Tiff Crochets

This post is a post-in-progress. I want to show off Laura’s hat, completed many months ago, modeled by me here, along with Maddie’s hat yet-to-be published, but I also wanted to show off the first stage of a felted bowl that I’m making for my stepmother. The problem is that the felted bowl, stage one, is sitting in front of me, almost, but not quite finished. I’m listening to Marly’s latest podcast, typing a few lines, and then crocheting a row on the bowl.

I published Laura’s Brownie hat on Crochet me, but if you are on Ravelry, you can also download it in pdf form here.

Just because she has a cute smile in this one, here’s another view.

This is my third version.  I made the first out of Lion Brand Wool Ease on a whim, not thinking about writing anything down.  The second one I made with notes, also out of Wool Ease, and subsequently gave it to my sister where I think Laura’s hat is currently residing also.  Either there or the Cheesecake Factory after an afternoon of ice skating.  This third one, I could not resist trying out the Bernat Cashmere Natural Blends, thus the pattern is officially in this yarn.  I need to write down the instructions for the fingering weight version, which Maddie wears, then hides from me when I get out paper and pencil.

Granny Square Felted Bowl phase one is complete.  I was distracted by a little girl who thinks that naming every sight word “here” is funny.  We have sight word flash cards, which we practice with daily.  Today, while letting her Barbie fairies play AC/DC on her Hello Kitty Fender, every answer is, “Here!” followed by a snicker before the “fairy” (high pitched Maddie voice) starts humming “Back in Black” again while strumming something vaguely familiar.

I’m off to cut out nine pink boots for the kindergarten rodeo for Friday, then start to work on a secret project. Thank goodness for mother-in-law’s buying you fancy left-handed scissors.  Yeehaw!

I ordered a set of awesome Firefly inspired pins from this nerdy little shop and they’re about to be covering my yarn tote and my camera case.  I think my “I call her Vera” pin will go on my key ring though because that’s one of my favorite Jayne scenes.  See?  Aren’t they awesome?

The girls and I are heading to Houston for the weekend.  They have some freaky five day holiday thing.  I understand having Monday off, but they’ve turned it into a winter “mini-break”.  Come on!  I would have rather had an extra three days off over the Christmas holidays.  This did give me a perfect reason to head back into H-town to do a little visiting so I’ll take advantage.

The trip back home also meant that I could not let our apple collection go to ruin, so Laura and I made Amy’s apple crisp from her recipe cheat sheet.  It was delicious and so easy to make.  I sliced the apples extra thin, which made them mouthwatering, and Laura mixed up the rest of the ingredients.  It was steaming when I took this photo on my new doily plates from Crate & Barrel.

 May your weekend be beautiful!  I hope to have many hours of crafty time ahead of me and I will post of my adventures when I return!  See you around Ravelry this weekend because I know I won’t be able to stay away!

We went to the zoo on Saturday with the girls’ Girl Scout troop, so I have a few pictures to share of our favorite animals. It was too cold for me, but it was an experience seeing the big cats frisky.

First off, we had an amazing view of the rhinoceros. It looked so delicate standing on the rocks while eating, but it was so massive.

So, we walked up to this random herd of antelopes and asked if they would pose for a photo. They were very obliging.

Finally, just a cute fox. Poor thing had to live with the prairie dogs after losing his friend, the hound, thus the sad look.

Ah ha! Now that I’ve bored you with photos of the zoo, I share with you one completed project and one in progress. I finished my Hybrid Hat and wore it Saturday, which was a good thing because it was bristly outside.

Details:

Very easy, wonderfully quick pattern. I would definitely make more!

I used one ball of Bernat Felting Natural Wool in English Rose

“J” Hook

Set of Size 8 DPN’s

I visited my LYS the other day for a crochet meet up and couldn’t resist picking up Berroco’s Comfort #269 pamphlet. I’m making the Party Girl for Laura is Size 10. It’s my first knit garment, maybe my last, but I’m breezing through the back without any problems so far.

Yes, I know what I said. I picked up yarn for a knit garment while at a crochet meet up. I saw several crocheted things that I would love to make one day, but this top had Laura written all over it. I’m hoping that after making this I can work on a crochet equivalent.

Slotted Scandinavian Scarf

Originally uploaded by sriyana

Look how beautiful! I need to make something similar for my mother-in-law one day. The colorwork is amazing.

I am so tired this evening.  So tired that I’m going to end my week-long plus crafting streak and not pick up either my hooks or needles tonight.  Oh crap.  I already did.  Maddie had a family project for school that involved a paper plate snowman. I made it a flashy red scarf and matching beanie.  If your snowperson is destined to be female, it can at least be flashy, right??

I read Fox in Sox to Maddie tonight and now my brain hurts.  Off to bed after returning to the maelstrom that is middle school substitute teaching.  Tomorrow I’m off to sub for a high school history class at my future place of employment (power of positive thinking!) after a nice long sleep tonight.

I made a little slide show on Photobucket of a few of our pictures from Montana so as not to overwhelm the post with photos. If you want descriptions, just leave comments saying stuff like, “Tiffany? What the heck is that little brown blur in the snow?”

While in Montana, my awesome sister-in-law gave me a gift certificate to Stix, located in Bozeman, Montana. It was intended as a “get out of stuffed house free” card for the two of us, who both knit and crochet. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out as planned, so I went with my mother-in-law, aunt-in-law, and the girls. This probably turned out to be a good thing because if I had gone into the store with her, I think I would have begged to stay for hours. I was in heaven the instant I walked through the door. The store is in the basement just off the main drag through town so it’s not easy to spot, but being in the basement must be a blessing because of all of the space they have at their fingertips. See? It’s a cute little entrance though:

They even have a play room for kids. It’s just off the book section and has a small selection of toys to keep kids entertained while you play. I have thought about boxing up some of the girls’ old toys and shipping it to the store to add to the room, just because if they are going to be donated, the idea of donating to a room where kids can play while their moms or dads play with yarn sounds like the perfect choice.

I wanted to work on something small and knitted, so I picked up a few balls of Trendsetter Dune yarn and a set of size 10 dpns to make myself a set of fuzzy fingerless mittens. Now that they’re finished, I’ll probably never, ever, ever wear them, but they’re still going into my jacket pocket for those days that I’m out and feel a little spunky.

Speaking of fingerless mitts, I finished Bron’s Victorian Shell Mitts (Ravelry link - Victorian Mitts) last night while watching 3:10 to Yuma. What a great movie! I’m working on a review to post, just because my mind is brimming with things I want to say about it, but it’s the historian in me that wants to analyze it and not the movie watcher, so look out for that soon.

Back to the mitts! I used Vanna’s Choice from Lion Brand, which is kind of scratchy at the moment so I’ll drop them in the wash to soften them up.

I am glad the holiday frenzy is over. I’ve spent the last week detoxing from running around like mad during the past month. I should have dug out my oriental spice tea long before I did today, but at least I did lounge around in my favorite slippers (they massage!) all week when I didn’t have to leave the house.

I’ve been working on a pair of fingerless mitts with yarn I picked up on our vacation in Montana. I have pictures to show, but I’ve got a fire-breathing Maddie requesting a few minutes to register her Webkinz bear. She also knows I’m talking about her, using her newly developing reading skills.

For my wedding shower those many years (eight) ago, the theme was for every invitee to bring a recipe that would be placed into my first recipe book.� One of these recipes was for a “Better Than S*x” cake and believe me, it almost is.� I think it’s the large amount of chocolate that makes my toes curl.� Anyhoo, I was gifted with a large amount of Nordicware bundt pans for Christmas from my brother and his significant other so I used the tree pan to make the now aptly named by the girls, The Best Cake Ever:

The Best Cake Ever (as named by the Roots girls)

Ingredients:

1 box butter or yellow cake mix

1 pkg (3 3/4 oz) instant vanilla pudding

8 oz. sour cream

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. water

3 eggs

6 oz. chocolate chips

2 oz. German sweet chocolate squares, grated

1/2 c. nuts (I use pecans)

Small amount of powdered sugar

1. Mix all of the ingredients except the chocolate and nuts until fluffy, about 2 minutes on medium with electric mixer.
2. Add the chocolate chips, grated chocolate, and the nuts.
3. Pour mix into greased and floured bundt pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.� Cool, remove from pan, and dust with powdered sugar.� Enjoy!

I baked this on New Year’s Day and intended to post the next day. I’m a little less than a week behind, so not too bad! I cooked this, along with a delicious batch of chicken & dumplings, while lounging around in my massaging house slippers, and squeezing in a little reading from an amazing book that I got for Christmas.

My mother-in-law went to the Montana Festival of the Book this last fall and was able to have James Lee Burke’s newest short story compilation, Jesus out to Sea, autographed for me.  See?

I’m a huge fan of James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novels set in New Orleans and New Iberia, Louisiana, but he also rights about Montana, being a resident of Missoula also, and I had recommended him to my mother-in-law, so I was blown away when I opened this package on Christmas day.  One of his novels was turned into a movie, Heaven’s Prisoners, starring Alec Baldwin as Dave Robicheaux in what I think is one of his best roles while also being a very decent movie.  They’ve just finished up In the Electric Mist, with Tommy Lee Jones as Dave, which kind of makes me leary, but might work.  It’s scheduled to be released some time this year.

The fire-breathing Maddie is back, so I’ve got to go.  We’re going to watch The Bourne Ultimatum tonight, which means I can get in a few hours on my mitts, which I’m knitting so they’re taking a lot longer for me than I like, but I’ve got one finished so I can’t turn back now.  Maddie likes them so much that she wants a pair for herself.  Her pair will be crocheted.

Happy New Year!  Wishing you all the best for 2008…..

I’m off to sit outside, enjoying the seasonal 47 degrees of Texas on this beautiful New Year’s Day.  It’s all because of waking up to -15 degrees last Thursday up in the midsts of bison/elk/wolf/grizzly country.  It was in the 20’s last night and I was outside, without a jacket, mind you, commenting on how WARM it was. 

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