A Different Kind of Yum

I've been trying to make all our bread homemade for the past month or so, and for the last couple of weeks, I've wanted to try pizza or calzones.

Calzones won on Saturday. I didn't have enough homemade spaghetti sauce left, and I didn't want to buy grocery store tomatoes. (I've got my first two tomatoes in my garden, but they are way too tiny, so I've been buying a few tomatoes every couple of weeks at the Farmer's Market. Oh, are they yum!)

I did have about a cup and a half left of homemade green chili chicken (with my own peppers (from last year), onions and cilantro) we've been making into burritos, so I decided to try southwest calzones. Added in some grocery store corn and black beans. Drizzled with grocery store green enchilada sauce.

Oh, my gosh! We are in heaven!!! I can't wait to try this again!!!

Tweet

Eatin' of the Greens

Back in October when I brought in all my potted tomato and pepper plants and dug up two super hot pepper plants to stick in a couple more pots for winter, my dear friend Mrs. Micawber asked about aphids. You see, pepper plants are among the garden pests' favorite dining establishment.

Well, I finally surrendered over the weekend. I've been tenderly cleaning my pepper plant leaves daily, sometimes twice a day, with dish soapy water, then rinsing them, and I don't have the time to continue investing in that icky activity any longer. I put the pepper plants (and a beloved infected basil plant) outside. We were 12 degrees and 11 degrees respectively overnight. Bye bye aphids! Probably see you next year, unfortunately.

Alas, not all is lost. I had planted four breeds of peppers in one of my empty pots prior to bringing in the outdoor peppers. It will be a while before they bloom, but no longer will they be a temptation for one of my least favorite garden terrorists!


Two of my potted tomato plants did not survive the transition to indoor living, specifically the beefsteaks. I didn't have any more beefsteak seeds, so I ordered more. Oh, boy, did I go seed crazy! As much as I love crocheting, quilting, photography and cycling, oh, my goodness, my gardening addiction is sometimes out of control!!!






I planted some tomato seeds right away in new, fresh soil. The seedlings are beginning to appear.


The tomato plants I started indoors from seed in about April never produced any blossoms until after I brought them indoors. The tomato plants my neighbor started indoors last winter and then shared with me in June (because there were too many for my neighbor's raised-bed garden) have been my primary tomato source since then. I'm still getting about three little tomatoes every week. If I save and quarter them, they are enough for a salad. I mean, I would LOVE more tomatoes in every salad, but I take (and enjoy!) what I can get.


About a week after Thanksgiving, I plucked all the rest of my salad greens and made the yummiest southwest turkey salad ever.




The first "salad bowl" terracotta (I now have three) in which I grow my greens (and replant my onion cuttings) was sporting some depleted soil after more than a year of indoor sprouts and seedlings. So I put fresh soil in that, too. The new seedlings are just beginning to poke their heads out.


And now, my first amaryllis of the year has bloomed! I wasn't sure I'd have flowers for Christmas, but one of my little butterfly bulbs has spread its wings!

Tweet

Birthday Bandanas

Turns out I bought nine different fabrics between May and November of last year to make bandanas for Lizard. These were supposed to be a Christmas gift. He got a new knee a couple of weeks before Christmas. I'd hilariously thought I could finish a quilt every day of his home health rehab that I stayed home with him. The bandanas would be an easy project to knock off in between quilts.

Parkinson's and total knee replacement do not play nicely. These bandanas have been sitting next to my sewing machine since Thanksgiving. I finally finished them at 10:01 last night. His birthday was yesterday. I'm working from home, but it sometimes feels like two jobs. My regular job, plus, it feels a little as if I'm the only staff member in an assisted living facility.

That's not a complaint. I'm so glad I am able to take care of him.

However, the Parkinson's took a dramatic turn for the worse last week, and Lizard's had trouble walking, as well as every other thing he does. We were able to speak with his neurologist via telemed on Tuesday, then were successful in contacting his endocrinologist via a portal that afternoon. We spent my (extra long) Wednesday lunch hour (and his birthday lunch) getting his blood drawn. Now we must wait for results and what we hope will be a modification in his medication that will reverse the deterioration that has occurred in the last six days.

Lizard finally got to sleep peacefully at about 6 p.m. last night, and I went to work right away on the bandanas. Midway through, one of our neighbors brought over a homemade apple pie to celebrate Lizard's birthday and National Apple Pie Day. My whole neighborhood is awesome, but this Shelter in Place has brought everyone so much closer together, even though we must keep a physical distance. Everyone looks out for everyone.


Lizard already has about 40 bandanas I've made for him. We have been wearing them as masks while our real masks are in the washing machine. The bandana collection started, though, as a way to keep Lizard's head from sunburning while hiking or riding his bike. For the last two weeks, he hasn't been able to tie his bandana by himself, and last Friday, he couldn't even get his leg over the bicycle. The Parkinson's is going that fast.

When Lizard wakes up today (probably around 2 a.m., but he'll try to let me sleep), I'm hoping he will be thrilled by his new bandanas and fresh apple pie. (Update: He thought the bandanas were masks to be mailed today. Now he knows they are for him!!) Perhaps the change in his medication will come through today. That would be the best birthday present of all!






Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Tweet

Rock and Troll Monday

When I finished my first pair of Troll flip flops, The Lizard quickly suggested I make a Clint Eastwood-type poncho.

Is Indy Troll styling now with his new Southwest Ponchos or what?!?


A traditional poncho typically is a blanket or woven piece of fabric with a hole in the center for the head to come through. A poncho keeps the body warm. Ponchos have been used in the Andes region for more than 600 years and by the Peruvian people for more than 2,000 years.

Military ponchos made of water-resistant fabric and used as raincoats came into use in the 1850s. Many of the fashionable ponchos in my native state of New Mexico while I was growing up featured an opening between the neck and the edge.

Okay, so true traditional ponchos are supposed to be woven, not crocheted...


Nothing like a little post-Cinco de Mayo fashion show...






Next week, I'll be back to my regularly scheduled snowflake patterns. Did you miss the snow?!?

You may do whatever you'd like with ponchos you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!


Finished Size: 3x4 inches without fringe
Materials: Worsted yarn, size G crochet hook

NOTE: If making striped poncho, work each Row in a new color, and start and bind off each poncho edge (not neck edge) Row with a 2-inch tail for fringe. On neck edge, make tails 3.5 to 4 inches long and crochet over ends to poncho edge or weave in to poncho edge upon completion to form fringe.

Troll Southwest Poncho Instructions

Leaving a 2-inch tail for fringe, chain 14.

Row 1: 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across for a total of 13 sc; ch 1, turn.

Rows 2-3: 1 sc in each sc across; ch 1, turn.

Short Row 4: To begin shaping neck and right poncho front, 1 sc in each of next 6 sc; ch 1 turn.

Short Rows 5-7: 1 sc in each sc across; ch 1, turn. Bind off at poncho edge leaving 2-inch tail for fringe.

Short Row 8: Joining at back neck edge or 8th sc of Row 3 and leaving a 4-inch tail for fringe (crocheting over tail during this Row or weaving tail to edge upon completion of Row), 1 sc in each of next 6 sc; ch 1 turn.

Short Rows 9-13: To form back of poncho, 1 sc in each sc across; ch 1, turn. Bind off at end of Row 13 leaving a 2-inch tail for fringe.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

To form left front of poncho and leaving a 4-inch tail for fringe, ch 7.

Row 14: 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each of next 5 ch for a total of 6 sc; ch 1, turn.

Row 15: 1 sc in each sc across; ch 1, turn.

Row 16: 1 sc in each sc across, ch 1 to form neck edge, 1 sc across each of next 6 sc of poncho back for a total of 13 sc; ch 1, turn. See photos below in sock yarn version.

Row 17: 1 sc in each of the next 6 sc across, 1 sc in next ch, 1 sc in each of next 6 sc across; ch 1, turn. See photos below in sock yarn version.

Rows 18-19: 1 sc in each sc across; ch 1, turn. Bind off at end of Row 19, leaving 2-inch tail for fringe.

NOTE: I made the striped worsted weight yarn version with 18 Rows instead of 19 to maintain my stripe pattern.


Troll Southwest Poncho Instructions (sock yarn version)

Materials: Fingering yarn, size E crochet hook

NOTE: Scraps of Noro sock yarn have the perfect texture and colors for this project and may even be felted upon completion for an authentic look and feel!


Leaving a 2-inch tail for fringe, chain 20.

Row 1: 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across for a total of 19 sc; ch 1, turn.

Rows 2-4: 1 sc in each sc across; ch 1, turn.

Short Row 5: To begin shaping neck and right poncho front, 1 sc in each of next 8 sc; ch 1 turn.

Short Rows 6-9: 1 sc in each sc across; ch 1, turn. Bind off at neck edge leaving 4-inch tail for fringe. Weave tail poncho right opening to poncho edge.

Short Row 10: Joining at back neck edge or 12th sc of Row 4 and leaving a 4-inch tail for fringe (crocheting over tail during this Row or weaving tail to edge upon completion of Row), 1 sc in each of next 6 sc; ch 1 turn.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Short Rows 11-19: To form back of poncho, 1 sc in each sc across; ch 1, turn. Bind off at end of Row 19 leaving a 4-inch tail for fringe.

To form left front of poncho and leaving a 4-inch tail for fringe, ch 9.

Row 20: 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each of next 7 ch for a total of 8 sc; ch 1, turn.

Rows 21-23: 1 sc in each sc across; ch 1, turn.

Row 24: 1 sc in each of the next 8 sc across, ch 3 to form neck edge, 1 sc across each of next 8 sc of poncho back; ch 1, turn.


Row 25: 1 sc in each of the next 8 sc across, 1 sc in each of next 3 ch, 1 sc in each of next 8 sc across for a total of 19 sc; ch 1, turn.


Rows 26-28: 1 sc in each sc across; ch 1, turn. Bind off at end of Row 28, leaving 2-inch tail for fringe.

Finish: If poncho was worked using a different color on each Row, fill in any fringe gaps by knotting folded 4-inch pieces of yarn along edges as shown.

If poncho was worked using solid color, cut approximately 16 4-inch pieces of yarn and knotting folded pieces along edges as shown.






For both solid and striped versions, trim fringe even along front and back.

If poncho is curly (all mine were), using rust-free pins, pin and shape and then spray with light water mist. Allow to dry thoroughly.

Fold poncho front around Troll neck as shown, and Troll is dressed to thrill!

Tweet