Happy Birthday

January 28th, 2011 a very special baby came into this world.  He was born very premature, I was only at 22 weeks.  Since he arrived so early, I never got the chance to make him a blanket, even to this day I wish I would of had one to wrap him in when he was born, so for his first birthday I finally made him a special blanket.

Happy 1st Birthday Orlen,
hope your party in Heaven was filled with cake, balloons and love.



Merry Heart-mas!

Christmas is not over at my house.  In fact, in some ways it is in full swing.  No, there is not a Christmas tree in my living room or any decorations for that matter.  Even though I did not get presents, or cards in the mail in time for Christmas, I am still going to finish them and mail them for a new holiday I have created, Heart-mas Day!  After much agonizing over the fact that I was sick and couldn't get presents or cards out, my very dear friend suggested I send out Valentines presents instead, and that is just what I have decided to do. 

This past weekend, I finally finished my sisters Heart-mas present.  A beautiful shawl made out of Bamboo yarn in a rich plum color.  The pattern can be found HERE.

The pattern was easy to follow, it is a two row repeat pattern, so easy to memorize.  I opted for a different edging.  The Bamboo yarn was the best part of working on this project.  It was an absolute delight to crochet with it, soft and silky.  The final project has a wonderful drape and feels nice against the skin.

Edge Directions: 
Note:  I did not fasten off the yarn, instead started the edging at the end of my last row.

Starting in the corner, chain 5.
Sc in first dc from previous row, sc in tr, sc in next dc, ch 3, dc in ch 2 space, ch 3, repeat until you reach the top edge.  The top is edged with single crochet across, three in each "space" (dc and chain).

Now lets hope my sister doesn't read this blog before she gets her Merry Heart-mas present in the mail.

Failed Attempt

Since last Friday, I have been working on a tutorial for sea glass coasters.  Unfortunately, as of today, I still don't have any made and have gone through numerous batches of homemade "clay".  I have a great vision in my head and hopefully one day (soon), it will become something.

Other crafts???  Not really. 

Don't Throw Them Out

A favorite "hanging around the house" outfit of mine is men's ribbed tank tops and pajama pants.  The tank tops take a bit of abuse, cooking grease splatter, bleach spots from doing laundry and crafting, all take its toll on them.  At some point they they have to retire, but not before they get a makeover and a new leash on life.

At one time, these three tank tops were a solid red, blue and black.  The red was riddled with bacon grease stains all over the front of it, so much so I had stopped wearing it.  The blue and black tank tops had bleached out spots on them.  In an attempt to make them wearable again, I used a bleach tie dye bath.  I am not as happy with the blue and black tank tops as much as I am with the way the red turned out.

Do you want to give an old tank top some new life?  Here is how to make the stripped tank.

First, in a sink or small bucket pour about 1/4" layer of bleach.  If you would like, you can dilute the bleach with a little water.

Next, fold the tank in an accordion, starting from the bottom edge, see picture below.  Just like you fold a paper fan.

Then fold in half, see picture below. Using two rubber bands, wrap them around the folded tank top.  Do you notice the light pink stripes, that is where I wrapped the rubber bands.

Set the tank top in the bleach, do not submerge.  You want the tank to absorb the bleach at it's own speed.  Wait about 5 to 10 minutes, or until you have achieved your desired result.  (I did not time how long my tank was in the bleach.)  When you think it is done bleaching, rinse the bleach off the tank by spraying first with hot water, them cold water on the top.  Notice in the above picture, the tank is red on one side and light pink/purple on the other.  The red was the top and the pink/purple was the bottom.  I did not move the tank in the sink and to rinse, sprayed directly on the top.

Once fully rinsed, undo the rubber bands and wring as much water out of the tank as you can.  Dry and enjoy!

If you have any questions regarding this tutorial, please feel free to email me at hippiemissy@gmail.com



Still Christmas?

With the unfortunate sickness I have endured for the last three weeks, Christmas was kind of put on hold.  Anyone I send gifts and cards to, have been ignored.  The plan is to get greeting cards and stuff out by next week.

Almost three weeks ago, I started on my annual Holiday ornaments and only managed to make two of them.  It is my tradition to send a handmade ornament with each of my holiday cards.  This year, a Santa hat!  Although, I may choose something else to send next week as Christmas is over.

I looked everywhere on the Internet for a cute crochet Santa Hat pattern.  Nothing seemed to fit my criteria, easy and quick, so I made up my own pattern. 

Materials
Red yarn, any medium weight will do.  (I used Simply Soft by Caron.)
Lion Brand Fun Fur in White
H Crochet Hook
Yarn Needle
* Optional:  Small or Medium size craft Bell

Pattern
With Red
Ch 3, slst in 1st ch to create circle
Row 1:   Ch 2, 6dc in circle, slst in 1st dc (not the ch 2)
Row 2:   Ch 2, *1dc, 2dc* repeat around, slst in 1st dc (not the ch 2)
Row 3:   Ch 2, *1dc, 2dc* repeat around, slst in 1st dc (not the ch2)
Row 4:   Ch 2, dc around, slst in 1st dc (not the ch2)
Row 5:   Ch 2, dc around, slst in 1st dc (not the ch2)
Row 6:   Ch 2, dc around, slst in 1st dc (not the ch2)

With white.
Row 7:   Ch 2, dc around, slst in 1st dc (not the ch2)
Row 8:   Ch 2, dc around, slst in 1st dc (not the ch2)

Finishing
Fasten off.  Fold white rows up over the red.  Using the white tail and yarn needle, make a small stitch to fasten the white to the red.  With the red tail, create loop by tying the end inside the tip of the hat. 

Variations
Add bell to top of hat.
Using the White Fun Fur yarn, whip stitch a few times at the top of the hat to create a white "pom pom" looking top.
If you leave a long tail in the beginning, you can make a crochet chain loop to hang it.




* If you have any questions, or find any problems with this pattern, please let me know.

Lucky Dog

Still suffering from the awful sinus infection!  Can you believe that?  It is true, although for the last two days I can actually say it feels a tad better (but only a tad).  Christmas was such a bust and I feel awful about it.  No one even received a card this year.  I think I have a way to remedy that though.

Last Friday, feeling defeated by the sinus infection and wanting to give it the big "up yours", I decided to make dog treats for my dog Kane. 

I used a recipe from the book, "Real Food for Dogs", called Great Gravy Cookies.

Ingredients I used:

(slightly modified from book and amounts have been doubled)

5 cups whole wheat flour

4 small jars beef-flavored baby food

1 cup rolled oats

2 eggs

1 cup nonfat dry milk

1 cup water

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 package bacon, cooked and crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Lightly pat your hands with flour and shape the mix into a big ball. Flatten the ball using a floured rolling pin. Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into shapes. Place the cookies on a greased cookie sheet (I did not grease the baking sheets and did not have a problem with sticking). Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow the cookies to cool before serving and store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Kane says they are delicious!



Hello...hello...Is this thing on?

Have you ever suffered from a sinus infection? 

Two Sundays ago, my head was pounding and congested.  I fought thru it for two days at work till I couldn't take the headache any longer.  Vitamin A, Garlic pills, Vitamin C and lots and lots of ibuprofen and rest.  After a week there was little improvement.

I did see my doctor yesterday and was prescribed antibiotics, although for now I am not able to feel any of their healing powers...maybe in another day or two.

Some may ask, well what about Christmas?  Well I don't have a tree up, I haven't bought any presents, I haven't made any presents, no stockings hung with care....to sum it up, my house looks like bah hum bug! 

Hard at Work

Every Christmas, I always take on more projects than I could ever accomplish...but if I even get half of what I want to make finished then I will be happy.  Last weekend I made a trip to the local yarn shop to buy supplies for a couple shawls.  I walked out with a load of yarn from the "sale" table, all $4.00 per skein.

On the table, the Elise Shawl and the Sweet Pea Shawl.  Still unsure who will received these.  The Elise Shawl is almost complete, maybe 6 to 8 more rows.  I have been working on it since Sunday. Last night I felt bored with that pattern so, figured I would change things up and start on the Sweet Pea Shawl. 

What a disaster!  I sat down and started the 202 foundation chains...around 160 I lost count.  After recounting and re-reading the pattern I was ready to start on the first row. 

The first row on the foundation chain is always the most tedious.  All the counting and looking for the tiny back loop to insert your hook and nothing to really hold on to, it is very time consuming.  At the end of the first row, in what seemed to take hours, I noticed I had extra foundation chains.  Hmm, I must of (re)counted the foundation chain wrong.  I started on the second row and got three quarters of the way across, when I discovered a mistake on the first row.  The only way to fix it...to undo everything all the way back to the mistake.

Take two.  Trying to be more careful, I take even more time completing the first row.  Start on the second row.  Halfway across....another mistake found on the first row.

Deep breath.....count to ten.....scream a little out loud.

Take three.  This time I paid all of my attention to crocheting the row.  I blocked out the TV, my husband, my cat trying to love on my elbow and my dog asking to go outside.  This row was going to get done, even if took me till 3 in the morning.  At the end of the row I had to add back the "extra" foundation chains.  I also looked very carefully at the row to make sure there weren't any mistakes....it was perfect.  After re-crocheting the first row so many times I was exhausted.  I made it through row two and half of row three when I set it down for the night.

Only 22 T-Shirts

FINISHED!!!!!

It only took 22 t-shirts and a few hours to finish, ok more than a few hours, but it is finished, and it is beautiful!  The time it took to make this rug was well worth it.  Will there be more rugs like this in my future, probably not.  There will be more pot holder though, they only took a night to finish.

Thanksgiving

It was a wonderful day.

The alarm buzzed at 6:30am.  I immediately got started on making the stuffing, and preparing the turkey.  Yes I am a vegetarian and yes I still cooked a turkey...I am the only one who doesn't eat meat, have to please the masses.

Before I knew it the big football game was about to start...my husbands Green Bay Packers Vs. my Detroit Lions for the Turkey bowl.  This has been a much anticipated football game in my house.

The in-laws came over around 1:30 and the meal was done around 3.  Everything turned out just as I had hoped, delicious.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Counting Down to Thanksgiving...Day 4, 5 and 6!

The decorating and crafts are the fun part of planning a dinner, but half of the preparation is cleaning.

Day four was spent reorganizing the kitchen.  The goal is to have almost nothing on the counters, to give plenty of room to prepare and serve all the food.

Day five, well I took day five off....It is important to take time off for football.  Go Lions!

Day six and another turkey.

The pattern for this turkey came from CraftPassion.com.  The only modifications to the pattern is the head and I did not crochet a back piece. 

Gobble, Gobble...

Counting Down to Thanksgiving...Day 3

Did you know you only have 6 more days to plan for the big feast? 

The trip to the supermarket was not as wonderful as I had hoped.  Unfortunately, the seas were bad and the ships loaded with food were delayed.  So instead of stocked shelves, they were empty.  Produce was very limited....not even one bunch of celery, even the frozen vegetables were hard to come by.  The only milk available was fat free.  I could go on and on, but I will save you my rant, and at least about 75% of my shopping list was found.

Regardless of the difficult shopping trip, my Thanksgiving spirit is still in tact.  When I was able to settle down and relax for the night, I whipped together a Turkey Pot Holder.

I used this pattern....Click Here!  by Yarn Pixie.

The pattern was written very well, but I wanted it a little bigger.  Here are my changes.....

*  I added a fourth row to the body...Ch 2, dc in same stitch, (1 dc in next stitch, 2 dc in next stitch) repeat till end, join with sl st in top of ch 2.

*  I added a fourth feather...on row one I made 25 sc, this includes the sc to join the yarn to the body.  For row two, repeat (sk 2 sts, 7 dc in next st, sk 2 sts, ss in next st) four times, instead of three.  Row three, repeat (hdc, sk next st, 7 dc in next st, sk next st, hdc, sk next st) three times, instead of two.  As you can see, I also used three different yarns for the feathers.

*  I made the head a little bigger.  I started with 6 sc and repeated row 4.  The number of stitches are different than the patterns count, so I just repeated what the patterned called for.  Example:  Pattern says for Row 5 - sc 2 tog, 2 sc, sc 2 tog, ch 1, turn.....I repeated sc 2 tog, 2 sc till I was at the end.

*  I made the legs a little larger.  Ch 6, 6sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc back loop of next ch, repeat down the chain for a total of 4 sc, join to body, fasten off.

If you have any questions about my changes, feel free to email me at hippiemissy@gmail.com

Thank You Yarn Pixie for a wonderful pattern!!!

Counting Down to Thanksgiving...Day 2

When preparing for a dinner party the first thing you have to decide on is of course the meal.  I have learned the hard way, that when you live on an island, you must buy the holiday food essentials early!  Last year, my family made last minute plans.  This meant that the day before Thanksgiving, I was at the store searching for pumpkin pie mix, pie shells and cool whip.  In the real world this would be ok, not here.  Of the two stores to shop on the island, one was completely sold out of pumpkin pie mix, and whipped cream.  The other store had pumpkin pie mix, but I had to buy whipped cream in the aerosol can.  In the end, we were able to enjoy pumpkin pie, but the shopping trip was not fun.

This year, I made sure to get everyone to make a plan.

The menu......

A Very Traditional Thanksgiving Feast

Turkey
A basic roasted Turkey, smothered in butter and herbs,
cooked on a bed of onions, carrots and celery.

Simple Stuffing

 Prepared inside the turkey and in a casserole pan.

Gravy

Party Potatoes

Green Bean Casserole

Root Vegetables

This is because vegetarians, like me,

need something more than just side dishes.

Pumpkin Pie

 

Thanksgiving Countdown

There is exactly one week, seven days, 168 hours, or 10,080 minutes to prepare for Thanksgiving! (not counting today and Thanksgiving day)  It is amazing how much preparation goes into a meal that is devoured in less than an hour.  This year, Thanksgiving Day will be celebrated at my home.  This is exciting, because I love hosting dinners and parties.  The planning, the decorating, the cooking....puts me in my happy place. 

Day one of the count down, felt fall leaves to decorate the kitchen counter where the food will be served.  Found the pattern on Martha Stewart.com

Hungry?

Wow you must be hungry!  I haven't shown any new recipes in a very long time.  This is not my favorite page in the book, but it is one of the favorites from the book.  Last weekend I went to the local hardware store and was helped by one of the semi regular poker playing guys. 

"I tried to recreate one of your recipes."  He said.

"Really?  Which one?"

"The Ham and Cheese Bagels.  But I couldn't get them like yours."

Insert slight blush here.  It certainly makes a girl feel good when complemented on her cooking.

These will not disappoint your party guests or family.  So without further ado, the highly requested and easily put together....

Ham and Cheese Pizza Snacks

(Since I made the above recipe page I have modified it slightly)

Ingredients:
Shredded Colby Cheese
Sliced Deli Ham (I use packaged sandwich ham slices)
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Italian Seasoning, Pepper
Bagels, Full Size

Directions:
In a bowl, combine the Cheese, Ham, Mayo, Mustard and seasonings.  Spread over Bagels.  Place on an ungreased baking sheet.  Broil about 6 inches from heat for about 4 minutes, or until cheese starts to turn golden brown. (see picture)  Serve hot.

To serve to a group, divide each bagel into four pieces.