Baking For The Holidays

I love baking, and even though I'm not supposed to be eating too much sugar, I still enjoy it.  This year my families will go home with a tray of homemade cookies as my gift.  Since I have no idea what to buy people who want things and then go get them, it seems like the ideal solution.  None of them has the time to bake, but I do!

I have the fun of doing it, and other people will eat them and then take them away to remove the temptation.  Win win!

This year I've made six varieties so far:  chocolate chip, peanut butter, shortbread, chocolate chocolate chunk, oatmeal with dried cherries instead of raisins, and pecan tassies.  

Toll House Choc Chip

Choc Choc Chunk from a mix!

Mrs. Fields peanut butter cookies

Still to come are: Mexican wedding cakes, potato chip cookies, and sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles.  Those will probably happen over the next two days.  The sugar cookies are slated for the day Miss A starts her Christmas vacation, because she likes to decorate them.

Right now I have about two dozen cookie recipe books on the table.  I've chosen just one or two recipes from each of my favorite books.  My best ones look horrible... like my 1963 Betty Crocker Cookie Book.

I wish mine looked this good!  It's pretty shabby after being hauled out every December since 1971!

Then there's Mrs. Fields... our mall used to have a Mrs. Fields' shop, and when the kids were small we could buy a little cone of bite-sized cookies as a treat for behaving while shopping.

I have a whole collection of cookbooks from Wisconsin Electric Company, or as it's called now, WE Energies.

They're distributed annually, free of charge, in WE Energies territory.  Someone from our church picks up a stack every December and I make sure I get one.  The potato chip crisps recipe is in the 2011 book.  I think it might also be in the 1957 book, which in addition to cookies had appetizers, meals, all sorts of holiday goodies.  I have many older books from my mother-in-law, who worked there before she retired.

You can find them in pdf format on the internet for downloading, for 2021 here WE Eng Cookie Book 2021 or for years past at this link   WE Energies Cookie Book Archive

Bake on...

Things That Make Me Go Huh?!

My internet browser opens to the page where I access my email.  As browsers like to do, it offers me a slideshow of 'news stories' from various media accounts, like Yahoo, CNN, Business Insider, Women & Home, etc.  There are ads there for things I've looked at, like yarn and shoes.

Today I found this:

I gasped!!!  I drink diet soda, when I drink soda at all.  Since I've been diagnosed with diabetes I drink only water, unsweetened tea and diet beverages.  My favorite drink right now is a tall glass filled with ice and water up to about an inch from the rim, then topped off with diet (sugarless) cranberry juice.

Why are diet drinks disappearing from stores, you ask?

Millenials.

Yup.  Millennials evidently don't like the word 'diet'!  According to this article, the term diet is OUT OF FASHION with millennials and GenZ.  It has a negative connotation, and therefore the former diet sodas and other beverages are renamed Zero Sugar.

Huh.

The beverages will still be there, just named something non-offensive to young people.  Political correctness has hit a new low.

😞

 

Friday Frowns

Sometimes just living life is a challenge.  Approaching holidays or none, things going well or not, it can turn on a dime.

I know that you can't change some things -- the only thing you can change is your reaction to those things.  Who knew I was so philosophical?  LOL!

A couple of months ago we had to get a new TV.  We got a larger one than we had previously.  It didn't fit on the old stand.  In moving the old stand, Mr. Cranky Pants broke the doors off because he just HAD to do it before there was anyone here to assist.  <sigh>

He took my coffee table and used it to hold the TV.  Because, you know, we couldn't have the TV sitting on the floor, and nothing else was wide enough.

Not mine but the right color.

I've been looking for a coffee table and haven't been able to find one that went with the other tables n the room.  NOT that it matters, because the bookcases don't match the end tables, and then there's the victrola cabinet that doesn't match anything, but the end tables DO resemble the fireplace mantle.  So I would like just a LITTLE continuity.  

I have a bookcase like this.

Last week I saw a TV cabinet that resembled but did not match the end tables and fireplace.  I almost bought it, but didn't.  It was too big for my car and the 2nd hand store it was in doesn't deliver.  😒

Meanwhile after a discussion about why the ones on Amazon won't work, I guilted Mr. Cranky into going back to the shop where I saw the table.  Turns out it won't fit in his truck either!  It's just a small SUV, not intended for furniture deliveries.  😞

If you buy it you can pick it up later but it must be within 24 hours.  Neither of my kids replied to my texts so we left the shop.  We stopped at two other shops, but there were no good alternatives.

While having a late lunch we texted the kids again and Son is busy tomorrow but Son-In-Law replied that he will check the schedule and get back to us after discussion with Daughter.  Things are looking up!

Now once they arrange a trip with the pickup truck, we have to hope that they haven't sold the item in question before the boys can get there.  Fingers crossed!  They're open tomorrow at 10 a.m. so I hope they can get there early enough to beat any other shoppers.

It's success tomorrow or it's back to the drawing board, and continuing to keep my feet on the wicker trunk while I'm knitting...

Shop on...

So Much To Do or Too Many Choices?

 Since the pandemic began and we were all encouraged to stay away from public places and large groups of strangers, I've been in a kind of cleaning and purging mode... to compliment my on-line ordering madness, I guess!  If UPS, FedEx, and USPS are always bringing me new things, I should clear out some of the old stuff and try to make room.

Also, after watching the million organizing videos on YouTube, I'm trying to keep only things I really need or that bring me the proverbial joy to own.

                                        

My yarn stash has grown.  This is today's delivery - the Cascade came from an Etsy shop called HollyPKnits, and the Dishie is from Knit Picks.  Even though I tried to purge many of those small end-of-project left-overs, sending them to good homes, it's still a net gain..  I've been trying to knit up a few dozen small projects and have gifted or sold some of those items.  Still working on a sweater for my middle granddaughter for Christmas -- which is only a few short weeks away!

                                         

These fun things came with the HollyPKnits order...along with five plastic knitting markers.  She wrote a nice note... and sent a coupon for 15% off my next order of $75 or more.  My only negative thought was that that little piece of paper was her receipt, and the print was so tiny.  It's about the size of a charm square - 5 inches by maybe 5 1/2 inches, so the font is very small and then she wrote a note between the printing!  Oh, my aching eyes!

This is a nifty little baby drooling bib that I made using a free pattern from Yarnspirations.  It's called the Dribble Bib.  The pattern says you need a 2.5 oz ball of Lily Sugar and Cream, or the equivalent of any other cotton yarn that you might use for dish cloths.  I had a skein of Dishie from the last order I got from Knit Picks.  It's a 50 gram or 3.5 ounce skein, and I barely made a dent in it for one bib. I need to find my digital scale and find out how many grams it takes, it can't be much!

I did some clothing fixes this week too.  My daughter texted and said she bought a black blouse for Miss A to wear to her concerts, where black is the required color, and lo and behold the buttons were white!  Who puts white buttons on a black dress blouse?  But since I sew, I can fix that!

Before:

After:

All I can say is that this week I am very thankful for the invention of the needle threader!

The first US patent for a needle threader is the one we all know from high school sewing class... you know, the one that was inside the package of assorted hand needles.  It is of Victorian design, so post-Civil War.  Two different patents were issued, first in 1924 and again in 1945.

The world has moved SOOO beyond that era... the one I have is shaped like a ladybug, retracts and has a tiny lightbulb in the end of it.  I paid about $5 but it was worth it and I am grateful every time I sew after dark!

If I push the button all the way up, 

the tiny lightbulb goes on!

Yesterday was my oldest granddaughter's 20th birthday.  Not sure how she got so old and I stayed the same!  LOL!!  She's a wonderful young lady, studying hard at college in a challenging program.  She has decided to go into medicine... I'm amazed when I think about that.

I'm helping a friend sew a large diaper-bag style tote this week.  She's been quilting on a few big pieces of fabric, so tomorrow we'll be able to cut out the pieces that make up the outside and handles of the bag.  Many people avoid making bags because there is so much prep work that goes into the process.  Actually stitching up the bag is only about 25-30 percent of the work.  

Today was going to be spent in my sewing room but SQUIRREL happened and I started knitting that dribble bib, sewing some buttons on some baby sweaters, ate lunch, stopped to examine my packages, and started reading a new novel by Victoria Thompson.  Now it's time to start dinner and I haven't really done much of anything, nothing of consequence anyway.

Such are the joys of retirement!

Tomorrow's another day.

Craft on...

And Now For Something Completely Different!

The last Sunday in October is Reformation Sunday in the Lutheran Church along with many other  protestant religions.  It is traditionally the commemoration of the day Martin Luther put his 95 Theses on the doors of a Catholic church in Germany.  At the time the Catholic church was the only official religion of the Christian persuasion, but change was coming.  Google ML or reformation and you can read all about it.  

In my home church, Reformation Sunday is traditionally Confirmation for the high school freshman class.  My youngest grand was confirmed.  It was a beautiful service and she did a great job at her little speech and during the ceremony.  Gramps and I are so proud of her!

And boy what a difference a couple of years makes!  Here she is with her mom and her big sister when she took her first communion in fifth grade.

This is that same 'little girl' this year, now a freshman in high school!  Taller than her grandma, and I think taller than her sister and mother!

Love the fashion statement via the shoes!

Here she is with her big sister, a sophomore in college.  Studying human medicine with an interest is pathology!  

The Pastor has traditionally taken this pose with every class.  I guess his didn't turn out as well as this one, taken by Miss A, smiling face right up front!  I love this girl...  and who wouldn't???

Another milestone passed, another child of God added to the adult family of my church (actually 7 more 😊).

Keep believing!!

Knitting, and The On-Line Auction

 A friend asked me to knit a baby sweater for an expected grandchild... which I am happy to do, since it gives me an extra reason to do something which I enjoy anyway!  

I gave her a pile of books and patterns to browse.  I of course have my favorites, like the hooded sweater with the back zip that I've made probably a dozen or more times.  

The hoodie...

The picture on the pattern, which was copied from a 1986 knitting magazine that I bought, was horrible, so I think she didn't notice the sweater's adorable quotient.  I made a copy so I could laminate it, without destroying the magazine.  (I don't even know where the magazine is now!!)  Maybe seeing the sweater in person would be better, or I need to replace the 40 year old black and white picture on the pattern!

My friend choose at least five patterns as favorites, and I started in on a couple of them.  The one that was her number one is a new pattern for me.  And a first time to knit using a provisional cast on.  So in addition to knitting an adorable sweater, i am learning something!

                                       

The yellow row at the bottom is a crochet chain, and the first green row is a row of knits that are picked up into the back row of the crochet.  The yoke is then knitted up to the neck, the sleeves are added, and then you go back to the chain.

I ended up picking out the sleeve since I did the decreases too fast... every second row instead of every fourth row.  That was complete inattention on my part.  The taper should be much more gentle.  Lucky me it's a small sleeve and I noticed it before I did BOTH of them!

So after the sleeves were corrected, it was back to the crochet chain.  I pulled it out and put the stitches for the body back on the needles.

Now all that is needed is to knit to the hem, bind off, add the button band and sew on come cute buttons!

The next project I cast on is called Norwegian Fir.  You can see why that's what it is called...

The sample from Cream City Yarn.

I'm using a lovely warm beige called Parsnip in 220 Superwash Merino yarn.  So far I've only knit the neckband, so not much to see here.

                                                                    

I participated in an on-line auction from Iowa that was called The Art of Homemaking.  The stuff for sale was from a collection of items belonging to Rita Farro.  She and Mary Mulari, famous both in the home sewing industry, have written books and booklets about all kinds of project including aprons and bed linens.  If you go to Rita's blog, link in my right panel, her banner includes a photo of some beautiful pillow cases with pink crocheted trim that now belong to me.

I also picked up a chenille bedspread in like-new condition, and a number of redwork pieces that I plan to use in a future quilting project.  Also a few cross stitch items destined for gifts, and this one which is framed, which is probably my favorite:

Was it a typo or did the maker intend it to be Murph's Law??  LOL!

The Spooner!

Additionally I bid on and won one cut glass 'spooner'.  According to Rita, your grandma probably had a spooner full of teaspoons (what else?) on her table for guest to use for sugar for their coffee.  I'd never heard the term spooner before, but my aunt says that my maternal grandmother had one on her table for years.  I must not have noticed it... but then we moved away when I was in middle school, and I never did drink coffee.  

Anyway, I'm so happy with my acquisitions that I can't bear to put them into drawers or cabinets yet.  I'm letting them sit on the 1912 Singer sewing machine cabinet that's outside of the linen closet, and will enjoy stroking the pile for a while.

I hope you find joy this week in the things you have.      

Knit on...

Shopping, As A Pastime

 Seems like all I did during the pandemic's worst months was shop on line.

Amazon.  Target dot com.  Walgreens dot com.  Yarn shopping.  Fabric shopping other than what I did where I worked.  Toilet paper, aspirin, my prescriptions, whatever we needed could be delivered to my doorstep by any number of brown-clad or blue-clad delivery people in various types of vans and trucks.  And let us not even begin to discuss books!  ...and shoes!  My 'granny vans' came from Zappos dot com. 

Groceries could be ordered on line and picked up without leaving the car.  The mail carrier brought small packages and large ones.  Some that could be tucked into my rather small mailbox and others that had to be dropped or tossed or thrown onto the porch.  Or delivered by a couple of burly boys from one of those furniture places...

My granddaughters love to shop.  The oldest one is off to college now and is very adroit at Amazon's website.  But the youngest is still here, and her favorite places are mine too -- Michaels, Target, and The Always Amazing Goodwill, Salvation Army, St Vincent DePaul.

Last week we spent some time together as the parental unit was out of town.  On the one weekday and one weekend day when she didn't have school, we did actual shopping.  In stores!  I know, weird, right?  But it turned out to be rather enjoyable.  The weather was perfect and we paced ourselves.

Because I'm fully vaccinated I didn't have to wear a mask most places, even the ones where she did.  Wisconsin allows the merchants to set their own rules, and it's a mixed bag.  Some places 'suggest' or even 'recommend' masks whether you're vaxxed or not, and if they did, we complied.  No biggie.

We set limits, and of course she blew through her own cash (what she brought with her, lol!) at a pretty fast clip.  I told her it was for things she wanted if I didn't want to spend $$ on them, and she was fine with that.  She had her gramma-sponsored budget and stuck to it, making choices along the way.

Not that I was in love with everything she picked out!  She buys men's shirts to wear as 'layering pieces', and in my opinion they just don't always flatter.  One was an unfortunate yellowy-beige that probably wouldn't flatter much of anybody, but what are you going to do with a teenager?  Just love 'em I guess!  That lovely purple in the blue bag is a pair of fleece pj bottoms she found, and that was a good choice for her so she was happy.

Anyway, I managed to find a couple of nice higher-end sweaters at the Goodwill, bought some sale fabric at a quilt shop, and about a dozen books at St. Vinney's for the outrageous price of $1.29 each!  I picked up a copy of Ahab's Wife, by Sena Jeter Naslund.  It was on the NY Times best seller list when it came out in 1999.   I also scored a Debbie Macomber and a Kristin Hannah that I hadn't read.  Altogether a lovely time, and we didn't overspend anywhere.

                  

Well, maybe on lunch... lol!

Rock on...

Fall Is Here!

I love fall, or as it's also called more formally perhaps, autumn. I say a big yes to sweater weather!!  Yes to cool nights and warm afternoons.  Sleeping with the bedroom windows open.  Trees changing colors and dropping leaves.  The crisp crunch of those leaves after they've fallen and you step on them.  Fresh vegetable stands with piles of apples and pumpkins!!  Bring it!

And squash! There is nothing like a butternut.  It's got a big fat bulb that's thick when you cut it so you can scoop out seeds without losing all the flesh, but the best part is the skinny bit up to the stem.  

Summer squash is good but autumn squash is awesome.  By now I'm tired of zucchini and ready for a nice orange acorn squash.

And did I mention sweater weather?  I'm not a fan of the turtleneck, but a nice big slouchy cowl style to keep you warm when the wind blows is just about the best thing in late fall.

... and nothing ever beats the Argyle!  I don't care if it's a golf vest or a cardigan or a nice pullover, they're so classic.

Fall in Wisconsin is great.  Spring is wonderful too but fall is just so special.  I guess it's because we're anticipating the long winters that start with the first snowfall (usually not 'measurable' until after Thanksgiving) and ends with the last frost in April or May.  <sigh>

Fall also means tons of apples.  The Elegant Farmer orchard is a couple of miles from where I live, so I see the trees as I drive by.  I see the people there on weekends, picking their own apples.  And apple pies are a real fall treat.  The bounty of nature in green and red, with a nice piecrust thrown in for good measure.

                       

Today I'm sitting in the kitchen with the windows open, listening to birds chirp and loving the afternoon sunshine.  Miss Kitty is sunning herself on her padded cat condo.  Pretty soon I'll have to put the soup on the stove and make some rolls, but for now I'm just soaking up the pretty afternoon.

Life is good!

 

Monogamous or Polygamous Knitting?

    Which are you?  Which am I?  Funny, the only place I'm monogamous is in my spousal relationship!  Otherwise, not so much... let me explain.

One husband.  Fifty years this September 25.  Sometimes it's fun, sometimes not so much but I've never seriously contemplated anything else.  

But in my crafting life?  Totally poly!  

                                                

One project at a time is deadly boring.  I have posted in the past about Process vs Project people in sewing and quilting.  I'm talking about where a person is either dedicated to finishing one project before they start another or is just in love with a portion of the process and wants to do it over and over again.  Plan, sew, repeat.  I am a Process person, and getting a project done is a bonus but not vital to my being.  My sister, on the other hand, appears to be a project person, finishing one before she begins the next.  Her philosophy:  Buy what you need and get it done.  Mine:  Stash!!  You might want to start something when the stores are closed!!  What will you do then??  LOL!

                                                                

There's a YouTube channel by two sisters called Frugal & Frivolous and on a recent video they were discussing the fact that one of them is monogamous and the other is not.  The mono sister was kind of lamenting her decision to do a year of monogamous knitting, because she likes to knit big projects and they can take a while.  This results in weeks if not months of endless stockinette stitch on the body of a sweater or a shawl in garter that goes on for miles.

Not. Me.

                                                        

Other knitters talk about the 'bus sock' or the 'car shawl' or which project bag holds what current WIP (work in progress).  Yes!  I am that person!  We don't do much traveling these days, and since I never really spent time on a bus commuting to work, I didn't have that project.  But I did knit in the lunchroom at my job (eons ago!) and I sometimes carry small projects along to the dentist's office or the doctor's, in case there's a wait.  Those projects are generally small items that have patterns that don't require huge amounts of concentration, so you may carry on a conversation while you're knitting.

When I was making the Harry Styles sweater for my oldest grand, I carried it around with the pattern folded up in a project bag.  It was relatively easy to do on the go.  Bulky yarn, size 8 needles, cast on the same number of stitches for every row, knit until you have a square, change color and stitch, on you go.  All the greens are the same stitch, all the orange are another, etc.  Kind of a no-brainer.  This one you can knit and visit simultaneously.  But it's large, so therefore you must have a companion project to break up the boredom!

Enter the baby sweater.  I had a specific baby in mind for this one, but that's not always necessary.  You find out a friend is expecting or has just acquired a new grandbaby and you want to respond right away with a small token of congratulations, not wait until said grand is walking.  I learned this from my aunt Clara.  She knit fabulous layettes in various colors and stacked them in boxes in her closet.  Someone having a baby?  I have just the thing!  And out popped a box of blue or pink or green or yellow.  Her gifts were the hit of any baby shower.  

Besides, the knitting of a small item with no deadline becomes an exercise in pure pleasure for me.  And a 'palate cleanser' when you're getting bored with endless garter stitch or looking at that same yarn for days!

So yes, I am a polygamous.  I will not apologize for having six sets of size 2.25mm dpn sock needles so I can have several going at the same time.  I may need to knit a man's sock in some boring dark color but I can occasionally sneak a short date with a ball or even two of self-striping sock yarn to keep the magic alive.

Knit on...