Emptyknitster

I haven't seen a real butterfly at the house for ages but this guy has been flitting around all morning. He just can't get enough of the flowers on the deck! Double Swallowtail, Two-Tailed Tiger Swallowtail

I was happy when Jo's hubby brought me a box of peaches from Washington. This morning I got up with the plan to get them canned. However, only half were ripe enough, the others need another day or so to ripen. Hmm, what to do? Can peaches or peach jam.... the peach jam won out! I lost my original recipe but found a very similair, if not exact, recipe on the internet: Peach Jam Ingredients: 6 cups peaches, mashed 6 cups white sugar 2 cups crushed pineapple 6 oz orange Jello Peel peaches. To keep them from turning brown while you do all that peeling, place them in a pan of water to which 2 T vinegar per gallon of water has been added. Then when all are peeled, remove peaches from the water and mash. Combine mashed peaches, sugar, and pineapple (I drained mine) in a heavy pot. Bring to a boil. Cook 20 minutes (or until it begins to thicken and peaches are cooked through) Add the Jello cook the mixture for about 2 more minutes to be sure the Jello has dissolve...

Hubby was delighted with the pie filling I canned a couple of weeks ago and so when he had the opportunity to bring home several dozen ears of corn from down the road he jumped on it. You can't beat free! Years ago I used Mrs. Stapleton's recipe for freezing corn and so I pulled it out again today: 4 quarts fresh corn (cut from about 20 ears) 1 quart hot water 2/3 cup sugar 1/2 cup butter, cubed 2 teaspoons salt In a stockpot, combine all ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to large shallow containers; cool, stirring occasionally. Freeze in resealable plastic freezer bags or freezer containers,  Yield:  3 quarts. Tomorrow, PEACHES! 

Pattern: My own vanilla pattern Yarn: Berroco Sox Colorway: Light blue, gray, brown stripe Amount: One skein Needle Size: US Size 1

Is she crazy? I am a podcast junkie! Probably because I can knit and listen at the same time. So when a favorite podcaster mentioned placing ones iphone in a mug or bowl amplifies the sound producing better sound quality, I gave it a try...lovely!

I finished another pair of Stashbuster Spirals! Love these little socks they're for one of the grandkiddos... Pattern: Stashbuster Spirals by Janine Hempy Yarn and Colorway: Friday Studios Self Striping in fireworks, Premier Yarns Serenity in black, Stroll Fingering in watermelon Amount: Way less than a skein each Needle Size: US Size 1 I swore I'd NEVER go down this path but then something snapped one day and I jumped down the rabbit hole.  At first I thought I'd just give it a try and, "See what everyone's talking about." Then it became something like the potato chip addiction - you can't have just one, you keep reaching for more...Yes I'm addicted to the Sock Yarn Blanket! Pattern: Sock Yarn Blanket by Shelly Kang Yarn: Leftover Sock Yarn, 80% wool, 20% nylon Colorway: Any  but neon Needle Size; US Size 1

All summer people have been asking, "How do you like being retired?" and it's been hard to answer, well until today. For many years I've not had to go to work in the summers. Now let me make this clear, teachers do work during the summer. Continuing ed credits and creating new curriculum units don't just appear out of thin air. Also, summer means rejuvenation, a time to get back some of the energy and enthusiasm drained right out of them during the school year. Teachers are currently taking a beating but it's hard work with very little thanks. Yesterday school started, and to everyone who has inquired: I love retirement . No more sleepless nights worrying about student success, no more going in two weeks before school starts to clean and pull my room together (See above paragraph. I don't believe any other profession would take vacation time to get ready for the first day back from vacation!?) Instead, I visited The Chick. We went on a long hike and...

This spring, when I brought home the white petunias, I didn't expect to get the added bonus of a vegetable garden. It wasn't until the middle of July I noticed a couple of extra plants straining toward the sun...tomatoes, and a short time later the cucumbers made an appearance. Only the petunias brought home the free veggies but I'm quite happy to have them and will plant tomatoes and cucumbers in the planters next year.

I recently finished the Sockhead Hat everyone is talking about. It is fun fast knit! Pattern: Sockhead Hat Yarn: Berroco Sox Colorway: Humerside 486 Amount: 1 skein Needle size: US 3

Although not my intention AT ALL, I won this yarn while at the Rockin’ S Retreat! A friend had gotten it while on Germany, lovely! Pattern: Peace Rose Garden Socks by Diane Edgerly Yarn: Zwerger Garn Opal Regenwald/Rainforest Colorway: Robin Hood Amount: 1 skein Needle Size: I had been worried a bit about the fit of these socks but blocking them made a BIG difference and the fit is great! (I love living in Montana and I like to show off the big beautiful blue sky...but it's been cooler than usual and a bit cloudy with an unbelievable 86% humidity. The usual is around 25%. I must admit it's nice for a change!)

Home is looking pretty good! I've been back for almost two weeks and not much is going on. Napping, knitting and cleaning, it feels great! A couple more projects are under my belt: Baby Girl Gift Pattern: Pepita by Martina Behm Yarn: Babe Colorway: Lavender Amount: a smidge more than 3 skeins Needles: US Size 2 (next time I'll use the needles called for!!) I also made  the blanket behind. We call it the"Mrs.Stapleton Baby Blanket." When The ChickWho Flew The Coop was born our neighbor made one for her. It is a large square of doubled flannel (if the yardage is 44" wide buy a length 44" long) wash, sew the square minus 5 inches, trim corners, turn and sew 5 inch opening shut. Press seams and tie blanket with yarn.  It's bigger than the usual receiving blanket and can be used for a long time. It was perfect to cover baby on summer nights and great for laying baby on the floor to play. Wagon train socks Pattern: Vanilla socks from my own c...

While traveling in California and Oregon I rediscovered berry picking. When I was young there was a lot filled with blackberry bushes across the alley from us. I would pick the first berry ripe to the very last one in the fall. Mom would give me a bowl and a bit of sugar and off I'd go indulging myself completely. We'd also pick in the height of the season and make blackberry jam and cobblers. Mom never mentioned that these were "weeds" and always encouraged picking. Blackberries are my favorite probably because of this memory! Image the first time I heard they were weeds and was laughed at for picking them....I was an adult and thought THEY were the crazy ones and I still do! When I was in California the kiddos and I picked the berries and added them to our fruit salad. When I arrived at the Oregon Family's home and saw the berry patch across the street I was delighted. It took some coaxing but I was able to get the boys out to do a little picking. Then I showe...

After a week of relaxing at home it was time to get the grandkiddos back to their house. It had been a glorious three week visit but their other grandparents would be arriving and were demanding equal time! We flew to California and our first stop was a visit to Bake Sale Betty's! I've told friends her establishment reminds me of The Soup Nazi only friendly! Customers line up outside the bakery hoping their favorite cookie (molasses) is still there.... When ordering you better have a second choice ready, FAST. You pay and then move aside to wait fir the order to be made -DON'T slow down the process! This is accomplished very politely, but QUICKLY, there is a line waiting. I'll never forget the time the line was so long that Betty came out and gave each of us a cookie for our trouble - she completely won me over! Ginger Spice Cookies (makes about two dozen) from Bon Appétit , March 2000 - 2 cups flour - 2 and 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger - 1 tsp ground c...