Makin' Grahams

The Man-Cub and I tried our hands at making Graham Crackers - we used the recipe at http://babyparenting.about.com/cs/formulafeeding/ht/grahamcracker.htm. Our only substitution was Agave Nectar for the honey - thanks Karen.

The dough was very stiff.


The little roller from Pampered Chef - very handy. - That's what I used for the potstickers too. http://affectioknit.blogspot.com/2007/01/asian-potstickers-we-went-to-friends.html


They look like graham crackers...


These are fun to make and the results are acceptable - a little chewier than the storebought kind. I'll find another recipe and try again. I used to have a book when we lived in FL with a good graham cracker recipe - I think it was by Jane Brody. Come to think of it - that book had a recipe for marshmallows too. You can see where I'm going with this can't you - s'more's mmmmm...

The Easter Sweater

The back is done and blocking and I'm pretty happy with it. I started the first sleeve last night - the back took almost exactly 3 skeins - so I'm expecting the same of the front and hope to get both sleeves out of another 3 skeins. This is a very easy knit - you could almost read boring here - it's just stockinette - but there are increases and decreases and row counts - and it's just the thing for speed knitting...

Break a leg

The play was a huge success last night - our "tough bunny" stole the show - all the kids wanted to borrow his jacket. He had the cutest lines and said them with so much expression - he got lots of laughs.

And I realized that I never posted any finished photos of the jacket - so here's some detail I hope you can see.


The Man-Cub loves the jacket and says he wants to wear it when it gets warm enough - I'm glad he likes it so well and wish that I had been more careful to get the seams straight, etc. - as I thought it was just a one-nighter. All told I spent about $11 on the jacket. It was a ladies size small black rain jacket - that I got at the second hand store for $8 and then I bought 3 dog collars and cut the buckles off for $1 each. I already had the little grommets from another project. Oh, and I did break 4 sewing needles in the process, but I won't count that.

Hair Friday

This is really from last night - so it's Hair Thursday - The Man-Cub's big production of "Get Hoppin'" was last night so I got sort of dressed up - sort of really dressed up for here - where no one hardly ever dresses up - maybe for the prom. So this is a picture of the up-do - slightly mussed.
And here's a closeup - I should have taken the pics before the play...

First I pull my hair into a pony tail - then I just twirl a section of hair around my fingers and pin with a bobby pin around the base of the pony - and then pin the middle section back to the top/middle - it's pretty easy.
Boy did my head hurt when I took it down 'though. Thanks for the sweater, Mom.

The Canadian Geese are back...

The snow is definitely melting and anytime you go outside you hear the geese honking as they fly overhead - we have four in our backyard now - I think they are the same ones who nested here last year. We give them a pretty wide berth - Jack is fascinated.

Renoir, My Father

I'm reading a really good book right now - title above - it's written by Jean Renoir and it's basically him sitting with his father talking - there are some good b/w photos of some of Renoir's works too. It's just a fascinating look back at the WWI era - lot's of descriptions of household happenings and quite a bit about the world war and the mechanization era too. It's a pretty easy read for a translation - I'm sure it's better in French 'though.

The Easter Project

Of course, I don't have enough to do - so I'm going to try and make a sweater to wear for Easter Sunday. I found a pretty print for a skirt (you can see the material in the corner of the picture)- and then of course could not find anything that I liked to match it. I thought I could probably wear the sweater I made for our Renewal service a few years ago - although it's very dressy (and I still can if I don't get this one finished). So, I bought the material for the skirt - and then, wouldn't you know it - with our limited resources here I couldn't find any yarn to match it either - I was trying to match some of the green - and I wanted cotton of course.


I finally found a mercerized cotton crochet thread that matched well and I bought all 5 skeins that they had - that won't be enough of course - so I asked the clerk to reorder - the rest will be here April 3rd. Then I fooled around with the gauge all weekend - I kntted several swatches with 2 and then 3 threads on different sized needles until I finally got gauge.

I'm making the "nothing but a T" shirt from MagKnits.
http://www.magknits.com/warm05/patterns/shirt.htm
So, I plied the thread together to make a pretty yarn - it has a nice sheen to it and it knits almost like a ribbon.

Wish me luck - I may not have time to post - as every spare minute from now until Easter will either be spent knitting or practicing the organ - I'm playing again on Easter Sunday - Whew!

Scrabble

Scrabble has always been one of my favorite games - I got a set for my 7th birthday from my cousins Susan and Gary - Mom correct me if I'm wrong...

Anyway, the Man-Cub loves Scrabble too and he's getting quite good at it - he also got a Junior Scrabble game for his 6th birthday - and this is the backside or the advanced side of his game board - the only difference being that you only get one point for each letter placed - he still won this game with 77 points.
He had the best words too - quote - hobo - sneeze and pray were all his - they would really have been worth a lot of points on a real Scrabble board.

Artist in Residence

One of the better classes in the public schools here is Music. The Man-Cub left a private school in SC with a wonderful music program - highly supported by the University's Music Department. So we were happy to find a good Music program here too. Last year's Artist in Residence was a mixed media artist and that was fun. This year it's Sergei Shapoval - a Russian musician - the opening ceremony was so much fun. Friday - the entire school put on a Russian Music and Dance show for the community.

I wish I could post video here...

Here's a link to his bio http://www.edu-tainment.com/sergei-bio.htm

Hair Friday - Again

It's funny to me that I can't stand to have my hair in my face now - it seems like when I was little and had hair down to my bum - Mom was always trying to get me to pull it back - but I wanted it long and loose. Not anymore - any stray little wisp of hair that wanders down to tickle my face will quickly be corralled by a clip or a headband...

I french-braided my hair this morning - I would much prefer that someone else do this for me - but in my male dominated world - that's not going to happen...

So what is a girl with long fine tresses to do - besides wish that she lived closer to Karen and Amy (who would surely braid my hair for me...)

I recline and let my hair fall over the edge - if I stand and braid I get little horns and bumps sticking out.



Sometimes I put a pretty "hair-doody" on the braid and let it hang down my back...

But more often I tuck the end under and pin it with a couple of bobby pins...

Old Mother West Wind

We read to the Man-Cub almost all of the Burgess Bedtime Stories - and Old Mother West Wind and her children the Merry Little Breezes were prominent characters in the books - During a storm here the wind often shifts to all four directions in a matter of minutes - and it creates pretty patterns in the snow.



During the last blizzard - there were piles of snow and the Man-Cub and I sat in the living room looking out the window at the wind doing her sculpting - these little patterns would appear in the snow and the wind would swirl under them carving them just like I imagine the wind carves the Grand Canyon - then a whole chunk of the icy top layer would blow away the Man-Cub would cheer - it was great fun...

The New Pond

Well, I was going to post a joke about our new pond - As all the snow melts, we get a lot of mud and puddles. This one is at the west end of our house - but we can't even walk over to the church now = we get in the car and drive about 100 feet - sad I know - but it really saves on floor cleaning...


This picture was taken yesterday afternoon - on a cool spring-like day.

Then this morning - school was delayed one hour because of snow - and we had already gotten about 4 inches of new snow - everyone says it won't last long - once we've had a big thaw...

Sleepy Jack

I sneaked up on Jack while he was sleeping and snapped a picture as soon as he woke up...

He is really turning out to be a sweet dog - he was such a fireball his first 18 months that we were a little worried - and he still has his moments - but his sweet moments are now more common that his naughty moments...

Pinewood Derby

The Derby was yesterday - it was a lot of fun - This is the finished "Roadster".

Here is the weigh-in - the first time we've hit the limit exactly.

The Man-Cub was a good sport - shaking hands with the other racer - whether he won or lost. His car came in 2nd in the non-tournament Time Trials - so he was pretty happy about that - and he won the award for "Most Creative".

Baby Blanket

I make these little baby blankets all the time - I should keep several on hand - but I generally just make them right before the baby comes. Another pastor's wife here in the middle of nowhere is about to have her 4th baby - at home. She was one of the first people I met when we moved here and her oldest son is the same age as the Man-Cub. The blanket is super easy - I cast on about 100 stitches on #9 needles and knit stockinette stitch about 200 rows - or until I run out of yarn - I use 2 skeins of Caron Soft. You can see how the blanket tries to curl up.

So, to make it lay flat I crochet a border in a different color. If I know the gender of the baby - I'll do the traditional color for that - or sometimes I know what colors they are using in the nursery and I'll use that. In this case I don't know either - so I'm using some rainbow baby yarn from my stash. This is just single crochet - but sometimes I use a shell stitch for a baby girl or for a baptismal blanket.

Finishing Touches

The Man-Cub is out of school today - for their one-day "Spring Break" - haha - We've still got about 2 feet of snow on the ground. That's OK though - spring is definitely on the way - it got above freezing yesterday and will again today - Yay!

So the Man-Cub put some finishing touches on his derby car - all that's left is the clear coat. We are firm believers in the "Do Your Best" motto - and the Man-Cub has done as much work on the car as it was safe for him to do. I know he will be competing against some "Dad-built" cars - but this is his own design - we even let him use the dremel tool a little bit this time - and he can handle a coping saw as well - all the sanding and painting are his own handiwork and he's very proud of his car.

The Derby is Sunday...

Hair Friday

I saw on a blog where the owner had long hair - that she would post her hair-do on Friday - sometimes very elaborate "do's". This is my hair today - definitely nothing elaborate - just functional and out of my face. I won't go out with my hair like this. It's getting very long - almost long enough to donate again - the donated pony has to be 10 inches long. It will be the fifth time for me - I was worried that as my hair turned grey - they would no longer want it - but they do - so if you're wondering what to do with your hair - give it away. Males can donate too...
http://www.locksoflove.org

Get Hoppin

That's the title of the play that the Man-Cub's drama club is working on - it's about a little bunny who won't hop - it's cute - anyway - the Man-Cub plays the "tough bunny" haha - and he needs a motorcycle jacket for his costume. Have I mentionned before that we live in the middle of nowhere - I did manage to find this jacket at a thrift store for $8.00. You can see the potential motorcycle jacket - right.



That's our little guy Jack in the pic with the Man-Cub - he hates the camera for some reason - and runs from it whenever I try to take a picture of him.

So, I'll rip out the zipper and cut off the bottom and do some sort of double hem border there - and put the shortened zipper back in - make some sort of belt - the jacket has belt loops but no belt - then I'll shorten the sleeves - add beltloops and a small belt or strap there as well. Then tack some dog chains around the shoulders and we'll be done.

Another Quilt for Lutheran World Relief

I stitched up another quilt for LWR - there were just a few of the "cow" sqares in the bag of donated fabric and about 10 yards of the black check. So the entire back and most of the top are the black check - I'm thinking of tying it with red yarn - not as bright as some of the quilts - but maybe it will find a good home anyway.

Dish Towels for the Church

A lady in our Parish died about 1 month ago, and when the family went through her belongings they found a stack of about 50 unfinished dish towels - She embroidered dish towels all the time - she gave me this set with little boys embroidered on them when we moved here. Aren't they the cutest...

So the family donated the towels to the church and the ladies from WELCA divided them up - I got 7.

I ironed and hemmed them and then we're all going to embroider a little blue cross on them - in case you take them home from Church to wash them - they won't get mixed up with yours.

Our recent blizzard

As you probably know - we had a nice blizzard last Thursday. We've dug our paths out and can now get out of the garage. And - yesterday it was nice enough for the Man-Cub to play on the mountain of snow they pushed up off the parking lot at the church. Such fun - digging tunnels and playing Hoth...

Sometimes it's hard to get the scale of how deep snow is - This is my garden and it has a three foot fence around it...

You're not going to believe this - I made VEGAN Chocolate Chips

Frustrated with the inability to find vegan chocolate chips here in the middle of nowhere - I had used an expensive vegan chocolate bar - chopped up in the past - and had my local grocery store had anything but the mint variety I would have never tried making my own...

I had a couple of ugly failed attempts - I won't bore you with the details or the ugly pictures - but I'm quite happy with this result.


This is the Chocolate Cookie Heaven recipe I've used before - http://affectioknit.blogspot.com/2007/01/chocolate-chip-cookie-heaven-man-cub.html

They held their shape well and melted in the cookies:

1 - 2 oz block of unsweetened chocolate - Nestle's is vegan
3 T of canola oil
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Melt the chocolate and add the oil and stir in the powdered sugar - that's all there is to it - then I put it in my cake decorator and piped little chips onto wax paper.

Okra

I had been hoarding this bag of frozen okra since our last trip to the city - needless to say - okra is pretty scarce up here. Okra also does not grow here - I planted an entire row in our garden and we harvested one baggie...

We had a blizzard and the Man wanted to make vegetable soup - he does a good job with that - and we all like a little okra in our veg soup. Of course it's not as good and fresh from the garden and they include the nasty little top pieces - but, I fried up the rest of the bag and the Man-Cub and I snacked on it before the soup was ready - YUM!

Quilting for Lutheran World Relief

I made 4 quilts last year for Lutheran World Relief - they're just the tied variety and I use whatever material is donated. I don't usually cut squares - I just piece together the material as it is...


This is the front and back before the batting and before tying - I'll tie it with yarn every few inches...

Another Dishcloth

I know that's not much news - I knitted it while watching "The Bridge to Terabithia" with the Man-Cub - as I can't seem to sit still through a movie with nothing to do with my hands - and I can knit these in the dark with my eyes closed...

The movie was very good and the Man-Cub enjoyed it - I got pretty teary-eyed when Leslie died - he didn't seem to 'though - I asked him about it afterwards and all he said was - Yeah - that was a pretty sad movie.