"Frogging"

I was reading "Knitting Rules!" and was alarmed to read about the differences there can be when knitting on circular needles as opposed to straight needles. Huh. So that's why the body of the wallaby felt so much different than the sleeves! Rather than face the task of ripping out the sleeve and knitting again with smaller needles I set it aside for a while in order to gain courage for the "frogging" (rip it, rip it). It's not much fun to see all your hard work end up in a little pile of yarn. Instead, I finished the first sock of a pair for Laura and worked on a project for Janet (her b-day is first--and no, I'm not showing you a picture or even giving you a hint as to what it might be). Hopefully you'll like it, Janet. But if not, I'm having fun making it. When I've had time to recover from the pain of undoing an arm of a sweater (hours of work!) I'll be back.

Brain Candy or Meat?

Now that summer is almost here and there is no pressure for me to finish these leg warmers for Laura, I thought I would take a break from the monotony of K1, P1 endlessly in the round. They are a good project to keep in the bottom of my knitting bag for those times when conversation takes a little more attention than nodding at the odd comment one's husband makes. Don't get me wrong. There is no one's company I would rather be in than B's but I always need my hands busy with handwork. These perfectly fit the bill. I can knit to my heart's content yet make intelligent responses to his remarks. Yet my brain needs a little more challenge once in a while (like at 10 at night when the house is winding down and everyone is heading off to their rooms to be by themselves). So out comes a sweater or a project with a few cables to help ward off that dreaded disease that seems to hit those who don't keep their minds working. Brain Candy or Meat?

Food--Carolina Style

When we were in North Carolina we enjoyed so many foods that we do not eat here on the west coast. I mean, this food will put the pounds on! IN FACT IT DID! (much to my chagrin.) For breakfast they start you out with fruit and juice. Fair enough. Then you get your "grits". Since I didn't know what that was I had to try it. (Think: course Cream of Wheat.) But the waitress suggested cheese because that's the way she liked it. Well, I don't. I would rather have butter and sugar on my "Cream of Wheat". But, of course, I didn't know that that was what it was. Enough of porridge. Next they bring out the biscuits and gravy. Not knowing what that was I had to try that too. Guess what? It's buscuits and gravy. NEXT you get your eggs and sausage and bacon too, if you want. Swallow it all down with good old perked coffee and you've got your authentic "down south breakfast". Not to be indulged in very often. I'd say, once every 25 years or so.

At the conference we enjoyed some more "down home cooking". The staff was so generous that when I jokingly asked for a recipe she ran and got it for me. Try this in your kitchen:

PINEAPPLE CASSEROLE

1. 6 cans of crushed pineapple
2. 1 gal sugar
3. 1/2 cup of Vanilla
4. 1 & 1/2 quarts of milk
5. 2 quarts of eggs
6. 2 cups of butter
7. 1 & 1/2 gallons of broken bread crumbs

Last thing before baking, mix bread crumbs with butter and spread on top of mixture.

Makes 6-7 200 pans

You can break this down into halfs or thirds.

(Does anyone want to try? It would be more manageable for 12 servings. I really liked this. It would go well with a baked ham for a holiday dinner.)

Sushi

Yum!! sushi!!

When we think we've worked hard and if there is time Heidi and I often go to the mall and get some Americanized sushi or we go to Starbucks for a frappachino. Today will be a sushi day. I've learned to like yams, as in yam roll, since it came with a special, one time. It's tempura fried and wrapped up in a roll--so good!

BORDER CROSSING BLUES

Since we live seven miles from the US/Canadian border on the Canadian side we often go over to the US to get gas. Monday was a holiday here in Canada and we thought we would go get gas as well as go to the Outlet Mall. Well. When we got to the border we had no trouble crossing but looking at the other side we realized it would not be so easy getting back. Already at 1:00 there were cars backed up for miles trying to get back into Canada. So what to do? Go about what we were planning to do and then try to get home. We went from one border crossing to another to another to see if they were less crowded and decided to give up and have a pizza. That was a pretty good consolation. I really don't mind waiting in line because I usually bring my knitting with me. What I don't like is the cars that forge their way ahead of you because they are more important and need to get back to Canada faster than you do! They often stop at the duty free which lets them bypass a lot of cars, buy a pack of gum, hop back into their cars and go to the head of the line. I've often thought they should make the duty free a mile further from the border to discourage line jumpers. But I suppose that would discourage duty-free shopping as well.
BTW I paid no duty on the shirts I bought at the Outlet Mall.

Wonderful Wallaby

Monday, May 22, 2006
What's wonderful about the wallaby is that it is so easy and fast to make. I like to make sweaters for new babies and the wallaby really fits the bill. It'a a knitted hooded sweater with a pocket in the front. If I work at it I can get one done in two weeks. But I need pressure, like a baby shower deadline, to do that. Right now I have plans to make five of them. My niece had a baby in January and I'm just working on the first sleeve. (See what I mean about pressure?) She knows I'm sending her something and unless she reads this she may not know what. Also there are four other young moms-to-be that I really would like to make one for as well.

Another wonderful thing about the wallaby is that you can make it in any size. The pattern goes from "two years" to "extra large adult". I've made a few in the larger size and it definitely takes quite a bit longer. H and La have each received one and LeA wants one in brown. That should be fun since I rarely work in brown.

North Carolina 2006

Wow! North Carolina was beautiful. The weather was great, the food stupendous, and the fellowship even better.

Their "mountains" were hills compared to the Rockies we have in our backyard here in BC. But the foliage was so different. There were very few evergreens but so many deciduous trees that all you could see driving down the freeway was GREEN. Of couse, it's not as suburbanized as it is here on the west coast. I like like that. The trees, I mean.

The food was very good. Fried okra, pineapple casserole, grits, biscuits and gravy, onion casserole, salmon (yes, even in the east), banana pudding torte (for lack of a better name). If I ate like that all the time I would easily be well over 200 lbs. Anyway, it was nice not to have to cook for a week.

And I love to travel. Part of the fun for me is getting there. B doesn't like it, though. Air travel makes him sick. I know the kids really enjoyed the whole trip. They met a lot of their friends and met many new ones too. As a matter of fact, even I saw people I had not seen since Otter Lake over 25 years ago!

JM and T were good to put us up the last day. We stayed in their guest house which was just like a bed and breakfast. Deluxe. They had picked us up at the airport before the conference and brought us back after. A two hour trip each way. How could we not take them out to eat on the last day at a Mexican restaurant? That too was very authentic. For me anyway. It was very much like California Mexican food. Good.

Well, I finished H's socks. But not sure if she really likes them. Maybe she would rather have a sweater?

North Carolina Conference

We're off to Carolina! North, that is, for a conference. It's a "first trip" to the east for most of the family. (I was born in PA.) I'm so looking forward to it. It's going to be so much fun. I'm hoping to see lots of folks we've met out here at Walla Walla and Burbank conferences. We leave here about 3pm today, hopefully. LeA is getting off work before 3, come home and take a shower and then finish packing. Good luck. T is suppose to get off at 4pm but said he will try to get off early. Ha! I looked in his room and his suitcase is half packed. L is still at school and doesn't get home til 3. I think some of her clothes are in the wash! Plus she has to go to the barn to muck out 5 stalls and that usually takes her an hour and 15 minutes. H is still packing boxes to ship for her ebay store. I doubt she is packed. She's usually the last one out the door. B is just off loading a shipment from our van. He can pack in a minute. I guess so, since all he has to do is pull shirts and pants off the shelf. Believe it or not my suitcase is packed. I told B that and he quickly found something to do for him. When that's done I'm going to clean up the house so that G and D don't think we're complete slobs when they come in to feed the cats. Then change my clothes and I''m ready!

The reason why we're leaving so early is because we want to get to the Blaine post office before it closes. We have a package to mail to BTP that should get out. Also, the girls want to pick up a package at the shipping store. It has a hair straightener that they want to take on the trip. Also, B wants to eat pizza at a certain store in Blaine that makes better pizza than Moki's, if you can believe it. But our plane doesn't leave till 10:20 tonight. So if we don't get out of here til 5 it's not like we're going to miss our flight barring some kind of accident.

I'm taking two sock projects with me to work on. One is jaywalk and the other is just a generic pattern that is mindless and something that will be easy to do in the airport or on the plane. See ya!