday.

Sunday Soup - Lasagna Soup

Today's recipe is for lasagna soup from 365 Days of Slow Cooking.

Lasagna Soup, recipe and photo courtesy of 365daysofcrockpot.com

The recipe is written for the Instant Pot but I'm sure it could easily be modified to cook on the stove top. 

I've never had lasagna soup before but I've been craving lasagna and this recipe sounds quick, easy and delicious.  It will probably be a bit less fattening too.

Photo Friday

So, I mentioned the other day that I'd had the brilliant idea to knit 18 miniature Christmas stocking ornaments...

yarn spindle

All I can say is, thank goodness for my yarn spindle from Knit Picks.  Okay, so the spindle itself isn't really showing up in that photo, but that's because I have it loaded with three skeins of yarn.  

I'd ordered the spindle a while back when it was on sale and I needed to spend just a little more to get free shipping from Knit Picks.  (I despise having to pay for shipping.)  I received it, thought 'cool,' set it on the shelf and sort of forgot about it.  Forgot about it until I started knitting all these *^*&^&^$^% miniature Christmas stockings, that is.

Ordinarily it doesn't bother me too much when I pull from the center of a new skein of yarn and a big glob of yarn comes out.  Ordinarily, I knit big things that will easily use up the big glob of yarn rather quickly.  But that's not the case when knitting miniature Christmas stockings.  

And when I realized I could put multiple skeins of yarn on the spindle at once without fear of tangling....  Miniature stocking knitting became much, much enjoyable.

Now, if Knit Picks would only make a tool that picks up all the beads I've dropped on the floor....

Three on Thursday

So, I haven't been blogging much lately but I have been knitting.

1.  I have knit nine of those.  I'm not naming them yet but you can probably figure out what they are by looking back at this post and this one.  They differ in color because I used yarn scraps out of the stash pile.

mini beaded Christmas stocking

2. And I've knit eleven mini stockings, each one slightly different from the next.  Only seven more to go.

miniature Christmas stocking ornament

This is one of those projects that I wish I'd never thought of.  I'm too far into the project to abandon it yet feel like I have oh so far to go before I finish.

Striped Christmas gift knit with Hawthorne from Knit Picks

3.  I've also been knitting stripes.  This is another unnamed 'thing' that you can probably figure out what it is if you look hard enough.  It's also one of those projects that I'm tempted to keep for myself.  Very, very tempted.  

Sunday Soup - Panera's Copycat Broccoli & Cheddar Soup

I was so excited when I stumbled across this recipe for Panera's Copycat Broccoli & Cheddar Soup.  I mean, who doesn't love Love Panera's broccoli soup?

photo courtesy of adventuresofanurse.com

The recipe comes from Adventures of a Nurse  and can be found here.

You're welcome.    :)

Photo Friday

Yes, it's that time of year...

Christmas gift knitting

The season of black & white photos.  Hopefully, by removing the color, the intended recipient of this knitted Christmas gift won't recognize it for what it is.

Happy Thanksgiving

Sunday Soup - White Chicken Chili

Today's soup recipe is for White Chicken Chili from Southern Living.

White Chicken Chili, photo courtesy of Southern Living

Naturally, I'll change up the recipe just a bit.  For reasons unknown, seasoning packets weird me out so I make my own.  Instead of the packet called for in Southern Living's recipe, I use:

1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

And, instead of using soaked beans and cooking it in the slow cooker, I'll use unsoaked, still dry beans and my Instant Pot.  The Instant Pot makes this recipe possible.  I can NEVER remember to soak beans over night plus, not being a morning person, I'm never conscious enough in the morning to start the slow cooker.

So, I will come home late this afternoon after spending the day attending multiple Christmas craft fairs (Yay!) quickly chop the onion, garlic & chicken and toss it into the Instant Pot with a bit of olive oil for a few minutes.  While that's sauteing, I'll dig the rest of the ingredients out of the pantry, dump them into the Instant Pot, set it on high pressure for 30 minutes then do a slow release.

And if I serve avocado with it, the avocado will be in the form of guacamole, not just diced avocado.  As much as I love garlicky, mashed up avocado (guacamole,) I can not tolerate the texture of sliced (or diced) avocado.  Ugh!

But no matter how you like your avocado, you can find the white chicken chili recipe here.

Photo Friday

Our weather took a dip recently and it's starting to feel like winter.  Just to the west of us even had a massive ice storm last night.  Thankfully it was only miserably cold and rainy here.  A perfect day/night to stay tucked safely indoors with my knitting.

weather cowl

And speaking of weather and knitting...  I got to add in a new color stripe on my weather cowl.  Well, not new, but the first medium blue stripe of the season.  For some reason, I'm quite excited about it.

I can not believe I've kept up with this weather cowl.  When I started it, I had no real hope of actually knitting a stripe every day indicating the day's temperature.  Thinking that I'd never follow through on the project for more than a week or two, I didn't spend much time choosing the colors.  I simply grabbed skeins from the stash pile, assigned temperature grades to them and started knitting. 

I deeply regret that decision now.  There's not enough contrast between the light green (54 - 66 degrees) and the light blue (44 - 53 degrees.)  Even up close and in person you have to really look to see the difference.  And don't even get me started on how harsh the dark green (67 - 77 degrees,) yellow (78 - 88 degrees) and the orange (89-95) stripes are.

Oh well.  Live and learn, right?

Three on Thursday

Today's Three on Thursday post is a list of reasons why I'm going to take a short blogging break.  

1.  I'm panicking over Christmas knitting.  I know, I know.  It seems WAY to early to be panicking but I only have two weeks of knitting time.  I'll soon be back at work for those fun filled 12+ hour shifts six or seven days a week.

2.  I have a week and a half to cram in a eleven months' worth of fun and house work.  I guess I'm getting old because this season's schedule kind of killed me.  I only got together with friends outside of work a few times, I was only able to attend my knitting group a handful of times and I don't even want to discuss the disaster my house has become.  

3.  I'm simply in a mood and just don't care about the blog.  And it shows!

So, yeah.  I'm going to take a short break from posting.  For just a week, maybe two.  And I'm going to spend my time cleaning like a mad woman, knitting like crazy and having fun.  Hopefully when I return, I'll have all kinds of fun and exciting things to tell you about.  Meanwhile, happy knitting!

Sunday Soup - Corn Chowder

We'll be dishing up corn chowder this evening.  I'll be using a recipe from Natasha's Kitchen, with a few modifications. 

Corn Chowder from Natashaskitchen.com

I'm all about simple recipes, plus I have to go to work this afternoon so I'll be skipping the 'make corn stock' part of the recipe.  I'll also be using canned corn because that's what's available.  You can find Natasha's recipe here.

Even with my modifications, I expect this soup to be the perfect meal for a dark and chilly November evening.

Photo Friday - The Yarniverse

As I mentioned yesterday, there's a new yarn shop in town.

yarn haul

The Center of the Yarniverse in downtown Ashland, Virginia.  

As you can tell, I stopped in the other day and I was quite pleased with the shop.  Maybe a little too pleased.

The staff was friendly and helpful without being the least bit pushy.  And the yarn...  Oh my goodness, the yarn!  They had yarn for every budget and lots of it.  The shop is small and filled to the brim but it in no way feels overwhelming or claustrophobic.  They've really done a great job with setting up their displays.

yarn fumes

Considering all the shop had to offer, I didn't buy much but I did purchase three Christmas gifts and a pair of socks for myself worth of yarn.

The shop is so new they haven't even had their grand opening yet.  The grand opening celebration is scheduled for November 10th and guess what - I don't have to work that day!  

This new yarn shop is going to be a very, very dangerous place.

Three on Thursday

It's Three on Thursday and so...

Three reasons I'm broke:

Center of the Yarniverse

1.  There's a new yarn store in town.  The closest 'town' to me is Ashland, other words known as The Center of the Universe.  This new yarn shop, Center of the Yarniverse, is going to be a very, very dangerous place for me.  In order to grocery, book, Target, Walmart or big box craft store shop, visit 90% of my friends and all of my family, take the dog to the vet or visit a doctor, I will have to pass within an eight of a mile of it.  And even worse, the shop shares a parking lot with the library.  Very, very dangerous!

Power Sheets

2.  Power Sheets.  I broke down and bought 2019 Power Sheets.  Now the big question - will I use them?

Candy overload

3.  Halloween candy.  Happy belated Halloween, by the way.  But the candy situation...  I'm actually typing this in broad daylight on Halloween afternoon, long before the trick or treaters will begin making their appearance....  And I've already had to refill the giant candy bowl three times.    And yes, that photo is blurry.  Probably from the diabetic twitch I've developed from eating so much candy. Good grief!