What started out as a quiet morning turned into a noisy, distracting afternoon. I was able to have the house open for quite awhile, it’s 72° outside at 3:40 pm. But for the past two hours one of our neighbors to the south and west of us has been target practicing…less than a quarter of a mile away. And the neighbor to the north of us has his leaf blower going and his dog is barking her head off at something…probably the leaf blower. So, I’m glad to have had some fresh air today but I’m about all funned out at this point. I closed the house and turned on the A/C. I’m done.
I had Bongino on while I worked on my knitting earlier. I had hoped to have finished the sleeve last night but I ran out of steam, and this morning I decided I didn’t like the decreases and frogged about three inches of the sleeve. I’m back to where I was when I ripped out all those stitches and I’m happy with the decreases now. I’m right below the elbow of the sleeve now and it’s time for a break. I’m down to 70 stitches from the original 90 stitches that I picked up, working on a 24″ circular needle, well two of them actually. I have the stitches on one needle and I knit with the second 24″ needle, if that makes sense. My hands were cramping with the 16″ needle. This way I can let the sweater lay flat and measure my progress accurately.
I wanted lots of room inside the sleeves…I hate snug sleeves…and this pullover will be more like a jacket than a sweater as far as fit. I’ll do a round of decreases before I start the ribbing but I’ve still got several inches to go before I’m to that point. After I finish both sleeves I’ll go back and knit the rest of the body of the sweater. I don’t want to run out of the brown yarn I’m using, but it looks like I should have enough to get the job done.
The house smells great. I started a pot of my Southwest Soup earlier. I browned a pound of ground beef and added one can each of organic sweet corn, organic black beans, and organic diced tomatoes. I tossed in some chopped red onion, red bell pepper, and yellow bell pepper. Before the meat started browning I seasoned it with Adobo, freshly ground black pepper, chipotle chili powder, and ground cumin. I don’t usually add salt if I use Adobo, but I can always add salt later if needed. After I tossed in the canned veggies I added a couple of cans of water and got it to a boil. It’s simmering nicely now and will be ready for dinner later.
Brad’s been in town most of the day. He had errands to run and met a friend for lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, La Mesa, in Sherman. They have great food at reasonable prices. He always calls to let me know when he’s headed home in case I need anything from town. As it happens, this time I did need something. I could have sworn I had another red onion but it seems that I’ve already used it. I had a half of an onion left that I put in the pot of soup but I hate to be completely out of red onion. It’s a staple in this house. Other than that we’re set and don’t need to shop for food until after the weekend.
I’m thawing a chicken to roast for our Christmas dinner. I can only take so much turkey between Thanksgiving and Christmas and I’ve got Yukon Gold potatoes, fresh organic carrots, and fresh green beans to go with the chicken. I’ll make another batch of cornbread so we can have some cornbread dressing to go with the chicken and veggies.
I’ll finally get around to baking my cookies tomorrow, not really in the mood to bake a pie right now. We usually keep it simple and I have a feeling that Audrey will be sending us a care package of her home cooking this weekend as well.
Have a blessed Christmas Eve Eve, ya’ll.
Rural Texas Knitter 