Short Break

After a short break, I'm back here blogging all the dullness of my life for you.  I know you're all thrilled.  

I don't know what it was.  Maybe it's getting back into the swing of working.  Maybe it's the weather.  Maybe it's as I mentioned earlier, my life is just dull.  Whatever the reason, I needed a break.  But now, I'm back to bore you once more.  

In the midst of my blogging break, I finished the first charity hat of the year.  This one is for the Seaman's Church Institute. 

This was knit with that Red Heart granny square yarn, and I like the way it striped up.  I may make a few more out of this type of yarn, even after I use up this skein.  

Speaking of using up skeins, a few years ago, I bought some yarn from a company in Canada called Ravenswood Fibers.   They have some really gorgeous colors, but I didn't like the yarn itself so much.   I thought it was loosely spun, frayed in spots, and quite splitty.  

Anyway, I'd knit a beret from one of the skeins and gave it as a Christmas gift.  It only used up half of the hank, so I cast on what was supposed to be a cowl with the rest of it.  After I'd finished, I didn't like the result.  I even posted that I didn't like the result, but that I wasn't going to re-do it. 

I'd let it sit for a while, and find someone who would appreciate it.  However, after three years in the gift drawer, I still didn't like it and decided to do something about it. Yesterday, I got it out and sent the whole thing to the frog pond, and let the yarn soak in a big bowl of water

until the kinks relaxed.  

Then I squeeze the water out, rolled it in a towel, and now it's hanging over my shower curtain drying.  I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet.  It's just under 200 yards, so that kind of limits my options.  I'd thought I'd do one of my hats, but I'm sure that won't be enough.  Maybe I can find a headband pattern or something.  Or a 4 X 4 ribbed cowl.  I don't know.  I'll figure something out. 

In the meantime, work on my Jazz Rhapsody hat is still ongoing. 

I really hate that moths got to this yarn, because it's knitting up so pretty.  I've had to make several more joins because of those moths, but I'll eventually get it finished, and it'll be all the more beautiful for its flaws.

In other news, I finally got around to hanging my painting back up over my entertainment center. 

For those of you who don't know the story, one of the teachers at my elementary school took up painting after she retired.  Before she died, she gave this one to my cousin with the instruction that it was for me.  It has been hanging in my living room ever since, except for when I take it down to put out my fall, then Christmas decorations. 

As far as the weather goes, we hit our high of 56° right around noonish, and the temps have been steadily dropping ever since.  The coldest temps won't hit until tomorrow night, but since I was up and about today, I  went ahead and wrapped my outside faucet and stuck a bucket over it. 

I've got one of those Styrofoam blocks to put over the one on the South side of the house, but this one on the North side is a double faucet, and those things don't fit.  Thus, I had to redneck it.  Hey, whatever works. 

I had planned on moving all my food back into the deep freezer then covering it all with jugs of water just in case the power went out, but when the models started moving away from us having any accumulation, I changed my mind.  I mean, we do have the possibility of light snow and a little bit of accumulation, but the worst of it will be well to the south of us.  They're predicting up to 5" of snow down on the coast, but nothing here.  Well, nothing to speak of, that is.   

Anyway, thinking of the cold that is to come, yesterday at work, I got a hankering for pumpkin soup.  I'd found an can of pumpkin puree in the pantry that I'd forgotten I had, and was trying to figure out what to do with it.  Yes, I considered a pie, but I still have pie in the freezer from Thanksgiving -- that I keep forgetting about, so that idea got shelved.  Then the idea of pumpkin soup came to me.  

After work, I checked online for a recipe because I'd already been to the store this week and didn't want to go back, and wonder of wonders I already had all the ingredients except for heavy cream.  Next step was to look up substitutes for that, and evaporated milk was one of them.  I have some at home, so no extra trip to the store for me.  Yay. 

I was going to make the soup today, but had to eat up the gumbo first.  Not a problem.  I had the last bowl for supper tonight, so tomorrow I'll make the pumpkin soup.  

I guess that's all the dullness I have to bore you with tonight, so I'll end this and go watch football.  And knit some more.   And maybe look for a pattern I can use that yarn with. 

Laters.