Egg Sandwiches!

I was in the grocery store the other night with my niece, bemoaning the fact that I love eggs, but have no way to cook them. I rarely get eggs of any sort, because of my lack of cooking facilities. I have a microwave and a toaster oven, but I've always liked my eggs fried, or boiled. Well, am I ever glad I told my niece my dilemma! She just said "make them in the microwave." I replied that the only way I'd ever done that was to try scrambled microwave eggs and those hadn't been all that great. She said "oh no!" and proceeded to tell me how her family has made microwave egg sandwiches for years. I'm going to share it here, because it's so silly simple, but so very Good!! I should note that I never actually saw my niece make these, so my method may vary from theirs.

Use a glass bowl (important that it's glass, I guess,) coat the bottom with Pam, or butter. Crack one or two egg(s) into the bowl (I salt and pepper at this point.) Whip the egg with a fork, or whisk. Microwave till the egg has no more liquid spots (about 1 1/2 minutes.) Slip it out onto your buttered bread and, if you're like me, add cheese.

Use your imagination - add sausage, or whatever else you like with your egg, use two eggs for a thicker sandwich, adjust in whatever way pleases you, but most of all enjoy! The bottom of your bowl will dictate the size of the resulting egg for your sandwich. My only bowl is a bit too big, so I have to trim the egg to fit.

I have been knitting, really!! I just haven't been documenting my projects very well, so I haven't shown them here, or even many on Ravelry lately. I'll try to put a few pictures in this post.

(click for larger images)

Afghan for my niece out of Patons Ci Ci and Pooch. It's quite large, around 5' wide and 6'plus long. Very cushy and she loves it. I'm happy!

This is the pattern on a shawl/cape sort of thing that I kinda sorta finished, but now I'm not sure about it. It's very tweaked out of shape and I don't know if blocking will fix it, or not. I love how the lace came out and I love the I-cord edge in Suede, but that lop-sided thing is terrible, so I'm putting it out of my mind for a bit... lol The yarn isn't especially easy to frog, though it is doable. It looks a bit ragged after frogging (I had to correct several mistakes,) but looks fine once knit again.

I know there are other things I've made/finished, but I'm short on pictures lately, because I don't feel like taking them.

A song in my heart...

My most recent FO. I'm thrilled with it! Click to make it a bit bigger.

I woke up today with a song solidly established in my mind. I felt like I'd been singing the first line in my sleep for hours before I woke. It was a precious gift from God and my heart has been lightened all day for it. This one had a special impact in a number of ways. One, that it is not a song I've known all my life, but one I've only heard a few times, I think. Two, I am ever seeking to truly grasp His love. The song and the line that was in my head is "'How Deep the Father's Love for Us'... how vast beyond all measure." My mind wouldn't bring up the words deep and vast for me, so it replaced them with others, but the meaning was certainly plain.

What a blessing! God is so good! I'm putting the lyrics below and hope there aren't any copyright issues with posting them. My post isn't looking as it should when I hit preview, so just in case, I'm going to star the beginning of each verse.

How Deep The Father's Love For Us; lyrics

*How deep the fathers love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give his only son

To make a wretch His treasure

*How great the pain of searing loss

The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the Chosen One

Bring many sons to glory

*Behold the Man upon the cross

My sin upon His shoulder

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice

Call out amoung the scoffers

*It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life

I know that it is finished

*I will not boast in anything

No gifts no power no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection

*Why should I gain from His reward

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom

© 1995 Kingsway's Thankyou Music

Serious blog neglect

Gratuitous shot of Spring Dogwood

I haven't kept up with this very well! I just keep adding more and more things to keep up with online. On ShoutLife I have friends who I value greatly, so I do my best to keep up with them. On Elann chat, I'll comment some, but I don't say all that much. I've got to check Facebook at least semi-frequently, so I don't miss things. I have a long list of blogs that I at least scan through on my Google reader. I always feel like I'm forgetting something, or someone, and now I had to go and join Ravelry!! I'm pretty sure there are other things I'm forgetting too... like two yahoo groups that I moderate, though they're not exactly in need of much. I should be saying more though, at least on the family list.

Ravelry! What a site for yarnaholics! You have to be addicted to (or at least very fond of) yarn to appreciate it really. I had intended to wait till it was open to the public before joining, but that was taking a very long time. Folks over on Elann have been talking about it since at least last summer. I kept looking at their waiting list for "beta testers," shaking my head at the length of the list (many thousands) and thinking I'd just wait some more. On March 21st they hit 100,000 users! They're well over that now and still adding 800 to 1000 a day. See a bit of the progression here; http://blog.ravelry.com/2008/03/25/one-hundred-thousand/ Finally when I saw that the wait would only be around a week, I caved in and joined the list. I got my invite on the 6th and headed off to join up.

Even after starting to write this, I ended up setting it aside for over a week, because of other distractions. I wish I were disciplined enough to habitually write notes daily and to blog at least weekly. I know my daily notes would be pretty dry much of the time, but maybe they would add up to something more. I've neglected almost everything online this last week though... some weeks are like that. Many of my thoughts and prayers have been focused on my cousin's husband who was severely burned, then died, over last weekend. Still now a lot of the same for the grieving family. It's all made me consider once again just what kind of things we can do that are of eternal significance. Material things cannot be taken with us when we go. Love - compassion, kindness, all that comes from a loving heart, does I think go with us when we go. Jesus is eternal and His light shining through us is also eternal. Praise God for all He is, His mercy, His love, His grace!!!

Finished projects

(click pictures for larger image) I finished the body of this shrug a while back, but it's been sitting around waiting on the off-white edging. I intended to do a crochet loop edge, but it was driving me nuts.... so it sat. I finally decided to go with loose knitting and lots of yo's. It has beads too, but I'm not sure if they're very visible. They're gold color, since the pink part has threads of gold color. The pink yarn is from Paradise fibers and is a cotton/rayon blend. I don't think it had a name. The off-white edge is Elann Sonata.

I'm not too fond of how this back view looks, but then I'm not too fond of my own back (or front) view right now anyway, so I just went with it.

I love this sweater! Next time I'll add a little more length in front and go smaller on the bottom ribbing, but I still love it. The blue and lighter brown are Plassard Bourette 100% silk. The darker brown is Katia Scotch tweed - silk/wool blend. Worked bottom up with neck stitches picked up and cuffs knit then sewn on. There are a few things I would change if starting over, but not enough to frog it. I may yet pull the bottom ribbing in more, since it could be a fair bit smaller. I was just deciding things as I went along. Didn't intend to use the darker brown, but I like that. Didn't intend the strip of lighter brown on top of the shoulder, but it needed the length and the neck space and I like how that came out too.

I knit the body on over sized needles (US 13) and it's so light and airy! Featherweight! Can't wait to wear it the first time!!

Funny!

I'm not at all sure if the above will work. It's So Funny and only 41 seconds long, so if you're on dial-up it won't be bad to load. I'll put the URL here too, just in case. If this little guy doesn't crack you up, you're hurtin'! lol Worse even, since I'm hurtin', but he cracked me up! It's so blamed cute I don't want to close out the popout video. I just want to keep going back and watching again! Enjoy! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rJ_I-UdCVc

Finished Fiesta... all else dragging!

Quickest afghan I've done by a long shot! I finished this one in 17 days and that was even with the lag that came after the halfway point. I'm even more amazed how the colors look after getting it all done! It's soooooo fluffy! I'd do another in super bulky yarn much more readily than in a finer yarn, since it's so quick! Plus, afghans should be fluffy and cuddly!

This is the beginnings of a jacket. I was admiring my brown wrist warmers against a red blanket and thought I really needed to do something with those colors together. This isn't quit the same colors, but when I was thinking on the red and brown and looking at my yarn, these are what I decided to try together. They look amazing together, so I ran with it. The other "selling point" was that putting the two together means large needles and a quick knit.

The poncho I've been working on for what feels like forever is boring me to tears. I should just hunker down and finish it.... I mean, I'm on the last skein!! LOL But, I got distracted. Boring or not, I want the finished product and think it's something I'll use. Maybe now that I've peaked my interest on the red jacket, I can settle down and finish that last skein and move on to more exciting things.. lol

God bless and keep you!

Fiesta Afghan

This is the yarn that my brother brought me, six skeins of Patons Pooch. Those six skeins were quickly joined by 24 more, including two more types. Below is the beginning of the afghan I'm making with it. I was Really sceptical about it all working together, but I'm loving it more and more as I go. I ran it by my brother and my oldest niece and they both liked it. I'm happy and loving how quickly it knits up!

Happy New Years!

I'm kind of indifferent to it... lol Lexy's not indifferent and to watch her shake because of fireworks isn't any fun, but she made it through and is now sleeping soundly. All's quiet now and we're both relaxing.

This is a peek of what I've been working on for quite a while. Just a long rectangle with a slit in it for a poncho that doubles as a lap rug for the times I need to keep my foot warm at other people's houses. It's very light and fluffy, which is good since my foot can't take any weight on it.

I've been having such a time with my efforts to keep cutting my smoking back. I've been stalled for a while and all my prayers and efforts seemed to be without affect. It finally struck me that maybe I need to set another goal, even though, or maybe because, I've haven't been meeting the one I was at. Today, after doing just that, I feel that once again God has been helping and strengthening me. This may be the best day yet. I know I can't do this on my own, so I'm thankful for another nudge in the right direction.

I had such a lovely surprise earlier! My brother came in from shopping with my sister-in-law and walked in here with a bag of YARN!! I was very surprised, since I've asked him to keep his eyes out for yarn and knitting stuff at garage sales, but it's never happened. They found a sale at a discount store. There wasn't even any request with the yarn. He said they had more and I ended up going there with my niece to see if I could get enough for an afghan. It's super bulky and several different kinds which will end up looking like a Fiesta. I was leery about the colors available, but pleasantly surprised when I knit some up to see how it would look. That first batch he brought me is Patons Pooch, which is really rather lovely stuff... very soft And with wool in it! All the yarn they had (only a small section of shelf) was only a dollar. I should have called a manager and offered them a set amount for the whole lot though, because much of it was in such a tangled mess that I'm sure they'll end up throwing a lot out. I'll try take a picture, or scan, when I've got enough done to show all the colors. I Was already there once, but then realized I had to frog, because I had it too wide and had mistaken my needle size. It's all going to be a pretty quick knit though, with super bulky yarn.

May God bless and keep you!