I stayed out way too late for a school night last Tuesday. Deborah and her husband invited me over for dinner and knitting to celebrate her Birthday! Her husband made Mac and Cheese, roasted broccoli and chicken satay! I’d never tried satay before and it was delicious. Bring on the peanut sauce, I say! The Mac and Cheese was so good I had a second helping for “dessert” and then asked for the recipe.

I may or may not have accidentally dripped peanut sauce on my Nain sock, then licked it off because that seemed like the quickest way to remedy the situation. I was not wrong.

This couple acted like people spreading knitting around their plates and licking sauce off a sock is an everyday occurrence.

I managed to only huff the tiny bundt cakes that were dessert. Yay me!!! No desserts til my jeans fit! I so appreciate them being supportive and not trying to peer pressure me into sugar!

Deborah and I each managed to cast on Silk Road Socks. Overachiever that she is, she managed to cast on more projects after I left! I started Usak and Nain. For the record, I knit Nain a size up from my usual because the stitch pattern is not stretchy. It is gorgeous! Yarn is Quince & Co. Tern (75% Wool, 25% Silk) in the Beach Glass colorway. Tern has amazing stitch definition.

Usak appeals because it flies off the needles once you get through the decorative cuff. Yarn is Seven Sisters Arts Meridian (75% Merino, 25% Nylon) in the Curry colorway. I’m terribly impressed with Seven Sisters Arts yarn if you happen to be in the market to enhance your stash.

Deborah cast on Mood socks with Intrepid Otter TWIST! in the Jenny colorway (blue/gray) and
Lycaena virgaureae socks (from Knitters Curiosity Cabinet II) in Wollewien Handgefarbte Sockenwolle (pink).

Deborah is @dcbritter if you stack your Instagram feed with knitters as I do. I look forward to hanging out with these peeps again soon. I’ll try not to spill anything on the wool next time!

On Sunday, The Husband and I were to cook Thanksgiving for my brother, his lovely wife, and their adorable little girl. We rolled out of bed early and got to work. The first step is to mix up the stuffing and get it in the bird. I’ve been involved with this for at least 2 holidays per year for the past 17 years. I’ve done it countless times on my own. It includes melting butter, adding chicken broth, heating to a boil and stirring in the Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix. We are not talking rocket science. We planned to get the turkey on the grill at 8am, so I was moving right along. I melted the butter, added broth, and brought it to a boil. At this point, I removed it from the heat and tried to pour the two bags of stuffing mix in at the same time while stirring because The Husband was busy getting the neck and innards out of the raw turkey. I was having trouble mixing the stuffing well, so I grabbed a huge plastic mixing bowl and dumped everything in. I was starting to really settle into my task when I realized I couldn’t pick up the mixing bowl. I’d set it on the hot stove. I believe my next words were, “oh, shit.” followed by a scary calm, “that’s not optimal.” I flung all of the stuffing off the hot eye, dumped the bottomless skeleton of the bowl in the trash, and grabbed a fork to scrape as much melted plastic up as quickly as possible. I wiped the plastic in the trash can and went back for another load of melted bowl, not realizing I was leaving tiny cobwebs of plastic across the kitchen. The Husband was wrist deep in raw turkey, so he just let me do my thing for a minute.

He soon appeared at my elbow with a container of razor blades and stared into my eyes, “hey, do NOT cut yourself and make a bad situation worse.” before handing me my first straight edged razor blade. In that moment, I was grateful he had them handy. Later, I would wonder what the heck he was expecting that he thought we’d need one hundred razor blades? My question was soon answered as he said, “use a blade and throw it away, trying to clean one to reuse it is how you’ll get cut” Ok, I began methodically and carefully scraping what looked plastic marshmallows off our glass cooktop with a razor. I soon realized that scraping a hot eye with a metal blade heats the blade and was grateful he’d bought in bulk.

As I cleaned, The Husband and I surveyed the plastic cobwebs and decided that we should not serve this dressing. So, he left for the HEB Grocery with me thanking my stars that we were not celebrating on Thanksgiving and they were definitely open. Once I had the majority of the gooey plastic off stove, I cleaned up the dressing I’d slung. By this point the cooktop had cooled off and I was able to use my Cooktop cleaner on the glass top. Ya’ll, by the time The Husband returned, it looked almost new. I felt like I was on the set of a commercial for glass stoves. People can say what they like about how gas is better, but when it comes to cleaning melted mixing bowl, I’ll choose my electric stovetop every day and twice on this particular Sunday.

Ps. When I told my father this story, his response was a nodding, “oh yes, single blades, they are cheaper by the hundred”. I guess girls really do marry boys like their fathers.

I like to think each knitter has moments when they feel like a Knitter. Not when others perceive them as advanced, but when they themselves believe they can handle anything knitting can dish out. It’s different for everyone and for me, this feeling wells up when non-knitters around me speak the language.

Yesterday, I was able to spend some time among my people at Kora Kora. The coffee was delicious and Elisa brought a smashing new knitting friend. As we chatted about the fiber arts, I shared that The Husband is now able to measure time in knitting:
How long until I’m ready to go to dinner? 40 stitches.
When will I be available to go to the grocery store? 3 rows.
What time will I be back from hanging out with knitting friends? Before dark. Probably.


So, if you’re a non-knitter and now know things like how many yards one needs for socks (350-400), I’d like to say thank you for listening. I appreciate you.

After coffee, we adjourned for lunch at The Gruene Door. I had a spinach salad that included strawberries and made more new knitting friends.













Next, we swung into the Lucky Ewe. This was my first visit and from the moment I stepped through the door, it felt like home. It’s a truly warm yarn shop with a vibe that I could not love more. This shop has plenty of indie dyed sock yarn as well as a wall of Malabrigo. The shopkeeper, Linda, was helpful and charming. I will be back.