January 2020 – Page 2 – Patricia McLellan's Blog

2020-01-14

What’s for dinner? Salad #1

We eat salad quite regularly as I am very fond of raw vegetables. The most common ingredients for my salads are lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, red peppers and carrots. However, today I decided to put some protein in my salad. I cooked some black-eyed peas (also called cowpeas) ahead of time and added them cold to the salad.

When making a salad, I usually try to have various colors in the bowl. Red is usually tomato and red pepper. Orange is grated carrot. Green is the lettuce and cucumber. In addition I decided to have cooked black-eyed peas. I put a dressing on the salad based on mayonnaise, dill and parsley. I also added paprika (the spice) though it didn’t get in the picture as it was an after-thought.

We both enjoyed the salad. The peas in the salad made it a bit crunchier. They also added protein to the salad.

2020-01-12

Virtue of the Week – Patience

We live in a society where everyone seems in a hurry, on the roads, in the stores, or to get things done. For me, practicing patience means that I take the time to do things correctly and well. I plan and set goals, and I work consistently towards my goals. I do a little bit each day. I don’t let others hurry me. I work at my own pace.

It is important to have patience with oneself as well as with others. Trust and faith in ourselves is an important part of patience. On the other hand, patience is not procrastination or letting oneself be bossed around by others. Patience is keeping going, even if the going gets tough.

After a busy social week, I now have a week that can be used to get projects around the house done. I need to spread the projects over several days, getting a balance between different types of projects, especially the difference between sitting activities and activities that mean that I can move around a lot.

Patience is quiet hope and faith that things will turn out right. We trust the process of life. We are not hasty. We do not rush or allow ourselves to be overcome by pressure. Patience helps us to endure things we cannot control with a peaceful heart. We respond to mistakes or delays, not with judgement but gentleness. We recognize the lessons that come through waiting, and receive them as gifts unfolding with Divine timing. Patience brings acceptance. It calls us to be still in the moment, to be restful, and to listen deeply. Patience soothes our souls.

The practice of Patience:
* I am hopeful and expectant.
* I am gentle with myself and others when we make mistakes.
* I accept things I cannot control with humor and grace.
* I am confident that my life is unfolding as it should.
* I live fully in the present moment.

2020-01-11

Knitting tip #5 – The end of the ball of yarn

I like to use the yarn from the center of the ball/skein, as it then doesn’t roll around. But as there gets less and less left in the ball/skein, there can be problems pulling the yarn from the center. What’s left has a tendency to end up in a big knot.

Solution: Use a plastic bag to hold the ball/skein of yarn, or several balls/skeins if I am using more than one color. The yarn continues to pull out from the center of the ball/skein and I avoid having a knot at the end.

I often use resealable bags, so that when I put away a project, what I am knitting can also be put in the bag (if it’s small enough).

I often have several knitting projects going at the same time, often as there is a need for something simple to knit while watching television or when chatting to people, as well as a project that is more challenging. With each project in it’s own bag, it is easy to keep the yarn separate for each project.

Comment on terminology – I use a “ball” of yarn, though others might use a “skein” of yarn. Looking up various sources online, these terms might be interchangeable though some people would think that there is a difference. One manufacturer described a “ball” as something that you would use the yarn from the outside and a “skein” as something that you could use the yarn from the inside.

Most of the “balls” of yarn that I buy in Norway are easy to find the center of the ball and to use the yarn from the inside.

Using Google translate to go from Norwegian to English, a “nøste” is translated as “skein” and “garnnøste” is translated as “ball of yarn”. So even Google seems to feel that the terms are basically interchangeable. Perhaps, too, growing up in BC in Canada influenced the term that I would use.

2020-01-09

Knitting tip #4 – Knitting Diary

As I mentioned in my last post, I keep a knitting diary, where I write down every evening what I’ve accomplished with my knitting projects during the day. For example, “10 cm on sock done”, or “finished first sleeve on baby sweater”. I started writing my knitting diary on the 1st of October, 2018.

This book is about 10 cm by 15 cm and is small enough to put in a pocket, handbag or knitting bag.

Now that I am retired, knitting is one of my daily activities, one that I find very relaxing as well as useful. Though I knit primarily in the evenings, if I am awake in the middle of the night, I often spend an hour knitting then too. This book becomes a log of what has happened in that particular aspect of my life.

The purpose of the diary is primarily to acknowledge, to myself, that I have done some knitting, or worked on a knitting project, during the day. Purchases of yarn or knitting equipment are recorded. When a project is finished, I record the dimensions of the finished product as well as the amount of yarn used.

But the diary has practical uses as well. For example, when I have completed a project, I can go back and see when I started it and calculate how long it took to do the project. This helps me plan future projects, especially anything that will have a specific deadline.

In addition to a written diary, I will always take a picture of the finished project so that I have a visual record as well of what I have done.

2020-01-08

Knitting tip #3 – Keeping track of progress

There are times when I lose motivation to keep going on a knitting project. This is often when the project becomes a bit monotonous, such as the body of a sweater for a tall person, or a repetitive pattern that I need to concentrate on.

I have found that it helps if I can see how much I have done every day. It also helps me set a reasonable goal for how much I can get done in a day. I place a marker on the last row done on the previous day then in the evening I can see how much I have accomplished that day. It gets written down in a knitting diary.

Note the pink marker that shows how much I have knit on this sleeve so far today. The marker gets moved either in the evening when I have decided not to knit any more, or in the morning when I start the day’s knitting.

2020-01-062020-01-06

Virtue of the week – Moderation

Back in the 1990s we learned about the Virtues Project and every Sunday we pick a virtue to practice for the upcoming week. This week we picked Moderation.

What does Moderation mean for me at this point in my life? We have just finished a holiday season, with too much eating and too little exercise. I am choosing to practice moderation this week by being moderate in my consumption of food and drink. Meal portions need to be the right size so that I have the energy I need to work, but not so large that I put on weight. Caffeine is an addiction and I want to restrict the amount of caffeine drinks that I consume each day. Water is a healthier drink when I’m thirsty. I set myself a goal and I stick to it.

I also need to make sure that I get a moderate amount of exercise, whether it is going for walks outside, or just making sure I get up off the sofa and do some housework.

Moderation means not overdoing things whatever one chooses to spend time on. The day should have a mixture of activities, that include time alone, but also time with others. There should be a mixture of work activities and play activities. There should be time for relaxation as well as serious activities.

“Moderation is the silken thread running through the pearl chain of all virtues.” Joseph Hall

Moderation is being content with enough. It is using self-discipline to create a healthy balance between work, rest, reflection and play. Moderation protects us from the pull of addictive desires. We do not grasp to do or have more in the belief that we are lacking. We do not try to be everything to everyone. We set healthy boundaries that value our time and energy. We protect ourselves from the stress of overdoing. We discern our own perfect rhythm. Moderation isn’t deprivation. It is loving ourselves enough to choose what is just right.

The Practice of Moderation means that:

I spend my time and energy sustainable.
I remember to pray and to play.
I am free of addictions.
I carry responsibility wisely.
I protect myself from the stress of excess.
I live gently and gracefully.

2020-01-052020-01-13

Knitting tip #2 – Using circular needles

When knitting garments with a circular needle, it can be useful to use two or more. I’ve already mentioned using three short double-pointed needles for socks and sleeves.

Here’s another example:

I’ve been knitting a pair of baby overalls. The legs are knit separately first (using the set of three short needles) and are then joined together with some added stitches in between. Because of the nature of the garment, it becomes very difficult to knit in a circle immediately. Therefore I use two circular needles the same size and length and have half of the garment on each needle. You can either use a third needle to knit onto, or just use the other end of the same needle.

This same technique can be used when joining the sleeves and the body of a pullover or cardigan, when making raglan decreases or yoke decreases. It is, of course, sensible to get everything onto one needle after about 5 cm of knitting, but you’ll find out yourself when enough length has been knit to allow you to easily put all on one needle. On a pullover I would have each needle go from the middle of one arm to the middle of the other arm. On a cardigan it works best with three needles, with one front and half of one sleeve on each of two needles and a long needle with the back plus two halves of the sleeves.

This baby jacket is actually on three circular needles – one for each front and half a sleeve as well as a longer one for the back and two half sleeves.

Happy knitting!

2020-01-012020-01-01

What’s for dinner? Color

I remember my mother saying that making dinner wasn’t difficult. What was difficult was deciding what to make. I agree with her.

One of the challenges when deciding what to have for dinner is to create a variety of dishes over the week, or even over a two-week period. I often get in ruts and it is easier to just make the same thing this week as I made last week.

A second challenge is to make the meal nutritious and healthy without using a lot of high calorie foods or using a lot of processed foods. I am also concerned with the salt content in food.

The third challenge is that the dishes should look appetizing and taste good. Even when trying something different, I want to feel that I have made something that was worth repeating. Every now and then I goof, but in general the meals are always edible, even though I may never make it again.

If we look at what makes a meal look appetizing, the first thing I think of is color. There should be a variety of colors and the colors should be a bit bright.

Here’s an example of what I chose to put on a pizza, with yellow, red and green as the main colors.

Here’s what the pizza looked like with the ingredients spread over the dough, before the grated cheese was added. The red is from sliced tomato. The yellow is from pineapple. The green is sliced zucchini and chopped green pepper.

New Year’s Eve’s dinner required two pizzas, so though the same colors were used, the ingredients were slightly different on the second pizza. It is also important to think of taste and what tastes good together, as well as color. When asked, some at the dinner table preferred the one pizza and others preferred the other one. We all have different likes in taste and that is as important as looks.