Orange Sock Update

The orange socks are still coming along. I purchased two more skeins to continue on up the calf, over the knee. I haven't ventured too far into patterns or different designs on my socks. I like to keep them on hand for 'mindless knitting'. :)
Margaret's feet model her socks.

Update on the Blackberry Plant

The blackberry bush has been planted. Two days ago.

Watchin' the Hound Dog

He isn't really a hound dog, but that is what I call him. He is my sister's dog and they are on a little jaunt this weekend and my daughter is dog sitting.

Thornless Blackberry Plant

I recently purchased a blackberry plant in hopes to have my own blackberries someday, next year I guess. I have gained quite a bit of knowledge from Rob over at A Gardener's Diary, specifically this post about blackberries.

I think I should have had it in the ground already, but it is so cold still, I hated to take a chance in jeapardizing its health. :)
It has grown a couple new leaves, which is encouraging. I need to find the perfect spot to plant it.

Backroad to the Greenhouse

We took the backroads to the greenhouse Saturday, The Daughter and I. Basically, the only way to the greenhouse IS the backroads, from our house anyway. After the greenhouse we stopped by our new favorite market in a small town, bought a few dry goods, and ended up at JoAnn's in the big town we live near. Almost all outings lead to JoAnn's, ha, go figure.

Hard Crusty Rolls - Bread Month Five

This month I saw a post on the King Arthur blog about hard crusty rolls. I read about them in the King Arthur Baker's Companion as well. This recipe calls for a 'poolish', kind of a little starter the night before. I had never tried a slow rise and found it intriguing. I started mine Saturday evening and added to it Sunday morning and worked on it off and on most of the day. It was quite interesting, the slow rise, so far I have only made breads that I can complete in an afternoon. The book said the slow rise gives it a better taste and texture.
Upon completion of baking the rolls we were pleasantly surprised. They were tasty and crunchy. I felt that my batch was a bit heavy in the middle, so hopefully next time I can remedy that. I put the rolls to rise on a parchment paper lined stone, but was disappointed because the bottom of the rolls were a tad burnt. When baking directly on the stones (from The Pampered Chef) I haven't had burnt bottoms. I tend to think it was the parchment paper, but I can't be sure, yet. Next time I will try it with only the stones and see the difference.
Over all, we really enjoyed these rolls. We give them three thumbs up.

The rolls on the KAF blog look perfect and you can also find the recipe there. I highly recommend you give it a try, especially if you haven't tried the slow rise.
I may get brave in the coming months and try a sour dough starter from scratch. Hmm?
Follow my bread journey here.

You know you're a Homeschooler when.....

Your entire kitchen wall looks like this.
We don't tuck our school away in a room...we live it every day.

ingenuiTEA

My daughter and I had an occasion to drink tea with a group of lovely ladies at my sister's house a while back. One attendee had this little tea contraption. It was COOL. We recently ordered it and it arrived so that we can now drink our loose leaf herbal tea mixtures,which haven't arrived yet. :) If you are interested, go to www.adagio.com.

Patchin' Pants

For the last 8 years my sweet husband has asked me to patch his pants when they get worn.
I would go to the fabric store and get "a patch" and when I returned home with my cure, I would just sit and stare at it.
I just didn't know how to get the job done.
So this past fall, I had the privilege of spending a few hours with my aunt and she shared with me the art of patching. She has been patchin' pants close to 75 years. She had lots of brothers whose pants always needed attention. It was a way to help her mother.

First thing you need is a pair of pants that need patchin'.
Then a 'patch' which can easily consist of an old pair of pants that has been cut into pieces. Try to get them to match as closely in color and shade as possible, if you wish.

Get your favorite sewing supplies. Let's get started.

Cut out the affected area. Cut well around it. She likes to use circular shapes...they are easier to stitch around.

Turn the pants inside out and pin a large cut out piece of old pants well over the opening that you have just cut out.

Then hand stitch around the edge of the piece you just pinned on. Use doubled thread and just take nice easy stitches all the way around.

Turn the pants right side out again. I forgot to take a picture of the act of stitching it, but you just slip stitch the pieces together. As you stitch the patch to the pant, turn under the pant opening (in this case the circle area) maybe an 8th of an inch and slip stitch it shut and just do that all the way around the opening.

It should look something like the above picture. Yours will be better because my fingers were so sore from my job (chemicals) that I could hardly push the needle.

And here we have a patched pair of pants.
These are just work pants and don't have to be pretty, but I kept imagining patching little girls pants with pretty flowered fabric and stitching some lace around the bottom leg opening. It could still be her play pants, but why not make them cute.

New Kid on the Block

The sun just refuses to shine these days. I had been waiting for a sunny day to take some pictures of this jacket, but had to go ahead and take them on a cloudy/windy/dreary/spittin'snow day.
This is the newest baby jacket/sweater that I have knit and it is now available on my Etsy shop. You can get to it by clicking on the pictures of the jackets on my side bar on the right.

Do We Love Barney?

Coffee

When Mardi Gras rolls around, I start thinking about New Orleans, obviously. We lived there for a year and I really liked the coffee there. So once a year or so I pamper myself with coffee that I really like instead of just the kind that is on sale at the store...
Meijer didn't sell my FAVORITE coffee so I got this, which is quite tasty in its own right. I am not going to wait til Tuesday to start drinking it....tomorrow morning I should be smelling it upon waking. Yay!!!!!

What's For Sale on my Etsy!

Baby Surprise Jacket! For Sale on my Etsy shop, WataluluDesigns.