Toys for UC Davis

Here they are, all together. I finished the brownish stripey bear last night. I haven't decided if I will do any more right now. I am trying to get organized and finish what I have going. I am stumped on a couple of things, I think that is what has me at a stand still. They look cute sitting there all together.... Well have a nice day everyone.

Horseback Riding

We got invited to someone's house a couple weeks ago to see their horses. They have seven. It was so neat. All the horses had their own personality, you could tell almost right away.

We got to ride one of them. He is 30 years old, and was a trail horse. So he is really good with kids, and people who are afraid; cars passing by, etc... Our six year old got to ride him,even. (I think he was a little bit afraid. Even though he said he wasn't, he acted like he was...) :P This isn't the horse we rode, this is a younger horse.

These two are yearlings and are half sisters. (And inseparable, in case you couldn't tell from the picture :P) The one (one on the left, I believe) was SO sweet and lovable. She just wanted to give you kisses and be by you all the time. It had been YEARS since I have gone horseback riding. Even though I only went around the (? what is that thing called ?) a couple of times, it was still so much fun. She said we could come back anytime.

I knitted her a horse dishcloth as a way to say thank you. (I have a thank you card I am going to give her, too.) I am thinking about mailing it to her; but I don't know yet. It was from knitting pattern central: Giddy-Up Horse Cloth

Some Recent FO's

I have had a couple of these things *almost* done, FOREVER.... The love bug: Only needed wings, and sewing on the legs. The stripey bear was just a recent project I finished. These are all for the April CAL for UCDavis at CFAC... The 'Beary Blankie' has also been a WIP forever. I had the blanket part of it done. Dug out the yarn and pattern (an old Crochet World issue) and finished it...

This is a 'Flower of the Month' pin I did recently. From the November '08 issue of 'Crochet!'. I had a little bit of gold thread w/ shiny thread going through it:

I probably have enough to do one more. Then I remembered all the blue yarn I bought at the Goodwill a long time ago (I used up all the rest on BICOs, amazingly...) :

Now I will have a use for a lot of it! :P I just need to get more silver and gold buttons. These two were on the bottom of my sewing basket. I have about three to five more I could use, too. Don't you love being able to use *nothing* and make *something*? :P I already gave the blue one to someone in our congregation who gave me a 'Hawaii Flowers' Calendar. I don't know if she likes it or not, yet. (I wrapped it up and gave it to her... I haven't seen her since.) The gold one I am sending to my 'elder' on Pine Ridge. She said she likes to wear jewelry. I have some white thread w/ a silvery thread through it, some red, and some silver that I could use to make more. I am thinking about looking for other flower patterns online I could use for these...

Well that is about it. I am also testing something for someone but that isn't done yet. :-D I hope you are having a good day wherever you are. Til next time~~~ :)

Smoothies

Yum... I have been craving fruit smoothies for a long time now. Especially since I saw the tropical fruit shake Mimi made! Mine isn't as colorful (or probably as tasteful, but...) I didn't really want to make my own. But I couldn't find any smoothie place around here. And I know they are probably super expensive, anyway. When we went grocery shopping, I looked at Odowalla (sp?) smoothies, for a small 8 or maybe 12 oz. bottle it was $2.98!!! At WalMart! We did buy a 64 oz. jug of V8 Fruit smoothie, strawberry banana. Probably also a ridiculous price, but not as bad as the Odowalla one. When we got home, I poured a glass. Looked at the back of the jug, '10% Fruit Juice'!! Ugh... So, I made my own. I remember when I was pregnant with our second son, I got a pregnancy magzine (my Mom also bought me a couple, too). In one of them was a recipe for a banana smoothie. I liked it. (My husband says it sounds disgusting...) I said 'It's not supposed to taste like a shake. It's fruit.' This is how I made the one above: 1 banana (I would have used a frozen one, but I didn't have one in the freezer), 1 cup milk (I used light soymilk), 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 Tbsp sugar (probably shouldn't have added that, but... oh well. :P) And, about three ice cubes. You could add more. Really ice cold things hurt my teeth since I had all that work done recently. :( It was pretty good. And I wasn't hungry until dinner time. (I didn't eat any lunch, just the smoothie.) We also make what tastes (to me) like an Orange Julius. Probably not *just* like, but...we make a lot of this one: 16 oz. container of orange juice concentrate, 1 cup milk, 1 tsp. vanilla, a bunch of ice cubes, and 2 Tbsp (I think, might want to just use one to start with) sugar. Blend... :) Here is a recipe for a banana smoothie that sounds a little more flavorful than the one I made today. There's lots of other smoothie recipes there, too.(Not all are just fruit, though...) Well that is all for now. Til next time~~ :)

An Old Picture of My First Two Bears...

This is all I have left of both of them, now. Our 12 year old kept his for a long time. But I didn't know what happened to the oldest sons' bear. I wanted to find it to copy it, cuz it was the coolest of the two, IMO... And I wanted to try and re-make one like someday... :P I found the picture one day (then lost it again, and again, and again....) Now it is archived in my blog!! :P

See how big our youngest guy was?! He was only a couple of days old here (I know, cuz see how yellow he looks? He had jaundice. We took him in I think at four days old and they told us that...) This is why I had all of them C-section... (sigh..) :/ He's laying on Daddy's lap. (If you couldn't tell by the hairy legs LOL!!) ;P

Shrugs, Boleros, and Sweaters, Oh My...

I have been slowly trying to make more wearables for myself. I think the biggest thing(s) is(are): I am afraid I will fail, it will not come out the wrong size, look stupid on me, I won't feel comfortable wearing it... (sigh) Last night I spent probably an hour and a half looking through every crocheted sweater on Ravelry. I found a couple cute patterns I printed out: Ashlar Crochet Cardigan and Crochet Tie Top Front Then today I found another cute one I liked at Crochetville, I believe: Chevron Lace Cardigan Well I don't have enough money (no money at all, actually) to go buy the yarn to do any of these. So I tried to think what I had. Then I remembered five skeins of Lion Brand Microspun I bought (when we lived in Colorado, still~ that's how long I've had it). I had been going through all my magazines and printed patterns, and finally decided on the Short Sleeved Bolero pattern I have also had forever but never made... I am getting brave (?) enough and wanting enough to make things for myself so it is really fun, now. Not that it wasn't fun making all the above shrugs and boleros! I think I was just apprenhensive about the whole thing...

This is one I bought at Target a few years ago. (It is a maternity shrug, too~ Can you believe it? Maybe for someone who is teeny tiny when they are pregnant~~ I wasn't!!) I got it to try and copy another one from. But upon closer look when I got home, I noticed it is knitted, not crocheted. (I am not far enough along/experienced enough to do that with knitting!)

Here is my bolero so far!!:

I am excited. While I was crocheting I was thinking of other sweaters I wanted to do/colors I should do them in. I found one I really liked at Crochetville that I am totally going to hunt down the book so I can make one: Wraparound Sweater, from Readers Digest Big Book of Weekend Crochet. I found it on Amazon. I am going to order it soon. :P Then I remembered more yarn I had bought to make a sweater from a book I also bought with the yarn (to make the sweater in the book with). So I will have enough to keep me busy for a while. If only I could just finish my Central Park Hoodie. (I might finish it by the time I would wear it again, next fall....) I also have two balls (1000 yards each) of white size 10 crochet cotton I could make a shrug or bolero with. :P

Well have a Great Monday everyone. Going to go crochet some more!

I'm a Bag Lady!!!!! :0 !!!

I still don't believe it. Yesterday I was sitting in my bedroom crocheting. My husband came in there (I could tell he had something behind his back.) I said 'What are you doing?' He said, 'Is there a Mom w/a Motif in here?' My mouth dropped open. 'That's me!' I got up and he handed me this box. I looked at the label. As soon as I saw who it was from, I though (gasp!!) 'Is it what I think it is?!!' I opened it up and as soon as I saw the colors, I knew what it was. I was so excited. It's the April 2009 Crochetville Tote Bag from Tampa Doll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I almost started crying. It is so beautiful. The picture does not do it justice at all. The little rose on top is also a closure. A loop goes around it, to close the top. Inside, there is a tag that says 'Made Especially For You by Mary Jo'. :-D I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this bag! I have been on Cloud Nine ever since I got it. THANK YOU MARY JO!!!!!

Here is a card I recently finished. It isn't the greatest, but... it's something I enjoy (sometimes) doing. I got most of it done til my six year old realized I was in my room, making cards (he likes to make cards, too..... sigh...) I don't mind doing it with him, sometimes; but sometimes I just want to make my own cards (which I never finish, if I am helping him...). He made his own version. (I need to find it and take a picture.) I used the instructions for the Pink Dragonfly Tag. But made it into a card, and added the 'Friend' stamp to use up the space on the side... I didn't have a dauber so I used a pencil eraser (?)... I think it turned out all right. Only had to buy the butterfly 'bling' and pencils (for the eraser).

This is what I was crocheting when my husband brought in the box yesterday. :P I had another pink one I had made (years and years ago), that I can't believe I still have. I thought I gave it away, but I found it yesterday (while looking for my butterfly bookmark!). :p I had always thought, 'I am going to sit down and figure it out and make another one, someday' (I don't have the magazine it was in). Well yesterday was that day. I also added a sc border around the edges...

I was looking for my butterfly bookmark to see the wire on it. This was a new venture for me. I bought some floral wire, and used some beads I already had from making stitch markers. I know the picture is really bad (can't take pictures of small things/close-up) :( but maybe you can *kind* of see the beads. I am thinking I will send this either to my Mom or my friend, next time I write her (with that card above, which I made with her in mind...) Well I guess I decided who I was sending it to, didn't I?... I have more variegated thread though and I got the pattern(s) out for the butterfly and the bookmark, to make more...

Incidentally, I found the butterfly bookmark. It was inside my book I started reading (again): Drowning Ruth. When I was in Tennessee last summer, my sister in law said 'I have your book.' (I thought it was my 'Gap Creek' book I gave her, which is one of my favorite books...) I totally forgot I gave her this one. :P I started reading it from the beginning again, last night.... Well that is all for now. Exciting weekend for me, so far! I hope you are having a great weekend where you are. :)

More Socks

I finished these today, for our six year old. I was so happy to finish them. I got completely burned out from making socks and I could not work on these for a while. I got some of my motivation back (somehow) and picked them back up and once I started working on them it was all right... I already posted this, but they were done in 'Wildfoote' in the 'Master Grey' colourway.

And, they fit him perfectly! (Ignore my husbands' dirty work clothes on the floor in the background :P) Oh and I guess my pajamas and hoodie!! (Sorry. The laundry basket was in the laundry room and I hadn't brought it back into the bedroom yet...)

He said 'They fit my feet tight, like I like them'. ;P

And here is another pair of burgundy ones that were just like the ones I made for myself. But in a size 8. I sent them out as an RAOK for Crochetville. These were done in the beginning of March. I know she got them a while ago, I am just now getting around to showing them here.

I don't know if I will be knitting any more socks for a while. I did get kind of burnt out. And, the weather (here) is warming up a lot; so I know we won't be needing socks right now! Maybe I will start up again later with them....

I haven't been working on anything else lately but the dishcloths. I will be doing the Gettin' Scrappy CAL soon, though. Well have a great weekend everyone!

French Breakfast Puffs (muffins)

Yummy!! I made these tonight. I was in the mood to make muffins again. I didn't have any butter though, to make the poundcake muffins I had in mind. Then I thought of these I used to make when were poor and had NO money at all. We always had cinnamon and sugar, though. And butter... Anyway they are the yummiest. They taste like a cinnamon sugar donut. (Best eaten right out of the oven.) Well after I got the recipe out, I realized these use butter, too. (But I went to the store and got some.) I used a recipe in an old cookbook I have, but it is IDENTICAL to this one. And probably a million calories each. UGH. Well I am glad I took a picture of them, because they are already gone. They didn't even last one day. I am going to have to start hording food. :P Hiding it in the freezer, or something. I can't keep up.

I got ten new dishcloth patterns at the digknitty designs site. Today was the last day for the 'Buy Five, Get Five' sale. So I went and got some, I couldn't pass it up. I got two different snowman ones, a snowflakes one, blueberry muffin (which got me in the mood to make muffins, by the way :P), gingerbread love, cardinal, Amish Horse & buggy (because I am obssessed with Amish people, LOL~ not really, but I used to be), Gone Fishin' one (I had my Dad in mind for this one, although I don't think he does the dishes much any more~~ although he might be, now that he is retired....), and a sunflower one. I am trying *desperately* hard to finish the second sock I started though. I am past the gusset and all the decreases, now I am on straight knitting for the foot part. I only have about an inch and a half left of that; then the toe decreases. I couldn't even pick that sock up for about two weeks, I think. I must have gotten some motivation (somehow) to finish it, today. The only thing I have been in the mood to do lately is dishcloths.

In other non-yarn-related-news, my tree has leaves budding!! I am so happy! It looked so dead when we first moved in here. A couple of the other trees don't look so hot (maybe they will bud & bloom later?), I haven't looked at the trees in the back yard yet... But this one is my favorite. I don't know why. I just got attached to it. Weird, I know. I guess it did have leaves on it, but only on the one side. Well the leaves are budding all over. So that's good. Well that is all for now. Two posts in one day. Wow. And we don't have cable today. (Cancelled the company we had; to go with a new *hopefully* better one...) The kids have been going through their movies, and must be loving it; because they are on their second one today. (Shrek, and now Flushed Away.) :P Oh, to be a kid again... ;)

Catching Up...

I can hardly get on the computer anymore, between the kids and the hubby. Sheesh. Going to have to start scheduling a time when I can get on here. I finished a dishcloth last night. "Baked With Love" dishcloth. Seems to be the only thing I want to do anymore. :( I was going to start a 'Prime Rib' one on a dishcloth knitalong group I am in on Ravelry. But I could not get it. I had a horrible headache last night. Tylenol didn't even do anything for it. (My husband was home sick yesterday-- I felt like I was sick, too.) So far it hasn't come back. But it felt like it was trying to a few minutes ago. (I told it to go away. :P) Just jokin'....

Lookie what I got in the mail the other day!! I am doing a swap with someone on Crochetville. She sent me three bags of these beads! :0 I am going to be in stitch marker heaven. So far the only colors I have is pink, and green. So I will have to try and look for lavender, blue, and white now to go with these. Yay!! This is the second set of beads someone has sent me. And look at the pretty flower drawing she did. I love that.

I have also finished up the Spring Mystery CAL. I did one in WW and one in thread. The one in WW didn't look very good as a hat on me. It was a little tight. So, for the sake of posting a picture of it in the CAL, I put it on one of my plant pots. (I was really thinking it would look good w/ a clay flowerpot & flowers... but I don't have one.)

I still don't know what it is going to *be*.... Maybe I will get a pot of flowers next time I go to the store and put it out on my patio.

Here is the thread one. I think this would be good as a candle holder, or a little basket to put potpourri in. I still haven't stiffened it. I don't have any of the Stiff Stuff. I wonder if Elmers glue would work.... Probably not.

Well that's all for now. Our oldest son is home from his trip to my brother's/Grandma's (My Mom's). I am glad he is home now. We already went to the Oral Surgeon. (ugh....) He has to have all four of his wisdom teeth out. That will be about $400. Even w/ insurance. (Grrrr!!) Then he has to take driver's ed. That will be another $200. There goes all my new clothes I wanted to get. (Ha.)

I joined a swap at Crochetville. I haven't been in a swap there (except for the little, private swap I just did with someone) in a long time. It is the 'Scrap Yarn Swap and CAL'. It is a swap and a CAL. It sounds fun. I decided I would work on the yo-yo purse I got started with a while ago. I have about half the yo-yos I need to finish it. I have only been using scrap balls of yarn to do it with, so that's why it is taking forever. I got a skein of brown to do in between the yo-yos. It's going to be brown and green(s). I want to do a brown and pink one, too. I really like jonyponytails yo-yo purse and have wanted to do one like it for a long time... Well that's all for now. Have a Great Day Everyone!