Stash Diving...a tale of survival.

I have sort of been in a knitting rut. I think it's because I didn't finish the two big projects before the end of last term of the HPKCHC. On one hand I know that in order for me to feel prepared and ready for next term which starts in May, I have to get these two projects close if not all the way done but for some reason the more I want to the less time I have found to knit. I will share some of those distractions shortly but mainly I just haven't done it. So tonight instead of knitting on the lace shawl for my SIL that I am SO close to finishing...I think...or knitting on the vanilla sock that I have had as a side project for months...I decided to dive into my stash to just see what's there and reorganize.

Here is a picture of what it was to what it is now!



I took it all out before I took pictures or you would have seen a closet full of mess!! Now to be completely open, this isn't all my stash as some of it lives in another closet and some of it lives in a bin along with tools of the trade but this is the majority of my stash.

It might not look like it but it's organized. :). I have it in different big bags organized by fiber, sock yarn, other project yarn, and then lots of my first handspun which I am not entirely sure what to do with. I have the handspun that will be knit along with the other project yarns.

I love my stash. I know that sounds weird but I do. I wish I had more sweater worths of yarn but some day I hope to get there. I also wish I had a safe place to put it where I could see if more. There are some pretty yarn and fiber in there but I don't get to see it unless I dive in. Diving into the stash isn't something I do often as its just not reasonable. But I have it mostly listed on ravelry so I know what I have when thinking about a new project.

Speaking of new projects, I knit differently now than when I first started building my stash. So a lot of it reflects where I was as a knitter than where I am now. Hence the lack of sweater worths of yarn because I have just started knitting bigger projects like cardigans regularly. I do try to stick to knitting from the stash at every opportunity though.

And for the record I am a string believer that sock yarn and fiver do not count towards stash! :)

What are my distractions you ask? Well...work as usually prevents me from knitting during those hours. Then we have this little miss...she's just too cute to not spend every waking moment of hers being with her.



And then we have visitors. It started with CGR's grandma and grant who were pictured in the last post to now we have Grandpa!! My dad is here for a full month but he lives in panama and we don't get to see him often so we have to take full advantage!!



Other than that...the pups, house, and my family are big distractions but as you can probably tell all of these are good distractions so this gal is a happy camper! Might not be a productive crafter but a happy camper is good in my book!!

Happy Stashing!!!

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This Moment - Catching up from a couple weeks.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual from Soule Mama.  A single photo  – no words – capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your “moment” in the comments for all to find and see.

 Some pictures to catch the blog up!  :)

Sewing with my sister!

I have so much to write about but this is going to be a sewing update! My sister and I worked together along with some brainstorming with her daughter to come up with a St. Patty's day outfit for Carmen. You won't get to see the finished outfit until later but it's got a tutu!!

We used a tutorial I found on pinterest.com for the tutu and it was super easy!(Link has been added) . We got lots of tulle, some elastic, and some ribbon. My sister has done most if not all of the work on that.

We also decided to do some onsies. I bought a pack of plain white onsies from Marshals, some wonder under, and fabric. We also used some fabric scraps I had. I cut up some stencils, ironed on the wonder under onto the fabric, traced the stencil on back on wonder under and then cut it out. After that I pealed off the wrapper and then ironed that onto the onsie. Then my sister did the sewing. She did a great job!

I love how they came out!! I think the shamrock will be used more often than just next sat! It's hard to choose my favorite but I love love the dog bone!!

I will share some picture in later posts with Carmen in them but hope you enjoyed this quick seeing update! I hope to make more in future! I know we've got lots of fun seeing ideas! Just need the time!

Happy sewing!!

WIPs, sunglasses, and NRaWin2012

There has been knitting...but just not as much as I had hoped. My first term of the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup I did all things.  I turned in 6 classes a month, which is as much as you can do for points, finished an OWL, completed my BROOM, and even did all the Quidditch.  This term I started off behind because of my Calligraphy Cardigan, which to be honest was TOTALLY WORTH IT!  I love it so much and wear it practically every day whether it matches or not.  I even got nominated and won a prize for it. 

This term, I have only managed to get one class turned in, detention last month, I'm working on my OWL, which needs to be at 50% before midnight on the 29th and I still have about 8 inches of knitting left before I hit that mark, and I cast on my BROOM.

My OWL this term is the Aidez cardigan in Cascade Ecowool.  I am really enjoying knitting this but it took me WAY too long to get the different charts memorized so I could really get moving.  I also had a hard time with the set up row.  I am knitting the fronts and back as one piece where the pattern is written to knit them in pieces.  I am going to seam the sleeves but I just couldn't get around seaming the sides.  So far it is coming along nicely.  Here is a progress picture from Sunday night.

If you're my friend on Facebook, you know that my Facebook friends get bombarded with CGR pictures.  I mainly post them for my father, who lives in Panama, and Special K's family up in Ohio.  Here is a cute picture we took this weekend.  She is growing TOO fast and I just can't even blink because I feel I'll miss too much.  Being a mom is such a blessing and having her as my daughter is amazing!  I just love watching her learn new things and discover the world.  She'll be 15 months old on Thursday and I can't believe it! 

For this past week's recipe, I was kind of lame.  It was Sunday night and I had almost forgot to do something.  I still owe you another one from a week I missed posting about...I just found the pictures of some awesome deviled eggs Special K and I made for Valentine's day.  I'll post that later this week.  But for this week, I did homemade whip cream.  I'm not sure how you feel but I LOVE whip cream!  I could eat it with a spoon or from the spray bottle!  I had been wanting brownies and figured why not make some homemade whip cream to go with it!

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RECIPE:  Homemade whip cream

1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tbs of powdered sugar

You can use a mixer but I chose to do it the old fashion way with a whisk...my shoulder got a workout!  First you will mix or in my case whisk the heavy whipping cream in a bowl until you get soft peaks.  Then you will add the vanilla extract, which I used some homemade kind that my friend Tinyant's husband made, and the powdered sugar.  Then mix/whisk until you get stiffer peaks but be careful not to over mix or you will get a lumpy tasty mess. :)

Then scoop it onto whatever and ENJOY!  The brownies were so warm and the whip cream was a perfect addition to them!  YUMMO!

Hope you enjoyed this post.  More to come! 
Happy Knitting, Mothering, and Sweet making!!!

NRaWin2012: Pepper and Onion Steak

I am STILL behind on these posts but I have been making them.  This next one is from our dinner on Feb 17th! :)  So...we're just going to keep working on trying to get caught up.  I've made Peppered Steak quite a few times and sometimes it comes out good and I have been known to over spice it.  My DH isn't a fan of soy sauce or anything too salty so that is good but I have over soy sauced or salted things plenty!  He was worried I would do the same with this so I enlisted my sister G's help since she always makes this really good!

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Recipe: Pepper and Onion Steak

I started with a piece of steak...wish I remembered what kind of cut I got but I don't.  I sliced up the meat and put it into a bowl with some soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and some spices.  While that marinated, I started the rice and chopping the onions.  Then I started browned the meat while I cut up the rest of the onions, peppers and garlic.  I put in the veggies as soon as the meat was browned.  I then let it saute while I finished up the rice and put on the beans.  It took about 10 mins or less for the veggies to be done.  I like them to be a little bit crispy still.

This turned out pretty good! My sister usually uses a little Italian dressing for the marinade too but I didn't have any.  I'd like to try again with that.

Happy Cooking!!!