July Recap

So July was busy. Very very busy.
Last week we spent some of the time in MD visiting with my Grandma as she was sick. She's getting better now and we were able to "rest" a bit at the farm. While we were there it was hay baling time. and the girls sat down for a good hour or so to watch it happen. the novelties of life huh?

This past month was also Stitch N Pitch with the Pirates. We went and had a lot of fun. I'd like to get a group from my LYS to go next year. B/c I think it would be loads of fun to go with some friends. We got some cool stuff too. See the black and white bag we got this year? It had some yarn and a magazine in it. I also picked up a sticker that I now stuck on my car. (you can see a photo of it on flickr)

July was also the last month for my Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup over on ravelry. they're taking a month off and then we'll start back up again for September. I love that group it gets my creative juices flowing!

I completed my Muggle Studies OWL. 2 Weasley sweaters. The girls each picked out the colors they wanted. I did a gauge swatch and bought yarn according to the pattern but I have at least 1-2 balls left from each of the main colors and most of the letter colors. So I'm pondering a BSJ or really a not so baby one. since I have the yarn and it goes well together.

For Quidditch our wrist warmers were due. I made them for the girls. they love them. I heard the bead singing, "I'm in gryffindor, I'm in gryffindor" after I gave her the one that fit. I think she's lost it now though... oh well.


For potions this month I made a necklace. Which then I gave to my older sister to have. b/c she likes gold and I do not. So she'll probably wear it. I hope she likes it that is. I really love the color of the beads and the butterfly but I really really don't like gold and I thought about wearing it but just couldn't... sigh. I have some of the beads left so I may have to make something from them but with silver. We'll see.

For Charms this month I made 2 headbands. One green with some left over sock yarn and one in gryffie colors left over from my scarf. They come in really handy and work really well. (esp with my thick curly hair) I'm going to have to make more of them I think! In fact I was all set to see the new movie wearing my new headband (that the bub is modeling) tonight when we were told that they wouldn't be showing it b/c of rain. (it was at the drive-in) so we'll wait until next weekend I think. unless we can get the girls' grandparents to watch them for a matinee sometime this week.

For muggle studies this month I made some socks. I love them. though it's too warm to wear them now I know I'm going to love them come winter. I also joined a new Sock a Month KAL. So I'll be knitting a pair of socks every month for a while. I wrote a small post about these socks there. They're your basic of basic toe up socks 2x2 ribbing with Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn.


And last but not least for Astronomy I made an invincibility star. I made it with Glow-in-the-dark yarn. It's awesome! And simple simple simple. I snapped a photo of it playing the xbox. which I thought was rather funny. It's arms are too short to maneuver the Wii remote I guess. he he he he he.

OK that's it. you're caught up for July. Now on to August.

Flatbread YUMMO!

I made some flat bread on the grill today. I've been wanting to try it out for a while now so after reading this post I decided to try it. You start with your regular stored dough. Heat your grill. Roll out your dough. If you'd like add some sesame seeds or poppy seeds. then you grill it about 2 min on each side. It turns out wonderful! You should try it out! YUMMO

Playing Catch Up again.

Lately it seems all I do here on this blog is play catch up. I need to get back in the habit of posting more regularly. I guess the busier life gets the more this poor blog gets neglected. Anyways on with our catch up.
Over the 4th of July weekend we went to WI to visit with my family. It was a lot of fun. While there I made this necklace. I find doing the Harry Potter House Cup helps me to finish more projects than if I'm working on my own. This particular necklace (ravelry link) I turned in for my July Potions homework. The assignment this month was Felix Felicis (sp?) So we needed to make something that was small and golden.

Also on the trip I finished my June Charms homework. I didn't have enough time to finish it in the month of June. I made an illusion scarf to wear to the HBP movie. (which we've yet to go see) The scarf is in the Gryffindor colors but the illusion is of the Heroes sign. Just something for fun!

Also for this Month we needed to turn in wrist warmers for our Quidditch team. I made a pair and let the girls each have one. they were super excited. and Have been wearing them ever since. I had to make the Bub leave her's here at home when she left for camp on Monday morning.

Monday Night I finished 1/2 of my OWL for this term. (I'm working extra hard on it so I'll be done at the end of the month) The bead was super excited and proceeded to wear it most of Tuesday. I also started on the bub's sweaters (the other 1/2 of my OWL). I'm using Vanna's choice yarn and after washing the sweater it's super soft. I made it s size bigger (5/6) so she can wear it longer. Of course it's being summer it's a little warm to wear it.

For this month's astronomy homework I choose to do an invincibility star. The pattern can be found here. (here's my ravelry link) It's a really easy pattern and I used glow-in-the-dark yarn. it's pretty cool. Being crochet it was a quick project.

I wanted to share something that isn't knitting or crochet. This past Wednesday my DH called and said you have to come get this playhouse. someone had left a plastic playhouse out by the side of the road with a "FREE" sign on it. So I packed up the bead and we went to collect it. It wasn't a pretty sight. when we got it home we had to deep clean it. It looks a lot better now. and the Bead has been sooo excited playing with it all the time. We've been talking about getting something like that for the girls to play with. so we were lucky that we got one for free. I really love getting things for free don't you?

man it's the middle of july already?!?

It's definitely summer! And it seems that finally the weather is getting sooo warm that it feels like summer. I finally got my garden in and I'm not sure I've enough time to get a good crop. we'll have to see.

This year we were able to secure childcare so that we can go to Stitch N Pitch. I'm excited. It's next weekend. We got our tickets in the mail this past week. I was hoping to get a group from the LYS to go but I wasn't able to get it together. hopefully next year.
Though first this Monday the bub goes off to camp. It will be fun for her but I'm not sure how the bead is going to take it. So I've found a polish pottery tea set that I've had for "just in case" that I picked up ages ago in Poland. I'm going to give it to the bead to play with while her sister is gone. I think she's really going to enjoy it.
well I've got things to do I'll TTYL

Potter Puppet Pals in "The Mysterious Ticking Noise"

I'm sure you've seen this before, if not it's pretty funny! gotta love good old voldy

We've missed it.

Usually when you hear the words thread, crochet and pineapple in the same sentence you think "grandma, or doily" Well I don't want you thinking that anymore. From now on I want you thinking SEXY!
This past week I made my sister a garter for her wedding. We're not able to attend the wedding so I wanted to make her something. pretty huh? The pattern is from Interweave Crochet. (ravelry link) up close you can see the beads. very cool I had to overnight the package to her and I'm not sure if she's gotten it. she was supposed to get it by 12 today.. but I haven't heard from her. I know she's doing the whole day before the wedding stuff so I'm not too worried.

I also wanted to make her something for after the wedding (eye wiggle) so I found this pattern on ravelry. super sexy pineapples huh? Note: that link isn't child friendly so watch who's watching when you click it. I had some red thread laying around and thought it would look wonderful in red. I hope she likes it!

OH Holy COW!

I can't believe how long I've been gone. right after my last post (with in the next few days that is) I hurt my back. I went to the chiropractor and was feeling good until I stretched the wrong way or bent over or something and then last Saturday and Sunday I spent in bed with maybe about 5 min or so sitting up. (it was sooo painful) I went back to the chiro and he confirmed that I had/have a bulging disc. UGH not fun so he tried some traction and sent me home. my next appt was for wed and I was remarkably better. I could sit up at least. Then yesterday I had another appt. and I'm doing soooooooooooo much better. the result of all that is not much knitting or crocheting going on. Though it did make a dent (a smallish one) in my reading queue.
Yesterday was the last day for the girl's VBS at our church so they had a closing program. They sang songs and each grade level did their verse. I know the girls had a lot of fun this week. My Dh was the valet and he also went and picked up my nephew and took him to the VBS.
I brought my Sock Wars SIP's to knit on during the program. and I got a good part of them done. I'm seriously surprised I'm not dead yet. (in the game I mean!) I actually have a goal to finish them and send them off this weekend. It's a good goal! I'm also going to use them as my DADA project this month. now to get off the Internet and knit... LOL.. not sure when that will happen. Oh ravelry, I love you!

more projects!

Just in time for may classes I finished my tote/bag. for Charms class. The charm was repello muggletum. so on our trip to the new movie I can hide goodies and knitting in this tote and those muggles won't know.. LOL. I'm a dork I know! I really really love the Asian print I used as the inside lining. It's larger than it looks and I can carry a book or two inside and the pockets give me room for other things. and the straps are a comfy. I love it!
I have a baby shower to go to today and I made some baby bibs and a pineapple hat for the gift. The hat turned out rather cute! I hope she likes it. I also turned it in for my herbology class. We had to use bobbles for this month's project. I'm not the hugest fan of bobbles. but like I said this hat turned out cute.
I'm still working on my 2nd pair of Socks for sock wars. I'm ready to be done and just waiting to die... for some reason I'm having a hard time finishing this pair. We'll see if i "die" before finishing them.. anyways gotta jet.

A Whole Lotta Knitting and Crochet going on...

So I've been quite busy lately and not just with my classes. But with my Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup (ravelry link) this group is great at getting people (read me)to get projects done.
Currently I'm working on my Charms Homework. it's due Sunday so I'm almost done. and cutting it close if you ask me.

You already saw my DADA homework (the water cuffs) a couple of posts ago.


A friend of mine is having a baby so I made this cute little dragon rattle and turned it in for my Ancient Runes homework. We had to do something with letters or based on a fairy tale. So this dragon is sorta based on the Dragon of the North fairy tale. But I seriously think dragons have a bad rep in fairy tales of old.


I also made a baby mandrake root for Herbology. I have a cute story about it over at Ravelry. Plus my girls posed for me so that I could snap this photo. it's pretty funny!


For Arithmancy we were doing the Fibonacci sequence so I made a Fibonacci cable hat. I cabled the number sequence around 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 , 13 (that's all the cables I could do on the hat) it's to replace the hat attack had my oldest lost this past year. my youngest daughter snapped this photo for me.



For muggle studies we were looking into that "television thing" those muggles are so fond of. I made a totoro. B/c my girls just love that movie. (i like it too!) The small one. of course the girls now want a big blue one and the grey one.. we'll see. maybe for Christmas next year.

During all of these homework assignments I also started Sock wars and finished my socks and "killed off" my target and received my SIP's and I've "kinda" been working on them but really I've been sewing and working on my Charms homework. It's funny how much the HPHC has taken over my life. (but in a good way!)
Well I'm off to knit...

i need sleep!

I was going to type a big blog and all but I'm tired.. so here's a photo to distract you. I went around yesterday gathering things for my apron swap. I've got to get started, still. i hope it turns out! I'm starting to get nervous of course. as I always do.
enjoy, discuss, comment!

New Term!

Life is/has been crazy here!
A new term has started over at ravelry's HPKCHC! And I've already completed one class. I did DADA,the class assignment was Protego. We had to protect against something so I made some water bracelets. (to remind me to drink my water) I made one in each house color.

The green and silver/grey for slytherin. the bracelets are all crochet and protect from dehydration! and Help fight the fat. we all like that don't we?

The yellow and black for hufflepuff. (this one also reminds me of Edward from twilight)


The red and gold for Gryffindor. (my house!) Go Gryffindor!!!

and sliver/grey and blue for ravenclaw.
they all turned out rather well and have actually been helping me to remember to drink all the water I should be! I change them to the other wrist once i drink 1/2 of the water bottle . I'm averaging 3 bracelets and my goal is 4. so it's going well!

I'm currently working on another homework project and I've also been approved for my Muggle Studies OWL. I'll be making 2 Weasley Sweaters one for each of the girls! They picked out the colors. I've been wanting to make them a sweater for a while and just haven't gotten around to it...

That's what's been going on here. I've also been bit by the sewing bug and I've been sewing some bags. but, I'll post about those another day!

An Apron Swap!

I just signed up for an apron swap. I'm so excited about it b/c we'll be making gardening aprons and you know I've got a garden started and I'll soon be talking about it again. If you'd like to sign up you can go here. This will be my first apron swap and I'm super excited as I love aprons and I only have 1 that i used to have for pampered chef and 2 that i snagged from my gma's. I'm excited to have an apron made for me!!!
if you can sew or you like aprons why not go check out the blog?

Get your garden on!

It's that time of year again. where we all start thinking and planning out our gardens.. i've got to get my seedlings going in the basement here shortly! Saturday I went to a composting seminar and got a free compots bin. I love it and i'm so excited about it.
I've been wanting to compost and not really knowing what to do the seminar was very helpful and now I know a ton!
anyways I took a photo of it and just had to share..
have a great day!

Win a WIP bag

The past day or so I was on a sewing binge. I was storing my crafterly-ness up and I just had to do it... soooo I made 9 bags. Two you can win b/c I'm having a contest to win a bag check it out here.
or stop by my etsy store for instant shopping gratification!

I won!

I feel horrible that it's taken me so long to get to this post. I've had a crazy busy couple of weeks.
Remember the Ultimate Blog Party 2009? well I actually won a prize. I received my prize in the mail last Tuesday. (See why i feel bad about posting about it now?)
I won 5 bars of Goat milk soap. From Goat Milk Stuff, it's super fabulous! You can read about PJ and her family on her blog. They just had a new baby goat arrive... sooo sweet.
The soap smells wonderful and really moisturizes in the shower. I love it. I got to pick 5 different smells It was so hard to choose just 5 smells! From left to right I got Pink Grapefruit, Coconut, Pink Sugary, Fiji Island, and Kool Koala
the small ones are samples she sent me to try out. Luckily she sent them because i used them to bribe my kids with them and not have to share! the small ones from left to right are black raspberry, cranberry spice, and rosemary mint. I started using the pink grapefruit and I love love love love it! When I got them I just sat here and smelled away and my DH just laughed at me until I made him smell the soap. He goes "huh that smells good" that's an understatement! It's wonderful and I think I'm off to take shower!

OWL complete!

I had so much fun with the Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House Cup that I signed up again for this term. If you'd like to try it out here's the ravelry link. If you do sign up tell them StarKnits referred you. I'd appreciate it!
and on to my fabulous sweater...
I had the bub take a photo of me wearing it since my DH was at work. (she actually stood on the outside chair) And, of course as I've finished this awesome sweater it's getting warmer out.. bummer huh? I'm hoping for a little bit of cold weather next week (after it's dry from blocking) so that I can wear it at least one day. The pattern is #28 Vihervaara-huppari by Mari Muinonen was in the Fall '08 Vouge Knitting magazine, actually there's about 5 or more patterns in that magazine that I want to make.
the pattern was for a hoodie but as you can see I didn't make a hood. I figured it would cover the fabulous cable and I'd never use it so I modified it.
I also "fixed" the front so the placket neck wasn't so low and I don't need buttons either. I think the next time I make this sweater I'll use worsted weight yarn and carry the cable up the arm a bit more. If you 'd like to see my modifications check out my ravelry project page, I typed them out there.
For this sweater I used 9 skeins of Lambs Pride Bulky. in color M-173 Wild Violet.
On to the next project!!!