More January Projects.

It's been grand having so many Mondays off. There is more time to craft and even cook some. Today chicken was on sale and since the sun forgot to come out, it seemed like some chicken soup was in order.

My attempt at spinning a cabled yarn was not too successful, but I'm trying again with the same 2plies and have knit a sock.

Pattern: Sock It To Me Plain Toe-up Sock, from Elan.com
Needles: Size 1
Mods: I was afraid I would run out of yarn, so I knit anklets. I don't like doing two at once, although I contemplated it. As it turns out I had plenty.
Comments: The heel fit me pretty well compared to some other toe-ups of done, but I wasn't successful in closing up the holes to my liking.










My card-making buddy and I got together for lunch and Valentine Day Cards. I tried a new recipe called Chipolte Tamale Pie. I used hamburger instead of ground turkey and cut the cumin back to 1 tsp. I also used black beans instead of pinto beans. Those little chipotle's are really hot! I will have to use only one if I do it again. Luckily blogless Melody is from the South West and the hotness did not phase her.

I finished my first practice quilt, a table topper. I used straight stitch in the ditch and a decorative quilting stitch. I used the multicolored Isacord thread which doesn't show up as well as embroidery thread because I have a lot of it. I also used a programmed serpentine stitch around the edge. The bright four-patch squares have been in my stash for at least 20 years! To think dresses in that fabric were popular during my high school years. Yikes!

The last project does not have instant results. I carved a narcissus bulb and it will take 20-28 days to bloom, that is if I follow all the directions and it does rot. It was interesting to find out these bulbs come from Fukien, China and take 5 years to mature. The trick is to get them to bloom on Chinese New Year, which will be on the 23rd of January this year, so I'm starting too late:(