. . . from the handiwork journal

 

. . .remember the scarf I finally finished?  Well....

. . .I had more yarn in the same color, so I started a hat to match.

I did ten more rows and realized I was reading the pattern wrong.  I was reading the part about the "3rd loop" incorrectly, and had to frog the 10 rows.

It now looks like this.   It's my "kitchen" crochet project, when I'm roasting something that needs turned every 15 minutes, and I shouldn't leave the kitchen.

Update after drafting this post:  It's done, but it feels a bit larger than it should be.  Not snug enough.  I used this pattern from 5 Little Monsters, and it says "I" hook.  I will make it again, but with an H hook to see if it fits a bit more snug.  I used a worsted weight yarn too.

By the way, if you make this hat, she has a full video tutorial on how to do this hat.  There is a stitch I was so confused about, so I had to hence frog it.  Video is HERE.

More updates!  Ha!  Guess what got crocheted?

My husband put in dibs for this one.

I used up more yarn in my stash!  These whip up pretty quickly!  I had the yarn, and the pom's, so I'm feeling pretty resourceful with my ridiculous amount of crochet time here lately.  These match scarves I crocheted over winter too.  I think I have a few skeins left, and then the remaining leftover yarn will be put into lap afghans to donate.

Mom was always my inspiration to make new items to sell.  She encouraged me to make some mask strap thingy's (can't explain other than it made it more comfortable for her, which required buttons).

I thought of her when I found my buttons in my stash.  I will put them to use with these hats, or any hat with a faux pom on it.  The pom has an elastic band that goes around the button, so it can be taken off to wash the hat.  I

   These Bernat Stripes I have in my stash made great hats with this pattern, and I used an "H" hook this time, and got a more snug fit, so H it is for this yarn.

. . .I found this free pattern on a yarn label, that came from yarn I am using on the blanket project.  It's a shawl pattern.  I am making it for a gift.  I'm not sure I like it just yet.  We'll see.  It may be a "porch" project, since the light outside is better for crocheting black yarn.

. . .the blanket is still progressing.  Old photo.  It's been tabled again due to hot weather however.

. . .these are new to me as well!  Lucky Penny! I made one and it turned out so cute.  I'm making one for a wedding.  They suggest the bride to be can pin it inside her dress, or to her flower bouquet.  I just made a yellow one, because that is the color of thread I had downstairs (ha ha!).  They would make cute keychains, and even cute random acts of kindness. 

 Anyway, another new crochet project in the books!  Now to find the poem to gift with it for a wedding.  Does anyone know the poem by chance?  I'll have to google that, and see if I can find it.  

If you are interested in this pattern, I actually found it via a video  -  HERE.  I'm not affiliated with any of these patterns.  I am just sharing them in case anyone is interested in them.

Book Finished! ~ Just the Bits

 First, I was in a book funk, where I have not been wanting to read at all.  I used to LOVE to read.  I'd fit it in anywhere I could.  

One of my cousins recommended reading "Atomic Habits" as one of two books she mentioned.  I bought both. 

My goal was to read 2 pages daily.  Small habit to start, but showing up to read made it a good habit. 

I was pretty impressed with this book.  There are some powerful quotes, so it's just not that same ol' self help type book.   If you want to get back to good habits, or ditch bad habits, this book is for you.

I haven't started the other book yet, but when I do, I will update on that one too.  Atomic Habits was highly recommended, and is a great book to take a review of your daily life.  We all need a review every once in a while.

It's day 11 of no rain.  It's great to dry laundry on the line, but I'm running that electric bill back up with the water pump, by watering what we did plant.

I'm glad we didn't buy annual flowers (yet).  I'd be watering those daily right now.

I've come to accept we just won't get everything planted in the garden.  I'll be going to some Farmer's Markets.  I have a bad feeling the voles got my 100 spring planted garlic cloves.  I dug into one grow bag and found one clove.  I plan to dig up the rest to concur that is a fact or not.

I finally finished painting kilz on the upstairs larger room.  I'll be moving on into the smaller room next.

I finally got someone to drive out here, and help get one AC unit in.  At least part of the house feels much better.  I am patiently waiting to get the upstairs one installed. 

We are on day 9 of my husband's double shift hours.  Every day he says it's the last, and then there is another.   There is hope that it will get back to normal soon.

The heat here is no joke.  My chickens have been panting.  I had to chip ice for them, and today will take frozen water bottles out to put inside their watering units.  

My husband had me order two solar motion activated rodent repellers.  They send off a sound to repel rodents such as rabbits, skunks, raccoons, squirrels etc.  He's feeling badly something got my bell peppers and hot peppers, and he can't help me get the fence up yet.  The units have been delivered, have been charged, and I will update on if we have anymore activity in the garden.

I had another "wing it" Wednesday dinner.  I loaded this up with lots of vegetables (onion, bell pepper, asparagus, zucchini), herbs from the herb garden, a bit of kale and spinach (because I didn't have enough kale), home canned tomato sauce, quinoa pasta, and a small bit of Monterrey jack cheese.  So good!  Oh, and I used ground turkey for the meat in this.  I really like this pasta too.  I does not get mushy like most chickpea pastas do.  Unfortunately, it's is also not sold in stores around here.  It's sort of a "treat" for us here lately.  It's on the re-order list for now.

Sheet Pan Dinner Fail ~ Well Sort of

 

I've made this twice now, and the second time remembered why the vegetables don't cook.  I even cooked the veggies for 20 minutes before adding the chicken.  The recipe is online, but seriously it has it's flaws.  I was in a hurry, so I just looked it up to check bake time on it.  

It's a balsamic/honey recipe, but it doesn't work, as the recipe states to coat the veggies with the mixture.  They will not cook with the vinegar (my duh moment).  Even if you cook the veggies 45 minutes.

So, to remember what not to do, I'm posting to remember on what to do.

Cook the chicken on a separate pan.  The mixture of the vinegar and honey makes the chicken so tender and delicious.  Cook the veggies on a different pan do do not coat in the vinegar sauce.

I personally, like rosemary on roasted potatoes, and a bit of parmesan or other herbs on the carrots.  

Sauce recipe states 1 cup balsamic vinegar with 1/3 cup honey, bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and reduce by half.  I will cut the recipe in 1/2, maybe in 1/4 amount for just the chicken and season everything as I wish.  Bake time was 20 minutes for veggies at 400°, then add chicken, but next time the chicken will be on a different pan, but bake for 20-25 minutes or until you have checked internal temperature on the chicken.

We loved the chicken, just didn't like the almost raw carrots, and the potatoes were semi-soft.  Sometimes getting recipes online is great, and other times not so.  I think the seasoning for the chicken was garlic powder, basil, and thyme.  I'd have to double check, but that sounds about right.  You can season however you like.

The same goes for crochet patterns.  Sometimes it's great to get patterns free online, but sometimes not.  I will share on that later.

Whipped Feta Dip Trial #1 ~ Asparagus ~ Mexican Breakfast Skillet Tidbits

 

We really liked the flavor in this first recipe we tried, for Whipped Feta Dip.  The recipe stated to heat the hot honey with the red pepper flakes.  First, this recipe used sour cream, so it whipped up to a very light dip.  We prefer a thicker dip, so we will be "whipping" up (ha ha) a trial #2 soon with another recipe.  If you want this recipe, it is online with Greens and Chocolate - Whipped Feta with Honey Honey.

Results:  Very good flavor!  Just not thick enough for our liking.  We did top it with chives from our herb garden.

Tip:  Make the dip at the same time you heat the honey, so it is room temperature.  Otherwise the honey will harden on the dip.  Also, we felt this was way too much for 2 people, so consider cutting the recipe in half, unless you are entertaining.  

We are still getting asparagus from the garden.  We are thankful for that, but I still need to dig up the raspberry sprouts in that part of the garden.  It's just been to dry to dig them up.

The recipe for the Mexican Breakfast Skillet is online at The Kitchen Magpie.  I used garden tomatoes we froze last year, as it needed to be used.  I did not can stewed tomatoes, so I created my own, with the thawed tomatoes.  If you canned stewed it would be a perfect way to use them.  Very good!  I added some jalapenos.  It would be great for lunch or dinner too.  It reheated nicely.

Happy Homemaker Monday

I've created a "on the back burner" to-do list now.  Sigh.  It's just reality for right now.  I've just accepted it.  By accepting, I stress less.  With the list, at least there is a future plan in place.

We have had a long week of cold nights, dry and very windy weather.  It has been an issue with the garden, and now we head into very hot weather.

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  I will link up later after she posts.  I have to get this day started early.

The weather . . .

80's/90's with lows in the 60's

As I look outside my window . . .

No traffic, as it's a holiday and most normal people have the day off.  Not my husband though.

Right now I am . . .

Listening to the weather, making coffee, and getting ready to water the garden.

Thinking and pondering . . .

Considering cutting back on how many times I write a blog post.  Do you read blogs daily?  Every other day?  Once a week?  Once a month?  

I still haven't decided on a cordless stick vacuum.  I haven't had time to venture out either.  Gardeners would understand, as it is a busy time of year.

Listening to . . .

Radio

How I am feeling . . .

Pretty good.  Just feeling a bit frustrated getting behind with the garden.  

On the breakfast plate . . .

Enjoying reheated leftovers of this Mexican Breakfast Skillet.  Delish!

On the reading pile . . .

I'm still reading Atomic Habits.  Some parts are very interesting, and a few a bit over the top, but still enjoying it.

On my TV this week . . .

Well, not the news.  We were subscribed to YouTube TV, but they raised their price.  We will stick with what we can stream via our wifi for now.

On the menu . . .

-Mom's Dried Beef Casserole (using quinoa pasta), and crock pot root vegetables

-Burgers, with lettuce/tomato/home canned pickles, and roasted rosemary asparagus

-not sure on the rest

Looking around the house . . .

My one daily pick, for my extreme clean progress - two craft containers to purge.

To-do list . . .

In no particular order

-laundry

-wash bedding and put on the line

-install new toilet seat in master bath
-dishes
-clean master bathroom

-trim rose bushes

-water garden

-boil eggs

-cook a pound of breakfast sausage

-dust entire house

For the week:

-take donations and drop them off 

-finish painting Kilz on upstairs larger floor

From the camera . . .

Looked like Christmas cooking onion with red pepper and home grown asparagus!  I just "winged" this dinner.

I used some herbs from the herb garden, home canned tomato sauce, organic ground beef (that I pre-cooked and froze thankfully, which saved me time), and added some garlic.  I topped it with cheese, and more herbs.  So good!  Oh, and I finally mastered at making half of what I used to make ha ha!  Oh, another thing!  I baked with with green lentil pasta (100% organic green lentil flour).  It was pretty good.  More dense of a pasta, but healthier, and didn't fall apart like chickpea pasta.  The downfall?  It's not sold in our stores.

Devotional, Prayers, Quote. . . 

Pity Party for One ~ A Little Baking to Break the Blues

 It's probably a good thing I didn't have anyone around me this holiday weekend.   I'm a depressing, oh' poor me, kind of person.  

The garden fence is not up, and I've lost 6 bell pepper plants, and all of my blazing hot peppers.  It's not our fault other than the fact work hours prevent the fence getting up.  I can't do it alone, and everyone else is having backyard barbeques, out on motorcycle rides for Bike Week, or camping.  It's not just me either.  My husband came home and said the same thing.  He's feeling very depressed. 

Also depressing is the weather pertaining to the garden.  It's dry.  I watered, but the ground is so dry it's cracking.  I'm glad we didn't plant any annual flowers right now.  I'd literally be watering daily for weeks.

I tried to perk myself up with some quiet reading on the front porch.  Nope.  Bees were attacking all over the place, and the bee removal has not come out, not even called or emailed as to when they are coming out.

On a happier note. . .

I managed to get some rhubarb macerating (for homemade rhubarb vodka), and I baked a rhubarb/strawberry crumble.  It was a new recipe, but it required you to use a food processor to finely dice the topping with cold, unsalted butter.  When I make my peach crumble, I add melted butter and stir the topping until it's in crumbles.  I may try melting the butter next time.  It would reduce the amount of work, and the amount of dish washing to be done.  Anyway, it was good!  I used frozen strawberries we froze last summer, and thawed them.

I finally tried a new recipe, that I have had printed for almost or more than a year.  It's whipped feta dip with hot honey.  I have the dip made, and just need to heat up the honey mixture to drizzle over it later today.  If you are interested in the recipe is is the website Greens and Chocolate.  She uses sour cream in her recipe.   There are other recipes online too, and I plan to try the one with greek yogurt next.

We had the feta dip at a restaurant about a year ago, and went straight home to find a recipe online.  I think it would be great for when you have company, and/or need an appetizer.

Sprout Jar/Rack/Tray Kit Update

 

You can go to my post HERE to see the jar/rack kit I purchased.  I bought it on Amazon, but can't remember the brand etc.  Anyway, I love this set!  The jar lids are wide lids, and fit any wide lid 1 quart jar (came with 2 as well).  The lids have groves to hold the jars sideways, which is needed to keep the jars drained between daily rinsing, and the tray underneath is perfect to catch any drips.  I had been using a kitchen towel.  Anyway, this was the next day after soaking and rinsing day 1.  Works perfect, and no hassles trying to balance the jars on the counter.

This was 2 days after initial soaking.  By the way, I soak for the first day, rinse and drain for the night.  I rinse daily.  I will be sprouting some microgreens for us soon using these.  Current sprouts are lentils, I sprouted for the chickens.  I take the black out cover off to rinse, then wipe the jar and cover again.

Day 3 after the initial soak and drain.  

Day 4.  All ready to feed to the chickens.