A Hot Mess!

Well, that was fun, but I'm a hot mess! I think this clown expresses it well.

Our younger son's family, who live a few hours away by car left on Wednesday. Our daughter's family, residents of Wisconsin, were supposed to leave on Thursday, but the flights Thursday and Friday were all cancelled due to weather and/or the impact of Covid on flight crews. (Now, that's a job I wouldn't want to have during these times!) It was stressful for them getting new flights, but it gave us a few more days of fun, and it meant that they were here to help us usher in the New Year.

I had been knitting on my emPower People cowl with Abstract Fiber and Yarn Tahoma in "Ink," and making good progress.

I had a gift of a skein of yarn from the LYS, Fancywork Yarn Shop, from our daughter, for my birthday, so she and my DIL and I went there on Tuesday. I chose the same kind of yarn I recently made my In the Pink Shawlette from, but instead of "Sea Slug," I chose "Jay Blue." I'll have to knit something fancy with it, because it's a solid.

I wanted to get some yarn to make some samples for the shop. They have my books on display, and the owner/manager had come up with the idea to include the patterns for the knitted items that show up in the stories, so a customer could buy one of the books and make something for a child's doll to go along with it. I offered to loan two of my dolls (Dolly and Gabi) to model the Everyday Play dress and the Wonderland Turtle turtleneck sweater. The yarn had to come from the shop, of course, so the customers could buy the same yarns if they liked. I bought a skein of Koigu Wool Painter's Palette Premium Merino for the dress and CO on Thursday. Gabi will model it at the shop.

Then I chose this lovely yarn, Amble Mini in "Walk Me Home," for the turtleneck. The skeins were smaller, so I needed two, but it is also lovely yarn. This is also fingering weight, so you can tell the balls are small. (The measuring scale on my sewing desk also will give you a clue.) 

I had planned to make the turtleneck the size for American Girl dolls, which would fit Dolly, but when I got home I realized I needed thicker yarn for the larger version, so I decided to buy a smaller doll to loan to the shop for the one using this yarn. A little research and size comparisons led me to Glitter Girls by Battat, which are inexpensive, readily available and roughly the same size as Götz Little Kidz. I picked this one, because her outfit should go well with the yarn I had bought.

I still plan to make the larger turtleneck, and Dolly will model, but I need to get sport-weight yarn for it.

Two days after our trip to the yarn shop, I got a call from the manager. Someone had bought a copy of my first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook! (Happy dance!)

Quilters will appreciate this present from our younger son and his family, picked up on their trip to Hawaii: a nice assortment of fat quarters.

New Year's Eve was quiet, but pleasant with family there, although I started to have mild chills, so I put on a mask for this photo of "four generations." (That's Rebekah, Daphne's Little Kidz, just like Pippa, only with freckles.)

Daphne had brought Rebekah and Zachary had brought his Billy, so they had them meet their counterparts in a story they made up themselves. They took photos for the story, too.

Our daughter gave the kids permission to take the Fisher Price My Friend Jenny and Mikey home with them. The other two (Becky and Mandy) will stay here for now.

The family left on Saturday, New Year's Day, and found out when they arrived at the airport that their flight was delayed and they would miss their connecting flight in Seattle. 

There was still the red-eye flight that left just after midnight. They arrived home, exhausted but relieved.

I get my Covid test later today.

Happy birthday to my daughter, Karen!

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: The emPower People Cowl and the Everyday Play dress for Gabi.

What's on my loom: Still the trailer rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: It's cover, but if I'm up to it, I hope to get the sashing, borders and cornerstones cut for the T-shirt quilt.

What's in my hoop: Still the whole cloth quilt. A little progress happened before I got my yarn.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Happy New Year. Mariah suggests they each tell us three things they learned in the past year.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to All About Me by Mel Brooks on the Audible app. 

What's in my wine glass: I don't really know. I'm isolating in my fiber studio, to avoid giving DH my whatever, so I can't look at the bottle, but it's one we've had before.

What's my tip of the week: Black-eyed peas don't have to be pre-soaked, but if you think to do it, they cook faster. Here's my favorite recipe:

Simple Spicy Black-eyed Peas

Servings: 8 1C servings
Prep time: 22:21
Categories: Dinner, Main Dish, Vegan, Vegetarian, Winter
Source: Adapted from Parade magazine


Ingredients:
2 C dried black-eyed peas
6 cups water

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves ( minced or pressed)
1 bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano ( crushed)
1 teaspoon dried thyme ( crushed)
2 (24-1/2 ounce) cans chopped tomatoes (do NOT drain)
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies (do NOT drain)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar


Directions:
Either presoak beans overnight or don't. Rinse and add to water and bay leaf in slow cooker. Cook presoaked beans for 4 hours on low (or 6 hours on low if they aren't presoaked), until just barely tender. Drain and remove bay leaf or not.
Combine oil, garlic, onion and bell pepper in a skillet.
Sauté over low heat until onion is translucent.
Add the cooked onion mix and all remaining ingredients to the black eyed-peas and set slow-cooker on low. Cook for an additional 1 1/2-2 hours, or until peas are soft.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is now available for preorder from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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