Does anyone else buy candy they know the kids don't like much just so they can have part of it? No? I'm the only one? Ha!
Knitting
On the needles
I started one project this week. It is a Stephen West design called the Colonnade Shawl. I will add a pic of my progress at the bottom of this post. You can also see it in my ravelry projects. I am about halfway finished. I'm not sure I am loving my choice of colors, but oh well! It is the first thing I've made just for myself. It is also the first pattern I've made with a lace section. Wish me luck!
April 9, 2012
April 2, 2012
Almost finished!
First off I will tell you about my knitting.
On my needles:
I am a handful of rows away from finishing the baby blanket I have been working on for the last three weeks. It will (embarrassingly enough) be my first finish of the year. I got out of the crafty habit for a while, but now I have no idea why! I am so excited. This blanket and the quilt my aunt helped me make will have pictures taken and ready to be posted as soon as the baby shower in may is over. I wish I could show them off now, but they are still super secret gifts.
UFOs:
I still haven't finished the skirt that I started knitting for my daughter last year. I put it up and haven't worked on it in months. I plan to start on it and finish it in the next month or so. I would like her to be able to wear it when the weather starts to cool down again this year. If I wait too much longer it won't fit, so somebody needs to yell at me occasionally to work on it!
Also the sassy stripe socks I started last year didn't get completed. I took them out of the purse I had them in and my bamboo circular needle I had them on was broken and most of the stitches of one of the socks had fallen off. You might not remember, but this was my first attempt at socks. I went with two at a time, toe up on one circular needle. I ended up making the heel too soon so they didn't fit me. I am going to frog them and start over. I didn't like how the pattern I had chosen was turning out anyway, so they weren't a big loss. I am sad about the needle though. I really need to get a project bag or two!
Future craftiness:
I plan on knitting some vanilla socks with my sassy stripe yarn, hopefully in my size! I also had promised to make some slippers for a friend late last year but never got them cast on after I finished my Christmas knitting. In addition to those two projects and Serenity's spiral skirt, I want to learn to crochet. I started learning last week and hope to take time to learn at least enough to make some hats and baby booties. I also have a few more super secret gifts to make for my best friend and hope to get them done before the baby shower.
Now for gardening and cooking!
Garden:
I still have most of my seedlings alive! Some are looking a little sickly, but I have transplanted some to bigger pots until I can get them out to the garden.
I haven't gotten the garden ready yet. By all zone maps for my area it is still too early to put them out. I need to find someone with a tiller soon, though, so I can get everything tilled up and figure out where I want to plant everything. Last year the squash and tomatoes took over the garden until I could barely walk through without squishing something. I need to plan it out differently this year.
Also I have to figure out where I want a strawberry bed. I bought ten strawberry plants and want to make them a nice bed that Joey won't mow over. I went today to my aunts farm and collected some rabbit and chicken droppings to mix in the horrible clay dirt we have and also some pieces of wood to place around the perimeter of the bed to protect it from Joey. I got a good amount of straw for the bed and still need to go back and get more for the garden after it is tilled. The straw plus the landscaping fabric I used in the garden last year made the weeding a breeze.
Cooking:
As for cooking, I haven't tried a lot of new recipes. I found a nice chocolate oatmeal cake recipe and a butterless oatmeal cookie recipe on allrecipes.com that turned out well. I made them to share with my friend who is with child and deserves some sweets occasionally.
Tonight I didn't feel like making a big meal since it was still close to eighty outside at dinner time, so I threw together some ingredients I had on hand and made a one pot meal. I started with some wheat spaghetti noodles. After they were cooked to almost how I like them, i drained them and I added some frozen bell pepper and onions, frozen chopped spinach leaves, a jar of spaghetti sauce with mushrooms, and some baked chicken I had in the freezer. Cooked it until everything was hot. I had thawed out the frozen ingredients mostly so it didn't take long. It turned out great!
If you are wondering about the frozen chicken, I had cooked six pounds of chicken at the beginning of last month. I always stock up on boneless skinless chicken breast every month because we love it so much. I decided that it would be nice to have some on hand already cooked so on days I didn't want to mess with a time consuming meal I could just throw that in with some pasta or rice and add a few frozen or canned ingredients and be done. I finally got a cast iron stovetop grill a couple of months ago and love how the chicken tastes when grilled on it, so I grilled up three pounds and also baked three pounds for variety. I cooled it, cubed it, separated it into one pound servings, bagged it and threw it in the freezer and have been loving it!
I can't wait until the garden starts producing some fresh veggies for me!
Then I will be able to have fresh ingredients instead of frozen or (ick) canned.
I think I have rambled on long enough for tonight. I don't have anything ready for review right now. I have a few crafting books I want to read and review soon, as well as some magazines and podcasts. If anyone has anything specific they want to hear about, feel free to let me know either on here or on ravelry. I am anonymous76 on ravelry for those that don't know already. Also you can email me at ahume08@gmail.com. I love hearing from my loyal tanglers!
Until next time.... Happy crafting!
On my needles:
I am a handful of rows away from finishing the baby blanket I have been working on for the last three weeks. It will (embarrassingly enough) be my first finish of the year. I got out of the crafty habit for a while, but now I have no idea why! I am so excited. This blanket and the quilt my aunt helped me make will have pictures taken and ready to be posted as soon as the baby shower in may is over. I wish I could show them off now, but they are still super secret gifts.
UFOs:
I still haven't finished the skirt that I started knitting for my daughter last year. I put it up and haven't worked on it in months. I plan to start on it and finish it in the next month or so. I would like her to be able to wear it when the weather starts to cool down again this year. If I wait too much longer it won't fit, so somebody needs to yell at me occasionally to work on it!
Also the sassy stripe socks I started last year didn't get completed. I took them out of the purse I had them in and my bamboo circular needle I had them on was broken and most of the stitches of one of the socks had fallen off. You might not remember, but this was my first attempt at socks. I went with two at a time, toe up on one circular needle. I ended up making the heel too soon so they didn't fit me. I am going to frog them and start over. I didn't like how the pattern I had chosen was turning out anyway, so they weren't a big loss. I am sad about the needle though. I really need to get a project bag or two!
Future craftiness:
I plan on knitting some vanilla socks with my sassy stripe yarn, hopefully in my size! I also had promised to make some slippers for a friend late last year but never got them cast on after I finished my Christmas knitting. In addition to those two projects and Serenity's spiral skirt, I want to learn to crochet. I started learning last week and hope to take time to learn at least enough to make some hats and baby booties. I also have a few more super secret gifts to make for my best friend and hope to get them done before the baby shower.
Now for gardening and cooking!
Garden:
I still have most of my seedlings alive! Some are looking a little sickly, but I have transplanted some to bigger pots until I can get them out to the garden.
I haven't gotten the garden ready yet. By all zone maps for my area it is still too early to put them out. I need to find someone with a tiller soon, though, so I can get everything tilled up and figure out where I want to plant everything. Last year the squash and tomatoes took over the garden until I could barely walk through without squishing something. I need to plan it out differently this year.
Also I have to figure out where I want a strawberry bed. I bought ten strawberry plants and want to make them a nice bed that Joey won't mow over. I went today to my aunts farm and collected some rabbit and chicken droppings to mix in the horrible clay dirt we have and also some pieces of wood to place around the perimeter of the bed to protect it from Joey. I got a good amount of straw for the bed and still need to go back and get more for the garden after it is tilled. The straw plus the landscaping fabric I used in the garden last year made the weeding a breeze.
Cooking:
As for cooking, I haven't tried a lot of new recipes. I found a nice chocolate oatmeal cake recipe and a butterless oatmeal cookie recipe on allrecipes.com that turned out well. I made them to share with my friend who is with child and deserves some sweets occasionally.
Tonight I didn't feel like making a big meal since it was still close to eighty outside at dinner time, so I threw together some ingredients I had on hand and made a one pot meal. I started with some wheat spaghetti noodles. After they were cooked to almost how I like them, i drained them and I added some frozen bell pepper and onions, frozen chopped spinach leaves, a jar of spaghetti sauce with mushrooms, and some baked chicken I had in the freezer. Cooked it until everything was hot. I had thawed out the frozen ingredients mostly so it didn't take long. It turned out great!
If you are wondering about the frozen chicken, I had cooked six pounds of chicken at the beginning of last month. I always stock up on boneless skinless chicken breast every month because we love it so much. I decided that it would be nice to have some on hand already cooked so on days I didn't want to mess with a time consuming meal I could just throw that in with some pasta or rice and add a few frozen or canned ingredients and be done. I finally got a cast iron stovetop grill a couple of months ago and love how the chicken tastes when grilled on it, so I grilled up three pounds and also baked three pounds for variety. I cooled it, cubed it, separated it into one pound servings, bagged it and threw it in the freezer and have been loving it!
I can't wait until the garden starts producing some fresh veggies for me!
Then I will be able to have fresh ingredients instead of frozen or (ick) canned.
I think I have rambled on long enough for tonight. I don't have anything ready for review right now. I have a few crafting books I want to read and review soon, as well as some magazines and podcasts. If anyone has anything specific they want to hear about, feel free to let me know either on here or on ravelry. I am anonymous76 on ravelry for those that don't know already. Also you can email me at ahume08@gmail.com. I love hearing from my loyal tanglers!
Until next time.... Happy crafting!
March 27, 2012
Freebie day!
Here us a freebie for anyone that uses the scrap booking software my memories suite. I haven't figured out how to make a clickable link on this blogger app yet so you will have to copy and paste. Sorry about that!
http://mymemories.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2db59f577e9668b002ca5c0af&id=3cb5e6676f&e=e2e2002f16
http://mymemories.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2db59f577e9668b002ca5c0af&id=3cb5e6676f&e=e2e2002f16
March 25, 2012
I am back finally
Yes it has been around five months or so since my last post. I do apologize for that. I have no computer or laptop that works right anymore. I do have an iPhone now though! So I am going to try it this way. Please ignore any typos or capitalization errors that you come across. I have horrible fumbley fat fingers and always seem to hit the wrong letters.
OK so I am going to try to be more organized with my blog from now on. I am going to separate it into sections. Knitting, cross stitching, any other crafty thing, reviews, gardening, cooking, and family life will probably be the normal segments. I will try to keep the same order so anyone can easily find the section they want to read.
I won't talk a lot today about much of anything. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am back. I plan to update weekly. I will try to blog every Sunday night but some nights will be later than others. I am working on a few projects right now but most of them are super secret surprises for my oh so pregnant best friend so I can't really talk about them as she tends to follow my blog when I remember to post. I am knitting a baby blanket and can only show the color to you because that is all she knows about it. I am also going to learn how to use a sewing machine tomorrow so I can make a cute quilt kit that I have had for a year or so and never learned to make. There are a couple of other things I am making for her, but she has no clue what they could be so I will have to wait until after her baby shower in May to share them with everyone. I think I might put everything in my que and post pics on ravelry as she is not on ravelry, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.
As for my gardening and cooking.... I am still trying out new recipes often and tweaking some to suit myself and my family. I will try to share recipes I find and pictures of what we like. My gardening bug has bitten so I have started a few seeds indoors and am looking forward to getting my garden tilled and prepared for the transplants. Also Bobby has agreed to help me build a cold frame, which I have been wanting since I took up gardening last year. I would love some raised beds and a greenhouse but that will have to wait until we are living somewhere more permanent. We don't plan to continue renting this tiny, falling apart house for very many more years!
Oh! I have a new addiction! Podcasts! Need I say more? I just started listening last week and have came across some good ones. The The Fat Squirrel Speaks is a great video podcast, as is studentknits. I also really enjoy Mommy Needs Yarn, Laugh Love Knit, and knitpurlgurl. Please recommend any that you like. The iTunes search pretty much sucks and I am mostly finding them by hearing about them from other podcasts. As for audio podcasts there are so many good ones I have run across! Just to name a few favorites so far: Knit 1 Geek 2 is awesome, knit.spin.cake is great, knitting rose podcast, the pagan knitter, tvknittingpodcast, with pointed sticks, Yknit, commuter knitter, craftlit, high fiber diet, and The Knit Wits are all great. I think The Knit Wits podcast stopped, but I just started from the first episode so have a lot to listen to before I get to the last one. Again, if you have recommendations let me know. I can't get enough of them while I sit and knit. I also am so totally addicted to one called We're Alive. It is a zombie survival story which is beautifully voice acted and mesmerizing. I find myself knitting furiously while sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what is going to happen. The sound of the creepy zombie calling the others to attack raises the hair on my arms! I am also really into a few more various audio podcasts like Talkin Walkin, Rooster Teeth Podcast, Ronna and Beverly, and The Horror. I like humor, horror, and crafty stuff. Wish I could find one that mixes all three.
The other new thing I am into as of yesterday is plurk.com. I joined so I could follow The Fat Squirrel and studentknits on it, but am already liking it a lot. I am ahume08 on there if you are on there as well.
I am going to end this for now. I need to learn how to add pictures and captions with this app. I will try to upload many pictures that I have taken over the last six months. I have some good ones of food and family. I also want to start reviewing some knitting books and magazines and maybe websites. Also I might talk about shows, movies, and it books that I am into. Who knows where this will go!
For now I leave you with a Happy Crafting and a Thank You for sticking with me!
OK so I am going to try to be more organized with my blog from now on. I am going to separate it into sections. Knitting, cross stitching, any other crafty thing, reviews, gardening, cooking, and family life will probably be the normal segments. I will try to keep the same order so anyone can easily find the section they want to read.
I won't talk a lot today about much of anything. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am back. I plan to update weekly. I will try to blog every Sunday night but some nights will be later than others. I am working on a few projects right now but most of them are super secret surprises for my oh so pregnant best friend so I can't really talk about them as she tends to follow my blog when I remember to post. I am knitting a baby blanket and can only show the color to you because that is all she knows about it. I am also going to learn how to use a sewing machine tomorrow so I can make a cute quilt kit that I have had for a year or so and never learned to make. There are a couple of other things I am making for her, but she has no clue what they could be so I will have to wait until after her baby shower in May to share them with everyone. I think I might put everything in my que and post pics on ravelry as she is not on ravelry, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.
As for my gardening and cooking.... I am still trying out new recipes often and tweaking some to suit myself and my family. I will try to share recipes I find and pictures of what we like. My gardening bug has bitten so I have started a few seeds indoors and am looking forward to getting my garden tilled and prepared for the transplants. Also Bobby has agreed to help me build a cold frame, which I have been wanting since I took up gardening last year. I would love some raised beds and a greenhouse but that will have to wait until we are living somewhere more permanent. We don't plan to continue renting this tiny, falling apart house for very many more years!
Oh! I have a new addiction! Podcasts! Need I say more? I just started listening last week and have came across some good ones. The The Fat Squirrel Speaks is a great video podcast, as is studentknits. I also really enjoy Mommy Needs Yarn, Laugh Love Knit, and knitpurlgurl. Please recommend any that you like. The iTunes search pretty much sucks and I am mostly finding them by hearing about them from other podcasts. As for audio podcasts there are so many good ones I have run across! Just to name a few favorites so far: Knit 1 Geek 2 is awesome, knit.spin.cake is great, knitting rose podcast, the pagan knitter, tvknittingpodcast, with pointed sticks, Yknit, commuter knitter, craftlit, high fiber diet, and The Knit Wits are all great. I think The Knit Wits podcast stopped, but I just started from the first episode so have a lot to listen to before I get to the last one. Again, if you have recommendations let me know. I can't get enough of them while I sit and knit. I also am so totally addicted to one called We're Alive. It is a zombie survival story which is beautifully voice acted and mesmerizing. I find myself knitting furiously while sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what is going to happen. The sound of the creepy zombie calling the others to attack raises the hair on my arms! I am also really into a few more various audio podcasts like Talkin Walkin, Rooster Teeth Podcast, Ronna and Beverly, and The Horror. I like humor, horror, and crafty stuff. Wish I could find one that mixes all three.
The other new thing I am into as of yesterday is plurk.com. I joined so I could follow The Fat Squirrel and studentknits on it, but am already liking it a lot. I am ahume08 on there if you are on there as well.
I am going to end this for now. I need to learn how to add pictures and captions with this app. I will try to upload many pictures that I have taken over the last six months. I have some good ones of food and family. I also want to start reviewing some knitting books and magazines and maybe websites. Also I might talk about shows, movies, and it books that I am into. Who knows where this will go!
For now I leave you with a Happy Crafting and a Thank You for sticking with me!
October 3, 2011
and the winner is....
We have a winner! The winner of my first ever giveaway is...
Xeihau (Sara)!!!!
Congratulations to my winner and I hope she enjoys this wonderful software. A big thank you goes out to everyone that entered the giveaway, as well as to everyone else that commented on my post. THANK YOU. You all make it fun and rewarding to have a blog.
As a reminder, there is a code that anyone can use to get ten dollars off of the software. It is : STMMMS37866 Feel free to give this code to anyone else that might be interested in this software.
Until next time, my wonderfully tangled tanglers.... Happy crafting!
STMMMS37866
October 2, 2011
A day in the tangled skeins of my life: My first Giveaway and Review, and my awesome yard sale finds
A day in the tangled skeins of my life: My first Giveaway and Review, and my awesome yard sale finds
I am choosing a winner tonight from everyone who commented on the above post with a name of an item off of the MyMemories.com site. If you haven't entered yet, this is your last chance! Just go to my previous post and comment on it with the name of the template or pack or whatever that you like most. I will choose the winner tonight and contact them. Then I will let everyone know via blog post tomorrow morning. Good luck everyone!
September 24, 2011
My first Giveaway and Review, and my awesome yard sale finds
I am hosting my very first giveaway! The product is called My Memories Suite v2. It is scrapbooking software that is as easy to use as it is fun! I had never even tried scrapbooking before and never thought to do it on my laptop, but now that I have I think that I am hooked! I downloaded and installed it tonight and immediately made an album featuring my daughter. It is her Princess Diva album! Here are some of the pages from it I made using this ==> software.
September 19, 2011
Gothise - A place for alternative people - Member Home Page
Gothise - A place for alternative people - Member Home Page
I have an account here now. I was hoping for something like facebook, but more alt, but so far I haven't really seen anything to do on the site. Maybe it will get more interesting when I spend more time looking around on there. Who knows. I love social sites, so I will stay on there :)
September 13, 2011
Getting back into the groove
I have been knitting on my socks and now I remember why I put them away for a little while. I enjoy knitting, I really do, but it gets boring! It seems to be the same thing over and over. I love learning new things, but once I learn them they aren't new anymore. So then they start to get boring. That is why I put away the sweater I was working on, because the row after row of stockinette stitch got very tedious. Then I started on my first pair of socks and had to have a challenge along with the learning to make a new thing, and decided to make them two at a time, toe up, on one circular needle. Then it got boring. Then I decided to make a cute swirl skirt for my daughter. Fun, fun, not so fun, boring, repetitive, tedious. Then it was springtime and I wanted to try for a garden and I put away my knitting stuff and my cross stitch stuff (oh, did I forget to mention the eight cross stitch projects I started and then forgot about?) to try my hand at gardening. You are starting to get the picture, right?
Well, I have been working on the skirt again now that the socks are starting to get boring to work on more than a row or two at a time. I have dug out my cross stitch WIPs and have them ready to work on. My garden is starting to produce less, so I have more time to work on my crafty things. I am still out in my garden a few times a week. My tomatoes are getting bigger and I still have hope for a few red ones before frost hits. I started some more herbs to try to grow indoors, since all the ones outside died before they really got to grow (the poor dears). I haven't been experimenting as much in the kitchen lately. I could only do so many new squash recipes before Bobby finally got burned out on that veggie. He was the only one to like squash until I began to grow it and find all kinds of recipes using it. Now I, and the kiddos, enjoy it as well. Below are some pics of our kitchen adventures this summer!
My cucumbers never did do well. They all turned out to be pear shaped and we called them cucumber grenades half the time. They tasted fine, just looked funny. You can't tell how big my squash usually were by these pics, but they were usually really good sized and so tender. Loved them. Have some in the freezer for this winter. The okra never really produced enough for us to use. I ended up giving it to my grandma. In the pic above, the okra was almost as long as a banana. i forgot to pick that one for a few days! The beans produced OK after the bugs stopped killing them. I only got about a cupful from each plant. I left the Anasazi beans on the vines to dry. I have quite a few out there right now. They took a lot longer than the garden beans or the kidney beans to start producing. But wow, they really took off.
Anyway... back to my crafting. I finally have my HAED pattern kitted up and ready to go. There were around 89 colors to gather, so it took me a long, long time. Thanks again to everyone who sent me floss! It was such a huge help to me. I am going to wait until January to start on it. I am doing a challenge with some other people that I am in groups with. We are together in a group on facebook called CrossStitchCrazy2012. We are doing a challenge that I have seen some others do this year, which is start fifteen projects on the first fifteen days of the year, and then work on the all year long and try to get them all finished. I am looking forward to it. Not only do I get to work on my HAED chart, but also a few of the kits the kids got me for Christmas. YAY
OK I am going to end this for now. I hope to have more to show you/tell you soon. I haven't been taking many pics lately, but will try to get some good ones soon. Wish I had a good, digital camera instead of my crappy phone camera!
Well, until we meet again, my craftiest of crafters.........Happy Crafting!
Well, I have been working on the skirt again now that the socks are starting to get boring to work on more than a row or two at a time. I have dug out my cross stitch WIPs and have them ready to work on. My garden is starting to produce less, so I have more time to work on my crafty things. I am still out in my garden a few times a week. My tomatoes are getting bigger and I still have hope for a few red ones before frost hits. I started some more herbs to try to grow indoors, since all the ones outside died before they really got to grow (the poor dears). I haven't been experimenting as much in the kitchen lately. I could only do so many new squash recipes before Bobby finally got burned out on that veggie. He was the only one to like squash until I began to grow it and find all kinds of recipes using it. Now I, and the kiddos, enjoy it as well. Below are some pics of our kitchen adventures this summer!
 |
| Serenity making porcupine balls |
 |
| Salmon and Garlic Roasted Squash Spears |
 |
| Salmon and squash again |
 |
| Chicken, squash, zucchini, roasted red peppers, and tomatoes over bowtie pasta |
 |
| Tilapia Montreal with garlic roasted squash spears and mashed squash |
 |
| Check out my mutant cucumbers in the bottom of the pic |
My cucumbers never did do well. They all turned out to be pear shaped and we called them cucumber grenades half the time. They tasted fine, just looked funny. You can't tell how big my squash usually were by these pics, but they were usually really good sized and so tender. Loved them. Have some in the freezer for this winter. The okra never really produced enough for us to use. I ended up giving it to my grandma. In the pic above, the okra was almost as long as a banana. i forgot to pick that one for a few days! The beans produced OK after the bugs stopped killing them. I only got about a cupful from each plant. I left the Anasazi beans on the vines to dry. I have quite a few out there right now. They took a lot longer than the garden beans or the kidney beans to start producing. But wow, they really took off.
Anyway... back to my crafting. I finally have my HAED pattern kitted up and ready to go. There were around 89 colors to gather, so it took me a long, long time. Thanks again to everyone who sent me floss! It was such a huge help to me. I am going to wait until January to start on it. I am doing a challenge with some other people that I am in groups with. We are together in a group on facebook called CrossStitchCrazy2012. We are doing a challenge that I have seen some others do this year, which is start fifteen projects on the first fifteen days of the year, and then work on the all year long and try to get them all finished. I am looking forward to it. Not only do I get to work on my HAED chart, but also a few of the kits the kids got me for Christmas. YAY
 |
| The many beautiful colors for my HAED chart, the QS Emerald Dragon |
 |
| The HAED design I am going to work on soon called the Emerald Dragon |
OK I am going to end this for now. I hope to have more to show you/tell you soon. I haven't been taking many pics lately, but will try to get some good ones soon. Wish I had a good, digital camera instead of my crappy phone camera!
Well, until we meet again, my craftiest of crafters.........Happy Crafting!
August 27, 2011
an awesome giveaway
Check out this giveaway! I hope I win something myself :)
gripped into books 1000 followers giveaway
gripped into books 1000 followers giveaway
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