Apple Strudel and a Little Giveaway.............

Having a grandmother that was from Croatia always brought something special to my childhood, especially when it came to food.  Probably the thing I remember most, was how her kitchen was always filled with the aroma of fresh baked apple strudel.  Of course, they didn't have ready made fillo dough back then, so she made her own.  I'd watch as she'd start with a mound of dough and place it on top of her cloth lined table.  She'd gentle stretch it until the entire table top was covered.  And never did it have one tear in it - skilled hands for sure.

I thought you might enjoy trying to make your own and filling your kitchen with that wonderful smell!

Line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper and spray with Pam.

Slice about 6 baking apples VERY thinly. Place them in a bowl of water while you prepare the fillo so that they don't turn brown.

Pull out about 4 or 5 sheets of fillo dough, keeping the remaining sheets well sealed.  Brush the top layer with melted butter.

Place a single layer of apples on top; sprinkle lightly with white sugar (not too much) and add cinnamon (again, not too much).

Roll up carefully and place on the cookie sheet.  Brush entire piece with melted butter.

Repeat again until you've used up all the apples.

Bake in a preheated oven of 350 degrees for approximately 40 mintues or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Now, how about another little giveaway?  I have one remaining skein of Sockina Cotton.  Just leave a comment on this post ( be sure to leave contact info such as Ravelry, etc) and on Thursday, Nov. 3rd, I'll randomly draw one lucky name.  Good luck!

Sock Time.............

It's always sock time around here.  But, at this time of year, Doris is really cranking 'em out!  Who's Doris, some of you ask?  She's our antique sock machine!  Yesterday her and I made 4 socks and today our goal is 6!  Can you imagine trying to hand knit that many even in a week?

It's always fun to see how the yarn will work up.  I never intentionally try to match up the color sequence.  Sometimes it does, but that's really a fluke!  I prefer to just let the yarn have a mind of its own.  That also makes each pair so unique and truly one of a kind.

All the socks get a good hand washing and then are blocked before adding them to our Etsy shop.  They always look so nice after going through this process.  Blocking can really make a difference with hand knits.

Years ago I had a customer in my shop that was having trouble with a front button band on her vest that was refusing to lay flat.  She said that she had tried everything.  So, I recommended some serious blocking.  Really serious.  Wet it, pin it, allow it to dry and repeat the process until it laid flat.  A week later she came back and was shocked that it had worked!  Blocking is a good thing!

I think Monday might be a good day to have another little giveaway, so I hope that you'll check back then to see what we have in mind!  Have a great weekend.

Claire Won our Little Giveaway!

Congratulations to Claire (SierraK on Ravelry) for winning our skein of Sockina Cotton. I just sent you a message via Ravelry.  You can send me your mailing address from there or write me at: tehachapisockcompany@gmail.com

I think that's a good way to start a new week, don't you?  I think on our next post, we'll have another itsy bitsy giveaway.

And now for some really big news.  I found Prell shampoo at Walgreens!  Same great smell and boy does it fluff up your hair.  Even my husband loves it! (just had to share that news!)

More sock pictures are on the way - I've been cranking like crazy with the Christmas season just ahead. And today I'm hoping to order some Christmas sock yarn.  Can't wait to see how it will work up.

Have a great day ahead and thanks so much for your fun comments on all your favorite shampoos.

When Did That Happen?

Ok, I'm the first to admit that I lead a somewhat reclusive lifestyle. It isn't that I don't like people, I just don't enjoy crowds, noise, traffic, crowds, long lines and crowds! That's probably why I live on the side of a mountain where even the mail man won't come!

Well, last week made me realize that I really am losing touch with the outside world. I decided to run to Kmart and look for some Prell shampoo. As the 'ole hair seems to be getting thinner and thinner, I remembered how much I loved that shampoo and how it made your hair feel thicker and it smelled wonderful. I searched the shampoo isle from end to end and top to bottom. Finally, a sales clerk walked by and I asked her if they carried Prell shampoo.

"Prell?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied back.

"I've never heard of it," she said with a strange look on her face.

That night I came home and told my husband about this and he almost fell off his chair in laughter. "They haven't made Prell shampoo in years!"

Ok, so my life is a bubble. I can live without Prell shampoo and I'll just quit asking stupid questions when I find myself in public!

How about a little giveaway to get my mind off the shampoo?  On Monday, Oct. 24th, I'll randomly draw one lucky name to win this skein of Schoeller + Stahl's Sockina Cotton yarn.  Just leave a comment on this post and tell everyone what your favorite shampoo is!  (ok, so I didn't get my mind off it!)  Please be sure to leave contact info (like Ravelry, etc) to make it easy for me. 

I may be in a bubble, but it's a happy bubble and I've been cranking like crazy for our Etsy shop.  Did any of you ever read the Pipi Longstockings books when you were little?  I'm convinced that's when my love affair with socks and stockings began!

UPDATE:  Amazon.com for Prell shampoo?  I'll check it out.  I also heard that maybe Walgreens carries Prell!  Can it really be true?  Stay tuned and I'll let you know, ok?

More Socks and Even a Scarf................

Just got these two pair of socks finished and in our Etsy shop.

And even managed a short little scarf.

This afternoon I plan on putting some good music on and cleaning this messy studio of mine!  Next post (for sure!) we'll announce our next little giveaway!

Yukon Sock Yarn Winner.............

Before I announce who won our skein of sock yarn, I must thank all of you for your wonderful and moving comments.  Life can throw some very difficult obstacles in our path, yet I see such thankfulness from all of you.  As I read each and every comment I was so touched and pleased that you would share your thoughts.  Please know that you all have been lifted up in my prayers.

And now, on to the winner!  Sara of SareBearKnits on Ravelry was the lucky name drawn.  Congratulations Sara!  I wrote you via Ravelry, but if you're reading this post, please write me at tehachapisockcompany@gmail.com and let me know where to send your skein of Yukon.  Again, congratulations!

We'll be having another giveaway very soon, but first I must figure out what it will be !

Some knitting news:  I finished the project for the magazine and placed it in the mail on Saturday.  As soon as I'm allowed to mention it, you will be the first to hear the news!  (probably won't be until the new year tho)

So, now it's back to cranking out socks on "Doris".  For those of you who are new to our blog, "Doris" is our antique sock machine.  She's somewhere between 85 - 100 years old and makes gorgeous socks!  I'll post pictures on tomorrow's blog and will start working on a new giveaway very soon.

I wish you all a wonderful day ahead and may you continue to find much "thankfulness" in your life.

Let's Celebrate With a Little Giveaway.....

What a scrumptious morning sunrise!  And finally, the worst is behind us.  3 out of the 4 repair jobs have been completed.  The wind turbine's shock absorber was re-welded to the frame, the diesel generator was fixed and yesterday the electrician re-wired the ceiling fan that my husband put in and made a change inside the wall switch.  Next up will be the pellet stove guys and hopefully there won't be any electrical problems with that.  They should be up next week, which is absolutely fine because our temps have warmed back up and the days have been in the low 80's.

And with all that wonderful news, let's have a little giveaway for this skein of Yukon hand dyed sock yarn.  Just leave a comment on this post and tell everyone what you are most thankful for.  Please make it easy for me and leave contact info (like Ravelry, etc.).  On Monday, October 17th, I'll randomly draw one lucky name.

It's good to be back up and running with power and the ability to spend more time on the computer.  Thanks for hanging in there with me!

A Quick Update..............

We're still limping along without our main generator for backup, but by golly we're doing it!  Pure Energy Co. came up on Friday and got our wind turbine running, so at least when there's wind, it's charging our 32 batteries.  That is keeping our frig going all day and one lamp in the evening.  The problem was what would we do if the wind stops.  So, this company attached a power cord to our inverter inside the pump house, and we can connect that cord to our mid-size generator and get the batteries back up.  The wind has been stopping during the night, so we've been running this for about 4 hours.

Then we also have two of these smaller Honda generators and they're capable of running a floor heater, tv or washing machine when needed.  Not all three at the same time tho.  After my husband left for work this morning, I started one up and used my curling iron (a girl has to look half way decent, right?), then washed a load of clothes and finished up ironing some shirts.  It's not the most convenient way of doing things, but it's very do-able!

One of our worries is the well.  We've had to turn it off because even the mid-size generator can't handle that load.  Our external tank holds 5,000 gallons of water and we're at 3,500 right now.  So, we are really trying to conserve our water usage.  I ran to Kmart and got paper plates, towels, cups and spoons to just throw away during this time.  We're also filling our water buckets and arrowhead type jugs at our neighbors' house and that has been a huge help.

While I was at Kmart, I checked their camping section and found these solar showers!  How fantastic are these!  They hold 5 gallons and you just place them in the sun during the day and then in the evening you can take a hot shower!  I bought two of them and my husband managed to place a 2 x 4 over our shower and then we can hang these bags right inside the shower stall.  Did you know that you can actually get a decent shower with only 2 1/2 gallons of water?

Our son (who is learning disabled and someday I will share his story) just can't deal well with this kind of an adventure, so he's staying with our daughter and son-in-law.  Actually, the less people using the resources we have available is much better at the moment.

The company that works on these Italian generators will be up tomorrow morning at 9, so cross your fingers and toes that they can figure out the problem and hopefully have the right parts. ($125 per hour from the time they leave Bakersfield!!!)

I'll post another update as soon as I can.  Many, many thanks to all of you for your prayers and good wishes.

Take care.

When It Rains...................

Sorry that there's no pictures today, but I just wanted to let you all know that I will be offline for several days.  Remember I told you about having our pellet stove fixed this week, but that they discovered an electrical problem at the wall switch (or with the ceiling fan that my husband put in!) and it was causing a loop over to the stove.  They wanted an electrician to check all that out first and I had that scheduled for tomorrow.

Well, last night while the rain was beating on our windows and a dusting of snow was falling on our mountain tops, our entire off grid system went down.  We put on our rain gear and went out to the pump house, but the generator just wouldn't turn over.  My husband checked fuel lines and everything he could think of.  With that, we shut down the inverter to the generator but kept the one on that goes to the wind turbine. 

We've shut all applicanes off except for the frig.  First thing this morning, we called the company down in Bakersfield that works on these Italian generators and they seem to think it's this one certain part but of course don't have it in stock.  In fact, that part isn't anywhere in California!  It has to be overnighted from Wisconsin!  And it wouldn't even come in until late tomorrow, which means they won't be coming up until Monday.

With all of that, I cancelled out the electrician.  Kinda hard to have him work on the electrical if we're limping along with little power.

Then, if that wasn't all crazy enough, my husband comes in with this awful look on his face and I say, "Now what?"  The wind turbine's shock absorber is now dangling from the top!  At least it's still working but for how long?  So, he calls that repairman and he's coming tomorrow.  He might also be able to take a look at the diesel generator since he installed both systems.

Can anything else go wrong?  Fortunately, we have two small Honda generators and one is running an electric heater in our front room and the wind turbine is keeping the frig going.

My computer battery is dying, so I'm signing off for now.  Keep us in your prayers and we will keep our eyes upward.  It's times like this that keep us closer to the Lord and for that I'm very thankful.

Bye for now............

A Rainy Day.................

 Just finished these two pair of socks.  Aren't they fun?

Now, I have a confession.................

I broke with my usual mode of operation and actually matched up the color sequence!  I know, I'm as shocked as you are!

Today we have our first "winter" storm blowing in so it's a good day to stay home and knit socks and work on the magazine project.

Our pellet stove is down so I'm without heat today.  I do have a portable heater that I can turn on if necessary. But, the winds are really gusting, so I ran out and put the brake on the wind turbine.  If need be, I'll just throw on a flannel shirt.

The repairmen were out yesterday to see what's going on with the stove. The wall switch has one rocker switch and two halves.  He wanted to turn the ceiling lights on above the stove to see better but hit the ceiling fan switch instead which ALSO sent a surge to the pellet stove.  With that, he bellowed out "WOW" did you hear that?  Now, we've had this quirky thing going on ever since my husband put in the ceiling fan (all by himself!)  We've kinda just shook our heads at it because the pellet stove motor goes right back off.

Well, this guy yesterday said that it is extremely dangerous and that the pellet stove isn't even on that circuit.  With that, they shut it down and said an electrician has to come and see what's going on before they can repair the pellet stove.  His thinking is that this electrical surge from the ceiling fan has been sending short bursts of electricity to the stove and probably fried the control board.

As I think back to when my husband put in the ceiling fan, I remember him saying, "Gee, there's an extra wire up here!"

Life's always exciting with my hubby!

Apples, Pumpkins and Little Boys............

Our grandsons came up yesterday and boy did we have a ball!  We started out at our favorite apple orchard............

Then proceeded to one of the local pumpkin patches..............

Even two year old Carter really got into the action. (By the way, look at his shirt.  Our daughter said that he won't wear any shirt unless it has numbers on it!  Go figure!)

There even happend to be some little Alpacas on the farm next door.

And just as we were leaving the pumpkin patch, these two horses walked by and Mitchell decided to share an apple with them. 

It's always fun to have the boys up and then once they leave, the house becomes way too quiet!

Afterwards, we decided to just sit outside for awhile and enjoy the marvelous fall afternoon.  I always love to stare up at the top of our mountain and as I was doing so, I saw smoke.  Couldn't believe my eyes because everything right up to the top of the ridge on the other side has already burned.

My husband ran and got his binoculars and sure enough he could see a bit of a flame and more smoke.  With that, I called 911 and explained to the dispatcher what we were seeing and where.  She said that they had had several calls earlier in the week and it was just dirt devils.  I told her that we had seen some flame along with the smoke and she said to have my husband look one more time carefully.  I was really getting the feeling that she didn't believe me!  But then, it's been almost a month since the fire came through up there so why would there be a problem now.

We confirmed again to her what we were seeing and about 10 minutes later we saw one lone fire pickup coming up the road and heading toward the old burned area.  Probably just to check it out before calling in the troops!  About 20 minutes later we saw 3 "hot shot" trucks making their way up, too.

At least we weren't loosing our minds and actually did see something on fire.  The only thing we could think of was that a tree had been smoldering all these weeks and maybe had fallen and broken open and the wind helped to ignite it a bit.  Fortunately, it wasn't anything serious and the ground crews got it all out.

Today it's back to knitting the project for this knitting magazine and maybe cranking out a sock or two.

Hope your week ahead is a great one.