On My Needles... What I'm Reading... February 28, 2019

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 very different from here in the United States. Fortunately I have a little gauge to measure the sizes.

 Look at this  murmuration of blackbirds that paid us a pleasant visit a few days ago. We stopped everything to enjoy them.

 

I hope you find time for creativity. It is relaxing and gratifying to make things yourself. Be blessed!

Laura

Thrifty Things Lately at Harvest Lane Cottage #135

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 on sale at Aldi.

• I'm saving up my yarn scraps to make a Helix hat.

• We made chicken quesadillas with leftover chicken breasts, Mexican blend cheese from Aldi, a couple of cut up peppers, a cut up onion, some flour tortillas, and a little butter. It's hard to beat such a simple kind of yum.

• Cleaning up and cleaning out is buying a bit of real estate.

• We are still using the piano given to us many years by our friends the Freemans. It could use a tuning, but our girls have been able to learn to play. It's changed their lives. They actually love to play and sing worship music. Thank you Deb!

• Staying home more means less gas used.

• Interlibrary loan has kept me from buying some books I want to or need to read.
• YouTube has lots of great tutorials.
• I've used free knitting patterns found on Ravelry or Pinterest.

Well, that's all that comes to mind. Please share what you've been doing in your home. 

Have a wonderful, creative, happy week!

Laura

On My Needles... What I'm Reading... February 20, 2019

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 Knitting Kit Bluprint Collections

  I'll probably knit another sweater with a few adjustments. I would like it to be a bit snugger around her neck. I think it will stay on better. She has wiggled her way out of it a few times. Generally, she seems to like it. I never thought I'd be the one to knit a dog sweater, but to see her shake when she's cold—well, my momma's heart couldn't see her shivering and not try to help.

  Well, for my knitting friends, enjoy this cool weather. I'm thinking about trying socks when spring comes. Then come summer, I'll probably start knitting hats or gloves for charity again. Perhaps I'll look through my photos and see if I can find some other things that I've knitted and share them next week.

  Now, I'm going to go get busy with some cleaning so that I can spend a bit of time knitting without guilt.

 Be blessed, and talk back!

Laura
Happy at Home
in Love with the
Husband of my Youth

Laura Lane

on Goodreads

2019 Finished Books

4 Fiction

HarvestLaneLaura 

on Ravelry

2019 Finished Knits

4 Hats

Answering Questions

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 red maple leaves!

If you could go to another country just for autumn scenery, where would you go?

Canada

Sweater or hoodie?

Sweater

A hazelnut or apple cinnamon candle?

Apple cinnamon. My husband doesn't like hazelnut.

Cookies or brownies?

Cookies. 

These are a favorite.

Read Amy's blog.

On My Needles... What I'm Reading... February 15, 2019

  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 try Knit Picks Dishie yarn, too. I ordered a skein so I wouldn't have to pay shipping for an individual skein.

  Oh, I'm still reading Christy, too!

Have a great week! I'll try to be on time with my post next Wednesday!

Laura

Excited to get something on my needles!

Laura Lane

on Goodreads

2019 Finished Books

3 Fiction

HarvestLaneLaura 

on Ravelry

2019 Finished Knits

4 Hats

Thrifty Things Lately at Harvest Lane Cottage #134

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 daughter bought an older vehicle with a good down payment. She'll only need to finance it for a year.

• I went on my first yarn shop road trip with my friend Laura. I saved by only buying one skein of yarn at each of the shops we visited. I went home with money in my pocket. Woo hoo!

•  We pulled back on some plans and activities to give ourselves more margin in our homeschool days. It's already more peaceful.

• I borrowed the books I needed for the new book club I've joined instead of buying them.

• I took a lot of giveaway things to my knit night and invited others to do the same. I decluttered a lot, and I got a couple of new skeins of pretty sock yarn.

• I earned some money by filling out on-line surveys. They seem to be good at the start then, after I've been a member for awhile, I don't get to complete as many surveys. 

Have a terrific week,
Laura

~~~~~

 Related Posts

• A Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage #49
• A Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage #50
• A Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage #51 

~~~~~

Over the Moon

On My Needles... What I'm Reading... February 7, 2019

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 hat is my son's hat. I made it for him for Christmas, but he asked me to add some length to it. I cut off the ribbing at the bottom, put it back on the needles, and I knitted another couple of inches in stockinette stitch. Now I'm knitting a two by two ribbing. I will have to search YouTube for a stretchy cast-off. 

I hope to finish it soon and get it back to him. I've not had time to work on my shawl much. Maybe when I'm done with Matthew's hat.

This month I am reading Christy by Catherine Marshall for the book club my friend Kathriann invited me to attend. I'm about a hundred pages in. I am really surprised how interesting it is. It's almost entirely based on true events experienced by Mrs. Marshall's mother, but the book is written as fiction.

Check out my too long to read Christy Winter Reading List. I actually just got a notification that yet another book not on my list has just arrived from interlibrary loan. I don't know how I'll read it all. Some will probably show up on my spring list.

What have you been up to?

Be blessed,

Laura

Amy's Frozen Snowflakes Beanie Hat 

Laura Lane

on Goodreads

2019 Finished Books

3 Fiction

HarvestLaneLaura 

on Ravelry

2019 Finished Knits

4 Hats

The Value of Home in Everyone's Life 

Between Two Shores

Light Between OceansReyna shawl in Wendy's Wonders hand-dyed fingering yarn

Copy Cat CC Beanie in Knit Picks Swish worsted wool Garnet Heather

~~~~~~~~~~

Related Posts:

On My Needles... What I'm Reading... January 24, 2019

~~~~~~~~~~

Joining with Yarn Along and Crafting On

Thursday Favorite Things

Over the Moon

Friday Feature Linky Party 
Funtastic Friday  
Create, Bake, Grow, and Gather