My Christmas Tree

Several years ago, before there were blogs. OK, so more than several years ago. I spent an entire summer knitting Christmas tree decorations. The owner of a local interior design store bought them from me. I made more than I sold, so that I would be able to use the decorations on my tree.

I thought that I would show you some close-ups of the knitted ornaments on my tree.

There are knitted hats, mittens, candy canes and sweaters. I have crocheted around silver glass Christmas balls, with white crochet thread. Recently, knitted ball ornaments are appearing on the tree too! Thanks to My Mom's Work for her gift and her new pattern! I have pictures on the camera for the new ornaments, but something is up and I am having trouble downloading them.

Fa La La

I think you will like this. Get ready for a giggle.

Pumpkin Scones

Ok, so my friend, Laurie, made some fabulous pumpkin scones. They were so good, and I have been thinking about them ever since I had one, which has been several weeks. So, I decided to do an internet search for them this morning. I found them. :) But, I changed the recipe up a bit and then made a different sort of glaze for them.

Enjoy!

Terrific Pumpkin Scones
Scones
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 Tbsp white sugar
3 Tbsp Dark Brown sugar
½ tsp salt
¾ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp ginger
6 Tbsp cold butter
½ cup pumpkin
3 Tbsp milk
1 large egg
Optional – ½ cup chocolate chips or ½ cups cinnamon chips, or ½ cups nuts, or anything else that might sound good to you.

In large bowl, mix flours, sugars, salt and spices.
-Cut in butter until about the size of peas or smaller.
-Stir in your chocolate chips or whatever you have chosen.
-In separate bowl, beat egg and add milk.
- Add pumpkin to milk and egg mixture.
-Next add liquids to dry ingredients and stir with fork until mixed well.
-Turn out onto a slightly floured surface and knead a few times.
-Divide dough in half.
-Press first half out on ungreased into a circle having it about ¾ inch thick on a cookie sheet and cut into 6 or 8 pieces. Move pieces apart slightly.
-Repeat above step for other half of dough, placing it on the same cookie sheet.
-Bake: 16 – 18 minutes at 425º F. They should be a light brown.
-Cool.

Glaze
½ cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of Cream of tartar
Place in a covered saucepan and bring to a boil. Continue to boil until candy thermometer reads 226º F and mixture looks like a syrup (sugar is dissolved).
When syrup is cooled to 110º F(lukewarm), add ¼ tsp of vanilla and 1 – 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar, until you have a nice pouring consistency. Beat until smooth.
-Pour, or brush, over cooled scones. You can do a second or third layer of the glaze. This does make a large amount of glaze.

NOTE: The can of pumpkin has lots more pumpkin than 1/2 cup. So, now I have frozen 1/2 cup amounts, so that I can pull one of those containers out of the freezer and make more scones. :)

Knitting and New York

I have been having fun knitting in somewhat of a free-form style. I guess it is free-form, Joanne style. :) After I had made the purple scarf, I decided to try a blue one. I wanted to use only knit stitches this time and this is what I ended up with. I have this scarf listed for-sale in my etsy shop, TerrificCreations .

I used different weights of yarns, and different types of yarns. There are cottons, acrylics and wools in this scarf. Each yarn had a different texture. In using different stitches, I also created different textures. I doubled some yarns, sometimes and didn't other times, too.

I also made sure that it was asymmetrical. When I finished, I decided the scarf needed a ruffle.

Several weeks ago, I went to Long Island, New York for a visit. I wanted to show you that not all of New York or Long Island, is New York city. :) I took these pictures with my phone. Yep, this is part of the area where I grew up.

One morning Mom and I went to Panera Bread, purchased our breakfast and coffee. Then we drove to the docks about a mile south of her home. We parked the car, and ate our breakfast, looking at this scene. The day was overcast.

That was one view we had from the car. Here is another. There are actually two bridges here.

One of them you travel across the water to the beach and the other takes you back to Long Island.

Another favorite stop, to make, is Friendly's. I did get to go there and had my favorite ice cream sundae! Unfortunately, Friendly's hasn't made it to Texas.

Here is my Sundae. Hot Fudge and Peanut Butter Sauce over Forbidden Chocolate Ice Cream. Just delightful. :)