New Projects

This red shawl is worked in crochet. It's a simple double crochet the entire way, but the yarn itself makes the beautiful patterns in it. I've got it almost finished and I really like the way the yarn worked up for this one.

My current knitting project is a  lacy shawl. I had a couple different types of yarns that needed some thing else to make them look awesome.  I started with this verigated cotton yarn from Ironstone Yarns. It's an eye lash type yarn and it's not easy to crochet with so I decided to put it on the knifty knitter and combine it with

this yarn that I got in a box of yarns in an E-bay auction. 

 

And I found a really lacy pattern in this pattern book

and this is the result so far for the shawl. 

I'm really having fun with this knifty knitter loom. Much more fun then I'm having with the knitting needles. I'm about ready to get rid of all the knitting needles and just keep these knitting looms for anything I want to knit. I"m thinking about getting a very fine gauge loom so that I can learn to knit socks. I crocheted a pair of socks and they took forever with that tiny yarn and single crochet.

Another Snow day

Today has been a horrible blustery snow day, so I've been working on knit and crochet projects. I finally found a neat hat pattern to  make a matching hat for the scarf I made earlier on the Knifty Knitter. So now I have a matching set. The pattern in the hat does not show up as well with this fluffy yarn, but it's enough to show a little and make a nice hat.

I also finished crocheting a new hat for myself. I really like that little brim because it works so well to keep the rain and snow off my glasses. I've been wearing it when I go out in the snow to re-wrap Topper's  leg. She is doing much better and that wound should heal up well.

I also finished off a crochet dish cloth. This is a really pretty yarn called Gumdrops from Peaches and Cream. I picked it up on sale at the Wal-Mart for .75 cents per skein. There were just a few skeins on sale and in this color there were only two available. I got both and I'll be making a matching pot holder to go along with the dish cloth.

I also finished off a few of the other projects I was working on in my last post about my crochet.  The pink and purple triangle shawl is finished and will be the right size for a young girl.

I also made a really nice stew today. It was a quick, easy and hearty meal for such a nasty day.  I added in dehydrated sweet peas from last summers garden along with an onion, a can of mushrooms, a couple russet potatos, a bag of frozen carrots and one sweet potato, one can of beef broth and two cans of water and the mushroom can full of lentils. With all that stuff I did add a tiny bit of beef but not much as I'm trying to get Keith to eat healthier without so much meat.

Projects finished and still in progress

Two scarves finished. The blue and green one is my first finished project off the Knifty Knitter loom. I'm going to need a good hat pattern to go along with it so that I can use up the other skein of yarn and have a matching set. The multi-colored one is a crocheted ribbon yarn scarf.

 

Here are a couple of crochet coin purses and an eyeglass case made from some of the scrap yarns left over. The white and colored one was a combination of the ribbon yarns left over the the scarf and some white yarn left over from making my nephews Christmas blanket. The white and maroon one was the left over yarn from the hand warmers I made earlier. These are all finished except to find the right buttons to for each one.

My unfinished projects include a green boxed shell cape.  I've made this cape pattern before with a different yarn and liked it so much that I'm trying it again with this yarn. 

 

This triangle shawl is quite easy to make and I've just started it. I made a similar one out of different yarns for my sister for Christmas. This one I'm going to try and sell at the Arts and Crafts Fair in Town next winter. It still needs a few more rows to finish it off.

This purple and green item was intended to be a shawl or shrug. I'm a little worried that I'm running a bit short on yarn so I'll have to see. I do love the colors though and just may keep this one for myself.

Another Snow Day

Today was a complete closure at work and I'm on at least a two hour delay for tomorrow. I really hate the snow, but I do enjoy the day off from work. I finally finished the scarf I was working on. Then I finished the last tiny bit of a pot holder that needed to be sewed up. Now I'm busy trying to find a good hat pattern so that I can make a matching hat for my scarf. 

Since I had a lot of time on my hands today I also made a homemade coleslaw. I had a small head of red cabbage in the refridgerator that was one of the the last ones harvested from my garden. It wasn't very big so I picked up a head of green cabbage at the grocery store earlier today and mixed the two together along with some shreaded carrots. 
I tried a new dressing instead of the usual creamy Mayo type dressing. I used Olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. Tried to be a bit more healthy with it but it was a little bland. I think I need to add a little more vinegar the next time I make the dressing.

A Cookie day!!

Finally a day without any snowfall! The sun is shining and melting some of that snow. Unfortunately there is not much outside chores to be done today. Keith is busy shoveling paths through the snow, but doing things like cleaning up the horse manure is not possible since it's buried under almost a foot of snow and still frozen to the ground. So today is an indoor day.

I started a knitted scarf on my Knifty Knitter. This is my first project on the knitting loom. I am extremely bad with a pair of knitting needles, but this knitting loom is really easy to use.

So in not very long at all my scarf looked like this and I am totally excited. I"m actually able to complete a knit and purl stitch on this loom. I can only do a knit stitch with the needles and it's totally frustrating, but this thing is fun!!

But I had to put away my knitting for a while to make cookies. What is better on a cold snow day then cookies?

So I made Rolo Cookies

you need at least 4 rolls of Rolos

1 cup of butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the sugars, butter, eggs and vanilla in a bowl.

In a separate bowl mix the baking soda, cocoa powder, and 1 1/2 cups of flour.

Combine the  sugar mixture and the flour mixture until well mixed.

Add the remain cup of flour as needed until the dough is sticky.

Scoop out teaspoon sized amounts of dough and roll around a Rolo making a ball.

Roll the balls in granulated sugar and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.

The recipe says either a parchment line sheet or spray with cooking spray. I used Aluminum foil.

Either way it's best to line the pan because the caramel leaks.

Bake 8-10 minutes. I had to bake longer. Almost 15 minutes even with a hot oven. I don't know if it's because of my altitude ( 7200 Ft) or because of lining the sheets with foil or some combination of things. So just keep an eye on it.

Tips that were not in the recipe

1. The dough handles better when it's been cooled. Even 10-15 minutes in the fridge makes it more manageable.

2. Either I didn't make the cookies big enough or the recipe is larger then the amount needed for the amount of  Rolos. I used 4 full rolls of Rolos and still ended up with enough dough for another roll. The cookies are still really good even with out the use of the Rolos. So if you don't have Rolos or don't want to use them. the rest of the recipe makes a really good chocolate cookie.

3. When you take the cookies out of the oven, make sure you place something under the cooling racks to catch the remaining leaking caramel.

And finally if you have kids or cookie monster hubbies, make sure they know that melting caramel is really hot so they don't burn their mouths or hands with the fresh from the oven cookies. 

Now that I'm done with the cookies, back to the knitting. 

Crochet and Knit Projects

I found this really cool pattern for Crochet Dish sponges and I've been busy working on making a few for the house. They make up really fast and the best part of all is they are more re-useable then those sponges you buy at the stores. I've also been working on a pair of crochet socks. I just started those so they may take a while longer to finish.
I've got a one skein ribbon yarn knit scarf also about half done. I don't like knitting as much as crocheting so it always takes me longer to do a knit project. This one in particular I've frogged three times already because I've messed it up. I ended us switching to a smaller size needle because I seem to have a problem holding those larger ones. I made quite a few gifts for christmas presents, but I still have quite a large stash of yarn that I need to find a few more neat stash buster projects to trim down my stash.