Harvest Lane Cottage

Hello!  Another week of reading and stitching has passed. Life moves quickly, does it not? I finished Trim Healthy Mama Trim Healthy Table and Dying to Read this week. I was listening to my Kindle Fire read them both.  I borrowed In Plain Sight by interlibrary loan. Between Two Shores is a review book which I really need to get finished soon. The black hat is the Alaska hat. The burgundy is the Tivoli hat. I bought that yarn at a yarn store east of Springfield called One City Market. I like to have a project going on both small and medium size needles. I don't really care for knitting with large needles. The cart keeper is from Knit Picks.  These are some gifts from my knitting friend Laura. This is a sock blank. I'll be able to knit directly from it if I wish. Circular and double pointed needles and some notions, too. There are a wide variety of sizes. I'm not sure if these were make in China or Japan or where, but their sizing is ver...

Thrifty Things Lately at Harvest Lane Cottage! ~~~~~ ♥♥♥ ~~~~~ Hey Y'all,   It's been downright cold around here. I haven't even wanted to go outside. I have resigned myself to a winter without snow, but it sure would be nice if some of y'all would send some down to southwest Missouri for me! Some of you have had way more than your share this year. We used to get a fair amount of snow here when we moved here in the nineties. I hope the weather pattern changes again and lets us enjoy winter again. We've had a couple icy days that closed school, but they don't compare with the fun of snow days.   I hope you find an idea or two to save some money this week. Please share your ideas with me, too.  God bless!  Laura ~~~~~ ♥♥♥ ~~~~~ Here's how my family has been thrifty lately. I made half a pound of bacon go for four BLTs.  I made apple crisp with some apples that were a bit bruised. Amy made egg salad with eggs o...

Hello all!   I finished the book Christy last night.  I'm looking forward to discussing it next week in my book club. I'm still reading some others a few paragraphs at a time. My main emphasis is on Between Two Shores . It's a riveting book that can make time slip by too quickly. I'll share a review in a week or two.     I have been knitting the black ribbing for the Alaska Hat that I am doing as a knit along with my friends Laura and Missy. It's nothing to look at right now, so I'll share next week.  It will be a bluish purple background with black pine trees in the foreground. It's the most challenging colorwork I've tried. I might need to pray while I knit. ~smile~ Seriously though, it will be line upon line, precept upon precept.   I don't believe I shared photos of the dog sweater that I knit for Penny last Autumn.  The pattern is one that I bought from Craftsy which is now called Bluprint. It's called Clifford Dog Sweater ...

Have you ever written a blogpost then misplaced or forgotten to publish it? Yup, it happened to me. Rather than make Amy wait until next Autumn to answer, I'm going to just do it right here and now.  Do you have any questions for me? I'd love you to answer any of these questions you'd like in the comments or on your blog then send me the link. From my Daughter Amy My Questions for You: Windy or rainy autumn? Both Do you like chai tea? Yes, especially chai tea latte. Tea or coffee? Tea If you could go to one state in the U.S.A. just for autumn scenery, where would you go? Vermont. I'd also visit Mrs. White while I was there. Since I'd be traveling, I'd stop by Karla H. and Karen Andreola along the way. Do you like any kind of soup in the autumn? What's one of your favorites? I like most kinds of soup. I especially like beef stew and cream of broccoli. What color of leaves do you like best? I vote...

  All week long I've been trying to decide what project to cast on. I think I've had knitter's block. I just searched and searched, but I couldn't find anything that I both felt like knitting and had the correct yarn for. I really wanted to use the Painted Sky yarn. Oh well. I still haven't cast on.   I've been having trouble with my Reyna Shawl . I had to pull out several rows. You can see the purple wrapped around the outside of the blue yarn above. I got it back on the needles, but haven't knit another stitch. This is the point at which I became discouraged last time I tried.   Excitement!!! Squeel!!! My Knit Picks order arrived early! Woo hoo! I plan to join my friend Laura in a knit along Alaska Hat . It has trees against a colorful background. So, this cold weekend will find me casting on the ribbing for the Alaska Hat. If all goes well, I'll be ready for the chart knitting by my Tuesday Knit Night.   I've been wanting to t...

Thrifty Things Lately at Harvest Lane Cottage! ~~~~~ ♥♥♥ ~~~~~ Hey Y'all,   I have just been a bit out-of-the-loop lately. Knitting and reading have been taking up some of my blogging time. It's time to turn my focus more to thrifty living again. Here are some of the ways that I've been thrifty since my thrifty post.  God bless!  Laura ~~~~~ ♥♥♥ ~~~~~ Here's how my family has been thrifty lately. We did a white elephant gift exchange with extended family for Christmas. Some gifts were very nice. Some were just gag gifts. We played Bingo to see who would choose first. I bought a couch off of Facebook for $100. The previous owner had moved into a new house, and it didn't fit. The money was given to me as a Christmas gift. We've eaten out of the freezer and cupboard. We used a Christmas gift of money to stock up on some supplies. I've decluttered and given away bags of stuff. Real estate investment! My daug...

Hi Y'all! Winter's finally come to southern Missouruh  Missouri. It's flat cold tonight—18° with a windchill of 6°. That's more than frigid enough for me thank you very much. We've had rain during this lovely freeze, therefore the schools were cancelled for cold and ice. There are a lot of kids who ride buses around here. I was thrilled this afternoon when it began to snow. There's not much accumulation yet. I'm hoping there will be more tomorrow. So, what to do on a cold winter's night? Sit a bit in front of the fire with my sweet husband, simmer chicken veggie rice soup on the stove for supper, and soon I'll knit a bit and read a bit. After awhile, most likely there will be cocoa. My Amy and my Emily will be home soon to watch "Do You Believe?" with our friend Lily. I finished Emily's CC Beanie hat in Garnet Heather just in time for the cold weather. I found the pom pom on Amazon in a package of twelve. The gray...