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

...my neighbor's baby blanket so far...the shower is on November 15th...so I'm monogamously knitting the blanket...hoping to have it finished in time...

...and...for the first time in a very very long time...I managed to drop a stitch...weird I know...and it was right where the seed stitch border changed to stockinette...I don't know how it happened...

...but I do know how to fix it...

...I thought about just doing some sort of duplicate stitch and then weaving in the ends...but...I wanted the blanket to be perfect...so I picked out all the stitches above the dropped on...

...all the way back down to the seed stitch border...and one of those stitches was dropped as well...and that meant a backward single crochet to make the bump come off to the front...

...and then it's just a matter of chain stitching all the way back to the top...pulling each one of the 'ladder rungs' through the stitch below...

...and in the end...you can't even tell a stitch was ever dropped...

~Have a lovely day!

...master bath - change of plans...

...well...the deck is still not finished...but coming inside... ...we took up the carpet...eeeuuuuwww...carpet in a bathroom is just not a good idea... ...but we found the neatest tile underneath......I would really have liked to keep this tile...so much... ...but...they had of course GLUED the icky carpet to the tile...also NOT a good idea... ...so...even though we liked the 'retro' blush coloured bathroom... ...and we had already started replacing the drywall... ...in the end...we just decided to tear out everything and start over... ...the toilet and sink would have had to be replaced anyway and would have been very difficult to match...

...so here we are...down to the studs...with much more work ahead...

~Have a lovely day!

...Corn Maze 2014...

...it's that time of year again...

...we took the youth group to the Corn Maze...

...and just like previous years...it rained... >

...but we kept a fire going...

...and everyone lined up at dusk...

...the 'scarers' ran around making people...well...scared...

...but they were really nice young men and women...this one even shared our campfire for a bit...

...previous years were pretty much the same...but the kids love it:

2012
2013

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...deck progress...

...well...needless to say the one hour a day I intended to spend on painting the deck just hasn't happened...and it's not for lack of trying/wanting...the weather has been really dreary...and then we'd get a clear day but we'd be too busy to paint...so finally this weekend...we managed to get all of the 'ladder work' done...the bottom joist and the bottom few inches of the rails are all done now....

...so here's to small accomplishments...hopefully tomorrow I can get another hour or so of painting in...

~Have a lovely day!

...leftover almond meal...

...so what to do with all the leftover almond meal...one of my favorite things is this beet and chickpea dip...

...in the post about Vegan Almond Coffee Creamer...I told y'all about using the leftover almond meal in baked goods...

...and then I got a couple of email questions asking how I did that...

...well...first I chunk it up and dehydrate it...

...and I'm left with these hard little pellets of almond meal...

...so I put them in the coffee grinder and grind them into flour...if I had more I'd use the Vitamix...but usually it will fit in the coffee grinder...

...if it's sweet like in the coffee creamer...I'll use it in...say...chocolate chip cookies...just measure it as flour...

...but if it's not sweet I'll usually add it to something savory...In this recipe I used it instead of the almonds...

...and although I usually like my hummus creamy smooth...in this recipe...I like to leave a little bit of texture and not completely liquefy the beets...

...it's such a pretty rosy colour...

...and really really delicious!...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your weekend!

...Vegan Cassoulet over at The Vegan Version...

...well...I finally wrote up the post about the Vegan Cassoulet ...it's really long...but also really delicious...and totally worth all the time and trouble...

...so hop over to The Vegan Version and check it out...

~Have a lovely day!

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

...so...of course I've cast on and started the second Pieces of 8 mitt...it's knit exactly like the first one up to the end of the swirl and then you turn it inside out...and since I'm changing colours every other row...I had to add a row of just plain knit...so that all of my colour changes will be on the new wrong side...

...AAAND...my neighbor 3 doors down is having a baby girl and her shower is coming up in November...and since I've not got a lot of time...I'm going to make a simple striped stockinette stitch blanket with a seed stitch border all around...it'll be fairly broad stripes and only 4 of them...she said her nursery is soft hues of peach and pink...so...I'm starting with cream...then a soft yellow...then peach and then pink...and I'll be able to post updates...as far as I know...she doesn't read the blog...

...what are you working on?...

~Have a lovely day!

..Bookclub Sushi Party...

...Book Club was chez Affectioknit last night...

...and we had a SUSHI PARTY...we had read the second in the Brilliants trilogy by Sakey...A Better World...not really my favorite book...and a real cliffhanger at the end...I guess you'd expect that from the middle book of a trilogy though...and I'm fairly certain that someone will choose the third book when it comes out as well...

...my choice for next month's book will be Gap Creek the story of a marriage by Robert Morgan...I had bought the book for my sister a couple of years ago but had not read it myself...and it looks like my kind of book...just a book about people and their lives...this one is set in the mountains of North Carolina quite near to where I grew up...

...so...anywhooo...I got out my new sushi implements...and set up two rolling stations...one with the mat bare for sushi with nori...and the other with the mat wrapped in cellophane for rolling sushi with the rice on the outside...

....over in this corner...I put the miso soup tureen...and some chips and crackers with Tofutti cream cheese coated with a jar of pepper jelly made by a dear friend...it was delicious!

...then on the buffet...all of the sauces...teriyaki, soy, wasabi, and pickled ginger...

...the fixin's...vegan lobster...grilled marinated tofu...the large tray has an assortment of raw veggies...you can see the avocado hasn't been cut yet...and the other plate has some of the same veggies cooked...as some of our bookclubbers don't like their veggies raw...

...everyone got busy making rolls as they arrived...

...and I was happy that the ones without the nori wrapper really did hold together...

...pretty impressive for a first attempt...no one in our group had ever made sushi before...

...my first attempt...

...just a plain avocado roll...

...it worked...all rolled up...

...my plate...it sure was delicious!...and pretty too!...

...and I've got lots of leftovers for lunch!

...Have you ever made sushi?...

~Have a lovely day!

...Vegan Oatmeal...

...I'm not usually a fan of 'instant' oatmeal...but dressed up with some apples and raisins...it's pretty good...and made a nice warm and filling vegan breakfast for a chilly rainy weekend...

...so no deck painting occurred...I did however create a Cassoulet...one of Julia's more (much more) involved recipes...and I'll be sharing that later over at The Vegan Version...

...I did get the house all cleaned up and ready for Book Club tonight...and I'll be sure to post about all the fun there too...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...Fall Days...

...well it's definitely fall here...almost the same photo as in the header...but not quite there yet...

...but still rainy and foggy...(too rainy for any deck painting...sigh)...but we went for a drive along some West Virginia backroads in the drizzle...and it's so pretty there too...I love to stop and just listen to the rain dripping from the trees...

...Is it fall where you live yet?...

~Have a lovely weekend!

...Chemistry Shirt...

...another school project...

...they had to choose an element...Scout chose ununpentium...a temporary name mean 1-1-5...

...and then they had to answer about 25 questions about the element...

...all on a T-shirt...interesting...

...this 'element' only exists for a fraction of a second when scientists fire some isotopes from a cyclotron...so...is that a 'real' element???

...and then they wear their shirts to school...

...I thought Scout did a good job with his shirt...it's neatly done and well laid out at least...

...did you ever decorate a shirt for a class project?...I did not...

~Have a lovely day!