Soup and Hats

I feel a bit like Crazy Aunt Purl right now, but I'm so proud of this soup that I have to share!

It is a Turkey and Veggie soup, with as many colors as I could add! The hotel we work at gave us both a turkey for Christmas, and this is the last of the meat from the first bird. The other bird will have to wait a while before it gets eaten...fourteen pounds of turkey between two people isn't easy to eat quickly!!

Anyway, I did the Rathskeller base (a restaurant I worked at in De Pere Wisconsin, where they taught me how to make things in the kitchen, mostly tedious things they didn't want to do lol!) which is soup base, onion, celery, and carrots. Then I added in a turnip, green beans, peas, and corn. This was my first experimentation with a turnip, and it seems to have worked out well, although I must say I am excited to make mashed turnips and potatoes in the (hopefully) near future. I might also use the turnip in a thicker soup next time, maybe puree them, as the root veggies do have a tendency to take over the flavor of the soup.

I've also been busy making hats, and Zach Hoffman has been busy photographing them for me! They are all up on Etsy for your viewing (or purchasing) pleasure! Have a great day, and if you need a moment of fun, go ahead and feed the fish below!!

Happy Hats!

It's been a good week for knitting out in Montana! I've finished two hats (well, mostly, the second hat is in need of a button closure that I hope to pick up tomorrow!) and I will finish a third tonight. It's been a while since I posted, and I've added a few things to the shop, including this scarf:

I've also 'hired' a professional photographer, a man with great eye for detail, and longtime friend, Zach Hoffman! You can check him out at his blog, and check out his work on our newest addition to Etsy by clicking here.

The Etsy shop is shaping up, finally, and I've even joined a Team! The Night Owls of Etsy, who focus on late night BNR's, and late night discussions. It works out well, because most nights before I joined the team, I just sat here talking to myself about Etsy. Or to the cats. (They give really bad advice though, I don't recommend it.)

I'm off to knit, and watch some Doctor Who! Happy Wednesday everyone!

That Time of Year Again

It's almost Christmas, which means that Mom's hands have been busy making recycled sweater mittens and god knows what else. This is one of the most stressful times of the year for us, because neither of us know how to say no!

I haven't been quite so busy in Montana, but I did manage to make a hat that sold immediately back in Wisconsin.

I have been busy, however, playing around on Etsy. I've been making treasuries, and trying to get a little more exposure for our products. Which means I've also been trying to make product too! I have managed a few new scarves this fall, but not nearly as much as I would like.

One of my biggest Christmas presents this year was a sewing machine! I'm so excited, because it means I can do some of the things I've been wanting to ever since I left Wisconsin, where it was so easy to go down to the basement and use Mom's machine! As soon as I get in some squeakers I can finish up a few dog toys made from recycled jean material. I might even be able to help make some sweater mittens, but they might have to be stock for next winter, because I'm kind of slow at sewing!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and all that other such!

Another exciting day with Randy and Pam

I'm so glad it's time for me to sit!  I can't sit long I still have to make supper.  Tonight we are having chili.  I made bread in the bread machine and I think it is finished.  I was cleaning cupboards last week and discovered I had a whole bag of bread flour and then I remembered I have a bread machine in the basement.  I made a loaf last Sunday and it was good so I thought why not have it again this week.

Yesterday the rest of the hay for winter was delivered.  I meant to take some pictures because the barn is full.  We normally get small bales but this time they brought big square bales.  They brought ten of them and I think I'm good till next fall!  I still had quite a few small bales left.  A guy came and ground stumps scattered throughout the yard and then we moved firewood.  I have some orders for black and orange hats and I'm running low on black yarn so I thought I'd dye some yarn.  I don't have any black dye but I did have several colors I bought at Jefferson.  The colors are great and the label is from G & K Craft, I don't know if that's the name of the store I bought it from or if it is the manufacturer.  I need to find out who makes it.  The colors are very bright.  I made some skeins with yellow, rose, moss and turquoise.  The yellow is very bright and the moss almost looks black but the turquoise looks like it glows!  When I took the multi colored skeins out of the dye pot to rinse them I ended up with blue hands.  I never wear gloves when I dye wool!  My fingers are still a little blue and my fingernails look like I have baby blue nails!  I dyed several skeins with the left over  moss and the other skeins came out in a nice light green, the turquoise still came out turquoise until I had dyed four more skeins! 

So today we got up and we waited till it warmed up a little and we started moving firewood again.  We were using the jeep to pull the trailer.  We don't have a flat spot in our yard and a few times I thought Oh NO We're going to Tip!   Then I thought when they get me to the emergency room they would see my blue fingernails and think I was dead!  The jeep is very old and looks like a Barbie Jeep!  Except that it's mostly grey primer.  We had made several trips and we were picking up some scattered firewood in the back yard when the jeep wouldn't start.  Randy tried several different things and then we gave up and we were going to tow it to the barn with the truck.  I was waiting for him to come with the truck and he was starting to back up to hook up the trailer when the jeep started rolling down the hill.  Me being the strong brave person I am thought wait maybe I can stop it or jump in!  The trailer stopped it!  The mirror has made my upper arm match my fingernails!  Good thing it's winter and I'll have on long sleeves!  We were lucky it rolled when it did another minute later and we'd be calling Lori the insurance agent! 

It sounds like Randy has the bobcat started.  It's going in the little side garage so we're ready to move snow.  I'm  hoping it doesn't get here for months!  My hamburger is cooked and it's time to finish the chili!

Yes, it was just another day with Randy and Pam!