Tuesday night stitching

Will they ever stop??I hope not.Every week my friends keep bringing in finished projects that just amaze me.Cindy H. makes knitted hats and mittens with donated yarn. These will be sent to needy families in the area.Of course now she also has to make socks for her family........she's in for it now.

New to our group is Jean............she has been working on this sweater for a few months.I think it would be a few years if  it was my project.I can't tell you how gorgeous this is up close and real The colors are so deep  and vibrant. A photo just doesn't do it justice.She is close to being finished so I will try to get her to do a little modeling for us.

This is more my speed...........we have finished a  second blanket for the St Charles children's home.We had planned on doing 2 but, each has been sent home with a child as they leave St Charles.We can't let someone go home without a blankie now can we?For those of you not familiar with our project we started HERE If anyone would like to make a square please do not hesitate to contact me.

Another project that has caught my fancy is the slouchy hat from Brooklyn Tweed........wanting to challenge myself this year I decided to check out there SPRING THAW collection.I wanted something lacy and feminine and I settled on this hat called Ravenfoot

I wasn't sure if the hat was going to have enough slouch so I had Sarah try it on for size. That would be the last time I saw the hat so I guess it met with her approval...........Don't tell....... but. I've made several since then and they are tucked away in my craft stash where only I can find them.......said the hobbit.

It's a Bittyful Friday

Blogger has a new format...................I think I'll put it in this box and ship it somewhere...........anywhere but here. Change is not all it's cracked up to be, is it?

It's a Bittyful Friday

I'M READY FOR MY MANICURE..............I THINK I'D LIKE THE APPLE RED POLISH PLEASE

Discovering something new

I've been meaning to post about this for some time. On Mother's Day 2010 SARAH the youngest

made this hand scrub for me. It contained lemon and olive oil and was suppose to keep hands that are constantly in water smooth as silk. With all the cooking that I do, and still doing dishes by hand,it is sometimes difficult to keep my favorite tools (my hands) comfortable and moist.One day after finishing the dishes and creaming my hands I realized I had forgotten to soak a few items that had those nasty labels stuck to them. Well my hands had that cream all over them and I rubbed the price labels with my finger tip.

A perfectly useful scoop was sitting on my counter because I couldn't take the glue off.

Just a little of this magic rub and look what happened !!! Must have been a fluke right? So I dug out a plastic tcontainer top that was impossible to scrape the label from. Pretty nasty......... right? Believe me I tried everything .

A dollop of scrub on the tip of my finger and a gentle circular motion on the label and look how it turned out.

It looks like it was never used..............I repeated this process on so many labels that I had to become a believer. The gift was about 6 months old when I discovered its' secret talents. I don't know if aging had anything to do with it. If you'd like such a scrub I found the recipe HERE If you try this let me know how it works for you. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has such marvelous results..............said the hobbit

It's a Bittyful Friday

I JUST GOT UP AND HAVEN'T PUT MY FACE ON YET......ARE YOU TAKING MY PICTURE?

Tuesday night S&B

Socks are still a big hit at our knitting group. Cindy H. made these for her daughter,who informed her that she never wants to wear anything but handmade socks again. Sometimes I think a simple thank you is enough don't you?

In the past few months we have 3 knitters who have started to join us on Tuesday evening. Always nice to see how other ladies are keeping those needles knocking. Margie is a stay at home grandma living with her daughter , son-in-law and grandchildren. She has much knowledge of living in a close family unit and we are all ears to glean as much insight as we can from her. A few weeks ago she needed a baby sweater and she whipped this up in a week...........yeah, she's no slouch with the needles.

A popular item this year was the woolen headband. I had a few ends of yarn hanging around so I tried putting one together. Michelle was nice enough to be my model. I wore it quite a few times myself and was surprised at how comfortable it turned out. It's one of those quick knit projects that are popping up everywhere. I'm sure they would make a great stocking filler if you're thinking of Christmas. I'm always thinking of Christmas.........I found a few patterns HERE

I have the sock bug also...............lately I've been knitting these socks. The pattern is called Jelly bean. The cuff of your choice followed by 3 rows of K1 P1,then 3 rows of P1 K1. Pretty simple with a nice look. However here is the best part.

The heel is done using short rows...........You do not have to make a flap and pick up those stitches along the side. Your ship has come in and you have no excuses now. It will boost your confidence and you will be knitting socks for everyone on your list. These are for the hubby and you can see that the ribbing is a different color. I had a yarn that is somewhat stretchy and I thought I would try it on the cuff to see if it helps keep the socks up. I tend to make knee socks and not having them slide down is sometimes a problem. I'm working on it...........how do you keep your socks up..........said the hobbit

It's a Bittyful Friday

EVERYBODY IS TALKING ABOUT SPRING GREENS.............THESE ARE MINE.

News from the family

This is the newest member of the family. COTTRELL AMELIA.

Here she is getting ready for her first day at Day care. Normally I would shudder at the thought of one so little heading out to the big world. However.........in this case I think it's the other way around. She is an "in charge" type of girl. I think day care is in for the ride of their life.

Day one a "done deed It was a piece of cake and I give it a thumbs up." Don't look now but, somebody took your thumb...........said the hobbit

Eating from the pantry

One of my favorite ways to cook is to look in the pantry and see just what I can make without having to shop for ingredients. Having a passion for food, I often pick ingredients up with the intention of cooking something marvelous. Of course life gets busy and I forget my great ideas and, you guessed it, there is a whole lot of stuff in the pantry.We won't even talk about the yarn and fabric that have been picked up for the amazing knitting and crafting that I plan on doing. Once the holidays have passed it's time to get real and make use of those goodies so that I can get more.......dah! Last years trip to KING ARTHUR FLOUR I found the greatest deep dark chocolate cocoa..........of course I had to have it. And now the sad story of how it really was used. No unbelievable biscottis or over the edge brownies for me,no sirree!

A quick look in the freezer revealed 1 lonely patty of pie dough which I rolled out and baked.

From the pantry came 1/2 cup of white sugar

3 tablespoons of the cocoa

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/8teaspoon of salt

I wisked all the dry ingredients right in the pan then slowly added 2 3/4 cups of milk and continued to wisk till all was blended and started to thicken. They say stir occasionally but, every time I try that it burns to the bottom so.......I just stand there stirring for about 10 minutes really it's not that long.Then remove from the heat and stir in

2 tablespoons of butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Pour this into your pie shell and you've got a great dessert for the family.................much better than that little box of pudding.

Of course if you doubled your recipe like I did

You've got a little something for the cook............said the hobbit