Pumpkin Sunrise

So yesterday I decided to make a mushroom quiche .  Keep in mind that every time my husband walked by I had to hear a clip of "Sweet Lorraine" by Uriah Heep......only he was singing "Quiche Lorraine"....such simple pleasures.  I looked about the internet and the audio clips were just too darn long so I am not linking.  I heard the song clip enough from him. For the quiche recipe I added asparagus and green pepper.  I omitted the onion.  I also used canola oil instead of butter to saute the vegetables. Anyways,  I needed some pastry dough.  I have to admit that I am that kind of a person that buys my pie crust premade and prewrapped in the refrigerator aisle by the eggs.  Would you believe that I did not have any in the house and I kept forgetting to buy it?  I know....I am slacking off around here. So I decided to make it from scratch from a recipe that I have used for the past 23 years.  I know you are supposed to use shortening or butter but I dis

Our weekend was fantastic but a little different, it was hard to find a rhythm without the kids.  We do like our new quiet life overall.  It's just.....different!  We spent Saturday morning chatting with the kids and just relaxing about.  I knitted some and read some.  My husband played guitar. In the afternoon, we decided to drive to Barnes and Nobles and browse about the store.  After that, we dropped in the grocery store and stocked up on some items that are unavailable in our town.  "What could you possibly not be able to get in your town?" You may ask.....well red lentils, of course!  My husband can make a fantastic daal that goes with his curry and the regular lentils do not taste as good.   That evening we made a great stir fry with mushrooms, asparagus and some turkey.  Yum!  Once the dishes were done, we watched Dodgeball .  It was pretty bad, but we were laughing through it so was it really that awful? Today we attended Mass, which was weird wit

Joining Amanda at Soulemama

This is my knitting bag. Don't you just love the grumpy upside down smile?  It is the Zuma bag made by Namaste.  Boy oh boy, can this bag hold a lot of stuff.  I can carry at least two projects and more "stuff".  Here's a photo with all the projects in side. This is with the sweaters out of the bag and you can see the rest of the yarn and supplies that are inside.  I usually print out my patterns from ravelry and fold them in half.  For awhile I was using my ipod but my eyes are failing me and I cannot see the charts....I have an appointment in September and I am sure that the optician will once again do wonders to by seeing ability.  A miracle! This is the inside of the grumpy zipper.  It does hold a lot.  The little bags inside were made by dear sister and they contain stitch markers, stitch holders, stitch clips and needles. How do you carry your knitting around?  Do you have a favorite bag?

I finished Anne's House of Dreams  which I thoroughly enjoyed.  This book flowed easily and the subplots were very interesting.  Anne loves to help people find their happiness.  There is also an event that shadows Anne's happiness.  She truly is a wonderful character who has an upbeat way of tackling the sadness of life and embracing wholeheartedly the goodness of life.  And so I begin number six in the series. For knitting, I am on the body of the mustard seed cardigan  and the body of my wren cardigan .  One is worsted weight and is going very quickly.  The other, sadly, is on size four needles and is pokey pokey slow going.  Oh well, I believe it is all my fault....right?  I know I will love both sweaters when they are complete.  I am certain that everyone should try a top down construction of a sweater-I guarantee you will convert from the sweaters that you have to sew the pieces together. I am thoroughly loving the cold mornings!  Seems to me that fall is arou

Over the weekend, I finished the shawl for my mother in law.  I am quite pleased with it.  I would definitely make the Holden Shawlette  pattern again.  It was very easy to follow and I was able to memorize most of the pattern, which means I could knit and talk at the same time.  Can't beat that! I did make some minor modifications.  I repeated the chart three times instead of two and a half.  I also decided not to do the picot edging.  I felt it would have been a little to busy visually with the yarn being multicolored and I was afraid I might not have enough yarn.  I did do the stretchy purl bind off.   This is the second time I have knit with Ella Rae Lace Merino  and I just love it.  It is very springy and the dyeing technique never leads to pooling of the colors.  The yarn also blocks beautifully!!

Yep, that is our son's stuff.  A bit too much stuff if you ask me.  Would you believe that we jammed the Accord to the brim and we still had room for our kid!  Anyways, the move in was quite painless.  The university had the process all streamlined which made my husband and I very grateful.  His roommate and family were already moved in and helped with all of our stuff.  So nice!! These are brandy new dorm suites and he is lucky enough to have a corner room so he has two windows instead of one. He shares a bathroom with his roommate, no walking down the hall to a shower or bathroom.  I hope the boys will occasionally clean their bathroom.....The views from his room are nice (except for a dumpster-so just don't look down, look across). Today he starts classes and over the weekend he attended lots of orientation meetings.  None of the meetings will take away the apprehension of your first days of school at university.   We said our goodbyes quickly and then we left.  It fe

Through the night hurricane Irene arrived in northeastern PA.  We live about 2 1/2 hours from NYC (with traffic being manageable).  When I went to bed, I really did not think much about how it would affect us.  So it was a big surprise to have 40 mph winds and lots and lots of rain.   My husband and I took a walk with Frodo after dinner (remember we are now empty nesters) and I brought my camera.   My weekend was filled with gratitude because: -we fit everything in the Accord when we moved our son (pictures to follow tomorrow!) -we had a really quiet laid back weekend.  With a revolving conversation of "what do you want to do?"  and the answer "I don't know, what do you want to do?" -I have received some texts from the kids with snippets of their lives.  Enough to know everything is okay but not enough to satiate my curiosity.   -I have so much time to knit like a demon possessed. -AND most of all I only had two loads of laundry this weekend instead of fou

Joining Amanda at Soulemama

I really enjoy being able to see my favorite yarns and books and that is why there is a knitting nook in my family room.  I do not have a craft room but I am totally fine with that.  In the family room is where I do my knitting.  This table (made by my husband years ago) holds everything I need.  It is also my inspiration.  I can look at the hanks of yarn that I have purchased and think about what I might make of them.  I have a jar of neutral buttons (another big tin can upstairs holds the rest of my button collection).  There is a big box on the bottom shelf that contains all of my knitting needles and markers that I do not use regularly.  This nook is where my favorite yarns have a home.  The huge wire basket holds all of my lace weight yarn.  It is supposed to hold a vegetables after picking them from the garden.  Harvesting hanks of fiber is much more fun for me.  The dog in the photo is Zoe.  She was a much loved pet who died in December 2009.  We loved her so much that we dec

I started a new book this week!   Anne's House of Dreams  which is book number five in the Anne of Green Gable series.  Anne is now finally married (took her long enough!) and she is living in a new town with of course more neighbors and friends to interact with.  I have been thoroughly enjoying re-reading this series and remembering the plots as they occur.  It is a wonderful trip down memory lane. For knitting I have been working on my tea leaves cardigan .  I am loving every stitch of the project!  The yarn ella rae classic  is perfect.  It has spring and bounce and just enough elasticity.  I have finished the increases for the yoke and now just need to complete the stockinette portion until I get to the armholes.  I will be dividing up the sleeves and body. The weather here has changed for the better.  There is a crisp feeling in the evening that was missing two weeks ago.  The sun is setting a little earlier each evening and it just feels different.  I know if we do get a h