Wendy's Intertwinement

Happy New Year

2011-01-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone has a great New Year

Week ? (Today I'm too lazy to do the math)

2010-07-12T05:21:00.000-07:00

(Gregory's tomato plants have started to ripen)

We have been very happily busy lately.

We were able to go to Gathering this year.

We saw old F/friends and meet new ones...Very exciting for us as we don't get to see many Conservative Quakers. God willing we'll attend Yearly too.

We also did quite a bit of visiting.

We would like to thank the following (who have blogs and in alphabetical order) for making some great memories

http://eclecticculturefarm.blogspot.com

and

http://pastoralsymphonyfarm.blogspot.com/

and

http://www.sandhillcsa.blogspot.com/

Thank you!

(Siili)

On to knitting...I'm so behind my Christmas/Birthday presents goal it's a bit of a bummer. I really should stop looking at patterns as it only makes me want to knit more things.lol. Anyway, I got four pairs of socks knitted up since March, but they were not on my to-do list and everyone got them right after I grafted the toes. Well, that's not completely true one did morph into a Father's day present.lol. I also knitted up a dozen toys but only a few of them were on my to-do list too. Argh, I need more self control. So with that in mind I have casted on for a Parseltongue hat (Rav link) for my Grandma's Christmas present...Weird I know for a Grandma, but she likes reptiles and stuff and making her a Medusa like hat tickles my odd funny bone. I also need to finish Emily's Adult Garter Edge Cardigan by Mary Rich Goodwin (Another Ravelry link) before fall so she can use it for school. Real high school...Scary. However, her other sweater I need to frog as it won't be over sized enough for Emily's likes. This makes it a bit hard for me as I'm not liking the lacy bit and feel a strong desire to modify which will only drag out my time frame so for now it sits waiting. Logical...I think not.lol. As for my other casted on items which I would like to point out here are the most things I have ever had on the needles at once are also being ignored too. Bad I know as they are suppose to be very quick knits and are on my to-do list.

Now to makes things even more funny (to me anyway)...Today all I want to do is sew a couple of these night gowns in flannel for winter for Emily and me...Non nursing (I'm just stating this in case you thought I was a crazy mama.lol).

?

2010-06-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

So how many geese do you find on rooftops?

Bug Bait

2010-06-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

Update:

(These are working for me. They do take a bit of time to have complete success)

These are my experiments with bug baits.

Maybe they'll be of help...

ANT BAIT

3 parts sugar

2 parts borax

Little bit of water…enough to make all ingredients wet

Boil until the mixture looks gel like. Put into containers with a small holes for an entrance.

(You don't want your pets/kids to get into this one.)

SLUG YEASTY BAIT

1 cup water

1 t sugar

1 t flour

½ t yeast

Mix all and put into wide mouthed shallow container.

Week 12 and 13

2010-03-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

I'm in a funk!

What has suffered because of this is:

knitting

cleaning

exercising

blogging

and probably a lot more if I thought about it...

All that has been accomplished these last two weeks are

starting some seeds and sewing Michael a shirt(which still needs a bit of work.lol).

Week 11

2010-03-12T08:30:00.001-08:00

I'm now just a little sick

but everyone else is starting to drop around me.

At least, I somewhat know what will feel good for them.lol

Even though I wasn't feeling up to snuff

(I sometimes wonder about that phrase of words...

Does one really need to be in top shape to take snuff?)

I finished the Tree Frogs.

The second frog went much better than the first one.

I think a few more tries and I might just get it to where I'll really like the results.lol.

This was the first time that I can remember using Malabrigo yarn for toys. I really liked the feel of both knitting it up and the finished item but I need to remember to be a bit more gentle with the sewing. I hope in the future I'll be able to make more Malabrigo toys.

I think I need to start thinking about Easter...

Week 10

2010-03-05T04:22:00.000-08:00

I'm sick and I believe everybody else in this house will soon be sick too...Bummer.

This week I finish the Totoro Mittens

and a Tree Frog.

Both projects have flaws...sad but true.

I think(hope) only I see them and if I felt better I might care a bit more about them but as it stands today I really don't care. All I care about is if there are enough clean handkerchiefs and water in all it's lovely forms; tea, lemony...

I need to finish the blue frog before the 10th...Uhhhh

Week 9

2010-02-26T06:29:00.001-08:00

Blogger is being a .... to me.

Anyway, this week we spent away from home. Luckily, we had family and Japanese stores to make everyone happy. Here is a picture of some stuff we ate. They called them An Pan Man (This is the first time I saw this guy's name spelled this way), Doraeman (the red nosed guy who happens to be a robot. Robots are yummy.), and Panda (the one with a brown nose) or in other words they're a cream filled sweet bread cartoon characters...Yum!

I got a bit of knitting in too. Here is Alexander's Cupcake Hat,

and A Better Bucket Hat for me.

Well, I gotta go wash some clothes...

Week 8

2010-02-18T05:32:00.000-08:00

I just want to say Nike did not do me any favors when they showed me on the inside tag that an American medium workout shorts are a Japanese 2XL.

Now on to knitting...

I finished Michael's socks this week and he likes them...Yeah!

I've also knitted to about the half way point, row 25, on the Totoro Mittens and I'm really starting to crave those 8"/9" long circular knitting needles. I'm thinking they would improve my speed and look to my color-work. Anyway, I also started my Mom's birthday mitts. I'm using Nookie's idea as my Mom wanted some type of macabre cables. However, I started the big spider sooner on the cuff in hopes of adding a few baby spiders...Will they be too cute? I don't know...Argh.

Now something weird happen to me with the Tree Frog pattern. You know how I said I didn't like knitting it? Well, I decided for some strange reason to switch yarn weight and bam (please say this like Emeril Lagasse) I'm now totally addicted to knitting frog legs...It's scary.

Anyone want to go gigging?

Week 7

2010-02-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

Look Hubby bought me a plant!

I really like plants more than cut flowers. Cut flowers always make me a little sad as I know they're really just dying. Anyway...I have no idea if this is my early Valentine present or what, but I think it's pretty nice of him all the same. It's funny because I think the kids are enjoying them way more than me and that's saying something. lol.

On to other things...I finally made a key cozy for the mail key like I was talking about in Week 2

and I started a pair of socks for Michael. It has been years since I've knitted a sock one at a time with DPNs and without an afterthought heel. So long in fact that when I got finished knitting the heel flap I almost forgot to turn the heel...Crazy sock knitter.

Now here is the toe-less frog leg. Sad and pathetic looking, huh?

I really should get going on this project. I wonder if I will. lol.

And here are the Totoro Mittens. I decided to knit them two at a time and if I keep my head straight I think I'll be successful in not messing up the palms...Maybe.

I really need to think about what special thing(s) I'm going to do for the wee ones on Valentine's Day...Something like pie or pink.

Week 6

2010-02-03T03:57:00.001-08:00

This week I made Emily a bag to contain all her Japanese items which include:

manga

(a Korean one in English is shown...The Bride of the Water God. It has very pretty art and is her largest one so we made some of the pockets fit it. Yes, she wanted her manga in pockets so they would be protected from evil dings. Her Mama loves her so that's what she got...Pockets not dings although I'm guessing she got those too.lol.)

pens and pencils

electronic Japanese/English dictionary

homework/notes

(Thankfully Emily has a tutor for Japanese. Emily and her teacher use Skype because we live in two different states...

I think that is so cool)

ipod with large headphones

(none of my kids like those wee little ear buds...Do you or yours?)

I really hope this bag lasts a long time as I'm not in the mood to make another for a long time especially one with so many pockets (ten of the evil things although not as evil as the munching needle cover ended up being.lol.).

I also made Michael a pair of Owlings like I talked about in Week 2 and an ipod cozy but the cozy got frogged and will not be tried again, ever...Really bad idea even the kids agreed on this one.l0l.

I also knitted a frog leg (Is it really a frog leg when it has no toes? It doesn't look like one without them I think) for a Tree Frog for Alexander's up coming birthday in March and the cuff on a pair of Norwegian Totoro mittens for Emily. I can tell that the Tree frog is going to be one of those forced knits for me but I think Alex will like it so it will be worth the effort. I need to start making the Spider for Alexander's birthday too, but I haven't decided on color...He wants yellow.

Week 5

2010-01-28T04:05:00.000-08:00

I finished Elijah by Ysolda Teague and put it away for Christmas. I have not casted on for anything else. Can you believe I have nothing on the needles? Yeah, it's hard for me to believe too. Anyway, last night I stayed up and finished making copies of the family dvd. It's DONE...And a two discer too. Now I just need to mail them. It's always something that can stop my plans, but I hope that by the end of this week they will be on their way to Grandparents far and wide and I get some sleep.

Week 4

2010-01-22T14:49:00.001-08:00

The knitting mojo was in the house this week...

Okay, this isn't knitting, it's crochet, but I still made it this week...Book Thong by Donna Hulka

(all links are raverly)

I finished the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark,

the 30" long Twinners socks by Lynne Wardrop,

and owls by Kate Davies.

I also casted on for Elijah by Ysolda Teague for Alex's birthday that's coming in March were upon later that day he told me that he wants a spider with a retractable web and a yellow frog for his birthday. At no time did he mention an elephant so I guess I won't be giving him the elephant. I think I should still finish the elephant and use it for Christmas. Surely someone will want him.

I also need to start some Little Hearts by Teresa Fox for Valentines soon or I'll be too late.

In non-knitting items the family movie is 3/4th done but I realized that it's too big for one disc so I'm breaking it in half which is now making it a longer process...Argh! I sure hope that it will be done by the end of the month.

Week 3

2010-01-14T03:58:00.000-08:00

This week, I finally finished Alexander's shoes which I half way finished months ago but was waiting for eyelet thingies. It's a good thing they're done as his feet are growing and these won't fit much longer. John, Emily, and Alexander love to use their Mama made shoes for the treadmill. I'm glad they work well, but everyone else suffers because I haven't made them some...Evil Mama.

Let's see...I also finished knitting the item which will not be named(right now), and I only have the cuff, heel, and re-do the toe to finish the Twinners knee high socks (Rav Link). Oh, I also started a sweater for Michael, Owls (another Rav link). Why did I start a sweater beside the fact that it's around 20 degrees...Well, Jo Ann's had a sale on bulky yarn.lol.

Bulky makes this a fast knit but then I haven't gotten to the cables. I don't know if I'll put buttons on for the eyes or not. I don't think Michael wants them but maybe just one would be okay....

As for the family movie, I haven't worked too much more on it as the computer started to act funky. At least that's my theory for slacking on it...Why can't movie maker be designed to allow multiple drags and lock in titles onto clips. These two things would speed up the process so much for me.

As for exercising, I've gained 4 pounds and no it's not because I'm eating more (I'm eating less with only one helping of food) or gaining that much muscle. I'm pretty sure it's my body trying to tell me to stop working out as it's not working...It won't work and you would think that it would know me enough to now that.lol.

Week 2

2010-01-07T04:02:00.000-08:00

I've only knitted 4 rows this week and they were on the Twinners socks (all links are from raverly. Sorry...Well, kinda of sorry anyway.lol.)...What a bummer.

I've been daydreaming of knitting Michael,our mail go getter slave, a pair of Owlings but with Nookie's great idea. I think that will be very handy for him as our mail is outside and you need a key. He wants me to knit him a key cosy. Oh, and he wants an ipod cosy too.lol. My Mom also put in her request for her Christmas present. This is the third time she's asked for mitts but this time with cables. I suck at cables. Anyway, she wants some kind of skull or some such macabre thing so I thought I would make her these made with Elann's beige (Mom's color choice) Peruvian Baby Cashmere and without the long fingers for her birthday that comes in April and these made with Elann's black and light light pink Peruvian Quechua for Christmas. I hope she will like and use them. I also really hope this year I can lower my present spending too.

The rest of my time has been sucked up in making the yearly family DVD. I still have a long way to go on it too.

Week 1

2010-01-02T07:05:00.000-08:00

Knitting:

I have two pairs of socks on the needles and one shawl.

One pair of socks is completely top secret until Valentine's Day

and the other pair you can see above. I find it a bit hard to find nice worsted lace patterns. In fact, this is the third pattern I've tried for this yarn. Since these are for Emily they have to be very stretchy as she only likes knee highs...Lucky me.lol.

The pattern: Twinners (raverly link) by Lynne Wardrop

(patternfish link)

Needles: 2 size 6 circular needles

Yarn: Cascade Yarns 220 Heathers, lavender 2422 and yellow for toes and heels

Modifications: I casted on fewer stitches because I was already using a bigger needle and didn't feel like frogging all...46 stitches. As I stated before, I needed these to be stretchy so I messed with this pattern by making the back 23 stitches 1x1 rib. I'm also doing an afterthought heel.

Side note: bag is 52freckles friendly sock monster and hanging on the zipper is

a mental vegetable (no one likes broccoli) phone charm by AnthroPoMorphCo

Now on to what I'm reading:

Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen A Cookbook by Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall

Fish Out of Water by Mary Janice Davidson

2010 Goal

2010-01-02T06:12:00.000-08:00

So the 2010 goal of the year is to get fit.

At years end I would like to be able to:

walk/run 5-10 miles a day

15 man push-ups at one time

80 full sit-ups

1 pull-up

(I can't even do one of these...yet)

I'm hoping to find some meter thing to put up in th sidebar (If you know of one please let me know) so I can stay motivated

and every month make a blog post about my progress.

I'm also going to try to write a blog post weekly about what I making.

update: I have decided to make another blog, Intertwinement's daily fitness, and have it linked in the sidebar for my daily fitness progress.

2009 in Review chatter

2010-01-01T05:45:00.001-08:00

I'm pleased that I pretty much achieved my goal of quilting in 2009. When I said "I want to make four extra long twins and one extra long full sized quilts, one for each child and then an extra long twin I-Spy quilt". I really wasn't sure if it was possible even in Wendyland. I mean that meant staying focus for a whole year making a quilt every two months and I really wasn't sure if I had that in me.lol. I'm glad I ended up making five extra long twins, one regular twin, one extra long queen, and a lap quilt. (If you want to see a Christmas long twin, a Catapillar long twin, a Tiger twin, a Bear long twin, a Horse long twin, a Muu Muu long twin, a Rose long queen, and a Country lap quilt then click on the links.lol) The only quilt I did not finish is the I-Spy quilt which I hope to finish this year...It's only half finished now. There are still a couple quilting patterns I would like to try, like this one and this one, but I only want to make them pillow size. Now I want to make it clear that there a whole lot of other quilt patterns I like out there I just don't see myself making them this year.
So what will I come up with for this year as a goal...?

Country Quilt

2009-12-30T07:54:00.000-08:00

A wee small couch quilt got made too.

Muu Muu Quilt

2009-12-30T07:43:00.000-08:00

So hubby would not feel left out on Christmas morning I made him a quilt too.

Now everyone(but me.lol) has a Mama/wife quilt for Christmas.

I made it with Kaffe Fassett fabric, purple, dark blue, and orange.

Can you say loud?

No worries this quilt can.

Rose Quilt

2009-12-30T07:08:00.000-08:00

For the last child quilt

I made another around the world quilt

from the book, Quick Trip Quilts, that I had used before when

I made the Bear Quilt.

This time I used 12 different solid fabrics

that are in the same color family
with a rose patterned fabric border.

I think that it came out as a

pretty queen sized quilt

However, with this quilt I have realized that I can make art, you know the kind where it looks really pretty from far away but when you get close it's not so good.lol

Horse Quilt

2009-12-30T06:32:00.000-08:00

Wondering about the last sneak peak?

Well, here it is...

You can find the pattern in the book,

Irish Chain in a Day

Merry Merry

2009-12-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

Have a good one!

Shoes

2009-10-06T12:29:00.000-07:00

My computer broke then Michael kicked it and it started working again and now my camera has sorta broken...I can only take movies with it now.
Maybe I should have Michael kick it.
Anyway, the other day I was buying books for the kiddos Christmas presents on Amazon. (I love being able to do that.) Where upon I noticed a book about making shoes but it was out of print. However, someone in the comments left the author's website and stated that she make reprints in black in white for people. So I headed over there and sure enough Sharon Raymond does but even better was the free patterns. Now I've made slippers before and have had a pretty good sucess in doing so so I was pretty sure I could do that and then simply add a sole especially after reading how to on Sharon's website. And now I can say...I have made shoes!
Yes the kind you can wear outside!
I think this is way cool and I thought I would show you my first pair that I made for Emily...In a movie cuz that's the way I roll now.lol.

(Those little ones are for Alex)
If you want to try your hand at this too here's the website...
http://www.simpleshoemaking.com/
Look for the free patterns on the left hand side.

I'll leave you with an action shot of Emily's shoes

Maple Valley Farms

2009-07-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today my family and I went to Matt and Angela's Maple Valley Farm Work Day. We enjoyed ourselves very much. If you find yourself near Coral stop by.

Bear Quilt

2009-07-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

When we left our intrepid non-quilter you saw this,

a big mess...But with the help of this book

You can get an around the world quilt

with this backing that has a bear shaped label.

Okay that's not true...

You would really have to cut every single piece of fabric wrong by one inch less because that what I did. Yes, I now know how to use my cutting mat correctly. Thank you very much. You must also add 24 strips to the center and cut 8- 2.5 inches wide strips of 5 different fabrics to get your borders the right size to achieve the twin size I made, approximately 55"x75". It's really a good thing I bought extra fabric in the begining. I believe I bought 1 yard of twelve diferent fabrics and 6 yards for the backing.

Here's a sneak peak of the next quilt.

2009 Conservative Friends Gathering in Pennsylvania

2009-06-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

June 19-21, 2009

Keystone Fellowship Friend Meeting

hosted a Gathering in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Above is a picture of the outside of Lampeter Friends Meetinghouse

and below is half of the inside.lol.

It's along PA 340 on west end of Bird in Hand in Pennsylvania. They only meet once a month there but we got to go...Yeah!

We enjoyed yourselves very much and want to thank all the many people who helped make it such a great Gathering...

THANK YOU!

The Knit List

2009-05-19T04:13:00.000-07:00

I saw this one someone's blog and stole it

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing:

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire (I don't think I would do this unless is was for jewelry)
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn (I have camel fiber waiting to be spun up so I will be doing this some day. I would also like to knit with bison and possum.)
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting (Not interested in...yet)
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn (Maybe someday and maybe sugar cane)
Domino knitting (modular knitting) (I don't really like how this looks...yet)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn (I don't trust bamboo yarn because of a panda bear show I watched that said bamboo has high levels arsenic in it and they wanted to know how the pandas could eat it without dying. I've tried looking this up but I have found nothing, but I'm still not going for this new craze. I'm thinking that before they owned up to playground equipment having arsenic in it you couldn't find information on it too. At least that's my theory and I'm sticking with it.lol.)
Two end knitting (I've seen some scarfs that do this but you have to graft in a lace pattern so I don't I'll be doing this anytime soon.lol.)
Charity knitting (I want to do this but I keep finding more things to knit for my family friends)
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street (I would love to make a treesweater on a tree in my yard but that's all I would ever think of doing.)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book (That would be cool but I doubt this would ever happen)
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
Knitting to make money (I would think this would be a tough thing to achieve)
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…
knitting socks- or other small tubular items- on two circulars
Dyeing with plant colours (I want to do this soon)
Knitting items for a wedding (Maybe for my kids but they all say they are never going to get married or leave the house. I'm thinking they'll change their minds.lol)
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living (I think this would suck all the fun out of knitting)
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking (I doubt I would ever want to do this)
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art (Isn't it all art?)
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac (I don't think I'll do this as I don't like the holes in the corners but Hubby likes a pair socks made this way so maybe one day)
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegated yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry (This goes with the metal thing above)
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves (Doing this in the near future)
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies (Doing this real soon)
Tubular CO
Free-form knitting (I'm not sure about this one maybe one day but I doubt it)
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm-warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair (Totally not interested in)
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

How about you?

Upper Pennisula

2009-05-04T05:54:00.000-07:00

It takes a long time to drive to the UP.

How long you ask.

So long you can knit a sweater.

Objects may look smaller on the dash.

(It actually was around 5 hours but that's not funny...Not funny at all.lol.)

Carrot, anyone?

2009-04-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter =:>

(Please sing Veggie Tale's Bunny song 'cuz I don't want to be alone.

The Bunny, the bunny, whoa I love the bunnyI don't love my mom or my dad, just the bunny. The Bunny, the bunny, Yeah I love the bunnyI gave everything that I had for the bunnyI don't want no heath food when it's time to feedA big bag o' bunnies is all that I needI don't want no buddies to come out and playI'll sit on my sofa eat bunnies all dayI wont go to church and I wont go to school,that stuff is for sissys, but bunnies are cool!Girls in backround: I don’t want no pickles, I don’t want no honey, I just want a plate and a fork and a bunnyI don’t want a tissue when my nose is runny, I just want a plate and a fork and a bunnyI don’t want to tell you a joke that is funny, I just want a plate and a fork and a bunnyI don’t want to play on a day that is sunny, I just want a plate and a fork and a bunnyRepeat Girls in backround in the backround during endEnd: The Bunny, the bunny, whoa I love the bunnyI don't love my mom or my dad, just the bunnyThe Bunny, the bunny, Yeah I love the bunnyI gave everything that I ha-a-a-aaaad fo-or the bu-unneeee!! )

The Tiger Quilt

2009-03-31T07:22:00.000-07:00

I lost my notes!

This sucks on so many levels.

Well, here we go anyway.

(See that you cruddy old notes where ever you are I can move on without you...

However, if you ever do decide to come back to me I'll let you. Really I will. That's just the kinda girl I am.lol.)

Here's the sneek peak from last month...Tiger fabric for my tiger lover.

Here I cut up the fabric.

I know for a fact that the binding was/is 8- 3" x 40"stripes.

The rest of it would be guesses...Sorry

Here's my cute (I thought) label.

I traced one of Max's toy tigers to create it.

Here it is all done.

Now I just need to hide it until Christmas.

Things I learned with this quilt:

I really like stippling.

(I hide messages in the quilt...Too cool)

I still need to work on my binding skills.

I need to keep my notes safe.

Max must be around me more than any of the other kids either that or he pays more attention to me because making things for him where he knows nothing about it is really hard.

Here's a sneek peak for the next quilt.

?

2009-03-27T19:04:00.001-07:00

I am a
Daffodil

What Flower
Are You?

Wendy's Vegan Bannock ratios

2009-03-17T06:14:00.000-07:00

Bannocks

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary bannocks are, " an unleavened flat bread or biscuit made with oatmeal or barley meal," and wikipedia states, "The Bannock or Banate are a Native American people who traditionally lived in the northern Great Basin in what is now southeastern Oregon and Southern Idaho."

Let's stick with the first explanation for this recipe.

I've been experimenting and I came up with this recipe that uses ratios so you can make as much of it as you want and in any flavor too.

The ingredients you'll need are:

Flour -any kind you want but remember that you need at least one to have some gluten to hold everything together or learn to enjoy crumbling bannocks...It's up to you.

baking powder- 1 teaspoon to every cup of flour you use.

salt- a dash for every cup of flour you use.

oil/fat- 1 tablespoon to every cup of flour you use.

water/liquid- enough to bring together as a dough that doesn't stick to your hands and you can form into little patties.

extras- dried fruit, nuts, spices, teas, or sweeteners. A low figure is 1 tablespoon for every cup of flour you use but you can put in more.

Mix everything together for several minutes to get a nice behaved dough.

Make little patties that are about 1/2 inch thick.

Here you can see I made them all ahead of time. I no longer do this as they always seemed to stick to each other...grumble, grumble.

Cook on a dry flat surface. 6 minutes for each side. Make sure that the surface is preheated so your bannocks don't stick and wiggle them around a bit after the first few minutes just to make sure they can and to give yourself something to do. Also make sure to keep the temperature right so that they don't burn.

Then eat and enjoy!

Leprechaun

2009-03-17T06:01:00.000-07:00

The leprechauns did it again at our house.

However, this time I was sadden to learn that even the leprechauns seem to have been hit by these hard economic times.

How do I know?

Well, everyone got a pot. You know like the ones that are at the end of rainbows and instead of there being gold inside there was a soot sprite. You know those cute Japanese dust bunnies.

So see, even the leprechauns have no money left.lol

Breakfast- Popping Corn Pops

2009-03-05T06:22:00.000-08:00

I decided to do some recipe reviews from some of my cookbooks.

To keep in mind,

we're vegan and I'm a bit odd....

Perfect for something interesting, right?

Okay, let's move on to our first book. This book, Eating off the Grid (ISBN 0-9671394-0-6), I got in Utah while visiting the relatives at some bulk food store. I want to say Grandma's Kitchen, but I'm not sure. I've had this book for a couple of years now and I haven't used it much until very recently. Anyway, the book is for people who don't have electricity. So no refrigeration or electric cooking appliances using only stored (bulk) foods.

We tried Honey-Frosted Popcorn on page 46. I doubled the mixture that you pour over the popcorn since I made three batches of popcorn in our Poplite Presto machine...
I think that's 1 1/2 Cups unpoped popcorn. I'm not even going to guess how much that makes popped but it's a lot.lol.
Luckily, I have great kids who are willing to try this kind of thing because once I poured the wet mixture onto the popcorn it didn't look good.
I tried a nibble and it tasted just like it looked...Soggy popcorn.
I put a cup into everyone's bowl and some soy milk except for Michael's and a totally amazing thing happened when we ate it.
It tasted just like Corn Pops cereal.
There was the added danger of breaking a tooth on an unpopped corn, but who doesn't like a little danger.lol.
This was a winner all around and the kids are asking that we have it again.
Also...
I'm guessing that this would save quite a bit of money for people who buy Corn Pops that is if you can get your kids to try it.lol.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Quilt

2009-02-24T07:50:00.001-08:00

Alexander's quilt is finished!

And just in time for '09 Christmas.lol.

I think it turned out pretty good.

Anyway, let me show you what I did.

Here is the sneek peek from last month on the fabric I decided to use.

The fabric is ANDOVER FABRICS of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Alexander loves this book so much that we had to buy a replacement book. So I thought this fabric would be a perfect match.

I bought and used:

2 panels of P0260 3471 M

2.5 yards of P0260 3472 M

(or as I like it call food stripes.)

2 yards plain cotton yellow fabric

(Alexander's new favorite color)

2.5 yards batting

1 twin polka dot flat sheet

(Thank you Valerie for the sheet...It came in handy.lol)

In order to get this to the size I wanted (extra long twin-65" x 102" or 2'x 3'. I love quilts that wrap around pillows.lol.) I cut one of the panels leaves off like you see in the picture. Then I sewed the two panels together on their short ends so it was nice and long. This also seemed to me to be more pleasing to my eyes.

Here you can see all my strips cut out and ready two be sewn. I cut the food strips so that the blue stripe was on the top (I sewed this so you don't see that blue in the quilt.) of every strip.

Then I cut 8-8.5" strips of yellow. I used a pre-made binding so I didn't need to cut anymore stuff out.

As you can see, I sewed the large food strips to the center panel facing outwards, then the yellow fabric, then the small food strips also facing outwards, and then the binding (After I quilted it of course.lol).

I then quilted 2" squares all over the entire quilt.

I also used the leftover leaf as a label on the back. Which I thought was pretty cool of myself.lol.

I have some leftovers. Maybe I'll put them together with others later in order to make a crazy left over quilt...Or maybe a doll quilt.

The lesson I learned with this quilt is you really should listen when they say don't trim your backing until after your done quilting. That mistake was a bit time consuming to fix.

I also learned that hand sewing the binding takes a lot of time. I'm hoping that on the next one I can avoid doing this by cutting my own...We'll see.

Here's the sneek peek of Max's Quilt...Can you tell what he likes?

Happy Valentine!

2009-02-11T03:49:00.000-08:00

Hope you all have a good one!

(Pierre says love is hard on a man heart)

Quilt Madness

2009-01-06T05:30:00.001-08:00

I have decided that this new year is the year of quilting.

I've only made one quilt before, an old jean quilt, which was a small lap sized one with very little quilting since I couldn't get the sewing machine to sew through it all.lol.

(Here it is in all it's glory and yes, the pockets work which I thought was cool)

Now one probably wonders if this inexperience and no real love of sewing has stop my insane desire to made one quilt for each member of the family?

Of course not!

So let's carry on with the details, shall we.

I want to make four extra long twins and one extra long full sized quilts, one for each child and then an extra long twin I-Spy quilt and maybe....

Okay, that means that I'll need to complete a quilt every two months.

Is that possible...

Of course it is in Wendyland.

(I'm pinning the quilt here together with 250 safety pins... So much fun, but look I match the quilt. Gotta love that.lol.)

Here, I've put my thoughts to the test with a Christmas quilt. My husband says that it's crazy to make a quilt that we'll only have out for one month of the year but I assured him it's a testing one. He loves me enough to buy that theory/story.

(Here's an attempt at an artsy photo of the quilt pinned)
With this tester quilt I have found out the following:

1. Quilt books do not have enough information about sewing/quilting these things together on a sewing machine.

2. My sewing machine bookets also doesn't have enough information about sewing these things altogether.

3. Almost all online quilting sites also do not have enough information about sewing them too.

4. It's good to have a Mother-in-Law that knows how to sew and has made at least one quilt on your sewing machine and has tips.

5. Spray adhesive might be bad for the environment but is good for quilts.

6. Pinning 250 safety pins twice is very close to frogging knits.

(Look it sorts fits.)

All in all I'm really happy that it worked out like it did and it only took me three days. Keep in mind though that it was a cheater quilt. You know were the main part is printed squares on one piece of fabric but I did run into a lot of problems with puckering. So I had to rip out lots of thread and then do more research.lol.

(Look, the backing is holly and berries...How comfy would that be.lol. Ah, I'm so easily amused. It's finished and on the back of the couch . I've already caught Hubby snuggling it...So it's a success)

I'm thinking that this year this quilt will be out longer than the one month.

Here's a peek at the next quilt...

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Day!

We spent ours making really bad jokes like...

I haven't eaten all year.

I haven't taken out the trash all year

and so on.

Oh, wait,

and when I threw away our old calendar I said to everyone that I just threw away last year.

(Discovered cooking tip found out around Christmas:

Gingerbread cookies taste amazing when the icing is made with powder sugar and lemon juice...yum!)

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

Have a good one!

Winter Wonder Land

2008-12-19T05:15:00.001-08:00

While I'm busy finishing up some knitting/sewing Christmas presents why don't you guys take a look at our snow storm we woke up to this morning.

Belated Halloween

2008-11-10T06:34:00.001-08:00

Trick or treat!

Family

2008-11-10T06:18:00.000-08:00

My side of the family came and went...It was good.

We went all over the place and had fun.

Baby Sweater on Two Needles (February) by Elizabeth Zimmermann

2008-09-25T08:24:00.001-07:00

The other day someone asked me about baby sweaters and it made me realize that I hadn't blogged about my favorite sweater pattern I knitted the heck out of this spring.

It's the Baby Sweater on Two Needles (February) by Elizabeth Zimmermann.

This pattern is so easy but it doesn't look it.

You gotta love patterns like that.

Someday I'll make her BSJ. But I'm guessing it wouldn't be just one.lol Anyway, here is one I made just as the pattern was written up except that I knitted the sleeves in the round. I made it out of easy washable worsted acrylic yarn and pearl like buttons so Norah could do her worst and still look like an angel.

Then I made one for Norah's sister, Sarah, with the same yarn and buttons.

You know how it can be with siblings.

Luckily, I have a good young man who is willing to model it here for you.

Now for this one...

I went up 2 needle sizes. Made the yoke longer by knitting 4 ridges after the last increase row. Knitted the body until I had 12 patterned repeat rows. 9”(Measuring from the armpit down) Then I knitted the sleeves in the round and with 13 patterned repeat rows. 9”(Measuring from the armpit down) and it fits a 3/4 toddler very well.

Of course, I just had to make one for my good little model only without the lace. You can only push a young man only so far.

I used the same mods I had for Sarah's sweater but with different yarn and buttons and it worked out great.

Then I decided to make one for Emily in an adult size.

For this one I held the worsted acrylic yarn double and knitted with a size 13 needle. The yoke I knitted as written. For the body I knitted only 10 pattern repeats for two reasons. First, I was running out of yarn that I was using for the body and second, I would have had to add enough pattern repeats so the next button hole looked right. I have 5 button holes. The last row of the lace pattern I decreased 10% then I knitted 4 ridges for a garter cuff in the yoke colored yarn and BO. Then for the sleeves I knitted in the round with 14 pattern repeats. The last row of the lace pattern I decreased 10% then I knitted 4 ridges for a garter cuff and BO.

Feather and Fan Finished

2008-09-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

I thought you might like to see Emily's shawl I made from Dorothea Fischer's Danish Shawl pattern from Spin-Off's Spring 2008 issue (This one's a Ravelry link).

Here's a close up of the lace.

Scared

2008-09-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

I saw this at the check out and was completely scared and a bit grossed out.

So of course I had Hubby take a picture* so I could share it with you all.
You're welcome!

* Will not be held responsible for nightmares

themes

2008-09-17T04:49:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that somedays you can really see a theme.
Let's take last night...I stayed up late and knitted some snails while listening to an audiobook.

I love doing that.

Anyway, here they are in the light of day...

Alexander's

Emily's

Michael's

and Gregory's...Well, actually it's now Emily's. Some adoption just work out that way.

And then amazingly when I opened up the house this morning I saw this guy on our window right where I could see he/she/it (I know the slug is a hermaphrodite...Does anyone know a good pronoun for situations like these that shows respect for both parties?). This is the first time I've seen one since moving here to Michigan.

I found this highly amusing...Is he looking for friends?

Now, I must say the other day's theme was how many sharp objects can I play with and walk away with small injuries.

Let's take the rotary cutter.

Did I make you cringe?

This was my first time using one and I must say that me and it were having fights...it won.

So then I decided to try needle felting because I saw this website

Those needles won too...So I went and cooked.

Yup, you can guess how that went too.

Ravelympics '08- Last Update

2008-08-19T05:16:00.000-07:00

I finished!

Here's are my Handspun Heptathlon Socks-

For Hubby's Christmas socks I CO 48 stitches, 1x1 rib for 2” plain, knit plain for 12 inches, and then I did an after thought heel and toe in different colored yarn. These are going to be very tempting to steal from Hubby.

And here's my Fleece to Finished Fencing hat.

This picture pretty much sums up how I feel about this whole event. As you can tell this is not a scarf. The scarf did not look as good as it could and was extrememly scratchy so I frogged it. I went back to the hat idea but this time with a liner. Since it was so plain I thought it needed flowers on it. My only high rated item on Ravelry has flowers on it so it must be attractive to more than one person.lol. Luckily the ugly inside with all the threads showing is covered by the liner which I thought was rather clever fo me. Anyway, I feel I messed this yarn up probably from the begining.

Let's go into the land of should have.

I should have:

Washed it more

Carded it better so there were no nubs maybe combed it

Spun it woolen/long draw style

Not over plied it

Oh well, maybe that wouldn't have worked either. I sure hope Sari will like it anyway it is after all part of her sheepies.

A Spouse Knitting Meme

2008-08-16T04:23:00.000-07:00

I saw this on Karen's blog and thought it was great. It's a knitter’s Spouse Knitting Meme.

I thought you’d all like see to the answers from my Hubby (my comments are in parenthesis).

1)What is your favorite thing about my knitting? Socks. No, Sweaters. No, Hats. It's definitely the ...(Then what's up with #3's answer?)

2)What is your least favorite thing about my knitting? Allergic reations (I still have not seen this happen, but I really do try to be good about it.)

3)What is something I have knitted, that you recall is good? Max's sweater. My sweater. My socks. My hats.

4)Do you think knitters have an expensive hobby? Yes, but it's cheaper than cars.

5)Do you have a stash of any kind? Cables

6)Have I ever embarrased you, knitting in public? No, but I've embarrassed you while you were knitting in public.

7) Do you know my favorite kind of yarn? Yes. Pretty and soft yarn that felts for felting projects, and doesn't felt for socks that was spun by either you or someone else. Not cotton elastic sock yarn. (I can think of three projects that I have felted. I asked him to help. Emily felts a whole lot more so maybe he thinks those kitties hanging to dry are mine.lol. I would NEVER use handspun for felting...that would hurt. So funny...I guess he still remembers me complaining about that cotton elastic sock yarn...you know the kind, right?)

8) Can you name another blog? Intertwinement (I guess he can't)

9)Do you mind my wanting to stop at knit shops wherever we go? No

10) Do you understand the importance of a swatch? Yes why don't you do it more. (Ouch...that was totally uncalled for. Really all his stuff fits him.)

11) Do you read my blog? Yes

12) If I didn't knit, what would be different? My sock drawer.

13) Anything you would like to add? I almost knit you a pair of socks. (He did make me a pair of slippers...proof below.)

He did an awesome job, right?

Ravelympics '08- Update

2008-08-14T04:45:00.000-07:00

Since I don't have any pictures to show you of my Ravelympics progress I thought I would lull you with some flute music.

Anyway...

Handspun Heptathlon- I knitted 5 inches of the socks when I decided I could no longer lie to myself. These sock were going to be way too big. I frogged them and started over...ouch! I hope to be finished with them today or tomorrow.

Fleece to Finished Fencing- I finally carded all the fiber I washed so I'll be spinning it all up soon. However, now I'm not sure I should make a hat maybe I should make a scarf like this one.

Just the Facts

2008-08-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

(1) A meme from Shawna. Hope you enjoy!
Rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. Present an image of martial discord (as in "war," not as in "marriage") from whatever period or situation you’d like.

(2) Top secret things about me...

1. My eyes are blue with yellow around the pupils so when my mood changes my eyes change colors too...Hubby can now read me like an open book.

2. I get a red rash across my left cheekbone when I eat something I really like to eat. Did I mention how easy it is for my Hubby to read me?

3. When I was in second grade I lost most of my hearing so I became pretty good at lip reading. I like to think this is one of the reasons I hate talking over the phone. I always feel like I can't hear.

4. I skipped third grade because I was too tall.

5. I had my first job when I was 13...Not only did I lie about my age to get the job but once I got it I wasn't very good at it. Ever since then I've tried very hard to be good at my jobs.

6. I was a preschool teacher before I had my children.

7. My knees sound like rice krispies when I bend them. I can never sneak up the stairs.

(3 &4) I'm letting it be up to you if you want to do this meme. Please leave a comment if you are so others can follow...Thanks.

(5) This image is from the Civil War. This is the closest image of martial discord you're getting out me...Why do we have to have an image of martial discord anyway?

Ravelympics '08- Handspun Heptathlon Update

2008-08-11T05:02:00.000-07:00

After the top dried I spun it up onto two bobbins. I want to make a two plied yarn so

I plied the two bobins together until the one bobbin ran out. With the left over bobbin I made a yarn cake so I could use both ends of it to create a two plied yarn easily...Thanks to youtube for that neat trick.

Then I made the yarn into two two yard skeins and counted that I had made 252 yards...YEAH! Next, I washed it and now it's drying.

Yarn Stats:

WPI-12, BPI-8 = DK

Ravelympics '08- Fleece to Finished Fencing Update

2008-08-11T04:42:00.001-07:00

Here's a picture of the little fleece taking a 30 minute cold bath with Joy. After I washed it three times this way it appeared less dirty so I moved on to the scouring part. To scour or remove most of the lanolin you need very hot water and detergent soap like Joy but this time around you must not agitate the fiber at all...all fun and games until someone felts.

Next, I carded the fleece. I must admit that I still need to card most of the washed fleece but since it rained most of the weekend I wasn't able to sit on the back porch and card and get most of that vegetable matter left out so I decided

to spin what I had carded. After three rolags I stopped.

Ravelympics '08

2008-08-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

It has started!!!

I signed up for Ravelympics '08 (A challenge to start and finish a project during the 2008 Olympic Summer Games.) in the following events:

Handspun Heptathlon

and

Fleece to Finished Fencing

Let's start off with some pictures from the Handspun Heptathlon. No, this is not a bruise from an accident..well, maybe it is but it's not a Ravelympics accident. We're using it here as a colorway. Thank you, Gregory, for being the only one in the family to be able to provide us with a living bruise. Many opinions were made about what colors make a bruise before we all saw Gregory's leg.

Now we know for sure.

Here is the bruised fiber drying in the sun. We'll all be hoping it dries quickly so we can move on to spinning it up into enough yarn for making a pair of socks. (Man...there are so many ways I can mess this thing up.)

Okay, now let's move on to the next event, Fleece to Finished Fencing.

Once again Gregory helped out...Thank you.

We picked out all the vegetable matter. Well, okay we really just picked out most of it...I think...I hope. Yes, I really should have some type of tarp under the fiber too but I don't think Hubby would ever forgive me if I made one of ours smell sheepy. Anyway, the fiber is now getting washed in a bucket. When it's done being dirty I'll scour it, spin it, and knit it into a hat. (Did I mention how many ways I can mess this thing up?)

On a side note my hands are nice and soft but sheepy smelling even after I've washed them ten times...good stuff.lol.

Feather and Fan

2008-08-02T05:29:00.000-07:00

I'm knitting Dorothea Fischer's Danish Shawl from Spin-Off's Spring 2008 issue (This one's a Ravelry link). It's one of those kind of patterns where you can spring off in your own direction either with your spinning, the colors you use, or textures...garter, stockinette, lace, etc. The best part of the shawl I think is that it's a tie shawl. I don't know about you but shawls usually wander around on me so I'm thinking that this shawl won't...How can it when it's two ends are tied behind one's back? Yeah...I know but it could work. Anyway, I'm knitting this for Emily and she just loves lace. This pattern has no lace. So I looked on Dorothea Fischer's website and got confused. Now, I don't know if I'm knitting a Heather Shawl or a Tie Shawl. Ravelry says Tie so I must be.lol. Is there even much of a difference? I saw her chart to explain the differences, but the knitted models didn't look like the charts to me. I must be blind. Some of her shawls have beautiful lace on the edges. I'm sure I could e-mail her and have it all straightened out, but really I just want to buy all her patterns and have done with it. Then reality sits in and I realize I shouldn't buy anything with Christmas looming in the near future. So I think to myself...No problem I'll just add some lace edging. I usually think I can do all sorts of designing in my pre-project mode and the family pretty much does too. That's nice...sometimes.lol. Anyway, I decided to knit an easy lace pattern on the edge. I picked feather and fan...saw that coming did ya?

Wendy's Feather and Fan

Here's how I "saw" one type of feather fans pattern so it can be used on many different numbers of stitches.

Row 1- K

Row 2- P for stockinette, K if you are in the round, or you want to have garter stitch

Row 3- [K2tog] _a_ times, [YO, K1] _b_ times, [SSK] _a_ times

Row 4- P for stockinette, K if you are in the round, or you want to have garter stitch

Repeat rows 1-4 until you're done.

a = half of b

b = both as added together

Example: your a is 3 then your b is 6 or a is 12 then your b is 24 and so on...

I still haven't quite figured out how to have my shawl increases be knitted in the lace pattern seemlessly without graph paper, computer programs and such, but really I have no idea how long I want this shawl to be so I'm simply adding stitches, knitting them plain, and then when I have enough of them on each corner I knit them with the lace pattern. I'm making sure they stay seperate with stitch markers.

Here's my birthday stitch markers purchased from Peanutgallery's Etsy shop. I love the write up on them..."Ever lose a loop? Accidentally do row 2 of the chart when you are on row 3? Fear not, brave knitter or crocheter, the in-a-pickle stitch markers will help you sort it all out. Note their fearful expressions, the pickles are more afraid of you than your knitting." I think these are just perfect for this project.lol.

Here's how I'm keeping track of what row I'm on in the lace pattern. Safety pin like stitch markers (Clover brand shown.) linked together to form a chain. The orange one on top is for row 1...it's working out pretty well for brainless knitting.

New England

2008-07-31T05:56:00.000-07:00

We went on a big tour of the New England states with only two planned stops. A computer thingy for Hubby's work in Massachusettes and a spinning lesson in Maine with Amy at her store Spunky Eclectic...my birthday present. Now you might remember Hubby dearly loves to add stickers to our map so here you can see him busily adding all the new states when we got back. Now the one rule of the stickers is that the van had to see these states (A great resale value I'm sure). Anyway, we added Massachusettes, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, and West Virginia.

My favorite state was Maine. I'm not sure if that was because of the lesson or the fact that it was really close in appearance to another state I love, Washington (west side).
The things I thought were weird/odd:
Nigara Falls- The falls have many "The offical" stores some not even in New York. Also the falls in New York is not named Nigara Falls, but the city is. The two falls are named Horseshoe and American. What you do see has been manipulated so it stays where it is and runs the power. Oh, and it cost $10 to park.
State Liquor Stores-New Hampshire what is this about? Is this how you fund the state budget? If so, you might want to tell California about it. Also your license plates are a little scary. I mean "freedom or die" seems a bit extreme and what's your definition of freedom?
Turnpikes- What do you do if you don't have enough change? Want to know? I've figured it out. I'll tell you even you don't want to know.lol. You just wait at the pay station until there's lots of cars behind you...honking all grouchy and stuff. Then you get out and vist them and tell them you don't have enough to pay and if they want through they need to give it to you...see, pure genius I tell 'ya

this is a test

2008-07-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

121

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Superior

Take the test!

Wow...who would of thought.lol

Now I just need a time travel machine that fits 7.

traverse city

2008-07-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

Only in Michigan, where things are kept simple, would they have you walk through the shallow water to climb up onto a boat one has rented. When it was 50 degree water we were told they had a floating ramp thingy, but luckily we didn't get that type of treatment. We, of course, picked the boat that was the farthest away. Maybe if we had touched the water first we might have picked the other boat but hey dragging 5 wee ones around is fun, right? Here we are at the beginning. After this picture was taken we put the camera into a plastic bag because we are soooo smart. It got up to low belly on us adults. Unfortunately, we forgot about the car keys that HAD a workable clicker into that little smarty bag. If you look real hard you can see the boat way out in the distance. Did I mention 70 degree water with wind? It does make one wonder what would we have done if we had wanted to take stuff with us, doesn't it? Oh, and guess what Crocs do float!

Have you've ever been on a boat and thought wow there's a handy table with cup holders. Well if so, let me amaze you here and now with another use for said boat tables. (click movie above here) See the amazing fun. If you ask me it's almost as good as a card board box. If you noticed me...I'm that hudled up ball behind Emily. I got real sea sick I mean lake sick and yes I was really happy that people where spinning next to me. Anyway....

When you have this group on your side you can find the impossible, a cherry pitter. A pretty cool cherry pitter if you ask me.

Cherry

2008-07-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

A summer is not complete without canning and canning mishaps.

Remember October...see it's a tradition of canning.

One must carry it on.

Here's about 20lbs of cherries and all without a pitter. Where our pitter is is a mystery but the funny thing is no stores carry them around us either (We called).

Have they all gone on vacation?

I wonder where.

Hubby wanted to document how fast I was.

I'm not, but have you ever heard that joke

from that movie, Without a Paddle, where two men are facing a bear?

The one man looks at the other man who is about to run and tells him

you can't out run a bear and the man replies I don't have to out run the bear

just you.

Yup, you got that right Hubby was the bear.

Just teasing...

really he was the other man who's bear meat 'cuz I'm faster than him :P

Wendy's Popcorn Flavor Mania

2008-07-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

Being the forth of July and with things exploding I thought it was a perfect time to post my popcorn flavors.

We use a Presto popcorn machine that uses 1/2 cup of popcorn at a time.
I hope you enjoy.

Hulk-

It's green but hopefully not mean.
2 T butter

1 T parsley

1/2 t salt

Fred Sauce-

In memory of Fred Weasley and Frank's Hot Sauce Wings.

3 T butter

3 dashes of Louisiana Hot Sauce

Theater-

No movie can be good without it.

2 T butter

1/2 t salt

Smokey Island-

Tabasco Hot Sauce is made on Avery Island off the coast of Louisiana where I'm sure at some point there must have been a fire or maybe it's just the smoked peppers I'm talking about...

3 T butter

5 dashes of Tabasco Chipotle Hot Sauce

Minoan-

Minoan frescoes show men and women participating in a sport of bull-leaping leading some archaeologists to believe that men and women held equal social status.

3 T butter

2 T Bulls Eye Original BBQ Sauce

Yogi Yummies-

Curry sauce is like ketchup...it's good on everything.

2 T butter

1 t curry powder

3 dashes Cholula Garlic Hot Sauce

1/2 t nutritional yeast

1/4 t salt

Radish-licius-

I doubt many Americans have had the real wasabi root but I love how its hotness is more akin to hot mustard than a hot chili pepper. It produces vapors that irritate the nasal passages more than the tongue or throat. The plant grows naturally along stream beds in mountain river valleys in Japan or in very dedicated gardener's gardens.

2 T butter

1 t wasabi powder or paste

1/4 t salt

Dill-iscious-

My favorite dill pickles are Kosher Garlic Dills. How about you?

2 T butter

1 T vinegar

1 t dried dill

1/2 t salt

1/8 t garlic

*can add of few dashes of hot sauce if you like hot kosher garlic dill pickles ;)

Kung Who-

A classic dish in Szechuan cuisine, right?

2 T butter

1/2 t peanut butter

1/2 t Braggs or soy sauce

1/8 t smoked paprika

1/8 t powdered garlic

1/8 t powdered onion

*can add of few dashes of hot sauce for a spicier version

Old Timer-

Sorry to all those youth challenged folks out there.

2 T butter

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

Paco-

A traditional Mexican dish, right?

2 T butter

1 t taco seasonings

Yeasty Beasty-

So cheesy...

3 T butter

3 T nutritional yeast

1/2 t salt

1/4 t yellow mustard

Hi 5-

The five basic flavors of Chinese cooking — sweet, sour, bitter, savory, and salty.

2 T butter

1 t chinese five spice

Ya Pop-
If the flavor is good enough for a Canadian potato chip then they're good enough for popcorn, but I still say eat at your own risk unless you're a kid.
2 T butter
1T ketchup

Italian-

If your salad can take it than so can your popcorn.

3 T butter

1 T italian seasonings

1/8 t salt

Cinnagar-

Sweet goodness.

2 T butter

1 t sugar

1/2 t powdred cinnamon

Fruity-

Aren't we all?

2 T butter

2 t fruit syrup of any flavor you have on hand

Pan Pop-

Pancakes are always a hit. They hit the ceilings, wall, and sometimes even a plate.

3 T butter

1 T maple syrup

1/2 t nutmeg

dash of vanilla extract

Cookie Pop-

Chocolate chip cookies are a Mama'a best tool.

2 T butter

1 t maple syrup

1/2 t molasses

1/4 t salt

1/4 t cinnamon

sprinkling of smashed up chocolate chips

Minty Pop-

According to the International Dairy Foods Association, mint chocolate chip ice cream is the tenth most popular ice cream.

2 T butter

1 t chocolate syrup

1/8 t mint extract

Bumpy Lane Pop-

We may never know who created rocky road ice cream, but at least we have it.

2 T butter

2 t chocolate syrup

1/2 t almond butter

sprinkling of cut up marshmallows

Choco- Pops-

Chocolate...we need not say more.

2 T butter

2 t chocolate syrup

Pie Pop-

An American classic...okay,they originally appeared in England, but they're still good.

2 T butter

1 T fruit butter of any flavor you have on hand

Gingerbread Pop-

Look out for witches especially if you're a hungry lost child in the woods.

2 T butter
1 t sugar
1/2 t molasses
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon

1/4 t ginger

1/4 t clove

Play...Where's Wendy?

2008-06-30T17:56:00.000-07:00

There's some more photos of the Gathering up on another website.

(Thanks Meritt and Kevin!)

Great Wolf Lodge

2008-06-27T04:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when we get to go with Hubby for his work it's pretty good.

The Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City is good. It has a huge indoor water park. They have other things to do, but we never did do them...maybe next time.
If you noticed, Emily was wearing a modest swim suit in the picture above. I made one for each of us. We love them.

You can find more about them here.

A General Gathering

2008-06-23T06:06:00.001-07:00

We went to a Gathering this weekend.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we plan on going to more.

It's so nice to be among friends.

What did ya say?

2008-06-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

The power went out Sunday afternoon for a couple of days for us this week. It was very interesting to me to see how others in the neighborhood handled it. It seems not much can affect a Michiganer.lol. People simply spent more time outdoors playing, trying to cool down, and begging neighbors who had generators if they could hook up their frigerators up to it with their extension cords. One corner sidewalk was especially decorated. I'm guessing it was a very generous neighbor or maybe they were charging a small fee.lol. Now when I listened to our solar/dynamo radio, the news on 950 am, they said there could be heard the hum of generators throughout some neighborhoods. Well, I really think the word hum is an understatement. Those generators got so loud that it was a relief when one ran out of gas. In fact, Alex cried when they restarted them up. Anyway, I think we did pretty well and I don't think I'll buy a generator anytime soon. They just didn't seem worth it to me.

However, we did used my sun oven for food and an aladdin lamp at night for light. If you've read about how bright an aladdin lamps can get but didn't believe...well, I'm here to tell ya it's true. Those suckers are bright and can produce some heat too. Like a dork I didn't think about how hot they would get. Anyway, here's a tip...they work even better in front of a mirror.lol.

My first Spin

2008-05-27T07:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my MIL I now own a Matchless...yeah, baby! So here's a picture of me trying to figure out how things go together. I did get it mostly figured out, but later that night I broke down and printed out Schacht Spindle Co., Inc Spinning Wheel Instructions. I now know where the brake is and I hope that will solve my over twisting problem.

Anyway, I spent yesterday spinning on the back porch. What a lovely way to spend the day. I must do it again. I asked Michael to take a movie of me spinning for the first time on my "new" spinning wheel. I thought you might like to see a little of my world.lol. Don't worry Alex was found. He was next to the car picking fairy clocks.

Here is the result of my very first spining on a wheel. I don't think I did too bad of a job. I'm thinking a hat would be a good idea, but first I need to see how much I made.lol.Here is my second try. Yeah, I couldn't wait to spin more. In fact, I think today would be a good day to do some more spinning.lol.

woooo wooster fiber fest

2008-05-27T07:14:00.001-07:00

Thanks to my friend, Cassy, we went to the Wooster Fiber Feast. We had a great time at our first fiber feast. Well, Emily was a bit sad, but that was because she was unsuccessful in convincing her Daddy that it would be a good idea to let her buy a baby angora bunny. Oh, well...Here Gregory is looking at moths. Cecropia moths to be exact. Yes, I know I too though it was quite daring to have a booth with moths at a fiber feast, but nobody seem to be hatching evil plans.lol.

The Alamo

2008-05-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know this picture isn't of the Alamo but it is a picture of the mirror maze that's across the street from the Alamo. We went to both and I liked the Alamo better.lol.

The U.P.

2008-05-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

We were all over the the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Was it pretty?

You betcha!

My favorite...the western side.

Crochet Month

2008-04-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

April has been a crazy change for me.
Why?
Well, because I've been (gasp) crocheting.
Yeah, I usually don't enjoy crochet because I can't read the directions too well.lol. My Mom taught me in a very free form way when I was little so I can create pretty much anything I want but she never taught me the names of the stitches. Anyway, something clicked lately and so I've been doing easy patterns all month like...

Fan Bookmark by Crochetroo
Rectangular Granny Square Afghan by Erin Lindsey
Don't worry I was still able to knit a pair of socks and a baby sweater ;)

Thank you

2008-04-29T06:34:00.001-07:00

Thank you so much Flibbertigibbet Bunny !
We love it!

Spring Snow

2008-03-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

Big fat fluffy spring snowflakes...simply the best!

Lake Michigan

2008-03-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

We saw Lake Michigan the other day! It was awesome and it really felt like an ocean especially the sandy beach part. I can't wait for it to be a bit warmer so we can actually play at one of the many lakes around us. When we lived in California one of the things we loved doing was buying/making some food and parking by the beach and eating. It always was fun for me because I like to look but rarely do I like to do the ocean thing.lol. The water is usually is just too cold. So anyway, I'm going to plan some picnics for summer. If you have any ideas to make a great picnic let me know...thanks

Now on to knitting...I saw this youtube an well it's changed the way I do my decreases especially on my socks. Go on it won't hurt you...watch it. Who knows maybe you'll like it too.lol. Anyway, it is just great looking to me and solves one of the many issues I have with SSK. Now you see I've tried doing just SSK like they tell you and I've also tried SSK by knitting two stitches together through the back loops but it always looks crappy to me...not at all how K2tog looks to me and SSK is suppose to be it's mirror image, right? So a long time ago, I decided liked to do my SSK by actually doing it by one stitch slipped knitwise then the second stitch slipped purlwise and then knit them together. I thought this was about as good as I could get it to look but I was wrong and boy am I glad I was because I still do it my preferred way but on the second row I knit the decreased stitch twisted and it looks GREAT....FANTASTIC. At some point in time I need to watch the other Cat Bordhi clips because this one was a true gem to me.lol

The Pesky People

2008-03-17T05:12:00.000-07:00

They did it again!

Those Leprechauns...they, they did it again to our house.

Why, oh, why do they always do it to our house?

They opened everything they could get their wee little hands on...making a mess as usual.

We simple need to put out traps next year.

Anyway, I just have one question...What do those Leprechauns drink to leave green in our toilets?

Well, I hope you guys have a Happy St. Patty's Day and watch out for those green toilets!

Tiger Snail

2008-03-12T17:56:00.000-07:00

Even though it's a bit early in the year for a snail to come out of hibernation, this tiger snail decided to brave the elements in our household today.

Brave little beasty.

At first, he was a bit shaky and wobbled around.

But then he found his inner strength and became determined to do his best.

Unfortunately, his best wasn't much and in the end...

Tiger didn't even bother with the garlic and parsley butter.

I guess he wasn't French*.

To see more snails in your household you might want to go here.

*Just so you know more then the French eat snails like the Portuguese, Spanish, Greeks, Itailians, etc.

Lion love

2008-03-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

Alexander turned the big 3 this week. Here he is with one of his presents, a lion. His big sister made him this awesome toy all by herself by hand. Way to go...Emi! Anyway, when he wears his halloween/jammie lion outfit I made him and he holds his new lion they look like brothers.lol.

Fuzzy Wuzzies

2008-03-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

I should have knitted these bad boys quicker but every time I knit something for myself it always takes me longer. Next time, I'll think it's for someone else so it gets done faster. (knitter's logic at work)

I followed the directions to a T except for the fact that I didn't have 10 1/2 sized needles but 10 luckily it didn't seem to have mattered. After I knitted my very large slippers I popped them in with a regular wash load and then pulled them out, tried them on, and let them dry...perfect!

OK...not perfect until I embroidered them. Now perfect!

Acrylic Yarn

2008-03-06T05:18:00.000-08:00

I thought I would make a list to show you what the benefits are for using acrylic instead of cotton yarn to make a wash/dish cloths:

1. cheaper

2. abrasive

3. dries quicker

4. last longer

5. takes longer to get moldy smelling*

Now in Japan, they even make a yarn that is antibacterial. They use it to make what they call tawashi or in other words a cute scrubber. You can buy the yarn here from ichigonopantsu's etsy shop. I'm sure there are other places that sell this yarn but that's the only place I know of right now.

*easily fixed by regular trips through the washing machine or pop it into the dishwasher with your dirty dishes.

clover fever

2008-03-04T08:48:00.001-08:00

Monday was an odd day were I found myself ditching the fuzzy wuzzy slippers and making some clover love instead. Of course, the dark yarn doesn't show too well here so just use your imagination and picture a three leaf clover in garter stitch in the middle of my new dish cloth. You know I think the acrylic yarn makes a great scubber for my dishes. I think I need to make some more since I find them so easy and satisfying.

Adventures in sick land

2008-03-03T07:17:00.000-08:00

I've decided to try my luck with some fuzzy feet. I hope to finish them by today but I have my doubts. I'm almost too sick to knit. I hate that! Anyway, the house now has 0 people well. Yeah...we have totality! The house also smells like vinegar due to me trying to keep things clean.lol. I tried my hardest to make sure that if people did get sick it would be short lived but that wasn't to be because I believe we have two maybe three different sickness in the house. I know for sure we have croup and the stomach flu but Michael, Emily, and Hubby have something a bit different. Although Michael is the worst of anyone today. Poor little mite. You know it's bad when your little ones just sleep.lol. Hubby today has to leave town on a business trip so I'm in store for lots of fun. Although, I would still rather be in my shoes than his. It's gotta suck being in a hotel sick than at home. Well, I hope everyone else is healthy.

UPDATE: Hubby came home. I've figured out he and the others have a strain of the flu that wasn't in the flu shot we all got...let the good times roll baby.

1 year in 4

2008-02-29T10:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Leap Day!

Snowing

2008-02-26T05:44:00.000-08:00

I thought you might like to see what was going on here.

I know, shocking isn't it?

I mean who would have thought it would be snowing.lol.

No time...

2008-02-22T04:35:00.000-08:00

I found a very addictive group at Ravelry called Ravelry Games. Come play!

kalamazoo and me too

2008-02-21T06:27:00.000-08:00

If you ever find yourself in Colon, Michigan (populations around 1,200) and you've exhausted all the bad puns you can think of you just might find this bridge still under construction with this orange sign which I thought was amusing enough to blog about. I'm guessing this means there are enough plain folk in the area to warrant said sign. However, I only saw two houses with horse buggies (not that I saw the whole town) so I'm not sure if this sign really means that there are enough bad drivers living in this neighborhood who don't seem to know the difference between a car and a horse and need this sign to help them out.lol. Either way, it is an interesting thought as to why one would feel there is such a need as this large sign to post. Personally, I think that the two blind child in area signs I saw in this town were a much better sign to post on the road. And because I have nothing else to keep my mind from odd thoughts I noticed in Colon that the school children who rode the bus got dropped off at their driveways which seemed pretty cool to me unless one was embarrassed of their parents house that is.lol. I had to walk two blocks to get to mine as a child so I guess I really should say it was jealousy.
So when we left Colon behind (I just had to write that.lol) we headed to Kalamazoo. Hubby has some tech show here so we tagged along. Anyway, I thought I'd show you how the hat turned out. I finished it on the 19th and it is 21.5" and was immediately adopted by Max. I think 21.5" is a small adult so I'm pleased with it's out come although I'm more pleased with it's adoption.lol.

Tuesday mornings...lalala

2008-02-19T06:33:00.000-08:00

I'm making my third Sweet Baby Cap. I love this pattern. It's so quick, a wee bit of interesting shaping, and great fitting. The first one I morphed into a newborn size which was about a 14" cap by CO 109 and using 16 sts. between the <> and only using 8 pattern repeats. The second one I knitted was the 2 year size on the pattern and it turned out great. Now this one I'm working on this day I hope will fit an adult. I tried finding one on Ravelry so I didn't have to keep ripping out but I couldn't so I been ripping out but not as much as I thought I would which is making me extremely happy.lol. I'm following the 2 year pattern but using 3.5mm and 4mm needles so far so good.

In other news, Emily has been adventuring into the wide world web with her new blog http://www.emilysmagicthreads.blogspot.com/ and getting on Ravelry (emismagicthreads) and boy is she having fun. She even started a pre-teen group. Of course, that means more work for me because I proof read everything just to be safe but it's been worth it. If you get a chance please comment over there I'm sure she would enjoy that.lol.

Ravelry discovery

2008-02-17T12:35:00.000-08:00

I'm in the group called reclaiming the home on ravelry and they have a team at this funny site that I think is an awesome way to get my recovering stomache flu self motived to do my chores again. Check it out http://www.chorewars.com/help.php#what

Happy Valentine!

2008-02-14T05:07:00.000-08:00

I thought for Valentine I would show you how I make heart shaped pancakes. It was a little hard to film and do at the same time and then Gregory had to start asking me some hard questions so don't expect greatness here.lol.

Anyway, here are some hearts cooking. Oh, and I used a 1/4 Cup measuring cup and basically made the letter V with the batter. I think any bigger and flipping would be too hard.
Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Mousy Mischief

2008-02-10T05:58:00.000-08:00

Look what those mouse mittens tried to do...

That's right! They tried to steal my Wild Fiber magazine. I don't care what they tried to tell me about how they wanted to know more about those cute Vicunas. I mean I know that those Vicunas are cute but still that's just no excuse for bad manners. I mean what kind of thanks is that for creating the wee little beasties? Not much I say.

When I took the magazine back you wouldn't believe what those mittens said...totally not PG.

(These are so fun to play with I can't wait to see what Alex does with them on Valentine's.)

My Morning

2008-02-08T06:18:00.000-08:00

I feel like dukie. When I complained out loud Max thought I was talking about Duke Ickthorn (sp?) on Gummy Bears which I thought was funny because I would never have put those two thoughts together. Kids...you gotta love them. Anyway, I think the snow shoveling finally caught up with me. Please remind me not to shovel durning a storm but after next time and also that shoveling three times in one day is just no good. So I ache and have a runny nose and I ran out of funny books. This doesn't bode well for the rest of the family. Oh, well...Knitting will fix it. It fixes everything and I know it's a rare thing for me to post mid project but I though I should start. So here I go...I'm knitting up Valentine gifts. Emily is getting a doll blankie and a Ken doll sweater. Michael is getting a sweater vest that I finally finished. Gregory is getting bear mittens. Max is getting sewn tiger slippers that I hopefully will be able to make tomorrow. Hubby will get....(He might read this so if he does he will now know he gets squat. (Insert evil laugh here.)) and Alex will be gettin these mouse mittens. I'm working on the ears right now. I think the ears are what make these mittens so cute. In fact, I think inferior ears would be worst than say not fitting. Yup, that's how important I think these little ears are and I really hope I can get them as cute as the picture on the pattern. When I looked at the others on ravelry it gave me hope. May the force be with me...

Wendy's Vegan Morning Cake

2008-01-29T08:08:00.000-08:00

Wendy's Vegan Morning Cake

makes 2-9x9 pans of yummies

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Whiles that's heating up mix

6 cups of flour

(I grind my own flours. For this I use white winter wheat. I know I should use soft, but I have more hard in the pantry so I'm using it. If you use other flours expect a larger rise out of your cake.)

1/2 cup oil

(I use canola)

1 tablespoon Nutmeg

3 tablespoons Baking Powder

(Please use Non-Aluminum for your good health)

Now remove 1 cup of your mixture and set aside for your crumb topping

Stir in about 4 cups of soy eggnog milk or so to get a good batter.

Divide batter into 2 9x9 pans.

(I use silicone ones. If you don't have this you'll need to grease your pans.)

Sprinkle crumb topping on top of batter.

(You might want to add some chopped nuts like almonds too)

Pop into the oven and cook for about 40 minutes or until the sides start to pull away from the pan.

While letting them cool down you can mix up some icing or

as Max's says snail slim by mixing

1 tablespoon of soy eggnog milk or so with

1 cup of powdered sugar

Drizzle on top of cooled cakes

and then the most important part

consume

I've made two other flavors with the same basic concept which are (Drum roll please...)

Ginger Bread Cake Option:

Mix

6 cups flour

1/3 cup Molasses

1 teaspoon clove, nutmeg, ginger, allspice

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

3 tablespoons Baking Powder

Don't forget to take out a cup right here before you add the soymilk for your topping.

3 1/2 soymilk (or whatever milk you like)

Bake

Don't forget the icing only this time use soymilk (or whatever milk you like)

Pumpkin Cake Option:

Same as Ginger Bread Cake but add one can of pumkin puree (about two cups) and use less soymilk (or whatever milk you like).

note:

Sometimes the crumb topping needs a bit more oil to form lumps.

The hunt

2008-01-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

Erin is doing it again.

How could I resist such fun?

Right, that's what I thought, so let's move on with the fun.

The Hunt List list is:

a funny bumper sticker.

I couldn't decide which one was better

Take your picture with someone in uniform.(any type of uniform will do.)

The only person I could think of was a police officer but I just didn't have the guts to either get into trouble and ask to take a picture of it or just ask to take a picture either way I figured I'd get into trouble and that would mess with my no ticket record, so sorry, but this one was a no go. Hubby wanted a hot dog on a stick girl...go figure!

An unusual perspective -- could be everyone's shoes, or the just top of their heads. Here I am in my ducky jammies I made (I should get extra points, right? I mean I am showing off extra secret stuff here), but I'm thinking of improving them with another layer (flannel) sewn in, because I don't know maybe because it's way below freezing! Oh, and that's my unfinshed paintings on the wall. (See another way secret stuff...my art work)

a movie poster

I have no comment on this one

neon lights

Yup, another no comment...although technically I am making a comment,huh?
a directional sign (a sign that points)

Hubby swear that the second one counts I don't think so...do you? I will admit that it looks cool, though.
salt and pepper shakers.

Don't they look stately?

This is the first time we have ever had shakers so this one is funny to me. And no I didn't get them just for this photo.lol

something that appears out of place.

Yes, that's my Hubby's shirt. I have no idea why Hubby decided that this is where shirts should go, but I love teasing him over things like this. I'm also glad that I found this today because otherwise I was thinking about throwing my underpinnings all over the snow in our yard. Although, that might get me more points, but come on I'm already like bearing enough secrets here to get me like a hundred extra points, right?

Okay, that's it!
Oh...Happy Bday Erin!

Mrs. Thaw

2008-01-14T05:46:00.000-08:00

Last week was a sad week.

We had rain and you know what that means.

Frosty passed away in the thaw.

Yup, all that's left is his nuts and twigs.

Mystery Shawl/Swan Lake

2008-01-11T08:49:00.000-08:00

I finially decided what to do about the Mystery Shawl/ Swan Lake. You see once I found out what it was going to look like and I decided that that was not the kind I would want to wear but most importantly knit.
At first I thought I would knit it straight with the design (I think it's ) called cat paws in the middle with the same edge and then repeat the begining point at the end but I've decided that I probably wouldn't wear that either so instead of it looking at me forlornly I decided that it needed to be loved and what better way to be loved than by a child. So it will be gifted to Emily for Valentine (I hope I can keep her from reading this.lol) as a doll blankie.
Hopefully, this will work out.

I really wish I could take a better picture of the beads on this shaw....I mean doll blankie.

new/old year

2008-01-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

2007 will be know as our year of change. I wonder what 2008 will be.

2007 knits

Socks: 24 pairs

Hats and headwear: 7

Baby items: 2

Scarves/Stoles: 0

Mittens (fingerless or not): 10

Shawls: 3

Tops/Sweaters: 4

Sweater vests:5

Misc:

Toys:3

As you can see I've not blogged about a lot of my projects. I had really wanted to document everything I had made so I could look back and see them all but life got in the way and then ravelry came and I was uploading there with my finished projects instead of doing it here. Ok...I'll confess, I haven't uploaded all my projects there either, but I think I might and I know I won't here.

You know it's all how you look at it.

Anyway, it's a new year with new knits.

so here's the list

Socks

I love them and I think I'll always will. This year I plan on knitting more really thick socks because now I can and not have to worry about heat strokes.lol. Have I mentioned how much I'm loving the cold weather? Well, I do. Call me crazy. I already know I am. So there...ha!

Mittens

It's way too cool that we need them now. Have I mentioned how much I'm loving the cold weather?lol

Shawl

I want to make a simple and plain one like the Prairie one in the book Folk Shawls and finish up the one I'm (not)working on. lol.

Doily

I'm not sure why I want to but I want to make one for Emily like Valentine Design by Marianne Kinzel that is in the book First Book of Modern Lace Knitting.

Christmas Decorations

I realized this year that I hate most of our Christmas decorations. We got them for free so I should be grateful and I was several years ago. I'm over it. I want handmade (by us) stuff now. My plan is to make a wee little sweater/sock/mitten out of my left over sock yarn for the tree. That way I can remember long dead socks for years to come. Either that or make a huge quilt like blankie with the sock yarn left overs, but that would take forever to become finished...so I think I'll stick to the tree decor idea.

so that's the realistic list now onto the dream list

Ice Queen by Rosemary Hill off of knitty

Bellocq by Marnie MacLean located here

Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding located here

Christmas

2007-12-26T04:55:00.000-08:00

I hope your Christmas was sweet!
(You're seeing: vegan whole wheat carob chip cookies, vegan whole wheat gingerbread men cookies, vegan sugar cookies, and vegan peppermint butter mint snowmen)

Weekend fun

2007-12-17T05:57:00.000-08:00

Emily and I came up with an idea that if it ever snowed enough we would build a ramp off the brick porch that would curved around so you could get a long run and not hit the garage. Well, yesterday was the day. It finially snowed and snowed and snowed. It was great! The whole family got out and built the dream ramp oh, and try to repair the iceman. At one point we had about six other kids who had seen the fun while helping their parents shovel snow come over and try it out too.

Iceman

2007-12-13T05:04:00.000-08:00

So how long can the Snowman now Iceman keep his head.

The tension, the excitement, oh...it never ends here.lol.

(Why does it always snow on trash day? lol)

Whooooooo?

2007-12-05T06:23:00.000-08:00

Did ya know that when you have a cable pattern that you want to knit in the opposite direction than it's written you need to modify it in two ways?

Me either...Ok, you probably do but let's pretend you don't...ha!

So...let's say you're making a hat with owls on it, for an example. Your son likes owls. This is going to be a good Birthday gift. However, really you only want to knit one of those pesky owls smack dab in the middle of your sons forhead because you've never done cables and that Birthday is near very near. Alright, now let's also say that you only have one skien of Kiogu that said son proudly picked out at the store and you want to make sure it is used to the fullest. Top down you've read uses less yarn so you're going to knit it from the top down, right? Good. Ok...now you think to yourself I'm smarter than the average bear I can figure this out...no sweat. Really you should be telling yourself that you need no owl...ever. Said son will never remember this hat or even owls by next year much less 30 years from now. Go knit nice plain items, but you don't. You figure that you'll just knit the pattern in the opposite way but when you've completed the pattern it doesn't look right. What's up? You're a genius this shouldn't be happening especially to you. Then you think, leave it no one will know, but it bugs you, you're perfect this is not perfect by a lot. So it's now or never...so you bravely do it, well almost. You loudly rip it out with lots of grumbling. Ok, really you just rip out the pattern and knit it back up...I mean down. You knit it in the opposite direction like before but this time you also flip all the cables. So left ones now go right and so on. Even better the kids had looked on in awe and you're back on your pedestal.

Life is good...even for the owls.

November?

2007-12-03T12:12:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you can come upon a scene and it hits you that that one scene sums up so much that you need you remember it and savior it.

Luckily, I caught this one on my camera for all to see how November was for me/us. This is Alexander asleep on the stairs.

Yup, that I think sums up November...how about you?

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

Hope you had a good one!

(Back row: Wizard, Harry Potter, Corpse Bride,

Front row: Mama bunny, White Tiger, Baby Lion)

So...

2007-10-25T07:16:00.000-07:00

what do you do when you want to decorate for Halloween but all your stuff is in another state and you can't spend any money because you need to look really good to the new loan people?

You look around and get creative with printer paper (you always have this on hand when you're married to a geek...Oh, I mean computer sales man) and painter's tape. Why do I have painter's tape. Well, when we where buying the other house I bought paint, brushes, and tape. Now even though I know logically it was the comps and a not so great realtor that lost our other house I really think it's because I bought this paint stuff. Silly, huh?

Anyway, I think the decorations came out pretty good.