Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Stress Releif

Since finding out about Milly's surgery, I've been crocheting like crazy, just trying to get some stress releif. It's amazing how having your mind focused on something "mindless" can help. So I made a cute little caterpillar stuffed toy for Milly and I've started a Round Ripple Baby Afghan for her as well.

The little caterpillar is supposed to have googly eyes, but I was worried about her ripping those off and eating them, so I sewed buttons on instead. I figured sewing was a little more sturdy than glue. I used Caron Simply Soft Brites for the yarn. Found the pattern here. This worked up really fast and it's soo cute!




The afghan is a 12 point star shape. I've seen lots of pictures on the web of finished ones and they are just beautiful, and they look easy to make. Ha! Maybe I'm doing something wrong, or maybe it'll work itself out, but the damned thing won't lay flat, it's ruffly. My other complaint is that it's more like a 12 rounded edges shape, than 12 points. Oh well, it still looks cute and it's not like my 5 month old can tell that it's not perfect. I'm using this pattern and a Jo-Ann's brand yarn called Sensations Bellezza Collection Tesoro. It's 100% wool and sooooooooooooo soft. The plan is fot it to go cream (center), purple, cream, pink, cream, green and then (depending on size) a final row of cream.

Milly-Bear Bump Update

We saw the pediatric neurosurgeon today about the Bump on Milly's head. and they said that it is a dermoid cyst. Because it is a slow growing type of cyst, they want to remove it before it gets too big, imbeds itself into her skull or becomes inflamed/infected. We see a pediatric plastic surgeon on October 15 for a consult and she will be having surgery to remove it sometime after she is 6 months old. They made it seem like a fairly common procedure, under general anesthesia, but out-patient. I'm kind of nervous about it, but it's all still sinking in.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Menu Plan Monday

Last week was a crazy week in our house for some reason, so most nights did not go as planned. Hopefully, this week will be better.

Monday - Baked Chicken with fried potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Tuesday - Kaitlyn has a school football game that she has to attend for band, so it'll be an easy night - either frozen dinners or pizza there.

Wednesday - Mac-n-Cheese bake with turkey-dogs and green beans.

Thursday - Broccoli and 3 Cheese Quiche with croisants and fruit. Never got to make this one last week, and I really, really want it.

Friday - Vege Tacos with spanish rice and refried beans.

Saturday - BBQ Chicken with garlic buttered roasted potatoes and carrots.

Sunday - Free Night, no plans.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Am I Crazy?

I think I might be being a bit over-ambitious. Here's my "to make" list for Christmas gifts. So far.

3 Purses/Bags
5 Hat/Scarf/Mitten Combos
2 (possibly 3) Hat/Scarf Combos
1 Car Smelly-Good Hangy Thingy
1 Shawl

Seeing it typed out, I'm having a little bit of an "EEEK!" moment. But then I think, even with miinimal crochet time daily, I can get a scarf done in two days. So maybe I just need to plan better, and get started. Now.

Oh, and a question for you - is crocheted/knitted stuff girly? I asked my hubby if he thought a color that I was using was boyish enough, and he said that no color could make a crocheted item boyish enough. If crocheted/knitted stuff was only for girls, why are there soo many patterns for men's items? Pattern books with men modeling the products?

Hmph. I'm not speaking to him at the moment.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Baked Spaghetti - WW Pasta, sauce w/ Boca crumbles, zuchini and broccoli, topeed with parmeseana nd mozzarella cheese and baked in a cassarole dish. I always make a HUGE dish of this so that I have left-overs to take to work for lunch for a few days.

Tuesday: Italian turkey sausage with Pioneer Woman's Twice Baked Potatoes and green beans. The kids and hubby loved the potatoes soo much last week, they asked for them again.

Wednesday: Breaded & fried chicken legs with mac-n-cheese and peas.

Thursday: Broccoli and 3 Cheese Quiche with croisants.

Friday: Pan-seared steak with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob.

Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner! Pancakes, scrambled eggs and fried ham.

Sunday: Take-out night - either Pizza or Chinese.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Crochet updates

I finished the Crochet Hobo bag, and I love it! I wore it to work on Friday and got 3 compliments. Of course, I made sure to let them know that I made it and they each oohed and ahhed appropriately.

I also made one of the One Skein Scarfs from the SnB: Happy Hooker book. I used this really pretty, deep red yarn that I have. Each time I look through that book, I find more stuff to make. I also made a hat to match it. It's a little big, but that's ok.


I decided that since I'm soo into crocheting right now, that all of my family will be receiving crochet gifts this year. Soooo, I decided to join my first ever CAL. It should be fun! It's a knit and crochet KAL-CAL, so anyone who wants to join is welcome. Click the button below to check it out.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Ok, Ok, I lied.

But how could I pass it up?!

In an earlier blog post, I said that I would never buy yarn at JoAnn's or Michael's again. Um, yeah, about that...

I went to Michael's today searching for a purse strap for my nearly complete Hobo Bag. Didn't find a strap I liked, but did find 4 skeins of decent yarn for a buck a pop. Seriously, $1 each, how could I not buy that?

Then, I headed over to JoAnn's, still in search of the purse strap. Found that, and 6 balls of super-soft yarn at $2.37 each and 4 balls of this cool suede type yarn for $1.97 each. Had to have it.

I'll be storing these at my office. Why, you ask? Because I like being married and don't really want my hubby to go balistic when he finds out I bought MORE yarn. lol

Speaking of my nearly complete Hobo Bag - tada! Isn't it purty? I just need to get the lining in and attach the purse strap and it will be DONE! Yay me!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Wordless Wednesday

My hubby sent this picture to me while I was at work. It makes me smile every single time I see it.

Monday, September 10, 2007

"Hooked" Already

I warned you all that I was a bit obsessive. Less than a month into this habit hobby and I’ve already got more than one WIP and a slew more on my “to do” list.
· Nordstrom Inspired Crochet Hobo Bag (pattern here) just started this, so WIP
· SnB: HH Fat Bottom Bag
· SnB: HH One Skein Scarf
· SnB: HH Seija Set
· Christmas Stockings (we needed new ones anyway)
· SnB: HH Exchange Bag
· Fingerless Gloves (making it up as I go) WIP
· Scarf, Mitten and Hat Sets for a few peeps (haven’t found patterns for this yet)
· Celeste’s 4th Attempt Hat (yes, I said 4th attempt, 3rd attempt was way too big for my head) WIP

I also want to give Amigurumi Animals a try. I’ve heard good things about Mr. Funky’s Super Crochet Wonderful. Anyone got reviews for me?

I finished the Happy Hooker In Bloom Clutch. I decided not to add the flower embellishment, since I will probably never actually use the bag. It was a test run on following patterns. I learned a few things from this test though. I need to pay more attention to gauge, and seam before lining.



Menu Plan Monday


Monday: Vege Tacos w/ Beans and Spanish Rice

Tuesday: Teriyaki Steak with LoMein noodles and Broccoli

Wednesday: Roasted Garlic & Herb Chicken with Pioneer Woman's Twice Baked Potatoes (without the bacon or chives) and lima beans or peas

Thursday: Hamburgers with Baked beans, Corn and a nice, big salad

Friday: Italian Chicken with Rice and Black beans

Saturday: Breaded, oven-Fried Shrimp with Mac-n-Cheese and Green beans

Sunday: Grilled Cheese with Black bean soup for me and Chicken Noodle Soup for the kidlets

Friday, September 7, 2007

One (almost) Down, Soo Many More To Go...

First and foremost, an update on my Milly-Bear's CT Scan from yesterday. She went through it like a champ! Didn't move and squirm so they didn't have to sedate her - yay! Of course, they had her strapped down to that thing like a mummy, so she couldn't move if she wanted to. But there were no tears involved and they let us both in there with her, so that was comforting for all of us. She kept looking at Craig, then at the machine, then me, then back to the machine, then back to Craig, etc, etc. We could tell she wasn't happy or comfortable, but she was good.

They just did the scan yesterday, so we have to wait until her appointment with the pediatric neurosurgeon to get the results. But, the radiologist did tell us that whatever the bump is, it's benign. That's definitely good news. :)

Secondly, I finished the crochet work for the In Bloom clutch. Soo easy and fast! Very satisfying. It's blocking now, then I need to line it and seam it. I'm still debating on whether or not I will add the flower embellishment. I'm not really a flowery type of girl, but you never know.

I ended up completely frogging (I was just looking for an excuse to use that word *giggle*) Celeste's 2nd attempt hat. I am starting that one over, doing it right this time. I guess that makes this attempt number 3. It's a completely simple circle hat: just make a circle, then continue without increasing until it's the right length. The good thing about crochet done right is that it's much faster than the way I was doing it! Yay! I'm about half-way done with the circle part, so I expect to be done with that by tomorrow. Unless, of course, I get side-tracked by another project.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Good thoughts for Milly

Today is Camille's CT Scan. We go to All Children's Hospital at 10:30am this morning. She is not allowed to eat or drink anything for 4 hours before the procedure, so I had to make sure she ate this morning and be done by 6:30am. Usually not an issue, as she usually half-wakes to nurse right at 6am. Usually. This morning, I had to change her diaper and pick her up to wake her up enough to get her latched on and nursing. From there on, she was good.

Hopefully, dh is able to keep her either asleep or occupied until it's time to go. Hopefully, the procedure won't take too long because I know she is going to be starving! My little girly still eats every 2-3 hours during the day most days.

If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you can see the little bump on her forehead. Hopefully, it's just her little devil horns forming and nothing worrysome (sp?). Think good thoughts for my beautiful little Milly-Bear.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Crochet Away

I was up until past 1am last night reading through my new book. I have to give this book a great review, so far. It really is an excellent choice for a beginning crocheter. All of the steps and stitches are described in idiot-proof detail. Heck, even I was able to understand it. So, I was up all night practicing new stitches, making rows upon rows of half-double, double, triple, V and fan stitches. Only to rip it all out. I also learned that this is called "frogging." *snort, giggle*

I learned, while reading, that while I thought I knew how to crochet, I've been doing it wrong. Boo. So, I basically had to re-teach myself. I think it's much harder to re-learn something than it is to learn something from scratch, because one has a tendancy to revert to the old ways. Of course, focusing on doing it the right way has put a stop to my half-finished hat for Celeste. I've started on one of the patterns from the book.

Since this is the first pattern I've followed, we will call this the practice run. Before starting the Fat Bottom bag that I wanted to do, I decided to try and find something easier to start with. I searched through the book and I think the easiest pattern is the In Bloom Bag, so I'm working on that one. I didn't want to use my new yarn yet, not until I'm confident that the result will be worthy of this yarn, so I'm using up the last of some craptastic yarn that I have laying about my house. Actually it's the same yarn that I used to make Kait's hat, hopefully I have enough left. I am actually pleased with how well the bag is coming along so far. It looks to be a quick project, I started today and am already more than a third done. Will post pics once I'm done. :)


Alright, I suppose I should actually do the work that is sitting on my desk staring at me, taunting me. This whole crochet thing is proving to be very distracting.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Oh My Yarn!

So today, I made my first ever trek to a “local” yarn store. Local is in parenthesis because this particular yarn store, while the closest, is still about 20 minutes from my workplace. My work is a good 40 minutes from my home, so that makes it a good hour from my house. Eek. So, I walk in and almost immediately feel overwhelmed at the amount of different types of yarn they have. Different textures, materials, weight and colors, soo many colors! I can almost here the little devil on my right shoulder laughing maniacally at me “ha! Lunch hour my ass, make it a lunch afternoon!” But I was good; I only spent about an hour in there. Of course, I was only supposed to spend about 20 minutes, but I digress.

I ended up buying the Stitch ‘n Bitch Crochet: Happy Hooker book, because I’d seen the Fat Bottom Bag on a few other blogs and had an “I want that” moment. As I was paying, I thought to myself that I could probably pick this book up on eBay or something for cheaper than the $16.00 that I was paying, but I’m glad I got it. Once I got back to work, I started flipping through it and already have 8 projects tagged. Of course, most of them require a skill level higher than I possess, but I’ll get to those later.

I also bought two skeins (or is it hanks? I don’t know) of this really cool looking yarn by Cascade Yarns called Sierra Quatro. It’s a cotton/wool blend and I’m not sure what I’m going to make with it, but I decided I needed to have it when I saw it. I bought two to make sure that I have enough for whatever small project I may find.

Before today, all of my yarn purchases have been made at either Joann’s or Michael’s. No more. No more, I tell you. How could I go back into one of those stores and not feel completely disappointed at everything I see there? Ugh, why can’t there be a LYS that’s actually local, like next door?!

So first on my list of “must makes” from the book will be the Fat Bottom Bag or the One-Skein Scarf. Of course, that’s after I finish my second try at Celeste’s hat. The first try ended up too small for her and ended up as a hat for Camille. Oh well, at least it wasn’t a complete waste.


Monday, September 3, 2007

It's Monday!!

And I don't have to woooooorrrkkkk! I love three day weekends.
Anywho, I'm stealing this idea from another blog that I read. Every Monday, I will post our meal plan for the week. Hopefully, this will keep me on track and have us not eating frozen chicken nuggets (ewww) for dinner.
Monday - WW spaghetti with homemade pasta sauce w/broccoli and zuchinni and crusty french bread.

Tuesday - What my kids call Italian chicken (chicken breasts marinated in Italian dressing before cooking), spanish rice, black beans.

Wednesday - Breaded, butterfly shrimp with mac-n-cheese and baby peas.

Thursday - Seasoned chicken with potatoes and carrots. Probably a nice, big salad to go with that as well.

Friday - Breakfast for Dinner! (my favorite) Pancakes or waffles will definitely be on the menu.

Saturday and Sunday are up in the air. We'll probably go over to my mom's on Saturday and end up eating there. And Sunday will probably be a quick dinner like pizza or chinese or something.