I really don’t think this is going to turn into a food blog, simply because I’m not a very good cook. However, I do want to share a bit more of my pain with you all.

THREE weeks of liver detox diet. Now I am 1 week into the next 4 weeks of food challenges. *sigh* At this point I’m getting desperate to add in other fruits and veggies just for some variety. There are some great gluten free and vegan products out there, but right now my diet is a mix of those two which makes it really difficult.

Here are some of the things I’ve been eating. Tuna melt style patties (tuna, Grey Poupon mustard, chickpea flour, onion) grilled in olive oil, on top of iceberg lettuce. A nice change from tuna straight out of the can. Technically I shouldn’t have the mustard because it has sugar, but I couldn’t help it. At least it’s sugar and not high fructose corn syrup (I wouldn’t have eaten it if it had been HFCS).

Sauteed yellow squash and zucchini with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Served on brown rice. Love the little bit of heat from the red pepper flakes. Normally I’d top this with parmesan cheese.

Turkey burger (ground turkey, chickpea flour, garlic, spices) with mustard and green beans. Boring. Only saved by the mustard and onion. A hamburger sounds really good right now.

Ice cream! Just kidding. Believe it or not it’s banana. Whirl a frozen banana up in the food processor and this is what you get, banana flavored soft serve. Agave nectar added for sweetness.

Currently craving:
- soy sauce (still)
- ice cream
- beer (it’s really hot here!)
- bread

Currently challenging/challenged:
- dairy, probably going to be banned from my diet. You should see what it does to my skin! Cheese is tested separately.
- egg whites, undecided, may test again later.
- corn, not looking good. Itchy throat, makes me want to cough.

Seriously wondering what’s going to be left since I keep reacting negatively to things I add back. I know I’ll feel better if I eliminate the ones I am reacting too, but please oh please let me at least keep wheat if I can’t have corn!

It was way too hot to do much of anything outside or horse related this weekend so I holed up in my craft room. We’re lucky to have air conditioning that does a decent job of cooling the downstairs if you’re not going in/out or cooking too much.

I did a little spinning. It took me a few minutes to get back into the flow as it’s been a long time since I picked up a spindle.

Then, a little sorting through old magazines and pattern books. These were my Grandma Honey’s. It’s been quite interesting to flip through them – there are a number of baby patterns that are just as cute as any you’d find in a Debbie Bliss book today. The adult patterns though? Not so much. There are a few classic sweater patterns that I’m going to keep, but most of the patterns are big boxy, shapeless things. Or really tacky 70′s style.

(1) Here’s a couple of sweaters I liked that would only need basic alterations like shortening the length and adding waist shaping. (2) An example of the baby cuteness. (3) What the ??

Followed by a little machine sewing and some hand finishing. I feel like it’s a dirty word, but I’ve been mulling over Christmas gift ideas. However, before I start anything new I have several half a dozen a dozen (*sigh*) sewing projects that I need to finish up.

I also did some knitting on Vinca. Which I’m not going to show you because it’s the same as last time except for being 1 repeat longer.

I couldn’t let the whole week go by until next Wednesday without showing you these photos. I knew I needed to measure my Vinca to figure out how much longer to make the wings and I wanted to see it on the dress form. It’s a bit of a guess still since it’s not blocked, but you get the idea.

See how the front in the middle photo isn’t even close to being able to drape over my arm? Even when I stretch a section to see how much it’s likely to grow during blocking it’s not there yet. More knitting to be done! Three more repeats and I’ll do another size check.

We had a damp, rainy weekend – good for indoor projects, not so good for anything outdoors.

1. Vinca – Three repeats were completed in the last week. The measurement I’m trying to reach is at least 50 inches on the long side, maybe a touch more since I’m tall. Currently I have at least 44 inches which is exciting since it means I’m getting close to the end.

2. Misti Alpaca Baktus – a repeat here and one there, but not much to show for progress.

Can I distract you with food since I have no knitting photos? I’m also making progress on my liver detox. I completed 3 weeks of the very restricted diet and now I’m challenging some of the restricted foods to see if I have any negative reactions to them. Do you want to see more of what the restricted diet looks like?

Sweet potato, kind of plain, but they are moist, sweet, and filling. Much healthier than white potatoes too.

This salad is almost entirely out of my friend Terese’s garden. She gave me the lettuce, green beans, carrots. Strawberries were offered, but I had California strawberries that needed to be used up.

Not much in this salad is local, but it was pretty tasty. Something I’ve found with salads is that when I can’t have dressing, fruit makes a pretty good substitute. I’ve also been known to use some fresh squeezed lemon juice too. I’m still craving a true Waldorf salad. *sigh*

Finally, I have halfway decent photos to show you. This project has been so difficult to photograph. Something about the handpainted colors, the camera can’t get a good focus on them.

Pattern: Lacy Baktus by Terhi Montonen with permission from Strikkelise who designed the original Baktus.
Yarn: 1 skein of Artful Ewe hand dyed merino, worsted(?)
Needles: US #5 (3.75 mm) Addi Turbo circular
Notes: This is such a lovely, easy project. I think it suits the yarn well – better than you can tell in the photos, though I had my doubts in the beginning few inches! I tried to get a few photos that show the true color of the yarn, plus the finished size of the shawl.

Overall, I liked this project enough to immediately cast on for another one. This last photo, while poor quality, does at least show how big it turned out when knit with this yarn/needle combination.

August. Really? I feel like I’m just now settling into it being Summer. There’s still a lot to get done outside this year, namely finishing the horse facility. Lots of busy weekends coming up.

1. Vinca – I completed TWO repeats of the chart over the last few days. Now it looks like Vinca is growing – unstretched I have 13 inches knit of each wing.

2. Misti Alpaca Baktus – barely started, but that’s all that matters. I’ve been taking it with me each day and haven’t found any time to knit on it.

On Sunday, Patty and I brought Blondie and JJ to my house for a visit and a little trail ride. It’s the first time EVER that I’ve brought her home and now that the barn/fencing are approaching completion I want her to get familiar with the place before she comes home to stay.

When we first arrived the horses were good, but a bit high headed. Who knew there were so many obstacles at my house – we both thought it would be pretty boring! We walked the horses over to say hi to the neighbor’s mares, not even thinking about the goats. It was a non-event. Then there was the tractor and mini-excavator doing work nearby, that was fine when they were tied at the horse trailer, but neither of them was going to get too close under saddle. We went on a short ride around the neighborhood where we saw more horses, lots of dogs (both behind fences and loose), a few cars, some kids playing, and lots of yard implements and kids toys to have a look at. They both did really good and were rewarded with some time in the upper pasture.

I had spent most of the afternoon on Saturday preparing for their visit. Initially, I planned to use the round pen panels to setup a small pen, but then I realized I could close off the far fence line with temporary fencing….so they got access to the whole pasture. Not that they ventured far from the front gate! I also spent a couple hours pulling bracken fern and removing tree branches.

It seems like a small thing, but I was so excited JJ took a drink from the water tank – normally when he goes away from the barn he doesn’t like to drink. This water tank was one both horses had before at a previous boarding stable and I guess my well water must not taste too different than what they’re used to.

All in all, it was a fun trip and very successful since both horses got to experience some new things and they both did great!

Last night 3 of us from the barn went for a short trail ride. Patty and I ride together all the time; this time we were joined by another experienced trail rider. We’ve been trying to learn the network of trails so we talked along the way about where various trails went to and what the landmarks are.

Almost ready to go:

Clearly I need to work on my camera settings! A number of my in motion photos turned out like this. I do like how artistic this shot is, but it wasn’t what I was going for at the time.

Hmmm, should we go further or go back?

This is how rocky it is around here. Most of the trails are nothing BUT rocks. And actually, the rocks are much worse than you can see in this photo in many places.

Headed back to the barn on a nice Summer evening.

This blog post comes to you from my craptastic office. I didn’t have time to post this morning so I’m doing it on my lunch break.

(See, proof of lunch: I’ve just begun eating my sweet potato and my Everyday Detox tea is brewing. Then there’s the jar of peanut butter that I’m not allowed to eat and a pair of Mrs. Beeton’s tucked into a filing shelf.)

1. Vinca – I’m not sure I accomplished anything on Vinca last week. Ok, I know I knit a few rows, but nothing significant.

2. Lacy Baktus – ready to be unpinned and photographed.

Goals this week: complete at least one chart repeat on Vinca and cast on for a new portable project.

For the last week I’ve been on a Liver Detox Diet. I have 2 more weeks to go. The point is not to lose weight, it’s to let your liver get rid of toxins so you feel better. There are a lot of things I cannot eat: wheat, corn, beef, pork, sugar, caffeine, alcohol…I know there’s more, but those are the big ones. Are you wondering what I can eat? Most vegetables, most fruit, chicken, fish, and other grains.

Things I miss:
- ice cream
- soy sauce
- butter
- sugar (I’m eating fruit instead)

Here’s breakfast, dinner, and dessert from yesterday. Breakfast (after making 2 detox drinks first thing in the morning) is usually a smoothie of blended fruit and almond milk.

Dinner yesterday was salad with a sliced peach, green onion, and sunflower seeds. I made a little dressing with olive oil, water, 3 raspberries, and a bit of frozen apple juice concentrate. All together it wasn’t bad, but it could be improved.

Dessert consisted of fresh raspberries and a strawberry with puffed brown rice cereal and a little bit of almond milk.

Don’t worry that that’s all I ate yesterday! I also had a mid-morning snack of puffed rice cereal/almond milk. Lunch was quinoa with sauteed onion and celery, and chicken. Afternoon snack was celery with homemade almond nut butter. I was hoping to have lentil soup and bean soup this week until I realized legumes aren’t allowed in week 2. This afternoon I must go buy fish and some more veggies as my choices at home aren’t sounding that good right now!