three notes

I was looking for my smallest circular needle today and found it

tucked into a project bag, in one of my baskets, already engaged:

Isn't this pretty?

I only wish I could remember what I did there. And why. Probably just a swatch, experimenting with symmetrical shaping. (That sounded all good and purposeful, didn't it? Heh.)

Someday maybe I will get better about making notes while I am fooling around with knitting. Or dyeing. Or cooking, even. When I used to do my own darkroom work, I was very good about writing things down, all the time. Every contact sheet and every test print and every final print carried lightly penciled numbers on the back, so I could tell exactly what the conditions and timing had been for that particular print. If I could keep good notes in the dark, hour after hour, you'd think simply jotting down a few knitting/dyeing/cooking notes once in a while would be pretty simple, wouldn't you?

Yep. I'll work on it.

~~~

Speaking of cooking, here's a fun fact that may be useful.

If you have a large crockpot/slow cooker, but only wish to make

a small amount of something,

you can simply place a smaller container in the crock

and you're good to go!

I've been doing this ever since I picked up a massive old crockpot

at a tag sale. Easy peasy!

This is a 4-cup pyrex container,

sitting on the bottom of a 7-quart crockpot:

This was an experiment with a sort of baked egg dish.

I did not want to risk a dozen eggs on an experiment,

so this was 5 eggs, a splash of milk, some grated cheddar, and a sweet pepper.

It came out pretty well, I think.

Moist and tasty.

Oh, I just realized:

by posting about it here,

I have already made notes about this experiment!

Bonus!!!

~~~

And as a postscript to yesterday's report about Piper in the woods, I have more recent excitement to share. Very early this morning, Piper suddenly exploded into loud barking - the growly, serious barking that means I am out of bed and in my dungarees before I even know what has happened.

Piper was heading for the back door, so I got in front of her and peered out the window into the dim light of dawn. And there I immediately saw the source of Piper's (ongoing, frantic) outrage.

It was a turkey.

A turkey in a tree.

YOU say turkey. I say Bizarre Levitating DeathMonster. 

I appreciate your effort, Piper, but I like wild turkeys.
I fact, I kind of hope this one will stick around and maybe raise a family nearby.
Let's try to make it feel just a little more welcome, shall we?

Hmmmph. Nothing that big should be in a tree, over our heads.
Waiting to swoop down on us because we DIDN'T BARK AT IT.
You know what? Being your bodyguard is no picnic.

~~~~~