Knitting and Wining

First of all, let me start off by saying a HUGE thank you to everyone who left comments on my last posting. I was astonished how many people stop by my blog! I don't expect everyone who reads my blog to leave a comment, but curiosity demanded I send out a one-time feeler. Thanks again to everyone!

What interesting weather we've been having! I think most of the country has been having bad weather, and it hasn't been any different here. I think there's about six inches of snow on the ground right now, and there is supposed to be a few more inches tonight.

So, continuing my theme of knitting for myself (Rohan Cardi is for me me me!), I finally got around to knitting myself a hat. The cold weather gave me the impetus to get it done quickly, too! The pattern is Coronet Hat from Knitty, and it's one of my favorites. I've made at least four hats, now. I used that delicious yarn that I've been ranting about, Patons SWS. I still have one more skein left, so I think I'm going to try knitting mittens to match my hat. Stephanie Asche gave me a copy of her pattern (thanks, stephanie!)

I also got around to bottling the wine. Hopefully I did it right this year!

Last year, I forgot to add stabilizer when I was bottling, and the fermenting process kept going. Usually wine is about done fermenting by bottling time anyway, but my wine had a bit more "get-up". After seven months, the wine corks tended to pop out like champagne corks do!

See, the yeast in the wine feeds off the sugar, and then releases a gas. The gas is good, because that's what makes the wine alchoholic, but if it continues after bottling . . . . POP!

I think I have around 50 bottles of Concord Grape wine, now, but that'll go quickly. I usually give away quite a few bottles to family and friends.

I redesigned my label, too. I kept the sketch of my house that I used last year, and added color. My brother Josh kept nagging at me to add color to the labels, so here is the finished result:

I also finished a few dishcloths with Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn. I needed a few extras for the kitchen, especially after the mess from bottling the wine!