Friday, November 30

By 11:59pm...


Thats the time I have until to finish these socks! For it to count for the SAM kal4.... I think I can do it, really I could choose to end them now but I want to use up the rest of the ball of yarn. It was left over from my leaf lace socks I finished a while ago. I'd rather not have just a tiny bit left, so I better get knitting! Don't they look good on her cute little chubby legs?!









Here is a pic for the sake of cuteness! She isn't standing all on her own, just leaning on the sofa ;O)

Thursday, November 29

Little blessings

Now I'm not going to say that my status in life is horrible right now, we are keeping within out budget but sometimes life just seems dull. I know, how could it with 3 kids?! Anyways Once in a while I feel like I'm running on empty.

I try to go above and beyond what is expected of me, help out others when and where I can. Nothing substantial but It makes me feel good to know I'm spreading Gods love around, sometimes to those who don't know Him.

Last night I was at church for a parenting class, I need all the help I can get:O) Anyways there is a girl there about my age, we've known each other for about a year and she has 2 kids one is Gabe's age. We usually sit at the same table and talk to each other, also I see her at Gabe's school once in a while. But other than our weekly Wednesday nights we aren't good friends. A few weeks past I noticed her Bible, a woman's devotional. She had colored on the edges of the pages so she could find all the different books, I commented that that was really cool and smart. We continued the conversation and I went on to say that the bible I owned was formally owned by my oldest sister, and that someday I'd like my own. Not that anything was wrong with it or anything. OK so to get to the point... She handed me this last night:

I was so touched by this gesture of kindness! She had thought of me and gifted me this brand new bible that she picked out just for me:O) Its a Mom's devotional bible, lots of stuff for moms of young children. I'm very excited by it, and can't wait to dig in.


After I got home I couldn't get a smile off of my face, I just felt so blessed. Then I began to think of the morning I had. A good friend came over and ate lunch with me and another good friend. After lunch I was putting the kids down for a nap and she started doing all the dishes, I told her to stop, but she insisted, so I let her. Later when she left hubby came home and unloaded the dishes from our dishwasher. We didn't have a single dirty dish in the house! How awesome is that?! My good friend blessed me by doing dishes.

After I thought about the blessing of dishes I was thinking of another friend who dropped off some food right before thanksgiving. Not just a little food but everything you could possibly need for a thanksgiving meal! Turkey, apple pie, pumpkin and pie shells, veggies, fruit, milk, sugar, flour, and the list could go on and on. Now I wouldn't say we were in need and couldn't afford all of this but it sure was a blessing from God. When my mom asked if I could bake some pumpkin pies, I didn't need to run to the store, and when she said she would get the whipped cream I told her she didn't have to run to the store either.

Its the little things in life that make me smile. I know God is watching out for me. Not that I wouldn't be able to live without these things He gave me but it just makes life a little more comfy. Also when you give your all to God and bless others and do His will for your life He will bless you! I'm living proof!



Well I do have some knitting content for you, I've been working on some socks for Leah. I'm doing them toe up. I wanted to do a heel flap and used this toe up heel flap sock formula from Becca @ Forward Motion. Thanks Becca! It worked great, I love the way it turned out.

I hope you all have a lovely rest of the week!

Sunday, November 25

So much to blog about , so little time

I've been knitting like crazy to make gifts for the fam!





First off, My MIL's felted clogs! I used the fiber trends pattern, love it! I've had the pattern for awhile but never used it, I love them!








This is a hat for my BIL, last year he requested one just like Gabes... So he got one.
He has a snowmobile and its that artic green color, you know what I'm talking about right?! Anyways I thought he'd apperciate that color worked into his hat. He also said he wanted a pom pom, but I'm going to wait until after I give it to him just to make sure. This is Hubby being my gracious model!













This is a basic garter siitch scart for my SIL. It's finished but I did't take a pic of it... its all the same. I used a new yarn from my LYS, cascade's Lana Grande. It knit up super quick on size 13!





I've had little time to blog because I had my family visiting... First was my oldest sister and her boyfriend, then my sister Allena and her family! Its a love hate thing. I love hanging out with everyone but I hate when they have to leave, then its back to reality...


Allena taught me how to crochet! Look what I made! Its for Hubbys grandma, my GIL. Allena wrote the pattern, She rocks! I wish I lived closer to all of my family so we could hang out more often. A year between visits is way too long!





And how can I have family visit without pics?!





My oldest sister and boyfriend:

We made a turducken.... yummy!












All the grand kids:













Homemade apple pie, modeled by my little bro:

For more pics of us eating go to allena's blog ;O)


I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

and lots of knitting time too!

Friday, November 16

what a surprise!

When the mail came I was surprised to see a rather large box... for me!


I proceeded to open it and found this:















*Elizabeth's Zimmerman's The Opinionated Knitter

*Knit Picks sock sampler in the warm colors

*and a WIP tool.


It was a late but loved anniversary gift. How sweet is my hubby! Our anniversary was the 8th :O) I really feel like I don't deserve all of this knitting goodness, I'm so blessed to have such a thoughtful husband!

My sock yarn stash just doubled in the past two days! Seriously. I can't wait until I'm finished knitting all the Christmas knits so I can get started on all this new stuff! Oh and the book... This is my first experience with Elizabeth, I've heard such good things about her, I can't wait to start reading it!

Where do I start?!


I love bloging but sometimes it takes up too much of my life, so that is why I haven't been doing it on a regular basis.

Anyways, I have quite a few things to blog
about. First of all my oh so sweet hubby ran into some extra money at work(a tip from the boss) and said that I could buy anything I wanted! I know so cool! Anywho I went and checked out Tammy at the faery fiber etsy shop. I noticed that on the SAM kal4 blog that she was giving a discount to members! So I went there and checked it out, she had an additional 20% off for her grand opening sale, total that is 40% woo hoo!!! So I ordered 2 skeins of merino superwash sock yarn. Sales Rock!





Hippy Chick





and






Pixie








Aren't they pretty?!







My mother has a baby shower to go to and asked me to make a hat for a soon to be baby boy. I just made it and think it turned out really cute! It is made out of crystal palace iceland, only 48sts around, it pretty much fits Chloe, I still need to get a picture of her in it :O)












I'm teaching some classes out at my LYS, one is for mittens and the other is for the toastie tootsies pattern my sister wrote. I did modify it a bit and used the magic cast on, I soooo love it! I'm going to use it whenever I can!



One last thing. A friend of mine just found out that she has breast
cancer. She sort of put up a wall and is acting like its no big deal. But I know that it has to be just crazy and scary to find that out out of nowhere. So I wanted to knit her something. I thought of socks, but don't really have the time. (I'm tyring to knit family gifts for Christmas, thats a whole other post in its self) Anyways I found this patten from knitty.com and knew it would be the perfect little knit item for her to put a smile on her face. I also gave her a card telling her that I'm keeping her in prayer, and have been thinking about her a lot.


I hope you don't take offense to this, I'm just tyring to share :O)

After I gave it to her she gave me such a warm hug and thanked me, then proceeded to show everyone what I made for her ;O) "look at my boob Jessica made for me!" Needless to say, she loved it!

If you think about it, please pray for her and that God will be in control, her surgery is on monday.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!


Wednesday, November 7

I have yarn people!

Spinning rocks, I just love it! I wish I had roving to spin when I wanted to.... I *need* to build my fiber stash up!



So here it is in all its glory, I'm really happy with it!














It turned out to be approx 480yards
and 14-15 wpi. I think it will make a thicker sock, but not too thick. Its not completely even but that is the beauty of handspun yarn. I can't wait to knit with it! But I think I need to do some Christmas knitting first... bummer. Maybe just a few inches?! No no then I'll get carried away;O)

well, we'll see if I can resist the temptation or not.










Here is yet another pic, I was having fun with it! can you tell? This is now my centerpiece on my kitchen table, I could stare at it all day long! Its better than wine, that's for sure!


Hope your all having a wonderful week!





HSS2 package arrived!






Look what I found on my porch!










Sophie, my pal was so thoughtful and gathered together a bunch of gifts from some of the students and professors at Hogwarts....



They all included little notes along with their gifts.









First of all the socks, knee highs! so cool and warm, just in time for this cold weather! And such a pretty cable up the center. And they fit my chubby little legs like a glove ;O)






So much stuff in the package I'll just make a list and tell you who they were from.

*the socks ~ Molly Weasley
*a mini Pigwidgeon ~ Ron

*US #3 dpns ~ Hagrid
*COFFEE! ~ Harry
*stitch markers ~ Luna Lovegood
*a bookmark ~ Hermione
*Chocolate ~ Remus Lipin
*an embroidered handkerchief ~ Dumbledore
*a re-usable shopping bag ~ Ginny
*Hufflepuff banner ~ Cho Chang



This little guy is one of my favorites, isn't he cute?!

What a well thought out package, thanks so much Sophie (aka Megan)! I'm so glad we got paired up, its been fun getting to know you, lets keep in touch!




Saturday, November 3

I couldn't wait any longer...

I told myself that I wasn't going to start spinning this kool aid dyed roving until I finished my handspun sweater/shrug thing. HA!

I couldn't help it, I had to spin... Now I've never spun yarn for socks but I'm trying... I'm not sure if I should 2ply it or use the Navajo ply to help the colors stay more solidish. Any spinners out there have any tips, suggestions? I'd gladly take them!


I am close to having a full bobbin and can't wait to see what it looks like off the bobbin and all plied. I think I'm going to do some samples and see how it looks with the different ply methods.




I knit this little sock up the other night, isn't it cute?! Amy gave me this key chain sock blocker probably about a year ago.... Better late than never, right?!














I also cast on for my November socks. They are for Leah and I'm using up some yarn I had dyed, with kool aid, and made socks out of them a while ago. She has been asking for some and I thought this month I could take it easy and knit a child size pair. I used a new technique to me, the magic cast on for toe up patterns. Its really cool! I suggest trying it if you haven't already. No provisional cast on no Kitchener at the end... Just knit knit knit! Way cool! I doing two at once, 3x2 rib, nothing fancy.

Thursday, November 1

Thursday happenings





I thought I'd give you all a garden update. I know its Oct I mean November but a few weeks ago we picked all of our green tomatoes and are letting them ripen on their vines. I have enough to make a batch of sauce. Yesterday we did a picking of broccoli and peppers, there are surprisingly a few left I wonder how long they'll last out side.















Last weekend was my LYS's open house. I had (got to) work out there. If that was the only job I needed I'd just love it! Anyways during one of the down times one sweet lady Rana(who has the neatest accent, she's from Texas, I just love it) was teaching everyone who wanted to how to crochet a scrubbie. Now I've only crocheted once before when my sister Allena showed me a couple of years ago. But it was fun and I love the scrubbie, isn't it cute?! All you need is some netting from your local fabric department, cut it into 2 inch strips and crochet away, I think it took me less than an hour, way easy!






Today I figured I'd bake some cookies while Gabe was at school. Chloe was napping so I had the perfect little helper!

I love baking on knitting nights, then I don't end up eating them all while they sit on my counter at home.


Leah gets things out and helps me measure, we count and pour, then she puts the ingredients away! What a team :O)










Oh and the cookies, got to have a picture of them! They are called Chocolate Fudgies. Its almost like brownies.... mmmm


Want the recipe?!







Chocolate Fudgies

8oz semisweet chocolate melted 1cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, room temp

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

3/4 cup real semisweet chocolate chips or chunks

1cup coarsely chopped walnuts

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Melt chocolate, set aside
Sift together flour,cocoa, baking powder and salt, set aside
Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs, vanilla and espresso powder.
Add the melted chocolate
Stir in the flour mixture
Add the chocolate chips or chunks(or both) and walnuts (the dough will be stiff).

Spoon out or scoop out dough and bake for 15~ish minutes. Until cookies are dry on the outer edge but soft in the middle. Take out of the oven and let cool, then transfer to a cooling rack for further cooling.
Enjoy!








Oh and just for fun. Two of my cutie pies!