This morning.....

I had to do this.....So I made Waffle Sundays for Breakfast which I could have sworn I'd taken a picture of. Grrrr. I did get a big hug from The Bug when she saw breakfast. A waffle Sunday is simply waffle, with strawberry preserves (need to finish the last jar from last year!), bananas and chocolate drizzle. The waffle and chocolate recipes are in Vegan Brunch.

All sorts

On a recent excursion to the Upcycle Exchange I acquired a bit of fabric. Some of the more interesting fabric was this bright yellow stuff, it really is bright though maybe not quite this bright. It's this nyloney stuff a bit like the outside of some rain coats. I used it to make three produce bags. I have cotton produce bags and they are great and all but a lot of stuff gets wiltey really fast in them. Most stuff I take out and put directly in the produce bins in the fridge for this reason. But what about loose leafy goodness? After a few days they'd be all wiltey, edible like not rotten or anything but without that crunch. Thus Nyloney bag. I got this baby arugula Wednesday at my favorite Farmer's Market and it is still happy.
Thus I added some to my "Mr. Gnome isn't home and I don't have any good left-overs quikcy meal".
All to energize me in my attempt to make some cashola for the family.....or for yarn at Sock Summit.....

The Madness Round 6-Out

Round 6's pattern came out right before we left for a few days. I knit before we left, I knit in the car this got me to the heel turn. After that there wasn't much time for knitting. While I'd love to tell you that this is why I didn't make it to the final four I totally can't. The winner for our team finished her socks in about 14 hours. There is no way I could have finished these socks, or any socks I think, in that amount of time. So Yay her, truly and I'm serious, she even finished before the fastest team. And yay me for getting this far if I may yay myself. And I may. I've been knitting these socks now at a normal human and less maddening pace. This is the first one, pretty cool and fun design.
So much is going on.....I need to blog more...I miss it.

Here Come the Geese

Nothing interesting has been happening. Sooooo quiet. Quiet before the storm? Hard to say. Earlier this month, on my birthday actually, we got new windows put into the basement. So thrilling. Naturally this meant I had to make new curtains. We had blinds before and neither of us are big blinds fans. I'd had this idea for these curtains for some time. The blue in the top part is from our excursion to the St Louis Teacher's Recycle Center. I've recently visited another such place,though this is specifically for crafting goodness, with a friend and had just as much fun there. More on that later. That the yellow and stripes have come from other places in a hunt for just the right fabric. I often do that; get the idea and it is always too perfect in my head. Trying to find the perfect fabric can be frustrating and at times impossible. For this project I first started looking for stuff in the winter. You can't find pretty yellows and blues in winter. By spring yes but that put the entire project on hold for months. Annoying. Me and my big ideas.....

Strawberries!

Yes it's that time of year again. This post could really just be last year's all over again. Made 8 jars of jam. This time without any sugar. Wooot.Beautiful stuff. All eight sealed very impressed since this is the third year for some of these lids.
And again I made the Strawberry-Rose Water Cobbler with Lemon-Poppy Seed Pastry. This was so good last year I couldn't wait to make it again this year. It smells amazing and tastes even better. It's like having a field a strawberries and roses in your mouth! Ok that's sounds a little odd but trust me it's divine!
There is about four pounds of strawberries in the dehydrator. I have four more trays than last year; more trays more food. Two more pounds in the freezer awaiting peach season and the making of Strawberry Peach Jam; the Bug's favorite. There is quite a bit of snacking going on and more will go into the freezer for later smoothies.

Ups and Downs

Life is full of the ups and the downs; and there have been quite a few around here lately. Some lighter Yays and Boos of yesterday.
Spinach, Tempeh Sausage and Goat cheese Pizza for dinner: Yay
Mr. Gnome not getting to eat with up like he was hoping: BooBroken Knitting needle: Boo
I don't have another in this size: Double Boo
Finally Finished the April Dishcloth: Yay
It's May........:Oh well.

The Optional Madness-Still Mad

Mad I say!
Diamonds in the Fluff. These have been done for a few days but then there was life and then Blogger has been having issues. The fit is great and they look super cool. And for the first time in Sock Madness I got to use a size 1 needle. Everything else has been on 0s. Thrilling!
The last round, which is really the current round for many are still knitting away is proving to be quite a challenge for all. In a good learning way and all but still taking it's time. I'm getting worried that the next pattern will come out when we are visiting with the in-laws and there isn't good knitting time. Ah well; as Mr. Gnome pointed out I've "had a good run".

The Madness Round 5

I actually finished these Sunday but had to redo the toe for it to fit Mr. Gnome. That was accomplished yesterday. Before the ripping.

The quick I need to get a decent picture and post so I can place picture. This may have also involved me throwing each sock across the room to Mr. Gnome as I finished weaving in the ends.

The fixed toes. Really this was just ripping out about 7 rounds then grafting it all together again. It's still a bit baggy at the ancles but I'm not sure what I can do about that at this point. The boy has narrow ankles. (grumble grumble) This was a long knit for everyone. A 80 stitch provisional cast on, 78 rounds, a funky afterthought heel that involved putting stitches on hold and provisionally casting on more stitches then 120 round of leg. My first time doing illusion knitting and it's a long of chart reading. Wow.
The yellow yarn is from the April 2010 Citrus DAL. The gray on the foot is Knit Picks Pallette left over from these socks. And the Black and gray yarn on the leg is left over from Mr. Gnome's Giver Socks. Lots of using of left yarn woo! I am proud to say I have only used stash yarns for this madness keeping in with my diet. I'm also crazy proud to have made it this far. I seriously didn't think I could even get in. And here I am going into round 6. Round 6 being when each team goes down to 1. Am I nervous. Heck yeah!
And now because I can't usually see illusion knitting but this shot came out so well hopefully you can see the little sock. Each sock has eight little socks. Thus the question: If each sock has eight socks how many socks are on one foot?

Outside the Workbasket

SouleMama posted "What's in Your work basket?" And I thought; yes I can blog that. Then I thought; wait that's just the socks again.... Though really I hope you aren't burnt out on Socks because I have officially proclaimed this the year of the socks. For you see I am going to Sock Summit! Woot! So back to the workbasket. I didn't get around to taking another picture of the socks; heart broken I'm sure. Instead today I played in the garden! Planted lots of pretties. So nice and soothing.
And more pretties into pots.
And now yummy Peanut Butter Cookies. This is the second recipe in Cookie A.'s April installment of the sock club. See I still brought it back to socks.

Foodses

Remember when I used to talk a bunch about food? Yeay. Don't know what happened there. Ok I do. I'll be making something and think, "Gosh I should really take a picture of this it's going to look so nice". Then I finish it, plate it and eat it. At this point I imagine you don't want a picture of it. Sigh.... Yesterday, however, I was Thinking. Shocking!
Last night I made Chickpea Cutlets from Veganomicon stuck them on a bed of local lettuce along with local carrots and scallions and some less than local roasted peppers. Then topped the whole thing with a bunch of Green Goddess Dressing from Appetite for Reduction. I am addicted to this dressing. I don't use the miso because I just don't like miso so I never have it. Sometimes I'll use less water so it can be an awesome sandwich spread. Paired with her low-fat Hummus (which is AWESOME) on a sandwich with lettuce and possibly more roasted peppers. oh so good. And Oh do I need a mint after.
My chives are in nicely and have been contributing the massive amounts of Green Goddess dressing I've been consuming. I've bought extra parsley plants so when they come in more I'll be set! And later when I also have my own garlic there will be no stopping me!

May?

When did that happen? And will someone please tell the weather because I am wearing a sweat shirt and that is just not right. My mom was in town this weekend so fun! I got flowers and herbs more fun. Now if it would warm up and dry out enough that I could plant them it might just be May.Well April's dishcloth isn't finished. I think there are only 10 or 15 rows left. I can't give you a good reason for this. Maybe just Madness!
And doing the socks from Cookie A.'s sock club. Oh traveling twisted stitches you are too fun.