Into 2016

Onward and upwards.  Yesterday was quiet on the home front and our activities included an 8 AM Mass to start off the new year, followed by a Mexican food lunch at a quick food place that uses fresh ingredients.  My all time favorite salad is Cafe Rio's sweet pork salad with a cilantro and lime dressing.  HERE is a link for this recipe, a copy-cat one, but it looks like the original.

Julie was quarantined to her room yesterday with the noro virus. She had her first symptoms while visiting us on Thursday, and had to be immediately taken back to the Manor (her nursing facility). A quick phone call a moment ago says the entire Manor is now under quarantine, so I will not be visiting again today. All the halls are closed and patients must stay in their rooms. She said she felt pretty lousy yesterday, so hope by today she is improving.  We are so thankful the Manor is on top of this crazy bug and that she is well cared for.

"Look for the presence of God in your life," Pope Francis says on New Year's (LINK HERE)  It is a good message, and I will be on the lookout for His presence.  Take a look at the homily if you have a chance.  Gene and I are enjoying our new church home at IHM. This is my new app for my phone: The Pope

January 3-17 are the dates our parish will host homeless men overnight, providing food and shelter.  This is the link for the sponsoring shelter.  I am looking at all recipes to make inexpensive but nutritious trail mix, stored in give-away zip lock bags.  Please email or comment on this post if you have a recipe your would recommend that would make 25 or so cups of mix.  Here are a few I found: link

OK, today's update must include a new knit I made from left-over yarns.  It is the Interrupted Striped Cowl by Gretchen Tracy.

It is my first 2016 knit project, made to go with my new Eddie Bauer flannel shirt:

Although colors are not accurate on my monitor screen, the colors really DO coordinate!

KnitCompanion and the Holden Shawl

Here is a shawl I finished yesterday, with the help of a new app for my iPad.  The app is called KnitCompanion and can be found here, or on iTunes for a download.  There is a Ravelry group where you can get lots of help, and it is here.  I tried it out, and will definitely use it for all my pdf knitting patterns.  The learning curve was fairly fast, and I went through the YouTube videos in one morning.

Now for the Holden Shawl, a free download by Mindy Wilkes found here.

KnitCompanion allows different crops and ways to put knitting instructions together in the manner YOU want, making reading instructions easier by far.  Try it.  You will probably like it.

(above photo from It's About Time)

Participating in Paint Party Friday found here!