New Recipe Alert

I just wanted to let you know that I finally got around to adding a new recipe to the I Love the Taste of... tab at the top of the blog. It's for the yummy Autumn Vegetable Soup you see in this picture. Fall in a cup.

Sally

Weekend With Grace

Grace finished her mid-term exams and decided she needed to take a little break

 I think she was missing her cat and maybe sleeping in her own bed just a bit.

 She also wanted to check out all of the Halloween decorations at the zoo.

 The weather was pretty perfect Saturday morning, but the wind really picked up by the afternoon

 Alan's dream job has always been to be a UPS delivery guy. I bet you didn't know that about him did you?

After the zoo visit we checked out a yarn shop called Grinny Opossum over the river in Indiana and then we went to see the movie ARGO. We all enjoyed it. Grace learned all about the hostage crisis. It's hard to believe that it happened so long ago. Ben Afflec did a great job and in my opinion was probably at his cutest.
Hope you had a fun weekend!
Sally

It's All About The Spinning

 I don't want to go on and on about how much I am enjoying my spinning wheel, but since it is taking up a big chunk of my time I thought you should know that I'm still at it. This is the yarn that I made last weekend. I am just over the moon happy with how well it turned out. I am going to knit myself a hat out of. I'm not really a hat wearing kind of girl. Hats tend to mess up my short hair in a very unattractive kind of way. However, last weekend when Alan and I took the dog for a walk I could have really used a nice warm hat to keep my ears from freezing off, which they almost did.

 Next up on my wheel will be this gorgeous fall colored fluff. I wish you could feel how soft it is. It's heavenly.

 Don't you just love the name. I might have bought it just because it's called Indian Corn. Really, you can't get much more autumn than that.

Maybe next week I will be able to let you see how it turns out. I'm already trying to think of what I can knit out of it. I have to work hard to keep from getting ahead of myself. Slow down Sally.

Have a great day!
Sally

Promiscuous Knitting Update

 If you remember, last week I mentioned that I was going to try and work on more than one knitting project at a time. It really was challenging for me. I think I've figured it out. It's too much trouble to switch back and forth. I forget where I am in the pattern, not to mention that it feels like I'm starting all over. I did manage to finish my coffee press cozy. I love how it turned out. This is some yarn that I spun a while back. I think the fiber was from the fiber club that I was in. I can't remember what is called.

 I also made a lot of progress with my little shawl. I am going to use up all of the yarn so mine will be a tad bit bigger than the actual pattern. I hate having just a little bit of yarn left over. The colors are really beautiful and I can't wait to wear it. I'll be wearing it as a scarf, since I'm not really the shawl type. My shoulders are just to big and I think they look silly on me.

I almost finished one sock. All that is left to do is the toe decreases. I'm really not sure about this yarn. The blue and grey stripes are fine, but the other colors are kind of neon and sort of shocking to the eye. I guess they will be hidden under the leg of my pants, but still.... just not sure I'll ever wear them. Who knows, you just might get them for Christmas, or your Birthday. Anyway, after this little experiment, I'm thinking I'll go back to my old monogamous knitting ways. At least I gave it a try.

Sally

Feeling A Bit Octoberish

 A chill is in the air here in Louisville, so much so that we had to turn the heater on for just a bit last night to warm up the house. Don't you just love that funky smell your furnace makes the first time you use it each year?  The trees are really starting to change and I guess we are going to be at our peek for pretty colored leaves sometime next week. Hopefully we will be able to get out and see some of them before they all fall off the trees.

 I have not taken an official "pumpkin count", but I'm guessing that right now we probably have about 15 of them scattered around the yard, and maybe about the same amount in the house. I just can't stop buying them. Big ones, little ones, it doesn't matter. I love them all.

 If you look real closely at this picture, you can see both me and Maggie reflected in the door. Actually, she is in the house barking her head off at me while I try to get a decent picture of the front of the house.

 This veiny pumpkin is my new favorite. It's just so cool. I've never seen one like this before.

I'm also loving this Trader Joe's Spiced Cider. You might remember me talking about it last year. For some crazy reason I bought way more than we could drink last fall. I stuck 2 bottles in the basement and I just checked the "use by" date. These babies don't expire until November of 2013. Wonder what they put in this stuff. Really I don't care. A mug of it heated in the microwave along with a coupe of Pumpkin Spice Kisses makes the perfect treat after a nice long walk with the dog.
Hope you are enjoying every minute of your October.

Sally

Monogamous Knitting

 It appears that I am what the knitting world calls a monogamous knitter. I usually choose to work on one project at a time. I have a difficult time switching back and forth between projects. Maybe it's my attention span. I'm not really sure. Anyway, according to the "real" or "serious" knitters out there in the cyber knitting community monogamous knitting is not the way to go. One "should" be working on multiple projects of varying difficulty, using different size needles and different weights of yarn. Doing this is supposed to help keep your fingers and wrists from cramping and aching. When my fingers and wrists start to cramp or ache, I usually just stop knitting.... I guess I've been wrong all these years. What I'm supposed to do is just switch to a different project. Genius! I can't believe I never thought of that.

This week I am attempting to not be monogamous (in my knitting) I'm going to be a bit more promiscuous.
I've got three projects going, socks, a shawl/scarf and a cozy for my french coffee press. The cozy is the easiest project and could be done in an hour if I don't pace myself. I'm not at all sure that this is going to work for me. I'll keep you posted.
Sally

Return Of The Big Red Pot

Well, you know it's really fall, when it's time to get out the big red pot. I've decided that I need to stock my freezer with more fall like foods. Last week I made a big pot of chili, and a big pot of my favorite curried butternut squash soup. If you are really interested, you can find the recipes under "I love the taste of..." at the top of my blog. You will have to scroll down to find them, but I think they are worth it. I think I'll make spaghetti sauce this week and maybe another soup. I should make that 0 points Weight Watcher's vegetable soup, since despite my almost best efforts, I seem to have fallen off the Weight Watcher's wagon. I'm not all the way off, just hanging on trying to motivate myself to stick with it. Maybe if I actually gave it my best effort I'd see progress. hmm, there's an idea....

What's cooking in your big red pot?
Sally