Scrappy Steps Afghan

I am totally in love with this afghan and its construction!  Check out Crochet a Trunk Full o Fun site(and how awesome is that for a site name!) for the tutorial, there are also videos for the Scrappy Steps Afghan tutorial!

Here is the first step on the videos:

Just in time for the holiday party season!

Ruby's Party Bag from the Moda Bake Shop!  Can you not see this little bag done up in all the awesome holiday fabrics out there as well as those for every day use.  I'm thinking this would make an awesome candy gatherer at Halloween for a little (and some of us not so little) ones!

Santa Please!

I'm making my Santa list based on "As Seen On TV"! LOL  Yes I am.  There are a couple of things I'm sure I HAVE to have!
Eggies!  I need Eggies!  If they work as designed and advertised my days of laboring over deviled and stuffed eggs are over!

Hot Booties!  I can so feel these relaxing my feet every evening after work AND warming them up!  Yup, this Momma needs Santa to bring her Hot Booties!

If you ever got a look at my spice/baking cupboard you'd know I need one if not two of these Swivel Stores!  Yup, I do!

TBR Pile Reading Challenge 2012

I've decided for 2012 I'm going to do something different with my reading list for the year.  I'm going to take this challenge, compile a list of books that I haven't read yet, and read them!  I am so easily distracted by new releases that I miss out on some of the lovely stories I already have or forgot I had! LOL  Anyone up for a reading challenge?!?!?!  Hop on over to the Bookish blog and sign up!
My TBR List so far, since there are more than 40 books listed I'm aiming for the "Love at First Sight" award:

The Lace Reader Brunonia Barry

Neil White mysteries

Unleashed (Wolf Spring Chronicles) Debbie Viquie

The Drake Chronicles Alyxandra Harvey

Explosive Eighteen Janet Evanovich

Blood Red Road Moira Young

The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K Le Guin

The Most Dangerous Thing Laura Lippman

The Bowers Files Steven James
The Pawn, The Rook, The Knight, The Bishop, The Queen

After Obsession Carrie Jones

Cold Kiss Amy Garvey

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer Michelle Hodkin

Summer Rental Mary Kay Andrews

11/22/63 - Stephen King

Hit List Laurell K Hamilton

Racing in the Rain Garth Stein

The Devil All the Time Donald Ray Pollock

Seaside Knitters Mysterie Series by Sally Goldenbaum
A Holiday Yarn (Book 4)
The Wedding Shawl (Book 5)

Living with the Dead series Jesse Petersen

Witches Anonymous Misty Evans

The Life You've Imagined Kristina Riggle

Things We Didn't Say Kristina Riggle

Split Second Catherine Coulter

2030 Albert Brooks

Spider Web Earlene Fowler

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters Ben H Winters

Explosive Eighteen Janet Evanovich

Dark Ones Series Katie MacAlister

Midnight Breed Series Lara Adrian
Kiss of Crimson

Crunch Time Diane Mott Davidson

Flavia De Luce series Alan Bradley
(The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie)

The Tale of Halcyon Crane Wendy Webb

Wicked Lovely Series Melissa Marr

The Things that Keep Us Here Carla Buckley

Viking Series II (Time Traveler series) - Sandra Hill

Sergeant Kella and Sister Conchita series Graeme Kent
Devil-Devil

Pictures of You Caroline Leavitt

13 to Life Shannon Delany

Jane Yellowrock Series by Faith Hunter

Her Fearful Symmetry Audrey Niffenegger

American Rose Karen Abbott

Here, Home, Hope Kaira Rouda

Room Emma Donoghue

Jen Lancaster - light reads

Sh*t My Dad Says Justin Halpern

Absolute Power David Baldacci

Shades of Milk and Honey Mary Robinette Kowal

The Hunger Games Series Suzanne Collins

Full Dark, No Stars Stephen King

Fresh-Baked Mystery series Livia Washburn

The Lost Symbol Dan Brown

In the Woods, The Likeness, Faithful Place Tana French

Love Finds You in Sugarcreek Ohio Serena B Williams

An Object of Beauty Steve Martin

Shia Waynest vampire series Jess Haines

The Distant Hour Kate Morton

The Boyfriend of the Month Club Maria Geraci

The Cackleberry Club Mysteries Laura Childs

The Orchard Series Sheila Connolly

Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings Helene Booudreau

I'd Know You Anywhere Laura Lippman

Our Tragic Universe Scarlett Thomas

Still Missing Chevy Stevens

The Sweet By and By Todd Johnson

Shifter series Rachel Vincent

Mistwood Leah Cypess
Whisper Phoebe Kitanidis
Jeri Smith Ready
Shade
Shift
The One I Want Allison Winn Scotch
Blockade Billy Stephen King
Frankenstein series Dean Koontz

Isles and Rizzoli series Tess Gerritsen
The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
City of Ashes
City of Glass
City of Fallen Angels
City of Lost Souls
City of Heavenly Fire

Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
The Fiery Cross - Diana Gabaldon - Book 5
A Breath of Snow and Ashes - Diana Gabaldon - Book 6
An Echo in the Bone - Diana Gabaldon - Book 7

Diane Chamberlain
The Lies We Told
Summers Child
Breaking the Silence

Black Sheep Knitting Mysteries by Anne Canadeo
While My Pretty One Knits
Knit, Purl, Die
A Stitch Before Dying

Aurora Teagarden Series by Charlaine Harris
A Bone to Pick - Book 2
Three Bedrooms, One Corpse - Book 3
The Julius House - Book 4
Dead Over Heels - Book 5
A Fool and His Honey - Book 6
Last Scene Alive - Book 7
Poppy Done to Death - Book 8

Joy! Joy! Joy!

What a way to kick off the holiday decorating season!  Pat Sloan has a tutorial for this quick, easy, and BEAUTIFUL  Joy table runner!  Check it out on her blog!

The Food of the Day!

Although I didn't put on a typical Thanksgiving meal as Krissy and Jon went to his family gathering, I did put together a little something something for when they got here for movie time!  I liked having the day to myself as well as the "nontraditional" holiday cooking time.  Of course, Krissy HAD to have a couple of the staples like the ham rollups, mac n cheese, and deviled eggs.  But I got to put a twist on one of them, rather than deviled eggs I did stuffed eggs and they were quite the hit.

I made steak kabobs rather than turkey and they turned out sooooo sooo yummy!

A comedian friend of mine put out a challenge, he has a skit on the "criss cross applesauce" for elementary schools not able to use "indian style" sitting any longer, ya know the political correct thing.  So us "bakers" took the challenge to make a dish, mine I call criss cross applesauce crowns.  Basically, they are stuffed croissant muffins!  YUMMO!

And of course, what's a turkey day without an animule pic! LOL  Coco decided he likes to read on Freddie Fire (my Kindle Fire's name) too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I give thanks to those I call my daughters, to those I call my sons, to those I call my friends, and to those I love every single day the Good Lord above allows me to wake up breathing. So I need to give thanks once again to the Man I no longer can physically say thank you to, that would be my Dad. He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. For that simple fact of life I will always be thankful and grateful to my wonderful and loving Big D. I miss you every single day of my life.

My nontraditional menu for Thanksgiving: steak kabobs, baked mac n cheese, ham roll ups, stuffed eggs, and a special challenge dessert that I will forever call "Rob Little's Criss Cross Applesauce"!

 

Nosin' around the web!

I spent some time this morning just cruisin' the web which I don't get to do as much now that I'm working again. :(  I got use to blog hopping for a couple hours every morning and LOVED it! LOL
I am happy to say I'm finding more and more unisex knit and crochet patterns.  I love this one for wrist warmers, really the yarn color and type determine whether a man or woman would wear them.  From Vickie Howell for Caron.  Love them.

Found this very kewl pattern for a crocheted Arcade Blanket.  LOVE it.

It uses a Larksfoot stitch to get the patterning between colors, isn't it kewlio.  Full directions at Meet Me At Mikes blog! Close up below!

Real Sock Crocheted!

I enjoyed crocheting my test sock so much that I decided to give another pair a go.  This is the Lace Sock from "I Can't Believe I'm Crocheting Socks".  I am so pleased with how far designers have come with the construction of crochet socks over the last 5 or so years.  They are just as much fun as knitted socks in my book!

And I just had to share Coconuts bad hair day, even pups need product for static control sometimes! LOL

Love me some Hexagons!

So how kewl is this bag, uses my favorite shape of all time for sewing, HEXAGONS!  Love, Swoon, Love!
Moda Bake Shop has the tutorial for this lovely Hexagon Flower Bag!

Freddie Fire, I'm on Fire!

 Please let me introduce you to the new love of my life, named "Freddie, the Kindle Fire"!  LOL I name all my gadgets!

After having an iPad and a Xoom, both of which I primarily used the Kindle app on, I knew exactly what I wanted in my next reader.  I wanted the primary purpose to be a Kindle for reading and the connection to Amazon with the added bonus of a web interface and connection for browsing. I also waited for the Fire as I wanted the lending from local libraries feature, via OverDrive, available as well as the borrow from other Kindle owners. I am extremely impressed with the Kindle Fire.

So here is my first impressions of the Kindle Fire. It has a good weight to it with a rubbery black backing for nonslip.  The size and shape are perfect for my hands.

I have heard of a lot of Fire owners having issues with their Amazon archived books not being available immediately.  If you go through the process as described in the directions there is no issue that I can find.  I charged it up, oh yes I did, let it run through its updates (again oh yes I did - me, gadget girl! yup).  I connected it to my home WiFi and began to play.  Now, please keep in mind if your home network is secured (LIKE IT SHOULD BE) you will need your encryption key.  Freddie found my home wireless network and connected with no issue at all.  My Kindle archive was available, cloud based, immediately!

It has a start up tutorial which I highly recommend if this is your first reader or tablet usage.  Freddie is totally user friendly but a little help the first go doesn't hurt anyone!

My favorite part already, the color and the backlighting! LOVE, SWOON, LOVE.  So much easier on my old tired eyes!

I love the "carousels".  The top carousel holds basically all your apps and books that you can scroll through.  The bottom carousel holds your "favorites", things you use all the time and pin to the favorites carousel.

I think the hardest thing for most to get use to will be the "cloud" based computing/storage.  I personally love it, it's like carrying a thumb drive of files/books/videos/music etc. around with you without having a physical device to plug in.  Wherever you are your "part of the cloud" is there with you, just connect to it.  One other thing, if you're going to read offline you have to remember to download your book(s)/magazines/etc. to the device itself.  For me, this will be an easy task as I'm use to going untethered.

Yup, Freddie is my new best friend and I love him to pieces!

I love Rick Rack,,,,,,and a scarf!

One of my favorite of favorite sewing notions is Rick Rack!  Love skinny, junky, sparkly, all colors of Rick Rack!  So when I saw this Rick Rack knitted scarf I of course SWOONED,,,way over SWOONED, love it!  I am definitely making this one.  Check it out at The Purl Bee!

Breaking Dawn Part I!

Our tickets are purchased and we're ready for tonight's movie mania!.  Can't wait to see the new Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn Pt 1,,,,,it's going to be interesting to see how they put so much action into one (well 2 actually) movie!

Coffee Cozies!

I love the number of coffee cozy tutorials coming.  This pattern would be a great and quick work up for a knitting or sewing group get together, even baby/bridal shower!  Check out the tutorial at Mollie Makes!

New to me Crochet stitches!

Now that I've tried my hand at crocheted socks, I am going to try a fancier pair to send off to my friend!  I haven't decided the pattern yet but thought I'd share the crochet stitches that make the socks happen.  Common to most crocheters is the single crochet but then there is the extended single crochet in sc of row below which helps to reinforce the heel of the sock.

Extended Single Crochet

Front Post Double Crochet

Soooooooooo Happy!

Happy Snoopy Dancin!  Got notification that the Kindle Fires are shipping early, yesterday they started!  I can't wait to get mine!

Took a break from knitting!

 First, you have to see the snugglers, Ruby is so happy to have a snuggle buddy in Cocoa! LOL

To try out crocheting socks!  Yup, honest!  I have found that crocheting socks isn't so difficult.  You can crochet in the round, in a tubular fashion the same as knitting in the round,,,,well, kinda, the concepts are basically the same.
What I did determine: sizing is very very different between crochet and knit.  I opted for the medium size for crochet as that is the primary size I use for knitting and in crochet, it's large probably an 8 to 10 shoe size fit, as you can see from the "on" photo.  I wear a 7 to 7.5 wide shoe size.  I'll make the small crochet size from now on.

I used the "I can't believe I'm crocheting socks" book from Leisure Arts that a friend sent to me for making her a pair of knitted socks.  Thanks again Pat, it's an awesome book for sure! And here is the crocheted sock!

Rob Little!

A local boy, Rob Little, who has made it on the national comedy circuit is home for the holidays doing shows and we're going to see him tonight!  Rob is soooooooooooooo funny, can't wait to laugh my butt off!  Here's a you tube clip of one of my favorite Rob Little skits for your enjoyment!  WARNING: there is strong language and profanity ~ end of my disclaimer!

Swoon! Fabric Covered Button Bracelet!

The Mother Huddle comes up with some of the kewlest tutorials ever, check out this fabric covered button bracelet tutorial!  I can see every bracelet so unique!  LOVE, SWOON, LOVE!

Missoni Knockoff!

I'm sure the majority have seen or heard about the Fall line of clothing and accessories that designer Missoni has come out with for Target stores.  I absolutely love the zig-zags and patterning and have been waiting, somewhat patiently, for knit designers to come out with knockoffs!  Well here's a pair of mittens from Just Crazy Enough, Those Zig-Zag Mittens, aren't they just scrumptious!  Love them!

Cincinnati Chili!

OK, I'm thinking about warm, stick to your bones food these days as they are saying we are to have snow today!  Love this recipe found on the Skip to My Lou blog, Cincinnati Chili and it has CHOCOLATE in it!  YUMMO!  Check it out at the Skip to My Lou blog.

Repurpose a sweater!

How kewlio are these sweater leg warmers from the Brassy Apple!

I'm thinking Krissy and I are going to make a run to Goodwill and see what kind of heavy sweaters we can dig up and repurpose!

A little bit of knitting going on!

Haven't been too crafty lately but have been able to get some knitting in.  I've been working on a pair of Spring Forward socks for a friend of mine and the yarn she sent is a dream to work with as well as the colors working up beautifully.
Spring Forward Top:

Spring Forward from the side:

And then, I was contacted by a friend/designer, Kerstin Bettig, on Ravelry to test knit a pair of socks for her.  The pattern is called Totem and will be released this week sometime.  I love this pattern A LOT.  I love the way she put basic, simple stitches together to make an intricate design.  So pretty.

 I got back into my Droid now that I'm back to work, love the Droid 3.  My friend Pat sent this cell phone case along with the yarn for the Spring Forward socks.  It fits my Droid perfectly don't you think!  Love it Pat, thank you!

Winner!

While I was off work for 3 months I spent a lot of time entering blog and Facebook drawings, give aways, contests and was quite shocked when I won a lot of them.  The latest to come in is "Eternal, More Love Stories with Bite" which one of my favorite authors has a story in, Jerri Smith-Ready.  Can't wait to read it.

And these awesome ladybug buttons from buttonmad!  They are sooooo sooooooo beautiful and very well made.  I can't wait to find the perfect project to put them on!

EST to DST and on and on and on!

 "Time is free, but it's priceless.  You can't own it, but you can use it.  You can't keep it, but you can  spend it.  Once you've lost it you can never get it back." ~ Harvey MacKay

The only thing I dislike about fall is the time change here in the U.S.  But hey, gotta do what we gotta do!  Hope everyone remembered to Fall Back!

The World has lost an Icon!

One of my favorite quotes:
 
Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.  ~ Andy Rooney


For years I've tuned into 60 Minutes every Sunday and it was primarily for the last few minutes of the show when Andy Rooney would impart his whit and wisdom to wrap things up.  I was so sad when he announced he wouldn't be back to 60 Minutes and even sadder to realize in the back of my mind that he wouldn't be long for the world.  That news hit today, RIP Andy Rooney, I've spent many an awesome Sunday with you finalizing my weekend!

My Favorite Shows!

I am having a heck of a time getting back into a work routine, I really miss being able to stay up and watch the old and new shows on TV that I love.  Thank goodness for OnDemand with Charter cable!  WOOT WOOT!  and of course internet TV.  So here are my favorite shows this year:
Grimm on NBC

The Walking Dead on AMC

Person of Interest on CBS

Revenge on ABC

American Horror Story on FX

Needless to say, my Saturday mornings are packed full of catching up! LOL