To Infinity and Beyond.......

Ok, so there is no beyond, but I have made a couple of Infinity scarfs.

This little one was made using one skein of Vanna's Choice in Mustard. The pattern I used was Caron's Bellflower Infinity Scarf.  I needed another skein to make it long and able to loop around, but I didn't have one so a short one it is. It's very warm and would have probably been too thick looped around anyway. Has anyone else noticed that Mustard is a popular color right now?

Now for my second one. I made this one in about 4 hours on Friday. The yarn I used is Lion Brands Tweed Stripes in color 206 Woodlands. LOVE this colorway! This was my first time using a self striping yarn and will definitely use it again.  

I started out similar to the patter for the Mustard scarf, and changed up the shells a little. 

Here's how I did it.

-2 skeins of Lion Brand Tweed Stripes

-H hook

Start with a chain of 34.

ROW 1-

DC in the 4th chain from the hook.

*Skip next two ch's.

2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc in the next ch.

dc in each of the next two ch's.*

Repeat from * to the end. Ending with dc's in last two ch's.

You should have 4 shell clusters and 5 two dc spaces.

ROW 2-

ch 3 and turn, dc in next dc.

*in ch 1 space of shell- dc, ch 2, dc

skip to 2 dc's and dc in each.

repeat from * to the end with a dc in the last dc and a dc in the top of the ch 3.

ROW 3-

ch 3 and turn, dc in the next dc.

*in ch 2 space of shell-2 dc, ch1, 2 dc

skip to 2 dc's and dc in each.

repeat from * to end with a dc in the last dc and a dc in the top of ch 3.

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until you reach the desired length. You could leave this as a scarf or sew the two ends together to make a Mobius or Infinity scarf.  I hope I explained the instructions well enough, but if not please feel free to leave me a message.

I have dinner simmering away in the Crock Pot, Beef Tips and Gravy. Pammy Sue at Scotty's Place posted the recipe a while back. This is always a hit with my family. Basically you just add a package of beef tips, (I use the large pack, got a lot of mouths to feed here) and 2 cans of Beef Gravy. Throw it in a crock pot on high for 4 hours. I am going to cook some egg noodles and add them to it. Perfect for a chilly day. I am gonna go now and make a Butter Pecan Pound Cake. If you would like the recipe let me know, I will be glad to share.

TTYS!

Preserving Memories

One of my fondest childhood memories is spending time with my Grandma Carrie. Many times I would drive her home from Church on Sundays, this started about the time I was 9 or 10 years old. I would spend the afternoon looking through her shoebox of old family photos. I loved those pictures and seeing all the people in them, some I knew and had met and others I didn't. My Grandma was the youngest of 10 children. She had nieces and nephews who were around the same age as her. As the Preacher said during her funeral service, with 9 brothers and sisters, her parents, my PaPa and her in-laws having passed away, he was sure they had to shut down the Gates to Heaven when she arrived. We all laughed at this because it was probably true.

My family always grew very large gardens every year. I remember as a child running through rows and rows of corn stalks. One of the gardens was beside the house I grew up in, it was about 4 acres big. There was also a garden behind my Great-Grandparents house which was on the other side of my house, and another garden beside and behind my Grandparents house. We all worked the gardens, and harvested them. I remember my Aunts carport covered about knee deep in corn and the women sitting out there shucking corn. In the hot summer with long sleeves and long pants on, and we would still itch. I spent many summer nights at Grandmas helping her snap peas. Our fingers would be so sore the next day. Grandma would always can the vegetables, and her mud room shelves would be full of Ball jars. There is nothing better than canned vegetables. My Grandma passed away on May 22 of this year. I have lost both of my Grandmothers this year just 2 months and 5 days apart.

We have a Pear tree in our yard that is loaded down this time of year with the sweetest pears. Every summer I say I am going to make pear preserves and have never done it. I called Grandma a couple of years ago to find out how she made her Pear Preserves. It is a really simple process. Just pears and sugar.

Sticky sweet goodness.

So this year I decided to go for it. I called my Aunt Nett to make sure I remembered the recipe as Grandma told it to me. This was on the stove for about 7 hours today.

This is the finished product, my first attempt at canning anything.  I made seven half-pint jars today. Next weekend I plan on making more, I have to get up the ladder first to pick more pears. I was given a wonderful compliment on the taste. When my Dad took a bite he said "They taste just like PaPa's used to." I couldn't help but smile. Today hasn't just been about preserving the pears, I have also been preserving memories.

TTYS