No more YOP

I loved doing the Year of Projects with you all but I didn't really factor in the whole Spring planting season. I've been runnin' around like crazy getting the garden ready and etc...

Also my home computer is dead :( It will let me check my e-mail but that's about it. Sometimes in the middle of that I get kicked off the Net. I probably would have made it through the yop but that is something I just can't get around without using the computers at the local Library. Since I can check the e-mail I will still recieve any comments you leave for me so thank you all for those and have a lovely year.

Don't know when I'll be able to get back on track with my computer because even the guy I had look at it had no Idea what to do. Whenever I can I'll be checking on things from the Library but not very often I think (^_^) Bye!

YoP post # 31 and Giveaway Winner

No crafting this week :) Too busy celebrating my Birthday with the family.

Winner of the book giveaway is Sandy (^_^) Yay! Send me an e-mail at Trenody85@wmconnect.com with your address and such and I'll try to get it out real soon. BTW "Minnie" had great fun picking out of the glass. She almost had to stick her whole little arm in there :)

Yop Update # 30

I finally finished my first I Love This Wrap. I also went ahead and started the second one so I wouldn't change my mind about making 2 of them. Once I got to the Long rows (each taking a half hour) I got a little weary of it. It doesn't look as good as the example on the pattern page but they do have theirs on an actual maniquin (? sorry spelling.) you know with arms and shoulders and such : )


This one is for my Mothers' Mother

Next week I'll show you a pic of the other one I started. It's a nice antique white/pale cream. and that one will be for mt Grandmother who was in that old pic a few posts ago.

I said I would do a giveaway a while ago and then I had to wait till we got enough extra cash to pay for the shipping. Here's the books I've collect for the giveaway. Shipping for books is pretty high these days, especially if you don't want them messed up. I thought about doing that flat rate- if it fits in the box- shipping thing (FED-EX right?). I tried to cover both knitting and crochet so whoever won would have whichever craft they prefer. It's you ladies (and Gentlemen?) that are participating in the YoP that I would like to make this giveaway open to.

Just comment below with a link to your YoP site. Not only will this keep it in the Family, as-it-were, but also help me make sure I've got everyone on my Bloglovin' list (^_^). I'll announce next Sunday the name "Minnie" draws from the "hat" (cause I don't know nothin about rafflecopter and stuff) plus she really wants to help.


See ya next week.

Yop post # 29

Very exciting week for us but not much crafting in the long run. I finished the second Circle of Friends hat. I didn't get a picture because my father took it to work with him the next mornning. When he brings it back I'll get a picture of it with the other one just so I can see how much bigger I ended up making it.

We had the baby shower last night and it lasted way longer than the scheduled 2 hours. It was supposed to run from 5-7pm but we didn't get home till around 8:30 so I decided not to make dinner at all and just sent "Minnie" to bed. My sister loved her Cowboy set! It was so exciting. She cried about 5 times during that party. Hormones I guess except that everything was in fact perfect :)

Hopefully I'll get more done next week.

Garden Seed Giveaway

I don't know how many of you ladies garden but right now there's a giveaway for some garden seeds over at The Redeemed Gardener and it's for seeds that have a pretty good reputation for growing very well. I sure hope to win. Sometimes the buying the seeds part is the most expensive especially if you want alot of variety and excellent quality.

Cookin' Up a Beat Down

Homemade KFC

The whole family devoured these. I started from almost absolute scratch. My mother is alergic to onion, which is in every BBQ sauce I could find so I even made the sauce. Only the Chicken wings came packaged. "Minnie" looked up at me with her face covered in sticky sauce and said "this is even better than KFC mommy"



Homemade Fries

 Parmesan Fries fresh from the oven. We love these with every finger food meal. Hotdogs, Hamburgers and it turns out Chicken wings too :)

I made a pizza too but it was smelling so good I didn't get a chance to get a pic until it was too late. Nothin' really special about it (just pepperoni) except that it was rolled into a loaf and spread with some delicious butter and herbs to jazz it up but when those smells started coming from the oven the crew over for the game went a little wild. Oh well, maybe next time.

All these recipes have been unanimously voted Family Favorites. Which means they go into the keep file and get one of those page covers and everything.

YoP Post # 28

I'm a bit late with my Sunday Post but Super Bowl Sunday is sort of a tradition around here :). I cooked for hours! Homemade KFC Honey BBQ Wings and Pizza with a side of Seasoned Fries also homemade. My team won! Yay! Now now don't get too upset. I don't actually know much about football. I just let Eddie pick a team and then root against him. I won last year too :)

About 7 Months Along

This is my sister. We've also been planning her Baby Shower this week. We got really lucky. I watch the Freecycle network and someone posted baby boy stuff and we got to go and pick the stuff up. Let me tell you everything was in beautiful condition. We (meaning She) had almost none of the things she needed. Now she has a stroller, carseat, swing, bouncer, and baby tub. Plus they wrote me a second time and said they had found a Playpen too. Now instead of asking people for a couple more expensive things she can ask for lots of the little things like a diaper bag, bottles, diapers, shampoo, powders and all the other small things people usually don't think of. We we're very blessed.


Cowboy Up!

This is what I've made for the shower. A cowboy set. I already gave her a baby blanket. We sent the people we got the baby stuff from a picture of my sister with all of it and they were very happy to see that it went to someone who didn't sell it but really needed it. Now since they gave us the Pen too I thought I would make them a Cowgirl set and send it to them. They have a 10 month old baby girl (which is why they didn't need the baby boy stuff anymore) and they said they would send me another e-mail when their oldest sons son out grows it. He was born last April which if my sisters babe is born on time will make him almost exactly a year older.

As you can see I've been really busy so the Cowboy Set is really the only thing I worked on. I didn't want to stress my arm too much but I really needed to get it done Now because the Shower is coming up soon.

YoP update #27

Only a couple of things for show and tell today. I finally made the other Fingerless Mitt for my mother. She was thrilled. I don't know why it took me so long except I think I was a bit scared of messing it up. I changed the pattern the when I made the first one and of course I didn't write it down. I just sat down and began and it sort of came back to me. The second glovelet looks a different color in the pic but I swear it's just the lighting. Weird how different it can be less than 18" apart.

I also worked on my Fathers hat. Here's a pic. Not going as fast as the other but I have a good reason. I had to add a few "people" to the pattern and a about 10 extra plain knitting rows (my bane!).

Plus I'm having a strange pain in my right arm. It's like I can feel it moving down from my forearm into my hand bones and  pointer/middle fingers. I've decided to slow down for a couple weeks and see if it gets any better. I'm having trouble writing, crafting and even typing is sending little twinges. I won't be giving up crafting though! Even if I should, I would be much too bored.

An Awesome Giveaway!

There's a giveaway that I am entering over at Forgotten Way Farms.

Just click through to the blog section.

Six chances to win and each one of the prises are wonderful in their own way. Even if you don't want any of the prises for yourself I'm sure they would make a great present for someone you know (hint, hint)* Everyone knows someone these days that is trying to live on less and there are even some who really love that lifestyle (me included) and are purposefully heading full steam* in that direction. All in all a great chance to learn or try something new.

* Not really folks, I think that would be considered cheating (^_^)
*in my case dragging 2 reluctant family members in tow.

YoP post # 26

Plenty of progress this week. I made a hat, which was supposed to be for my father, but was too small. Evedently I tighten up a bit when I get to the stranding part of colorwork. So now my mother has a hat and my father will soon have a hat to match. I can just see them now...Walking through the Flea market looking corny and all lovey dovey. It's called the Circle of Friends hat, only I had to take out some of the patterning because my father thought it looked too girly :) He found this little (statuette?) at a shop somewhere near New Mexico or lower California and then bought another (bigger!) for his mother so I knew when I saw this pattern on Rav. it would be perfect for him.

After I finished that hat in like 3 days (a new record for me) I decided I needed some crochet. Nothing like constant repetative movement to get the fingers aching. So I made "Midget" some new fingerless gloves. And yes folks she is wearing some shorts :)

Speaking of "Midget", She thinks she's too old and too big for that knick name now. Sad moment for sure with all these growing pains. Now I call her "Minnie". It's a mix between Midget and ninny which used to be our name for each other when we knew we had done something silly like try to put the pickle jar lid on a soda bottle etc...

Plus I worked a few rows on my Grandma's wrap. Not enough to take another pic because it never looks different (always a half circle). A row now takes me 20-30 min. and I'm near the end of the pattern but I know I will have to keep going on my own because Both my Grans are less than svelt. O' well we shall see how that goes. At least I'll be more sure on the second one.

Have a lovely week. Thats an order :)

YoP Update # 25

I have only really worked on one project this week. One of my I Love This Wrap projects for 2 presents for Mother's Day this year. I just realized though, that by Mother's Day it will be hot out. Maybe I should save them for Christmas presents? Eh. I just know that I think both my Grandmothers will look good in these. One of my Grandmas is tall and stately and the other is shorter and more homely (in a good way).

Tall and Stately

This is my Grandmother on my Dad's side. She was raised to be a true Lady. Bold colors, church clothes always, driving gloves, and never leaves the house without her make-up and heels, even though she had hip surgery and probably shouldn't be wearing those. Taller than my Dad! Though once again the heels probably help there (^_^).

My other Grandma is only 5'3" (my height) and she is only a few year younger so it's really weird how different they are. More casual clothes and shoes etc...

One thing they both have in common is Church. They both attend not only Sunday Morning Church but every chance they get. Which is something I can be really glad of because even "Midget" can see how much they Believe and asks me to tell her more about Him.

This Wrap is for my shorter Granny. She likes calmer colors. I'm thinking of making the other one Cream with a dark brown edging. I can't make it a bold color because she wears so many different colors.

Here's another pic sort of draped almost like it should be. One question though, a bit of starch (just a little)? during the blocking? I've never made anything that needed a bit of stiffening. Any advice there would be welcome.

I keep trying to picture it with shoulders in it but I think it's going well so far.

I'm off to read, read, read. I always try to check your posts Sunday night to give everyone a chance to post but today I'm the late one, oh well. We had an unexpected visitor today. My brother brought his Semi down for "Midget" to see and play with.

Belated YoP post # 24

Hi everyone. I'm back in the posting frame of mind :). Total insanity reigned all through the Holidays this year. My Father turned 50! Just a few days before Christmas we threw him a party. We took turns shooting bows, guns and  playing darts ect. We had cake ( I made a Semi-cake) and Ice cream. The whole 9...

Plus I had to take him out to the local Flea Market that morning because.. Tada... It was all a suprise! We had great fun :)

Imediatly after the party it was time to head out for "Midget's" Christmas play. They wern't allowed to perform that at the school because of the whole "God" issue but her teacher arranged for the kids to come to her church and it was great fun. Except for the part where we had to get there 4 hours early and sit through the rehersal and everything. Not that I complained out loud very much (though maybe a few times (^_^). The bleachers are not a good place to wait something like that out, especially for my Mother who has hip and back problems.

My mother had a bad-ish fall just before all our festivities this year. Looking at it now I don't know how she didn't break anything. I hate to say it but these falls happen more and more often these days.

After all that, just 2 days later, it was time to get ready for my own Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve. It went well for a dinner scheduled after a Christmas Breakfast (at Grandmas) and a Christmas Lunch (at the other Grandmas). Actually I'm surprised anyone ate at all! I know I have been eating the left overs for weeks.

This is Ginger. Santa brought her. Isn't she just perfect? So sweet though she does knaw a bit and Guinnea Pigs aren't supposed to bite. She's very jumpy though and when she gets excited she leaps around like a 3 yr old on a sugar high.

Someone was talking about the traditions they have during the holidays and it made me think about a few things we do that I didn't even consider traditions. Namely, Christmas bingo. Each year we sit down to breakfast and then clear the table and get down to the fun bit. Whoever wins bingo gets to go pick any present from under the tree and either open it or give it to the person who's name is on it. this not only teaches "Midget" to give instead of only pick her presents but it also makes a 2 minute wrapping paper frenzy into a 2 hour family party/game.

As for crafting... I didn't.

I only did a contest project and my latchhook project. Well that and crocheting the white edging around those African Flower motifs.

Here's my Christmas Angel. Who won! Yay! prize was 3 skeins of nice yarn. She made a beautiful centerpiece for my Dinner.

Here's a pic of my Latch hook project. In my last pic of this (at the beginning of this holiday season) I had only gotten up past the E. Maybe this thing wont take me 10 years after all :) I don't have a pic of the motifs because I just didn't take one yet, maybe next week.