Hallelujah

For me and Daddio, this is a big deal. The biggest. Other than the itty bitty Walmart craft department there is no place in the entire county to buy fabric or sewing supplies-until November 8th, that is .

The store is still a work in progress but it won't be long before after a very short drive, we'll be strolling those aisles with a basket full of the good stuff. We better start saving now.

Ill Gotten Gains

 We didn't get any edible tomatoes out of the garden this year so when I saw this beauty hanging through the fence in Daddio's yard, I decided to steal it. The neighbor, whose vine had decided to take a detour in our direction, would surely not miss it.

 I had big plans for it. I was going to fry it. I had everything ready to go. The oil was heating in the pan when...

 ...I sliced into it and found it was rotten inside. Yuck. Talk about karma-but it gets even worse.

 As disappointed as I was with my dinner now in the trash, I made myself slightly happier by digging some things to fry out of the freezer. As a rule, I am not the frying type so this was a naughty treat.

 Mmmm....people without gallbladders need to avoid things like this but I had a fierce craving for something crispy.

Karma bit me in the arse again when my beautiful faux chicken patty slipped off the spatula and onto the filthy floor. Good grief. I did, however, enjoy the french fries and yes, they made me sick. Of course.

Feeling Fallish

 There is no doubt that it is still very much summer around here but the signs are unmistakable.

 It's only a few weeks until Halloween.

Daddio is hard at work coming up with this and that as a few surprises. It all started with the new Rest in Pieces collection from Connecting Threads that he spied in their latest catalog. He usually doesn't have any interest in anything but Christmas but this caught his fancy so we're on it. I hope there is enough left over for me because I'm really liking this too.

Woolly Wednesday: Not Too Hot

 I am halfway through the yarn I spun during this year's TdF and I have a long way to go on the Featherweight Cardi.

 I have a few more locks leftover but not nearly enough to get another bobbin or two.

 Since the weather has been on the cooler side, I dug the fleece out and had a lock washing day.

 I have used up the best of the locks and now I am down to the really dirty parts.

It's going to be a challenge to get enough clean locks out of all that VM. This sheep was a real slob.

 Those rubber gloves The Mister gave me for our anniversary are wonderful. How dumb was I not to think of using them sooner?

Now I have blue locks drying all over the house once again. Good times.

Half Sours

 It finally happened. I got tired of eating cucumber sandwiches. The problem is that I still had a bag full of the green things in the fridge.

Last year, I brought back the most delicious pickles from Rhinebeck so I thought I would try and recreate the recipe with a few of the smaller ones. It was pretty simple-just water, salt, peppercorns and garlic.

The whole briney mess sits on your counter for a few days to ferment and the trick is to keep the cucumbers submerged.

I pushed a plate down on top of them before I put the lid on.

 I even stuck a few in a glass with a custard cup on top.
I have no idea if this is going to work at all but at least for the moment they smell really good. It's all I can do not to go eat them right now.

Almost an Affection

 

 I am on the bottom edge of the Color Affection. I have two inches of black to do for the border and then it will be a done deal.

That's a lot of stitches but I am so happy to finally only have one color to worry about that it seems like it's going pretty fast. This one is going to be so much bigger than my first one because this time I actually read the directions and did the number of color repeats called for. No wonder I had so much yarn left over from the first one. I only did half the number of rows called for.

In a Jam

 The fig harvest got off to a very slow start this year. I never had buckets full but I did manage to get enough to make a small amount of the good stuff.

 I didn't even bother with a recipe. I just covered them with water and them doused them with sugar. I was even going to add a little brandy this year but I couldn't find the bottle. Where my fruitcake brandy may be is still a mystery.

 I let it simmer until it was a sticky mess. When it turns ruby red you know you are getting close.

I had enough for three small jelly jars full. The pot scrapings found themselves on a toasted and buttered English muffin and it was darn good.