This Moment

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

The Knitting Bug

Just when I thought my knitting slump had over taken me...BAM! I get bit by the bug and finish two sweaters (and start a third!). Both were started over (a collective) three years ago. Both are Norah Gaughan designs. Both were knit with great yarn. Both make me very happy!


The first: Loppem

Not the best pictures but it was getting dark and I wanted to get my ravelry page updated :) This sweater REALLY makes me excited for REAL spring weather!


The Second: Surface

I used a different and much easier lace pattern for the collar and cuffs but the effect is similar to the original pattern. This was knit with some great discontinued yarn that my sister and brother-in-law gave me for a Christmas present about 4 years ago. It worked beautifully for this pattern.

Now, on to the next...

A Little Something

I finally made a baby blanket for my almost one year old. At this point he's already chosen another as his favorite (aka: blue snuggler) but he was tired enough to indulge me for some pictures.

Weekend Eating

I think I've jumped leaps and bounds in the ongoing bread making experiment. A friend recommended a wonderful book and it blows my mind....Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Although the title is a bit misleading this bread is fast and really, really good (no kneading! limited active time!).

So if you've been thinking about trying to make bread stop thinking and just try it. This weekend I had some leftover dough and decided to try to make a loaf, you know sandwich style?

The results:


I can't believe I made that! And to go with it we whipped up some really good chicken salad.

I guess we were in a Summery sort of mood. Who isn't right about now?

Chicken Salad Recipe (if you're interested) (For 4-6 people)

Marinade for 2 Chicken Breasts (or whatever kind of chicken you have)
1/4 C. Olive Oil (or oil of your choice)
Juice from about 1/2 a lemon
2 minced or crushed garlic cloves
and spices of your choice (I used pepper, flaked red pepper and a little salt)
Puncture the chicken with a fork several times and let it sit in the mixture for as long as you want (but at least 30 min)

Take the chicken out of the marinade and grill. Then cube or shred (i shredded).

Salad Dressing Mix
1/3 c. mayonnaise
1/3 c. sour cream
2 tbs. cidar vinegar (if you have it)
juice from the other half of that lemon
Mix.

Chunky parts:
1 c. halved red seedless grapes
1/2 an apple cubed
1/4 to 1/2 c. nuts of your choice ( i used walnuts and stove top roasted them first...put them in a skillet and heat until fragrant...totally worth the extra step!)
1/2 c. celery
1/2 an onion
3 tsp. terragon
1 tsp. sage
pepper and salt to taste

Add Chunky Parts to chicken and mix....this can sit for a bit if you want or not!
Then add the Salad Dressing and mix.

These ingredients are mostly approximate and can be changed in pretty much any way...Yum!

i've got a knitter

My 10 month old decided to help me finish his baby blanket...Yeah, I'm just making his baby blanket now!

Fiddling...

I've been thinking about ways to keep this blog about knitting and not give away any secrets but I can't seem to do it. I have the itch to write some things so maybe it's time to change the blog and just write about whatever comes up. I'm still knitting just not as much and I don't want some of you :) to see what I'm knitting.

On that note, I've been cooking and baking a lot. It is great fun.

I must note here that one of the main reasons I married my husband was because he never expects anything domestic from me. It's true, both that he doesn't expect and I would not have married him if he did. That being said, I am really enjoying having the time and desire to cook for us.

One of my new favorites is bread. Now, I grew up thinking that bread was really hard to make. I'm not sure where this came from but for some reason I got it in my head that bread was for "special" people. Well, not so! I've made really good completely home made bread and it turned out wonderful. So wonderful that I took lots of pictures.


This was my first attempt at bread. It came out just perfect and I thought to myself, "Why did I think this was so difficult?" Well, I think I did have a few things going for me:

1. A KitchenAid. I think this is probably a must for perfect bread making. No hand kneading necessary!
2. A low elevation. Living at about 2000 ft. has changed many things but baking seems to be one of the most notable.
3. Bread flour. I didn't even try to make this with All-Purpose flour, so I don't know how it would have turned out but from what I've read BF is a must.

I thought the first batch may have just been a fluke but I've made this bread several times with the same results so, I guess I'm a bread maker now.

Other than Baby Stuff...

I have found some time to knit other things, not much time, but some time. For example, this basic seed stitch scarf was cast-on the week we brought little mr. home. That was almost 11 weeks ago. This could be because I'm swamped with newborn stuff or maybe I just hate knitting scarves.

Mostly, I think, I hate knitting scarves. Even though this yarn is awesome and even though I love wearing scarves, they are just so boring to knit. At this rate I should be done with this scarf when the first snow starts to fly next winter. Just in time!

I also started a project I've been excited about for awhile. It is a Norah Gaughan design from this pattern booklet. I really love the look of this sweater and was hoping it would be done for spring time wear but as you can see, it may be next spring before I actually try this one on!

I'm not the best at adjusting patterns, and I've heard from other ravelers that this sweater has some issues so we'll see how this turns out. I've already screwed up the first cable and I'm not big on ripping out projects either so...onward.