Summer of zucchini and wool

Just as I suspected. It's not much yardage, but it is enough for a hat, or maybe some baby mittens, or perhaps some ribbing on a cardi, or vest. I ended up with approx. 135 yards of maybe a sport weight. I haven't had a chance to check the WPI yet, which will give me more of an idea of the weight/thickness. It was good practice, but the next time I do that, I think I'm going to try a true 3-ply, rather than a chain (or Navajo as some prefer to call it) ply. I think it's a bit more difficult to get a balanced yarn with chain ply, but I do like the roundness of the yarn that a 3 ply gives you. However, I've heard that a 3 ply covers up a multitude of sins, so I'm thinking I just need more practice at it. My green merino is now ready for a bath, a good thwacking, and once it's dry, I hope it will have softened up some. It's not terribly coarse, but it's not the softest either. I'm also just glad to have freed up one of my bobbins. (note to self: place order for some more bobbins!)

 

My daughter had the day off from work yesterday, so I didn't have my grandkids, as she wanted to spend some time watching movies, etc., with them. I took the opportunity to just kind of hang out in our back yard and knit for a couple of hours. It was beautiful out, but today, it's supposed to begin heating back up. I'm good with that..it means the water in our pool will warm up as well! Yayyyy!! The 'Bad Oyster' scarf grew quite a bit. It is now off the double point needles, back on the circulars, and coming along very nicely. I know it looks really strange in the picture, but see those two stitch markers? When you're finished knitting it, you cut (steek) right up the middle between them and it results in fringe. Very cool, right? I can't hardly wait! I'm really pleased with it this time...so, onward we go!!

 

 

A few days ago, a neighbor of ours brought us two zucchini squashes, each about 2 pounds at least. I gave one to my daughter, and while I'm sure my darling husband was hoping for zucchini bread or muffins from ours, instead I made him my cream of zucchini soup to go along with our dinner last night. It was so delicious, and not a drop of dairy in it! It's filling, low fat, hardly any carbs, and I swear I lived off of this stuff when I was on Weight Watchers many years ago. It helped me to lose 89 pounds, and after that, I had forgotten about it, until yesterday, when I was trying to figure out what to make with it that didn't have sugar in it. Scooter's cardiologist wants him to lose 15 pounds by December, and I know he can do it. He's done it before, and I could afford 15 pounds as well. We stay pretty active in the summer, and there have actually been times we lost and weren't even trying, because of our activity. Also, I love having our own garden, and last night I wanted to make what we call Garrett's Stuffed Hamburger Steak (we got it from a local restaurant where we live), only using turkey burgers. We substitute with turkey burgers, because we prefer the taste better, and this dish calls for some green chiles, which I was out of. No problem! I planted a jalapeno in my garden and there were three good sized ones ready for the harvesting! We threw them on the grill, hubby pulled the skins off, I sliced them vertically to open them up, and put them where I would normally put the green chiles...in between the turkey patties and swiss cheese. I then make a gravy, either homestyle herb, or turkey, whatever I have on hand, and that goes over the stacked burgers, as well as on some mashed potatoes. I don't usually have the mashed potatoes, and if I do, it's about two tablespoons...just enough to taste, really. It was a wonderful evening and we enjoyed a very satisfying meal out on our patio!

 

 I thought you might be able to see the little bit of green in between the burgers, but maybe not. Take my word for it...homegrown is the best, but you probably already know that!!!