Friday, March 26, 2010

Claire's, a Point Protector Keeper and garlic

Hello, Folks,
What a beautiful warm spring day we had today!  It's Friday evening and Dan is busy at the KMCC, so I actually get the computer without having to ask him to give me a turn. Yeah!

He and I just about came to "words" today.  He saw a new version of Palm software on the Palm website and wanted to upgrade my phone.  I explained that he needed to wait until Verizon released their version or it would just mess up my phone.  I went  to bed.  Male with itchy upgrade finger could not resist the siren call of technology and tried the upgrade anyway, which bombed and wiped out my database.   Heh, you no touch-a my phone again or I break-a you fin-ger.   He spent several hours on the phone with Verizon and Palm and finally got it all put back together, including an intact database, back on the original version.  He now understands that we will have to wait until Verizon is ready for the upgrade.  Uh-Huh.  But could not believe his wife.  Uh-huh.  Oh, well, I guess I'm over it as he manfully strove all day long and finally was successful at restoring my data.

We had lunch in Solana Beach with Anita and Heather (number 2 sister)  today.  On the drive up the freeway embankments were so beautiful.   The deep purple lupine flowers were so beautiful, and the red and pink freeway portulacca, too.  Some call it Moss Rose.  We ate at Claire's,  http://clairesoncedros.com/.



Great food!  Everything very fresh.  Duck salad was awesome.  Other Salads great, too.  I enjoyed a yummy omelet.  My roasted potatoes were too greasy though.  I shuda had the sweet potato fries that Dan had with onions and cheddar cheese on top.  Those were crazy good.  Great bakery, too.  The lemon bars are heavenly.  Nice service.   Over lunch I gave Anita a pretty necklace I made at the beading class.  I blogged about it earlier.  Then she gave me one, too, LOL.  Great minds think alike. I left Heather and Anita planning colors for a reversible hat Heather is making.

Today I invented something.  When I work on delicate lace knitting, I like to use a point protector, so the the sharp points of the lace needles do not snag the lace when it is riding along in my bag.  But... there is a fly in the ointment.  I take off the point protectors and then have to find a place to put them where I will not lose them, drop them in the car, under the table where they roll into that back corner that is hard to reach, etc.  As you can imagine, I tend to lose them.  That must be why they sell them 4 at a time, instead of 2.  I thought of piercing the tips with a needle, installing a jump link  and attaching a chain.  The the chain could be clipped into one of  the many stitch markers I use for lace (25 stitch markers in this piece).  But, this sounds like some considerable work.  Then my mother-in-law suggested making a tiny bag to attach to my knitting instead.  Probably much easier, and it involved knitting something.  So, Ta-DA, here I give you a free pattern for a:

Point Protector Keeper.



Worsted weight scrap yarn, I used bright purple so it would be easy to find against the white lace.
size 8 knitting needles and crochet hook to match

Cast on 16. Knit 10 rows. Slip 8 sts onto the spare needle.  Fold the work in the middle. Russian join from the middle to the edges.  Pull the live tail through the last loop.  Crochet the edges together with slip stitch.  SC around the top to strengthen, chain a few and end off.  Put your point protectors inside and pin to work across the  top, or use the end chain to attach.  That way the lil' buggers can't jump out and escape.  You could sew a button on, of course.  But wouldn't that be kind of, well, conventional?
Thanks to Heather Walkabout Knitter for the Russian join instruction.  http://walkaboutknitter.blogspot.com/   

I use that method all the time now, as it is less bulky than a 3-needle bind off.  You just have to think a bit.  It goes in the opposite direction - from the middle toward the live yarn tail, as opposed to the 3-needle bind off, which begins with the live yarn and goes to the middle. 

Here's what we had for dinner tonight.  I noticed that the braided string of  Garlic I have hanging on the kitchen wall knows that it is spring, too, and it is starting to sprout.  So I decided to use as much garlic as possible for the next few days and use it up.  Look out , World!  Here comes garlic breath.  But you know I love it.

Julie's Easy 40 clove garlic Chicken recipe.

Into a slow cooker put:
10 chicken thighs
40 cloves of garlic
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp red pepper (the kind from the pizza place)
black pepper to taste
salt
1 tsp Herbes de Provence
toast triangles

Notice that no liquid is added.  This gives more of a roasted effect, rather than boiled.  The original French version is baked in a sealed casserole, but I like the ease of use of a slow cooker.

Leave it on low for 5+ hours.  The smell is unbelievable.  If you love garlic, you'll love this.  The garlic is as soft as butter, so serve with toast .  Spread the soft garlic on the toast and dunk it in the rich pan sauce.  Enjoy!  Just make sure your spouse has some, too!

Lilo sez, Yuck, stinky garlic smell all over the house!  I'm loving it, of course.  Hmmm, maybe there is a reason I have the house to myself tonight...

Bye,
Julie, aka garlic breath




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