I Started A New Hobby...

I think I need another hobby, like I need another hole in my head.  O.o  But, it's so fun.  Have you ever heard of Pocket Letters? I hadn't, until one of my pen pals sent me one.  So... I googled it.  Here is the blog of the creator of Pocket Letters.    I think they are so much fun!! Of course, it is a lot more work than just writing a letter. You definitely have to be in a crafty mood.  :)    This is the first one I finished.  When I took it to the post office, the guy was acting like that was the strangest thing he had ever heard.   I showed him a picture on my phone.  He said "All that is in this envelope?"  "Yup."  :P  

A little envelope I made, with some sequins I got at a hotel I used to work at; when we lived in Colorado.

Some pinwheel paper clips. (You Tube video tutorial)

Washi Tape Critters!!  

Here is a second one I did.  Nothing super fancy, like some I have seen while Googling and on Pinterest.  But...   The idea is to send little fun things to your pen pal that you might send in a letter/puffy: tea, buttons, paper clips, sticky notes...  Anything you can fit in the little slots.   I tried to make this one not so bulky as the first one I made.  So it only cost like two stamps to send.

The back so you can see what it is inside..  They fold up and fit inside a standard 4 1/8 x 9 1/2 inch envelope (long envelopes).    If I didn't have so much going on right now, I would be making more.  

Preschool Sweater Is Finished

It has technically been finished, I just didn't have any buttons. I bought some yesterday, and sewed them on this morning. I couldn't find any orange in 7/8", so I bought the brown ones...  It is from the Family Fashions booklet published by Red Heart, but now out of publication. You might be able to find one on Ebay or somewhere..  I also wanted to say, it is very similar to the pattern: BackTo-School Cardigan, from Colorful Kids . Just a little tiny bit different. (I think I like that other pattern better...) I can't seem to find that pattern on the Red Heart site or on Amazon, either. Maybe it is out of print, too..  If you don't have a Ravelry account, you can see what the booklet looks like here.  And what the finished sweater looks like here. I used Lion Brand Pound of Love yarn for that sweater (maybe why I think it turned out better- this pattern says to use Red Heart super saver..)    

Sweater Progress

I went to Walmart and got more yarn yesterday (what a nightmare). I got the last one in the color I needed. (I love how you have to search, and find it in a bin with brown yarn?...) Anyway. I got enough to finish it. So.. I got both sleeves done last night. They look too short to me. But...  I am doing what the pattern says to do.. 

These are some wildflowers that grow in a stand of trees/bushes in the middle of our backyard (up by the house).  They're up by the road, and down at the end of our yard, too. I think they are brown eyed susans. But... I don't know. They're pretty. (Unless you get up close, then they don't look so good..)

We also have some blackberry bushes in our backyard, by the flowers (and down at the end of the yard, too; down at the bottom of the hill).  Weve been seeing a lot of deer lately...   (They must be eating the berries..)

Some that I picked. I washed them about five times...  to get any bugs out. But, they didn't get eaten. They aren't very sweet.  I've never actually eaten blackberries right off a bush (that I remember). So...  Maybe they aren't supposed to be sweet? Or, maybe they aren't ripe enough.

Dinner for Four Please..

I made dinner last night for four, with only one chicken breast.  :P  The recipe calls for four chicken breasts.  But I can squeeze a meal for four, out of one.  Layer the broccolli, then the cooked chicken, cut up.  (I grease the pan.)

The recipe calls for three cans of cream of chicken soup. But I always only use two cans. You also use 3/4 cup mayo (and a tsp lemon juice, and 1/2 tsp curry)  I cook one cup of rice (so it evens out to about two cups, cooked) and mix it in with it.  

And I also add bread crumb topping (I melt butter in a bowl, then rip a piece of bread into the bowl and add spices. Stir with a fork and add more bread if all the butter isn't gone..  Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.  Everyone in our family loves this meal, so I like to make it a lot.  

We even had leftovers... (Yum, lunch today..)   :D

I started a sweater for the Preschool Drive for Pine Ridge.  I am posting this picture so you can see the cover of the booklet I got the pattern from. It is an out of print booklet, apparently. I got it at a "yarn store" in Nevada.  (I don't know if I ever posted about the yarn store in the town we lived in....)   It was a run down trailer out in the middle of nowhere, people smoked in there... (I don't know about you, but if you are not a smoker, you do not want your yarn smelling like it...)  It was not a nice place. Anyway.

                                  The body is done.  I am going to need more yellow yarn.  I started the first sleeve last night.

  

              

                                     Duke says Hello. I haven't peed in the house since the day Mom posted about it.