Cedric and coral

Cedric loved his visit to the Birch Aquarium at Scripps. Besides the seahorses, the coral reefs were his favorite--he's long been a fan of the IFF's crochet coral reef, so he loved the opportunity to see the real thing.

Morro Bay

Vacation was terrific. We loved Morro Bay--a wonderful town, beautiful beaches, surrounded by gorgeous parklands. Many times we caught sunrise and sunset, chasing light. Paul found the thin, wool sweater just the thing on chilly mornings.

Slightly wheat bread

A warm day, the Fanny Farmer Cookbook (edited by Marion Cunningham) recipe for white bread with 1 c. of wheat flour substituted for 1 c. of white flour, and Ratatouille.

The best blueberry pie we ever made

I came up with the recipe for the filling--I was inspired by the article in the July/Aug. 2008 issue of Cook's Illustrated to add a grated apple to take advantage of the apple's pectin for thickening the filling. So I modified my usual recipe to incorporate the grated apple, and it's the best blueberry pie we've ever had! Not only does the apple enhance the texture, but it adds a fantastic tartness behind the sweet blueberries. I also made the crust, and Paul did all the rolling, assembling (and photography).

Blueberry pie

Pastry for double crust

For filling, mix all together:
6 c. frozen blueberries
3/4 c. agave syrup (or honey, or rice syrup, or sugar)
1 granny smith apple, peeled and grated on the large holes of a grater
Grated zest of one lemon (1/2 to 1 tsp. or so)
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. instant tapioca
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (or nutmeg)
Dash of salt

Bake at 400F for ca. 50 min., until crust is golden and filling bubbly.

It's not the perfect needle, and that's OK

I started my Hexacomb Cardigan, and I wanted, desperately, to knit this on wooden straights. I don't enjoy circulars. They're always attached--always moving against each other--there's no independence of motion!

But it was just too much cotton yarn on too small a needle, and I couldn't find a longer straight needle--the cotton just wouldn't scrunch up small enough on the straights.

And I wanted to get going, so when I couldn't find a wooden circular of the right size at either local yarn store, and I did find a metal pair at the second, I bought that pair--so slippery! The yarn's just slipping all over! But that's ok. I get to knit now.

And, sure, I could have mail ordered a wooden circular, but then I wouldn't have given some money to a LYS--in this economy, I want every dollar staying in my community. If I want an LYS, I have to spend money at an LYS--so I bought the metal circulars. Maybe someday if I have more spare money than I do now, I'll buy a wooden pair.

Repaired laundry basket

The handles broke on the laundry basket--all the handles--a long, long time ago. Duct tape had served--served it best--but that wasn't good enough. We didn't want to put such a huge hunk of plastic into the trash. There had to be a way.

So Paul cut the broken top of the basket off, and drilled three holes every place it was solid, as you see in the photo above.

Then I made some "tshirt yarn" according to Polka Dot Pineapple's excellent tutorial on how to make a ball of "yarn" out of worn out tshirts.

Then I started crocheting:
(I'm sitting on our bed, and the cover, by the way, was crocheted by my grandmother. Yes. I'm sitting on it. We use our things.)

After a row of single-crochet (the American term) around the top with a size J hook, I then started another sc round, making a chain where each handle used to be. Then, I did another row of sc over that. It took two tshirts:
The basket lost a little structural integrity (it squishes a bit easier), but it works really well. The handles are comfortable and stretchy, yet strong. And the loss of stiffness isn't really a problem--the new, crocheted top of the basket is very soft, so the basket with the laundry can be squished under one arm.

(All photos by Paul. Thank you, Paul!)

Purse body

It's huge! And I have very little yarn left, so I'm not sure what I'll do about handles. Timson thinks it's very cozy.

The current plan is to felt it a little, to make it smaller & denser, but not too much--I don't want to lose all the cable detail. Then I'll sew a liner in, and sew the sides together. And then figure out what to do about handles. Oh, and a zipper. And maybe some pockets in the liner.

Here it is all folded up--there's a button hole on the front flap:
I'll need a button!