Wednesday, January 30, 2013

..Centered Cross Prayer Shawl...

...the long promised and never appearing Centered Cross Prayer Shawl pattern...
...this prayer shawl is super easy to make...the only tricky part is making sure that you have enough yarn to finish after the cross... ...the cross should rest center back when the shawl is worn over the shoulders...

...it's much the same as other bordered prayer shawls that I've made...
...I used 1 large skein of Red Heart and one skein of some fuzzy yarn that were in the bin at the Prayer Shawl Ministry at Church...sorry I can't be more specific...and I only had these two little bits left over when I was done...I love it when that happens...

...and so without further ado...

The Centered Cross Prayer Shawl

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

a rectangle about 20 x 40

MATERIALS:

Red Heart Worsted Weight and a complimentary skein of another colour

Recommended needle size:

1 set US #10
1 size K crochet hook

GAUGE:

gauge is not terribly important

DIRECTIONS:

cast on 70 stitches

Using colour A - knit in stockinette stitch for 100 rows

Cross Pattern

Row 1: K 33, YO, K2tog, K35
Row 2: Purl across

Repeat Rows 1 and 2 two more times.

Center Cross Row: K 28, YO, K2tog - 9 times - K 24

Repeat Rows 1 and 2 - 3 times.

Knit 100 rows in stockinette stitch then bind off.

Using colour B - and size K hook - single crochet a a border evenly around, having 3 sc in each corner stitch.

...and I'm so sorry that it took me so long to write up the pattern...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

...January Strawberries...

...we heard the chatter about town...'psssst...the Strawberry Lady is here'...and being the newbies here we didn't know what that meant...but apparently there is a lady (the Strawberry Lady) who goes to Florida in January and hand picks a bunch of strawberries and brings them here to sell them...it seemed all the locals knew about her and her strawberries...

...so...a super nice friend of ours offered to get us a flat of Strawberry Lady strawberries...

...so I spent an evening getting those sweet berries ready to go into our tummies...
...they had the biggest greenest tops I've ever seen on strawberries...
...and the berries were gorgeous...I didn't thow out a single one...that just amazed me...they were all perfect...
...so I popped on one of my new bowl covers...
...and left a spoon on top for people to dig in anytime...
...maybe to top some ice cream...yummmm...
...all that was left...

...do you like strawberries?...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, January 28, 2013

...Easy...Any Morning Vegan Pancakes...

...sometimes I think that the only time we have time for a 'big' breakfast is on the weekend...
...but that's not really true...pancakes are a quick and easy thing to fix any day...
...just mix up the batter...sometimes I mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately the night before to speed things up...I just cover the dry bowl with a plate on the counter and keep the wet mixture in the fridge overnight...I also already have my flax seed goo stored as ice cubes in the freezer so I don't have to make that on the fly...
...give the pan a quick spritz with oil...
...ladle in a generous scoop of batter...
...wait (patiently) until the top is covered with little bubbles...
...slide your spatula under the pancake...
...and flip...
...this side won't take as long to cook...
...flip it back over to check for done-ness...
...add it to the stack...
...and call your hungry family to the table...

Easy...Any Morning Pancakes

Dry Ingredients:
2 cups Bread flour
3 T Turbinado Sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt


Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup flax seed goo - just boil 2 T of flax seeds in a 1/2 cup of water and strain
1/4 cup oil
2 cups soy milk + 1 T vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar) whisk together


Mix the dry ingredients - mix the wet ingredients and then mix together quickly - don't stir it too much - Pour onto a hot griddle and flip the cakes when the tops are all covered with bubbles...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week...

Saturday, January 26, 2013

...from my back deck...

...we had a little bit of snow yesterday...so we're cozying up inside with fires in the fireplaces...lots of knitting and reading...and lots of hot chocolate...

~Wishing you a lovely warm weekend...

Thursday, January 24, 2013

...How to make a Ribbon Bulletin Board...

...I have a sweet friend whose favorite team uses the colours orange and blue...her bedroom is even painted two walls orange and two walls blue...

...and she needed one of those ribbon bulletin board thingies to hold all her keepsakes...
...this is such an easy project...

...just start with a board...
...measure some squares...ours are 6 inch squares...and then drill holes on each intersection...
...then mark some foam board to the same size as the hardboard...
...just cut with a box cutter to size...
...I didn't even attach the foam board...
...but placed the hardboard and the foam board face down on top of the blue fabric and batting...cut it to size...
...stretch it tight, turn under the edge and staple it to the hardboard every few inches...1/4 inch staples work best for this...
...here's the finished padded board with the holes still visible on the back...
...let your dog nap on the leftover batting...he'll love it...
...lay out your grid of ribbons across the front of the board...we stuck coloured straight pins through the holes so that we could line everything up properly on the front...just lay the ribbon diagonally across the pins...
... and pin in place on the sides...
...then stretch them tight...
...and staple to the back...
...to attach the buttons...thread a long needle with carpet thread and go down from the back...through the loop on the button...and back up through the hole you drilled...

...you'll need something to pull tight against and tie the strings around...we used a finishing nail for that because it would lie flat and wouldn't break...
...just turn under the edges and hot glue in place for a neat finish...
...finally add a backing fabric of your choice...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

...Super Simple 2 Needle Infinity Scarf...

...a sweet friend wanted an infinity scarf...so we went together and picked out a nice fuzzy super soft yarn...

...I didn't have a great big circular needle...so I cast on 120 stitches...and crammed them onto my size 15 straights...and knit in stockinette stitch for 35 rows...

...that's it...you're pretty much done...
...now make one twist in the scarf...and line up the ends...and just duplicate stitch them together...starting with the working yarn to the left stitch up through the last loop on the right then bring the yarn across the empty space and stitch down through the last loop on the left...then bring the yarn under the base stitch and back up through the hole...creating a duplicate knit stitch...then just start over from there...come up through the next stitch up on the right...etc...

...this type of seam works perfectly...lies flat and creates an invisible seam...
...of course this is me modeling the scarf...
...and me modeling it with a double loop...
...and here it is all by itself...see the twist...

...I really hope she likes it...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

...at the Mission...

...our Jr. High Youth Group served at the local Mission...
...first they prepared the food...
...then they gave the devotion in the form of a skit...Cover 2 Cover...was a really cute Youth Skit...found here...it was super easy...very few props...and the kids loved it!...
...after the devotion...they kids served the meal...
...and then did the dishes...
...and cleaned up...

...Bless their giving hearts...

~Have a lovely day!