Taking It Easy

I ran out of yarn in the middle of the concert on Sunday, but more on that later. After the concert was over, I set up my ball winder and swift on the loom and wound another ball.

I spent another week of mostly sleeping and only doing the basic necessities. By Thursday, though, I finally felt like knitting again. The hard part was separating the sleeves from the body, and that was only difficult because I had to concentrate and count, two things I wasn't doing well ever since coming down with the flu two weeks ago. As I write this, I'm still coughing, but more energetic than I have been for a while, and we're hoping to get our booster shots on Tuesday. Charlie is about two days behind me on the symptoms, so we'll see whether he feels like going or not.

So there I was, Thursday evening, putting the sleeve stitches on waste yarn. Now it's just straight K, K, K, all the way down to the waist. Here's the link to my project page on Ravelry, if you want more details.

I managed to make some chili and some bread on Friday. It was a good thing I felt up to it, because we were out of cooked food and TV dinners. I baked a little loaf of Dutch oven bread, but I didn't think to get a photo until this was all that was left.

Friday was Zachary's birthday. I think his favorite present was his iPod. I call it a training phone. He can't make phone calls with it or surf the internet, but he can text his parents if he's home alone and needs something. He can also access The Doll's Storybook directly with a special link.

He was happy to get some Legos and some other fun things. He helped bake the cake, chocolate on chocolate. (He's a little intimidated by the double-digit age, though, but he'll get used to it. He will have a double-digit birthday for a long time.)

We got him a Götz Little Kidz Paul doll. Paul is the same size as Pippa in my stories. He actually comes as a boy.

Zachary was very excited to get him, and he and his sister have already played with their dolls together quite a bit.

It's nice to have a birthday on a Friday, so he could play with all his new things all weekend. 

Sunday we had planned on going to the concert series we've been attending. We didn't really feel like going, but didn't want to miss it. Fortunately, it was broadcast, so we were able to watch it with the pups. They included "Melody No. 2" by the Ukrainian composer Miroslav Skorik, which is to Ukraine what our "America the Beautiful" is, almost a second national anthem.

Speaking of Ukraine, If anyone is in the Portland, Oregon, area, you might be interested in this benefit, Voices for Ukraine. The price of the tickets includes the $20 cost of the concert, and the rest of the price of the ticket goes to Mercy Corps. 

I'm really, really, hoping to be back to normal by next week!

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: Still the Hinterland pullover and the emPower Kerchief.

What's on my loom: No change.

What's on my sewing machine: Back to doll clothes for birthdays.

What's in my hoop: No change.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Fashion Show." I didn't feel up to taking a lot of action shots this week, so I used the photos from many of my free patterns and instructions and only had to take photos of Veronika and Mandy introducing the outfits.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listening to The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone on the Audible app. 

What's in my wine glass: Ribera Del Duero Teófilo Reyes Tempranillo. Very nice. I could hardly resist an extra glass.

What's my tip of the week: Before you leave to go shopping for food, check your medicine cabinet for whatever cold supplies you need when you're sick, like tissues, cough medicine and decongestant. You won't want to have to go out for it once you get sick.

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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New Horizons

The whole-cloth quilt is coming along.

I'm working on what is in the lower left-hand corner in this photo. Quite a lot is done. I really should keep on it until it's done. It's a queen-size quilt. I'm not sure where it will go when I'm done with it, but I can see the end in sight.

The usual foods are growing, too. I have sprouts growing all the time. I've discovered that if I just use one tablespoon of seeds and let them grow longer, they will still fill the jar. This saves seeds. I also started some kimchi, because I've just finished what I had. This batch is just regular cabbage, because that was all we could get without going from store to store, which we're reluctant to do. People in our county are not required to wear masks in public, so we only go to stores that require them, so we couldn't get Napa or Savoy cabbage. I'm sure this will be fine, though. We ate the second "flush" of golden oyster mushrooms, and I'm spraying the mycelium to see if we can get a third one.

We have been getting some use out of our new air fryer. It's an Emeril Lagasse.

I've used it to make cottage fries and hash browns several times, and to make potato chips. I've used it to heat up garlic bread. I found out you can bake in it, and the kitchen doesn't heat up as much as the stove oven does. Since we had some hot weather, That's a real advantage. On Saturday I used it to make these chocolate-chip cookies . They were delicious. I only made four cookes for the two of us to enjoy then, but I made the dough balls for the whole recipe, which will make 16 cookies. I froze the extras, so I can just thaw and bake as needed. I put them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and popped them into the freezer. When they were frozen hard, I dumped them into a freezer bag. I want to try this recipe from Epicurious for Air Fryer Crispy Herbed Chickpeas.

The garden is coming along slowly. I think the birds or squirrels have been getting the strawberries before they are ripe, but the plants seem to be thriving. The peas have found their supporting strings.

The zucchini plants are getting big.

The tomato, eggplant and other squash plants are doing well, and we will have some blueberries soon, if the critters don't get them.

The story this week required that I clean up my fiber studio, so I spent some time on that.

Speaking of The Doll's Storybook, our granddaughter received an iPod for her birthday this year. This one can be programed to allow her to visit websites her parents allow and to text with anyone who has an iPod or iPhone, also as allowed by her parents. She has been using it to read my stories. Here she is reading the story that came out on Friday. She sent me a text to say she liked the part where Billy looked up Chile on my computer.

We had some warm weather, but it always cools off at night. Since the sun comes up at an ungodly hour, I can get up, open up the house to let in the cool air, then put on my sleep mask and (maybe) go back to sleep. DH says when the current furnace dies, we can replace it with a unit that cools as well as heats. I can't wait.

What's on my needles: The Which Came First Shawl. Only one row finished, so not anything to show, but it's a start.

What's on my sewing machine: Other than to make a repair to a dog leash, neither sewing machine has seen any use this week.

What's in my hoop: Still the whole cloth quilt. Some progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: A Ski Trip for Jolena. Emil wonders why Jolena is packing, and Billy explains that there is snow in Chile, so Jolena and the team will be going there to practice.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Listening to My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows. (I left off two of the authors in last week's blog post. Sorry.) 

What's in my wine glass: Ray Road Proprietor's Reserve Red 2017.

What's my tip of the week: Basil and dill leaves are both good in sandwiches. If you have the plants growing in your garden (or indoors, as ours are), just pluck off a leaf or two. They add a lot of flavor. (Maybe not with peanut butter and jam, but with cheese, egg, lunchmeat, tuna and other savory fillings.)

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.