I wish I were a swimming frog....

had a family baby shower on Sunday for a favorite cousin, so I made her some onesies and a sweater for the baby. I had found a tutorial online (somewhere) on how to use the heat-n-bond and then I simply zigzagged around the fabric. too cute!










Pattern: Ericka Knight's Raglan from Knitting for two
Yarn: Cotton Ease, Cherry
Needles: US6
Started: 5/19/07-05/19/07
















































Tomorrow: a meme, progress on the shawl and a new knitting project for me!

TAG! I'm "IT"!

Jean from Golden Purl tagged me for this meme....

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write on their blogs 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and need to read your blog.

1. I could live my entire life only eating popcorn and Freeze Pops.
2. My parents had to have a VERY important meeting regarding my development with my first grade teacher. We were asked to draw our beds at home (learning to spell) and I drew a crib. Because I still slept in one. Several reasons: 1) I shared a room with my brothers and there wasn't any room for another "real bed" and 2) I fell out of bed a LOT. My maternal grandmother (4'11") was convinced this is the reason I am short.
3. When I was 3, I took my first IQ assessment. When I was 4, I was reading chapter books.
4. I talk to myself. Alot. I also talk to the cat.
5. When the car dealer told me to "start the car" on my first ever new car test drive, I opened the hood and got out. My dad was laughing so hard, he was crying. My car at the time required you to open the butterfly clip in the choke manually to start it... I had a screwdriver in my purse for this purpose only.
6. My grandmother met PC before my parents did.
7. I have spoken to my mom everyday for my entire life. I spoke to my grandmother everyday up until she passed away. I'm very proud of this.

I tag: Jenn, Jan, Deb, Jane, Karen, heatherly, and beth.

Cover-Up

Yup, I need a Cover-Up post b/c I have no new knitting to show you. *sigh* I'm in a knitting funk. I have been knitting on my shawl, but I need to intersperse that with some sock knitting... Ah, it's even boring to talk about. And I have stuff to mail to people. And the Dale baby sweater is 1) not finished and 2) about a size too big even though I got gauge. Huh. I'll send it up after the baby comes. I got time. :)

So, in a LAME attempt to cover-up my non-knitting, I present a recipe from the Mom's Day Brunch I hosted on Sunday.

White Trash Quiche:

3 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
pinch salt
1 ham steak, cubed
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 bag of Tater Tots - defrosted

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Place 1/2 of the defrosted tater tots in a pie dish ( i like 9 inch)-- press into the bottom and sides, squishing the tater tots in to a crust. I decorate around the edge with "full tater tots"-- makes it look even more "white trash". Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt until fluffy. Add the ham and cheese to the pie dish. Pour egg mixture over the ham and cheese. Bake at 350 deg F for 35-40 minutes.

Actually: delicious. And I've made it with turkey bacon and egg beaters and had it come out WW friendly. :)

Hope this distracted you... Maybe by the end of the week, I'll be on my game. I think I need some cheerleaders so, SHOW ME SOME LOVE! :)

need to make some FOs

remember that pretty silk shawl I was knitting? yeah... that one. Well, I need to bust out the knitting maths and my scale and send a few emails to the designer--- I need this to be an FO, but I need it to be soon!

that's it. knitting and stuff later this weekend--- 12+ people at my 1br apt this Sunday for Mom's Day.

:) Mini

Bloomin' Again!

My SECOND pair of Bloomin' Feet arrived! My pal was none other than Canknitian! She sent me a lovely pair of socks with the coolest pattern. LOVE THEM!















Don't they look great?














And the rest of the package? A CD (which I"ll pop in the car today) and some yarn (Regia in the NEw Brunswick colorway!) and some yummy snacks (yup: gone!) and this.is.awesome. A WIZARD OF OZ book! It's really cool and has some emerald green lenses for you to use while you are in the Emerald City... did you know that about the original story-- wearing green lenses was part of the illusion of an emerald colored city.














Here's the yarn (what you all come here for!)--- I might be casting on for some socks for the ride to DC next month. Imagine your vacation starting with 8 hours of uninterrupted knitting time...

Pumpkin's ready for camping season... are you? Almost time to air out the tent and check the supplies...





(yeah, it's a cat-warming mat, but she likes it better as a tent, so we make her a tent)

babies!

Thanks for all the great comments on my socks and the recipe-- I hope everyone who tried it loved it. There are some changes going on around Casa de Mini y PC--- good changes. Tonight, I have my first tennis lesson. Hooray! I am so excited! I have always loved playing and cannot wait to get back on the court. I am hoping some lessons will motivate me to get out more often. I'm also trying to get back into my Pilates/power walk routine. Add that with some healthier meals--- and we'll have some healthy people around here!

But, you are here for knitting. Here's one of the baby sweaters: the Transformer sweater. A friend of PC's is a robot-toy fanatic, and since his wife is expecting: voila! baby transformer sweater in genderless colors. I duplicate stitched the entire thing! Much easier than intarsia, but still hard to keep track of the rows. I would do it again.


Base Pattern:
Baby Raglan from Ericka Knight's
Knitting for Two

Yarn:
CottonEase in Cherry and Blueberry

Needles:
US6




Next up: modified Yoda Sweater for a friend. I love the buttons on this one:














And b/c I am crazy-- I started a baby Dale for a cousin whose shower is the 20th of May--- think I'll make it??

<


about 2 motifs left in the body....

Breakfast of Champions

Anyone who really knows me knows I hate cereal. Yup, I might be the only person on the planet who actually hates cereal, but hey--- it's my tummy, I'll feed it what it likes. What my tummy likes is oatmeal or porridge (steel cut oats with milk). Essentially, I like hot breakfast. PC is a granola fan. In the interest of keeping us a tad bit more on the trim side, I have been experimenting with creating a breakfast that is a) healthy and b) we'll both eat and c) that I don't have to get up any earlier to make. :) I think I found it:

(from Cooking Light... many moons ago, slightly modified)

1/2 cup water
2 cups fat free skim milk
1 cup steel cut oats
1 cup couscous
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried cherries
4tbsp brown sugar
pinch of salt
3 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
2 handfuls almonds (we like the dry roasted, unsalted, whole ones)


Bring water to a boil in a med saucepan. Add milk and stir. Add rest of ingredients and stir well. Turn off heat, and cover saucepan. Let sit off the heat for 10-15 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

Makes 6 servings.

Try it. I know the couscous sounds weird, but let's look at it this way: this breakfast is loaded with fiber, protein, healthy oils (nuts) and some carbs for energy. I am eating 3/4 cup each morning and while i usually snack around 9am... I am not even hungry until lunch! I entered it at calorieking.com (PoorMissFinch turned me onto this) and it's only 300 calories per serving. Actually not bad for breakfast. Yes, I know some cereals are lower, but overall this cereal is very healthy and filling. Even PC says it fills him up... and that boy is always.hungry.

Have a great day and look tomorrow for some more photos--- baby sweaters and my first ever duplicate stitch!

:) Mini