the sky is pink

The scarf was frogged . Spenser and Sawyer helped. Jackson was sad that he was at school and missed it. Apparently I had told him he could help and I forgot. (Don't worry Jackson, I'm sure there will be plenty of frogging in my future.) I actually finished another knitting project. A cowl (found via Ravelry ). This was my first attempt at knitting with circular needles. And I learned almost everything I needed to know from Youtube . Except when it was completely finished and tried to put it on my head. The binding was too tight to stretch over my head. When I casted off I had used the regular, old cast-off method and it resulted in a tight binding. It could fit my sweet little girl, but not her mama. I fretted and fretted over this. I did not know what to do. I then thought I should place a 911 call to my knitting and bloggy friend, Amanda . Thank goodness that I did. She saved the show. And the cowl, too. She suggested I try a Russian cast-off and check Youtube . I did and ...

I have tried knitting in the past. I could do the knit stitch just fine, but when it came to purling ... well, that was another story. I had purchased books and tried to figure it out. Without much luck or success. That was a few years ago. (I think Sawyer was a baby.) My desire to learn was always strong, but other things were more important or pressing and it wasn't a priority. A few weeks ago I decided to try again. I picked out the ribs and ruffles scarf pattern (as seen over at Amanda 's) and got to work. Well, I didn't get far before I placed an emergency SOS call to a fellow blogger, friend and knitter, Karyn . After she thoroughly explained the "Eve's ribbing" to me, I was back on my way. Along the way I had issues. As you can see. For some unknown (to me) reason, my ribbing kept skipping. It wouldn't stay in a straight line. Just when I thought I had it, I'd realize it wasn't matched up again. And, at some point, it went missing altog...

See this pie here? Well, it's the best pie ever. And I mean ev-er. A few years ago a friend told me about the recipe she found on the back of her peanut butter chips. I immediately went to the store, bought the chips and made the pie. It is so very good that every time I make one, I make two. Once I gave the other one away. Other times I cut the extra one into slices, wrap the individual slices in foil, pop them in a gallon zippy bag and freeze them. When you're ready to eat a slice, just pop it in the microwave for a bit and voila! You have an awesome, warm, gooey slice of heaven on your plate. So, without further ado, here is the recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie. (It's like a cookie and a pie all in one! How can anyone resist it, I ask?) Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie: 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened 2 eggs, beaten 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup milk chocolate chips 1 cup peanut butte...

I stumbled upon a great (free) tutorial for a crocheted necklace and decided to give it a whirl. Now, I must admit that mine isn't looking as pretty as hers and I think mine is also sitting funny on my neck in this photo. We have no sunlight today (this was taken yesterday), so this is all we have. I accidentally only made three strands for the necklace, instead of four. My bad. I liked this so much that I immediately made one for my sister's birthday (with all four strands) and a black one for myself (which has its own set of issues). Oh, and I made a pink swirly one for Spenser. If you look through her free patterns, you will see a bunch of cute stuff. I am in the process of making two of the headbands (just need to assemble them) and then I was inspired to create a few necklaces on my own.

On Tuesday I hit my favorite thrift store. Sometimes I wish it were closer. Other times I'm happy it's not. I can go a little crazy in there. I found a few vintage sheets to add to my ever-growing stash. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I have two full storage containers of vintage sheets. The top one looks familiar. Like I might already have it. But I can't really tell. Spenser loves the pink one. She walked around the store rubbing her cheek on it. (I tried not to freak out much that it hadn't been laundered yet.) A bowl to go in my downstairs bathroom. A set of matching Fire King. Please ignore the chicken that I'm thawing out. I had limited fridge space and had to find the right size pan to fit in that space so I could thaw the meat. This one was just perfect. (See! I totally use my stuff.) Curtain panels. I have a few ideas for this. Maybe a large bag? Maybe as skirt? I'm not quite sure. It was a set of four. And some vintage patterns for 25 cen...

A few weeks ago I was on a real headband kick. One evening I whipped up two orchid headbands. A white one for my most beloved girl and a brown one for myself. I bought a stem of fake orchids, disassembled them, put two together, sewed a few stitches to make them stay together, and then glued a button on the top (with Household Goop ). And then I gooped the flower onto the headband. Easy peasy . The next headband was a little different. I cut circles from different colors of jersey from old tees I've embellished (I used two tones of gray and black), folded them in half, sewed them together in the middle. Then I sewed a pink cultured pearl to the top. Sometimes I have to fight the girl child to wear the headbands. It's not unusual for her to come along and snag the headband right off the top of my head. But that's a good thing ... right?

Earlier this week I decided to look for some online recipes for a pumpkin cobbler to use up some of the canned pumpkin I hoarded when I was making pumpkin roll (weekly! ahem) this fall. I quickly found some recipes and then stumbled upon a recipe for cherry cobbler . Joe loves cherry- any thing, so I thought I'd make this first. Oh. My. Goodness. Is it ever good. I used two cans of cherry pie filling (20 oz. each), although the recipe only calls for 32 oz. I just didn't want to have it sit in the fridge and go to waste. I could eat this all day long. For real.

One of the gifts I received on Christmas Eve was a Turbie Twist from my sister-in-law. My older sister exclaimed, "I love these things!" I had never used one and really didn't think I needed one until that moment. I was immediately intrigued. Maybe I had always needed one and never knew I did. The next morning (Christmas morning) after all the gifts were opened and I was looking back through my basket of sisters' gifts I decided to check out this Turbie Twist. I turned it inside out and said to Joe, "I could so make this." And so, the next day I did. It's true that the original is a nice microfiber and I only had regular terry cloth in my baby fabric bin, but they work just as great. And maybe a tad more absorbent than the original. I made one white turbie. Two blue ones (I was using leftover terry cloth from my bib making days before and after Sawyer was born) and one swirl. For a little girl. This one so reminds me of swirled soft-serve ice cr...

One fabric rosette pin+ one bar of handmade chocolate-mint soap = Sisters' gifts for 2009 Every year on Christmas Eve my sisters and I (and my mother, sisters-in-law, my brother's fiancee, and my sister-in-law's sister) all exchange gifts. Everyone gets the same thing or with little variance. The gift I gave this year was a bar of my soap and a fabric rosette pin. Previous years of handmade sisters' gifts: 2008 - snowman towels and soap 2007 - zippered pouches and soap 2006 - family cookbooks and tissue pouches and soap 2005 - "home is where the heart is" embroidered, framed plaque (not blogged) 2004 - can't remember 2003 - can't remember 2002 - "sisters are forever" embroidered pillow (not blogged) which was the Christmas after Kristen died. 2001 - homemade glycerin soap and bath salts.

There are so many things that I've made and never blogged, including my Thanksgiving skirt and a skirt from before Thanksgiving. Here are two things I made before Christmas. I guess I'll worry about Thanksgiving some other time. The day that I was nearly attacked by a deer in front of my house is the day that I made these Christmas trees. I was going to do a patchwork/quilted Christmas tree and then decided to keep it simple instead. So glad that I did because the other one probably would not have been finished. Even a month later. I spray-painted this thrifted frame black (and in the process, broke the glass trying to put it back in). The trees are just appliqued on with a straight stitch along the edges. The trees and trunks came from my scraps. I found a bunch more that would have been cute ( like some felted wool scraps for trunks , which would have been too thick if I had used the frame), but the frame was smaller than I had trees for. So a compromise was in order. I like...

your New Year's was as sweet as ours.