Felt Like Knitting

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Things to Put in a Salad

    

What?  It's Tuesday?  Memorial Day has thrown me off.  I'm laughing at myself because when I read Carole's blog this morning I thought something was off with the posting day - why was her ToT post showing up on Monday?  :)

Lettuce - Most of my salads begin with lettuce.  My favorite is Romaine (right) but we also planted Black-Seeded Simpson.

--Cheese--

Feta - I love feta cheese on salad.  I think this is the favorite at our house.

Gorgonzola - But this is my personal favorite!  It has so much flavor that you don't need to add much.

--Crunch--

Pecans - I love the sweetness and crunch that chopped pecans give to a salad.  Sometimes I throw in candied pecans.

Sunflower seeds - Chick-fil-A puts these on their salads.  Yum!

Slivered almonds - Another favorite but not at the same time as the pecans or sunflower seeds.  :)

--Fruits and vegetables--

Dried cranberries - I've been forgetting to put these on lately but they really make a tasty salad.

Roasted butternut squash - Mary first served this to me and now I love putting warm squash on my salads.  It's filling and tastes delicious with gorgonzola and pecans.

Olives - Again, I think these add lots of flavor to salads.  I usually use black olives but if I have kalamata olives, I use those for a special treat.

--Dressing--

Balsamic vinaigrette - I enjoy other dressings, but if I could only pick one dressing it would be balsamic vinaigrette.

I've gotten to ten too quickly!  I never mentioned tomatoes, cucumbers, caprese salad, ...  What a great topic this was!  To share your favorites or to get ideas, head on over to Carole's!

 

The Best Trip Ever! (Part 1: Yarn)

      

Steve and I just got back from a trip to Asheville, North Carolina.  He arranged it as a special treat for our 25th wedding anniversary.  It was the best trip ever and we had a fabulous time!

When I travel, I like to buy local yarn or yarn that I haven't seen before.  My LYS has a lovely selection of yarn so it's sometimes hard for me to find something new.  Asheville has four (yes - four!) yarn stores in or near downtown and I made it to three of them.

Yarn Paradise is located in Bilmore Village, the historic village near the entrance to George Vanderbilt's Biltmore.  Parking was easy to find and there was a bench nearby for Steve.  The people in the shop were friendly and helpful.  I bought Claudia Hand Painted Linen Lace in the Boot Camp colorway (above right).  Identical colorways in the sport weight and lace weight yarns were very different.  This yarn will most likely become a shawl for me since the colors complement many of my t-shirts.

Earth Guild was a very large store downtown that featured supplies for many different arts and crafts.  There were local yarns that I considered but when I saw the colors of the Manos Silk Blend, I decided to splurge on that instead.  I think this will become a Summer Flies shawl.

While I was in Earth Guild, Steve found the third yarn store for me:  Purl's Yarn Emporium.  This store is tucked away on a little one-way street.  They had some very nice yarns but there was nothing that called out to me, especially since I had already spent plenty of money on yarn.  But I would definitely visit again.

The store I didn't visit is the one I really wanted to see, Asheville, NC Home~Crafts.  Somehow I never printed out information before we left so I ended up visiting the stores that came up first on the Google search on my phone.  Then we ran out of time.  But I have to have something to do the next time I go back, right?  :)  Many of the yarns in this store are supplied by local artisans, so I'm sure it's an interesting store.

Next up:  the food!

 

Ten on Tuesday - 10 Favorite Things to do Outside

1.  Praying/meditating - I often feel closer to God when I'm outside in the world He created.

2.  Gardening - Sometimes it can take a lot to get me out there, but once I'm busy in the yard/garden I really enjoy it.

3.  Picking vegetables and flowers - It gives me a lot of joy to pick vegetables and flowers from my yard, especially when I get to share them with friends.

4.  Reading on the deck - I still remember one Sunday where I sat out on the deck and read the whole afternoon.  That doesn't happen often, but it's so nice when it does.

5.  Knitting on the deck - See #4.  :)

6.  Grilling out - Steve told me just the other night that this is one of his favorite things to do - grill our dinner while drinking a cold beverage and catching up on his reading.

7.  Visiting with neighbors - Not much time to do this, but it sure is nice to catch up ona neighbor's porch or out in the cul-de-sac.

8.  Celebrate July 4th - Speaking of our cul-de-sac, we often have a mini block party with fireworks, homemade ice cream,...

9.  Enjoying the ocean - One of my favorite outdoor places

10.  Camping - Around a lake or in the mountains, I love being able to "live" outside.  Even though we stay in a cabin and not a tent, being able to walk out the door and into the woods or down to a lake is wonderful.

Check out Carole's blog for more ways to enjoy the outdoors!

Abyssal

I finished Abyssal last week.  The Ultra Alpaca Fine is really soft and I like the color a lot.  But I'm not sure how to wear this shawl.  I don't think it's quite long enough to wear like a scarf (with the center of the shawl on my chest and the ends wrapped around and hanging down in front).  And when I try to wear it on my shoulders like this, the feather and fan motif curls up.  It does fit will when I have it on both shoulders with the ends in front so I may wear it that way.

And here's a shot of Pettine after it was blocked.  I really like this shawl, too - especially the edging.

Currently my LYS is having a KAL to knit Summer Flies.  The shop samples are knit with alternating colorways of variegated yarn and they look really great!  I want to knit it in some leftover sock yarn I have from the Chevron Scarf.  But for the KAL I bought some Koigu KPPPM.  (Photos coming later this week...)

Next I would like to knit a narrow shawl/scarf to wrap around my neck with the ends hanging in front.  Any ideas?

Ten on Tuesday - 10 Favorite Birds

Ack!  Today was really busy so I'm late - and no photo even!  The topic is favorite birds. 

Bluebird - so pretty!

Owl - not sure what kind lives near me, but I love hearing it hoot

Cardinal - another pretty bird

Goldfinch - it's so fun to watch them perch on the heads of flowers to get seeds

Blue Jay - they can be mean but I love their color

Swan - very graceful

Chickadee - don't they just seem really cheery?

Hawk - again, I'm not sure what kind but it's very exciting to see them swoop down on their prey

Hummingbird - so tiny and noisy!

Wren - these little guys are another cute kind of bird

I'm sure I'm forgetting some.  To share your favorites, head on over to Carole's!