As promised - Japanese knitting links

In my search for a new project to knit - a nice vest - I came across a pattern from
Pierrot Yarns in Japan. They have a pattern club - they're fabulous and they're free (the other two of my three favorite "F" words).
I've recently discovered something about my  knitting self: I like charts better than text when it comes to knitting instructions. If you're at least an intermediate-level knitter, you'll do just fine with these patterns. They're very clear and very exact. Don't shy away from it because it looks intimidating at first. I promise you - just spend five minutes with it and you'll be able to decipher the instructions perfectly. A world of unique stitch patterns awaits you!
This wonderful blogger has presented the basics in a very well-organized way and takes you by the hand for a tour of a Japanese knitting patterns.
Some other links I've discovered:
InterpretingJapaneseKnittingPatterns.pdf
reading Japanese charts
Try it - it's easier than you think. Thanks for reading.






(Photo from the Pierrot Yarns website)

My Word for 2014 and Revisiting Stefano's Mom's Minestrone

My word for 2014 (- no, it's not inertia or enervate -) is 'action'!
No - I'm completely serious. Maybe I'll have a little more action than I did dignity (my word for 2013).
It's the 2nd of January and I'm staying home today because the dishwasher guy is coming and my truck looks like this:

I'm cooking up a batch of Stefano Faita's mom's minestrone  If you've tried this recipe before, you know how easy it is to make it your own with the  additional ingredients you prefer. For me, this soup now begins with the following:


A honey-baked hambone simmering with onions sautéed in olive oil and bacon fat



I pretty much follow Stefano's recipe with the following changes: I usually omit the leeks - not a crowd favorite.
In winter I use canned greens I got from the country grocery down south instead of fresh  in the original recipe. When I'm using fresh greens, I'll go for chard instead of kale simply because we prefer it.
If you don't have all the herbs don't sweat it - the soup is very flavourful without them- but I do insist upon a bay leaf or two!
This soup freezes beautifully! That's fortunate because the recipe makes enough to feed a small battalion.
I have a new hair-brained scheme: Japanese knitting. I'll share some of it with you in my next entry - that is, if I haven't committed hari kari over it in the meantime.
Have a wonderful New Year! 

A Box of Florida

This box arrived in the mail today! The fragrance in the house is heavenly.
 I always get a craving for citrus when the weather turns cold. The old Florida folk say that you need a cold snap to produce the sweetest fruit. One of my fondest childhood memories of Christmas is bundling up to go orange picking on a clear crisp December day. We'd go all the way to Lutz, which is practically in the center of town nowadays. We'd take "croaker" sacks and pick our way through the grove , then take a seat near a bonfire burning in a clearing and eat some of the oranges we'd  picked, throwing the peels into the fire. Ever since, the feeling of cool December air, the tangy scent of citrus and the sweet-smelling orange wood smoke would mean Christmas to me.
On the down side of the crisp Florida Christmas, it is almost traditional that there be a threat of freeze over the holidays. I seem o remember several Christmas dinners interrupted by all of the guests having to get up from the table, take said croaker sacks and pick the host's oranges before they froze. Good times.
Onto Christmas things. I think that this post is the closest I got to having any Christmas spirit. I've been looking at this scene for a few days now: the Christmas tree in its sarcophagus. It's annoying me with its presence, and I may just have to succumb to the season's non-negotiable social conventions.

I do happen to have a tip for you.

I don't think it will go away.

If you are like me and your enthusiasm is waning but you need to decorate anyway,
just get some centerpieces and throw them around. It's what I call "non-invasive" decorating. You don't have to do any major construction for the effect.


This looks like I might have actually decorated.

Another Florida Thanksgiving - Is There Any Other Kind?

I love Florida Thanksgiving. I might have mentioned that before.
This year's trip was abbreviated by about seven days. I didn't think it would make much difference but I was really sad to leave so soon. Usually we stay another week and Thanksgiving Saturday is spent watching the Seminoles and the Gators take a turn at going belly up for each other. Ever notice how no team seems to actually win? It always seems like one of the teams just let themselves get beat! The Gators had little chance this year against undefeated FSU. I even have some friends that are Seminoles - so congrats, Tallahassee Lassies!



I want to showcase the results of our gracious host Harley`s hobby, collecting and cultivating tropical plants. Collecting began on a small scale for Harley, who was looking for an activity to channel stress. The modest collection  grew to its present state.

Gathering after dinner at the fire pit.

 Thanks for reading!

 

They Should Have Prayed Harder

In their last regular-season game,  the Gators failed to fill the stadium, attracting only 80, 000 as opposed to the usual 85,000. Still it was a great afternoon with friends and fellow Gators.

A New Post! ( Are pigs gonna fly next?)

I know who you are - you faithful readers. There may not be very many of you - but I know you're out there somewhere. The  FeedJit doesn't lie.

Although this little boy is going to be giving him some competition!

So here are some new photos taken with the spoils of my milestone birthday - a Samsung camera. I do have something to show for my lack of posting - a new kitchen, Christmas cards getting ready to go out, and a new feature I have planned: "The Procrastinator's Guide to the Internet". I swear I'm going to get around to doing it.  I have lots of new technology to figure out between my new camera and a new phone. My last phone wasn't a smart phone; it was a special phone. The one I have now isn't smart, but it is a high achiever.



Milo the Wonder Dog - One of my favorite subjects since I don't have kids.

Remodeling continued

Progress is being made! Slowly but surely, the work is getting done. Roger and Kyle are at it every evening, pulling something down or nailing something up.


Current state of eat-in kitchen, now minus the lovely lino.
 

The living room, ready for furniture & accessories.

Current state of pool room: doing duty as ship's stores.

Fridge was relegated to the garage. Making coffee is now a multi-step procedure.

 I'm learning that a major remodel is not for the faint of heart. It is a lot of donkey-work and that takes some adjustment, as I've  been enjoying a somewhat effort-free existence lately. It helps a lot if you have a good teamwork going!

 I admit that I've felt a little exasperated at times. I've been through a project like  this before, but it wasn't because my husband and I were sprucing up our house - it was due to the destruction from the devastating Storm of the Century in March of 1993. This is a much happier event, so that makes the short time of inconvenience not only bearable, but enjoyable, knowing it was by choice and not by some awful force of nature out of our control. I'm sure that in the near future, I'll be alone in my wonderfully convenient kitchen, whipping up a grand meal, wistfully thinking of the closeness the Spartan conditions brought!

I did a little research this morning into the art of eating while your house is torn up in the remodeling process. This article is great: Surviving a Kitchen Remodel.

On to other things, and that, dear readers, is Christmas.

Yes, as a matter of fact, you can think of Christmas right now along with everything else you have to do!

Haul out your lists from last year and get them updated.

Now is the time to establish a general Christmas gift place, particularly for those gifts you do ahead of time like you always mean to do. The big problem is that you forget where you put the stuff  and you end up buying even more stuff to replace the stuff you lost, making for wasted money, and even worse, wasted time. So we're going to assume that if you have children, the best gifts to get right now are gifts you won't have to worry about hiding. I don't have that concern, but I do have to worry about finding the presents at Christmas time!

Due to my purging obsession, I always seem to have a spare Rubbermaid tote somewhere, so I designate one for gifts purchased AOC (ahead of Christmas). The gifts that I purchase are the small, "cute" gifts I share with my SILs and various adult nieces. I usually give the same gift to all of them.

The next thing I do is scrounge for some Christmas cards lying around from Christmases past and make up my cash gifts. It doesn't matter what the cards look like, because the older teens they are meant for will never pay any attention whatsoever to the card. ( Score!)

Start thinking about the Christmas cards you'll be sending this year.. Master your printer's options and use it to address your envelopes. This is a great time saver and a nice touch for your season's greetings.

Thanks for reading!