Triple Digits

Weather Update

While we did not lose power during the initial windstorm, Friday June 29 or through the following stormy weekend, a piddly nothing of a thunderstorm took out the power for my entire neighborhood on Thurs July 5th around 4:30pm.  With temperatures in the triple digits for the past week it did not take long for the house to warm up to an uncomfortable degree.  We escaped the house for a few hours while we ran errands and got dinner at Chic-fil-a.  As we returned to the neighborhood there were lights on around the edges of the neighborhood, and we dared to hope.  But, as we turned into the neighborhood it was painfully obvious that we were out of luck.  Other than the flickering of a few brave candles, the neighborhood was dark.

We passed a dark and oddly peaceful night and turned in early.  I don't know how James spent the next day in the house, but I enjoyed the AC at work.  The power was still off when I got home, but returned around 4:30, almost exactly 24 hours later.

On My Hooks

In rebellion of the triple digit heat wave, I barely touched the sleeves of my mom's sweater.  I just couldn't touch that merino wool.  Instead, I worked up a friendly little squid.

I was inspired by the knitted squid pattern that went out in the Lion Brand Newsletter.  Not being a knitter, I decided to improvise and work up a crochet version without a written pattern.  There are definately a few things I would change if/when I tackle another squid, but overall I am very pleased with the resulkt.  Hopefully I will feel a renewed inspiration towards working on the sweater when this heat wave fully breaks.

Happy 4th

Despite the hot weather we had a great 4th of July celebration.  We had friends over to grill which gave me an excuse to cook!  I love planning menus to cook for friends.

You may have seen this video for spiral cut hotdogs on YouTube or Pinterest:

We gave these a try and they were good.  They weren't exciting, but they were good.  I'm just not sure they are worth the effort.  I will grant you that they may have been more worth the effort if we had used more toppings that would have fallen within the spirals.

For dessert I made an apple pie using a new recipe.The blog touted the recipe as "the best recipe for apple pie for those who want an old-fashioned, perfect tasting apple pie with a flaky crust." The recipe makes two pies and it totally delivered. I gave the second pie to my landlords who invited us up to join their celebration.  Let me just say they know how to throw down.

I hope you had a great Independence Day with great friends, great food, and some AC to keep things comfortable.  Next time I post I'll tell you about the Amazing Spiderman and share some related geeky crochet!