Fried Chicken = Family Reunion

Wherever there’s vast amounts of fried chicken, there’s bound to be a family reunion or at the very least, some sort of family gathering.  You see it sitting out on the table in the boxes or buckets so everyone knows where it came from, the local grocery store, KFC, or Jack’s Hamburger’s.  That way everyone can pick their favorite.  Crispy?  Extra crispy?  Spicy?  Sadly though, it’s mostly bought chicken now.  Rarely do you see real homemade chicken.  Most “homemade” are breaded frozen chicken fingers that someone cooked.  I can remember the time when my Mother would fry chicken all morning for a family gathering.  My cousin asked at a recent family gathering what happened to my Mother’s chicken and I told him in the kindest way possible, “it’s a fond memory”. 

All this talk of fried chicken means that I’ve been to family reunions, two in the past two weeks and both on my Mother’s side.  Two weeks ago, I went Welti, up in Cullman County.  The reunion there was held at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, founded by my great-great-great (I think that’s enough greats) grandfather.  Many of his decedents still go to church there. 

Last week, I was off to Kimberly with yet more covered dishes, including this strawberry cake, a family recipe from my Dad’s side of the family.  When I got there, the cake looked like this: 

Here’s what I brought home:

Scarf Knitting

All of this shopping for food, cooking, and reunioning hasn’t left me as much time to knit as I would have liked but I’ve been cruising right along on my Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf, a fine pattern from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas.  I’m past the 4” mark now. 

I’ve read how some folks don’t particularly care for the linen stitch because it’s time consuming and it is.  I didn’t care for doing the gauge, and not because I was eager to get started, but because just about the time I got into a rhythm, I was at the end of the row.  With 450 stitches on the needles for the scarf, there’s plenty of time to get into a rhythm.  Having stitch markers every 50 stitches is a lifesaver – you goof up and you know you only have 50 stitches to deal with.  And, I have discovered a few things while working on this scarf:

1.  I can’t carry on an involved conversation while knitting it

2.  I have to count the end stitches to make sure I still have 50 stitches since this is where I tend to lose one or two.

3.  Ripping out 450 stitches is painful and putting them back on the needles is time consuming

4.  Since you cut the yarn at the end of the row, you can’t tell if you need to knit or purl the next row and where to even start if you do figure it out so different color markers to designate knit and purl sides are a must.  Oh, and as insurance, a sticky note as to which is which stuck on the pattern.

Last week at Knit Night, I found myself standing in front of the KPPPM and thinking about another Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf, in blues or purples. 

Knit Night = Yarn Shopping

Last Thursday night, I went to my LYS's Knit Night and came home with this:

On the left is Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Dewberry and on the right is Madeline Tosh Light in Kale.  The Kidsilk is destined for Birch and I hope to get it made by a wedding I'll be attending in mid-November.  The Tosh is for Catherine's Shawl.

I love Knit Night.  I can knit and chat with other knitter, pick up anything I might need, and pet the yarn.  And I usually manage to bring some of the yarn home with me. 

 

A Long Weekend and a Road Trip

So, last Thursday's a week ago, my parents and I headed to one of my favorite places in the whole world - Berea, KY - for a long weekend away.  We have family there and I am always looking for an excuse to visit and to shop in the craft stores, stop for a coffee at Berea Coffee and Tea, and most important, visit the boys out at the farm.

My parents stayed on the square at historic Boone Tavern , while I stayed just down the street with my cousin. 

My parents absolutely loved staying here and are already looking forward to staying again sometime.  The hotel was built in 1909 after Mrs. Frost, the college president's wife, told her husband that something had to be done after hosting 300 guests in ONE summer!  At that time, college visitors and prospective students stayed with the Frosts. Just thinking about hosting 300 people in my home in one summer just boggles my mind!  Much of the furniture in the rooms were built by the college students. 

Mother and I stopped in at the Promenade Gallery on Center Street and I bought these:

Handcrafted knitting needles.  Aren't they gorgeous?  These happen to be a size 7.  I haven't used them yet but am so looking forward it.  They also had crochet hooks, which Mother bought, and needle gauges.

No visit to Berea is complete without a visit to the farm to see three of the most precious little boys ever! 

This is the view from the front porch.  This front porch has the most amazing front row seats to the sunset.  Unfortunately, it rained while we where there so we missed ou

It was great to see everyone and to catch up.  We came home already looking forward to going again.  





Playing Catch-Up

I'm a bit behind on the blogging this month.  My power cord went out on my laptop on the 4th and it took several days to get a new one.  During the meantime, Mother has been in the hospital.  I did get a lot of knitting done that Sunday in the ER.  That Sunday, I finished the scarf portion of my Two-Way Ruffle Scarf, a beautiful pattern by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas.  Here it is in all of it's fluffy, soft glory before blocking.  Mother and I (OK.  Mother) steam blocked it this afternoon.  Photos to be coming soon.

A Finished Object to Report
I finally took pictures of my Multnomah post blocking.  Ya'll, this is a good example of the miracle of blocking.  A nice wash and then a nice rest on my guest bed just did wonders for this.  I'm so looking forward to wearing this but since this is Alabama, that will probably won't be until the end of October.

Here's my current take-along work in progress.  The Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf, another wonderful pattern by Churchmouse.  I'm using three colorways of Koigu KPPPM.  When I was buying the Koigu at my LYS last month, Heather, one of the super ladies who works there, advised me to choose colors that make me happy.  She was right.  And I'm glad I took her advice. 

This represents 1 week and 1 day of knitting - 1 1/4". This counts two hours of knitting time at the doctor's office on Monday and working primarily on this.  The fingering yarn combined with a 450-stitch cast on and working the linen stitch makes going a little slow but after a couple of stitches, I get a rhythm going and work pretty quickly.  When working on this in public, I have gotten a lot of compliments on it.  I just hope I have as many when I wear it this winter!

In other knitting news, I'm still working on Tristan's Blankie of Many Colors and I've started a birthday bib for Liam.  Pictures of those to be coming soon. 

Speaking of birthday bibs, hop on over to Three Boys and a Thousand Hills and read about the birthday bibs I made for Walker and Tristan (you'll need to scroll down to the July 12 entry) and see the bibs in action!

Let Freedom Ring!

What I Did Last Weekend

Last weekend, I had a mini-vacation of sorts.  I house, dog, and cat sat for some friends who live in Birmingham and live near the Galleria and Patton Creek, the epi-center of shopping for Birmingham.  Since I rarely get to those shopping centers, it was something of a novel experience to be that close.  My only duties were to give the dog and cats their food and fresh water and to walk the dog, leaving plenty of time to knit, watch movies, and shop. 

Like all knitters, I had problems deciding what knitting to take.  The clothes were no problem.  And since I was  working on Friday and Monday, I had to take work clothes too.    I ended up with one suitcase, one cosmetic bag, and three knitting bags!

Sophie was very curious about all my knitting stuff and particularly liked my yarn.  The lime green bag held all my needles, a knitting book, and some cotton yarn.  The blue bag had my log cabin and a few balls of yarn in case I finished the strip I was working on.  The black bag held my Multnomah, blanket square in progress, a swatch in progress for a baby hat, and my knitting tool kit.

Before I left, I had decided that I was just going to have a nice, relaxing weekend.  On Saturday, I had breakfast at Panera and then went to my LYS to hang out and knit and do some shopping.  While I was there, I finished my Multnomah.  Thanks to Heather for graciously taking my picture!  Remember, what you are seeing is just off the needles!

I've been admiring  Churchmouse Yarns and Teas patterns.  By the way, the photography is gorgeous! I understand that Jared Flood did the photography for their patterns and so  Bainbridge Island is now on my must-see places. 

The Koigu is for the Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf and the Rowan Kidsilk Haze is for the Two-Way Ruffled Scarf.

Over the weekend, I did a fair amount of knitting.  I finished a blanket square for Blankets for Birmingham, started a Picot-Edge Washcloth, worked on my latest Log Cabin,  finished the Multnomah, and swatched for a baby hat. And I admired my purchases and petted the yarn.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. 

Blueberry Jam

It's July here on the farm and it's Saturday, so that means it's time to make jam!  Today's flavor - Blueberry.  Made from blueberries picked from my Dad's blueberry bushes.

Here's the berry cooking equipment.  It's my grandmother's and the ladle is actually the dipper they used when they had a well.

As usual, while I was stirring the berries, I thought about how beautiful the color is and wouldn't a shawl just look gorgeous in this deep, rich, blueberry color. 

Check out that wooden spoon.  It's stained from several weeks of jam making. 

I also get a sense of satisfaction when filling the jars and I keep thinking that I'm doing exactly what my grandmother did, in that very kitchen, using those same tools.  And that baking pan the jars are sitting on?  That's my Mother's.  She's had that pan ever since I can remember and it is black from cooking thousands and thousands of biscuits over the years.

I was so involved in what I was doing, I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the process, including the jars.  I have to tell you - the sound of the jars sealing is a beautiful sound indeed.