All the things

My roommate was out of town for a few weeks, leaving the apartment to myself and the cat. You can see how he spent his two weeks ...

I'm not quite as lazy as my cat. So I entertained myself with lots of projects, of note starting a new sweater and beginning a new hobby of jarring.

First, the sweater. Two weeks ago it looked like this:

Yes, it looks vaguely like something reminiscent of Georgia O'Keefe, but we don't always have to be twelve. Because after some good effort over a few evenings, it now looks like this:

It is the Amande cardigan, by Atelier Alfa. I purchased the yarn some months ago at yarn shop hop. It seemed the perfect project to pull out after finishing the sweaters for the state fair. First, it starts so small with just the sleeve caps.

Knitting isn't the only thing that's been keeping me company while my roommate travels the globe. The weather has finally turned warm and the produce has been flying to my house from the farmers market and the coop. A few weeks ago I taught myself canning with 5lbs of Colorado peaches. Mouth watering lay good, I wanted to keep some for the winter.

That's the canning pressure cooker ... And a stool, because I am not tall enough to reach into the pot safely.

And those are the glorious peaches. And they are glorious. Lucky for me some of the peaches bruised slightly meaning they had to be eaten quickly. Oh no. But enough remained that I got a few good jars, in total four quarts and two pints! (Which, yes I know, is 5 quarts.)

Once I mastered the peaches I ran along to the farmers market and bought a large basket of tomatoes. An afternoon in the kitchen saw the tomatoes in their own jars. I blanched them and removed the skins, and then quartered them to ensure they would fit in the mouth of the jar. Once quarter I pulverized them with the end if a wood spoon until they more closely resembled crushed tomatoes. There shall shortly be more jars joining them on the shelves in the pantry. Maybe some beans? Beets? More peaches if they are still good?

Then there was the cake, because we definitely needed a cake to cheer up a few weeks ago.

The last few weeks have been so filled with activities, friends, baking and knitting that I was desperately glad to have my roommate back to keep me sane. I realized that I'm a darned busy body when left on my own!

And just because, here is me at the mn renaissance fair! In front of the caber toss, and oh it was glorious! There is something about watching grown men heaving a giant log up and chucking it end over end into the air. The word heaving sticks with me ...

Be excellent to each other!