Friday Home Treasure

 Today's treasure was my parent's. Most of my old treasures are from my family, and I have remembered them existing most of my life. 

This is a little Japanese carved frog that fits in the palm of my hand. I did a little research (Translation: I put "Japanese wood frog" in the search option on Ebay.com) and found out that it's made from Cryptomeria wood. It is amazingly light, kind of like balsam wood. Cryptomera is a Japanese cedar. 

Have a great weekend! I will soon give you an update on the side yard transformation. There's a flurry of activity out there presently.

Thursday

 There's some sort of weird pattern in today's activities. I was knee deep in German short rows and Asian short ribs.

First, I'm on the body of the yoke sweater now, and I'm about to do some German short row shaping. I've watched 3 different YouTube videos to be sure that I have it mastered. I have done short row wrap and turns many times, but German short rows are kind of new to me.

Second, I used my Instant Pot today. I'm late to the IP party. I bought one about a year ago on sale for about half price in a kitchen store in the mall. I was a bit scared of it for a while. Then, I spoke to some friends and decided to try. I use it maybe 2 or 3 times a month. A friend gave me a really good book that has step-by-step recipes.

So, I made the Asian short ribs.

They were good. The sauce was super strong, and you didn't need much. I served them over rice and totally forgot to steam the broccoli. Ah well, it will have to go with the leftovers tomorrow.

There will be side yard updates soon. Stay safe, readers. 

Wednesday

 I saw this on Facebook, and had to laugh. We could all use the humor right now...

I started another sweater. The Burrand Inlet sweater (on Ravelry) is a top down sweater pattern with a yoke. I had bought some yarn the other day on the sale rack at the yarn shop, specifically for this pattern. The yarn is 75% cotton and 25% merino. They had several colors on the sale rack. A very good price for a yarn that I wouldn't normally be drawn to. 

The purple is the main color. The gray is the contrasting color.

The pink slash means 30% off. A good deal!

I really like color work pattern. 

In other news, this mess on the side of the house outside the kitchen is going to change very shortly. Up against the wall, there used to be a raised bed built up with metal walls. It was put in by the previous owners over 30 years ago. The husband pulled it out and got rid of the extra dirt. Big changes coming! Stay tuned.

You can see where the dirt was by the change in color of the stucco. See you soon with progress.

Monday

 It's so windy in Maryland today! My hibiscus, which is on its last legs before winter sets in, has blown over multiple times today. I keep rearranging it, but the wind is just so strong.

The wind brought down an army of pinecones in the yard. Reggie loves to dismantle them. The sap on them is not good for dogs, so we tossed a bunch over the fence into the unfenced part of the yard.  Reggie managed to find another one that fell after we finished. I think it's going to be a never ending job today.

Yup. He knows that he's misbehaving...

In knitting news, I finished the cowl. It's soaking right now and will be blocked soon. It is quite narrow. Kind of like a loose turtleneck. Good for windy days like today, but I'll stretch it a bit in blocking. Here it is with a lovely spectrum coming through my Dad's prism in the window.

The colors in this yarn....I love it.

Have a good day, readers! Tomorrow is the "big day"! I will not miss the barrage of political ads on TV from both sides. If you haven't already, get out there and vote!

Home Treasure Friday

 Today's home treasure was owned by my father. I inherited it when he died about four years ago. I also inherited his roll-top desk that was his grandfather's. I have no idea where or when he got this monkey, but it has always been in my memory. Growing up, it sat on a shelf in the living room. Today, he sits on a shelf in the bookshelf portion of the roll-top along with some of my father's books. He looks pensive as he smokes his pipe. Much like I remember my father, a former academic who smoke a pipe up until the late 70's. He died at the age of 92, and had an amazing life. I mostly miss his dry humor and the way he would always end our phone conversations with, "Ok, kid". 

He was a much more distinguished primate than his little keepsake.

Thursday

I went somewhere yesterday with a friend in my "Covid pod". In other words, she's someone who I trust lives as I do and is not a risk. We get together now and then. So yesterday, we went to our local yarn store.

We were the only customers. Their rules are only 4 customers in the store at one time (not a problem in this case) and you have to make a bee-line to back of the store and wash your hands as soon as you arrive. And of course, you must wear a mask.

I bought some Malibrigo Rios worsted weight to make a cowl. It felt so foreign to go into a yarn store and buy yarn, yet it felt wonderful! It's been way too long.

It's a bit darker in real life, but you get the idea.

Here's the cowl that I'm going to knit with it...

It's mosaic, of course. My go to technique these days.

Tonight, I made the best meal that I've made in a long time. I found a recipe for roasted veggies and chicken thighs. I cook and eat a lot of chicken breasts. This was such a nice break from the norm. The recipe was amazing. It had bacon and apples and sage and thyme and rosemary...So good!! All the veggies caramelized and were out of this world. Here it is...

Autumn Chicken Dinner

Hope you have a good evening. Tomorrow is Home Treasure Friday!

Wednesday

 It's late Wednesday, but I thought I'd check in. Thank you all for your kind comments regarding my sweater and the cowl. 

The Dissent cowl is finished The flared front looks a little like a ruffle, but should straighten out after blocking. I also wish that the color change went beyond yellow, but that's the breaks. I have plenty of both colors to make something else. 

A buck posed for me yesterday.

He stuck around for quite a while before scampering off.

I bought a book and it came today. It's just out and has some amazing photos and some really amazing tips and recipes.

Lastly, I brought in my turmeric plant for the season. I bought this in April from an online plant supplier. It came as a tuber and I planted it with little hope that it would do anything. My climate zone is a little too cool for it, but I thought I'd give it a try. It started to grow in late Spring, but didn't do much but sprout big wide leaves. But when I went over to bring it inside, I found that it was blooming!

Isn't it gorgeous? I hope that I can keep it going this winter. 

Yesterday, I went somewhere that I haven't gone in months and months.  More on that later!