Odds and ends

I wanted to write about a few things, none of them momentous enough to merit its own post! So here they are.

Last night's dinner was a VERY large salad - lettuce, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, green onions and cucumber. With it, R and I had some raw nut burgers that I made up as I went along, and they were quite good, though they would have been better had I used walnuts instead of brazils. I think that those brazils had been sitting around at the bulk food store too long as they had an odd taste to them. Anyway, I have nearly used them up. I just mixed everything up in my food processor - nuts, parsley, a little onion and garlic, seasalt and a couple of tomatoes for moisture, and made little patties which I put in my dehydrator on low heat for a few hours.

I have spent several nights this week sitting up past midnight, reading the books Uther and The Saxon Shore by Jack Whyte. These novels are excellent. For depth of story, historical detail and content they rival Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books (high praise indeed)! A friend recommended the series to me - the first book in the series is The Skystone.

The series starts in Roman-occupied Britain and chronicles the development of the community that becomes known as Camulod. By the end of Eagles Brood/Uther, the baby has been born that is called Arthur, who is destined to become High King of Britain. I have two more books to go. Highly recommended.


And finally, a little bit of knitting, which has definitely been neglected lately. I used some chunky yarn I had left from another project to knit this little purse. The stitch is called Woven Stitch - it does look woven, and is denser than regular knitting. It's made by alternating these two rows (even number of stitches, stitches slipped purlwise)
Row 1 *K1, slip 1 with yarn in front, yarn back*
Repeat across row
Row 2 *P1, slip 1 with yarn in back, yarn fwd*
Repeat across row

I cast on 30 stitches with a size larger needle than that recommended on the ball band (because it tightens up) and knitted for 7 inches. The width is almost 6 inches. I found a red zipper at my local thrift store for 10 cents which I handsewed in, then sewed up the sides with the yarn tails. A quick and simple gift.