Catching the Fall sun and other things

I've extended my walks to take in more of the area around the development, and with the fall of the leaves, you can see more.

This idyllic scene of trees reflected in quiet water is in fact a flood avoidance scheme. It's the retention pond on the golf course. But beautiful anyway.

And later, a sudden burst of red evening sky lighting up the trees.

Today was good for roasting vegetables, 

here fingerlings, spinach, onions, then at the end an egg broken over to cook in the heat remaining after the oven's off.

Cold enough to wear my mitered square  jacket of many colors. I finished it in spring when the weather was already warming up. 

I'm really glad I made it, cosy and cheerful, with big pockets.

Jam review, and pockets ahoy!

My neighbor gave the strawberry ginger jam a good review. He had it on breakfast toast, liked it enough to make a second batch of toast to put it on. 

It did gel enough to stay on the toast. I've also had it on plain yogurt, like a sauce, and liked it a lot.  So that's good. There really is nothing as good as the flavor of jam  in small batches. I believe it has to do with the evaporation of liquid in the boiling. And using fresh picked peak ripe fruit counts.

 

And, on the Mitered Square jacket, msj, on mdw, Memorial Day weekend, pockets are happening.  

As I got under way with the yellow one you see above, I remembered I had a similar one already made somewhere, and found it. Perfect for the other pocket. Done in Tunisian Simple Stitch, just like the yellow one. I probably made it when I was learning simple stitch.

They needed to be bigger than the squares, to accommodate my hands and my phone and whatever else I want to put in. And they need to be firmer than knitting. So this was just the time for a bit of Tunisian crochet. You notice the giant crochet hook in the picture.

It's like a woven fabric, and I like doing it, a cross between knitting and crochet.

I realized after I started that I needed to review how to proceed, after I'd got the foundation chain done, the usual start of any crochet. 

One of the best teachers on YouTube is this lady

She's an excellent teacher, paced nicely for a beginner or a review, and I just like her a lot.

I am signed up;  she doesn't post a lot, but what she does is worth your time if you're interested. And she got me started again just fine. It all came back.

In the picture above of my pockets, there's a nice little piece of saori weaving I found, too, already lined as a wall hanging, but now I'm thinking a purse.. I can crochet a long strap, stitch up the sides with a flap, done. But first I'll finish the jacket.

And after that I'll make the skirt. I also unearthed a lovely piece of linen I'd dyed, which might be a skirt, if there's enough..you never know what you'll find in that little box of remnants and scraps.

Rainy cold weekend, but I'll be occupied.

Patience and waiting

Before I plunge in, I did get the radiology results yesterday after a protracted afternoon of calls because the radiology people wanted to do more testing than the rx specified, and eventually got an agreement, then mammos then another wait for ultrasound, then another wait for radiologist to study same. No waiting for results, though -- they tell you immediately what they're seeing.   

The rad doc saw something probably not a problem, one more scan in six months. No need to do anything else. Good enough. Breathing now. And thanking all the blogistas who waited along with me. This called for patience! 

I'm waiting along with someone else now, for a test, helping with the breathing. She has a few more days.  So hard to wait. It does help when friends are keeping you in mind.

And the dryer is to be delivered Saturday. Handsome Son, on being informed of both pieces of news, texted "good news on both fronts".  Which cracked me up, one being my personal front!

Meanwhile back on the windowsill.

A row of pears is a favorite art subject of mine. I've done drawings and monotypes of this kind of scene. Here I'm content with a photo showing the pears, with shadows,  ripening on the sill, looking out at the pansies and, left, a struggling little pink azalea bush fighting the pachysandra.

And I was thinking about baking pasties, then: why not a pie lid using the last of the dough? And the large bag of spinach which steamed down to a little bowlful, handful of steamed carrots, diced yellow potatoes, mushrooms sauteed in butter, onions, crumbled feta cheese.

And here's a thin crust with little fancy leaves from the scraps left over. Egg wash.

20 minutes at 400°, then edges covered with foil, 15 more minutes at 350°. You can see the lid is so thin it's transparent! 

Smells very good. This will make a couple of meals, with a salad. Wondering what to call it. Yorkshire Greek Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie. If the shepherd's a vegetarian, that is. 

Back in the studio, I added six squares to the jacket so it wouldn't be skimpy. Two of them were woven originally for pockets on the vest I spun/knitted/wove, but I changed my mind. And they're the same size as the Mitered Squares, so it was meant to be!

Couple more seams, couldn't settle to stitch long yesterday, and we're done. Since we have plenty more cool days forecast, I'll get to wear it right away.

I'm already thinking about those linen squares M gave me, and how they might work with the silk sample squares.

Always new things to try.