Random Ramblings of the SmellyLady: March 2025

Thursday, March 06, 2025

Tried a new knit thing and I'm not happy with the results

Remember this knit Ross Hat from a couple posts ago? Well I finished it.

I think it turned out pretty cool! However since I was doing a 4 melon,1 white,1 melon,1 white, row repeat I decided to try to make a seamless jog when I switched between the melon and white colors. I watched a couple different YouTube videos and tried both methods, but don't really like how mine turned out. I also started snipping and tieing the white in between the 4 rows of melon but eventually just carried the white up. That wasn't as bad, but it too needs more practice.

Here is the section of the hat I tried the 2 different seamless jogs. they are to the left in the circle. While they do look seamless, I don't like the way it looks. I think I need to re-watch the videos again or maybe even find another one, if possible and try the seamless jogs again.

I do have another knit hat in progress, only 2 rows in so far. It will also be a 2 color hat. I haven't decided how I will be striping it or if I will do something completely different with the 2 colors this time.

I was thinking maybe trying to make hearts, but the "V's" look to me like they are going the wrong way for that. Am I seeing them wrong? I'm thinking I would need to make a double thick hat or make one top down instead of bottom up. (top down may be fun to try, I may try to check that possibility out too.)

Wednesday, March 05, 2025

This was a game changer for me!

Last year some time I was given some split peas. I have never had split peas and wasn't sure what to do with them. This past weekend I decided to try and see what I could do with them besides split pea soup. Split pea soup just doesn't look nor sound appealing to me. I have tried cooking them in the microwave and that just didn't work as well as I thought it should have. I was looking for crockpot recipes for cooking them as that is the easiest way for me to make things that require a longer cook. Every recipe I found said to rinse and soak them for 6+ hours. Perfect! I could soak them overnight. I found recipes for stir frying them and making pea and pasta salads. So that was my plan, soak them and make some sort of pea salad with some ham I have in the freezer and whatever else I could add in.

Fast forward to the next morning. OH MY GOODNESS! I drained and tasted those soaked peas and was instantly in LOVE with them! No added flavor needed. They taste just like fresh peas from the garden, when I was a little girl. YA I finished the first batch off and soaked another batch only bigger. I bought some carrots from the store and now I have raw carrots and peas. MMMM! Just like fresh from the garden.

WE have also been trying to eat healthier snacks. This week we bought some blueberries on discount, then went back the next night and got some black grapes and a few apples. This bowl of grapes and blueberries are our snack tonight. The apples will be my snacks this weekend. I may even have some peanut butter with them. The blueberries and grapes were hubby's request, and he may have some apple too, providing they don't have too much of a chemical taste. I don't like the chemical taste but can tolerate it. Hubby on the other hand chooses not to eat them. I don't want to waste the food. LOL!

Tuesday, March 04, 2025

Here are some recent finished projects for February

I've been a bit busy with life since that snow we had a couple weeks ago and haven't had time to make a video. Here are some things have made this past month and a couple new projects I am currently working on. I have included the pattern links I have, all patterns are free. (Links open in a new window)