Sunday Dessert (a day late) – Egg Custard Pie

I love Egg Custard Pie.  I don’t remember where or when I first had it but I have loved it ever since I first tried it.  A dear friend and former co-worker used to make one for me every year for my birthday.  Unfortunately, she retired some years ago and we lost touch.  Somewhere along the way, I lost her recipe.  My Mother never made egg custard pie.  I seem to remember that she said my Dad didn’t like it or something.  So rather than make a big pie for myself, I would just get a slice when I was eating out or lately, buy a mini one at Publix if they happened to have one.  Interestingly, it turns out that my Dad likes egg custard so I guess it was Mother who didn’t like it.  Anyway, my cousin, Sheila, sent along her favorite recipe some time ago and I finally decided to try it yesterday.  It was a hit for Sunday lunch.

No Weep Egg Custard

1- unbaked deep dish pie shell

2 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
grated( or ground)  nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. Set out pie shell.

In a small saucepan, scald the milk over high heat and set aside.  In a large mixer bowl, thoroughly beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add 1 cup of the milk to the egg mixture, beating it in slowly. Try not to create too much foam. Add the rest of the milk and
continue to beat slowly. Pour the mixture into the pie shell, sprinkle with nutmeg.

Bake on the lowest oven shelf for 40 minutes, or until pale gold in color.  Remove to rack and cool completely before cutting.

Note:  I found that I needed to cook it for a little longer. 
The recipe is from the Cooking from Quilt Country Cookbook.

Happy Knitting and Baking!

A Really Fun Knit

Knitting is fun to me.  But sometimes, there is a project that just has an extra spark of joy.  The one  that makes you smile every time you pick it up to work on it.  The one you just can't put down.  Here's mine - Pepperberry Love by my LYS owner, Donna Higgins. 

I was gifted the pattern and a Fun Size Bundle of 100% cashmere by Pepperberry Knits (now Lux Adorna Knits) by a very generous non-knitting friend for Christmas.  The colorway is a custom colorway for In The Making.  This stuff is absolutely luscious  to knit with and I am loving it.  The only thing I can think of that would be better than knitting with it is wearing it.

This cowl is much longer than usual so as to use up every last bit of the yarn.  Once I got past the usual height of a cowl, I am happy to keep on knitting.  This is one of those fun, no rules knit.  Before I started, I laid out the yarn and planned it all out but I made some last minute changes along the way.

If you see me wearing this every day, you'll know why.  It's all that cashmere yumminess.

Happy Knitting!

A Belated Happy New Year!

A very belated “Happy New Year” to you all.  New Year’s Eve and Day found me camped out on the sofa nursing a cold.  I had my sweet Lillie, a nice warm blanket, my knitting, and a book to keep company. 

On New Year’s Eve, I finished my Gifted Cowl, a free pattern from Churchmouse.  I finally blocked it last weekend and have yet to wear it.  It has a bit of “bling” to it and for those of you who know me, you know I don’t like a lot of bling but this I find to be a very subtle bling.  And I think it is something that I’d wear.  If I decide I don’t care for it after all, it’ll be gifted to a lover of bling.  The cowl is a very easy pattern and has instructions for all weights of yarn which makes it a fine pattern in my book. 

 

 

I finished my Itineris shawl last week.  I blocked it over the weekend and wore it to work yesterday.  I forgot to take pictures wearing it so here are the ones from the finished object official photo op.

 

Itineris was bought as a kit at Haus of Yarn on a trip to Nashville last summer.  The kit came with one skein of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in each color.  I ended up having to call my friend, Kelley, at Haus and ordering a second skein of the red and just barely broke the skein.  By the way, if you ever need to order from Haus, they ship lightening fast!

Happy Knitting!

Postcard: Charleston, SC

The wedding was beautiful!  Charleston is a beautiful city - too much to see in a short time.  Already making plans on a return trip.

Photo Credit:  Sandy Parker

Photo Credit:  Sandy Parker

Postcard: Augusta, GA

I can't believe I had no idea that Augusta was such a historic city.  In the hotel lobby, we found a brochure for the Woodrow Wilson boyhood home and since it was close by, we decided to visit.

 

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And the Augusta Canal was pretty interesting too.

 



 

 

Happy Knitting! 



 

 

 

Sunday Dessert - Fried Apple Pies

My Grandmother and her sisters, Sevella, Flora, and Velma were famous 'round the parts for their fried apple pies.  If you were ever at Decoration or Homecoming at Graves Gap, then you probably had one.  That is, if you were smart enough to get it when you filled your lunch plate.  If you waited until you were ready for dessert, they were long gone.  They were always stacked on a plate or in a box and wrapped neatly in wax paper.  In the family, these things are of sainted memory.  And, I do mean sainted memory.  These pies not only bring tears to your eyes but are the standard to which every other fried pie is judged.

Many years ago, I had a lesson in making Fried Apple Pies from my Grandmother's sister, my Great Aunt Flora.  And for whatever reason, I haven't made 'em since.  After a cousin's death last month, I vowed to start making them.  Someone needs to keep the tradition alive.  Today was the day. 

Full disclosure:  I used canned biscuits.  I know, I know.  But my biscuit making abilities are lacking and besides, the day of my lesson with Aunt Flora, we used canned biscuits so I figured it was OK.  And I had to use packaged dried apples.  Back in the day, they would have dried apples from their apple trees.

Per the directions, I cooked the apples last night.  And today, I rolled the biscuits out, filled them with the filling, and fried them.  In lard.  In an iron skillet.  Just like my Grandmother did.  Oh, and I figured out really quick that the heat needs to be turned really low.

They looked right.  They were the right size.  I think they might need a bit more filling.  My Dad and I both agreed that the taste was close.  Very close.  And I'm good with that.

After they cooled, I wrapped them up in waxed paper just like my Grandmother and Great Aunts used to do.  I need more practice with that too. 

I think I'll try again next weekend and see if I can get any closer to the right taste.  If you've ever been one of the happy family members who've eaten these pies, leave a comment with your thoughts. I'd love to hear them.  And let me know if you'd like to volunteer as a taste tester. 

Here's the recipe.  It was given to me by my Great Aunt Flora Graves Pettit.

Filling:
6 ounces dried apples
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter

Combine all ingredients and cook down.  Chill overnight.

Pastry:
Make biscuit dough as you normally would.  Chill overnight.

Pies:
1.  Roll out biscuit dough and cut into biscuits. 
2.  Heat oil (lard is the secret ingredient).
3.  Roll each biscuit out into a circle about the size of a saucer.  Keep only a few ingredients out at a time.  Keep remaining biscuits in the refrigerator.
4.  Place 1-2 tablespoons of apples on the dough and spread.  Fold pastry in half and using a fork dipped in flour, crimp around the edges.
5.  Fry pie until done on one side and then carefully turn and fry on the other side until done.
6.  Bake leftover biscuits.

I think that a pie and a cup of coffee will be supper tonight. 

Happy Knitting (and baking)!

A Day of Reckoning

This has not been a pretty day at Graves Gap Knitting.  This morning, I decided to gather up all my WIPs (works in progress) that were scattered all along the house.  I much prefer to call them WIPs rather than UFOs (unfinished objects) because in my mind, I'm still working on them.  I know, I have a serious case of denial going on here.  Here's what they looked like piled up on the blocking bed:

In that mess of piled up yarny goodness are:
3 blankets
2 baby blankets (only one pictured, I couldn't find the second one.  Uh oh.)
1 dish cloth (really? An unfinished dish cloth?)
1 shawl that needs a decision - weave in the ends or ripping it out. 
5 shawls
1 cowl
1 pair of socks
1 pair of fingerless mitts
1 scarf
1 washcloth, which is my current take along/purse project

I decided that the shawl needing the decision should be ripped out.  It just does not spark joy.  At all.   And that cowl?  I realized as I was taking the photo why I wasn't far into it.  That dungy grey just doesn't suit me.   I took it off the needles and popped it into a ziplock bag and into the freezer.  Why in the freezer?  Kidsilk Haze yarn is like velcro and I forget all the whys about how putting it in the freezer for a couple of hours makes it easier to rip out but it does.   As for the scarf, every time I knit on it, I keep thinking how it should be a pair of socks instead.  It was ripped on the spot.

The square in progress for one of the blankets, dishcloth, two shawls, socks, and fingerless mitts all went back into my current WIP bag.  The washcloth went back into my purse.  One shawl went into the project queue basket.

Finally, I corralled the last shawl and the blankets into a bag to be worked on intermittently and moved to the current WIP bag, hopefully, in the next few months. 

I think this definitely looks better. 

I would really like to finish up the WIPs by the end of the year so I can start on working through my queue basket.  Hopefully, I can resist starting something new!

Happy Knitting!

Postcard: Hanceville, AL

I had a great time at the Mike Farris concert last night.  He and the Roseland Revue did a great show.  I wore my Meet Me at the Ryman for the occasion.

(photo credit: Sandy Parker)

(photo credit: Sandy Parker)

Happy Knitting!

 

 

 

 

A Summer of Shawls

I motored my way through the summer by knitting three shawls.  All a little different and all much loved already.   Here goes…….

Chance of Flurries

This one was actually started in late April but not finished until towards the end of June.  This is not a project I put down for a while and came back to finish later.  I knit it twice.  Twice.  Seems that at the first few repeats at the beginning, I was so involved with the border portion that I forgot to increase.  I was nearing the finish line when I realized it and I immediately went into knitter’s denial.  I thought if I kept knitting it would right itself.  It didn’t.  So, I ripped it out and started over and this time, I knew the pattern so well it was knit practically in my sleep.

Meet Me at the Ryman
Note to Sandy, Virginia, Martha, and Allyson-you might want to skip this one since you all lived through it with me! 

This shawl was deadline knitting at its best-or maybe not.  This was one of those project that should have been relatively easy but somehow just wasn’t.  Like all knitters, I’m eternally optimistic.  I started it in the middle of June thinking I’d have plenty of time.  After all, I didn’t need it until the end of July!  But I didn’t count on knitting the first portion and then ripping it out and starting over, knitting the border and binding off, only to discover that I had dropped a stitch during the bind off.  Sigh.  I ripped out the border plus three rows and knit them again.  By this time, I was more than ready for this to be OFF my needles.  It was knit and blocked in plenty of time to wear to a Conference in Nashville.  And it got to meet the Ryman!
 

Sandness

I have wanted to knit this shawl since it first came out.  I was gifted a very generous gift certificate to my LYS and with it, I purchased MadelineTosh in Thunderstorm just for this shawl.   Thankfully, there was no drama this time, just a nice straightforward knit.  I’ve already worn it several times and it is just perfect for throwing over my shoulders on a cool day or evening.  As usual with MadelineTosh yarns, it is difficult for me to capture the exact color of this yarn.  It is acutally black with little touches of light blue and gray.

As usual, these shawls traveled with me and were knit in various living rooms, a hotel room, roadtripping in the car (no worries, I was riding), at least one Starbucks, listening to Bluegrass over on Pine Mountain, knitting groups, and countless lunch breaks at work. 

Happy Kniting!

A Year of Knitting

The blogging all went downhill when my laptop crashed last summer.  I may have stopped blogging for a while but I never stopped knitting.

Last fall was filled with Christmas knitting.  There were hats and mitts for the fellas and so many mittens, that when I cast off the last mitten three days before Christmas, I declared I was DONE with mitten knitting for the rest of the year!

Every year, I say I’m going to knit more for myself and I never do.  But this year I have knit mostly for myself and I have to say, I have certainly enjoyed the journey.  Here are just a few things I've knit this year.  I knit this fabulous pair of Lumberjack housesocks in Liberty Wool.  I love ‘em so much that I want at least seven more pairs! 

The summer has been the Summer of Shawls.  I’ve knit three - Chance of Flurries, Meet Me at the Ryman, and Sandness.  I think that knitting three shawls is pretty good, considering that I knit Flurries twice and almost lost my mind trying to knit Ryman on a deadline (I made the deadline with time to spare but it was iffy there for a while). 

There were two trips to Nashville this year.   I went to Stitches South back in the Spring and brought home a big bag of knitterly loot and I'm slowly knitting my way through the yarn I bought.

 

And there was the trip in the summer to the Conference for the Community Concert Series where my Meet Me at the Ryman shawl met the Ryman.  And a nice visit to Haus of Yarn. 

Fall is taking her time arriving here in the South, but the cooler evenings are the perfect excuse to curl up on the sofa with a nice cup of coffee or tea and my knitting. 

Happy Knitting!

Sunday Dessert - Lazy Day Cake

Today is a lazy day here at Graves Gap Knitting.  For dessert today, I made what I call a Lazy Day Cake.  Here's the recipe:

1 box cake mix (I like Duncan Hines) made by the directions on the box except that I used a trick my Mother taught me - use milk instead of water.  Trust me, it makes a difference.  And I baked it in a 9x13 pan.  Easy peasy. 

The icing is the recipe on the Domino's Confectioner's Sugar box:
1 box confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
3-4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla.

On low speed, combine all ingredients.  Beat at medium speed 1-2 minutes until creamy.  Add more milk until of spreading consistency.

I added sprinkles on top to jazz it up a bit and because I just like sprinkles.

On another note, I didn't realize it had been so long since I've last posted.  My laptop died last summer and because buying a computer is so daunting to me, I just put off buying one for several months.  Then life and the holidays hit.  But I'm back and with a plan. 

Happy baking (and knitting)!
Yolanda

Sunday Dessert - Blackberry Cobbler

The blackberries are in season here which means it's time for all things blackberry at my house.  Today, I decided to try a new recipe for blackberry cobbler.  While I was mixing up the crust, my Dad was picking blackberries from his vines.  They were still warm from the sun when he brought them in to me.  This recipe is definitely a keeper.  He ate two helpings at lunch today. 

Blackberry Cobbler
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
5 cups fresh blackberries or 2 (14-ounce) packages frozen blackberries, thawed and drained
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Crust
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon sugar

Preheat oven to 425.  Combine 1 cup sugar and flour.  Add berries and toss well.  (If using frozen berries, increase flour to 1/3 cup.)  Sprinkle with lemon juice.  Spoon into a greased 8 or 9-inch square baking dish.

Prepare Crust, and spoon 9 mounds over blackberries.  Brush with butter and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar

Bake, uncovered, at 425 for 30 minutes or until browned and bubbly.  Serve warm with ice cream, if desired.  Yield:  9 servings

Crust
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup buttermilk

Combine first 4 ingredients; cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.  Stir in whipping cream and buttermilk just until blended.  Yield:  enough topping for 1 cobbler.

Recipe from:  Comfort Food by Southern Living

Homecoming

This past Sunday was Homecoming at Calvary Baptist, the church I grew up in as did my Mother before me.  My Mother and her parents were charter members so my roots are deep.   It is the church where I first learned about Jesus, went to Vacation Bible School, and learned about missions. 
 

Homecoming is a day set aside, usually in the spring or fall, where families and past members come back to their home church for a special church service and a covered dish lunch.  There is also usually a special offering taken for cemetery upkeep that day as well.  It is a reunion of families and friends. 

At Calvary, it is also Decoration Day so we place flowers on the graves of my grandparents, aunt, and cousin who are buried there and we visit with other families who’ve come to place flowers.  Usually, my cousin and I walk around the cemetery remembering those precious souls who’ve passed on:  Lee and Maytle Jones, Albert and Jeanette Baldwin, Wilbur and Millie Jones, Dovie Crane, Bill and Britt Nethery, and Charles Walker.  They taught us in Sunday School and Training Union but most importantly, they loved us. 

It’s always so good to see old friends, many of whom I've known since we were small children.    Some are still at Calvary but most of us go to other churches or live too far away to come to church there regularly.  But most try to make it back every year for Homecoming.  Other than funerals, this is usually the only time we see each other nowadays. 

There’s always a covered dish lunch afterwards but since our family is scattered now, we opt to do a mini-family reunion at my cousin's house instead.  There’s always plenty of food, fun, good conversation, fried chicken, and banana pudding.  Nowadays though, we have store bought fried chicken.  My Mother’s fried chicken is just a fond memory.  But the banana pudding?  There's always a huge bowl of it on the table.  No other dessert is needed or wanted.

Mom’s Fried Chicken

Chicken pieces, bone in
Buttermilk
Flour
Salt
Pepper
Oil

Soak chicken in buttermilk overnight.  Add a little salt if you think about it.  Heat 1-1 1/2: of oil in skillet.  Mix flour, salt, and pepper.  Coat chicken in flour mixture.  Drop a little water in hot oil to see if it's hot enough before adding chicken.  If it pops, it's hot enough.   
Put chicken in skillet with bone facing up.  Put lid on skillet and cook chicken until done.  Turn over when browned and leave lid off to finish cooking. 
If cooking a whole chicken, cook breasts first.

(Note:  these instructions were given to me during a lesson on frying chicken)

Aunt Carolyn’s Banana Pudding

1 big box Jello Vanilla Instant Pudding
3 cups milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
dash vanilla
1 large bowl Cool Whip
Vanilla Wafers
Bananas

Mix pudding and milk together until slightly thick. Add sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and Cool Whip. In a bowl, layer wafers, bananas, and pudding in that order. Top with vanilla wafers.

As long as you have fried chicken, banana pudding,  and a big jug of iced sweet tea on the table, you don’t really need anything else.

Mattie Lou's Gloves

Mattie Lou is my Grandmother's first cousin so I think that would make her my third cousin. At age 91, Mattie Lou is the last surviving member of her generation.  And talking to her reminds me of talking to my Grandmother and Great-Aunt Flora.  Mattie Lou drives, cuts a couple acres of grass, and works hard in her yard. And she's been fixing up her niece's house to rent or sell.

My cousin Cheryel has given my Dad copies of old family photos.  The only problem is that we sometimes can't identify everyone so Daddy has copies made and sends them to Mattie Lou.  Since Mattie Lou has been so wonderful with her photo identifications and stories, I thought I'd make her a pair of fingerless mitts to wear while working outdoors.  She said her favorite color is purple.  Here they are:

 

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a really good picture before shipping them off to Mattie Lou.  The color is a beautiful deep purple called Petunia.  The yarn is Berroco Vintage and the pattern is one of my all time favorites, Welted Fingerless Gloves by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas.  I think this yarn has now become one of my favorite yarns for this pattern.  It knits up with crisp stitch definition and just knits up beautifully for this pattern.  And it's easy care to boot. 

Happily, Mattie Lou reports that she just loves them. 

Happy knitting!

Snow Day in Alabama

We're having a rare snow day here in middle Alabama and everyone is so excited!

Hard to believe we had 5 inches!

We have to enjoy it while we can because by nightfall, most of it will be gone except in the shady areas and higher elevations. 

I got to try out my new boots in the snow too!  I bought them on deep discount last year and have been looking forward to wearing them.  I'm happy to report they wore beautifully.

And here's one more photo taken at first light.

Happy Knitting everyone!

Sunday Dessert - A Recipe

Every weekend, I make a dessert for Sunday dinner.  Sometimes, I try a new recipe but most times, it's just an old family favorite.  I thought I'd start occasionally sharing those recipes with you.
Here's what I made this morning:

Mom's Buttermilk Pie
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pie crust

Mix all ingredients thoroughly by hand.  Pour into pie crust and place in the lower section of the oven on a baking sheet lined with foil.  Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

This is a classic Southern recipe and although it has buttermilk in it, you can't taste it at all.  This was my Mother's recipe.

If you try it, let me know.  I'd love to hear from you!

The Stash

The stash.  Every knitter has one.  It starts out innocently enough but then grows.  And grows.  It's all those leftover balls of yarn from projects, and yarn that you bought for something in particular but then you either don't get around to knitting it or the yarn just doesn't work out for the pattern.  And it's that yarn that was on sale and well, you could use it for something.  And then there are the pretties that just jump in your basket at the yarn shop.

Back in the summer, my stash was threatening to take over.  Part of it was in bins, all tucked away nice and neat.  But the rest of it looked like this. 

Bags of yarn, stashed here and there around the house.  I decided that it was time to not just get things under control but to enter my stash into Ravelry.  But before I could get even halfway through, I was distracted.  Well, more like overwhelmed what with all the picture taking and entering of each skein.  And then Thanksgiving weekend, I became determined to finish and by doing small bits almost day, I had it finished by the end of the year.  I'm proud to say it now all looks like this:

Before I started this project, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what was in the stash but I quickly found out that I was wrong.  Way wrong.  I found some surprises along the way like that second skein of Cascade 220 in black that I didn't know that I had (I was wanting to make a hat) along with some other happy finds.  And I found some surprises that can only be described as "what was I thinking???"

I'm so glad that I finally took the time to organize my stash into Ravelry.  A few weeks ago, I wanted to make Churchmouse Yarns' Walking Rib Cowl.  I consulted the pattern and since I didn't have the called for Rowan Felted Tweed Aran, I did a quick search of my stash in Ravelry and there it was, a suitable substitute, Berroco Blackstone Tweed.  I pulled it out of the bin and was soon on my way to a new cowl.

I  have to confess that I still have a basket of Peaches and Crème to enter into Ravelry.  But that will have to be another day.

The Blanket of the Ages

 

After months of knitting and tracking down Noro #269, My Mitered Crosses Blanket aka The Blanket of the Ages aka THE Blanket is finished. 

 

Here it is with one of my Dad's tractors.  I was getting ready to do photos on Sunday when he suggested that we do like Elizabeth does and hang it on the barn but only if I'd take a picture of the blanket with one of his tractors!  So, Dad, here you are......

 

The squares have been finished since the middle of May but it has taken me all summer to get it sewn up and the border on.  

 

As always with any blanket, I leaned a lot.  My friend, Martha, and I did a private lesson in seaming back at the first of June.  I sort of thought I knew how to seam but wanted to learn the proper way.  And I had read about applied I-cord binding, which for some reason, I thought it would be hard.  As with a lot of things in knitting, if I somehow have the idea that it will be hard, it isn't.  Applied I-cord, in my opinion, is not hard, just fiddly.

 

I have to tell you though that while I was seaming this, I got to thinking that 24 squares wasn't exactly one of my better ideas.  But really the seaming wasn't too bad after I got into the rhythm.  But then while I was doing the border, with the A/C turned down to accommodate the blanket in my lap, 24 squares was perfect again.  And as Martha pointed out when she saw the photo, those extra squares were worth it.  And she is right.

 

When finishing a blanket, at least for me, I look at the finished piece and I see much, much more than just a blanket and lots of garter stitch.  There's a trip to Kentucky to see the fellas and Walker kindly posing for a photo holding a square, knitting at lunch with Martha, knitting in the ER with my Mom (once she and Daddy got so bored they wound yarn for me!), knitting in the hospital with my Mom.  And then my Mom's last days when the I couldn't seem to pick up the correct number of stitches, so I put it down but having it there with me was a comfort.  And afterwards, the endless rows of garter stitch became comforting.  There's also lots of laughter while visiting with family and friends.

 

Someone asked if I'd do this again.  And I would.  I think I'd like to try it in a different yarn and maybe a different weight (fingering weight anyone?) and I'd like to do one without changing colors in the miter.  But I think I'll wait a bit before I start another one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seen in.........

Hayden, AL

The Never Ending Blanket

Remember the Mitered Crosses Blanket I've been working on since back last summer?  Well, I'm still motoring right along the highway of garter stitch.  Right now, I have big stack (22 squares worth) of Noro goodness.

I keep thinking that this thing is taking FOREVER and then I remember that it's my own fault. You may recall that the original pattern calls for 10 squares.  I knew from the beginning that I wanted 12.  And then I decided that 12 squares was a little smaller than I really wanted so I added just four more  to make it 16.  Then before I knew it, I was up to 20.  And a couple of months ago, I decided that I really wanted it big enough to cover me so I added four more squares for a total of 24.

I am happy to report that I am on square 23 and I can see the light!

Now that I'm nearing the end, I find myself both looking forward to finishing that last square and missing the knitting of the squares.  This blanket has taken me through a tough time this winter and spring.  It has been my friend and my solace.