Temp blanket WIP

I am on the row for April 29th today and it is 16 1/2 inches long so far. 
The recipient was born in April - instead of single crochet in the back loop for that day's row I did a double crochet row so that day will be different from the other rows.
Sorry for the dark picture but it is a gloomy day.  We are expected to receive 25-33 inches of snow by Friday night so even though the sun is just coming out it is a bit cloudy.
I hope my next WIP photo will show how pretty the colors of yarn really are.
Happy Stitching

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Temperature Blanket WIP

I have started a Temperature Blanket for one of my granddaughters.
I got the high temperatures for the year she was born for the city she was born in.  The temperatures were available on this site wunderground
I copied all of the high temperatures into Excel.
I did a chainless foundation of 220 stitches and I am stitching a single crochet in back loops only with one row for each day in the color associated with that high temperature.  I am turning my work at the end of each row.   I am on February 17 and it is about 6.5 inches high so far.  I am putting 2 rows of black single crochets (both loops) to divide the months of the year.  In the picture January 1st is at the bottom of the WIP.
I don't think it will be too big for a lap blanket - in googling Temperature Blankets I saw that some of them can get very large. 

I am using Stylecraft special DK yarn and a size G crochet hook.
 

Bright Pink	90 +
Fiesta	80-89
Jaffa	70-79
Citron	60-69
Bright Green	50-59
Kelly Green	40-49
Bluebell	30-39
Royal	< 30

I am planning to make another one when this one is finished.


Edit:
After looking at the picture I realized I had made a mistake so yesterday I had to take out 5 rows. Today I have 2 days left in February so I feel like I am back on track.
I have been doing a chain 1 before I turn to stitch the next row but my sides are really fanning out compared to the middle part. I am going to just turn w/o a chain 1 and see if that corrects the problem. I don't want to start over so I am hoping that adding a border and blocking it when I finish will fix the issue.   I don't know why I can see things better in a photo than I can when looking at the real thing but it's not the first time this has happened to me. 

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Crochet WIP 3D lollypop stitch

I have a new crochet project to work on in my spare time.
I saw a crocheted blanket with a link to a youtube video.  She used 5 balls (320 m each) of variegated yarn & hook 4 mm.  The tutorial has ENGLISH SUBTITLES (turn off the sound and turn on the CC captions).

video for 3D shell

I am using Lion Brand Ice Cream yarn in Spumoni.  I love the reversible bubbles that this stitch creates.

This is going pretty slowly but I will admit that I don't pick it up very often and I have frogged several rows a couple of times when I was watching tv more than I was watching what I was crocheting.  There is no written pattern that I have found so I must refresh my memory with the video if I let too much time pass before I work on it.  This is only 28" wide.  I started with a chain of 182 stitches but this uses a lot of yarn and the 3D effect has reduced my long chain by about 10".  I am almost done with the second skein of yarn and it is about 13" high so far.  I am using a size G crochet hook.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Happy New Year

It started snowing yesterday around noon and didn't stop until sometime in the middle of the night.  This is our first big snowfall of the season.  It will melt away pretty fast because the sun was bright today.  I love it when the snow falls from the tall pines and by the time it reaches the ground it looks like fairy dust sparkling in the sun.
We rarely have to shovel any snow since we try to keep our food supplies well stocked.  Growing up in Minnesota I don't remember the snow melting for months so there was constant shoveling of snow for winter recreation.
I am going to stitch for a couple hours this afternoon and watch the fairy dust fall.
Happy stitching.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Sheep Virtues

I have started a new project!
I am actually copying something I saw on this blog (click here).
It's Country Cottage Needleworks - "Sheep in the Meadow" which will be surrounded by the LHN - Sheep Virtues series of charts.
It wasn't easy trying to figure out the notes I had made months ago about the math I thought I had figured out so this project would work.  Rather than check all those numbers I decided to just jump in and start stitching.  Lucky for me, I had already made a working copy which had been cut up and taped together so it would fit in the center of the surrounding charts.  I am so excited to finish this middle part to see if the borders for the Sheep Virtues charts will fit with this middle part.
It was a lovely month and I am eagerly anticipating another wonderful New Year.
Happy Stitching

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Baklava Cookies

Oh my goodness, I think I have another favorite cookie.  You can find the recipe here

I substituted 90 grams of Butter Flavor Crisco for the 1/2 cup of butter and added 1 teaspoon of water with the eggs.
The next time I make them (maybe today) I am going to use only 2/3 of the filling ingredients - I thought it was too much filling for 2 dozen cookies.  I had also mixed the honey and the nuts together which was messy to put on the cookies.
I think it would be easier to first put some nuts in the center of the cookies and then put some honey over the nuts - preferably from a squeeze bottle to avoid dripping honey all over the place.
I also only used about 1/4 of the cinnamon sugar to sprinkle over the tops of the cookies which was plenty for us.
I am posting the revised recipe that I used right here in case the link posted above disappears some day.

Baklava Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 90 grams butter flavor Crisco
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• TOPPING:
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream sugar and Crisco until blended. Beat in eggs with mixer, one at a time, and add extracts. 
• In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt; gradually mix by hand into creamed mixture. Wrap dough in plastic; refrigerate until firm enough to form into balls, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°. 
• For topping, combine sugar and cinnamon; set aside. Shape dough into 1-in. balls; refrigerate again if dough becomes too warm. Place 2-1/2 in. apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake 8 minutes. 
• Press a deep indentation in center of each cookie with the back of a rounded teaspoon. Fill each indentation with some nuts and then with honey; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. 
• Return to oven and bake until edges begin to brown, 7-9 minutes longer. 
• Cool on pans 1 minute. Remove to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Christmas Card Finish

I finished this Christmas Card for my grand daughter.  I hope it brings a smile to her little face.  The chart is in the Christmas 2002/Issue 40 of Cross Stitch Crazy magazine which a very nice lady on the 123 Stitch message board was kind enough to send to me.

We have a few days of food preparation and food consumption ahead so I must put off my stitching for a while.

Enjoy any stitching days you can work into your busy schedules.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

More about divinity

To remind myself how the process of making divinity went for me.
I did use a candy thermometer which was good because it seemed to take forever to get up to temperature so I would have not waited long enough without a thermometer.
I cut the divinity into small pieces late yesterday. I ate some (a lot?) while cutting it up and it was so good!!
I don't think I will make it again because it seemed like I needed 3 hands and more muscle than my arms have left in them. I don't have a stand mixer so I used a portable hand held mixer - don't try that at home, folks.
I had to set the pot down periodically and strands of the sugar would form from the mixing bowl to the pot - like a hot glue gun does.
Anyway if you find yourself in that situation DO NOT put your finger out to move the strand. I did and ended up cutting my finger on the strand - who knew?
My mixer started to smell like the motor was about to give out but it lasted.
I am so glad I put it in a pan to cut up instead of fiddling with dropping onto paper with 2 spoons and forming a dairy queen like swirl at the top. I would have been lucky to get 3 spoonfuls dropped before it would have set up. I barely got it into the pan before it set up. I was going to smooth the top but it had to end up rather mountainous instead.
At least it tasted yummy.
There is nothing worse than trying a new recipe that's more work than anticipated and then have the results less than satisfactory.
I am still puzzling if it's so yummy that I should buy a stand mixer so I can make more . .

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Finish and Desert

I finished this little pig for a Christmas card for my grand daughter who absolutely loves pigs - although I don't think she's actually ever been around a pig in real life.  It will bring a smile to her face.  This is a free pattern that can be found here.

I also made some divinity this morning.  I believe that this is really a two person job.  Fortunately, I worked through the frustration often encountered with new recipes for me.  I used the recipe that can be found here.  I did add 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar to the egg whites to whip them to stiff peaks.  I am going to slice it after it cools.

I have more stitching to do today so I can't wait to get to it.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Craft Weekend

I spent a wonderful time crafting with my grand daughters this weekend so I thought I would show you some of our projects.  These little sock snowmen turned out so cute.  We watched a video for instructions that you can see here.
We also made the following:
Mini yarn hats - here
Snowman Poop - here
Button Bouquets - here are some ideas
Wreaths - we just free designed with what was on hand.
Here are a couple more picture of the results

It was such fun and I hope we can do it again, soon.
Happy Stitching

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Christmas Cards

I finally got some blank Christmas Cards so I have been going through some of my old finishes to find some that will fit in the windows of the tri-fold cards.
For now I have not decided on a method of attaching the stitching to the paper but I am surprised at how many finishes I have that have never been finally finished into something.
Happy Stitching

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]

Lady in Red Finish?

I think I am finished with the Lady in Red snow globe.  There is supposed to be some decorative back stitching at the base of the globe but I like the plainer look of the unadorned base.  There are also supposed to be some french knots on the wreath but I can really make a mess sometimes when I do french knots so I am undecided if I want to try adding those.
There are 3 more snow globe charts in the package but none of them are calling to me yet so I will set this project aside for now.

Have some happy stitch days.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. [Proverbs 23:7]