The color for August for Project Spectrum is pink and suddenly I’m seeing pink everywhere!

I’ve got pink toes. You know, it’s hard to take a picture of your own feet and have it be flattering. Just sayin.

And a pretty pink pinwheel leftover from Dale’s birthday party.

I’m knitting pink socks. Please to note the perfectly matching Stitched by JessaLu Bag.

I’ve got lots of pink flowers.

And lots of pink flower photos.

They remind me of earlier summer days.

And they make me smile.

I love being in the pink!

It’s Project Spectrum time again, thanks to Lolly, and the color for the month of May is red. I may have mentioned a time or two that I love red. It’s my favorite color, in fact, so I couldn’t be happier about starting Project Spectrum in this way.

I’m participating by knitting red socks.

The yarn is Kim’s, the color is Scarlet Devil, and the pattern – don’t fall over now – is Cable Rib Socks. That’s right, I’m knitting a patterned sock.

Okay, it’s a pretty simple pattern but I do love the cable running down the sides of the leg.

It’s also, thanks to Maryse, Macro May. I’m participating by taking macro shots with lots of red.

Like this one of my crab apple tree blossoms.

And this one of my wee sock stitch marker.

Hooray for Project Spectrum! Hooray for Macro May!

When we visited Hillary and her family last February we had a wonderful dinner prepared be Hillary.  The star of the meal was her Lemon Chicken and it was really delicious.   I’ve made it several times since watching Hillary do it and my family loves it just as much as Hillary’s family does.  I figure you all might like it, too, so I’m going to show you how to make it.

I use boneless skinless chicken breasts, the same as Hillary.  In the morning, throw ‘em in a ziploc bag and pour in some lemon juice.  Put that in the fridge and go to work – or whatever it is that you do all day.  When you’re ready to cook dinner take the chicken out of that ziploc bag and put them in another ziploc bag.  This one will have flour, salt & pepper,  and paprika in it, too.  Shake that chicken all around until it’s coated with the flour.

Now heat up some oil.  I like to use my cast iron fry pan for this part.  It makes me feel old-fashioned.  And it also is just about the best thing ever for frying chicken.  And steak.  In butter.  There is nothing like steak cooked in butter in a cast iron fry pan.  Mmmm.    Oh wait, sorry, we’re talking about chicken.  So fry your chicken on both sides in that oil.

Slice up some lemon.  You know what sliced lemon looks like but this picture is pretty so I’m showing you.

Once your chicken is browned on both side put the pieces in a baking dish.  Sprinkle the top with a bit of brown sugar and then put a couple of lemon slices on each piece.  Pour some chicken broth in there, enough to come up about an inch or so.  Cover the pan with foil and put it in a 350° over for about 45 minutes.

The chicken is moist and flavorful and lemony.  I like to serve it with rice and broccoli – which is what Hillary served it with, too, I think.  And yes, I forgot to take a picture of the finished meal.  I just couldn’t wait long enough to gobble it up!

I hope you’ll gobble it up, too.  Enjoy!

With all the spinning wheels I have around here, you probably think I have all kinds of spinning projects going on. The truth of the matter is, I don’t really like to be spinning more than one pile ‘o fiber at a time. It’s sort of like knitting projects – if you have too many going at once you never finish any projects. If you have too many wheels going at once (oh, if only!) you never finish any yarn.

That’s my most recently finished yarn. It’s 200 yards of Mama E’s C*eye*ber Fiber in the Margene’s Mountains colorway. I love the colors! It reminds me of Margene and it’s perfect for Project Spectrum, too.

I shouldn’t even show you this picture of the fiber drawer. How excessive.

When it was done, though, I was faced with a big decision — what to spin next! That’s when Project Spectrum really helps because I can use the color guidelines to narrow my choices. So when I came across two Grafton Fiber batts in this gorgeous shade of blue, well, the choice of what to spin next was pretty obvious.

I’m loving it! The blue is rich and deep and spinning these batts is always a pleasure.

And, as you can see, I’m not the only one who loves these fiber batts. Mason has obviously been talking to Miss Lulu about the comfort of a fibery bed.

As I’ve done for the past few months, I have used the Project Spectrum color guideline to help me choose sock yarn and spinning fibers.

This month, I knit socks for Lois with yarn from Brooklyn Handspun. Lois, who will knit fiddly baby dolls and Aran sweaters and other things that are beyond my scope, will not knit socks. I, of course, would prefer knitting socks to just about anything else and therefore stepped up to the plate and made her these socks.

They were a huge success! She wore them to work the very next day and received loads of compliments from other knitters. I am happy to have made these for my dear friend. And don’t mind that she showed them off one little bit.

My other green projects included spinning this:

Into this:

This was my first time spinning with the Grafton Fiber batts and I just loved it! The fiber practically drafts itself and that helped keep my spinning pretty even.

I also spun this:

Into this:

More first experiences here, this time with Fleece Artist roving. It wasn’t as easy to draft as some fibers I’ve worked with but the colors are beautiful and I love the finished product.

And now, on to June and the color blue. Don’t we all have loads of blue in our stashes?

I’ll be knitting socks from this

Oooh. Yummm. Denim Blue Yarn from Jessie at A Piece of Vermont. Have you ordered yarn from her yet? You really should. I’m just saying.

And I’ll be spinning Foxfire Fiber batts.

I may have gotten a head start on the Foxfire this past weekend. I’ve got the blues and I just couldn’t wait.

I love how Project Spectrum gives me guidelines and deadlines for my sock knitting and fiber spinning!

In fact, the looming arrival of May 1st pushed me to finish the Cheez Whiz socks. They are for me and I love them! What do you think?

I have also been pushing to finish spinning the Lorna’s Laces roving I got from Liz. It’s not yellow at all and only sort of orange, it’s more salmon and brown than anything, but it’s got a beautiful sheen and it’s been great to work with.

The fiber has been drafted:

And spun into singles:

And plied and turned into skanks:

I’m really pleased with the way this turned out. My spinning is definitely getting more even and this is thinner than most of what I’ve spun so far. There’s about 600 yards there – enough for a small shawl!

Now on to May! I’ll be knitting socks from this gorgeous Brooklyn Handspun, color Hawaii Joy.

And I’ll be spinning Grafton Fiber batts and Fleece Artist roving.

This whole Project Spectrum thing has really opened my eyes to the colors around me. In March I saw red and pink everywhere, in April everything was yellow and orange. Now the world is turning green!

Allow me to present a Project Spectrum: April post. Lots of pictures, very few words. Because, frankly, the pictures speak for themselves!

Jessica’s socks. Modeled by Jessica.

How convenient that the yellow and orange daffodils are in bloom right now!

A close up. These are right back my back door and I just love having them there!

And look at this one with the bright orange cup! I think daffodils are stunning in their simplicity.

I made this wall hanging several years ago and it hangs in my office at work – on a yellow wall.

This just came yesterday from Mama-E. Since the other sock yarn is Cheez Whiz, this must be Velveeta!

Ahhh. Orange fiber, drafted and ready to be spun. Don’t you just want to reach out and pet it?

In no time at all, that orange fiber was turned into orange singles.

And, then, of course, the orange singles were plied and become orange yarn.

That’s all the yellow and orange that’s fit to print. Orange you glad you stopped by today?

I finished my red cable socks! The yarn is Fleece Artist Merino from Red Bird Knits. The pattern is from the book Knit Socks. It’s one of those board books and it’s shaped like a sock. I had knit this pattern for Dale a while back with some worsted weight yarn and was pleased to see a pattern variation for sock yarn as well. It’s so much fun to knit, moves along pretty quickly, and they fit great! Plus, they are red. And red is my favorite color. And also the Project Spectrum requirement for the month of March.

Hannah’s socks, which are pink and therefore also fulfill the Project Spectrum requirement, are coming along nicely. Sock One is done and Sock Two is started. I don’t anticipate a problem finishing these by the end of the month.

Pink is not just for socks but also for girls and our granddaughter Ambrynn came for a visit on Sunday. She was, appropriately enough, wearing an outfit with a pink heart on the front and pink socks. Look at that grin! And those big blue eyes! Isn’t she adorable?

We sure think so!
ETA: Okay, for all of you who have now forgotten that I am only 40, Ambrynn is my stepson’s daughter, making her my stepgranddaughter – which just sounds too weird to me so I just call her my granddaughter. You all know that Dale is 14 years older than I am, right? So I have grown stepchildren and therefore, two stepgrandchildren. It’s all very neat, actually.

As I’m sure we’re all aware, yesterday was the start of Lolly’s Project Spectrum. When Lolly announced this idea, I decided I would use each month’s color scheme to define my sock knitting for the month. See, um, I sort of have a lot of sock yarn. In a lot of colors. And sometimes I have a really hard time deciding which sock yarn to knit next. So, with Project Spectrum as my guide, I figured I’d able to narrow things down a bit.

Here’s my Ruby Red Socks for the month of March.

Yes, that’s one finished sock because I started these last month. But I will finish them this month and they’ll be finished Red Socks which will cover not only the Red Hot Sizzling Socks knit along but also my PS requirements, too.

Turns out, though, that PS is spilling over into other areas of my life. I’ve been spinning.

That’s the Chocolate Covered Cherries that I bought at SPA from Amy of Spunky Eclectic. Dude, it’s a lot of pink. But there’s enough brown mixed in to make me happy, ya know?

And I started a new shawl.

That’s the wee beginnings of the Seraphim Shawl, beautiful designed by Mim, in Fleece Artist Silk Stream from Redbird Knits. Color: Rosey. It’s silk and wool and I love the way it feels. Kind of nubby and like raw silk but mostly like wool. Good stuff, that. And, she’s having a sale that ends today.

There’s been other red things, too, including a finished Log Cabin quilt. (no, I didn’t take a picture of it last night when Lois and I were working on it. You’ll just have to trust me – it’s really pretty and there’s lots of red!) This will be raffled off at this weekend’s Dale and the Duds dance to benefit Dale’s Boy Scout troop. Anyone going to be in my area and want to have a fun night out with the chance to win a beautiful scrap quilt? Lemme know, cuz I’ve got tickets.