Christmas Business

Oversized Acrylic Cowl

Baby Alpaca Oversized Cowl
(for my mama)

Bamboo Wool Cowl

Organic Wool and Nylon
Blend Matching Adult Hats

Angel Hair Childs Hat
(for my niece)

It's been a busy Christmas this year with graduating, birthdays, business orders, and my own homemade gift. Here are four things I sold and two things for gifts. I'm using the double drop stitch a lot because it allows the yarn to fall better and it's faster. I've made my January rent for our new house by making stuff, which is great. Now I'm ready to experiment with new knitting tricks. 

New Items

Double Drop Stitch Blue Wool Cowl

Double and Quadruple Drop Stitch
Bamboo Wool and Sock Wool Circle Scarf

Double Drop Stitch White Alpaca Cowl

Striped Sweater Circle Scarf

Double Drop Stitch New Wool Olive Cowl

Alpaca Wool and Confetti Wool Toddler Hat

Bamboo Hat Toddler Hat, Organic Cotten Toddler Hatt

Wool Toddler Hat

Vintage Fabric Coasters

Wine Bags

I've been busy making cowls, circle scarfs, infant and toddler hats, wine bags, and coasters. Cassie and I had a Christmas Bizaar and needed new items. I'm done with student teaching and have been spending a week making things. It's been a lot of fun. Now I just need to sell them all and make christmas gifts. 

My Dog Emmy.....

Baby Emmy

Adult Emmy (still just as cute)

.....is the cutest dog in the world....at least to me. She is like my child, because I don't have any...yet. She says goodbye to me everyday and excitedly greets me everyday when I get home, demanding a belly rub. Lately since my student teaching started in Dallas we have not been home a lot. It's been so hard on our animals and they are demanding our attention all the time when we are home. 

The commute is so hard from Denton to Dallas that we are moving to Dallas and ditching the 80 mile drive that we do during the week because we love the culture and the people of the city. It will be sad but not as sad as this little Emmy photo of her being caught being bad 2 years ago. It kills me every time I see it and makes me think of pulling out of the driveway and seeing her staring at us out of the window watching us leave. I'm looking forward to more time with our doggy and our kitty.

T.J. DAY

Yesterday, T.J. my boyfriend of almost 4 years got a 5 year recognition for being with his job at Moroch Ad Agency, although it was really his 6th year. He received this hilarious caricature of himself. He took a picture on his iphone and sent it to his sister who at the time was with me. When she showed it to me I bursted out laughing so hard because if anyone knows T.J. he has a huge head and a huge smile. I love him to death for it. 

Thanksgiving Catch Up

             

Even though Thanksgiving was two weeks ago, I still wanted to post my new sweet potato recipe from REAL SIMPLE. I used hate sweet potatoes because I always had them mashed with colorful marshmallows on them, until we grilled them one summer night and I fell in LOVE for the first time. They are so good for you, and they are yummy with just a bit a salt on them. So as a result of this, I decided to tell both families, the Edmondson's and the Rapier's, that I was making them this year. 

It involves simple ingredients of sweet potatoes, parmesan, pecans, brown sugar, cayenne, thyme, olive oil, salt, and pepper. They were easy to make, and take about an hour to bake. At the Edmondson Thanksgiving lunch the dish was demolished, so it was a success!

My sister-in law Lindsey, who is a 1st grade teacher made these turkey cupcakes. They were SO CUTE, so I thought I would share. Her husband, my brother Jon didn't know a box of cake mix makes 24 cupcakes and instead made 12. They were HUGE!! But still darling. 

It's been tooooooo lonnnng.....

........since I've done a post!!!

I have been so busy with student teaching, applying for a job, house hunting, packing, knitting, graduation registering, and lastly my camera breaking....tear. I finally have a moment to blog! 

I'm graduating in a week! YAY! It's very exciting since I've been in college for almost 8 years....LONG STORY. It's been a long journey with changing majors as a senior, and waiting semesters to sign up for specific classes. But I'm finally going to be a certified art teacher. 

My sister Becca, who works at the Dallas Museum of Art, agreed to do my graduation announcements. We are doing a trade of craft. Hers being paper and design, and mine being sewing. She used watercolor for the middle, sewing around the text, and a color wheel in crayon as the border. The envelopes and labels are from paper source, and the inside of the envelopes are lined with paper she found around her house. Her stamps say 'create' and she used a ink stamp with the letter K as my return address. I heart them and am so proud of what she has done. Thank you Becca! It's the best gift and I can't wait to start the baby bedding for your modern baby room. 

You can never go wrong.....

.....with peanut butter and banana for breakfast. Since I've been home all week I've gotten to keep produce in my house longer, since our commute has been causing our absence. I've been packing up for a move from Denton to Dallas, and trying to find the motivation to work on cover letters, portfolio, and fine tuning of my resume to find a job as an art teacher. Knitting is distracting me!!

Button Cowl

I've been wanting to make myself a big button cowl for several weeks and I finally did it. The buttons were my grandmothers, unused from previous projects she would use one or two and have a stray one left. The yarn is Lion Wool-Ease the color wheat. It's super warm and will match most outfits I wear. 

PIE PARTY!

Last weekend we went to the grocery store after lunch with friends to get some dinner. (The store was a mad house because the were having a remodel party for the store. Looks gorgeous, but no one could find anything cause it's all in new places) T.J., Rachel, and I walked around dazed in the amount of people there. We walked the store several times thinking of something to grill. I saw something that sparked the idea of making a pie, a pumpkin pie. Rachel just let out a long MMMMMMMM, and replied I'm down! T.J. found us later and said, "I'm thinking of not grilling and making pizza instead." All of our eyes lit up. We again ran around the store, returning to isles we had already been to three times before and found everything we needed so we wouldn't have to return to this mad house! The Oscar Mayer Wiener car was there and I caught a photo of two little boys getting their picture taken by their mom. Little kids were running around with Oscar Mayer whistles. We all came to the conclusion that we were have a PIE PARTY, even tough we were the only ones participating. 

Later that night we made the pizza pie. Rachel and T.J. made them while I photographed and got my pumpkin pie crust ready. The pizza turned out good, Rachel made a vegetarian one and T.J. made a turkey one. (Rachel's was better because it didn't get burned on the bottom) After dinner I filled my pie. Unfortunately I didn't get an after photo. I put some cool whip on mine and curled up on the couch and ate my favorite, pumpkin pie! Later that night at 3 am I walked into the kitchen to find 7 very hungry friends devouring it, so no picture for the blog. T.J. was nice enough to make me another the next night because I was so bummed. What a good guy. 

It all started......

BREAD!!! Who doesn't love carbs. They are my guilty pleasure! Our Kroger around the corner has been remodeled. The bakery has fresh breads that I have been drooling over for the past couple months. I finally decided to buy some and build a meal around just the bread. This loaf is rosemary olive oil. We sautéed some zucchini put it on the bread, added fresh tomato and mozzarella and broiled them till a little brown on top, then added basil. It was delicious! T.J. is an advocate for protein so we had some artichoke and mozzarella chicken sausage on the side to go with every bite. So simple, yet SO GOOD!

Little Hats

I have been starting Christmas presents for all my nieces. This hat Maggie modeled for me. It looked so good on her that I thought it could be a OOPS early gift, instead of the intended niece I was going to give it to in Austin. It worked out, because it would have been too small for Izzy. The first time Maggie felt this Angel Hair yarn she had pulled out of my yarn bag full of curiosity and felt how soft it was. She rubbed against her face and let out a sigh of AHHH! It was the cutest thing. I have more to make in different colors. All my gifts this year will be handmade since I'm doing free labor with student teaching. They are fun to make and feel more special then just going out and buying one. 

Chili

Wednesday T.J. wanted to make turkey chili. We had just got home from being out of town and it was a great meal to welcome us back. We shared it with family and took some for lunch the next day. It is the season for soup. 

1 stick of butter or several turns of olive oil (or peanut oil) 1 tablespoon dried oregano  1 medium onion, chopped  2 cloves garlic, minced  3 leek bottoms (white part), chopped  1-2 cups chopped celery  1 orange or yellow bell pepper, chopped  1 red bell pepper, chopped  2 Anaheim chilies, chopped  1 small can of green chilies  1 ½ pounds of shredded cooked turkey, or 1 pkg of ground turkey (any meat really)  ¼ cup flour  2 cans of chicken broth (reserve 1 cup for puree)  1 can black beans, rinsed and drained  1 bag of frozen corn, thawed (reserve 1 cup for puree)  2 tablespoons ground coriander  1 tablespoon cumin  2 tablespoons chili powder  Salt and Pepper to taste  Shredded Pepper Jack cheese for garnish  Tortilla chips	4:48 PM
In a large pot, melt butter and add onion, celery, garlic, oregano, leeks, bell peppers, and chilies over medium heat. Sautee all veggies until soft (about 15 minutes). Add turkey and flour.  In a blender or food processor, blend 1 cup of corn and 1 cup broth. Add to mixture. Add the rest of the broth and bring to a boil.  Add the remaining spices, corn, and black beans.  Adjust seasoning and simmer for minimum 20 minutes.  Garnish with cheese and chips. Serves 8.

Leg Warmers Finished

I finally made my leg warmers I said I was going to make by using a baby hat loom and binding off with circular needles. It was easy but I had to use two skeins to complete them. I wanted super bulky ones that would be great to wear on a cold night by the fire whether camping or even just in my backyard. I completed them while playing Trivial Pursuit with the guys. This weekend we built a fire in the pit, made soup from Cassie's blog, had friends over, and had some beers. It was relaxing and I was extra warm with my leggings. I bought some olive green yarn to make more! Can't wait to wear them again. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Prep work, Pulled cooked chicken out

Adding chicken to bowl ready to put soup over top.

Dinner is served!

Last night we made homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup a recipe we got from the Food Network website. It was quick and easy and really yummy after the a lame incident in the Kroger parking lot. We had forgotten the chicken broth :( T.J. just got a new car and I went back to the store to pick up the much needed ingredient and when I came out of the store someone had hit T.J's beautiful new car and drove off with out leaving any of the their insurance information. I was heartbroken after two nice girls told me what happened and apologized because they didn't catch the jerk face's license plate number. I got back to the house and broke the news with tears to follow. T.J gave me a big hug while I was stirring the onions and said "It's not your fault baby." I would have gotten more photos of this yummy meal but I was distracted. I remembered at the end and got a few pics. It was delicious and was eaten on the couch while watching some TV. 

Get the recipe here http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rescue-chef/chicken-tortilla-soup-recipe/index.html

And don't be afraid to add Spices....highly recommended (chili powder, cayenne...)

Merino Cowl

I finally finished my cowl from the yarn I bought at Shabby Sheep. I pulled it apart once and started over because I wasn't happy with with the first attempt. It's super soft and I love how crazy the colors can go with plain colored shirts.