Monthly Archives: November 2012

Something Beautiful Shrug

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I just finished the prettiest little shrug.  It’s called the “Something Beautiful Shrug”.  I made it for my new little niece, Lila.  I’d never knit a shrug before, but this was a really nice fun pattern.

 

I have been in the Woolen Rabbit yarn club this year.  Her yarn is beautiful, and every two months I receive yarn and a pattern to go with it.  I’ve not had a chance to knit the first two shipments yet.  The pattern that went with this yarn was a pattern for a cloche.  It was cute, but I just wasn’t really feeling it.  I decided I’d rather make little Lila something.

This is not exactly practical baby wearing yarn, but I couldn’t resist.  It’s a wool/cashmere/nylon blend.  It is so soft though and it was wonderful to knit with.  Babies should sometimes be surrounded in luxurious yarn too!  Although I think it will handwash great.  And if some spit up landing on it is its destiny, that’s ok too!

 

On a somewhat related topic, David, Davey and I had a little discussion about rabbits this morning (and sea creatures). David was telling Davey and I about a restaurant he went to last night.  He ordered this seafood salad.  He sent me a  picture.  It involved things that looked like they were going to crawl off his plate but which were nestled in a green froth also known as sea urchin pesto.  Too much  for this country kid I think, but David enjoyed it.  He mentioned to Davey that some of the rest of the group had rabbit.  Davey said, “RABBIT?”

David told him yes and then added that he used to hunt rabbits when he was a kid.  Davey responded with, “I ain’t gonna kill any bunnies!”

(not sure how the ain’t entered his vocabulary. :))

 

 

Pinterest Success

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I really like pinterest.  I find so many fun knitting ideas there.  And recipes.  Lots of recipes.

I got the idea about how to decorate make my Halloween cupcakes from pinterest.

 

These turned out great except no one told me (and I had no clue) that  approximately 24 hours after I placed the M&Ms on the icing, the M&Ms would turn very dull and become gritty.  Gross.  So I was quickly replacing M&Ms which just was not much fun.  Next time – icing eyes!

Then the other night, I found a great recipe.  I love Mexican food + eggs.  So this was a Mexican baked casserole.  I also like finding great meatless recipes, and this is one as well.   It’s called “Mexican Baked Eggs“.  I made a couple of minor modifications.  I used one jalapeno pepper instead of two, and I removed all the seeds.  It called for chipotle chili powder as well which I’d never used before.  I like the flavor of it a lot.  It was a little hot though.  If Davey would have been brave enough to try it, I would have cut the powder back some.  There was not much of a chance of that though.  I also sauteed some diced potatoes and put that at the bottom of the dish.

This turned out great and I will make it again for sure. It was a dish that David didn’t mind having as a leftover – always a plus too.

Then there is the recipe that is just plain old sinful.  No way around it.  I don’t know what possessed me to make it, but it may be one of the best desserts I’ve ever made.  David describes the pie as having a glow around it which continuously beckons him.

It’s called Peanut Butter Pie with Chocolate Chips.

Some of the ingredients include peanut butter (obviously!), whipped cream, cream cheese and powdered sugar.  That actually is the vast majority of the ingredients.  I confess that I did not make the homemade crust.  The recipe for that included more sugar and butter.  Next time.

I will make this again when we have enough guests so that I can be sure that most of it will be consumed when they are here.  Otherwise it is irresistible.

So while I’ve been writing about recipes, Davey has been playing away!  He’s immersed in a scenario which I think involves a snake attacking a camp.

Sculptures and Humidifiers

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So this is not the greatest of pictures, but there are three things in it that I like very much.

The first of course is Davey.  Self-explanatory.

The second is the humidifier you can kinda see in the background. Since we moved here, we’ve enjoyed dry air.  However, it is really dry.  Now that the cold winter has hit, we were waking up with painful and sniffy noses, and headaches for me.  Everyone has told us “you have to run humidifiers”.  So I got us fixed up.  I put one in Davey’s bedroom and in ours.  We could still use one downstairs, and we will do that soon.  But having moisture in the air when you sleep is miraculous.  We are all feeling the difference already.

The third is the line of blocks on the floor.  Davey was creating a “love sculpture” for me.  It has to be a very long line because he has lots of “words of love” to say.  It is very sweet.  He also made me a shorter one to take to school with me.

Then today, he sent David to school with this sculpture:

 

This sculpture also had a specific purpose.  Davey was very excited about “Derby with Dad” day at prek today.  The dads go and they race Derby cars I think.  It’s getting ready to take place in just a few minutes.  So Davey wanted to help David be on time and he said, “Daddy when the propellers start spinning” that is when you need to leave RMCAD to come to Derby Day.”  So David took it with him to school. Such an imagination.   I love it.

I finished the Quaker Ridge Shawlette

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The beading of the shawl is finally done.  Whew.  That took a long long time. I finally sat down and knocked the rest of it out.  I am not sure I want to do quite that large of a beaded bind-off again, but I really love the result.  This photograph makes this look more pink than it actually is.  I took this photo outside with no flash.

I took this one inside with no flash, and the light was really pretty good.

 

The color is actually somewhere in between the two.  Helpful huh.

I have to say one more time how nice Madeline Tosh Pashmina is to knit with.   It was a treat!

This is probably the truest to the color.  Anyway, I love the ruffle!

 

Yay for finished projects!

Birthdays, Halloween, Soccer and Expressions

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Last week was a big week for us.  First we had David’s birthday.

David has been rediscovering his love for superheroes.

Then Halloween.  I didn’t take any pictures the night of Halloween, but I have a couple of the young Jedi.  We took this at his Little Gym Halloween party.

 

 

He had fun with a much more dramatic pose as well:

 

Next came Davey’s birthday.  He turned 5 on Saturday.

He is Mr. Expressions!  It’s a lot of fun to watch him!

 

He gets really excited.

 

 

Davey worked hard to blow out his candle.  Even though there was just one (a big 5), it didn’t quite want to go out!

This year we got a Costco cake.  It was bigger than what we needed, but it was really good with this vanilla mousse filling in the center.  Of course, Davey just removed all the icing from his piece of cake.  He enjoyed it thoroughly.

We had friends to celebrate with us, and Davey had a great time. You can see how hard he’d been playing by the looks of his hair in this picture!

And finally, Davey finished up his 3rd soccer season.

 

He always enjoys the “medal ceremony”! (such a funny little pose!)