Knitters Unite for Butter

I know I am part of one of the most unique knitting groups around

Renton Knitters (a yahoo group) are known for their high energy, friendly & welcoming attitude, occassional risque conversations! Now we can add Butter Churners to the list of qualities!!!Joanne, always ready with a new idea or thing to try out, sent me a link on how to make butter...I was very intrigued indeed! When she suggested she show me how to do it during our weekly knitting group I was enthusiastically on board!

And so the two jars went around the circle so everyone could help make the butter. Low and behold, it turned in to real live butter! With a quick trip to the nearby gas station for some crackers we all got to sample our efforts!

Yummy!!!!

Now the mind is turning...how about garlic butter, or honey butter, or cinnamon sugar butter, or chive butter, or........ the possiblities are endless!!!!

Now for something completely different....

It's Memorial Day weekend-first and foremost, I am so thankful to all the men and women who fight or give their lives for our freedom!

This three day weekend, I had the whole house to myself and I had all kinds of projects I wanted to do with my solo time! Here you see some batts that I spun, plied and set! The orangy one is from Joanne...who is considering making batts to sell on etsy. I think she should go for it!

Then I finished up an order for a shop and got that all packed up and ready to go

Then Liberty came by so I could show her how to make lye based soap. I prefaced this crafty event with the fact that I was no expert...I had only done it a few times and knew sorta what I was doing! I forgot to take pictures, but it was a goat's milk recipe and it seemed to go pretty well. You never know sometimes until it has cured for the 4 weeks whether or not the batch turned out. Fingers crossed!!

Then I decided to do SOMETHING with the lemon balm that is taking over a section of my yard. I cut a huge bundle of stems off and dried out the leaves. Then made an ointement for cuts and scratches. Yep, I made and ointement...how cool is that?! I have no idea how well it will work.

Then, in my quest to stock the shelves with lowfat, easy to grab snacks, I made a loaf of polenta bread. This isn't really something you would eat as it is...it's more like a pizza dough that you would pile stuff on top of.

When that took only about 3 minutes to whip up, I decided to try to make tortillas!

I do realize that these barely resemble a circular shape....but aside from their deformity, they are dang good!!!! Kinda a cross between a corn and a flour tortilla. That took 2 minutes per tortilla, so it was a snap to whip up!

I made a mexi vegi jumble to pile on top of them for dinner and I had me a fancy quesadilla!!! Yum Yum!! :)

Oh yes, and I worked on Junes Lucky Lurker Pattern...but obviously I can't show that here!!!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday weekend!!!

Your spare wishes

Just one last quick update, because I don't mean to bore you with all the details...

By 7pm last night, and after talking to more neighbors, I had come to the realization that they just weren't willing to send a statement in about those dogs-they just didn't want to cause a bigger problem.

Then, at 7:30pm we got a call! It was one of the neighbors and she wanted the e-mail address to send in her statement!!!!

To everyone who sent a wish this way yesterday...IT WORKED!!!!

Thank you soooooo much!!!!

Another little heart broken

As you might imagine, yesterday was a very difficult day.

I contacted animal control to file a report. They needed the report to be as detailed as possible. The images of the vicious attack flash through my mind over and over as it is. Recounting the event in frame by frame detail (I witnessed the entire thing) proved to be a challenge in composure-I didn't win that challenge.

Then I noticed there was another heart breaking. Poor Macquiri spent the entire day waiting for Holly to come home. He seemed bewildered when they weren't doing their usual acrobatic rountine in the yard first thing in the morning. The flips and running bolts across the yard with eachother. Then, for the remainder of the day he simply waited on the deck for her to come home...watching every inch of the back yard, just waiting. Ugh! If only there were a way to explain to a kitty what is going on. They've been together since they were weeks old...they've never been apart.

Ken and I talked to every neighbor that borders these dogs house. Every one of them is aware that there is a problem and has been aware for years! Every one presumes the fence will keep them safe. The neighbors most closely bordering have had issues, we urged them to send in additional information to animal control. I got the impression they don't want to make any waves. I am soooo wishing that they do the right thing...not just for us and our kitty, but for the continued danger these dogs present. I understand not wanting make waves becasue you still have to live next to your neighbor, but sometimes the risk is too much to ignore.

If you have any extra wishes to spare today, please send one to our neighbors that they will send in additional information against these dogs!!

It's not right!

Last night we lost our kitty, Hallebanos!

She was viciously attacked by our neighbors dogs.

Holly was so sweet and had never learned to be afraid of dogs. This kitty, with personality to spare, would actually flirt with dogs by rubbing against them and rolling on her back in front of them. We assume that she attempted to do just this last night, but she chose two very vicious dogs and at her tiny size, she didn't stand a chance.

It was a horrible sight and today I will be spending the day determined to file complaints against the dogs, who also neighbor a daycare, and take it as far as I can. Looking back, I wish I had filed a complaint earlier because we knew they were vicious dogs from the day we moved in...but we simply thought the fence between us and them would keep us out of harms way. We were very wrong in that assumption.

What's worse is this is the third year in a row that we had lost one of our much loved pets at this time of year. After last year we feared it might be a pattern, but thought we were in the clear this year since all our animals are young and healthy. Again we were very wrong on that assumption.

If anyone has any suggestions on who to contact with regard to reporting a vicious animal, any information would be very appreciated!!!!!

Cotton!!!

After the seedling overload of 2006 I had cut myself off from ever doing seedlings again. They had to be established plants for me purchase them.

Well, a friend of mine who always has a different way of looking at things, decided she was going to grow cotton! I was happy to root her on from afar because I am not allowed to buy seeds. So she handed me two packets of cotton seeds and said that they don't count since I didn't buy them :)

Well, I planted the seeds on Saturday and they are already this big!!! I am amazed!!! They are growing soooooooooo fast. I am thinking at this pace they will be ready for the yard in the next couple weeks!!!

Look how cute they look at newly sprouted plants. AAAaaahhhh so cute!

Can I get an OOooh Aaaahhh?!

The shops have been requesting it...I thought about it...and decided to go for it.

Some of the wonderful shops that carry Swell Yarn Duet Collection will now be able to carry roving for their customer's spinning delight!

You wanna know a secret?! I love all of these colors so much I kinda want to keep them all for myself :) There is nothing like bright fun colors to get me in the mood to do a project!!

In knitting news, I have been plugging away on the Lucky Lurker Pattern for May (which you don't get to see) but when I am knitting in public and run the risk of bumping into a Lucky Lurker I have been working on this! I am soooooo loving this sweater! I have only worked on it for 3 very short intervals and I am nearly finished with the back already! How great is that?! I can already tell this will be a new favorite sweater! :)

With the free time that Mr Ken and I can grab up, we have run off to our new property to working on making it a fun camping place for our family and friends. We have been busting our hineys so much that coming home and working is actually more relaxing!!! The latest task was cutting down and cleaning up a dead tree. Sounds simple enough, but the friggin' rounds are heavy! I was ready for bed at 8pm that day!!! The next luxury item is the outhouse...because we don't want our friends and family to have to rough it completely! :)

Guppy is giving his approval on the progress so far! :)

I've been tagged

6 weird things about me
I was tagged by the most creatively energetic person I have ever met: Diana.
The rules are:
*Link to the person that tagged you.
*Post the rules on your blog.
*Share six weird things/habits/quirks about yourself.
*Tag six others. And let them know they’ve been tagged!
Here are 6 weird {things/habits/quirks} about me…
~I love Raisin Bran but I pick out all the raisins before I eat it. (bran flakes are not the same)
~Repeative noises drive me NUTS!!!!...as kids, my brother tormented me endlessly with this.
~I don't call anyone 'just because'...I feel like I should have a good reason to take up their time.
~I NEVER sit on a public toilet, paper covers or not!
~I twirl and fiddle with my hair constantly.
~My hubby pointed out that I like my cup of coffee hot, but rarely do I drink it until it gets cold.

Now I tag
Macoco
Alyssa
Rhonda
Liberty
Angela
Nancy