I've missed you!

Happy New Year!  I've not been here in a long time!

Actually, I've taken very few photos with my camera recently because I've been taking almost all of my pictures with my phone and posting to Instagram instead.  You can find me there under kyndal3.  So, not much to show you here but  I just took these off of my camera.

We have our kiln up and running.  We've done a few firings but the kiln we have was given to us and it's like an old car.  There's plenty of things going on with it that requires us to put money and time into it.  Last night we were finishing up a glaze firing and it wouldn't get up to temperature.  Some of the elements burned up and that means we'll have to take everything out, pull the kiln apart and replace some elements.  But, I have to say that I am LOVING it.  I love working with clay and the sky's the limit.  In the next few weeks I'm going to be taking a pottery class and I'm looking forward to what I can create on the wheel.

This shows you how old these pictures are.  I literally just took them off my camera.  Here we have our Christmas tree.  Remember Christmas?  The next one was when I took Solomon aside and gave him the Santa talk.  He'd been asking me so many questions and I think we held out long enough.  I hate lying to my kids and at this point, it doesn't feel good to keep up the whole Santa story.  He was so sweet about it.  I was upset and he was telling me, "mom, it's okay, it's okay!"  What a relief.  Just one more kid to go.

I knitted a lot of these scarves this Christmas.  You can find the pattern on Ravelry (link at the side).  Fun knit that I used a lot of scrap yarn for.

And finally a recipe for you.  This one came from my mother-in-law.  I've been changing my diet around a lot  lately.  I've actually been working toward less and less grains.  I tell you, it's hard.  This recipe has lentils but I'm thinking that I could use some greens instead of lentils.  It's a hearty meal that would go well with a side salad for dinner.  It's super yummy.  I took shortcuts in writing the recipe as if you know how to cook lentils and roast squash. : )

Roasted Squash and Lentils

1 cp French Lentils cooked, cooled and drained
1 lb. winter squash, cut into 1/2 inch cubes roasted in olive oil
4 Tbs. olive oil divided
2 Tbs. country Dijon mustard
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
2 Tbs. minced red onion
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Whisk together mustard,, vinegar, onion, honey and 3 Tbs olive oil.  Gently toss with lentils and squash.  Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with walnuts.  Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

around town in the rain

It's been raining here for the past few weeks.  A lot.  So much so that the locals were watching the Truckee River to see if it was going to flood.

Solomon and I went shopping together early on Sunday and took these pictures of the river and other spots in town.  The Truckee literally splits Reno in two but I don't think it really hit home until we tried to get across the river in several places to be turned away by barricades.  The industrial areas near the river were on high alert and my yarn shop was sand bagged shut for a few days, all the yarn moved up high just in case.

The rain is slowing down and I'm feeling a bit less soggy!

spring light

I love that spring light coming through my window!

You know, with a gazillion things to do, all I really want to do lately is knit and read.  So, I thought I would join Ginny with her yarn along this week.

This sweater, I'm still plugging along with it.  I just started the decreases and it's really looking pretty I think.  I'm proud of myself!  The other knitting project I'm working on is a Milo vest for my boy.  Eli picked out the yarn.  We went to Jimmy Beans and he liked the blues in the Madelinetosh Sea Wash.  So beautiful.  I just have to get the right needles and I'm starting that one!

As far as reading, I've been making it a priority lately.  I've been reading so much. But, what we've been studying in history has inspired me to learn more about WWII and in particular Anne Frank's life in The Diary of a Young Girl.  It's so heartbreaking.  It's also made me grateful.  Not that I'm ungrateful but, it makes me keenly aware of how easy my life is!  I wouldn't want to live in Europe in the 40's.

Happy knitting and reading!

knitting buddy

I've gotten quite far with my sweater.  Last night I finished up to the point where I needed to separate the stitches for the sleeves.  But, I decided that it was too late and I may be too tired and would make a mistake.  So, I didn't. 

Every night I sit on the floor and finish a few rows.  My sweet dog sits with me and keeps me company.  I love him so much and I can't believe he'll be 2 years old on Thursday!  Happy Birthday to my baby boy!

sweater

 I got this yarn about two years ago when a friend and I were starting sweaters.  She moved shortly thereafter and I ended up frogging the whole thing because my gauge was way off.  This poor yarn has been just sitting around for a while.

I got a different pattern on Ravelry for a sweater, this time it's a top down raglan.

I started it two times, the second time I got in about 40 rows and saw this huge gaping hole where I dropped a stitch.  Ugg.  I tried to fix it but I guess I needed some help and in my frustration, I frogged it all again. 

I'm in about 20 rows in now.  It's looking pretty good and I'm kind of glad I started again because this time I really have the cables down.  Now, I just need to keep going and finish this!  I'm determined.  And I decided if I make a mistake, I'm either going to just leave it if it's a small mess up or get help from a friend before I pull it all out again!

love, february 6

I've been under the weather.

Yesterday Jonathan offered to take the boys for a walk down by the Truckee River. So, Amelia and I stayed home together. While she was doing her thing, I got comfortable on the couch with my knitting and some hot tea to melt the gunk in my throat.
The dishes would have to wait.

I'm making the hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It's been on the needles for 6 months but lately I've been working on it a lot. Maybe because it just drives me crazy to see unfinished projects lying around but I also hope to maybe wear it before summer. And I can actually see the finished sweater in my mind. Before I was just so intimidated by it but I read the pattern over and over until it really sunk in. I think I may officially be a knitter now! I've only been knitting for 13 years!

While clicking and sipping, I listened to Carrie Elkin's Call It My Garden CD. Here's another link for Carrie and a video at the end. I had heard in on NPR's Risky Biscuit, Hayseed Hoot earlier in the day and decided I had to buy it. Does anyone know about her? I love her voice and it was just the kind of music to play while knitting and watching the clouds come in.

The boys (human and canine) finally came home all excited from their trip, chattering about the rocks they found and what they learned about the sewage treatment plant. All exciting boy things.

The calm was gone but I was really glad to see them. I love lazy Saturdays!