Lydia's Borscht, it's what's for dinner..mmmmm

Mmmmmmmmmmmm, THIS is what I have been smelling ALL day. YUMMO.

This is a family recipe from my husband's side and it is DELICIOUS. I had never heard of borscht before meeting my husband's family and when I spoke of it to others, I always got this spine shivering look and the words cold beet soup always followed. NOPE, this has NO beets, and is tomato based with onion,carrots,potatoes,cabbage and shredded beef and LOTS of dill. My family always called it veggie soup with cabbage but not his ;) They top theirs off with a large dollop of sour cream per bowl. Seriously, you would be surprised at what a difference that sour cream makes. I'll save ya'll a bowl!

Here is an update on the Hypotenuse scarf I am making. I was hoping to finish it this weekend but I wandered onto other projects.....ones which you will see in a minute! Some people asked me how long I was going to make the scarf and my answer.....until I run out of yarn. I have 400yds. of the silk/cashmere blend and it is VERY drapey so I am hoping it knits and blocks out to what I have in my mind.

I just love those shots :) It is really shaping up wonderfully. I am so happy I decided to knit it out of this yarn.

This is one of the little side tracks that got me this weekend. I finished the Avalanche socks and have been itching to start another pair of socks but wanted to make a "pattern" pair. Lord knows I have TONS of patterns and books but still was finding it hard to settle. I even purchased 3 new patterns but in between that, I started swatching for this pair. The thing is, I have never knit from a chart before. I find it unbearable to try and figure it out and cannot read them at ALL, therefore,aggravating me even more AND making me more determined. Well, after boohooing and crabbing about THIS pattern, I finally realized I DID IT!!! I read a chart!! I was so excited. At first, I was gonna rip and start one of the patterns I had purchased but late last night, I kept staring and staring at the sock swatch and thought, I'M GONNA FINISH IT! I am so happy I did. I realized I only hated the pattern cuz I thought I couldn't do it;) once I realized I could, then of COURSE I liked it:) The yarn is Briar Rose Sock yarn, Grandma's Blessing and of course it is sooooo yummy....follow my enabling link;) http://briarrosefibers.net/

Remember, I am an enabler;) and I must tell you, one peek at her yarns and your HOOKED!!!!! Isn't that yarn GORGEOUS. It feels as good as it looks too! So whaddya think? I know tons of you probably have already made this pattern (I Ravelried lol) but I must say, I am so proud of mine!!! The pattern is Waving Lace by Evelyn Clark. It's in the Interweave Knits 25 Favorite Sock Patterns book.

Ok, now for the BIGGIE Project.......here are the last bucket's of stash that I have that I have not gone through and sorted yet. I sorted my other stash buckets and have them all nice and neat and organized....these, well, I have some of the yarns grouped but the bucket's are deep and full of yarny blobs LOL......the next time I photograph them, they will be as neat as a pin!!

I know it looks bad BUT keep in mind, at least I have the yarns IN the containers (yes, they are the big Rubbermaid ones, I dunno how many gallons......Miss Priss plays on the tops of them, she grabs her pillow and blankie and lays on top of them....girl knows yarny goodness I guess;) and plus, these 3 are the only bins left that are unorganized.

Organizing all of my yarns just made me more determined to knit from my stash. I know looking at that probably makes you think that I can't POSSIBLY knit from my stash, clearly I have a yarn addiction BUT what you DON'T know about me is this......I have REMARKABLE will-power when I want to. I don't even need to reward myself for doing it, just trying to store all that was all the reward I needed to get it through my noggin that I need to NOT buy anymore yarn until I make some SERIOUS dents. Another thing ya'll don't know about me, I HATE clutter and will go to all extremes to get rid of it and short of hauling up a trash bin and unloading, well, I know when things need to be in control. I mean really, if I bit the dust tomorrow, what would become of all my stash yarn....you know the yarns, the ones that you just HAD to have and now you covet because it is simply to gorgeous to knit???!!! Well, I for one, want to at least enjoy my splurges:)

It really is shameful to have ALL that yarn, a little stash is ok, but THIS is ridiculous. So there ya have it, I am knittin' from the ol' stash buckets. No need to buy any yarns for me, I have enough to make a YEARS worth of sweaters!!!

Come back often and watch the dwindling down process and cheer me on!!

I'll leave you with this................this is the reaction Miss Priss had when I told her I was going to knit from my stash....Go Mom!!!