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Thursday, February 3, 2011

A Bit of Stitching/Knitting, a Skeleton, SNOW and a Recipe

Last week was pretty crazy. We are getting ready to update our kitchen and spent quite a bit of time trying to decide exactly what we wanted to do before ordering the new cupboards. That left little time for blogging or stitching. I did, however, make a little progress on my mystery sock. Actually I have finished clue 3 which includes the gussets, but this photo only shows clue 2. This pattern requires some concentration, and I ended up doing some ripping on the third clue because I hadn't read the row numbers correctly.

Certain felines were somewhat interested in my progress on clue #3. Too bad they couldn't give me any advice! Their catnaps take precedence over absolutely everything.

Even though we were busy, we managed to keep up with our walking. One afternoon we noticed something quite intriguing near the sidewalk under the pines: leaf skeletons! Neither of us had seen anything like this before and later brought some more home to put in a vase. We think they are rhododendron leaves.

While we were merrily taking our walks in the sunshine, DD#1 and family were experiencing the great Chicago blizzard, and DS was feeling quite good for barely missing it. (He returned home from David's birthday weekend late Sunday.)
Check out the neighbor's garage door!
Hours and much shoveling later, the same driveway looked like this:

Last night I finally picked up my Christmas SAL, having put it away in November to concentrate on the holidays. At that time, it looked like this:

Here's the promised recipe for those of you who were interested. It freezes well, too! As for me, I'm off to work on letter "R," that reindeer.

Cranberry Nut Bread (I used gluten free flour and dairy-free margerine.)

1 cu. coarsely ground cranberries (Mix with ¼ cu sugar and set aside.)

Sift together:
1 cu. sugar
3 cu. flour
4 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 T. grated orange rind

Blend in:
1 cu. milk
3 T. melted butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
½ cu. chopped nuts

Fold in sweetened cranberries and pour into large greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cool and remove from pan.

(Will make 3 small loaf pans but you have to adjust the cooking time.)

19 comments:

Lapplisor said...

Liebe Judy
Heute schreibe ich Dir meinen Post in Deutsch ;-)
Bei Dir ist so viel passiert -
Ihr habt ja Unmengen Schnee. Da ist es sehr anstrengend, die Wege frei zu schaufeln.
Ich hoffe, dass die grossartigen Socken auch gut am Fuss sitzen. Das Muster sieht sehr interessant aus !
Auch Dein Weihnachts SAL wächst schön - weiterhin viel Freude damit !
- Für das Brotrezept danke ich Dir - sind die Preisselbeeren getrocknet ??
Die beiden Quilts sind "atem-raubend " ... sowas Schönes !!!
Ich wünsche Dir ein schönes Wochenende, und angenehmes Wetter.
♥ڿڰۣ♥ಌڿڰۣ«ಌ♥ڿڰۣ«ಌ♥ڿڰۣ«ಌ♥
Happy Stitching
♥☼♥Barbara♥☼♥

Kathy A. said...

Well hello hon.
Look at all that snow. I want my son to take a picture of our house at home so I can see how much snow we have there.
You know, I think I have that same Christmas sampler in my stash at home. I may have to dig it out!
Have a great week!

Cranberry Morning said...

I love that beautiful blue patterned mystery sock! Did you knit the sweater you're wearing in the photo?

So much snow...we've got it here too, but ours is still from before, not the new huge snowstorm that hit Chicago and Indiana. Our daughter is enjoying that one.

Do your cats help you blog too? My huge Lionel wants to lie on the keyboard!

Lynn said...

Looks so cold. Too cold.
What a beautiful shade of purple (or blue?). love the kitties, they look warm and cozy

Anonymous said...

Your sock looks great.

Cute kitty photo too. They look quite comfortable on the sofa.

Alisa said...

That quilt is lovely...what a cute pattern with all of the different coloured dresses!

Neuroknitter said...

All that snow in Chicago is mind boggling!!

Love the new sock! That leaf skeleton is really cool!!

Have a great weekend!! Happy knitting! :)

Becca said...

Hi Judy! I love the projects you are working on, and that photo of you with you helpers is so great! I have one of those on my lap right now rubbing his face on my computer screen! happy weekend my friend :-)

Pamela Kellogg said...

Judy, I must make more time for blog hopping! You have such wonderful things to see here! Except for the snow photos. Been there, done that! Still looking at the mess outside! Ha, ha, ha!

Love you with the kitty's! How sweet! And I have to try your Cranberry Nut Bread recipe. I have some cranberries in the freezer that I should do something with.

Oh and that leaf skeleton, we find those in the spring quite often here in northern Illinois. I think the inner parts of the leaf rot away in the Winter months leaving just the delicate veins behind. They're beautiful, aren't they?

Come July, when all this snow melts (ha, ha, ha) I'll find some in my yard, you know, when I can find my yard, and I'll post some photos.

Hugs,
Pam

Janet said...

Love the pattern and color of your mystery sock. How are you liking knitting from the toe up? Good luck with your Christmas SAL. I can't remember the last time I worked on mine. :-)

Kathy said...

The sock you are knitting is so pretty. I haven't knitted one from the toe up but would like to try. Thanks for the recipe, sounds good.

Kathy Raker said...

Judy,
How nice to remodel kitchen with new cupboards. Would love to do that someday too, except I would need a whole new kitchen. :)
Love the work on your sock, sweet design.

Cats look comfy, reminds me of our cat. The only time he wants to be close is when I'm working on something. LOL

I've heard of leaf skeletons, but never actually seen one. Maybe I haven't looked hard enough. Feel so sorry for Chicago and areas with such nastly weather. We just keep getting a little snow but then the ice and freezing rain on top. Today, again, wintry mix. Are you seeing signs of Spring? Remember turn clocks ahead March 13th.
Hugs
Kathy

hakucho said...

Your sock is coming along nicely. Love the color. I've never noticed leaf skeletons...very interesting.

This has been a really bad winter for everyone. Can't remember having this much snow before. Can't wait for spring :)

Have a nice weekend!

Abigail Rogers said...

I see that you are interested in pictures of England! Have you checked out my blog yet?

http://picturebritain.com/

Every day I post photographs of glorious vistas, charming close-ups, videos, recipes, and interesting tidbits of life in Great Britain for the pleasure of Anglophiles and photo-enthusiasts everywhere!

Charlene ♥ NC said...

Well, hello there! It's very nice to see you...but there seems to be less of you than I remember?? The recipe looks quite tasty! Pretty knitting, too. As for the snow...hope there's a meltdown very soon!

Kathy... said...

I love a good mystery sock every once in awhile. Yours looks very pretty. We are re-doing our kitchen too. Not an easy project!

We have had only 3 sizable snowfalls this winter, so no complaints from me. That's pretty mild. Last year we had tons of snow.....so we deserved an easy go this year.

Micki said...

I love the pic of you and the cats. I love knitting too. Boy, you got a lot of snow.
Micki

Barbara C said...

Your cats look like they should be technical advisors. Wouldn't it be nice if they could offer a bit of direction once in awhile? I'm sure they must know a thing or two about knitting.

Cool leaf skeleton.

kathy b said...

Came to you from Stitches of Violets comments. Love your sock. It is beautiful. I survived the Chicago blizzard.......loved your family's images.

I also love your cats . We have 3. I am having a small blanket knit drive for the shelter cats in my town. IF you mail one to me by 2/28 I'll enter your name in a raffle for a yarny prize. LEt me know if you want to and I'll send you my snail mail address