Holiday Nesting

Working from home has it's positives and negatives. I miss the in-person camaraderie with my coworkers, the side conversations that break up the day and actually leaving the house....BUT there are lots of things to be thankful for. Like, having more energy to do the little things I want to do. My energy level is different when I don't have to drive to the office and drive home, make dinner and collapse on the couch. Being home, I think I actually accomplish more work and do more than I did in the office but it's a different kind of tired at the end a work-from-home day. Hard to explain.

But anyway....that's all a long way to say that I've had more time to enjoy little things around the house. My new chickens have started laying eggs and I'm loving the green eggs. This is a first for me and I'm so happy with them!

I've been baking sourdough bread again. My starter went weird on me for a while but it's back! My family LOVES this bread. We inhale it as soon as it's out of the oven. It's been a year now that I've been making this bread from the same starter. I'm happy I decided to do this. It's also been really fun to see all of the quarantined people making bread too. This whole time in history has brought back older traditions.

I've been gift knitting but my brain hurt...so I gave my Paloma sweater some love. Simple stockinette was just what I needed.

My mom used to make orange and clove decorations at Christmas time. They always smelled so nice around the house. I used some oranges for decoration, but I used them as garland. I have to be honest...this was my second attempt. The first time, I put them in the oven and forgot all about them. They came out VERY done! Lol. Second time was much better. I dried them for a few hours in the oven, let them sit overnight and then strung them with some yarn, pine tree clippings and hung them around the house.

Many people had a big nor'easter winter storm. We got a tiny dusting and then all rain. It's what was forecasted for us, as it usually is for the Jersey Shore. I guess it's a fair trade-off for being only minutes from the beach. But I'm jealous of those big snow fall totals just west and north of us!

 

Only 7 days until Christmas....I guess I should finish getting presents! I'm VERY behind this year.....

Banana Bread

Every time I spell "banana" I hear Gwen Stefani in my head. B-A-N-A-N-A-S Go Bananas, Go, Go Bananas. hee hee.

Anywho....I had some old bananas on the counter and they were past their snacking prime so I figured banana bread would be a perfect use for them! I did a quick search on Pinterest and found this recipe:

Copycat Starbucks Banana Bread Recipe

Here's the recipe: I followed it exactly but i didn't add nuts. I had to bake mine for 55 minutes. It was delicious and I would definitely make it again.

COPYCAT STARBUCKS BANANA BREAD RECIPE

 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1⅛ cup sugar
• ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk or milk
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 3 bananas mashed very well
• ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Add flour, baking soda and salt to a small bowl and set aside.
3. Mix egg, sugar and oil and stir until well combined
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir well. The mixture will be thick and dry.
5. Next add milk, vanilla and bananas and stir until incorporated.
6. Mix in walnuts and pour into a loaf pan.
7. Cook 50-75 minutes, checking regularly until a knife comes out clean.

I Designed a HAT!!!

 I knitted up a hat to sell in the farm store and I kind of loved it. Like, really loved it. I made it up and realized, hey...I could write this up as a pattern and sell it. So....that's what I did! I knitted a few samples, sent it out to some test knitters and voila...I published it! 

Let me introduce you to Stars Hollow Hat. Named after my very favorite show of all time, Gilmore Girls.

It's knitted with worsted weight yarn. It has a fun brim that isn't too tight and some simple color work using two colors. Top it off with a pompom if you like! It's a great quick last minute gift knit. The color combination options are endless!

It was so exciting to publish it to Ravelry. 

Here's the link to the pattern page.

Yarn Along

 

Reading and Knitting....I wish I could do it all day. 

Knitting away on my Paloma sweater and devouring this book.

What are you knitting and reading these days?

Joining in with Ginny at Small Things.

Snacking Cakes...who knew this was a thing???

I don't normally have a sweet tooth and I don't think of myself as a baker. A cook? Yes. A breadmaker? Yes. A pie maker? Kind of...But dessert maker? Not so much. I'm still learning but most of all, I have to practice patience and PAY ATTENTION to measuring when I bake. I'm not the best at that! 

I love to read the blog, A Cup of Jo. She had this post the other day and it caught my eye. Snacking cakes. Hmmm. I like that idea. Instead of making a big cake that will get wasted if you're not having a party, this is a small cake. One you can just cut up into bite size pieces to snack on. Well...ok then. 

I went to my local library and they had a copy of the book. I let Chase pick out a cake and then we made it together. He picked the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. I didn't have peanuts to sprinkle on top so my icing is just plain. The verdict....it was very easy to make and I love the idea. I think I let mine bake a little too long. It's a little dry. But the flavors are awesome and delicious with a glass of milk.

We're going to try some more from this book. It's a nice thing to take to a friend's house for a small get together or just to have for the boys at home.

p.s. I'm never going to lose weight.....

Quick fun hat!

 

I knitted up this fun hat this week. It is the Light Roast Coffee Bean Beanie. I used some basic wool yarn that I picked up at Joann Fabric. It's Paton's Classic Wool Worsted in the Yellow colorway. Nothing fancy, but it's a nice wool yarn. I wore the hat all day Tuesday and it was comfortable to wear with my glasses. It's not too tight, but not too loose. A winner for sure! I got the pompom at Michael's Craft Store.

Happy Mom

It had been a little over two months since we dropped my oldest off at college. His first year, during a time in history that is unlike anything we have lived through has been as good as it can be. He has been on campus the whole time. He has met great friends, taken advantage of every opportunity he can within the safety constraints and overall has thrived as a college freshman. Classes have been virtual. Some of his friends are in person but his professors chose to stay virtual. He's fine with it. As long as he can be there, he's happy. And so are we. He's learning more than just school work. I remember being his age and so much of what you learn has nothing to do with the classes you take. 

I was missing him pretty bad. His littlest brother was missing him more. So my friend and her two boys, and my two boys packed up and went for a road trip. The husbands stayed home to watch the dogs. Once I got there I don't think I realized how much I needed to see my kid. 

During these pandemic times, I'm sure people will have opinions about us even leaving the state and going to a college town. But we stayed as safe as we could. I'm very impressed how Pitt is handling everything and their numbers have been very low.

This picture melted my heart. Chase didn't want to share anyone with his big brother. These two have a special bond.

This was really good idea that Dalton had. He suggested we walk to the incline from our hotel. If you're ever in Pittsburgh I highly recommend it! A cable car takes you to the top of the ridge and you can see the entire city. It's beautiful!

Sunday morning we met up with a few of his friends for Primanti Bros. It's his routine every Sunday for Steelers Game Day. Then he walks to the stadium and busses it back to his dorm to watch the game.

I wasn't expecting it to be so hard to say goodbye. I think I had worried SO MUCH about dropping him off in August that I didn't think about leaving this time! It was just as hard!!! Ah! My little kid...growing up so fast. He's so at home there and it made me happy to see how well he's doing. It was a great weekend.

 

Simple Joys

My son is away at college. He's very happy but every once in a while I sense that he misses home (a tiny bit). On Monday I got a text from him asking if it the weather was nice at home. It was raining where he was and he was stuck inside. I took this picture from my window next to my home "office" desk. It was a beautiful sunny day. 

I have had my sourdough starter going for almost a year now. I can't believe it! It's kind of ridiculous how much joy I get out of this jar of weird gooey bubbly stuff. My friends Robin and Joan have tried a few times to get a starter going but didn't have any luck. I shared some of mine with them over the weekend. I was so happy to see Robin's first loaf baked on Monday. What a simple joy it can be...to bake bread for your family.

I was taking some pictures during the process to share with my friends. This is after it has been stretched and risen once an hour, every hour for 4 hours. Then I turn it over and put it into a pretty shape, plop it in this banneton basket to rest for another hour.

Then I score it.

I follow this recipe exactly and it works every time.

It's from Gartur Stitch Farm. If you don't already follow her on instagram...go do it NOW. Her stories are awesome. The farm shenanigans are hysterical.

I served this with grilled chicken, zucchini and rice for dinner.

 

"Not Rhinebeck" Weekend

 

Due to COVID-19, our annual trip to the NY Sheep & Wool Festival aka "Rhinebeck" was cancelled. It's a weekend that is more than just yarn and sheep. It's a weekend filled with friends that are as obsessed with our craft as I am. I get so much energy from these weekends and I was beyond sad that it wasn't able to happen this year. I faired very well through this health pandemic so far. But the Thursday of Rhinebeck week was HARD!!!!!!!!! When I should have been in the car packed with family and friends, I was at my home office desk doing work. Not nearly as fun!!!

To make up for the weekend, we thought it would be fun to open up the front field of the farm to fiber friends for the whole weekend. Our friends came to knit and it made my heart so happy. We were able to stay socially distant but feel the energy from each other. I'm so happy we had this and that so many wonderful people came to join us.

Until next year......let's pray that our lives can get a bit back on track to do things like travel. We need it.