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.