Crazy Weather and Helpful Kids

Our warm weather of early March has disappeared. In it's place we've been left with highs that are at times, 30 degrees below average!

This past weekend was cold and rainy. The kids bundled up to go outside since the rain stopped for a bit. I sent them out with our bubble machine.

Then Monday it snowed.

It snowed in North Carolina in late March. The world has gone mad.

This past weekend Jon was gone with the Band to Orlando. The kids and I were so glad to spend the day with Mom and Mark on Sunday. With cold, wet weather, having a change of scenery was definitely a plus.

Evan "helped" Grandpa with a renovation project.

Evan is convinced that when he grows up his name will be Mike Holmes and he'll fix houses. I think he was glad to start his carpentry training.

Charlotte loved learning about how to use the level and let Grandpa know that Mike Holmes would think the job he was doing was perfect.

I think watching Holmes on Homes and Holmes Inspection is paying off!

Charlotte helped Nana makes spaghetti.

And Evan helped spread chocolate icing on the cake. Yum!

My fingers are crossed that April brings the sunshine back to NC!

Alpaca Blend Shrug

This was my first time knitting with alpaca yarn... well, 50% alpaca. It is so soft. I had been saving this yarn for something special. I had plenty of yarn so I knew it could be something big. I finally settled on the speckled shrug. It knit up fast on size 9 needles. It's knit as a big rectangle and then folded in half and partially seamed to create the shrug. I washed and blocked the rectangle before seaming to make blocking a lot easier. I added a garter stitch border along the sides so the "sleeves" wouldn't roll.

I used two full skeins (each ~500 yards) of Corino from "The Purled Llama Co.". It's a blend of 50% superfine alpaca and 50% wool. This yarn really "grows". The shrug stretches like crazy and I probably should have gone down a needle size if I wanted it to stay waist/hip length.

I used this shrug a good bit during the second half of winter this year. I like that it stays on my shoulders better then a shawl but it's more like a wearable blanket then a cardigan.

Whole Wheat Orange Cranberry Scones

Whole Wheat Cranberry Orange Scones (dairy-free options in blue)

1 3/4 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
5 Tbsp. butter, chilled (or Earth Balance)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup half and half (almond milk or coconut milk)
1 orange (zested and juiced)
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla


*1-3 hours before making the scones, mix together the dried cranberries in the juice and zest of one orange. Set aside until you're ready to make the scones.

Preheat the oven to 425*. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment.

In the bowl of a food processor, add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and pulse until blended. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. (This can be done without a food processor in a large bowl using a pastry blender or 2 knives)

In a small bowl, mix together half and half, egg, and vanilla.

Add wet ingredients and cranberries (with any extra juice and zest leftover from soaking) to the food processor and pulse just until a dough forms. Do not over blend. (or add wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and stir just until a dough forms)

Scoop out dough onto parchment paper lined or greased baking sheet in 1/4 cup amounts, 2 inches apart. The balls of dough should be the size of a large egg. Sprinkle the tops with sugar, if desired.

Bake scones but about 15 minutes or until they're golden brown around the edges. They're best if served warm or within 1 day of baking.

Makes about 10 scones.

Charlotte's Stretchy Cotton Socks

This yarn is really neat. It is 98.3 % cotton and 1.7% elastic. That little bit of elastic makes it super stretchy. Cotton yarn is usually pretty tricky to knit with because it has no stretch and can be hard on the hands since it has no give. This yarn is a little tricky to knit with for the opposite reason. It's so stretchy that I wasn't sure how to tension it. Should I pull it snug as I usually do or would that make it too stiff? Should I hold the yarn loosely to make a very stretchy sock? In the end I decided to hold the yarn pretty loose on the foot of the sock and then to pull the yarn more snugly for the cuff.

The yarn is Cascade Fixation color 9840. I was able to get both socks from one skein. I used size 2 needles and knit the socks toe up using short rows with no wraps. I cast on 20 stitches (eventually having a total of 40 stitches around). I knit the foot 7" long total. They should fit her for a while since they stretch so much. She loves them because the yarn has all her favorite colors in it. She had a hard time waiting for them to finish drying so she could wear them.

Two Tone 70's Socks

Harvest Gold and Avacado Green.... Weren't the 70's great? Okay, so I was only alive for the last 2 years of the 70's but who can forget all of the major appliances in these colors? I knit these mis-matched but coordinating socks with 2 colors of yarn because I didn't have enough of one color to knit two socks. I knit them toe-up with size 2 needles. I did no-wrap short row heels and toes. I used 64 stitches and started my heel 7" from the tip of the toe.

The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock. The green is called "7ns Cedar" and the gold is called "8ns Harvest". This is really great sock yarn. The socks are machine washable since they're a blend of 80% superwash wool and 20% nylon. This is a very good thing because Jon put the sock laundry bag into the dryer without noticing. Luckily they survived a machine wash and dry without any damage. They got very soft with their wash and look less fuzzy then when I've washed other brands of sock yarn. In fact, the socks are so soft that I'd like to keep them on all the time. I think I'm going to have to keep my eyes out for more Lorna's Laces sock yarn. My feet may never been the same again!

1 Shovel + Seeds = Spring Garden Planted!

We had another wonderful weekend of weather. Today wasn't as warm as it was yesterday but it's still be wonderful and dry...great weather for working outside. The kids ate lunch outside yesterday.

Last year was a very hard year for my garden. We had awful weather and we traveled a lot. I eventually gave up on my garden and let it grow into a wild meadow of sorts. I had a hard time getting excited about this year's garden because of it. This weekend I was finally ready to get to work in the dirt.

I started off by turning over the dirt in each bed with a shovel. The dirt was pretty compacted. After turning the soil, I topped each bed with leaf mulch leftover from last year. I worked it in with my hands and smoothed each bed. I did 5 beds Saturday and finished the rest today. It was hard work and my back is pretty tired. I was careful and only got one blister on my hands. Not bad for 4-5 hours with a shovel.

Look what I found in one bed.... a Swiss Chard plant that started to grow from the leftover stump of last year's plant! I didn't know that Swiss Chard could overwinter that well.

After preparing all of the beds, it was time to plant. I luckily had plenty of seeds leftover from last year. Charlotte was my assistant. She started by scratching in some organic fertilizer I had leftover from last year.

She helped to plant the sugar snap pea seeds. They're large seeds and easy to push into the dirt. I planted lettuce, broccoli, kholrabi, cauliflower, spinach, and carrot seeds. Charlotte helped me cover the seeds and pat down the dirt.

Charlotte helped me water all of the planted beds.

We draped 4 beds with row cover to help keep the seeds moist while they germinate. I didn't have enough row cover to do every bed so I had to prioritize. Carrot seeds are tough to get to germinate so I made sure they were covered and then I covered the snap peas.

I think Charlotte's doing her scarecrow impression. She was a great assistant. It took us about an hour and a half to get everything planted and watered and she enjoyed every minute of it. It's nice that she's getting old enough now to really be a help. I was so tired from all the digging that I was grateful for her company and help.

I am so glad to get my Spring seeds planted. It's great timing that it also happens to be the first day of Spring. My fingers are crossed that this year's garden is a better success then last year. Now I get to go rest my back. It won't be long before those seeds are starting to sprout. One of my favorite things about gardening is searching for and finding those very first sprouts. It never gets old.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We've been busy this morning creating green crafts and eating yummy green topped cupcakes.

I hope you find the gold at the end of your rainbow just like Charlotte's Leprechaun.

Oops! Recipe Correction!

A few weeks ago I posted a recipe for The Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes but I left out a very important ingredient... the cocoa!! They can hardly be chocolate cupcakes without the cocoa. I've corrected the recipe.

Spiral Noro Hat

For those of you who don't know, Noro is a brand of yarn made in Japan and is known for it's amazing colors. While I find some of their wool yarn very rough and scratchy, the color combinations never fail to catch my eye. I found a small skein of Kureyon "Kurey" (color 229) at a yarn shop and the colors were too much for me to resist. I was surprised to find so many other colors in this skein of yarn as I knit with it. I"m not sure if I'm crazy about the weird red/pink color but that's one of the fun things about Noro... it's like a box of chocolates.. you never know what you're gonna get.

My favorite part of this hat is the top of it. I love the color and the pattern on top. I used the Noro Spiral One-Skein Hat pattern using size 8 needles. The pattern was pretty easy to follow once I got the hang of it. I wish the hat had been top down though because that would have allowed me to use every bit of yarn. I ended up with a few rounds worth of yarn leftover at the end. The cap is too short for my head so it may become one of Charlotte's winter caps for next year.

FYI - If you need something to act as a hat form while you take pictures... feel free to borrow your kids toys. This toy has the perfect sized top for this little hat.

Charlotte's Turn

... to be sick, that is. Charlotte is making up for the fact that she hasn't missed day of school this year. She's home sick with Strep Throat. I'm living in the world of popsicles, tissues, juice cups, and hand sanitizer this week. Yesterday afternoon she fell asleep on the couch. I know this girl is sick when she sleeps in the middle of the day. Gotta love a 6 year old that alternates between watching Little Bear and then Holmes Inspection. That's my girl!
My fingers are crossed that she feels better soon and that no one else around here gets sick!

A Great Weekend

We had weather in the upper 60's - low 70's the weekend and we took full advantage of it. We spruced up the front of our house with fresh pine straw, some pretty pansies, and a freshly swept porch. The kids played outside a lot and got good and dirty. I went to a few consignment sales and bought the kids their summer wardrobe for next to nothing. We got our taxes done. Yesterday Jon and I took turns going to the lake to exercise.

I was so excited to get a chance to go back to the lake and ride my bike again. It was a beautiful morning. I had as much fun this time as I did two weeks ago.

My favorite creek was so pretty with the morning sun shining on it.

I hiked further up the creek and found such pretty spots where the water pooled or rushed over rocks.

My 7 mile ride was much easier this time around. I've been working out each morning for 2 weeks now and it's really made a difference in my endurance. I wasn't riding for speed but it was nice not to be out of breath as much. My favorite part is still going down the hills. I even closed my eyes for just a second going down one hill. I don't like roller coasters so that was as close to a thrill ride as it gets for me.

After I got back to the parking lot, I sat on a bench and fed the ducks some plain cheerios I brought along. I love ducks. I can't wait to get some land so I can have a bunch of them.

The white ducks were my favorite. Their feathers looked so soft that I really had the fight the urge to pick one up and pet it. I knew wild ducks would probably not appreciate a stranger picking them up to pet their feathers.

Jon went to the lake after I got back and alternated between walking a mile and jogging a mile. He got a great workout. He and I both want to be in great shape by this summer so we can have a great time exploring new hiking and biking trails when we got on vacation.

It's going to be rainy and chilly the next two days so I'm really glad we made the most of our great weekend.

Toe-Up Socks - The Best Thing Since Blue Toe Nail Polish

I have ventured into the world of toe-up socks. This has changed my life. Okay, so maybe it only changed the knitting part of my life but still... this way of knitting socks is so easy and fast!

For those of you who are non-knitters, traditional socks are knit from the cuff down to the toe. I've knit two pairs of socks this way(socks #1, socks #2) . I enjoyed knitting socks this way but there are many, many steps to turning a heel the traditional way. Though each step is pretty easy, it takes thought and concentration. The toe also took concentration and don't even get me starting on grafting the toe. There's a way to close up the toe opening that makes it look like the opening was never there. The blasted thing is called the Kitchener Stitch. I have tried this so many times and each time it never quite works out. Another disadvantage to the traditional sock is that you can't use up every bit of yarn. You have to guess at how long to make the cuff so that you'll end up with enough yarn to finish the toe. Socks without a toe... kinda pointless.

So, enter toe-up socks. At the suggestion of my Aunt Linda, I read Wendy Knits book with a pattern for toe-up socks. (Warning: Knitting terminology ahead) I decided after the first sock knit Wendy's way that I didn't like the wraps at each short-row turn because it was tricky and also created holes along the edge.Thanks to the internet, I found a much easier way to do the short-row heel and toe. I find it much easier to turn without wrapping, then while increasing, knit/purl two together and then make a stitch. I found this youtube video that helped me figure it out. Thank goodness for youtube. Oh, I also cast on differently then Wendy. I followed this youtube video to do the crochet cast on straight onto the knitting needle.

There are definite advantages to starting at the toe and working your way up. First, there are no toe openings to graft together. The cool way of doing a short-row heel means that they're seamless. Second, there are FAR fewer steps to creating the toe and heel. I can do a toe or heel in 15 minutes or so where a traditional heel can take me hours. Third, with a toe-up sock, you can knit until your yarn runs out (as long as you have the same amount of yarn set aside for the second sock) or until the cuff is as high as you like it since you already have the body of the sock knit. And the final reason why I think toe-up socks are the best thing since blue toe nail polish is that they're EASY! I don't have to look at a pattern. I jot down a few notes about how long the recipient's foot is and how many stitches I'm casting on. That's it. After one pair, I know how to knit these socks without looking at a pattern. This means that sock knitting is now almost mindless...a good thing if you like to knit while watching TV or a movie.

Okay, so enough talk... let's see the socks!

The first pair of toe-up socks was for Jon. He likes tall socks so I had to use more yarn then usual.

The yarn is Lion Brand "Magic Stripes", blue/brown pattern color 205. It's a self striping yarn so all I do is knit and it makes the pattern and stripes all by itself! I cast on 64 stitches and used size 2 needles.

Jon loves them and showed them off to the other teachers at school. Gotta love a man who appreciates hand knit socks.

After I finished Jon's socks, Evan asked, "Momma, you knit me some socks?" Sure thing, Buddy! I had plenty of yarn leftover from Jon's socks so Evan has a pair that matches Dada's.

He put them on as soon as he woke up since they had to dry overnight after being washed the first time.

He loves them. He wore them to school and showed them to his teacher. Hmm... like father, like son! Again, lucky to have guys that appreciate knit socks.

The socks are a little big but luckily he's growing like a weed.

Toe-up socks... so great. Who knew?

Oscar's Knitted Bed

If you can't tell by the picture, Oscar is happy with his bed that I recently knit him. That's his happy face. Actually that's his "Why are you making me look at the camera? Don't you know I'm an emotional Chihuahua" face. He loves his bed. Unfortunately for him, so do the cats. They fill the bed a bit more then he does. I need to make more beds so that every pet has their own but I have trouble with knitting the same pattern more then one time. It's boring. I have to let a month or two go by before I'm ready to reknit most patterns and even then I like to change up the yarn or pattern slightly.

I used leftover Lion Brand "Homespun" yarn. For the record, I hate this yarn. It's hard to knit with because it catches on everything, it unravels as soon as you snip an end, and it shows wear pretty fast. I used it because I didn't want to use anything nicer for a dog bed. The pets seem fine with this yarn though.

I used the Snug Harbor Knit Snuggle pattern. I used size 13 needles. I didn't follow the patterns advice on when to use the contrasting colors. I decided to just knit with the blue until I ran out and then switch to purple.

So, Gracie and Lucky, you need to share this bed with Oscar until I can face knitting another one of these beds. You guys will just have to suffer with sleeping on the couch pillows, the afghans, and the laundry until then.

A Winter Hat For Chris

Last year I knit this hat for my brother, Chris. I had plenty of yarn leftover so I used it to make him a heavier hat for winter. I used the Ryan pattern. I wish I had made the hat a little shorter because it's a little too long to leave the brim unfolded but a little too short to fold it. I used Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed Colors 08, 05, 06. I doubled the yarn using the tan color the whole time and switching out the rust color and green color form time to time.

Jon's Steeler's Hat

This picture was NOT taken recently, thankfully.
This winter I knit Jon a hat in Steelers colors. I used acrylic yarn so it could be washed easily and it would be low maintenance. I used the Ryan pattern and followed it pretty closely except for making the brim longer so it could be folded, making it warmer over the ears.

Too bad the hat didn't help the Steelers win the Super Bowl but it did help Jon stay warm this winter.

Sweet Sweaters For Sweet Sisters

I have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to posting about the knitting projects I've completed during the past few months. I'm going to try to catch up this week by doing a few knitting posts a day but I'm going to keep the posts short and sweet. I'm sorry if you get tired of seeing posts about knitting... I'll be back to other random posts next week.
These are little matching sweaters I knit for my daycare girls for Christmas. They're sisters (3 & 18 months) and I thought matching sweaters would be cute. Sorry for the poor pictures... it's hard to photograph white. Yarns: Sirdar Snuggly DK white (It's machine washable since white isn't exactly practical)

Sirdar Snuggly 4 ply color 1117 pale pink (I embrodered pink flowers and each child's initials on the front of the sweater...it showed up better in person)

I used this pattern: Seamless Baby Kimono Sweater

Bench Makeover

Just before Christmas I fixed up little bench that had seen better days. It was covered in pink, quilted fabric that was stained. It's legs and bars were loose. I took the top off of the frame. I glued the frame back together nice and snug. While the glue dried, I recovered the seat.

I found some cream colored upholstery fabric with tone on tone leaves in my fabric stash. I cut it a few inches larger then the seat.

I stapled the fabric in place as I pulled it tightly. Lastly I reattached the seat.

Nothing like a Christmasy picture as we get close to spring, right?

The bench is nice and sturdy now and looks much nicer in our living room. Not a bad makeover for not spending any money.