They had a good time but the irony, after 5 minutes, Hannah announced she was cold. Um, honey, it was 100 F outside!
In between knitting many items on small needles, I dug out some cotton and started this Ball Band Dishcloth from Mason Dixon Knitting.
Just a little something to break up the size 3 needles and 900 yards of lace weight yarn!
Here is Dad raising the flag to full staff.
I am so proud of Dad! Thank you to Dad & Linda for inviting us. After the BBQ, we saw a very good film from National Geographic about Arlington National Cemetary. It was really interesting.
We also made Beer Can Chicken tonight. You basically stick a beer can up the bum of a chicken and grill it. Believe me, it makes a mighty fine chicken. Here it is just off the grill on the can. (No pun intended......)
BEER CAN CHICKEN
This odd recipe makes some of the most moist, succulent, flavorful barbecued chicken I've ever tasted. The secret: an open can of beer is inserted into the cavity of the bird, which is cooked upright on the grill. Besides being incredibly tender, the bird makes a great conversation piece. The recipe was inspired by the Bryce Boar Blazers, a barbecue team from Texas I met at the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. The proper beverage?
Beer, of course.
1 large whole chicken (4 to 5 pounds) 3 tablespoons Memphis Rub* or your favorite dry barbecue rub [recipe follows} 1 can (12 ounces) beer
1. Remove and discard the fat just inside the body cavities of the chicken. Remove the package of giblets, and set aside for another use. Rinse the chicken, inside and out, under cold running water, then drain and blot dry, inside and out, with paper towels. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the rub inside the body and neck cavities, then rub another 1 tablespoon all over the skin of the bird. If you wish, rub another 1/2 tablespoon of the mixture between the flesh and the skin. Cover and refrigerate the chicken while you preheat the grill.
2. Set up the grill for indirect grilling** placing a drip pan in the center. If using a charcoal grill, preheat it to medium.
If using a gas grill, place all the wood chips in the smoker box and preheat the grill to high; then, when smoke appears, lower the heat to medium.
3. Pop the tab on the beer can. Using a "church key" style can opener, make 6 or 7 holes in the top of the can. Pour out the top inch of beer, then spoon the remaining dry rub through the holes into the beer. Holding the chicken upright, with the opening of the body cavity down, insert the beer can into the cavity.
4. When ready to cook, if using charcoal, toss half the wood chips on the coals. Oil the grill grate. Stand the chicken up in the center of the hot grate, over the drip pan. Spread out the legs to form a sort of tripod, to support the bird.
5. Cover the grill and cook the chicken until fall-off-the-bone tender, 2 hours. If using charcoal, add 10 to 12 fresh coals per side and the remaining wood chips after 1 hour.
6. Using tongs, lift the bird to a cutting board or platter, holding the metal spatula underneath the beer can for support. (Have the board or platter right next to the bird to make the move shorter. Be careful not to spill hot beer on yourself.) Let stand for 5 minutes before carving the meat off the upright carcass. (Toss the beer can out along with the carcass.)
Memphis Rub
1/4 cup paprika 1 tablespoon firmly packed dark brown sugar 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons accent (MSG; optional) 1 teaspoon celery salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 to 3 teaspoons cayenne pepper, or to taste 1 teaspoon dry mustard 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon onion powder
Combine all the ingredients in a jar, twist the lid on airtight, and shake to mix. Store away from heat or light for up to six months. Makes about 1/2 cup. Enough for 4 to 6 racks of ribs.
** Indirect grilling on a Charcoal Grill:
To set up your grill for indirect grilling, light the coals. When they are blazing red, use tongs to transfer them to opposite sides of the grill, arranging them in two piles. Some grills have special half-moon-shaped baskets to hold the coals at the sides; others have wire fences that hook onto the bottom gate. Let the coals burn until they are covered with a thin layer of gray ash. Set the drip pan in the center of the grill, between the mounds of coals. Place the food on the grate over the drip pan, and cover the grill. You'll need to add about 10 to 12 fresh briquettes to each side after an hour of cooking.
If you want to add a smoke flavor, add 1 to 2 cups of presoaked wood chips, or 2 to 4 chunks, to the coals just before you start to cook, and again whenever you replenish the coals.
YIELD: Serves 4 to 6 SUBMITTED BY: Evie Werthmann SOURCE: The Barbecue Bible, by Steven Raichlen
Two chickens. They were tasty!!!!
My Icuras shawl with OBIE. One final repeat away from starting the first of three border charts.
Hope everyone is having a good holiday weekend!
And the yarn???? 1350 yards of lace weight merino wool in hunter green. My, oh my....I want to wind it right now and start a new shawl.
But, I have to finish a couple of other things first.
I will be spending more time on the couch with Simon today since his fever has kicked up again so I will probably finish the Log Cabin shawl today.
A wee bit o' Project Spectrum May. This prickly pair started out as one pad with 3 ears. It is now this plant and one other one in the yard. We ignore it and look what happens.
Every year we get a huge load of these "babies" as Simon & Hannah call them. It is so sweet when I see Simon out there going, "Look at the little babies".
They eventually flower and if they get pollenated they drop to the ground and give us a whole bunch of cactus pieces like we have below the pot.
So, can anyone guess how much time I spent on the couch with Simon yesterday?
I have 3 more stripes left on the left side and then I am going to (gasp) crochet a single crochet edge around the whole thing to make a nice finished edge. I might need some remedial crochet guidance either from my Dad or Pam.
These two came from Marilyn on the East Coast. It is Lana Grossa "Meilenweit Cotton Fun" Yarn in muted colors but still very pretty. They are cotton & wool.
Finally, since Simon was sick yesterday and pretty much esconced on my lap or very near it, I started this prayer shawl in a modified Log Cabin design a la Mason Dixon Knitting. The yarn is Cotton Ease from my stash.
I am trying to make a rectangle but it still turned into a square so I think I will be striping along either end today as Simon & I are holding up the couch.
I modified this free pattern for the Retro Tote from Joann.com. I made it smaller, put a pocket inside and added a magnetic closure. I gotta figure out how to put a magnetic closure on the inside and still be able to put a nice top stitch around the top of the bag.
I LOVE my serger, when it works and I can find the right foot. I had put on the rolled hem foot at Christmas and could not find the regular one anywhere. Um, when I finally looked in the pouch with the serger "hardware stuff" it was right there. I got it on and it worked well for quite a while and then decided to not thread. Ick, I HATE threading my serger, hate it and I had to fix it 4-5 times. Ack.
I taught a sewing class once back in Fargo when I worked a fabric store while in grad school. In the class you cut apart a throw blanket to make a jacket. A really easy project, especially if you have a serger.
There were 4 ladies in the class and everyone brought a serger. However, they were all borrowed sergers and NO ONE knew how to thread their sergers. I spent the better part of the 90 minute class threading sergers. After that class, it was put on all class registration that if you brought a serger, you had to know how to use it and thread it!
I had to add something to the green one because it was really blah...so, I found those iron on patches in my sewing basket. Who knew I had them??
Also, my little guy is under the weather so I doubt I will get much work done BUT since he like company on the couch, this might be a good knitting day.
David & Simon looking "cool" in their after pool attire.
The food was great...really garlicky and we have enough for lunch tomorrow. MMMM.....I love garlic. Their spinach artichoke dip was full of freshly sauteed spinach is so good.
I always wonder if the kids will continue to eat calamari once they know what is really is.......I hope so.
As many of you know, Hannah walks to the bus stop at the end of our street all by herself. She is a responsible child and I have to let her go...even when I don't want her to grow up so fast.I was truly panicking inside and followed the bus to the next stop, hoping against all hope that she went up to that stop to hang out with her friend Wendy.
As I pull up behind the bus at the next stop, I get a glimpse of the purple shirt she had on and know she is ok.
The bus driver was very sweet because after everyone got on, he pulled over and waved me up to tell me she had gotten on at that stop and was OK.
I can't tell you all the horrible things I was thinking when she wasn't at her stop.
My instinct was to follow the bus and pull her off as soon as she got to school and give her "what for" but......I am trying to cool down before I do that because I don't want to scare her so much that she is afraid to do anything but to tell me if she changes the plan.
Thank you for putting up with my LLOONNGG story today. I feel better now that I have gotten it off my chest and will try to be rational when I talk to her this afternoon.
And, I have created a MONSTER. Now that David's computer is available for kid consumption, Simon & Hannah have taken to playing the Nick Jr. games online. Up until a couple of days ago, Simon would watch Hannah but now that I got the speakers working, he has taken over the home computer and Hannah is using my work computer.
This is Simon this morning after Hannah went to the bus stop and he gets SO PROUD when he is able to finish doing a project. He is learning so fast.
Thankfully, Windows XP has the function that you can set up different identities for each user. This works well because Hannah once sent a nonsense email to a bunch of people while using my computer when she was Simon's age. I certainly learned my lesson! ;)
The Icarus is coming along quickly. I know my progress will slow considerably when I get to the next chart but for now, it is moving pretty quickly.
I started my Icarus shawl last night during the finale of Survivor. It is a pretty easy pattern once you get into the groove of the main section. My only mishap was this morning, when I went to answer the telephone, my lovely son pulled the needle out of about 25ish stitches. Thankfully, I was able to tink back and get it back on track.
I finished the knitting of the baby sweater. I just have to weave in the ends and reweave some ends I wove in while knitting because I put them on the WRONG (actual right) side.
I really like this book. It is a fun read and it has useful, every day patterns in it. There are a lot of knitting books that make me think I want them but when they come, um...they have maybe one pattern I would actually knit. However, this one has a lot of basic but fun patterns that can be used with any type of yarn you have around in your stash. LOVE IT!
I also got a homemade flower from Simon, a lovely homemade card & flower from Hannah and this gorgeous bracelet from Hannah. I have been wearing it all day.
As I write this, Hannah is out swimming in the pool while David does the pool chemicals and all that to the pool. I really think she will finally be swimming by the end of summer. 
I am almost finished with the baby sweater. I only have the left front to do and then I am done knitting and can start my shawl for the Amazing Lace.
Simon picked out these orange/apricot roses. I always love this color because it seems so unexpected of a color in roses.
I am also going to order my new vanity plate K4TOGR, also a Mother's Day present.
And finally, the kimono sweater for my neice's daughter to be in the UK.
I have to get a move on because I want to use these needles for the Icarus Shawl I am knitting for the Amazing Lace that starts on Monday.
Here is Miriam (the designer) modeling her Icarus shawl. I am going to knit this from Misti Alpaca for my Mom as a Christmas gift.
Some GREEN Project Spectrum photos for May.
Photos taken on Rosie & Woody's front porch...in front of the red door.
This pot of succulents is my favorite....I have really got to plant some.
Here is the yarn. They are two BIG skeins! I am going to dig out my cyrillic pocket dictionary and figure out what the label says if it kills me!
Hubby put my KNIT sticker on my car. I am thinking about the following vanity plate...K4TOG. Saun suggested it not too long after I thought it last week. Hubby thinks I should put something like K4TOGR to try and help the non-knitters in the world to figure it out.
And, my baby continues to grow up. She asked for dangly earrings when we were at the mall this weekend. I got her some sterling silver little flowers.
At this rate we should be having the make up argument in about a year. NOT!
I love the turtles on the way into the zoo. They are some of my favorites and they were all sunning themselves this afternoon.
I had a little bit of time before I had to pick up Simon so I stopped at Tempe Yarn & Fiber and bought 3 skeins of hot pink DK yarn for another baby sweater. This one for my "grand niece"? She is the daughter of my neice on David's side. Anyway, Grandma to be (David's sister) is coming for a visit in June so I thought I had better knit something quick.
On the way, I ran into this horrid road construction in front of ASU. Ack...a real pain!
After getting Simon, I picked up Hannah and her "eggs" from her classroom. We are the mother hens this weekend. We have to turn the eggs 3 times a day. The incubator is ensconsed on our counter for the weekend.
And finally, I saw this in the parking lot when I got gas (that cost me $52.00)! It is a Volkswagon Thing. Our family had one of these in 1975-1976. We were one of two families in our small town that had one. Ours was white with a blue & green V design on the hood and it was a convertible.
I often wonder WHY we had that car. Granted, it was a fun car. The doors come off, the windows came off (they were vinyl) and you could pull the plugs in the bottom of the car and hose it down. However, in the winter, it was a tin can on wheels. I can remember putting my head on the side of the car and how cold the metal was on my cheek.
I finally got my chance to meet my Secret Pal from SP6! I was lucky because she lives in Mesa so it was hopefully, only a matter of time before we could meet at our SnB meeting at the Wine Shop (they have a new name.....formerly Red Kangaroo Wines).Heather was a great Secret Pal. She gave very thoughtful gifts and I have used every single one of them. Spoiled me so much, I didn't want to jinx my chances and join SP7....although I did cave and join SP8.
Thanks for making the effort to come to a Chandler SnB meeting so we could meet! I know Tuesday nights are busy for you!
I knit everywhere (not the public potty though). I knit in line at the store, the post office...anywhere.
I always have knitting with me when I take the kids anywhere, to any event where I have to wait. Everyone that knows me, knows I knit either because I talk about it or they see me knitting in public.
That is my, how do I show my knitting spirit so Catherine, you better randomly draw ME, ME, ME! ;) (just kidding)
