Blueberry Pickin'!

Had a wonderful time tonight picking blueberries in the cooler part of the day. Then making them into cobbler, smoothies, and muffins! I hope to freeze some too.

I did it!

After my first attempt at making this bread and completely failing, I was timid trying it again. But success reigned in my second try! Sweet victory! And very yummy bread!
By the way, the reason that my first attempt failed was because for the steaming part, I put a pyrex pan in the oven, preheated it, and then added water to it which blew it to smitherenes! My husband and I were cleaning shards of glass out of the oven and off the kitchen floor for 2 hours. Needless to say, we couldn't eat the dough laden with glass. And here I had been all concerned about my Pampered Chef baking stone cracking from the steam! It held up even through the explosion! HA! Anyway, we are all fine and unhurt by the ordeal and happy now with tummies full of fresh baked bread!
I love that it is so easy and that I can just stick the dough in the refrigerator and use it whenever! I am sure there are probably many reasons not to do that as far as not being as healthy plus I used regular white flour from the store, but I am pleased as can be for now in my ignorance!

Dying to try this!!!!!!!!

What happens if I hate knitting?!

I haven't worked on a challenging project in quite some time so I had forgotten what a horrible thing it is to get fed up and want to throw it. I suddenly got the pressing urge to knit lace a couple of weeks ago and this would be a new endeavor for me. After actually taking time to look through many patterns and books, I decided on something I thought would be good for a beginner lace project. I excitedly bought some mohair yarn at the LYS and finally was able to begin my lace. I started by practicing with some Sugar'N Cream yarn because I didn't want to end up inadvertently knotting up and destroying the mohair. Well, I learned the provisional cast on and falsely thought "okay I got passed that, now I'm good". I started hitting a few bumps in the road, but undeterred ripped out the rows and kept pressing on with new knowledge that I thought solved the problem. 3 or 4 more rip outs and studying the pattern, I decided to switch to my plan B project that I understood much better and was familiar with the stitches. Well, needless to say, that wasn't going quite like I had hoped either. 10 rip outs, Internet searches, book vocabulary and abbreviation look ups, and much confusion later, I just wanted to throw the blasted thing down and stomp on it along with all of the "helpful" books and tips I had gone through. It was a terrible place to be in! If I hate knitting, where does that leave me?!??!?!! How awful!!!! It brought back all the memories of early knitting and rip outs and confusion and frustration thinking I understood for sure and finding out I didn't at all by the looks of the project! It made me so grateful that I still stuck it out through all exasperation and mistakes in those early projects or where would I be today?! What if I had given up?! Perish the thought! :) Anyway, back to the lace, I finally relented and realized I couldn't do this on my own and asked for some help from a fellow Raveler. A few words from her and the problem was solved!!!!!!! I was dancing around the house! I think my husband was a bit miffed not realizing the deep turmoil I had been in for 5 days! And now everything was happy again! Turns out I was putting my left needle in back when I should've been putting it in front during the silly little SSK. That was the cause of all my heartache! Ironically, I have done SSK that way all the time in other projects and somehow up until now it has worked out fine. I am happy to say that I am on my way to a pretty little mohair lace scarf. By the way, I also learned that stitch markers and a lifeline are lifesavers and I am greatly indebted to them and the Ravelers who suggested them as well!
In conclusion, the moral of my story, is that I am so grateful that I stuck it out through the stumbling blocks and aggravations of learning something new. I hope that I will keep that in mind the next time I want to give up. Knit on fellow stitchers! Knit on!

Back From the Trip

Well, we are back..... and no I didn't knit a stitch! But I was glad to have my projects and supplies with me! I did ask my Mom-in-law's (an avid quilter and crafter/artist) opinion on what to do for finishing my log cabin afghan so that was fun to discuss. And I also found (with my husband's generous help) 2 yarn shops----- one was closed :( ,but the other one was open!!!!!!! It was great and I quickly got caught up in conversation about socks and sock yarn and met a fellow Raveler from Georgia :) and bought some Jitterbug sock yarn........ all while my poor husband was waiting in the car........ I should know better by now that a "quick trip into a new yarn shop" is not physically possible.

Not-able-to-knit-for-a-couple-of-days Phobia

We are getting ready to go on a short trip so I have been packing. [Note to burglars and robbers: we have house sitters] I always wait until last to pack my knitting because "I might NEED to knit up until the last minute" so I can't pack it away somewhere that's difficult to get to! Who knows when there might be an emergency and I MUST knit!! Then when I finally do pack my knitting things, a bit of a panic overcomes me..... what if I don't pack enough projects to keep me busy? What if I don't have the right needles? What if I run out of yarn? Will this new place have yarn access in case I need some? Will I be able to buy what I need if I forget something? Will there be stores there that have needles in case I get to a place in the pattern that I forgot needed a different size? So I start packing more and more and more. Last time I was even packing extra balls of yarn that had no purpose other than to comfort me that I wouldn't run out of yarn because I knew there was nothing I could use them for!!!! Then I went ahead and packed more needles just to be on the safe side. That's when I realized things had gotten a bit out of control and I really needed to get a hold of myself. I took some deep breaths, reassessed the situation and packed several more knitting magazines knowing I could still read them over and over if all else failed! So tomorrow I'll pack my knitting at the last minute and try to keep it down to 2 bags knowing full well that even if I don't have time to knit one stitch (we're going to the mountains and have plans to do actual things outside of knitting!) I'll be able to sleep easy knowing at least a bit of my stash and projects are there close by..... like a favorite Teddy bear.

A Glum No-time-to-knit Day

It is always a hard day when I am busy and thinking I will get to knit, but I just need to do one more thing first........ and then I never got to knit and it is time for bed! Do you ever feel that way? Like, all day, in the back of my mind, I plan what I'll be knitting and look forward to that time on the couch adding stitches to some project and then pretty soon the day is over and I am too tired so I'll go to bed and at least flip through a knitting magazine pretending that that is just as good, before I fall to sleep. At the same time though, I feel guilty for having such a strong urge to knit when there are so many other things to do..... I feel a bit spoiled for being sad that I didn't get to knit when that might not be considered a hardship in some people's minds. I don't know. It is a strange passion that pulls me and I often wonder if I should sets limits on it or let it run wild.