Author: Marie Haigh

I started knitting 15 years ago right around the time of my marriage and the birth of my niece.

Yard Waste Disposal in Pottstown

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The Borough of Pottstown now collects yard waste from its residents separately from regular trash.

There are pros and cons to this new service.

Pros:
1. It’s great for the environment. The yard waste is composted rather than just added to the heap of trash. Although I do have 2 compost bins in our yard, they simply can’t hold all the materials that I need to clean up each Spring and Fall. Rather than designate another corner of our yard for compost and further annoy our neighbors, I can throw the yard waste away.
2. It’s free. There was no increase in our trash service when this new service was added.

Cons:
They only pick up the yard waste once a month. For lack of a better place to stack the bags away from the weather, I line them up like soldiers on our front porch.

It’s a bit unsightly, which doesn’t please me or my neighbors.

Even Elly looks on disapprovingly.

Quilt for Elly from a Neighbor

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Like most crafts, this cross-stitch quilt has a story.

My neighbor’s mother had started it with the intention of gifting it to her 1st great-grandchild. Unfortunately, she passed away before any great-grandchildren were born. Despite not being the crafty sort, my neighbor held onto it. Eventually, she gave it to her daughter-in-law with the hope that it would be completed and placed in her daughter’s room. Unfortunately, the daughter-in-law wasn’t able to dedicate the time necessary to finish such a large and detailed project. Rather than let it languish in a drawer for years, she returned it to my neighbor.
Last week, my neighbor gave it to me in the hopes that I will complete it and place it in Elly’s room.

I look forward to working on it during the upcoming quilting season. The dog days of summer are my quilting season because it is too hot to garden or to knit.

Though I will probably tackle the project included with the quilt, a table runner.

It has been years since I have cross-stitched. I could use some practice.

What We’re Having for Breakfast This Week

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Pumpkin bread

It was made from the last batch of pureed butternut squash that I had frozen in the Fall. A farmer had advised me to use the “neck pumpkin”, his term for butternut squash – not mine, in my pumpkin recipes, stating that the canned pumpkin at the stores was actually the neck version and not the jack-o-lantern version. He was right; the butternut squash is a perfect substitute for pumpkin.

Dan, who loves pumpkin, will have to wait for the squash to be harvested from my veggie garden before he gets any more pumpkin desserts.

It’s my first time growing butternut squash. Fingers are crossed!

Planning an Easter dinner

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This is my first time hosting an Easter dinner. Although I quickly agreed to do it because I love an excuse to cook, I panicked shortly after confirming with family that Easter would be at our house. I wasn’t sure what to serve besides the traditional ham, potatoes and challah.

It took me a few minutes of trolling the internet to find a list of sides that I thought I could pull off with Elly’s help or hinderance depending on her mood.

deviled eggs
strawberry spinach salad
ham glazed with molasses, apple jelly and tart cranberries
carrots in butter & extra ham glaze
mashed potatoes
corn
challah
carrot cake
meringue cookies

So I’m not pulling my hair out Easter morning, I’ve made a few things in advance, such as the challah and the meringue cookies.

The deviled eggs and carrot cake will get made up tomorrow leaving just the ham, carrots, and potatoes for Sunday morning. I refuse to count the corn, since all I plan to do is heat up a bag of frozen kernels. Elly could handle such a task if only she could reach the microwave.

Wishing you a Happy Easter!

Knitting a Hexagon

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In Barbara Walkers’ 4th Treasury book, she gives instructions on how to knit a hexagon with 2 different yarns. Loving the look of it, I thought it would be an excellent way to showcase my handspun wool.

This isn’t my handspun wool. Before committing the wool I took so long to spin on my drop spindle, I wanted to try the pattern out with some commercial yarn. I’m using Manos del Uruguay and Crystal Palace Yarns Taos wool.

Now I just need to relearn how to pick up stitches. I’ve forgotten how.

What We’re Having for Breakfast This Week

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Cinnamon Rolls!

Though it’s hard to beat the convenience of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, they don’t hold a candle to the homemade version.

I used this recipe for the rolls and filling. The icing is nothing more than powdered sugar mixed with milk and a splash of vanilla extract.

I didn’t make any changes to the list of ingredients outside of swapping  butter for margarine, but I did make the following changes to the instructions.  After sprinkling the filling over the butter, I gently pressed the sugar and cinnamon into the butter to keep it from falling out during the slicing process. Rather than cook the rolls right away, I let them rise a 2nd time, partly because I believe yeast bread should almost always be allowed to rise twice in order to achieve a light and airy texture and partly because Elly was whining for a nap. Lastly, I grabbed parchment paper rather than Pam spray. Parchment paper makes clean-up a breeze. Gosh how I love the stuff.

Final review of recipe: Yum!