...9.18...Delicious Vegan Food we ate...

...the Man made vegan chow mein...'Chow mein' is the Americanization of the Chinese term for fried noodles...

...my only contribution was to cut some tofu into triangles and air fry it...

...lots of chopping prepwork...

...using the cast iron wok that Mom gave us...

...we had so much veg that he had to fry it in batches...

...and it was so delicious...so much better than the chow mein I've had at Chinese restaurants...I really like it better without the starchy sauce they use...

...what delicious food have you been eating?...

~Have a lovely day!

...9.17...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...some prep work before I start the Minecraft vest for Our Airman's Wife...

...I wasn't really happy with the colours of the cotton yarn that I'd gotten at Stuff Mart...both colours just seemed too bright...so I returned it all and went looking for some sweaters to recycle at our local thrift store...

...and I found this deep forest green cotton sweater on my first try...it's a size small...but there should be more than enough yarn there to make a vest...

...so I took it all apart...

...and started unraveling it...

...the yarn directly from the sweater is very thin...not the look I'm going for with the vest...

...so I plied it together...to make more of a worsted/aran weight yarn...

...I got two big skeins...and one baby one...

...and then I went looking for some gold cotton yarn... and I found that too...it probably helps that it's nowhere near sweater season here..and I also got her a gold tee-shirt to wear under the vest...I don't think the logo will matter as it will be covered up by the vest...

...and I really only want the gold part for this vest...the lighter coloured sweater is for if I need it for plying...but I may not...

...same process...

...I only got the one ball of gold...hoping it will be enough altogether for roughly half a vest...but I may be playing a little bit of yarn chicken...

...and I got several dishcloth cotton colours that I really like as well...

...so then I swatched with my recycled yarn...

...checking for gauge...

...this cotton is oh so soft...

...and it has a lovely drape to it as well...

...I snagged a few photos of the sweater from screenshots...

...of the front...

...and the back...

...and I think I've found the perfect pattern...the neckline and the arms look about the same...there's 2x2 rib on at the bottom and 1x1 around the neck and arms scyes...so that should be the only change...it's Drops Design 'New Girl'...

...I sketched in the squares and modified the pattern to use 2 needles instead of knitting on circs...vertical colour chanes like this are almost impossible in the round...

...and here we go...

...I actually got quite a bit done on the trip up to Mom's...

...I am almost always the passenger...and that makes for a lot of knitting time...

...what's in your workbasket this week?...

~Have a lovely day!

...9.16...Tuesdays with Julia...the FINAL COUNTDOWN #6...

...we made the very sweet and fluffy VEGAN ÎLE FLOTTANTE...

...it was good...like eating custard with whipped cream on top...the Man asked what it was...and I said it was basically vegan fluff over custard...and he tried it and said yep...that really was just fluff...

...and all of the particulars are over at The Vegan Version...

~Have a lovely day!

...9.15...Over the Weekend...

...of course you already know we were up at Mom's...

...and when we got home in time to do a little garden work...

...I picked the new bush beans...we'll get at least a couple of pots out of them...

...we still had a couple of bags of the rattlesnakes in the fridge...

...and I added them together...

...got them all broken...

...and into a pot...

...and then I took down all of the strings holding up the rattlesnake beans...

...and pulled them all up...it seems so funny to see the fence there again...haha...

...the giant marigolds are starting to dry up...so I'll save a gazillion seeds from them to plant again next year...and the second planting of squash will have those squares all to themselves now...

...and we're still picking the cowpeas...

...and the little pink roses beside the back steps are putting on a final show before autumn...

...and then I picked the last two little cherry tomatoes off the incredibly tall vines on the porch...

...see what I mean...they grew right up to the ceiling...and we took down the strings and shook those out of their pots as well...

...and on our walk one of the military helicopters flew over...we always look up when we hear one...

...and then we were treated to a gorgeous sunset...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...9.13...Dinner (with Mom)...and no movie...

...breakfast...tofu fried in vegan butter...toast and fruit...it was delicious...

...and then a dear old friend came over for a visit...and she had asked me to alter a dress for her for a wedding later this month...

...so I had her put it on inside out...it's a gorgeous sequined navy blue dress...and I didn't get a photo of it but it has a beautiful sheer peach jacket...it's so pretty...

...just pinning up the two layers...

...lots of discussion about what to do with the sequins at the bottom...

...there are yards of fabric there...I know it doesn't look like it...but the basic procedure was that I made one hem about three inches up...because I wanted to trap all of the sequins there and I wanted her to try it on again with the shoes she'll be wearing just to doublecheck the length as I hadn't cut anything yet...I could still take it out...

...but all was well...and I cut and hemmed the lining...and took a couple of inches out of the shoulder seams as well...

...it turned out so beautifully and hopefully she'll send me a photo of her wearing the dress at the wedding...

...after she left and we got everything cleaned up and put away...we took Mom out for a birthday dinner...it was a lot of fun...

...and the food was delicious...they actually have a vegan burrito with tofu and veggies...

...and when we got home we had Mom's Birthday Cake for dessert...

...and Mom had gotten my favorite vegan ice cream...So Delicious mint chocolate chip...

Happy early Birthday to Mom!...

~Have a lovely weekend!