Little Baby Sweater

I finished a project!! Finally!! And it was my first sweater. This really took no time at all. It's so tiny and I thought I would never figure out how to seam it all together but it really wasn't that bad. The pattern is from Debbie Bliss' book "Special Knits - 22 Gorgeous Handknits for Babies and Toddlers" and there's really some good stuff in there. For the yarn I used two strands of Dale Baby Ull which is 100% Merino Wool. So soft. Now I need to find 6 buttons to go on it. I'm thinking pearly.

I think Baby Girl will wear this home from the hospital over the little blue smocked dress I did as long as the sweater doesn't swallow her. Now I need to do a hat to match it. Gah! Then I will need booties to match that and some little mittens to match those...haha j/k. I hope it fits her..my mom wanted me to send her a picture of it on something um...."Like on what mom...the cat?" and she said "No..how about on a teddy bear." lol..that explains the weird pic below.

I saw this little 4 year old boy the other day in a completely knitted outfit...pants, sweater with a dog on it and hat. Tweedy could not stop laughing. It was pretty tacky. I'll try not to get too crazy with knitting clothes for her but it's fun and fast!! Quick knitting gratification.

Coupon Craze

So with the new baby only 4 weeks away, the economy being in the pits and me not getting paid through my 3 month maternity leave my latest thing has been.....COUPONS! One of my friends from work was telling me that she gets upset if she goes to Publix and doesn't save at leave $40. I was like WHAT?!? How the heckoo do you save $40 at Publix? And then I was introduced into the world of coupons...now I'm obsessed. Here are some of the things I've learned:

1. Did you know that you can print off a coupon for pretty much anything just by searching the Internet? These great websites like coupons.com, coolsavings.com or the manufacturers websites all have tons of them...for Free!!

2. Publix and CVS are two of the best places to use your coupons. First, Publix will accept ANYTHING coupon wise...whether they're from Rite Aid, Wal-Mart the manufacturer or whoever, it doesn't matter. Also, they double all coupons up to $1.00. So if you have one for 50 cents...then they make it a dollar. AND my favorite thing to do there is cut out the 1 cent surprise coupon, (in their circular from the Sunday paper) take it up there Sunday or Monday, hand it to the cashier and they give you the 1 cent product of the week for only a penny! It's always Publix brand stuff but it's pretty good...so far I've gotten - a box of hot chocolate mix, a huge can of chopped pineapples and blue cheese dressing. HA! Isn't that great? We don't really eat blue cheese dressing...but it was only 1 cent and it's fun to see what the surprise is. Love it.
Next...CVS is super great. All you have to do is sign up (for free) for their CVS Extra Bucks Reward card, look through the circular every week and see what you need that will get you Extra Care bucks and buy it from there. I was a little confused about this at first and it can get pretty tricky..but for example, if they have Dove shampoo for sale for $4.00 and you get $2.00 extra care bucks for buying it, then it's like you only paid $2.00 for the shampoo AND if you come prepared with your $2.00 off Dove coupon...then you got it for FREE!! They give you a receipt for your $2.00 extra care bucks and you can bring it in next time to use for anything in the store!! (except alcohol) Pretty cool huh!?!

3. Get the Sunday paper. It has tons of great coupons in it. I get it at work on Monday for free because our receptionist said nobody ever wants the coupons and she usually throws them AWAY! That sounds really cheap of me I know...but it works and I hate to think of them being wasted like that. It usually takes me about 30 minutes with my scissors, recycle box and little baggies with "Snacks" "Dinner" or "Bathroom Products" labeled on there to go through and figure out what we like to eat/buy that there are coupons for and organize them. This is also when you would look through the circulars and find out what the Buy One Get One Free deals are at Publix and how to get Extra Care bucks. Then I make my grocery list. It makes me feel so organized...I'm sure this practice will suffer when Baby girl gets here, but hopefully not.

4. Check out the Coupon blogs!! There are all these great blogs that tell you where the good deals are, how to get them and how much you can save!! These ladies go to a lot of trouble to share this info. My favorite so far is Fiddledeedee. I love her organic Fridays where she posts printable coupons for organic products and lists places to get them on sale. Yesterday she had a great post about baby products with tons of great coupons for Huggies, Johnson and Johnson and other good stuff. Here are some links:

http://fiddledeedeeblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.couponcravings.com/
http://thecentsiblesawyer.blogspot.com/
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/
http://www.becentsable.net/
http://iheartcvs.com/

5. Sign up for coupon booklets and free clubs. While looking through the blogs listed above they'll have links to sign up for a coupon booklet or email newsletter with promotions and coupons for some of my favorite products. I have a second email address that I use for junk stuff so I just give that email and then it doesn't flood my main one. A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for one with P&G and got a booklet in the mail with $30 worth of savings in it. Racked up on the coupons! And most of them don't expire until March! Woohoo! I also joined the Publix Baby Club, which was free, and received a great book about babies, a booklet of baby product coupons and coupons for FREE products from Publix like baby wash, diapers, lotions and hand sanitizer just for joining. They are going to send baby coupons to me in the mail every month! So these are really great, but you do have to be careful that you're not signing up for "special promotions" that end up sending you one million junk mail.

Don't worry...I will not turn my crafting blog into a blog about coupons and great deals. But I just had to share this info. I'm so obsessed with it that I get super annoyed if I have to run to the store to get something and don't have a coupon for it. HA! And Tweedy is so proud of me and has gotten into it too. Before I was a clipper, I would go to the store and spend over $100 every time for all of our food for the week but now I haven't spent over $70 a single time and I'm still getting the same stuff!! The most I've saved is $30 at Publix, and I was just a grinning when I pushed my cart out into the parking lot. It's very rewarding. I just feel sorry for the person in line behind me who has to wait for the cashier to scan my 50 coupons that I hand over proudly when I check out. And for some reason I am always scared the cashier will press the total button before she remembers that I have coupons...so I annoyingly tell her a couple of times "I have coupons! Don't forget...I have coupons!" while she's scanning.

Ok I'm done...The next post will be about knitting or sewing I swear.

Gift Idea

One great thing to look forward to while expecting...other than baby of course....is a baby shower! My sweet friends threw one for me about a week ago and loaded me up with all of the necessary things I never knew I needed to prepare for Baby Girl...butt paste, rattles, blankets, pajamas, a boppy?? (which I love and is the only pillow that helps me finally sleep comfortably) I wanted to do something special for the hostesses and decided to make each of them an apron! These were so much fun to do and as I went along with each one I tried not to think about topping my last one...I ended up spending 30 minutes just trying to figure out how I wanted them to look.

These are super easy and would be great presents for the holidays for homemakers you know. Or if they're not homey..they can just hang them in their kitchen to look cute. All of these were made out of Mimi material (found at grandmother's house) and each takes about 1/2 a yard I guess..but not exactly sure. I measured them all on myself before cutting. This ended up being not such a good idea on the last apron since I'm a little over 7 months pregnant now and it ended up being huge, but one of the hostesses was pregnant too so it fit her perfectly!

Another group of my girlfriends are giving me a shower next week and I wish I could do this for them too...but there are 12 of them. I think I'm going to cook them something fun instead. They're all young, beautiful, single and buck wild....so maybe something with alcohol? I'll let yall know what I come up with.

My mom was the perfect model for my aprons! (they look a little wrinkly in the pics but I ironed them right after pictures)

"Knitting Progress Report"

I thought that some of you new knitters our there could relate to this poem. One of my dearest friends, whom we'll call Rice Cakes, has always been crafty and lately has decided to give the needles a try. This was actually an email she sent to me which I don't think she meant to be a poem..but she's a great writer and her emails usually come out sounding like perfect poems that describe exactly what she's feeling. I loved it. Enjoy!

Knitting progress report.

Watched videos. Repeatedly.

Watched videos the next day. Repeatedly.

Purchased "practice yarn" for $1.

Watched videos.

Begin knitting. Did pretty okay. Several do-overs.

Can't figure out the cast off.

So bought new big long needles. The kind that Oedipus used to poke out his eyes. I'm convinced.

Began to cast on. Sucked.

Watched video. Repeatedly.

Cast on like a freaking pro!

Knit two, purl two, knit two, purl two.

Listen to Terry & children chatter in the car. And Dave Matthews.

Knit two, purl two…stretch it out to check progress…

Notice 3 "button holes" where there should be no "button holes"

Cuss. Quietly. Children are present. Shove in purse.

Ride home. Slightly pouty.

Get home. Cut the pretty "for real" yarn. Light a fire.

Sacramentally or shall I say sacraficially toss that durn thing in the fire.

Big sigh. Cast on again….

Yarn is quite unforgiving, isn't it?

Pope Cap

I finished the most beautiful hat ever the other day. I was knitting it for my girlfriend who lives in New York for her birthday and was so excited about it. You know how when you're making something for somebody you think about them and if they'll like it or wear it pretty much the whole time you're making it? Well I just KNEW she would loooove this one. It's the Natty Cap from Knit and Tonic and comes with a great scarf pattern to match.

I finished it in one day while watching a football game. Tweedy and I were sitting on the couch and I close off the top, give it my best TAH DAHHHHHHHHH and put it on my head only to find out that it doesn't even go past my hairline. NOOOOOOOO! I'm so mad. Tweedy looks over and starts laughing histerically and said what a beautiful pope cap I had created.

I know it's my own fault though and here's the formula: not using the right yarn + not using the right needles + not making a gauge = pope cap

Anybody know any 6 year olds with a cold head??



I just woke up so I'm not showing my face :)

Seasonal Obsession

Every year when it starts getting colder I start to...

1. knit random hats for everyone i know
2. try to wear flannel pajamas (always end up being too hot and changing to a t-shirt)
3. drink Russian tea!!

The Russian tea is my favorite favorite favorite. My mom usually makes it in bulk and adds a jar of it to her holiday goody basket that she delivers around to people along with her homemade bread, cinnamon rolls and pepper jelly. She sent the recipe to me the other day and I've been drinking it like crazy every since. Below is the recipe. I left it just as my mom emailed it to me because I love how she explains things to me in recipes like I'm 10.

Russian Tea

1 Jar Tang (l lb. 2oz)
1 Jar dry lemonade dry mix (Country Time only)
3/4 cup Lipton instant tea (or 1 cup if you want stronger. I usually like a lot more of the tea)
3/4 cup sugar (or you could use tea with nutrasweet above and you dont have to put the sugar in)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves

Mix up in a big bowl and then you can put in small jars and give for Christmas presents. You really cant mess this up. If you like more cinnamon taste put in more cinnamon. Don't put a wet spoon back into your jar when you are dipping out your tea or it will make your mixture get lumpy. (I used to always catch you doing that when you were little) Happy Holidays!!! Love Mom

HA! What she doesn't know is that I wasn't using a spoon...I would lick my finger and stick it in the mix and just eat it out of the jar like fun dip.

So I send Tweedy to the store to get the goods and of course he gets all the wrong stuff and I had to go back...he came back with those little plastic packets of instant tea that you would put in a water bottle and a 12 oz jar of Tang. Errr!! But he is sweet for trying!!

Nappies and Greens

This weekend went by wayyy to fast...but both Tweedy and I were pretty productive. I made the "Nappy Bag," an Amy Butler pattern, and it will be our diaper bag for Baby Girl...in case anyone doesn't know what a nappy is. lol. I was a teeny bit annoyed but overall happy with this pattern and am super happy with the outcome! The material is Amy Butler too and is so pretty!! She has some amazing fabrics to choose from. The only complaint I have about the pattern is that part of the strap I had to cut out was missing and I had to make my own. I was so confused that it was left out and when I was packing up I finally found it...of course after I'm finished. It was on a separate directions page with the second project that came with the pattern....a changing pad. But it didn't tell you it was on a different page completely!



All of the fun "bottle pockets" and other pockets on the inside are my favorite part... but I had to stuff it full of random bathroom stuff since we don't have any baby stuff yet though. HA!




One other pattern complaint is that I had to buy A LOT of fabric and had a ton left over! But the extra went to good use...My friend Marianne showed me how to make a roll up knitting bag for all of my equipment. Pics to come.

On to Tweedy's weekend of productfulness...the greenhouse has greens in it! Lots and lots of them....lettuce, kale, collards, swiss chard, broccoli etc etc.. I love love going in there now. The air feels so clean and crisp. It's getting cooler here now but the sun coming through the greenhouse warming everything is amazing.





One of our tasks yesterday was digging up worms from our backyard and transplanting them into the greenhouse to put air into the soil and make it rich....all I found were some baby snakes, which Tweedy said were harmless garden snakes but I was convinced they were rattlers and was ready to chop their heads off when he wasn't looking. They were brown and black!! I'm about to go do some research on snakes in wikipedia.