I'm Free! I'm Free!

Well, until December 4th. Today was our last day of work before Thanksgiving. We are caught up enough on our scheduled work that they gave us all of next week off. I have vacation the week after that, so I don't have to go back for 17 days. I'm going to be ruined. The longer I'm off, the less I want to go back.

I actually had a productive afternoon. We got off at lunch (11:00 AM), and I was able to clean Slider's tank and measure him. I can't believe I haven't measured him in 6 months. I'm usually more diligent than that. Anyway, he had grown a whopping 8" since his last measurement, and he now is 41" long.

Then I finished baby Paul's hat and lined all four up for a picture:


I did Paul's a little different. I knit the ribbing flat, then switched to DPNs and did the body of the hat in the round. Once I was finished, I had the little bit of seam to sew up, but it wasn't like having a big honking wad of junk going up the back of your head. The ribbing was much tighter doing it this way, too. Still not perfect, but it's getting better. I think it must be this yarn. I've never had this much trouble with ribbing before.



Speaking of yarn, I was in Wal-mart and found some alpaca blend. I was a bit disappointed with it. Granted, it was mostly acrylic, but I still figured it'd be softer than it was. I didn't buy any. I want to start using more natural fibers, but 1) they can be way expensive, and 2) I have to use up my stash first. I was doing pretty good using up my stash until my mother cleaned out her closet and sent me her stash. So my stash is about triple what it was at this time last year.

I managed to get ahold of the GE people again. They are going to find someone different to send out. They are also going to send me $25 for the inconvenience of having to wait so long to get my washer fixed.

Yesterday I posted the recipe for Sweet Potato Delight. Since I always overestimate the amount of sweet potatoes needed for that recipe, I usually have enough to make a couple of today's recipe:

Sweet Potato Pie

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Combine butter, sugar, salt, and spices in a large mixing bowl. Add potatoes and eggs. Beat until smooth. Gradually add milk and vanilla, beating well. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 350' for 1 hour until set.

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