in the kitchen, for the kitchen

~in the sink

~by the sink

~making salad

~making potholders

I actually cut out the material for these potholders before our move. I finally got around to sewing them up this weekend. A really small satisfying project (although I found it interesting to sew bias tape around a circle:) The pattern for these potholders are in Handmade Home.
Hope you are having a great Tuesday!

crocheting, in between naps

Between naps I've been keeping myself occupied by doing a little crocheting. I got this book a while ago and like the different shapes/motifs that is included in it. Having a bad cold at that time of the month (I know, I know, tmi) should be illegal-but at least I'm learning some new interesting crochet stitches like dc2tog and dc3tog(:
now back to my nap!
xoxo

friendship through the distance

sometimes in life you meet people that just get you. they are easy to be around. they like things you like. they like things that are different too, and that you admire. these are the friends you treasure~

today I received a package of lovely goodies from that kind of friend. a friend I miss a whole lot. I miss our adventures, our lunches (which we always enjoyed some baked goods and a nice cup of hot tea or coffee), our library visits and our knit nights which included sharing our favorite fish sandwich. initially I was worried about the distance and sometimes what it does to friends, but you know somehow I think being aware of this distance makes me cherish our friendship even more.
always hold on to your friends.

dishcloths and orchids

I was asked to be a volunteer driver and parent assistant for a field trip today. Grades K-5 of the girls school went to see a play at the local community college.
Just as we were rushing out of the door I grabbed some yarn (the colorway is fiesta) and some size nine double pointed knitting needles and stuffed them into my purse. I just wanted to knit something, something that was not going to need any attention to detail. Since the theater was dark I knew that I was going to make something super simple and do whatever stitches that came to my head. Now mind you the dishcloth came out wonky (increasing and decreasing stitches with no rhyme or reason will do this to a project) but a little crochet edging decreased the wonkiness factor a bit-plus it's just going to be a rag to wash the dishes! It was nice to have something small to work on during the play.

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For Valentines day I received an orchid-truly to make me happy for any occasion just give me a plant of some kind. I'm so excited that my collection is now up to four orchids.

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I am going to try to attend a community garden meeting tonight that is being held at the library. A big pot of beans are cooking on the stove and to tell the truth I'm here blogging to avoid making dinner-but soon my ears will be met with famous "I'm hungry", so for me (after I push publish post) it's back to the "chopping board".
Happy Tuesday!

making Valentines

The weekends go fast don't they? After church yesterday we had some people over for lunch (which included jerk chicken). After sunset my husband went out to get a few things and I requested ice cream (didn't I just say something about healthy snacks?)
Well I ate a bowl of rocky road last night as I surfed the web, then I knitted a little and finally went to bed. This morning the girls were telling me that we needed to go to the store today to pick up their Valentine cards for their school parties tomorrow, but I suggested that we make some cards instead. I have a stash of stuff, paper wise, that needs to be put to use- so today we did some cutting, gluing, and a little stamping~

making cards, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

cut-out, originally uploaded by *nichole*
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making cards, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

making cards, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

now we just need to add candy to the cards, wonder if I have a stash of that around? (does extra dark chocolate count, I don't know since its full of anti-oxidants and all:)

this and that~

I am

~working on knitting up an owl family, two more to go


~painting on a big yellow canvas (more on that later:)


~liking the blues on this recently thrifted vase


~glad we saw a rainbow today


this weekend also included church, ordering pizza Saturday night, attending a birthday party (for a classmate of my youngest daughter), vacuuming, with Sunday evening being topped off by a deep, deep cleaning of the upstairs bathroom-yeah. I love seeing the shiny chrome on the hot and cold water knobs-again.

in the garden cowl, three ways

this cowl is something I worked on a lot during the girls weekly piano lessons. all it is really is a couple of rounds of stockinette stitch with some rounds of seed stitch thrown in.

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~cowl pulled to the back

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~cowl shoulder to shoulder

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~cowl pulled to the front

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for the last couple of rows I did add some increases so that the cowl would be wider at the bottom than at the top. I don't even know how many increases I actually added, I just added them at whim.
I think my favorite way to wear it is going to be the pulled to the front look.
now I gotta go find something else to keep my needles warm!

untangling the tangled....

I spent a good part of my Tuesday night untangling yarn. I won't tell you how long it took. For the love of knitting, a knitters gotta do what she's gotta do.
(but I won't lie, this certain thing along with this are both looking quite appealing right about now).
goodnight!

crafting for Chester

Since I made little gifts for the family (knitted slippers for the girls, the ribbed hat for my husband) I thought Chester needed something too. This weekend I got sewing and made him his own cat pillow~

~ leftover fabric strips from cutting-the eight strips I cut out are not the same width, but are the same length.

~sewing the strips onto a cotton batting

~strips sewn onto cotton batting, now time to add back fabric for pillow

~stuff, stuff, stuff! with polyfill and leftover fabric strips from the cutting (really I didn't over stuff the pillow, I wanted it to be a little bit on the floppy side.
~pillow washed and dried-to get that crinkly quilted look

time for photos Chester-he's so good with the camera

until he starts playing with my camera strap!

Can you tell we are totally enamored with our kitty? Pets really add joy to the home (I haven't had one in such a long time that somehow I forgot this fact-but with all the moving, plus being renters, on and on- I digress). Now I'm so glad we have Chester, and that he has a cozy place to nap, while I'm taking my nap too!

ribbed

ribbed hat, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

finally finished up a hat that's been in my knitting basket too long. The hat is a simple ribbed hat, pattern from More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts (pg. 42). I got this book this past November and it is so lovely-great photography and also a great variety of projects for all different skill levels. Last night I started work on a cowl-both the yarn for the hat and the cowl came from Quince & Co. (for the hat I used lark yarn, color "storm" and for the cowl I'm working on now I'm using chickadee yarn, color "honey").

Here's to more knitting in 2011!

makin' something for Christmas

Remember this post, about wanting to make small knitted gifts for the family? Well I got around to it and knitted these for the girls~

slippers, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

The pattern is found in Knit Simple.I like to think of them as "peppermint slippers" because of course they are colors of peppermints. For my youngest daughter I used smaller needles and decreased the number of rounds knitted-also a crocheted draw sting was also added so that the fit could be a bit more snug. The girls tell me that the slippers are cozy, which of course makes me happy.

I also did a little sewing for the small pillows on the couch~

patchwork style, my seaming could have been a bit more precise, but I still think they add a colorful touch to the living area.

In the kitchen~

Swedish fruitcake, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

fruitcake-Swedish style, I made this last year-I love it, it's light and not as dense as the traditional fruitcake. I didn't have all the dried fruit that was listed in the recipe, so I just used what dried fruit I had in the cupboard, which included dried cranberries, dried apricots, candied ginger, and raisins.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to all the new possibilities of the New Year.

festive lights

Two days till Christmas! I could ask how did that happen, but really what's the point now, I still need a tree! The girls are out of school and have been getting their fill of the Wii and computer games. Today however, they took a little time out from all that electronic entertainment to do a little crafting with me~

~recycled glass jars and tissue paper


~tissue papers all cut up (into strips and squares) and put through a gluey water bath


~strips of tissue paper placed on jars, overlapping the tissue paper is a good things! Smooth papers down along countour of the glass.


~Allow the tissue paper to dry completely (which most likely will take overnight or longer). For extra shine add a extra coat of Modge Podge, and let jars dry again. Add a small candle or a flamless tea light (which is what I used for these jars) and now you have a festive candle display.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

Three years of celebrating Advent

We have been officially celebrating Advent for three years now, in which I have actually put together a calendar for the family. Now today as I meet December 1st, I'm totally unprepared. Ideas have been floating in my head, but nothing is sticking. I think I may use the same calendar from last year, with a couple adjustments (gotta look in some more boxes). The holiday season finds me at this moment in not such a festive mood, but I've got Christmas music in my car, on my i-pod so hopefully the cheer of the season will get to me soon!
In the mean time I thought I would share with you our Advent calendars/crafts from the three past years~

2007

Advent Calendar, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

I think I purchased most of the materials of this calendar from Hobby Lobby. I glued those wooden stars on that felt material (glue gun, love) and wrote the dates on the wooden stars with a marker-very homey!

2008

Advent calendar 2008, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

What I like most about this calendar are the girls drawings and the wooden clothespins that we generously dipped in glitter.

2009

Advent Calendar 2009, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

The story behind this calendar is here.

Crafts we've enjoyed doing....

for the tree (eventually), originally uploaded by *nichole*.

Button wreath, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

popsicle sticks, construction paper, glue, beads, buttons, random pieces of fabric makes for great Christmas crafting.

Tell me what are you crafting, making, cooking up for this holiday season?
Happy first day of Advent!

this evening

Our Monday night consisted of the usual-homework, dinner (squash soup with turkey salad sandwiches-yes still eating turkey), showers and chores.
I did however find a couple of moments to sit on the couch to look at a Josh Groban dvd (checked out from the library), knit a few rows-really just a few, and browse thru a couple of magazines~


~aren't these slippers so festive, maybe I could knit two pair, for the girls knitted gifts




~look at those cute animals and owls!


Josh on stage singing (I'm kinda silly to take a picture of my tv :)



~ribbed hat in progress, can you see my copy of MSL magazine peeking in there? I somehow just can't resist her Christmas/Holiday issues


~sweater, coming along slowly

so from now until Christmas, I'll get in one stitch at a time (hopefully more) whenever I can, wherever I can-because realistically I'm no jack rabbit when it comes to knitting, I'm more of a "tortoise" speed (perhaps tortoise and speed shouldn't be in the same sentence, huh?)
Have a wonderful evening!