Pay it Forward

I signed up for this a while ago and just now have found more than a few minutes to adequately post about it on my blog. I read about this on the Pugs, Knitting, and Me blog posted by Amber. She knits and talks about that in her blog. I just visited her site again today and found out that she also belongs to a bag sewing Yahoo group and posted pics of a few bags she made. I and definately a bag addict, so I will be checking out that Yahoo group for myself! Anyways, here is the description of the pay it forward exchange idea which I so lovingly lifted from Amber's blog (thanks Amber for including me in this!):
Let me tell you about it, these are the instructions: "It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.
I will now Pay It Forward to you THREE, I wonder who you will be?! Please, be a PIF! You will enjoy it just as much as we do!
And, remember...you have 6 months to get your gifts done! Come on, you know you would love to be one of my angels. Then, one day, but you don't know when....you will get a gift that I have made especially for YOU!
Please remember, you don't have to knit or crochet to participate, anyone who can make a nice handmade gift is welcome to join :)

So, that being said, leave a comment and join in on this wonderful exchange idea! It is so rewarding to give a handmade gift and experience the joy it gives the recipient!

On a roll....

It looks like I am on a roll with this blogging business. I think that I manage to post once a month :-) I have been busy knitting up a storm here. I managed to get that leg cuff knitted for the wool soaker for C, but I have to search the internet to find the directions to the cast off that it requires. I finished knitting the beginning of the month KAL at the monthly dishcloth knitters, finished knitting several cloths for Valentine's Day gifts, and finished knitting a cloth for my exchange partner at getting to know you dishcloth knitters. Now I have a stack of cloths that need the ends woven in. Not the most fun part of knitting, as you all know!

This is my latest yarn score. I found this Patton's Classic Wool at Michael's in a clearance basket for .99 each! Woo hoo! I have been wanting to learn how to felt, so this just may be the perfect yarn for that job. If whatever I make turns out terrible, then I won't be out much. Now to find a project for this yarn....

Found Some Pics...

I found some pics that I took of the last two cloths that I knitted for Christmas and thought I'd share them with you. I also designed my own care tag to attach to the cloths. It was not hard, for those of you who would also like to make care tags for your cloths. I just used a print program, chose the business card template, and designed a tag using that. Easy!
These cloths were sent to Christmas, Florida, so I chose to use Christmas colors to be used year round!
Here is a close-up of the Christmas tree cloth.

After the Holidays Recap

The holidays were busy here at our house. We did finally put up our tree a week before Christmas. This was the first year that we had to assemble toys for our little ones so it was a late night for B and I. All of those cardboard blocks in the picture had to be folded together and the tool workbench had to be assembled. I really take pity on those parents who have more complicated things to assemble, like a bike or something like that on Christmas Eve! Our family gave almost everybody on our list a handmade gift. I knitted dish and face cloths and made fudge and nut roll to gift away. Everyone seemed very pleased with their gifts, so I am thinking that I will make this a new tradition for us. Handmade gifts are so nice to get and you know that someone spent time creating the gift for you. I took a few pics of the gifts that I made, but I think that I accidentally deleted the pics of the mountain of cloths that I made :-(

This first pic is the contents of the box that I sent my exchange partner for the skinny scarf exchange at Tea Time Knitters. The second pic is a close-up of the pattern of the scarf I knitted.

These pics are of the scarf that I knitted for my SIL. She made a request for a scarf when she found out that I was knitting most of my gifts for Christmas this year.

This pic is of W looking into her bag that I made for her (see previous post). She loves the bag and I plan on making a few more for her this year so she can have a few to take to the library, stash her doll clothes in, etc. I did not have time before Christmas to make C his bag, but it is next to do on my sewing to do list.

Our New Year's Eve was a quiet one because we chose to just stay home this year, relax, and watch all of the festivities on television. We watched the ball drop, a bit of the show from NY city, and went to bed at 1:30. We didn't want to be on the road in case any of the other people celebrating a bit too much were out there driving. Better to be safe than sorry :-) Here is wishing you a very happy new year and hopes that if you did make a resolution, that you can achieve it!

So, it's December already...

Time has gotten away from me again! So much has been happening here and I wanted to post about it but just didn't have the time. We have been working on remodeling the house (pics to come, I promise!) and getting ready for Christmas. All of the gifts are knitted, but some still need the ends woven in and blocked. I will post pics after those gifts have been given on Christmas. We have been baking cookies and I have yet to make the fudge and truffles. Christmas shopping is almost finished, though I am stuck on a couple of gifts and I really hope that I get a good idea soon since they really need mailed out ASAP! I also am working on sewing up a few last minute gifts for my family. I am going to try to make some Christmas morning pj's for W and C, but that will depend on if I can get the two other gifts I need to make done in time. I did make my daughter (W) a Veggie Tales printed bag from a tutorial I found on the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog.

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I am going make a bag for my son (C) also out of Cars print fabric. I'll post a pic of that also when it is finished, hopefully buy the weekend! I did make one addition to the pattern; I used the extra fabric from cutting out between the handles for a pocket inside. I liked how it turned out, though for the next bag I am going to lengthen the handles a bit. I just think that there needs to be a bit more room to get your hand through the handles comfortably. This is an awesome blog and I would recommend those of you that like to sew going and visiting this site. The owner did a 30 days of gifts theme for the month of November and there are so many really neat projects that are simple to whip up for gifts. (You'll have to go back to the November posts to get a link to the projects. December 1st has the complete listing of the projects.) Well, off to finish that laundry so I can start on that bag!

Italian night!

Today I just wanted some spaghetti and W completely agreed with me! I usually always make my sauce from scratch, so I thought I'd share some pics with you of the process. I always start with getting all of the ingredients needed an pile those on the counter so I don't forget anything and to also make absolutely sure that I have everything needed to complete a recipe. Here is my spaghetti sauce pile:

After browning that onion and garlic, which smelled absolutely delicious btw, I dumped in all of the cans of tomatoes and added the spices:

I then had to make some Italian bread to go along with the spaghetti. If you have never tried baking bread before, I would strongly recommend that you try it because absolutely nothing can compare to fresh homemade bread! Here is that ingredients pile (minus the pumpkins and squash in the background, obviously!):

I usually make my bread in my bread machine or by hand, but I was in a bit of a hurry since the bread needs an hour to raise and 30 min to bake, so this time I used my mixer. This was the first time I attempted that and it worked wonderfully! After proofing the yeast:

I threw everything in the mixing bowl and let the mixer do it's job. I always sprinkle my pans with cornmeal when I am baking bread because that is what keeps it from sticking instead of greasing the pan, which in my experience, makes a mess and can burn the bread.

I rolled the bread into two loaves and placed them on the baking sheet to raise and into the oven they went.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a pic before we just had to try some of the warm bread straight from oven! LOL! I did remember to take a pic before we ate the second loaf, so that is why the pan only shows one loaf.

My son is always the first to beg for the warm bread when I open the oven door or take it out of the bread machine. Maybe he is my future baker? Anyways, the meal turned out great and the good news is that there is leftovers for tomorrow!

It's been a while...

It has been a while since I last posted. We have been very busy with finishing up remodeling of our house (we now have a front hall closet!!!) and canning applesauce to last us until next year. I think I am going to have to go get more apples to accomplish this goal because we eat a lot of applesauce! I have been working on knitting a skinny scarf for the skinny scarf exchange that is going on at Tea Time Knitters. I have started this scarf at least five times, but it got ripped out once by my little ones and the other times, I just did not like the pattern that much with the yarn I picked out. I think that I am just going to have to design my own simple pattern if I plan to have this scarf done on time! I'll take a pic after I send it off to my exchange partner.
Thankfully, I am almost done with Christmas knitting. I thought I was done until my sister-in-law requested a scarf for Christmas, so off to the yarn store I went to get something to knit her one. I just have to pick a pattern now and I am sure I am going to have the same problem as with the skinny scarf where I can't decide on a pattern! Maybe some cables, since you can never go wrong with cables in a winter scarf!
I almost forgot to tell you all about the knitting class that I took this past Wednesday. I took a class to learn continental knitting. It was only two hours, but it was a lot of fun. I have never had the opportunity to get together with other knitters to knit. I had so much fun that I wish we had a knitting group closer to where I live! I live an hour away from the store where I took the class. The teacher said that I must be a natural at continental knitting since all of my stitches were neat and even, even those purl stitches that can some times end up being really loose in continental knitting. It was very dangerous sitting amongst all of that yarn, though! I am proud to say that I didn't buy a single skein of yarn, just one pattern book. I did buy some organic cotton when I signed up for the class, though, but it was just so soft that I couldn't possibly leave it there. I think that I'll knit a scarf for myself out of it since I did only buy one skein. (I'm trying real hard to use up my stash instead of adding to it!) Anyways, I'll add a pic of the swatch that I made continental knitting so you can all see what we did at the class after I charge up the batteries for my camera.

Update: Here is the swatch that I knitted continental method