Everyone needs a Yarn Bowl!

Do any of you recall me mentioning something about yarn bowls way back when?  I’ve been yearning for one ever since I first saw a pic of the ones that are made at www.knitwitch.com and I seriously never thought that I’d ever get one.  I mean, when we do have extra money, Chris and I go into very deep negotiations over a new loom or buying new yarn…..to think that I could find some way of justifying a clay bowl designed to hole a ball of yarn while I am knitting, crocheting, or looming…well, I think it would be impossible.  And especially since it cost as much as a loom.  But to me, they were beautiful works of art and deserved the price they had on them.  Besides, each one is one of a kind!  Seriously, gorgeous! 
Well, a friend that goes by the name of CHERYL MINCEY (I just had to make sure she was put on the spot here) e-mailed me a few weeks ago.  She flat out told me that she stalks my blog.  **SQUEAL**  I’m being stalked!    And she mentioned that she had read that I had seen the yarn bowls and really wanted one.  This gal lives right on down the road from the Knit Witch and Warlock (which in southern terms could actually mean a distance of 50 miles or so, but it’s just down the road to us).  She asked me if I had managed to get my hands on one yet and I told her no.  Well, next thing I know she has sent me a gift certificate so that I could pick one out and there was enough left on the certificate and in my paypal account so that I could pick out a spindle bowl!  How EXCITING!
And with out further delay, my bee-autiful yarn and spindle bowls!

And a close up of the yarn bowl, showing the nice little slit and hole where your yarn feeds through!  Inside the bowl is a sock that I am knitting up.  Hopefully, when I am done, I’ll write my very first needle knit sock pattern and I am crossing my fingers to be able to write it up for loomers as well.  Just have to do my math.    (Now that I have said something I’ll jinx it and not be able to write a pattern for either needles or loom!  )

Aren’t the colors on that bowl, just gorgeous?!  I mean, I like the colors on my spindle bowl just as well, but the yarn bowl is so calming.  And both of them have a felt bottom so it doesn’t scratch my coffee table, or slide from the couch very easily.  If I ever break this bowl….I’LL JUST DIE!
Now, on my agenda is to acquire one of the ‘Fair Isle’ bowls.  They are a little larger and have a slit on each side so you can knit with more than one color or ball at a time.    I was thinking of trying to knit two socks at once, soon. 

This was a very awesome gift and I greatly appreciate it.  Things have been tough around here and this gift has lifted my spirits a good bit.  I smile every time I look at it.  Cheryl, you’re awesome!  (And you’re now mentioned on the blog that you stalk!  LOL!)

Birds and Yarn

I bet you thought that title meant something about birds using yarn, right?  Nope.  I just wanted to show ya’ll my ‘birdie friends’ and my latest projects. 
Let’s see my birdie friends first.  These two showed up about a week ago (when they knew I needed some sunshine and happiness, I guess) and I can’t for the life of me figure out what kind of birds they are.  I’m pretty sure that they are mates, since they are normally not far from one another.  And I see them several times a day, sitting on the branches of the tree that is right off the front porch.  The mystery of what they are drives me nuts.  Normally the only birds you see around here are robins, blue jays, cardinals, mocking birds and these brown finches.  The occasional blue bird is a treat (usually only see one  a year) and I saw a Chickadee once.   

Yellow bird in tree

Here’s the yellow birdie in the tree.  I’ve got a close up of it, too.  I think it’s the female.

Yellow bird close up

Red bird close up

Here are pics of the red one.  And as the kids and I were at the sink in the kitchen yesterday, it just decided to fly right up to it and check out this old, dead wasp nest.  (I’m ashamed of how the window looks, but it is too hard to reach it and clean it because a big a/c unit is in the way underneath it.    If only our hose would reach to the backyard.)

Red bird in window

If anyone knows what kind of birds these are, I’d greatly appreciate the answer. 

And on to other animal stuff, look at this next pic (NOT THE ONE BELOW IT YET!) and tell me if you can figure out what it is?
What is that in the tree?

Well……………………it’s my cat, Munchkin.  A really small cat that is one year old, but about the size of a 4 month old kitten.  I looked out the window and there was a cat, chillin’ in the tree.  LOL!

Just a little cat nap before I get tired of being a bird.

First socks I made for myself!

Ok, now I can talk about yarny stuff.    First, we have the Schooner socks that I made on the Kiss Sock Loom. 
Then we have the dragonfly dishcloth that was Angel’s surprise pattern in the Kiss group a couple weeks ago:

And  (OH!  I see my little birdie friends!)  Drumroll please…dadadadadadadadadadada!  MY FIRST NEEDLE KNIT SOCKS!  They’re Stephanie’s (awesome to have a 2 1/2yo to try out socks for because they don’t take too long before you have your final result.  )  She loves her pink socks, of course!  They were made using two circular needles, US size 2.  I used this ‘magic cast on’ from a back issue of Knitty.  And this wonderful way to get no hole heels without doing wrap and turns or yarn overs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu5YAKsAEpY 
I’m determined to figure out how to do these short rows on the loom, so keep your eyes open for that, OK? 

Turns out that I CAN sew and got another blog award!

I tried posting this last week, but there were some technical difficulties. 
Let’s start out with my new blog award.  Soon after I posted the other one, I received one called the KreativBlogger Award!
Isn’t that just a pretty award?    Brenda Myers nominated me for it. 

Here’s what I have to do:  The rules of this award are to list seven things I love and then pass it on to another seven KreativBloggers.
OK, here are seven things I love:
1) Yarn
2) Knitting Looms
3) Knitting needles
4) Crochet hooks
5) Reading
6) Singing
7) Watching my children grow and become their own individuals with their own creativity.

The seven bloggers that I nominate to receive this award:
1) GuppyGirl
2) GettinItPegged
3) PurlingSprite
4) Knitting Without Needles
5) Knitting Muse
6) Cre8tive KJ’s Corner
7) Looms, Boards, and Graciela

Now, onto what I did last week.  I sewed.  I sewed my very first project with a sewing machine for the very first time….and I made up the pattern on my own!  Here is my machine that I have been too terrified to touch for months:
It’s really not so scary when you actually sit down and watch the video tape that came with it to show how to work it.    I really do like it now.  We aren’t exactly inseperable, but I am confident enough to have made myself a Bible cover without following any pattern.  I sat down and measured my Bible, then applied those measurements to make the flaps that hold my Bible in place, then made an outer cover with a pocket.  It also has handles on it.  The kids liked it so much that they sorta wanted to steal it.  And my MIL who is an experienced seamstress (is that the word?) her whole life, PLUS she works in a factory that sews clothes, was very proud of me. 
Here is Sir Thade posing with the finished Bible cover (I told you they wanted to steal it!):
Please don’t pay attention to the crappy linoleum.  It’s gonna get replaced…….eventually. 

And a close up of the pocket (has two snaps stitched to the inside of the flap:

And a pic of the inside flap (that could have been made a tad bit wider, but I’m still proud of the whole thing.  ):

I’ve been awarded!

I have just received my first ever award.  I’m flattered.    I was nominated by Tiffany.
This is what the award means:
“This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!”

And this is why Tiffany nominated me:
Robin at Rockin’ the Loom http://rockintheloom.wordpress.com/ She has all kinds of great info on looming and she’s a nice person to email with. She teaches classes on loom knitting and makes everything seem so easy!

How incredibly sweet!  I’m very honored….REALLY!

So, I am passing along this lovely award to a few of my friends that came to mind as I read the description of the award.
1.)  Jenny Stark at GuppyGirl .  I don’t nominate her because she is my best friend, but I nominate her because she has a pretty cool blog and isn’t in it for the popularity.  She sometimes blogs about food, her 4 kids, looming, embroidery, crochet….all kinds of cool stuff.  And she is such a sweet and friendly person (if not quiet most of the time.) 
2.)  Bethany Daily at Gettin’ It Pegged .  Ever since I first ran across Bethany’s blog, I thought it was special and unique.  She keeps it so clean and pretty and blogs about life as much as she blogs about other stuff.  She has taught me a lot and has the same kind of loving patience that I try to instill in my own life.  Bethany is another one of those incredibly sweet people, and her daughters are following in her footsteps, and that makes her a great mom as well. 
3.)  Brenda Myers at LoomLore .  Brenda is a very busy grandma!  But she still has time to make the cutest quickie projects and her patterns are always very clear and easy to read.  She developed the ‘drawstring cast on’ for the looms and it is a very useful technique that I have used a lot.    Brenda may not have much time to blog like she used to, since her granddaughter moved in, but she still helps out others when she can.  She’s pretty special!

Besides this award, I wanted to blog about Mondays.  I know it is Monday, not because yesterday was Sunday and I was at church, not because the weekend is over and a new week has begun.  No….I know it is Monday because I am up early, have all my e-mail read and answered, drank one cup of coffee (at least, sometimes 2), and have my LKNB-Class lesson and sometimes exercises posted on both the group and the blog before 7am.  I’m a little tired, but I’ll hopefully get a nap in the afternoon to refuel. 
The kids don’t look so hot and we all feel a bit icky.  Add that it looks gloomy and blustery outside, that yesterday it almost hit 80*, but today we could see lows in the mid-20’s and possibly snow showers….it makes for a day where you just want to huddle in a quilt with a cup of something warm in your hands all day and veg out on the couch. 
What makes that hard is that it is also ‘Weekly Home Blessing’ day.  That is a FlyLady thing, in case you are confused.  It means that I take an hour and spend 10 minutes running around washing windows, then dusting, then vacuuming, then sweeping, then mopping….  I think you get it by now.  I just don’t feel like it today.  And I didn’t feel like doing dishes all weekend long, obviously.  So, I need to do dishes, too.  Did you know that when your dishes are overflowing your sink, across your countertop and onto your stove top, that spending 15 minutes at a time on them, isn’t that bad?  I’ll set the timer for 15 minutes and wash dishes.  When the timer goes off, I walk away for about 30 minutes, come back, run some more hot water in the sink to warm up the water that is in there, and reset my timer for 15 minutes and go at it again.    Not so bad.

OK, I gotta go…..hungry children might decide to make their own breakfast and that could be disastrous!

What are the chances?

What are the chances that I would finish my daughter’s socks (I know!  I’ve had so much going on!  I should have been done a long time ago!) yesterday.  Get up this morning and do all my e-mail checking, then go blog cruising.  I was reading Yarn Harlot (That’s Stephanie Pearl McPhee’s blog) and decided that I wanted to watch the Knitty Gritty episode on my DVR from last Friday.  I look at the ‘info’ for the episode….Knitting Socks.  Wow, I’ve been wanting to do this.  Terrified of dpns, but I want to try it on two circular needles.  Sooooo, coincidence #1. Just finished loomed socks, casted on for another pair of loomed socks (for myself this time), and the Knitty Gritty episode is on needle knitting socks. 
What is coincidence #2, you ask?  Well, as I am finishing up reading the latest blog post on Yarn Harlot, (oh, and I had been by Vickie Howell’s blog right before that, by the way!) Vickie Howell announces that their guest is none other than….yep, you guessed it, Stephanie Pearl McPhee! 
Like REALLY!  What are the odds?  What are they?!  I mean, seeing Vickie Howell on her own show right after I read over her blog?  That ain’t much of a coincidence.  But it is a big one that right after Vickie’s blog, I went to Yarn Harlot and then turned on Knitty Gritty and there…she….is! 
Ok, I’m gonna go learn me some stuff about needle knitting socks, folks!

OH!  And Little Lady Tru loves her sockies so much that she squealed when she saw me hold up TWO completed socks, said, “MY SOCKS?!  YOU KNIT MY SOCKS?!”  We put them on her and she ran around all afternoon with them on….wouldn’t take them off when she went to bed either.  So, she is still wearing them.  I’ll have to get them off her feet soon though.  Icky sweaty feet!
She immediately told me, after showing off her socks to Tah (that is the nickname she gave Sir Thade), that now I have to make ‘BIIIIIIIIIG Mommy socks!’  Yeah, Mommy’s size 10 feet might take a little longer than her teeny tiny size 6.5 toddler feet.  :-O

Long time, no post

I think I am just settling down from Christmas Season.  Goodness.   
I was helping a fellow loom knitter with a project that I can’t talk about right now during January and February.  Believe me when I say it was all consuming.  I can probably count on one hand just how many times I cooked a meal in the past two months.  And you don’t wanna see my house!  The only chore I think that I did was dishes and that was after about 4 days worth of them piled up in the sink and on the counters.  FlyLady would be soooo ashamed of me.    I’m ashamed of me.
So, for the past few weeks I’ve been working on finishing up the LAL pattern I am creating for DaLooms for the month of April.  And as I was working on that pattern I had a small epiphany on short rows.  Caused me to snatch up a smaller loom real quick and try out the technique in my head.  The end result is this beauty:

It also caused me to pick up my KISS Sock Loom and work on a sock for Stephanie, even though I had sworn off socks for a while.    She picked out this yarn (RH Heart and Sole with Aloe in ‘Green Envy’ colorway) way back in October, I believe.  I didn’t have a sock loom at the moment that would fit her, but our KISS sock loom soon arrived.  But since that was smack in the middle of Christmas Season I didn’t have time to do anything but admire Cliff’s handy work on it.    This week I picked it up, measured the ball and the length of Steph’s foot, did a swatch on the loom and deducted how many pegs needed to be used, set it up, and then got to looming.  I give up on toe up socks on the loom though.  I just can’t get the tiny stitches across the loom.  I guess I am uncoordinated.  But since I am pretty good at the Kitchener stitch, I don’t mind doing socks cuff-down.    All I’ve heard from her in the past few days is, “You knit my sock?  My sock?  I wear my sock?”  Now that I have finished one of her socks last night, she wants to wear that lone sock around.  I won’t let her though and now I have a slightly upset 2 year old Drama Queen.    I am wondering to myself that since this is 70% superwash wool and it has aloe infused if it will help her feet.  She has this condition that makes her feet peel and it makes me so sad for her because if it doesn’t go away on it’s own, she’ll have it forever and never be able to wear sandals around her friends and show off her feet.    But, if this type of yarn can help with that condition then Mommy will always be busy making pretty, one of a kind socks for her.    I know that wool is supposed to pull moisture away from the foot and believe me she has SWEATY feet.  So at least I can use that excuse right?  LOL!

I’ll be ‘hosting’ the Kiss Loom Chat this Saturday evening.  We’ll be focusing on this new method of short rows I figured out.  I’m excited and nervous at the same time.  LOL!  I have only made a tutorial on the Kiss Loom so far, but plan on showing the method on a plain loom as well.  You will be able to find the tutorial on my ‘Tutorials’ page when it is ready. 

Besides looming, I’ve been busy making lessons on looming for the LKNB-Class (a classroom group of the Loom Knitting Newbies Beginnings Yahoo group.)  I just started our first class this week.  It begins with the very basics, like what kind of materials you need to get started with loom knitting.  Next week’s lesson will be cast ons, bind offs, and weaving in tails.  Writing up these lessons feels like I am writing a book, chapter for chapter.    And I hope that I am able to teach new loomers a thing or two and to help more advanced loomers understand and learn a few more things themselves. 

On the crochet front…..I haven’t done much.  A few dishcloths.  I find that I like to make simple round ones.  And what I mean by simple is:
-Ch 3, join in beginning ch with sl st.
-Sc 6 into center of ring, join to beg sc with sl st
-2 sc in each sc around, join to beg sc with sl st
- *2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in next stitch, repeat from * and join with sl st to beg.
- *2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in each of next two stitches, repeat from *, join with sl st to beg.
- * 2 sc in first stitch, 1 sc in each of next three stitches, repeat from *, join with sl st to beg.

Can you see the pattern?  It keeps going until you’ve done a row with 1 sc in each of next ten stitches.  That is the last row then I finish it off and weave in tails.  I usually use a G to an I hook.  and it is quick, easy, and just the right size.  Or at least the size I like it. 

I’ve learned how to do the Norwegian Purl stitch in needle knitting.  I’m not too fast at it yet….still in that manual thinking process of how it is made.  But I am sure that once I can do it without consciously thinking about it, I’ll be speeding along.  LOL!  I haven’t quite figure out how to do it while knitting with the English (throwers) Method, but since I am faster with Continental (pickers) Method, it doesn’t matter that much.  I just want to be able to teach my girl, Jenny, how to do it once she can take a breather from being busy.  She is a glutton for punishment.    Love ya, gal!

A Christmas MeMe!

Since Crystal practically tagged me on this…no really, I like anything to do with Christmas and holiday spirit (but nothing to do with money spending!  Stores will suck every last dime and then some and not geel guilty.  Not from me!  I’m all about love and happiness and peace!) here is a Christmas Meme that I have thoroughly enjoyed filling out!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Actually, since I like homemade gifts, I would prefer it to either not be wrapped or to be wrapped in homemade wrapping paper or simply tied with ribbon.  I’m an old fashioned gal, I know!

2. Real tree or Artificial?
I have never had a real tree and have always thought they were really nice, but since I am the ‘dare you to go as long as you can without water…OOOPS, you died!’ type of plant caregiver, I don’t think I should be allowed a real tree.  LOL!

3. When do you put up the tree?
Well, with my parents we had to make my dad wait until the day after Thanksgiving.  My husband and I wait until his next day off after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down?
New Year’s Eve, usually.  Superstition of bad luck when having your tree up after the New Year has begun.  :D

 5. Do you like eggnog?
No, actually I don’t…not even the non-alcoholic kind (I am allergic to alcoholic beverages)

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
A carousel horse that my mom got me that plays music.  I still have it and have passed it on to Lady Tru (my daughter).  I also still have my first teddy bear that was received on my first Christmas. 

 7. Hardest person to buy for?
Buy?  I make!  But really, my nephews give me fits.  One year the obsession is Power Rangers, the next it’s Yu-gi-oh!    They are awful!

8.  Easiest person to buy for?
My kids, they love anything that they are given. (knock on wood!)

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
No, but I have always wanted one. 

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I’ve never disliked anything that I have been given.  I am the type of person that is happy to have received something, no matter what it is. 

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
Anything created by Rankin-Bass.  I love all the classics!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
I don’t shop….we are always broke, but I started making gifts back in July…that counts, right?

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
No, I don’t think so.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Fudge!  I love a good old fashioned fudge!  And it gets extra points for having mint in it!  LOL!

16. Lights on the tree?
Of course!  And I prefer white lights, but never get my way with it.  Everyone out-votes me with colored lights.  They don’t care that original lights on a tree were candles and THEY weren’t colored.  That’s my argument, anyway.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
Oh!  This one is really hard.  I love most of them…’First Noel’, ‘Silent Night’, ‘Away in a Manger’, ‘O Holy Night’, ‘Jingle Bells’, ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’, all Bing Crosby’s songs, Tchaikowsky’s Nutcracker, ….oh GEEZ!  I could go on and on…believe me!
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I want to be with my parents…desperately.  It doesn’t seem right to have Christmas without my family, but we can’t go there and they can’t make it here.    As a kid, we never traveled on Christmas Day, but if we had headed up North (Indiana) for the Christmas Break, we always stayed at the house that we slept in Christmas Eve.  My mom never wanted to make us leave all our toys and run around on Christmas Day.  I guess that is why I just want to stay at home on Christmas Day, myself.  But my in-laws always get together and it IS nice to be around family. 
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Can’t everybody?!  If you can’t…..that’s just sad! 

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
We have a star….I want an Angel, but I will be very picky about her if I ever find the perfect one. 

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Ok, so….if I know that there are presents for me under the tree I pester and bug until I can open up just ONE on Christmas Eve!  That is why my parents never put any out until Christmas Morning!  LOL!  Chris learned this the first year together as well.  Don’t even tell me that you have gotten me a gift….I can’t help that the curiosity turns me into the most annoying pest that you have ever met!  It was YOUR fault for telling me you got me a gift! 

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Commercials….I hate them!  I LOATHE THEM!  Especially the ones that make men feel like their women won’t love them unless they buy jewelry b/c really what it does is make women feel like their men don’t love them enough to buy them jewelry.  I am so glad that this is the second year in a row that we haven’t been able to pay our satellite bill around Christmas and they cut off our service.  I don’t have to see the commercials…but this does cause a problem with no Christmas shows…

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
I just put up my tree last night and put nothing but handmade ornaments up on it….it is the prettiest tree I have ever put together.    I still need to make more ornaments, but the tree looks perfect as it is right now!

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
This is ALWAYS our menu at my parents’ house: turkey and/or ham, cornbread dressing, broccoli and cheese casserole (my fav!), sweet potato casserole, greenbean casserole, yeast rolls (homemade), and cranberry sauce.    Dessert is usually pumpkin roll, lots of cookies, cherry cheesecake, chocolate pie, pecan pie, and banana pudding.  I like the predictability of the meal.  We usually save all of these favorites just for Thanksgiving and Christmas and that is why they are usually always the same.  We have waited all year to have them! 

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
I don’t expect anything…we can’t afford Christmas (but I am not whining, so don’t even think I am….I am OK with not getting anything.  Hubby spoils me when our income tax refund money comes in.)  Sir Thade (son) asked me yesterday what I wanted and I told him ‘Peace on Earth’.  I really do want that.  Materialistic things that I want include a bread machine, iPod Touch (I’ve never had an iPod and that one looks really cool, told hubby that it was the 5 year wedding anniversary traditional gift though…so I can wait until Feb. 10th, I think)…well, that’s it.  OH, a never ending yarn stash of whatever I could possibly need and a crochet hook case to match my knitting needle case.  Other than that, I am totally satisfied in life! 

26. Who is most likely to blog about this?
Well, I’m taggin’ my gal pals: Jenny, Bethany, and Karen….but I won’t MAKE them do it! 

27.  Lights, blinking or always on?
Always on….I find blinking, running, chasing lights annoying.  Fading glow lights are tolerable, though.  I think it goes back to my issue with the first lights on a tree were candles, those don’t run or chase eachother, right?  LOL!

Take a look at my ancient monstrocity!

This is my new toy courtesy of MIL.  It is quite a monstrocity and I think it was her very first sewing machine.  I feel very special that she trusts me with something that should surely be an antique or maybe she was just finding someone to pawn it off on…but either way I am very grateful for it!  It only does a straight stitch, but who gives a flip right now?!  NOT ME!  And I need to find a replacement belt thingy for it that dry rotted.  She said I should be able to find it easily at a store that carries sewing machine parts.


So, what does everyone think?

Num Yummy….I smell holiday baking!

I get the BHG.com newsletters (like everyday) and they had a cookie newsletter the other day.  I liked the look of the cookies that were on the newsletter, itself, but I didn’t have the ingredients on hand.  So I went browsing through their other cookies and found some called Peanut Butter Munchies.  Mmmmmm, doesn’t that just sound good?!
Anyway, here’s the first step:
You mix up the chocolate and peanut butter cookie mixture and roll it up into 32 balls that are about 1 1/4 inches.
I just so happened to have the knack of rolling them approximately that size every time!  How good am I? 

Next step:
Mix up more peanut butter and some confectioner’s sugar and form 32 more balls that are about 3/4 of an inch in size.  By the time I was done, I glanced at the clock and was like, “WHAT?!  I’ve been at this ball rolling business for about an hour?!  This recipe better be goooood!”

Ball rolling and more ball rolling was followed by….you guessed it!  EVEN more ball rolling.  This time, I had to flatten a choco/peanut butter cookie dough ball and place a peanut butter/conf. sugar ball in the middle and roll/wrap the chocolate back around it.  Yeah….ticking on about 1 1/2 hours of prep and oven had beeped that it was already preheated about an hour and 15 minutes prior.  But WAIT!  We aren’t done yet!

Well, after rolling…um, let’s see 32+32+32=96 balls, I got
to squish all 32 cookies with the bottom of a glass.  The sugar wasn’t sticking to the bottom of my glass so well, so I had to sprinkle some more on the cookies.  Here you see some that are smooshed and some pre-smooshing. 

Funny how those things took me nearly 2 hours to prep, but only 8 minutes in the oven!  But boy did they smell good.  Mmmmmmm!  Can you smell’em?  These weren’t as good the first day as they were the second day.  They don’t really last much longer than two days around here when you have two little sneaky hands! 

What is my plan for the next batch of cookies?  Gingerbread Drop Cookies!  I bet those are good.  And it doesn’t have as much molasses in it as the last time I made gingerbread cookies.  THOSE nearly made me gag and they got tossed out.  Trial and error….trial and error.    I can’t forget to make my favorite cookies though….snickerdoodles!  Everyone has got to love the simplicity of snickerdoodles!  LOL!

Now on to crafty, loomy, ornament goodness!
These ornaments are all designed by Brenda Myers and I just love them!  I am trying to make them in my every spare moment, but let’s face it…..those are fewer than I expected!  If anyone wants to participate, she is teaching some more of her ornament designs next week in the Loom Class!

These are her Knifty Christmas Bells, Bright Bells, and Belle Angels.  I REALLY LOVE THE BELLE ANGELS!

Here is a pic of just the Belles.

And here are some of the Candy Canes.  I don’t have a clue where the pic of the Mini Christmas Wreaths went.    Oh, well. 
I’ll try to update more often.  But, I know that the next few weeks are gonna be REALLY busy.  I mean, it IS only about 30 days until CHRISTMAS!
Happy Early Thanksgiving, ya’ll!

My first publication!

I am so proud. I am officially published in the Loom Knitter’s Circle magazine!
My pattern is ‘Leaves a Mark’, which you can find a link to under the picture of my best friend’s earrings on the home page!!! Great job, Jenny! And my tutorial for how to do the KFB increase on the looms is under the ‘articles’ tab! Let’s all do a happy dance for me!!!!
And while you’re there, check out the awesome earrings pattern by Jenny and the cute bangle bracelets by Isela and the awesome hats by Brenda. Oh, and another bookmark in there that is by Stacie Walsh. That cute little ‘candy corn’ bag by Isela…..GEEZ, the whole section of patterns is just cute and a MUST SEE!
Why are you still reading this? Go check it out!!!!!!!!!!!

My Latest Accomplishments

I have a few questions for ya’ll: 
The first one concerns the poncho/cape.  It is done on the Kiss Loom.  I am not 100% proud of it (though I have worn it several times since finishing it last week….soooo warm), but I am wondering if anyone would be interested in a pattern for it?  It will be a ‘for sale’ pattern at about $3 or $3.50, if I write it up.    So, I just want to know if anyone would be interested in purchasing it.  If not, I’ll keep the secret to myself.  LOL!

The next question is about the beret (made on my SG DaLooms Wonderloom, the pattern will have the child and adult versions in it).  I need a name for it and I want it to be French….but I don’t know any French besides ‘bonjour’ and ‘au revoir’ (sp?).  I am about to go on a search for a French translation site, but was wondering what your ideas would be if you were to name it.  I was thinking of calling it ‘Glory’ (or, more like the French word for ‘Glory’).  Or something similar.  So…..what are your thoughts? 

Besides my two designs, I have been teaching (more like sitting back and waiting for messages) in Loom Class this week.  They are working on an Awareness Ribbon Block which I thought would be appropriate since women feel so strongly about breast cancer awareness and this is the month for that.  I know that there are a gazillion other ribbon colors for different conditions and things that are close to peoples’ hearts.  I figured someone could find a ribbon color for SOMETHING they care about.  Besides, this block teaches how to do ‘intarsia’ colorwork and that is a great skill to learn!    So far, the ribbon blocks I have seen have made me so proud of my students.  They have done a wonderful job! 
Well, today I am gonna finish up the adult size beret then work on afghan blocks for my niece’s Christmas present. 
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

OMG! Laughing so hard I cried!

Until recently, I always thought of Martha Stewart as ‘Satan Lady’ (isn’t that awful?!)  I refused to watch her show that just so happens to come on right before my soaps.    But, my daughter turned it there by accident a few weeks ago and I realized that most of the stuff on the show is not HER crafts and recipes but those of others.  Then I started watching it a little more.  I have caught a glimpse of the real Martha Stewart, though she tries to compose herself.  This woman….well, she’s a woman.  She has the occasional dirty thought!  (gasp!)  I am actually enjoying ‘Satan Lady’s Show’!  OMG!  But that is not what has me laughing until I cried and couldn’t finish watching b/c of the tears and the fact my stomach was hurting.  THIS is what caused that!  I will never view her as ‘Satan Lady’ again.  Martha, my dear, you are now considered to be a normal person in my eyes.  I don’t think you’re evil anymore.  I am sure that you are now giving a sigh of relief!    Sorry about all that misunderstanding before.  Can I see more bloopers?  Please?! 

Will I finally make quilts?

This morning I learned about a brand new website in the works.  www.YouCanQuiltThis.com   I can’t wait for this site to be finished (it officially opens in April) so that I can finally figure out how to quilt.  My Grandma and Great Aunt Flora are the only quilters I know, but they live so far away.  Add that both are getting on up there in age and quilt less and less.  Time is running out for them to teach me.  But maybe with this website, I’ll finally learn and be able to carry on the legacy of quilt making.  I want to make baby quilts for when I have grandkids, then make them toddler quilts when they outgrow the baby ones, pre-teen quilts when they reach the pre-teen age, Sweet Sixteen quilts, Graduation quilts, Wedding quilts…and then the cycle will start over when they have children.    Wouldn’t that be lovely.
Not only am I excited about this new website, but I am excited about the contest they are having to win a Marie Osmond 200 Quilter’s Companion machine.    Who wouldn’t want such a lovely machine?  You can see what it looks like on their blog post here: http://www.youcanmakethis.com/blog/329/announcing-a-new-siteand-you-can-win.html/comment-page-16#comment-1010
I hope that all of you that are interested in it, enter yourself in the contest.  How often does something like this come around?  ‘Good Luck!’ (though secretly I just want it all for myself….I would feel guilty if I didn’t at least wish you good luck.  )