The Truth Be Told

My dear friends of OHS 2007.

I recently have had the opportunity to read some letters and emails from soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan. These are very brave soldiers that are proud of what they do. They are, however, lonely, miss their loved ones, and talk about low morale.

They feel like forgotten soldiers, and that the country is not behind them anymore.

We really need to send our stockings of love to them.

We are in need of stockings, stocking stuffers, and cash donations for postage and stocking stuffers.

As a mother of an Army soldier, I am proud of what we have done in the past two years, and what we are doing again this year. As we all have said, there are no politics involved in our endeavor, just love for the soldier in harm's way.

Pray for them all.

Thank you for being here, and for all of your support, and participation.

Sue

Opportunities for Knitting

Someone recently asked me how I managed to get any knitting done with everything else I have going on. I grab any opportunity I can to knit.

I knit on my morning and evening commutes to and from work.

I knit when we travel to Edgar's Acres or Portland.

I knit while waiting for a pot to boil.

I knit in bars when I would really like to have a cigarette.

I knit while waiting in line, and while waiting for appointments.

Yesterday I managed to knit a whole inch on my sock while at the dentist.

I got there a few minutes before 11:00, and the receptionist said "they will be right with you."

Knit, knit, knit.

The nurse came and got me and got me all settled in the chair, put the little chest apron on and said "the doctor will be with you a few minutes."

Knit, knit, knit.

Dr. Jeff came in and said that his nurse will take some films of my sore tooth, and that she would be "just a minute."

Knit, knit, knit.

Xray taken, and the nurse said "it will be a few minutes before the films are ready."

Knit, knit, knit.

Dr. Jeff comes in and we discuss the films and he starts numbing up my mouth and he says "your mouth, lip and tongue will be numb in a few minutes."

Knit, knit, knit, and knit some more.

Dr. Jeff starts working on the tooth when he announces my tooth doesn't smell so we are going to take the conservative approach and see if we can get rid of the absess with anitibiotics and the "feel good" filling on my tooth. He says "we'll get the filling started in just a minute."

Knit, knit, knit.

Dr. Jeff comes in and puts in the "feel good" filling on my tooth. He says, "let's let it settle for a minute."

Knit, knit, knit.

Dr. Jeff comes back in and works on the bite and we discuss my 50% chance of absess.

I go home with a half-numb face feeling like crap. So what do I do when I sit down? You got it.

Knit, knit, knit.

Sue

The Stockings are Coming In!

The tomatoes and all of the canning equipment are gone. The table is ready for socks for Operation Holiday Stockings 2007. Lots of room there. Last year we had over 1700 stockings stacked on that table.We are off to a good start. I had received some stockings earlier in the year, and I am now receiving them in a nice even flow. Here's Deborah W's socks that she knit with the OHS stocking pattern.

These are Linda R's stockings, again using the OHS stocking pattern.

Diana M. gave me these stockings at the Bichon Bash in August. She also used the OHS stocking pattern.

Here are Bonnie M's stockings. For the past two years Bonnie crocheted her stockings. This year she knit her stockings using our pattern, and did a beautiful job.

We currently have 100 stockings that have been donated. We are on our way!

I went to the dentist today with a very painful tooth. Well, it is an absessed tooth alright, but not absessed badly enough for a root canal.

My dentist started out by saying that he was 100% certain I had an absess when looking at the xray. Then he got the xray on the light screen, and he was 90%. He numbed up my mouth and started drilling and then just stopped. I thought he was going to tell me I had another calcified root (another story). Nope. The tooth didn't stink. The odds went down to 60-80%. Apparently there is an odor with an absess, and I have a nice smelling tooth. First time I realized a dentist practiced dentistry with the sense of smell.

Well, we've got to try and save the tooth. Saturday my tooth was a gross mess so I started taking antibiotics. Apparently the antibiotics are doing the job. I go back in a month to have the "comfort filling" taken off of the tooth and either get a root canal, or a permanent filling. I'm pushing for the permanent filling. Even though I love my dentist, I hate having my teeth done.

On another note ...

Sue

DONE - Tomatoes and Sock

The tomatoes are done. I processed 50 pints of tomato sauce which will certainly be enough for David and I until next Fall. The sauce is marvelous if I say so myself. I had to get these tomatoes done and the canning equipment put away so I could move on to Operation Holiday Stockings 2007.I'm lining up the pressure cooker, rings and lids.

Got my clean, sterlized jars and the sauce that I let cook down for three hours.

Isn't the sauce pretty? I'm using pint jars since I am canning portions for just David and I. I used to do everything in quarts when the boys were at home.

These are ready for the lids and rings after I wipe off the jar rim and jars to make sure I get a good seal.

Nine pints all ready to be processed. I've never used the hot water bath method. I've always used my pressure cooker for all of my canning. It makes me feel more secure.

Now to wait for the shuttlecock to start rattling. This pressure cooker has been around for a long, long time. It was Mom's when she was canning and then she gave it to me when I was canning for the whole family. We do have it checked routinely and take very good care of it.

In the meantime, the sock is done. All ready to take off of the needles. I know this may sound upsetting to some knitters, but I use the three needle bind off technique. The Kitchner stitch drives me CRAZY.

There we are, the tomatoes have been processed and are cooling off before I take them out of the pressure cooker. The sock is done.

The strong heel is cool, but I will need to make some minor adjustments on the number of stitches I add so I can get a little tighter fit.

Now on to the second sock (and yes, I have started it and it's halfway done), and OHS 2007.

By the way, is anyone out there?

Sue

Operation Holiday Stockings 2007 is in Full Swing

Operation Holiday Stockings Final Collection for 2006

Yes, OHS 2007 is still on. Yes, we still need stockings. Yes, I still need addresses for the soldiers to send the stockings to. You can email it to me at ramsddj at aol dot com.

We have about 80 stockings and they are starting to come in in groups of 5-10 stockings each.

Donations of stocking stuffers and money for postage is always welcome!

If you are in the Bellevue area and want to help stuff the stockings the Saturday after Thanksgiving, let me know.

I have returned from my period of whatever. If you are reading my blog (http://www.theyarnability.blogspot.com/), you will know that I have had several changes in my life lately, the biggest was the passing of my Mom. It has taken a bit of time to get back into the mode of things.

This year I am dedicating this project in Mom's memory because she thought the OHS project was wonderful, and was a big supporter, even if she never made a stocking.

Sandy's son is being deployed to Afghanistan and needs our love and prayers. Virginia's son is currently somewhere in Afghanistan and we are praying for his safety. LaShona's uncle is in Iraq and we are praying for him as well. All of these brave soldiers will be receiving our stockings of love, support and prayers for the holidays.

I know we will get a bunch of stockings for our soldiers. Each one of you will see to that.

You know where I am and how to reach me. I will respond in a timely fashion now.

Thanks for your patience while I took my time to grieve and collect my inner self.

Sue

Learning Something New

Well, the tomatoes are done (for now). I know, I know, I was going to have Chapter Two of making tomato sauce. Chapter Two got done, but Sue here forgot to take pictures. Don't worry, I'll be making more next week when the next batch of green tomatoes are RED. I'll post Chapter Two of the tutorial.


In the meantime, I made great process on my sock while processing the tomato sauce, which in case you hadn't noticed, is a NEW PROJECT. I need more socks. It's going to be cold and my feet want nice warmth, and comfort, which is what knit socks provide. This pair of socks, however, are going to have a different heel. I'm learning how to do a "strong heel sock."

This is one of my socks I knit last year. It has the standard heel flap.

The heel flap is on the left of the sock.

On this sock, I'll be adding two extra stitches on the backside of the sock with every other round until I have double the number (in my case 70 stitches since I cast on 72). I'll have more pictures in the next few days. Hopefully I'll remember to take my camera to Sequim with me.

You've got to see this...

See A.J. on the right? He is staring at Abby in the chair. This picture was taken about 7:15.

Here's A.J. at 8:30, still staring at the cat. He hasn't moved! This poor dog is obsessed with Abby. I love the look on her face ("enough already").

Sue

Crock Pot + Tomatoes = Knitting

Knitters never have enough time. Most of us have enough yarn, in fact most of us belong to SABLE (stash acquired beyond life expectancy). We have enough knitting needles to have at least six projects going at the same time. We have books, and patterns. We have notions, gadgets, and the Internet. Time, however, is at a premium for most of us.

Now that it is dark when I leave in the morning for work, and dark when I come home I have lost precious knitting time. Isn't that why we commute? To have the time to knit?

We grab time wherever we can find it. Me, I grab it when doing other stuff around the house.

Take these tomatoes ...

These are so ripe, in fact, past slicing stage. They are ready for tomato sauce.

Here is the plan. Have dinner cooking in the crock pot, leave work right at 4:00 (instead of working overtime), and get home to do tomato sauce.


What does this have to do with knitting? You'll see. Just follow this tutorial on preserving tomato sauce when you have an over abundance of tomatoes.


Wash the tomatoes, remove the stems, and quarter them. Put into a big pan, like a big stock pot.
No need to peel the tomatoes. You'll see.

After the tomatoes have been washed and quartered, you start adding some other vegetables you have in the fridge.

Like onions, celery, and of course, garlic. This gets washed and cut into chunks.

Put the other veggies into the pot. Turn the stove on low to let things cook REAL SLOW. Admire the pot of beautiful veggies, knowing that everything except the celery was grown organically in your own garden.

Go outside and check the weather. Note that it is 68 degrees on October 22nd, five days after a horrible wind storm and torrential rains.

Look and admire the beautiful fall colors of the trees and shrubs in your yard, and note how the sun makes things glow.

Go back into the kitchen to check the pot, and then pour yourself a glass of wine, and grab your knitting (see where I'm going with this?).

Sit, sip, and knit, while admiring the lovely evening, knowing that your tomatoes are cooking nicely and quietly on the stove.

Check the pot occasionally, stir it up a bit, and then go back outside to sit, sip and knit.

While in the kitchen, check out dinner cooking in the crock pot. It's all done. Nothing like pot roast. All you will have to do is put it on the service plates.

Go back outside, and sit, sip and knit.

Note the pot of tomatoes is simmering nicely. Everything is cooking together as it should.

Go outside, sit, sip and knit and have a coherent conversation with the wonderful man you married, who isn't asking why you are taking all of these pictures.

Continuing sitting, sipping and knitting, while taking brief trips to the kitchen to check the tomatoes cooking nicely on the stove.

Serve the dinner that is already cooked.

After dinner, bring out the Squeezo Strainer.

Take the now cooked tomatoes and run them through the Squeezo.

Be amazed (again) how wonderful the Squeezo is that your Mom bought you 27 years ago so you would make your babies applesauce (which I refused to do with the Foley food mill -- urg!)

The juice and pulp come through the Squeezo and all of the seeds, celery strings, and skins of the tomatoes and onions end up as waste in the little plastic cup.

Stand back and admire the lovely tomato sauce you have made in a matter of a couple of hours. Off to the fridge for an overnight stay for the sauce.

It will be put back on the stove again to simmer down to thicken and then preserved in the pressure cooker.

That's for another blog.

And I got some wonderful, precious knitting time. Something all of us knitters need more of.

Sue