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!!!

D is for Done

I've finished my bag. it's now felted and drying. I wasn't sure if I would finish in time. (it's an OWL for my HPHC over at ravelry) but it DONE. and with an added pocket inside! the bottom ended up being 51/2 " wide by 101/2" long with being 121/2" high. (and the opening at the top is bigger)


Of course my fave part of this process is having my 4 year old wearing the before felting and the after felting. It's really funny to me b/c the before is so HUGE and the after is... well um.. a bag. LOL
I think it turned out rather good!
what do you think?

Yup I bought it.

So um yeah I did buy it.
and I watched it again, then I watched all the special features. now I've got to watch it with the commentary. I'm trying to get myself off this thinking that it needs to be exactly what the book says... I'm having a hard time convincing myself of that though. Not sure why. B/c i can do ok with the HP movies and books.
so that's my photo of the day.
But while i was at wally world getting the movie, i also got new batteries for my watches. (i have been forgetting them every time I'm out.) so last week i got smart and finally shoved them into my purse. that way I only needed to remember they were in the bottom of my purse waiting for their insides to be replaced. I also picked up some heavy fabric to make a lining for my sheer curtains in my bedroom. Since Walmart is getting rid of all their fabric i got it 1/2 priced. And I'm not going to get into how stupid it is that they're doing away with their fabric... sigh.
anyways I've been visiting people for the UBP'09 and I'm loving it! You can still join if you'd like.

It's Party time.

It's that time again. Time for the UBP!!!
i had so much fun last year browsing blogs and leaving comments. this year it's totally bigger. You can check it out here.
I'm glad to meet everyone and I'll bounce back to the blogs of people that leave me a comment. I'm on Facebook Here.
I'm not a twitter person. I'm not sure what twitter is but it's all the rage. feel free to clue me in

and there's a whole bunch of prizes! i'm not able to fathom it all. so may generous people and it's possible I may win something. I'm going to make a list of the prizes I would love to win.....

First of all I'd love to win #58 the Kitchen Aid! In red i think.. I LOVE IT!

I think i'd also like to win #49 b/c i love jillian michaels

also #20 the goat milk soap. we can always use a bit of pampering!

and who can pass up #21 the target gift card?

#60 the Pepsi tote filled with goodies sounds like a great prize too.

there's sooo much more but i can't decide.
why not join the party and go look at the prizes for yourself?
feel free to look around and leave a comment or two.
thank you for stopping by.

B is for Beautiful

Over at Ravelry Project 365 we're doing an ABC challenge. and today I have B.
I've got 2 beautiful girls (thank my dh for that), the bub and the bead. so that fits with B also... it was a beautiful day yesterday too. Today it was yucky cold again.
The girls were "painting" with their chalk. they scribble a big patch (outside of the photo) and then use some paint brushes to paint a pix in another part of the driveway. pretty funny. they also like to use the paint brushes in the sandbox to uncover fossils. but someone left the lid off the sandbox and the sand got wet and yucky. so I've got to get new sand this year. I'm thinking about buying some fossil toys and some shells and hiding it in the sand box with the new sand.... how fun will that be for them when they're at the "dig" LOL.
not sure where I'd find some fossil toys though.
any ideas? TIA

Crazy Cool

So lately I've been crazy busy. This past week FLEW by.
On Wednesdays i take the girls to awanas and then since there's nothing for me to do I usually go to walmart and do the grocery shopping. This past week I stopped at goodwill b/c the bub needed some new pants. (she's growing sooo tall lately) I walked away with much much more. for only $24 I got my DH 2 new pairs of jeans (one is from the gap), a pair of sketcher shoes and a sweater (also gap) for me, and a pair of dress boots and 2 pairs of pants for the bub. Nothing for the bead but she got stuff last time. I love it! for what I would've paid for one pair of jeans or shoes i got 7 items. Gotta love it!

This Friday I put some knitting bling up in the LYS. I wasn't sure if Margaret would want to hang up the bling or put it in a basket or what so Thursday I packaged some up with tabs so they could be hung or put in something on display. So now if you're in the area and you want to pick some up stop by the store and get some bling! If you don't live in PA I have some available at my etsy store. Contact me for shipping outside of the US. (I do ship outside of the US i just have to get you a price)
Another exciting thing that has happened is I joined the Etsymom street team. What that means is I've joined a group of moms who have etsy stores. We support each other by browsing, buying and referring people to their shops and also we have some forums where we can inspire each other, help with our shops and encourage each other with mom-related things. here's a quote from the etsymom blog "EtsyMom Street Team is dedicated to promoting women artists and crafters who also share the joy of being mothers. Some of our members work from home, some work from other places, but we all share a love of creating beautiful, useful, artful things. Our goal is to create a forum where these creative EtsyMoms can inspire each other, discuss our work, share the success of juggling kids at home, with housework, jobs and creating for our etsy shops, as well as marketing ideas for Etsy.com, advertising and promotional opportunities, and maybe make a few friends along the way."
If you'd like to join here's a link. If you'd like to buy handmade you can go to etsy and search etsymom or you can click here as I've done it for you! there are some great things in that group! go take a look! It's super exciting.

For Project 365 I've decided to also photograph the ABC's. One a week. My first week was this week so....A is for anniversary. Friday was our 10th anniversary! My Dh and I got a whirlpool room at the local Hampton Inn. It's something we do every year. Well every year since he's been out of the army. We figured we spent so many annv apart and away from each other we're going to make it a tradition to spend it together in the nicest way possible. so my In-laws had the girls sleep over and we got to "sleep" over at a hotel. Pretty nice. we also went out to dinner and watched a movie that we wouldn't recommend. We went to see the watchmen and from the previews we thought it would be a good action movie, maybe a little bloody and some swearing. maybe if you follow the comic book maybe you know what to expect. here's my short overview:The one guy walks around the whole movie naked. Yes he's CGI but he's anatomically correct (if not a little bigger than normal) . and then there's some sex scenes in there that leave nothing to the imagination. I guess we're used to watching PG-13, PG and G movies and had NO idea that R ratings showed so much. I personally think they pushed it a bit. And the storyline was ok, it seemed to jump around a bit not really explaining some things like the should've been. The bloody parts some were normal and others were just weird. like one part there's this kid he jumps on another kid punches him and then bites his cheek. totally gross! but i guess b/c it's a comic book it probably was written in there like that and it just translates more gross on screen. I'm seriously wondering why we didn't leave the theater. We felt really bad b/c some guy brought his 6-8 year old little kid in there. I'm sure he thought like us, it'd be an action/superhero flick nothing too major. that poor kid will probably have nightmares.
I think if they took out the porno-ish parts it would've been better. but that's my taste. Anyways we wouldn't recommend it to anyone. it was kinda funny to see all the comic book geeks crawling out of their parent's basement to watch the movie.

busy busy

soo a quick update on the Star Knits front:

I've been totally enthralled with our new Wii Fit! we got it on Tuesday and I've been playing it since. I love it. and it totally KICKS my butt! I snapped a photo of my DH trying it out with his snowboarding game. It's pretty cool I'm still not good with the games though.

and on the crafty front. I'm feeling the sewing bug coming on. Like I've been finding myself looking at my fabric and thinking about sewing. I even brought down my sewing machine. But I haven't started on anything.

I've picked up a few more classes starting this past week. Monday afternoon and Tuesday Night I have my crochet classes. I created a crochet sampler block for them. It's a few squares that each week I walk them through the basic stitches and by the end I'll teach them joining and finishing. as they go through the week they're supposed to make extra squares for practice so as they go they're almost at a lap blanket at the end of the class. (it's a 4 week class) The sampler is displayed at the store. I'm pondering an Amigurumi class. but it's still in it's planning stages.
Along with my crochet classes I have Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday afternoon and Thursday night knitting classes. So as you can see I've been really busy. But it's a good busy and I really enjoy it. I've just got to find a sitter for Thursday night.
As for knitting I've finished my sleeves for my cabled sweater. (it's supposed to be a hoodie) So I'm excited to get going on the body of the sweater.
and last but not least
I signed up for Sock Wars IV . It's looking to be better than last year. SO I'm super excited! go ahead and sign up for yourself! it should be fun.

KCS4

I got my package today! it totally made my day. My partner Marisol sent me a wonderful package. look at everything that was inside, she really spoiled me.
She gave me a Page a day calendar from The Yarn Harlot. 2 beautiful skeins of Interlacements sock yarn. It's just lovely. My fave chocolate covered espresso beans and some lovely Biscotti.
a great journal with pockets inside a fun chocolate trivial pursuit game. And the coffee! it just smells delicious! She picked out some Sumatra Blue Batak from Peet's Coffee. I can't wait to try it tomorrow morning. I would try it now but I just made a pot of coffee and I don't want to waste it.
Thank you so much Marisol! The package was wonderful and I love it! I can't wait till you get your package.

History Of Magic (in the kitchen)

For my HP Knitting/Crochet House Cup HOM homework we had to pick a character out of the books and creates something with them in mind. Wednesday I realized I had enough bananas to make lots and lots of banana bread:My family likes to eat bananas but we always have 1 or 2 that turn spotted and no one eats them. so I throw them in my freezer until I have enough to make some banana bread.(freezing them is great but they don’t look pretty, but they’re the best and when you unfreeze them there’s no need to mash them!) So I chose to channel Mrs. Weasly, Thursday Night and bake some banana bread/muffins for my HOM homework. I love Mrs. Weasly as she’s the ultimate mom. always caring for people In the books i mostly see her baking and cooking to feed the ones she loves. I relate to Mrs. Weasly that way. I’m always trying to feed my family and friends. Though for Mrs. W. she’s got to be constantly cooking with the huge family. But i’m sure magic helps a lot. My ultimate faves are the mocha double chocolate chip banana muffins in the front of the photo (texas sized if you please! you can actually see an star plate with one on it.. hot out of the oven yum yum) Just my way of feeding those I love and making out home more “homey” and really very burrow-ish with the cluttered counter.

After Turning in my homework i was asked to share the recipes sooo I did, and I thought I'd share here too. Like when I'm knitting, I've tweaked a few of the recipes and i’ll share the tweeks with you. each of the recipes also freeze well so after they’re cool throw them in a ziplock bag and freeze and unthaw when hungry. (in the microwave for 25-50 seconds and it’s like out of the oven)

Get your ingredients ready!

1st we have a recipe that I love and grew up with it’s from my Grandma’s It’s a banana bread recipe but i just threw it in my muffin stone and made muffins.
ps when i say texas sized muffins i mean the big ones b/c everything is bigger in texas.

Grandma Fran’s Banana Bread
yield: 2 loaves or 4 mini loaves (12 muffins and 2 texas sized muffins)
Preheat oven to 350 F and grease and flour pans.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 c Flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c shortening or oil (i use oil)
1/2 c sugar or 1/3 c honey (i use honey)
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 c mashed bananas (3-4 bananas) I use the aforementioned freeze and thaw method so no mashing needed.
1/2 to 1 c chopped nuts (optional) i used walnuts. but it’s good with out nuts too

Mix all ingredients but nuts together alternated bananas with flour and shortening. (i just throw them in my kitchen aid and mix away) until all is moistened. add nuts and mix in. Fill your pans 3/4 the way full bake bread loaves for 1 hour adjust time for smaller loaves and muffins. a toothpick will come out clean when it is done and it looks a nice golden brown on top. cool and enjoy!

The second recipe I found a couple of years ago on the Internet but i don’t remember where and I didn’t have it written down so here you go.

Monkey Muffins
yield: 12 muffins and 8 texas sized muffins.
preheat oven to 375 F (last night i just used the 350 b/c i didn’t feel like playing)
spray and flour muffin tin

ingredients
1 1/2 c old fashioned oats (i almost never have these i just use the instant plain oatmeal that I have also when i made these last night i ran out of oatmeal so i added 1/4 c of wheat germ)
1 1/4 c whole wheat flout
1 1/4 c all purpose flour
1 Tbls baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbls) of melted unsalted butter (the real stuff)
3 eggs
2 banana’s mashed (gain the freezer thing but i used 3 bananas b/c that’s how many I had)
3/4 c milk
1/4 c veg oil.
1 c semi sweet chocolate chips (i forgot for my texas muffins b/c i was in muffin mode but they taste wonderful anyways but i remembered for the regular muffins)

Spread oats on baking sheet and toast for 10 min. (i almost always forget this step so it’s not important) Combine flours baking powder and salt in large bowl and stir in oats. In a separate bowl mix together sugar, butter, eggs, bananas, milk and oil until well blended. Add the egg mix to the flour mix and stir until the ingredients are moist and blended. (almost all recipes say this and i think it’s stupid getting 2 bowls dirty and i’m impatient so i just dump everything together and it all turns out fine) Fold in the chocolate chips (see if i followed the recipe i’d remember to do this)
scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins. about 3/4 the way full or if you have a large scoop just one scoop or 1/3 c measuring cup. (I sprinkled mine with some raw sugar for the sparkley top)
bake for 25-30 min until the tops spring back when pressed lightly or a toothpick comes out clean.
let cool for 5 min and then take out of tins. Enjoy! (these are good hot!)

and finally my fave of all fave’s muffins. they’re almost like a dessert but good for bfast! This is a heavily modified recipe from all recipes so i call it my OWN b/c i’ve changed so much.

Mocha Double Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Yield 12 muffins and 8 texas sized muffins
pre heat oven to 350 F and grease and flour muffin tins

Ingredients
1 c butter or 1/4 c oil and 1 c plain applesauce
1 c sugar
1 egg
3-4 ripe bananas (whatever you have on hand)
4 Tbls instant coffee dissolved in 1Tbls hot water (it’s like a syrup)
2-3 Tbls cocoa powder.
2 1/4 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c semis sweet chocolate chips (reserve the 1/2c for on top of muffins)

dump everything into your kitchen aid mixer bowl and mix away add the chocolate chips last. Put into your muffin tin about 3/4 the way full and top with reserved chocolate chips for that bakery look. Bake for 20-25 min. cool and enjoy!

Ok If you have any questions just ask. if not enjoy!

Bling Bling!

I've bee busy! I made some Knitting Bling as Christmas presents for the ladies in my classes. Well they loved them. (they still rave about them!) So i decided to make more and put them up in my etsy store to see if anyone else would like them.
I like them. They brighten the knitting up and make you smile as you slip them to the next needle. Just a little added something!
Go have a look and LMK what you think!

A Magical Creature!

I found a Jobberknoll outside in the cold. Well at first he looked like a regular Blue speckled bird to me but when I referred to my Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander (every household should have one you know!) I recognized it at once. I coaxed him inside with some small dirt flys that have been hanging around my potted plants this winter. He’s really sweet and helpful at getting rid of the insects around. It seems he likes the spiders the best! to my pleasure of course.
For those of you who don’t know a Jobberknoll is small blue speckled bird that eats small insects. Normally found in northern Europe and America. It makes no sound until the moment of it’s death then regurgitates one loud scream of everything it’s ever heard backwards. (oh what it will say after leaving this house with the girls jibber jabbering all the time) A Jobberknoll’s feathers are used in truth serums and memeory potions.and the M.O.M. classification is XX-Harmless/may be domesticated. alt text Here, you can see he’s taken up nesting in the Christmas cactus that never blooms. It amazes me that a bird with such a large beak is so quiet. He’s even charmed the pants off our cat, Simba Jeffery: the master of cuddles and spills. Who is more interested in chasing his tail.. I guess it's good I didn't put any catnip inside! you can see more photos of him in my flickr photostream.

I’ve been calling him Hiro b/c he likes to eat the spiders and I was watching Heroes when I "found" him. I've left him nesting in my plant to see how observant my family is... so far neither of the girls have claimed him... LOL

I've turned him in for my Care of Magical Creatures homework for this month. I'm working on my DADA as I type and pondering a charms project too.

an Elephant story

Isn't this the cutest story you've ever seen? I'm researching what my patronus would be for my HP Knitting/Crochet House Cup homework and I was having a hard time figuring it out. So I emailed the proffessor and she helped me figure it out. So right now in this time of my life my patronus is an Elephant. pretty cute... now to figure out what my Homework project should be..... hmmm.

O.W.L.s

In case you haven't noticed I've changed my template a bit... we'll see how this one works out. LMK what you think.

I've been working on my two of my OWLs for my HP knitting/crochet house cup this week or past week...
My first is in transfiguration. I'm making a Villiage St. Market bag. The pattern is available at the LYS with the purchase of yarn. I made one a long time ago as a test knit and my SIL saw it and wants one. Here's where I was on Saturday. I'm much further now. It's a great project.

I've also been working on my Arithmancy OWL. I've signed up to make 20 baby bibs. It's b/c everyone i know seems to be having a baby these days and I like to make my gifts so these are going to be mass produced for gift giving. (also everything seems to be revolving around my HP K/C house cup these days)

This month there are new assignments and I've signed up for Care of magical creatures. So I need to make an amigurumi. I'm excited.. I'm just deciding what to make. There's also DADA and figuring out what our patronus would be... it think there's a few others that I've got to re-look up. It's a great group to join over at ravelry if you're looking for fun ways to tie in knitting with your love of all things harry potter.
anyways that's my commercial.. LOL