Knitwith Homespun

We went to the park today for some bike riding, a picnic, and some fun with my friends, their daughter (my Goddaughter), Isabella, and me. We spent the day laying in the grass, eating sandwiches and chips and looking at the sky. It was a wonderful day. I have found my old supermodel and found a new one as well. Here they both are:

From time to time, I have been known to post about cooking or upload a recipe or two for you all to enjoy.  This time, my daughter, had an idea.  Here are those details.

Today as I was grocery shopping, I thought Isabella might enjoy munching on some grape tomatoes and small boconcini, which are small, dime sized fresh mozzarella balls. I thought I could toss them with some salad dressing and a little basil and she would enjoy this healthy tasty snack after her homework was done. I was wrong! I told her what I had gotten for her to munch on and she said, couldn’t we just bake them Mom? Oh, I guess we could.

So, on Isabella’s recommendation and suggestion, we started on this new recipe that is completely credited to her.

1 pint grape tomatoes
1/2 cup boconcini (small fresh mozzarella balls)
2 large basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice tomatoes in half lenthwise. Remove all seeds. This was easily accomplished by sliding your thumb along the flesh and the seeds popped right out.
2. Season the tomatoes as you like with salt and pepper at this point.
3. Roll the basil leaves up and slice them into tiny ribbons.
4. Distribute the basil leaves into the cups of tomatoes.
5. Place a ball of cheese into each tomato.
6. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on each tomato with cheese.
7. Bake at 450 for 7 minutes or until cheese is melted.

As these pictures show, quite a bit of moisture will be released by the tomatoes and can easily be directed away from the tomatoes by putting the tomatoes on a rack before baking. Another incident we experienced was the flexing of our cheap cookie sheet that caused our tiny tomatoes to jump around and toss their cheese onto the tray. It was tragic, but still edible. We had a great time and they were delicious. Enjoy Isabella’s recipe! We sure did. I am the proudest Mom on earth today! Thanks Isabella!

If anyone still checks my blogs, I am back. Somewhat ayway. To make a long story short, I started therapy with a very nice therapist. Frankly, I was dealing with some lifelong issues that came to a head last year with my mom. I got depressed about it and lost a whole bunch of weight (about 50 pounds so far). I told myself that I would deal with it when I was done losing my weight but my good friend and therapist told me my grace period was up. It had been a year since the incident with my mom and I had to address it or it would affect my own daughter and family too much. This is what I did. It was very difficult but worth it in the long run. I haven’t been doing any of my normal lifetime stuff like taking pictures or knitting or anything. I feel like getting back into all that so I suppose that is a good thing. I have missed you all and I hope I still have a reader or two.

On to more pleasant things: I would love to discuss some Christmas crafting but since so many of my recipients are not on Facebook and other online places that attach to my blog, I can’t do a lot of it. However, I am working on one I can totally share. I will take some pictures tomorrow but I am knitting a wrap for my mother in law (she can’t even turn on a computer) from merino/bamboo that I ordered way back in March. I am thrilled with how the yarn came out and now the knitting is looking lovely as well.

I have a couple of woven objects that I would love to talk about but I can’t. I can say, however, that my first and second objects made on my Kromski Harp have really turned out nicely. I can’t wait to do my after Christmas blogs to show you all. I am proud and pleased.

I firmly believe in having a photo in every blog post. My dilemma is that I haven’t been taking any pictures, so I have to go all the way back to Halloween to get a shot of Bella to show you all. Hopefully it won’t be too much longer before you hear from me again. Happy Holidays all!

I have been busy getting my house in order for houseguests and family visits. It has been hectic and hot and busy but worth every minute. Here are a few images from the last couple of days with my dad and my family. My dad got a phone call the day after his arrival that broke his heart so I am hoping that we can cheer him up a bit while he is here. His best friend of 38 years died the day after his arrival very suddenly and unexpectedly. He was very sick but the doctors had said he had 6 months minimum and if treatment went well up to a year. So my Dad came on his trip. I am blessed that my Dad taught me the value of friendship in this way. He has had many many friends over his many years of life and he is losing them quickly. He is (luckily) incredibly healthy and many of his friends aren’t. He will be 75 next year. In the last couple of years, he has lost two of his very best friends and has just one left from his early childhood. I am somewhat pleased he decided to stay here instead of returning home for the funeral but I believe it has been very very hard on him. We will give him extra love.

He brought his step-daughter-in-law with him and step granddaughter, who is 5. They left this morning (hence the time to blog). We went to Disneyland, the San Diego Zoo, parties, the beach, and other local haunts. I took 5000 pictures during their one week stay. I won’t bore you with all of them but some are quite nice. Her dog is an outdoor dog at home so she was so pleased to hang all over our dog, Lucy, who is very patient and tolerates everything very well. We will give her extra love this week as well.

Harleigh’s mother takes as many pictures of her as I do of Isabella so it’s hard to capture her in her natural habitat. I was lucky to get her her concentrating very hard on my sister’s Nintendo DSi.

Amanda is my first niece and turned 17 this week. She takes the most amazing pictures.

While the family was all here, we went to the park to take some pictures at the park. Here are a few that I liked. Oh yeah, and I bought here this dress for her birthday. Isn’t it great on her?

First practice this summer. Cracks me up.

This is Bella and Catrina.  They are BFFs (I think).  I don’t get it but this is them last Friday at the park after school.  They played together and had a blast.  They love to dress up together because Bella has a bunch of dressy dresses that we have bought at thrift stores and relatives have bought for her because she is such a princess.  Therefore, Catrina likes to come over and wear these things.  One of the things that they like to wear is Bella’s coverup from a couple of years ago.  They like it because it’s strapless and cool.  I told them I would make them a coverup for their summer season that matched.  This is my project for this blog.

I told them it would have a slit up the side.  They loved this idea.  The rest is my idea.  I would design Catrina’s as a tank dress and Bella wants hers to be a caveman dress with the tank strap over on one side.  Here is my project so far.  I will be writing this pattern up and we will see if there is any interest.  I might sell this one for a buck or two.

There is some minor shaping at the waist.  I am having trouble trying to figure out the tank straps in a circular knit but everything else is going well.  I love the eyelets at the bottom and the rounded shape of the slit.  The gradation of colors will play into the pair of dresses.  Bella’s will be orange at the bottom and graduate to yellow at the top.  The slit in this dress is about 6 inches but for these girls, it’s from the knee almost to the hip.  They are very excited about that.  Any other ideas you all have to help me out with this would be greatly appreciated.

Contest link: http://www.divaknitting.com/blog/2009/05/15/4-year-blogiversary-must-be-time-for-a-contest

Yesterday, as you all know, was Mother’s Day.  Since Bella was born, I love mother’s day more than any other time.  She always gets me a card or a present or something nice.  But this year, she totally outdid herself.  This year wins all years for now and in the future.  As a mom, you want your kids to be safe, happy, healthy, and wonderful.  However, as kids, they don’t really know how you do it or what you are doing.  Bella is 8.  I can’t believe at this young age, she gets it.  This card is amazing and I will keep in forever and ever.  Thank you Isabella, for the best Mother’s Day present and card I can ever get.  This is truly amazing and wonderful!

I have to say, of course, that I haven’t sold anything yet.  However, I am pleased with one thing that has happened.  A plurk bud, Illiane, informed me that I may need permission to sell other designers finished objects as a condition of the license provided with each pattern that I used.  I hadn’t thought of that and I try to be lawful in every respect.  I wrote each of the designers of the objects I am selling that I didn’t design.  I am very very pleased with the outcome.  So far, only one person has asked that I take their item off my Etsy page because she sells them on her Etsy page.  I took it dowm immediately.  The other two that I have heard from have granted me permission as long as I mention their name in my listing.  I have done this.  I am still waiting for one more response.  I am so pleased wtih people being so nice.  However, I think I am going to try to avoid this problem in the future and either design my own stuff to sell, or ask permission before I pull the trigger.

This is one of the designs that I have permission to sell (thanks Cosymakes) that I didn’t design.  I did, however, design and make the model and I grant permission to myself to use my daughters likeness here and on my Etsy page.

We went to dinner this week with some out of town guests and some family. While we were there, Bella didn’t really misbehave or anything, however, she wasn’t on her best behavior either.  She would interrupt people while they were speaking and she popped off with loud noises and thing and just generally unpleasant stuff.  I doubt anyone else noticed unless you were the one she interruped but I sure noticed.  I thought long and hard about it and I thought that yelling at her or telling her she had misbehaved might not get the job done.  So I took a note from my pain management class and thought about how could I correct her behavior.  I discussed it with her.  She is 8 and very smart.  I told her I was unhapy with her outbursts and interruptions at dinner and that we needed to behave better when we were out to dinner.  I suggested we get a book on manners and etiquette at the book store and start working on being a proper young lady.  She suggested we get the book at the libary.

Today, we went to the library.  On the way, we stopped to see Savvy Rose on the spur of the moment since her house was on the way.  Hence, the picture to the left.  So the plan is to learn about manners and proper young lady behavior.  Whenever she demonstrates proper behavior, we will give her a sticker or star or something.  When she misbehaves or does something obnoxious or interrupts, we will take away a sticker or star.  When she reaches 20 stars or stickers, she gets to go to Target to get whatever she wants worth $10 or less.  I’ll keep you all posted on the count.  So far, we have 4 books on manners and no stickers.  We are both reading though.  Wish us luck!

This is Lucy.  She is the best dog I have ever had in my entire 44 years of existence. She takes care of us and hangs out with us and is truly a family dog.  She loves it when the three of us humans are home together with her.  She is happiest on that day.  When I pick up Bella from school, she is waiting there wagging her tail to see her friend come home.  They play together and take care of each other.  I have never had such a well behaved dog.  Lucy was 5 when Bella came along and I think that added 2 years or so to Lucy’s life.  They played together all the time and really enjoyed each other so much.

A week or more ago I found a mass on her chest.  It was about the size of a tennis ball and was very soft and mooshy.  This scared the crap out of me.  Did I take her straight to the vet?  Nope, cause I was too scared.  A 14 year old dog with a mass on her chest can’t be good, right?  I was too nervous to take her.  Well, today I took her.  The news wasn’t too bad.  It does have to be removed and it grew very quickly the vet said.  It will continue to grow if it’s not removed.  So, she will be fine.  The scare is over. She will get her teeth cleaned and get all kinds of other good things done while she is there.  I am relieved and happy and thrilled.  The vet said we could get many more years out of this kind of dog.  They live longer than other dogs of their size he thinks because of their temperament.  She is having her surgery next Thursday.  Whew!  What a relief!

On the spinning front, I finished up some Icelandic wool from Spunky Club, January 2008.  It is so beautiful!  I love these colors.  They are so wide and blue.  I love these colors but I am not a fan of this wool.  It is very stiff and scratchy like an old fashioned kind of wool.  There are bits of softness that I like but it’s certainly not consistant.  It may take me a while to figure out what to do with it.  I do love it.  I will keep it.  Thanks Amy!

My daughter is 8 years old and apparently, very funny.  She announced from the living room while I was cooking my dinner, “Mom, I have a wedgy that aparently requires some surgery!”  I nearly died laughing!  I made her come give me a high 5.

My husband needs knee surgery from his accident racing in December.  Torn maniscus and ACL with a torn MCL (which the doctor said will heel on it’s own).  Just reporting the news and bragging about my daughter.

I got an e-mail last night from the PTO telling us we can color our children’s hair for crazy color day.  Huh.  Interesting idea.  I have some color spray in my closet that I bought on clearance at Halloween.  That might work.  She was very happy when I told her I would do this for her this morning.  She is pretending to be shy and nervous about going to school.  Does she look nervous?  Shy?  Hmmmmmmmm.

She is so my favorite!

I spent the last two months knitting and spinning frantically for gifts for my family. I enjoyed it very much. The problem is I had a goal and I was in a hurry. I had a couple of other projects in the hopper that I wanted to start but this fiber was calling me. It is 100% merino, it is one pound, and I got it on ebay. I am hoping this will end up a lovely DK weight 3-ply yarn. It is so soft and spinning it has been very cathartic and helpful. It feels like a cleansing. I am enjoying the softness of the fiber and the softness of the color is very relaxing and quite nice. I have to say it helps me think. I am very glad I picked it up and started spinning it.

I usually don’t do the New Year’s Resolution thing because I always need to lose weight and I always need to fix or change something about myself. This year, I am changing that. Last year we spent our year chasing David around from race track to race track or driving here or there for a knitting and spinning something or other. We visited my sister in Portland twice and drove both times at 1000 miles per trip each way. We went camping for Daddy for racing and did this that and the other thing for both him and me. This year is the year of Bella. We are going to focus on her entertainment and her fitness. She has been interested in BMX racing and I think we will give that a try for her. She likes camping and motorcycle riding. We will do all that for her. That is my resolution; to make sure Bella knows we are focused on her and her interests.

Bring on 2009!