I Love Small Knitting Projects

I love small knitting projects. They make me feel like I have accomplished something. With laundry and child care that never ends it feels like I am doing something concrete with my life. The hat I started yesterday was finished today. Then another hat was started. I have a lot of odd balls of yarn left over from other projects.  I try to blend the colors and yarn weights together to come up with unique colorways. I love to do hats with odds and ends of yarn I just never know what I will end up with. Since my Art Fire Studio is full stocked with hats I will be sending them off to kids in colder climates.

We had a nice slow day today. By the way did I mention I got some knitting done?  The weather was cool for this time of year only in the mid 80's but the humidity was near 30% all day. We were graced with a very small down pour tonight and a nice show of lighting.

We it is time to go put Eric to bed so have a great evening and enjoy your families.

New Recpie

I was up with Eric until 2:30 am and was up again to start the day at 6 am, a big yuck in my book. Eric managed to spend most of the day sleeping ; but sleep eluded me. I spent the day doing laundry, puttering and knitting. On the knitting front I was too tired to concentrate so I started a hat with the hat pattern I gave everyone yesterday. I made it through the brim and 6 rows into the stripes.

Just before lunch I came up with a brilliant idea, at least I thought so. Iced Moroccan Mint Tea with Boba a kinda of east meets another part of the middle east. Boba are large tapioca balls that are found in the Asian section of some stores or the Vietnamese section of speciality Asian stores.

Make the Moroccan Mint tea as per package directions on the stronger side.

Make the Boba according to package directions. Drain. The link on the side of the page is for the type of Boba I used. The directions were very clear but I only cooked 1/2 cup of dried Boba which is enough for 4 drinks. Some people do use special wide straws but I forgot to pick them up and did just fine anyway.

In a heat proof glass add 1/4 cup of cooked Boba. Fill the glass to the top with ice. Pour the Moroccan Mint Tea over the ice and Boba. Let the ice do it magic and sit back and enjoy. Total prep to serving time less than 15 minutes.

This is not a sweet drink but it is a very refreshing drink. Personally I had almost a full tea pot of this this afternoon. Some Boba will come to the top when the glass is tilted but you will need a spoon to get all the goodness out of the glass.

I would like to remind everyone that Teri and I still have a contest going on. We only have 4 entries so your chances of winning a prize are good. check the past blog entry for all the details.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

The World has not Ended

I have done the finishing work in my basket to day and the world did not end. There are a total of 5 scarfs and 1 hat just off the needles today.

Because I love this hat so much I thought I would throw in a pattern today.

Supplies
Size 6 circular needles
size 6 dpn's
Scrap yarn

This hat can be made in 2 sizes small and large. The small one is for a child the large for a teen or adult.

Cast on 81 stitches for the small (place a stitch marker every 20 stitches) and 101 for the large(place a stitch marker every 25 stitches).

For the 1st stitch knit together the first and last cast on stitch, knit 1, purl 2 * knit 1 purl 2* for rounds 1 through 15.
*Added the second color and knit 2 rounds. be sure to twist the yarn on the inside for a more sturdy hat.
Go back to the first color for 2 rounds.* repeat these 4 rows until you have knit 32 rows of stockinette.
The crown is very easy. You will do a *ssk (slip,slip,knit) after each stitch marker and knit to the next stitch marker* repeat until you have 4 or 5 stitches on the needle.  Cut a tail and pick up the remaining stitches on the  darning needle go around once. Weave in the ends on the wrong side of the hat. About half way through the crown you will need to knit the stitches on to the dpn's. I divide the stitches by the stitch markers on to 3 dpns, this is not even but it works for me. The crown can either be done in a solid color or stripping every other row. I have done it both ways and both are easy and look good.

Have a good evening and enjoy your families.

PS let me know if you need clarification on the pattern. Please use this pattern for personal or charity use. If you make this pattern for profit please donate 15% of the money to a charity for children or to your local community food bank. This is the honor system.

A New Contest

I am having a new contest. Teri is very tired of PB&J sandwiches. I need to give Teri lunch suggestions that do not have to be refrigerated. They must also be Dairy Free - milk and milk products. Mayonnaise, chicken and eggs are fine. They must also be fast to make and hold up well. And most of all not drip on her books while she is studying.

The rules are very simple.

1. Follow my blog.

2. Leave a recipe for each entry. Also a way to contact you.

The Prize is a very large over sized Elizabeth Arden tote bag in pink.

You have until midnight Sunday August 22 to submit your entries. The contest will be judged by Teri, myself and whom ever we can rope in to read the recipes.

Good luck and have a great day.

This Weekend

I was so hopeful after summer camp when Eric managed to make it through the whole summer and missing less than 1 week of camp due to illness. The school year is not going as well. Eric had 2 days of school last week and missed the second one due to being sick. Well so much for our summer streak. I might just have to go to school and shadow him for a day to figure this out.

We have had a very busy weekend getting Eric back on his feet but I think we just might make it. He did manage to sleep through the night. After a full 6 hours of sleep for me, a lot has gotten done around the house this morning.

On the bright side I have knit just over a skein of yarn a day this weekend. Most of it was charity knitting, but I have come to the conclusion that I need to do more knitting for me and learn to be a bit more selfish with my time. Yes I know the need for warm weather items is going to be great this year, but I have all this nice yarn and so many patterns lined up for me. There are only so many hours in a day.

I only have a few minutes left of quiet before I need to get everyone going this morning so have a great day and enjoy your families.

The School Year has Begun

The school year has begun for Eric. Today was his first day back. I was so glad that we went out to meet the bus 20 minutes before the scheduled pick up time, because the driver was 10 minutes early. Apparently the school bus company and the school district do not see eye to eye on the bus schedule. I think I will go with what the bus driver says so I do not have to be mommy taxi for the school year. There are just somethings I have to roll with and this is one of them.

I thought I had a meeting today, but showed up 1 week early. Oops! So as long as I was out I went to Trader Joe's and did some shopping for things I forgot yesterday. Of course since it was Eric's first day back to school I had to do some knitting; as of 6:30 pm I have gone through 1 skein of yarn. Not to worry though I have a lot more yarn to go.

I did go through a lot of papers and found the floor of my closet where they had been tossed. After filling up the shredder basket 1 1/2 times today I got down to the things that need to be filed. I also found over a dozen peach stickers apparently no one had told me that I could trade 12 of them for a case of diapers. Of course I found this out the day after I place the last order. Timing is everything an I really don't have my timing down pat today.

I did do something that I have not done since Eric was a baby this week. I took 2 shifts of skilled nursing for Eric. I guess it was really past time for extra help with Eric. I find myself relaxed and less stressed. I have not been this relaxed since my few days with Teri. I see more skilled nursing shifts in our future. It is very hard to see the stress when I am in the middle of it.

I have just gotten the call that means it is time to make dinner. So have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Another Wonderful Day

This is the second day we have had Teri home for a very short visit before she starts her second year of law school. This was also day 2 of shop until you drop. Today we went to the Tucson Mall and did some very heavy duty shopping. A new phone, a suit and a few other goodies for Teri. New pants for John. I reserved the biggest purchase of the day for me, some hand sanitizer for my purse. John and Teri have dropped and I hate to wake them up for dinner when we finished lunch so late.

We are busy getting all the Tucson highlights in like favorite restaurants in to. Just a few of our stops so far Mayco's for taco's, Frost for sorbet, Micah's for corecodo a wonderful beefy vegetable soup served with flour tortillas Maynard's for lunch. Mr.An's for teppan. We do love to eat out. I think I need to find a Wii fit game with my name on it.

We have also made a stop at Bookman's another local favorite. If you are ever in Arizona: Bookman's has locations in most major cities in the state. There is nothing else like it.

Eric has finished camp for the summer and starts school again next week. He won the award for the best smile in camp this year. He is very happy to have Teri home and out of the computer. He has yet to figure out how Skype works and why Teri spends so much time living in the computer. I wonder what sibling things they are going to do this weekend?

Through it all I am busy knitting. I have finished 2 scarfs since Teri has been home and started another hat yesterday. I am trying to play catchup with my charity knitting. I don't think the economy has picked up enough for my studio to do much business yet.

Well it should be time to rouse the troops and decide on dinner or not. Me I could just go for a tray of appetizers and forget the main course.  Or even better just go straight to dessert. So have a great evening and enjoy your families

Please note that no one has asked for or paid for an endorsement in this blog. John and I covered all the cost associated with the restaurant and Bookman's visits. No discounts were given.