Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Walking on the Wild Side............


We still have several bags of Regia on back order, but this extremely fun color arrived yesterday.


I'm sure most feet would love it!


And then to see it made up into socks is even more amazing.


Definitely will be a walk on the wild side. Right now this pair is blocking and should be in our Etsy shop some time tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

A Three Foot Visitor..............


We're well into summer and each evening we usually comment that we haven't seen any snakes on the property this year.  Well, lo and behold, our first visitor showed up yesterday evening.


When I first caught a glimpse of him, he was making his way up the back knoll towards the house.  Our first order of business is always to leash up Bo, so that he doesn't attack the snake and get bit.


By time I summoned the troops, leashed Bo and made it back around the house, it had already made it into the rocks next to the foundation.


It's impossible to get a snake out of there and as soon as my husband tried, the snake went upwards and through a small opening between the house and block foundation.  So, he's either still under there or made it out through the night.  We'll never know.  This is a King snake and actually quite good to have around.  They can survive a bite from a rattler and even kill 'em.  Still tho, I'm not thrilled to have any snake around and if we see this guy again, we'll try to catch him in a bucket and move him further out in the country.


With our crazy weather and maybe the fact that I planted my pumpkins a month too early, we are now harvesting some.  Lots of big green ones are still on the vines so we should still have several for Halloween.

When I see pumpkins, this intense desire to knit mittens comes upon me!  Does that happen to you?

Monday, July 29, 2013

A Day at the Museum...........

 


Tehachapi has a wonderful museum and once a year they have a special day with lots of demonstrations.  Our three grandsons were here for the weekend, so it worked out perfect.  Here, they learned how to churn butter.


And yes, even camels were part of Tehachapi's past.


Across the street from the museum is the Errea House Museum and the boys totally enjoyed seeing what life was like from this time period.


Everything within the house has been donated by local families.


Life was so much simpler then, but of course much harder, too.




Volunteers maintain the outside gardens which are so beautiful.  We all really had such a nice day visiting the past.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Another Day Off the Grid......


Last night I started re-watching Field of Dreams, which got me even more excited about our little cornfield.


 The pumpkin patch is over growing everything and has now made its way into the rows of corn.


And last night I noticed that just about every stalk of corn has ears.  The girly girls will be so thrilled.  Right now it's 40 cents an ear at our store.  Way too high!



Next year I will spread out the rows more and keep the squash and corn in separate areas.  My poor husband has a devil of a time getting in there to harvest the squash.


And the pumpkins are everywhere........inside the enclosure...........and outside...........


And then there's my trusted assistant who's quite content to just lay on the front porch and watch me do all the work!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Monsoon Knitting...............

The clouds definitely rolled in yesterday afternoon from the desert bringing some clapping of thunder and one good downpour. This type of weather makes for the best knitting and sewing afternoons.
And a productive afternoon it was. One pair of socks and another Japanese Knot Bag.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

You Know That You're a Country Girl When........................


.......you have to make frequent trips to the hay and feed store for bales of straw.  Yep, that's my life now and I love it!


Yesterday we decided to drive around the area and see what some of the other farms were up to.  Here we're heading into Brite Valley with its amazing oak trees.


As I've told you before, there's something like 5 valleys in the Tehachapi area and each is so different from the others.


You'll find old, old homesteads that have finally given way to the passage of time.


Last time we drove through this area, this old barn was still standing.  Now it's no more.


And after such a nice country drive, I came home and cranked out this pair of socks.  The yarn is Regia and I just love the self patterning colors.

With the heat in full swing again and a chance of monsoons later this afternoon, I'll stay inside and do some more Japanese Knot bags for our Etsy shop.

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Who Won the Japanese Knot Bag?


Thanks to all of you who entered our little giveaway for this Japanese Knot Bag.  And the lucky winner is Kitten With a Whiplash!  Congratulations!  If you would be so kind to email me at tehachapisockcompany@gmail.com with a mailing address, I will place this little bag in the mail to you.

This was fun and I enjoyed all your wonderful comments.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Japanese Knot Bags and a Little Giveaway.......


As I was checking out patterns yesterday for these bags and making one up, I decided that the design for the smaller loop was too difficult to sew properly.  The opening was just too small and the end result wasn't pleasing.


So, to the drawing board I went and decided that sewn on handles would be much, much better.  I also preferred a straight edge along the top - more like a tote.


And of course, something extra needed to be added to make the bags unique.  A simple flower was the trick.  Now I'm ready to start sewing and making these little bags for our Etsy shop.  Gosh are they perfect for knitting projects!


The original design is like this and the first knot bag turned out pretty good, but I'll stick with my own design.


And because this was my first attempt, I thought it would be fun to have a little giveaway for this one.  If you love to sew, you'll love the fabric that has spools of thread and other sewing notions all over it.  Just leave a comment with your contact info and on Saturday, July 20th I'll randomly draw one name to win this little "Japanese Knot Bag."  Good luck and I'll see you then.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Have You Seen These Bags?


My dear friend, Jean, sent me an email this morning telling me all about these Japanese Knot Bags.  Aren't they perfect to use as project bags?  Super easy to make, fully lined and oh so clever.


You take the long handle and pull it through the short one and then it's closed and ready to go.  Aren't these nifty?  So, of course I had to rush down to our local quilt shop and get more fabric.  That will be tomorrow's projects.

Unfortunately, today my house is calling out............clean me, clean me..........Plus I have company coming for the weekend.

More pictures are sure to be posted as soon as I get more of these little bags sewn up.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Do I Have a Recipe for You...............


I receive update emails from Grit magazine and yesterday this absolutely wonderful recipe was included.  It's called "Best Zucchini Bread Ever" by Meg with Modern Roots.  Of course I had to try it and was not disappointed.  I've tried other recipes and found them really bland, flat and green!  This one is more like a spice loaf and I gave my husband a very small piece (since he's pre-diabetic) and his first comment was "this is marvelous!"  Next time I may add some raisins and pecans.

Here goes:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
1 Tbl lemon juice (I didn't have any lemons and the loaf was still wonderful)
1 tsp vanilla
6 Tbl melted butter

This recipe is so good that you might want to double it and make two loaves!

Combine dry ingredients, mix and set aside.  Combine wet ingredients in separate bowl, mix.  Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Dip a paper towel into butter and wipe down the sides of a 5 x 9 loaf pan.  (I just used Pam spray)  Sprinkle flour into the pan and seal all sides, get rid of excess flour. 

Bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until a knife inserted into middle ALMOST comes out clean.  You will have a little residue on the knife.  If it comes out completely clean, it won't be as moist.  Cool for 10 minutes, take out of pan and cool.

Let me know what you think!!!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Another Day in the California Mountains................


Lucy was up early letting everyone know that she wanted her corn on the cob, grapes and cheerios.  I bet she can be heard for a mile down the road!


The monsoons have moved up into our area today and we have a chance of thunderstorms.  With that, we'll stay home today just in case we have any lightning.  That's always a worry when this weather comes in from the southeast.

 The birds and squirrels got every peach that was on the tree.  Yep, every one!


This is my second little corn patch that will produce (hopefully) in to fall for the girly girls.


The main patch is now getting tassels so the corn should be coming on soon.


Guess the birds and squirrels haven't found my blackberry bush, so yesterday was our first day of picking berries.  YUMMO


The pumpkin and squash patch is thriving.  Maybe even too much so.  Is that possible?


Under all those leaves are pumpkins everywhere.  My grandkids will be so jazzed come October.


And yes there's knitting news - more socks!  Since we'll be home all day, I'll get another pair made this morning and maybe a pair this afternoon, too.  Love the Regia!