F.R.O.G. Jam!

Last month, a Ravelry friend recommended that I try F.R.O.G. jam.  No, it isn't "raw food" by any means.  And NO it isn't made of frogs!  It's fig, raspberry, orange, and ginger.  Mmmm, so many good things in one jam!

I recently spent a day in Amish country, here in Ohio, so I snagged a couple of jars while I was there.  And our summer being so unseasonably cool, I baked some bread to go with it.  
I don't have jelly, jam, or marmalade very often, but I give this frog jam two thumbs up as an occasional treat for breakfast or tea time.  Mm, Mm!

A Couple of Cakes

This week we had a birthday, so we made a cake!  Sarah wanted the Skyrim logo on the top because she's quite a fan.  So, okee dokee!

It was very much a group effort, and while it seems silly for her to decorate her own cake, she wanted to!  Tim and I helped with the tracing and outlining of the logo.

We used my very favorite buttercream recipe and an entire pot of Wilton's black icing gel.  It kept looking like steel grey, so we kept adding more...

Well, let me tell you about black buttercream....  it tends to get everywhere, it turns the lips and mouth black, no matter how carefully it's eaten.  And turns something else green.... but I won't mention that because it's unmentionable!  I don't think we'll be doing black icing again soon, wink, wink...

The second "cake" of the week, is my little yarn cake.  I finished the Corriedale Irohamomiji yarn and gave it a good bath and whacking.  Caked-it up and it's ready for crocheting!  It's certainly a beauty!

Spinning Irohamomiji

This week I've been spinning Corriedale fiber, called Irohamomiji.  The fiber was the November 2012 Into the Whirled fiber club, that I bought second-hand.  Cris' dyeing inspiration was this photo of a magnificent Japanese Maple:

I think she nailed it!

So, I pulled the braid apart by hue (I'm telling you, I'm seriously hooked on this technique!) and rolled gradient rolags.  I'm almost finished spinning and plying.  The two-ply yarn is destined to be a crocheted shawl that I hope will be magnificent!

A Flock of Socks

This spring, I tried competitive speed knitting for the first time.  I use the words "speed" and "competitive" loosely, my speed being about average and the competition being more like camaraderie.

In the fiber community, Ravelry, there are many sock-knitting groups.  Two of them are Sock Madness and Tour de Sock.  The former is March-Madness-themed, the later based on the Tour de France.

Object?  To knit socks quickly (if you want to) and enjoy knitting-along, chatting, meeting new people, and learning new things.  Mission accomplished!

While Tour de Sock is still in Stage 3 of 6, I must admit that my enthusiasm for sock-knitting is slowly giving way to my excitement for spinning.  Tour de Fleece is just around the corner and I've been knitting a lot of socks!

Here are the socks I've knit (so far) in 2015:

From Fiber to Fascinator

Okay so it's not a fascinator, technically.  But alliteration is so pleasing!

I've been meaning to document some of my recent fiber-fun.  My latest craze is taking hand-painted fiber and breaking it down according to hue.  I blend it on my adored Clemes and Clemes blending board, and spin on my treasured Golding spindle.  Lots of fiber happiness happening!

This month, I did this with a beautiful merino braid from Into the Whirled, called, "Follow the Butterflies."  I used the yarn to knit a hat, top-down and BIG, using every last bit of my handspun yarn.

It was very scary, cutting that pom pom made with the last of this handspun.  But it worked out fine,  phew!

More than Conquerors!

Romans 8:37 says, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

Amen!  Whatever task we are given today, we are given what we need to be conquerors!  I am coming to understand that large/insurmountable goals are conquered by being faithful daily to the small, seemingly insignificant choices.

In my quest for temperance, I've decided to limit treats/junk food to Sundays.  This combats my natural tendency toward an "all-or-nothing" approach to life.  So far, it's going very well!  And today is Sunday!

In my knitting sphere, I'm celebrating like crazy because in January I finished 3 projects that had been "on the needles" for over a year.  And they weren't even big projects!  I showed two of them in my last blog post.  This last one is a Sherlock Blanket Square.  Remember those from eons ago?

Due to its fiddly bits, this square has been unfinished since May of 2013.  This prevented me from making other squares, thus stalling the whole blanket.  So sad!  Well, it WAS fiddly, and it DID take hours, but it's finally finished!  Hoorah!

Title square with the London Eye

Temperance 2015

Hello, my dear friends!  It's 2015, and as cliche as it sounds, I'm determined to make some changes this year.
As usual, I've been reflecting on a possible word/theme for the year.  I believe that I've decided on "temperance."  January is almost over, and so far I've merely planned more temperance into my life.  Next step... action!

We've had a lovely snowstorm.  Thankfully, we have power, food, books, knitting, and each other!  Here is Wee Kitty enjoying the snowy view:

It's been Work-On-WIPs January here.  WIPs are works-in-progress.  I finished Spencer's Christmas stocking (on the needles for about 2 years) and a pair of mitts that I started in August of 2013.  Hooray for Finished objects!  Here are the four FOs for this month.

Mother's Day

I hope all of the mothers out there had a great day yesterday!  My children made a lovely breakfast for me and gave me flowers and chocolates.  I think they even made an effort not to argue!

I made three dish cloths for my mother which I placed in a basket of goodies.  The basket was from my sister and me together.  I'm quite proud of the cloths, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Mom will keep them in a drawer since they're too pretty to use!

Sherlock Blanket Squares

"Hello!" to anyone who hasn't given up on me!  The weather is lovely compared to when I last posted.  The morning sun is shining on me while I dust off my poor, neglected blog.

These last couple of months, I've been knitting blanket squares that are based on the BBC Sherlock series.  There's a "knit-along" for the blanket on Ravelry, which is fantastic.  Many creative and clever knitters have designed fun squares representing all sorts of things from the show.  I've also designed a few myself!

Each square is 10 inches and I'm planning to knit about 30 of them.

Here are my first four Sherlock Blanket Squares:

January Continues

As I set out on this journey through 2013, my path has been somewhat crazy!  Some days, I'm cheerful and optimistic.  Some days, I'm sorta blue.  This is not unusual for me in January, so I accept it and keep going one day at a time!

The weather is participating in this craziness.  We've had days in the 60s (Fahrenheit) and days in the teens.  Sunny days and cloudy.  This is not usual for January.  We typically have full cloud-cover and dreary cold.  I'm enjoying the variety, walking when it's warmer, hibernating and knitting mittens and other woolly things when it's not!

Single parenthood is kicking my behind.  Come Holy Spirit!  Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

Enough whining!  Here are the lovely gloves that I knit for my mum for Christmas.  I made the cuffs a bit longer, but otherwise stuck to the pattern as written.

Vanalinn Gloves for My Mother knit in Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk

I just finished another pair of gloves yesterday, but I'll save that photo for another day!