Creating the Calm Cowl

Creating the Calm Cowl and really warm hats!

I took a little fall on Sunday and messed up my leg. I just kept ignoring the pain, until I couldn’t walk. It was such a bummer for me, I have been trying to hit at least 8ooo steps a day on my fitbit now I am only getting 2000 and that’s on crutches.  My husband is now way ahead of me in milage so once my leg is healed I am really going to have catch up.

All this down time has lead to some serious knitting and crocheting.   

The hat is from Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitting Without Tears" book, it's a really easy hat to knit, you cast on 91 stitches and knit until it's the desired length, then you mark off 7 decreases and decrease every other row. It knits up quickly and my husband really appreciates having a nice warm hat.  I knit it with Knitpicks wool of the Andes in a blue and am working a another in Patons Classic Wool Worsted in Grey Mix. Elizabeth's book recommends knitting two and then putting one inside the other so that's what I am working on now. The book is really no nonsense and straight forward.  I have a thing for hats, my son, Michael loves to wear hats so I am always looking for a new hat to make.  

  

A good view of the crown of the hat 

The brim rolls up on the hat

It's a quick and easy knit and using wool makes it nice and warm. I plan on making more of these in the near future.

This is my year to have all the children together for Christmas.  We are looking to rent a vacation home in Michigan for the festivities. It will be nice to have all the children together, they haven't been all together since Tricia's wedding.  Since that time we have added 3 new members to the family, 2 grand daughters and a a daughter-in-law  or as my mother-in-law likes to say a daughter-in-love. Tim will be home from his mission so we will really all be together!  I can't wait. I have managed to acquire a bit of yarn here in China so I will be making quite a bit of the presents this year.  I am working on photo books and knitted items. Should make for a fun Christmas, I love giving presents to my children that I have made, I spend the entire time making the gift thinking about the person I am making it for.

The first gift I have completed is the Calm Cowl    by indigoDot....., it is a free crochet pattern that I found on Ravelry, my favorite knitting site. It turned out beautifully.  Although it is not as full as it is in the pictures with the pattern.  I used a wonderful light green yarn that I acquired here in China, it has a nice drape and the single crochet, chain one stitch really shows off to an advantage with this yarn.  I also plan to make a hat to go with the cowl for the Christmas present.  I just downloaded the Hurricane Hat Pattern, also found on Ravelry.  I will be using #7 needles on a 16" circular to knit the hat.  I love these needles for knitting hats.  I first started using them for hats I knit for this past christmas. The Seedling Hat by Jen Lucas (cost of $5.50) looked difficult but was so easy to make. I ended up knitted 2 of them will probably make more.

Michael wearing his new hat!

as the hat is being blocked.

This one is made from left over yarn from a christmas stocking.

Sorry it's been so long since I have written.  Coming the America has been an adventure.  We have been trying to decide where to live now that Tim needs to be educated here in the USA.  I have been staying in Rexburg, Idaho with two of my daughters.  It's a wonderful townhouse with two bedrooms.  The only problem is when you put two college students, a sixteen year old boy and three dogs in that small of space it isn't as quiet as one could hope.  My son Tim loves to tease his older sisters until we're all crazy and I am longing for the peace of my own space.  I have seriously considered running away from home!  But since that isn't an option, I have been dreaming of where we will settle.  We have decided that Idaho or Utah just aren't where we want to live long term.  We really want to go back to our roots which is the great state of Michigan.  Michigan has gone though some horrible things as far as jobs are concerned so it hasn't been a option up until now.  With our living not dependent on income Michigan is once again an option.  We comb the real estate listings daily looking for just the right property where Tim and I can settle and dad can come home and visit!  Can I just say here it's a shame that American businesses have done their best to take the work outside of this country.  And they are currently reaping the rewards of that.  Unskilled workers!  Oh well on to better things.  To keep myself sane I have been busy knitting and have completed all the wonderful warm woollies in the picture above.

      The hat, leggings and fingerless mittens were my first project ( could be because it was so cold here when we arrived).  I used a wonderful yarn from Plymouth Yarn company called Mushishi, and their pattern 1592.  They knitted up fast and look wonderful.  It's a very simple, plain pattern which showcases the yarn beautifully.
       Next comes a pair of real mittens!  I just don't think the fingerless gloves are as practical as everyone tells me!  Personally, I want my fingers covered so I knitted up a pair of mittens with my favorite mitten pattern by Fiber Trends "Easy Hats and Mittens".  These knitted up in an evening and will give my daughter a nice alternative to the fingerless gloves.

      Since my daughter Stephanie is so tall, I needed to purchase extra yarn to make the leggings and gloves long enough to be of practical use to her.  So with all the extra yarn I also knitted up a "Spice Route Shawl"  which is really a cool scarf!  It fits nicely around the neck to keep you warm without the long tails of a regular scarf to deal with.  The beautiful stitch pattern also complimented the yarn as well.  You can find the free pattern for the shawl here;   http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/L0369.html?r=1   I love free patterns!  They are well worth the investment of the yarn companies because I sure do buy a lot of yarn that way!

     Last but not least is Julia's Cabled Headband, this is a child's headband that I just made larger for my daughter.  I made it so that it finishes at 21" which was 7 pattern repeats, I also used 4 mm needles rather that the 4.5mm called for in the pattern.  This is another free pattern which you can find here:  http://mathgirl40.blogspot.com/2009/01/wide-cabled-headband-pattern.html   I want to make up more of these. They are perfect for covering your ears and not messing up your hair.  Plus, with my great new hair cut, head banks are very helpful!  

All Bran Muffins

All Bran Muffins Recipe

I have a wonderful recipe to share with you today.  It is a variation of the original recipe featured on the Kellogg’s All Bran box of cereal. My mom use to make these for us when I was a little girl, they are a great source of fiber and delicious to eat!

1-¼ cups flour

½ cup brown sugar

1-tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt  

2 cups of All Bran Cereal

1 ¼ cup milk

1 egg

¼ cup vegetable oil (or ¼ cup applesauce)

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Raisins (I used mixed dried fruit like blueberries, cranberries etc)

Nuts

To begin, place the cereal in a bowl, cover with milk and let stand while you assemble the other ingredients.  Combine the rest of the ingredients except the raisins and nuts.  Stir in the cereal mixture.  Once all the mixture is moist add the fruit and nuts.  You’ll notice I didn’t specify amounts on the fruit and that’s because I mix in what looks good to me (most recipes call for 1 cup but I find that sometimes that’s too much fruit) also it greatly depends on what I have on hand.

Place in a greased muffin tin (or use the handy muffin papers to save on washing difficulties)

Bake in an oven preheated 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until the muffins spring back to the touch.

I like using the applesauce because it cuts down on the cholesterol and as we are always looking for ways to cut the fat it’s one of my favorite ways to do so.  Enjoy!

Now for the latest update on our new addition, she continues to wiggle her way into our hearts, particularly Dave’s! She now bounces to the door when he arrives home from work and nothing will satisfy her except he stop to pick her up! 

She also loves lying at Tim’s feet when he is playing “Minecraft “ on the computer.  It’s quite fun to see how he has stepped up to help and train the Chloe’.

Of course I am coming to think of her as the pesky little puppy, she must have attention, and she must have it now!  Seriously, I love cuddling with her on the couch, she keeps me very warm during the cold Indian winter.  Although winter here is not cold compared to Utah standards, it is still quite cold especially when you consider the fact that there is no heat!  Everyone I have asked about it states, "It's only cold for 2 months, it's not worth it to put in heat."  To which I reply, "Tell that to my feet!"  

Because it has been so cold I haven't been in the mood to sew much, however, I have been in the mood to knit and crochet.  I have been able to complete  2 rosey earflap hats, the pattern for which can be found here: 

http://suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com/2010/11/rosy-earflap-cap.html 

I loved this pattern it worked up quickly (an hour per cap!) If your looking for a cute last minute Christmas gift this could be your answer!

Because these worked up so quickly I was also able to knit up a pair of socks for Dave in a nice comfortable wool! He will love them and with the marble floors here they will go a long way towards helping keep him warm this winter!

I used yarn from Light Brown Hare which fortunately ships internationally! The yarn knitted up wonderfully! I really enjoyed working with it.  You can find her yarn here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/lightbrownhare

Have a great day everyone!