A Cowl for Christine

My niece was complaining about the cold in Montana, and I'd been wanting to make one of these "infinity scarves" or "cowls", see them called all kinds of things.  Turns out she loves it, and now my daughter and I want one too.........good thing summer is coming on so there's no hurry!


 
 I used some Chenille yarn from my stash and a size N
crochet hook.  Crocheted in front and back post to make squares, and crocheted in the round so there is no seem. It was easy and worked up fast.

Energy Bar

My niece gave this recipe a couple of weeks ago, and I finally got around to making them. I figured I would like them since I like everything that is in them.  The texture reminds me of a Cliff Bar, and I love Cliff bars! You can add all the good things you like to the main recipe:

1/2 C Honey
1/2 Cup Molasses
2 2/3 Cup Oats
1 Cup Flour (I used Spelt)
2 Cups of a variety mix ins: nuts, seeds, shredded coconut, peanut butter, raisins, dates, etc
1 tsp cinnamon ( I just noticed when typing this out I forgot the cinnamon)

Mix all together (kitchen aid mixer works great) should be wet, if too floury add water, if to watery add flour. With wet hands press into jelly roll pan, Bake at 350 degrees for 10 min, once out of the oven cover with another jellyroll pan until cool. Cut into bars.

Little Knitted Hat

The other day I was watching Knit and Crochet Today and they had this little knitted hat on there, it was so cute! I've knitted socks and scarves, but I've never tried a hat, how hard can it be?  So I went to the Knit and Crochet Today website to get the pattern, like they said to do................I must be really dense, because I cannot find that pattern there. So I just found a simple hat pattern and made it to look like the one on their show:

 

I thought it came out pretty good, and it was so easy!, A couple of things though, so you don't have the pink and black weird line thing on the bottom, the first row of adding the other color should just be a knit row. and when you add the do wacky on the top make sure you don't tighten the top too much first!  The top is just eye cord looped around.  

I enjoyed this so much I made another simple hat without any eyecord:

I'm so used to the feel of a crocheted hat, I love how knitting makes even the not so soft yarn feel soft and cushy. Now on to my next pair of socks........

A Beginners Knitting Project

My sister in law gave me this pattern the last time I saw her, it's quick and easy, great for beginners:
 I like working on simple projects like these when I'm trying to figure out what bigger project I want to start.

13 Point Washcloth:
Size 7 needles, 1 ball cotton thread
Cast on 16 stitches
Row 1: Knit accross
Row 2: K4, yo, K 10, 2 stitches left on needle, turn
Row 3: Knit
Row 4: K4, yo, K 9, 4 stitches left on needle, turn
Row 5: Knit
Row 6: K4, yo, K8, 6 stitches left on needle, turn
Row 7: Knit
Row 8: K4, yo, K7, 8 stitches left on needle, turn
Row 9: Knit
Row 10: Bind off 4 sts, Knit across remaining sts
Row 11: Knit across the 16 sts left on needle.
Repeat from  Row 2 until you have 13 points, if cloth doesn't lay flat, and one more point for 14 ( I made 14)
After the 13th or 14th point, don't bind off, sew first and last rows together, then draw center sts together tightly.

Ice Storm of 2012

When I was a kid I remember hearing my folks talk about "The big flood of 1960" or "The wind storm of 1965", it goes on and on.  We'll I have one for them now......The Ice Storm of 2012.  Boy did we get hit!  I think there was over an inch of ice on my car that day, work was postponed until 10am, but I called and said I was not driving 40 minutes on ice, wasn't going to happen.  The huge trees in our yard and all around us were covered in ice. During the day you could hear random branches snap and then fall. That evening is when ours couldn't take the weight of the ice any longer and started snapping and breaking. The first one to fall made a huge snap, just like gun fire, my husband and I were in the living room, looked
at each other and braced for the hit.  That one landed right by the front door,
missing the house by inches. 

I think we had a total of 4 huge branches fall that any one of them would have put a hole in the house had they hit, all missed us by inches.  The big event was the branch that fell over the power line to the shop and my moms new place. My mom said it looked like fire works from her house.  The hit knocked the line from the breaker box so it was jumping with live electricity between the shop and the bumper of my car! Then the line heated up and caught the  transformer at the road on fire!

The shop and my mom were without power for a week.  We had partial power that night and found that another branch had fallen on our power line.  We got that cut off, but a crew had to come out and fix the live wire that was hanging from the pole that night, I think we got full power around midnight. We are so thankful to have had no fires or roof damage. I believe our Guardian Angels were working overtime that night! Now all we have left to do is pick up sticks.....

Crazy Weather

Yesterday was 52 degrees out, warm, sunny................

 Today we work up to SNOW and 32 degrees.............

Looks like January has finally arrived, and we are in for winter now.....at least this week!

2012!

Where did the year go? I had such good intentions to keep up with this blog, and my Etsy shop. I have been crocheting like made and posting-nothing..............It was crazy just trying to keep up with Christmas presents and craft shows this winter.

 My daughter wanted me to make a Monkey Hat, so this is what I came up with....simple pattern, easy to make, but now I think I am all Monkeyed out! 

I'm looking for inspiration this new year, hoping to make a few sweaters, and to knit more, but these little hats and mittens are so darn cute, it will be hard not to add them to my Etsy Shop......

So here's to a Happy New Year, I hope yours is full of yarn, grandkids, chickens and a huge garden!

We are truly blessed.......................