Happy Easter!

The shortest distance between two points is under construction.

- Noelie Alito

Another pair of reading mitts, this pair for my daughter. The first one is finished, the second is under construction with a little help from Dexter....AKA the Dextinator....everybody needs a little buddy, or in his case, a rather large buddy...this is 30 pounds of cat who really wishes he could knit, too.
Also under construction for the month of March, Tres Trax Socks from Kay Redding . These have been on my queue for a while and I am excited to have finally started them. They are my second pair that have been designed by her. This wonderful yarn is from Qutecowgirl.

Isn't it a crying shame when you are so proud of something you are making until you look at the photo for the first time? You never see the problems when the work is up close and personal. I have two months to finish this one in between sock of the month, should be a breeze. This is Brandywine Shawl by Rosemary Hill. I am in love with the pattern and want to do another one for me. The yarn is, of course from my favorite designer, Qutecowgirl.

I stopped into the LYS to pick up a ball of Lima to finish the reading mitts and decided to ask about a swift. I wind all my yarn by hand, it is good physical therapy. I did come home with a new swift, but also with this hank of handspun that is to die for. 124 yards of bulky that I am still not exactly sure what I will do with.

This is a ball of recycled super bulky hand dyed yarn I picked up off Etsy from SpinyNormanKnits. I know exactly what this is for, a bobble-less tea cozy. Now I just need 4 really cute buttons or beads. If it goes well, there will be several made for Christmas presents this year. My daughter, who never comments on my yarn except to tell me she does not like it, loved this yarn as soon as it came out of it's package and wanted to know what I was using it for. It really is quite lovely. Thanks to my new swift, both hanks were wound right away.

Decisions, decisions. I have two sets of buttons for my Neck Down V-Neck Cardigan. I think I am still hoping for polymer cane buttons to show up in the right color.

But I am leaning toward these from eBay.....

Sunday Moments

“Fruits each in its season, are the cheapest, most elegant and wholesome dessert you can offer your family or friends, at luncheon or tea. Pastry and plum-pudding should be prohibited by law, from the beginning of June until the end of September.”‘Breakfast, Luncheon and Tea’Marion Harland [Mary Virginia Terhune] (1875)

In our family, my Grandmother Lillian, always made the plum puddings and it is still considered bad luck to cut into one before Christmas. She passed the torch to me years ago. Instead of steaming the puddings in bowls with waxed paper and foil on top, tied with string, I purchased molds...at Williams Sonoma and garage sales. You can't get the molds from them anymore, that I know of, but they sell the puddings. I still pick up the molds, even though I have more than I will ever need. In the course of a traumatic divorce after almost 30 years of marriage, I had no clue where the recipe was in storage. I found the molds this year and have yet to find the recipe.
I remembered most of it and found a similar recipe on the Internet. These are loaded with raisins, sultanas (golden raisins), currants, spices, and lots of beef suet. No bread crumbs here. Each pudding comes with a silver dime buried somewhere in it's depths. The lucky recipient of the dime is supposed to have good luck for the next year.

These little beauties steam for 9 hours, so this is an all day event. They have been on since very early this morning and will need to cool once they are done so I can get them wrapped in wax paper and then in foil to get them ready to be mailed all around the US, including Hawaii.

This post is filled with memories of a woman I loved dearly and still do. The wool penny ornaments for our tree are made with large buttons my family saved for me from her stash. I think about her every time I hang them on the tree. Today, my house smells like hers did. I love you, Grandma.