Customer order done!

I just finished another customer's scarf order! Now to start on another one for 4 scarves! :)

Pom Pom scarf done

I started this Pom Pom scarf on New Year's Eve (it was obviously a hopping one) and put it away that night and completely forgot about it. My friend, Gayla, who taught me how to knit scarves asked me about it and how it was going and that prompted me to find it and finish it.

I finished it last night and I actually like it. I was worried how the colors would go together but they look good. The pictures don't really do the scarf colors justice. It's a great play of yellow, blueish green, purple and a teal blue.

I'm also excited to report that I've been commissioned to make a scarf for someone. I sold a couple of my scarves while I was home for Christmas and that was exciting but to actually have someone come and asked me to make them one and give me a deadline was pretty fun. I'm heading to Joann's Fabrics today to get my yarn and then start working on it. Pics to come I'm sure!

Knitting

After watching my dear friend Gayla knit a scarf like this I decided that I had to make one too! She just made it seem so easy and effortless. Well I decided to make this scarf while I was in Chanute this past weekend and of course that didn't go, at all. Chanute had nothing I needed, go figure! So on the way home tonight, Wyatt and I stopped in Topeka and got my supplies. After thinking about what Gayla had showed me, in like 3 minutes, and 2 You Tube videos watched I decided to brave the knitting needles and this is what I got. This was after almost an hour of knitting but don't worry it went much quicker after that. I finished the scarf but can't "finish" the knit because I don't know how. But don't worry I will have a finished product picture to show you tomorrow because Gayla comes back to school and will show me how to finish the scarf! :) Super excited about it and can't wait to make another one.

Canning Salsa

Many of you might not know this but I, Sara Glotzbach, can CAN. I'm sure you wouldn't think I was a Canner but I am. My friend, Amber, is a good western Kansas girl and knows how to do all sorts of country/farm things. She was even Miss Rodeo!! She showed me how to Can in 2008 and I have done it since. Now I don't Can the variety of things she does but I do Can tomatoes and salsa made from our garden tomatoes. I thought I would show y'all how I Can at home!

Start with your garden tomatoes. Ours we're picked earlier in the week. You will need to boil them in hot water for 3 minutes before letting them cool. Once you're ready to tackle the hot tomato take it and peel the skin off and core it.

The cake pan has some cool water in the bottom of it for the hot tomatoes to sit and cool while I'm peeling and coring.

My work space. I like to have the cutting board on a plate so it can catch all of the juices and seeds. It makes it easier to dump out later.

20 medium tomatoes from the garden

Boiling for 3 minutes.

Peeling the skin and coring the tomatoes.

The end result.

The salsa ingredients. We use Mrs. Wages salsa mix.

Pint jars, lids, and bands. You will have to use new lids everytime you Can. They can't be reused.

Getting the big pot ready for boiling. Put the jars and lids in hot water to sterilize. Keep them in there until they are being used.

Fill the jar until it's 1/2 inch from top. Wipe down jar lip before applying the lid and band.



Fill the cage with the pint jars. I'm using half-full quart jars to take up the extra space. You want all the spots filled. Put them into the boiler before the water starts boiling. Process time depends on what you are Canning. This took 40 minutes of processing. When finished put them on a towel to cool and for the pressure seals to go down.



Check and make sure that all the lids are sucked down and don't make a popping noise when you push on the center. If it doesn't make that noise then it's ready to be stored and labeled.

Enjoy!!

Turkey

Mike went out Spring Turkey hunting in 2009 and shot a whallop of a turkey. It was such a great looking turkey that he went ahead and had a full-body mount done of the turkey. We just went and picked it up last Saturday and it turned wonderful. We couldn't be more happy with it! It's quite a large piece so we couldn't decide where to mount it. I loved it so much I told Mike we should put it up in the foyer. So now everyone can see it when they come over to the house.

 This is even the turkey's real head. Most mounts throw away the head and put a fake one on but this guy freeze dries them so you can keep the original head!

Most of the time full-body mounts stand on the ground and Mike told him that we wanted to be able to mount it on the wall, so he made this wall-mount for it.

Turkey mount in full-strut!