I have an excellent excuse

And the excuse is ... I am out of sock yarn.  I blame Ravelry for reminding me that I'm out of sock yarn.  That, and the fact that socks are so much better for the train than something with long needles.  So I went to the Sweet Georgia website and joined their July, August and September yarn club.  As a message from the stars, signup was open until June 30th.  Perfect.  I have always wanted to join a yarn club.  Now I have.

I have actually completed a Christmas gift ...

... in June!!  The pattern for these socks was free from the Vogue Knitting Free patterns website.  The pattern is called Serendipity.  They were very easy, very fast.  If I made them again, which I'm unlikely to do because there are so many other patterns to be knit, I would pick a plainer colour way.  It is very difficult to see the pattern in these with all of the changing colours.  I still like how they turned out and they are now in my brand new Christmas gift pile.  We'll see how long it takes for other items to join them!

Wascally Wabbit

I debated about making this hat with the earflaps.  Worried that it would look a little too Elmer Fudd.  But I think it is really cute.  And a very fast knit.  And small so perfect for summer knitting.  I did have to redo the stitching around the edge.  My first go-around was too tight and I couldn't fit the hat on my rather large head.  Fortunately, loosening up the stitching was all that was required and we are now good to go.

Completely unrelated, I finally got my bike out of the garage and went for a good long ride on Saturday.  They moved my local farmers market from a walk away to a decent ride away.  I like an agenda when I ride.  So I went to the farmers' market, Monastery Bakery (and remembered that I don't really like shopping there - too busy, so everything seems to take forever) and then to the vet to pick up medication for one of the kitties.

Another 180 degree turn, I'm disappointed that England lost to Italy in the Euro cup in a shoot out.  I was cheering for France to win the whole thing (long shot, I know) but they lost yesterday.  Now I need to decide between Italy and Spain.  Italy because of some Italian heritage and Spain because wins for them would mean I don't finish too far behind in the pool!

Rhubarb Sorbet

We had company for dinner tonight and I was looking for a dessert that I didn't have to bake since it is hot outside.  We have air conditioning but I've always felt a bit funny about heating up the house via the oven and then making the air conditioning work extra hard to cool things down again.  Not terribly frugal.

Anyway, I was leafing through cookbooks and was inspired by the ice cream recipes but didn't have cream in the house and didn't feel like going to the grocery store again.

Then I saw sorbet recipes.  Hmmm, I thought.  I still have some rhubarb in the garden - although I would have to say this year has not produced a bumper crop - I wonder what a rhubarb sorbet would be like.  I was going to improvise and then decided, since I've only made ice cream twice before, that maybe I would take a surf around the net.  This sorbet did pretty much what my improvisation was going to be.  I made it.  It was delicious.  A very delicate rhubarb flavour and very refreshing.  I didn't have the ginger and, as  mentioned, did not want to make another trip to the grocery store so left it out.  I did have vanilla vodka so thought that made sense.  It was yummy.  And, I think the ginger would have masked the rhubarb flavour so was quite happy with the end result.

Random Garden Thoughts

1.  I think I would select daisies as my favourite flower, especially the painted ones.  These pink daisies are at the top of the list and I also like the crimson flowers that I can enjoy while sitting on the patio.  Then there are the white ones that bloom a little later in the summer.  They are a bit sturdier and seem to last a bit longer.  Of course, I also really like lilacs and peonies and black-eyed Susans and Echinecea and ...

2.  We picked up another rain barrel yesterday.  That makes 3.  The town sells them for less than 1/2 the store price once a year so you can't go wrong.  I think it is healthier for the plants and presumably saves a little money.

3.  The peas are almost ready to eat in quantity.  I did my annual stand in the garden and eat from the nearest pod this morning.  Peas never taste better than at that moment.

4.  We have some potatoes that will be ready to start digging shortly.

5.  I am loving the large quantities of herbs at my doorstep.  The cooking imagination can go in so many directions when so many lovely flavours are at hand.

6.  The only downside of summer - it was too hot to knit outside today.  Project-wise, I was working on a sweater which was part of the problem.  Need to get those summer projects lined up and ready for the hot weather.  I must stay productive and focused on the stash reduction - even though I picked up some more Noro on sale yesterday.  Ugh!

How Many Recipes?

It is raining outside so I'm tackling the big pile of cooking, knitting and quilting magazines that I have put aside with dog-eared pages to copy to my word program or clip into a binder.  This process is making me reflect.  How many recipes, knit and quilt patterns does one person need?  Is the real purpose of the ridiculous number of cookbooks, Fine Cooking, Bon Appetit and LCBO magazine issues inspiration or do I just have an obsession that I'm trying to justify?  Same goes for all of those knitting patterns.  Is this just another form of stash?  I don't really have any answers but I think I'm going to vote for inspiration and continue on with my organization.

Once again my eyes are bigger than my stomach

Southern Ontario strawberries are ready!!!  And it is cool outside so I decided to make jam.  Generally jam making always coincides with the hottest day of the year so I was quite motivated to get this done today.

I drove up to Springridge this morning and picked up lots and lots of strawberries.  I had decided before going that I was going to make 3 batches of jam ... straight-up strawberry, strawberry rhubarb (with orange peel this year) and strawberry kiwi (to use up the kiwis cluttering my refrigerator from my organic delivery service, Wanigan).   Success on the jam front - all have tasted great off the spoon, all the lids popped down and I only have one bowl in the refrigerator to enjoy immediately.

But I over-estimated the volume of strawberries required for this endeavour.  You would think after some signifiant experience in the area of jam making and general strawberry eating that I would have a clue by now of the volume that one person can consume but apparently not.  Oh well, a good excuse to make a strawberry crisp (crisp being my favourite dessert on the planet even outranking double chocolate chip cookies).  I sent a container over to the in-laws and I still have a lot left.

So, as in every other year, it looks like I'm going to follow my usual summer eating pattern - eat as much as I can before it goes out of season and remember that it will be another year before it tastes as good as this.

Rag Blanket

Rag blankets are fun to make.  This one is going to Project Linus and if I get this written quickly, I might have time to drop it off at Spun before they close.

I had leftover flannel from some baby blankets I made for the babies of 2 cousins so pulled it out, figured out the largest sized square that would let me make the maximum number of squares.  That size was 3 1/2 x 4 1/2".  The batting pieces were cut 1 1/2 x 2 1/2" and I sewed a corner-to-corner cross in chocolate brown across each fabric/batting sandwich.   Then I sewed them together with a 1/2" seam allowance (next time I would use 3/4" - it gives more room for sewing machine slippage - I had to fix a couple of spots that came apart in the washing machine).  

The best craft item I think I have ever purchased are the special scissors for snipping these blankets.  They seemed a frivolous purchase at the time but they are more comfortable in the hand and the blades are short enough that cutting through the seams is harder to do by accident.

I just love these blankets.  They are quick, easy and cozy.