Proof: I do knit!

A few months ago, my friend Jill had her baby and from all the things that I could knit for them, she requested little hats. Here is living proof that I do knit, she just emailed me these pictures and I couldn't wait to show you....He looks so beautiful! The pattern is the Bundle of Joy (raverly link)

Currently on the needles: a baby blanket for another baby. My friends just keep having babies left and right....they claim that it is the only way I knit anything for them. I think, I am going to have to make them something for this upcoming Christmas.

The pattern for the blanket comes from the new Debbie Bliss magazine. When I first saw the blanket, I knew that I had to make it. I casted on for it this week, probably on Wednesday and about 10 rows into it, realized that it was way too small, about 19 inches in width! So I ripped it and increased it 50%. At the time, I was extremelly pleased with the size, but now that I am knitting, it seems that it is going to take forever...especially since the blanket has two sides...and I am barely 1/3 into the first side. Oi! It is going to take me forever...especially since I am down to knitting about 1 hour every other day.

I can't show you pics of the baby blanket though, my friend stops by the blog every now and then and I want to surprise her....she is due in about a month...I better start knitting.

Looming Updates: the Buttoned Up hat will probably be ready by the end of the week. Keep your eyes open. Also, some new loom knitting videos have been made, check out the DA Blog for them or by going to the DA website.

Work: I am loving it. I love being able to have some "alone" time and contribute to the household income...alright so the fact that I spend it doesn't really count, lol. Although I am loving my job, I don't know if I will be staying there long. Hubby is looking into a new job and if he does get it (which we are hoping he does), he will have to travel out of the state every other week.

Braces: Oi....let's not talk about it. It has only been 2 months...I still have 16 more!

Buttoned Up

Empty hands + Empty loom + Yarn around=a project in the making

(Forgive the pictures, I am not the best model...but I am the only one in the house who can wear the hat....my braces give me a superfull mouth...I look freaking ridiculous!)

The Buttoned Up hat is looking for a couple of test knitters. If you have the materials and you are willing to try it out, drop me a comment below.

Materials:

Loom: Round purple loom (the new one)

Yarn: Chunky weight acrylic or wool blend. Sample was knit with Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky.

Other: 1 Button

Essential: time :)

EDIT: Thank you for the support. I have my test knitters now :). Thank you!!!

Fun at the School

Boyo's school's PTA had their yearly fundraiser which meant lots of fun stuff for the kids and plenty of chatty time for the Moms. The children and I took Friday afternoon off and we went to the school and partied. The children bounced, slid down the slides, jumped, climbed, and got plenty of treats along with Pizza and soda.

A little video of Boyo climbing up the wall. If we could have one of these in our backyard, our Boyo would be in heaven. He loves the challenge!

Part of the (paid) Workforce

I am so thrilled! I just got a job!!!! I will be working as an assistant in a dentist office--note: doing office work, not assisting the dentist. I am so excited!

I haven't had a "real" job since I had Boyo, 7 years ago....I am a bit rusty but I should be able to get back to the swing of things within a couple of weeks.

How the job came about: a couple of weeks ago, I went to my dentist to pick up some toothpaste (they sell it for $1 while at the store they are close to $5) anyways, I went in for toothpaste and then my friend, who works there, told me they were looking for someone to work in the afternoons, from about 4pm-7pm. The job entailed calling people to comfirm their appointments and sending postcards reminding them of their appointment. Easy enough job. I had an interview on the spot with the Dentist (he happens to be a cyclist too and we were in the same MS team, Team Taylor this summer). A few days later, I had a "working interview" where I basically had to call people and confirm their appointments. Today, I was offered the job. Weee!

The job seems simple enough and I should be able to do it. The best part is that I can be home til 3:30pm when my son comes back from school then I can go to work. Hubby can be home to take care of them.

A Bag of Treats

Bethany noticed the pictures with my little gal using her new Trick or Treat purse. It does resemble the big one I made her last year but this one is tiny and it has a little keyhole handle, perfect as a little tyke's purse! It is the cutest little thing. My neighbors all loved it and since they all have little kids the same age as Little Teddy Bear they all one one too!

Here are some other goofy pictures of the kids. Boyo is playing with the big Candy Corn bag and little Teddy is playing with the new Candy Corn Treats bag. The two bags were knitted recently with Lion Wool yarn. Boyo has requested a hat...which is basically just the big bag without the handles...should I knit it for him? Would he wear it?

Ouch!

Zoomer Issues First. Bank Issues Now. Mr. Car Doctor says: $610 to fix it. Darn stinking car! There goes my dream of a new Dyson vacuum.

Zoomer Issues

It is 1pm. Get out of the gym, pick up Little Teddy Bear from Pre-K.

Get in the car. Turn the engine on. My gas gauge registers empty. The fuel light comes on. The engine light comes on. Drive a couple of blocks. Noise. Pull over and get Little Teddy Bear something to eat while I let the car "cool off". Turn it on again, same thing. My thought process says, maybe someone stole all your gas, so I drive to the nearest gas station. Fill it up....$3 fills it up, so no one stole the gas. Turn the engine on. Gas registers. No fuel light on. Engine light still on. Dig through my bag to find my cell and call hubby. No cell phone! Of all days to forget it, today had to be the worst.

As a new driver, I have no idea what to do if the Engine Light comes on. I drove slowly home. Parked the car. Called hubby. Was told to check the oil--I am pathetic, I don't even know how to open the hood!!! Check the oil, it registers full. Hubby doesn't know what is wrong, just a "don't drive" until we get it checked. First thought that pops into my head: sh!t I am going to have to miss the gym tomorrow!!!

The little zoomer has his first doctor appointment tomorrow, hopefully it is nothing serious. It was running just fine yesterday....hmmm, wait, I didn't drive it yesterday, hubby did!

Loom Knitters Circle is Out!!

Calling all Loom Knitters!!!! Hot off the virtual presses, the Fall 2008 issue of LKC. Have fun!

I have a few "small" patterns in the issue...here is visual of my patterns:

Debbie Bliss Mag!!!

I love Debbie Bliss yarns and her patterns and now there is a magazine too! I am ecstatic! I am going to see how I can get a hold of a copy. If you see it or have seen it at your LYS or bookstore let me know, I will try to find it at Borders.

I leave you with this picture of my ever-so-handsome Boyo (I am a little bias). He and his little sister were "modeling" for me a little item that I knitted.

It's all about the muffins

When I got married, I didn't know how to cook, my husband can attest to this claim. I sucked! I knew how to cook a couple of things but I knew nothing of baking. The first time I tried making a cake---from a box--I messed it up. Instead of putting the 1/3 cup of vegetable oil, I put in 3 cups..yeah! I tried to fix it by putting more flour, vanilla, and some other ingredients but the cake was ruined. Needless to say, my husband didn't marry me for my cooking, nor my cleaning....I am still trying to figure out why the poor sucker married me. I guess he saw potential, hopefully I'll reach that potential before I die!

A half year after being married, he taught me how to make bread from scratch. I learned and I now know how to make bread but I prefer to buy it....we have to support our local stores ;). While learning how to bake bread, I also learned how to make muffins. Muffins are my thing. I love them. I love to eat them. I love to bake them. They are fast and my children seem to love them too. When Boyo was about a year old, I had the biggest collection of muffin pans in the land (I don't have as many anymore, I got rid of a few of them). I used to make mini-muffins every day back then, chocolate, blueberry, strawberry, orange ones, and even plain ones. Then, the muffin stage ended (I think it was when I realized that the muffins were giving me a big muffin top around my mid section!).

Fast foward a few years and the bug is back, this time it was all due to a show we saw on tv. This guy was showing how to make muffins and I again got the bug in me. I love muffins! They are like little mini-cakes (no need for frosting, I don't like it!). So I am at it again, right now, it is the blueberry muffins...nice and big with a nice sweet crust at the top and juicy blueberries in the middle....yummm! Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

• Yields 8 big muffins (I double the recipe and make 16)

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar (just regular granulated sugar)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar (just regular granulated sugar)
• 1/3 cup of flour
• 48 blueberries

Topping Ingredients

• 1/4 butter, cubed and softened (take it out of the fridge and leave it on the counter for an hour or so)
• 1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup of flour
• 1/2 cup of white sugar (granulated sugar)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. 
2. Muffin Mix: Combine 1-1/2 cups of flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Get a 1 cup measuring cup, place the 1/3 cup of vegetable oil in it, add the 1 egg, and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix the wet ingredients with a fork. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients. Mix. Be careful to not overmix as it will make really clumpy/heavy cupcakes.
3. In a plate, put the 1/3 cup of flour, place your 1 cup of blueberries and gently roll the blueberries in the flour-be gentle and do not squeeze the blueberries. Enough to coat the blueberries. Leave the remaining flour in the plate.   
4. Place the flour-coated blueberries in the bowl with the mix, gently fold the blueberries.
5. Let the mix sit for about three minutes. In the meantime go to next step.
6. Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter and 1-1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Mix with fork or fingers.
7. Place the 48 blueberries in the plate with the remaining flour, gently coat them with the flour.
8. Fill the muffin cups to the very top with muffin mix. Place 3 blueberries on each muffin's top by gently pressing them into the dough. Sprinkle the Crumb Topping mixture on top of each of the muffins.
9. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until done. 

Catch Up

Since school started, I have been slacking a little bit on certain aspects thus the lack of blogging. Okay, let's have a recap. My youngest, known now as "The Teddy Bear" is now in Pre-K. She loves it! She came home today so excited because they finally gave her a folder where she carries the work she did at school to bring home. Her big brother has a folder that the school uses to send his homework so she was excited to have homework. Please, let's hope she is always this excited about homework! She has made so many little friends and one is very special to her because she tells her everytime "Hola" and she gets to say "Hola" back. She is pleased to finally have a friend to speak Spanish with. My little Teddy Bear is growing up. Oh, one last thing, you see that backpack up there? She chose it all by herself, from all the tutty frutty ones, from the frilly ones, from the normal ones, she went and chose one with a guitar and a little skull. She is a pill! Gotta love her!

Boyo is loving first grade! His favorite part is still lunch and recess. Some things never will change! The other day while driving home from a store he was telling me how he was looking forward to growing up. These are his plans:  On his 16th birthday, he will go to Moab and Mountain Bike. When he turns 18, he will do Lotoja with me. When he turns 19, he will go and serve a mission. When he comes back from his mission, he will go to college and get a job that allows him to do more of...(can you guess) mountain bike and road bike! Ay! I think both hubby and I have been influencing him a bit too much. Did I mention that his Christmas list has only one thing: a mountain bike with front and back suspension! I can foresee a heart attack in my near future.

Family wise: My dear Momma had back surgery. One of her discs was taken out. She was in pain for many months and then at one point three weeks ago she couldn't move. She ended up at the ER two days in a row, at the end the doctors decided that it was best for her to have surgery before she lost all sensation to her legs. The surgery went wonderfully and although they told her that she wouldn't be able to move much for two months, she got up and started moving. She is able now to walk all over the place, slowly and with the help of a cane but she is doing it. At one point, we were even considering going over there for a period of time and taking care of her or bringing her here to Utah with us. I think it was the entire idea of her moving to Utah that made her get better faster (LOL). She doesn't hate Utah but it is not her beloved NY.

Knitting wise, I am looming like crazy. I have a few ideas jotted down and I am trying them all out. I have been visiting too many yarn stores and acquiring yarn for the specific projects. Usually, I just buy yarn to buy yarn but not anymore. Now, I just purchase it and use it right away. Nice change, less clutter, and more productive. I should show you a picture of my "knitting couch" but it is way toooooo messy with all my junk. Trust me, you don't want to see it. You will however see some of the projects this coming week when the Fall Issuee of Loom Knitters Circle Magazine gets released.

Braces update: I had my first adjustment appointment this week. It hurt. Now, I have a nice big spring between two teeth to make space for the tooth that doesn't fit (sorry no pic, it is much too unappealing!). My lip gets caught on it and it makes it bleed every now and then....sucks! I still can't eat nachos or hard tacos. I haven't had an apple for over a month. Nor chips. Nor a steak (this is really hard to give up!) If I didn't eat like a pig the things that I can eat, I bet I would have shed a few pounds but I haven't and I am okay with that. I much rather eat than starve. I have vowed that the first thing I will do when I get my braces off is to eat a nice juicy steak with chips on the side and nachos for dessert!!