Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Jessica's Socks and Cookies?

Happy Tuesday!
The girls had today off from school for a teacher inservice and I didn't necessarily want to take them somewhere like Chuck E. Cheese. And I also wanted to get a walk in, but how to do that with the girls? Hmmmm. First, we three took Buster for a walk around the neighborhood, that way the girls felt like they walked with me. Then I asked them if they would like to go to the "big park" and play while I walked on the path around the lake? They were ALL for that! Yay! So, we rode our bikes over there and I walked around the lake about 5 times and got about a mile or so logged in on my pedometer. I think it was somewhere around 6600 steps. It was a beautiful morning and there were several other walkers out as well. I didn't want to leave the girls alone too much, so I would go check on them after every lap. It worked out really well. Then we rode our bikes home. I think it maybe a little less than a mile to the park from our house. So even though I didn't get my full walk in, I sure feel good about what I did get done.

I finished Jessica's socks last night! Yay! I'll show those in a minute, but Amy's been asking me for the past few days if we could make cookies. Today seemed a perfect day to do that. We followed a recipe out of a crafts book I got Amy years ago. She pores over that thing and oftentimes wants to do an activity from it. Anyway, the recipe called for castor sugar. HUH? What the heck is THAT? A quick check on Google informed me it's a superfine sugar that dissolves almost instantly. Since we were low on sugar anyway and planning a quick trip to Walmart to get that and a couple of movies the girls wanted to buy with their own money, I figured I'd see if they carried it. Nope. But a website said you could grind regular sugar in the blender or food processor and use it for castor sugar. Okay fine. Did that.
Had to take a couple of pictures to commemorate our cookie making.
They loved wearing the aprons that Auntie Kelly got for them one Christmas. Jessica's lips are blue because she had a Blue Coconut slushie from Sonic. (I didn't buy it, one of the gals there likes the girls so much, she oftentimes gives them one, isn't that nice?)

So we got the dough mixed and then it was time to roll it out for cutting out cookie shapes. Um, what a pain in the patootie it was. We followed the recipe exactly, but I couldn't believe how sticky the dough was. We floured and rolled and cut and when I tried to lift the dough onto the cookie sheet, it would break or get misshapen. I tell you, for a so called simple kids' activity, it sure wasn't easy! LOL The girls were great sports about it and still had fun, so I call it a success even if the cookie shapes were a little funny.

And now for Jessica's socks. She was so excited to see them finished when she got up this morning, she immediately pulled them on (and I heaved an inner sigh of relief that they actually fit)! I'm also relieved to report that the laddering problem I had with my socks doesn't seem to have been repeated with this pair. Yay. I have an idea as to why...but first, take a looksee...



I can't remember if I told you about my trying another new to me technique for knitting socks. For my pair, I used two circular needles, following a book I borrowed from the library. I found a book at Joann's that shows how to do the two socks at the same time, but with ONE long circular needle! This really appealed to me because I was having trouble finding the sizes I needed (unless I ordered them online) and following this technique, I'd only have to buy one needle as opposed to two for the sizes I didn't already have. Does that make sense? Anyway...I think this technique really helped me get a better handle on pulling the yarn tightly when I needed to, and it didn't seem to pull as much when one of the socks was resting while I worked on the other.

Now I'm starting a pair for Amy, but I'm going to venture out a bit to use a pattern that has more texture than just the knit stitch I used on Jessica's. Oh I know, I'm probably setting myself up for having to make that same pair for Jessica, but I'm getting a tad bored of just doing the knit stitch, I'd like a little variety to keep it interesting.

That's it from me today. Thanks so much for stopping by. I sure hope your Tuesday has been terrific!

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11 comments:

Sarah said...

Awwww Jessica's socks are darling.
Castor sugar is what we called it in the UK...I wonder if it was an English recipe....I can't believe Walmart didn't have fine sugar...I know most stores here carry it?
Although it was a pain it sounds like you guys had lots of fun.
I am not surprised the girls get free Sonic slushes hee hee they are too cute.
Good for you and your walking and riding!!!
Take care Jeanne.

Kathi Carlson said...

Another great pair of socks, friend! They look pretty fine on those little feet. Can you imagine though living in the day when homemade socks were it? My brood would have been barefoot. LOL. I do remember learning how to darn socks. A lot of work for a sock. The clock must have moved slower back then.

Cookie making sounds like it was fun even if the dough wasn't cooperative. Did you try chilling it? No matter so long as they tasted good.

As for the walking, good for you. Every time I was outside today, I ran ... to get out of the rain. Never far. LOL.

Have a great Wednesday!

Heather said...

Hey, great color combo, Jeanne!

Jena said...

Sounds like a fun day off! So you didn't say if the cookies TASTED good or not? Oh, and love the socks! Have a great week!

Sparkplug17 said...

Such cute socks! Glad you gals had a fun day baking!

Alanna said...

What a great day it sounds like. How fun that you all could go to the park and that you could get so many steps in.

As for the sugar cookies, those can be a royal pain. But so yummy.

The socks look great. I love them.

Anke said...

these socks are awesome. I have been working on a pair for 2 years now. Well, they have been in a bag I should say. the second one is almost done, but then I started scrapping for real and time just isn't there anymore :) You must live in a nice neighborhood to have a lake to walk around. Sounds really nice. Oh the pictures one could take ;) At least you got your exercise in before the cookies!
As for my pages not maximizing, it must have something to do with saving them at 700 instead of smaller, so I'll try that next time. Sorry you couldn't see all the wonderful details LOL! Thanks for stopping by!

Kim Burmeister said...

Jeanne, these pictures are wonderful! I see so many digi kits with baking and that is something the boys and I don't do much. When we do I always forget to get pictures. I can't wait to see these in a layout.

Cute socks! They look warm and cozy!

Jackie said...

I haven't ever heard of that type of sugar either...wonder if it is like powdered sugar? hum......
Those socks are wonderful...maybe I will have to venture into that some time......

Carolyn said...

What fun memories you're making! I remember all the times i baked cookies with my mom. :) Cute socks!

stampmonkey said...

I'd never heard of castor sugar before, so I found that really interesting. I think I've actually purchased super fine sugar at WM before...but it might've been a couple years ago now.

The smiles on your girls' faces says it all --You ARE such a good mom, Jeanne (even when you may not feel like you're up to the job, you come through)! They will have such wonderful memories of their youth. Nice that you can walk around the lake while the girls play, and I'm glad all the trouble with the cookies was worth it (if only to your girls -lol).

Too fun that the girls get free treats from Sonic; they must feel really special...and it helps with the budget too. ;)

Love the socks --and glad you were happier with them than yours (though my untrained eyes couldn't really see a difference).

big hugs to ya!