30+

We received over 30 inches of snow the day after Christmas! Poor Pip was stuck in Bklyn, so I trekked out there on Monday to bring her home.

I'm not a big fan of snow, but seeing Pi having so much fun makes it hard for me to a hold a grudge against the snow.

I'll admit that snow is good for a few things, like igloos...

And tubing!

What are your favorite snow activities?

Merry Christmas!

From the "K" family to yours, we wish you all have a wonderful Christmas! May we remember the true reason for the season.

Lots of love!!!

Is it really almost Christmas?

Whoa, what a few weeks its been. Work has been nuts, I took finals, doctor appointments, and have just been generally crazy! So you get a week's worth of re-cap in one quicky, drive-by post.

We went ice skating with Girl Scouts at a local rink. Piper hugged the wall the entire time, but she was definitely getting better by the end of the visit.

I can ice skate and was supposed to help Pi on the ice, but.... I managed to fall down the stairs and sprain my ankle even before we got there! I didn't want her to miss the skating, so I threw a brace on (left over from my 2007 tumble down the stairs). I'm all better now... no worries!

We bought our tree about two weeks ago. I love getting a real tree. It's a PITA, but it smells so good and looks so pretty, that it's so worth it in the end. To tell you the truth, we love decorating the tree so much not to mention it fell over, we did it twice! I'd like to take a moment to grieve my poor Mets ornament that lost it's life this year when my mets hating hubby broke it the tree fell.

But I digress... it's pretty, isn't it?

I also had grand plans of making EVERYONE handmade gifts this year. I made lists, cut fabric, picked out yarn... and yeah, nothing! Amazon and I spent some quality time together instead.

Other than the hats from a few posts ago, I only managed to finish one gift. It's a biggie though, so I'm still pretty proud.

It's a disappearing 9 patch pattern made with leftover fabric from my Oh, Fransson! Advent Calendar and some scraps a friend sent to me. I didn't have to buy one little bit of new fabric for this quilt, which makes it that much more awesome.

The back is lined with red solid fabric left over from the Principal's quilt. My non-dirty Grandma is getting this one. I hope she loves it as much as I do!

So, did you guys make a lot of gifts this year? Or was it Amazon to the rescue?

Help a knitter out!

Anyone have the Molly's Headband pattern? It was an Interweave freebie. I've had it bookmarked for ages but when I went to print it yesterday, discovered the pattern isn't up anymore. Was anyone else smart enough to actually save it as a PDF? Anyone? Bueller?





Here's a link...


http://www.knittingdaily.com/media/p/36941.aspx

Crystal's Baby Shower

A few weeks ago (yes, I'm really behind!), my mom and I went to a baby shower for my cousin's g/f, Crystal. She's due to have a little girl, named Leila, any day now.

I started early and managed to get a few handmade things done in time. The little quilted bib and the pj pants are made out of fleece. I love how soft they turned out! The hat is made from Wool Ease Chunky left over from the set I made for my SIL for Christmas.

This is called a whole quilt, if I'm not mistaken because both sides are made from a whole piece of fabric, rather than patchwork. I found this fabric at Walmart when they were getting rid of their craft section and fell in love with it on the spot. If you look carefully, it is all nursery rhyme characters... the 3 Bears, the 3 little pigs, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood! I couldn't bear to cut it up, so that's why it became a whole quilt. I wish I could tell you how big it is, but I forgot to measure it.

I backed it with red cotton that was left over from the Principal's quilt and finished with a pre-made solid red binding. I did free motion quilting all over, but I'm not particularly thrilled with it. I did a lot of ripping out and definitely need more practice.

I was afraid that I would have to tell my dad that my mom found a new man at the shower. This little guy loved her!

Here's me, Crystal, my cousin Steven, and my mom. Can't wait to meet the new addition to the family!

Bib pattern - HERE
Pants pattern - HERE
Hat pattern - HERE

Oh, hats!

What a week! My poor Pipster has been home sick all week. The doc said she is contagious and he wasn't kidding. Within a few days, hubby was just as sick as she was. I felt sniffly all week, but managed not to get as sick as they have been (yay vitamin C!). But this morning, I woke up feeling yucky. I hope a weekend in bed will take care of that quickly. Let's hope so anyway, because finals start on Tuesday.

I realized over the last few weeks that my posts have been lacking in anything craft related. Before you think I forgot what yarn looks like, I wanted to show you the fruit of my commuting labors.

I wasn't kidding when I said that my yarn stash and I are getting re-acquainted on the bus. Over the last few weeks or so, things have been flying off the needles. Why can't I be this prolific all the time?

This hat will be going to my 16 y/o cousin Kara. I used 1 ball of Vanna's choice yarn and it was more than enough for the hat, with a little left over. This yarn makes a nice, soft squishy hat. You know I love me some squishy! The pattern, which you can find HERE, is an easy one for beginning cabelers.

Because I loved how squishy the blue hat turned out, I dived into my stash to find more Vanna's yarn. I found this lonely variegated ball and used the same pattern. It's definitely just as soft and squishy, but the yarn hides the cabling in the pattern. Oh well... live and learn! This hat will be going to my cousin Zach. He's Kara's brother. Not sure how much she'll appreciate having matching hats with her brother, haha.

This purple set is for my SIL, MaryJane. I found the scarf pattern HERE. I modified it by using only one strand of Wool Ease Chunky. I used about a skein and a half, so there was enough left over for a hat.

Small problem...my SIL doesn't wear hats because she has this super pretty, long hair that she wears in a ponytail when she works. She works outside, so I still wanted to give her something to keep her warm. So, I used the same scarf pattern and made it long enough to fit around my head. I bound off and sewed the ends together. Viola, instant headband! She can keep warm and not have to worry about her ponytail.

This black hat was made for hubby. He's been eyeing the hats flying off the needles and not-so-subtly let me know he needed a new hat. He picked THIS pattern and a lone skein of regular Wool Ease from my stash. Easy peasy!

A few weeks ago, I commented on Bezzie's blog, that I hadn't learned how to change colors in knitting yet. Have you noticed all my knitting has suspiciously been one skein or one color projects? Yeah, I'm a big baby and scared to try changing colors.

After I typed out my comment, I realized how stupid that sounded. It's just a color change! I headed over to knittinghelp.com (love this place, because she answers every knitting question I could ever have) and watched a video on changing colors.

From that, this hat was born. It'll be going to my cousin Ian for Christmas. When I saw him a few months ago, he was still shorter than me. Come Thanksgiving, the kid had sprouted and I had to crane my neck to look up at him.

The gray yarn is Bernat Satin (no ball band, so I think but am not 100% sure) and the black is scraps from a Caron pounder. I didn't use a pattern, just winged it from measurements I took from the other hats. An experienced knitter can figure it out by looking at it, but if any newbs (like me!) want me to write out how much I cast on and when I changed colors, let me know and I'll type it up this week. It was super simple and I should have never been afraid to change colors. What a wuss I've been, haha!

I'm happy to say that all of the yarn I used was in my stash. I didn't have to buy a single ball! Not that my stash looks any smaller...

Weekend Wrap Up

What a four day weekend it was! I didn't get anything craft related done at all, but the weekend was jam packed with family goodness.

Thursday, the fam went to my aunt Aida's house for Thanksgiving. Literally, everyone showed up this year. It was packed, it was loud, and it was a ton of fun. Of course, no Thanksgiving would be complete without Dirty Grandma. This year, she had us cracking up because she was singing a Rhianna song. She's always got something up her sleeve.

On Saturday, I turned the big 3-0! Let's just say it's the 5th anniversary of my 25th birthday, mmkay? My family surprised me by driving to the dirty Jerz and meeting us at a restaurant. I had no idea they were coming, especially since my mom called to apologize that they couldn't see me. Sneaky sneaky!

Mmmm, cake.

Hubs got me an awesome gift,,, a kindle! He knows what a book nerd I am, haha. Lord help anyone who tries to talk to me on the bus now. ;)

My friends at work also went into super sneaky mode this year. They threw me a surprise party at work and made a scrapbook for me. It's the awesomest book ever. I can't show you every page, but here are a few of my favs.

This is the "Moving to Jersey" page.

This is the "Back to School" page. Tell me that crop job doesn't make you laugh? Haha!

And this is the "Cougar" page. Sheesh, I'm old enough to be labeled a cougar now? I thought 30 was the new 20?

Those crazy kids didn't stop there. As if the scrapbook wasn't enough, look what they gave me. Do they know me or what? I have no idea what to use it on. Any ideas? I want to use it wisely!

Thanks to my friends and family for making my 30th birthday traumatic awesome and memorable!

P.S. - They're lucky I didn't try karate chopping anyone when they jumped out at me in the restaurant! Who am I kidding? ;)

I hurt...

... from Black Friday shopping.

This is the first (and maybe last!) year ever, that hubby and I did some major Black Friday shopping. I can't even begin to describe the madness.

But finding a $70 pair of boots for $25 in my size made it worth it, haha.

I'm 7 am... going to bed now!

Happy Gobble Gobble Day!

What a year it's been! I'm thankful for so much that I have to share just a few....

I'm thankful for an awesome hubby.

I'm thankful for the most amazing kid I could ever ask for. She makes my world go round.

I'm thankful for my parents and sisters. We've only grown closer as we get older and I appreciate our relationships so much.

I'm thankful for good health.

I'm thankful for a good job.

I'm thankful to be able to attend school.

I'm thankful for amazing friends (I'll tell you more about them later this week).

I'm thankful for Weight Watchers. I've kept it hush hush because I was so afraid of failure, but I can spill the beans now. Since the end of June (right after Hershey Park), I've lost just about 40 pounds and have dropped 3 dress sizes. I've still got about 20 pounds to go, but I feel so much more in control of my health. I know I could have done it on my own, but the structure of WW has been amazing to help keep me in check.

I'm thankful for Zumba for not feeling like exercise at all.

I'm thankful for the crafts that keep me sane.

I'm thankful for all you crazy, crafting, Internet peeps who keep me inspired.

Last, but not least, I'm super thankful for the invention of cannoli cake. Holy wow, delicious!

Happy Thanksgiving, my friends!

Baby Jumper

Holy wow, can you believe November is more than halfway over? The month is just flying by!

I managed to squeeze in some sewing time this week. I should have been working on baby shower gifts that I need by tomorrow *gulp* but instead I had an itch to make a jumper for my cousin's 5 month old baby instead.
I winged it based on some finished jumpers I saw on the Internet and a 3-6 month baby outfit for general sizing. It came out cute, but not exactly what I had planned in my head.

Poor Teddy! He's playing Theodora again today, against his will. If Piper were home, I have a feeling she wouldn't be too pleased with Teddy's makeover either. ;)

I used some scrap purple corduroy that was left over from a bunny I made for the same baby and the lining is made from leftover flannel from pajama pants I made for Pi last winter. It looked a little plain, so I added an applique heart. The heart is my favorite part of the whole thing!

The buttons are from a seller at the Carroll Park flea market in Brooklyn.

Of course, after I finished this, I found THIS tutorial. Ahh well, too late for this jumper, but I'm definitely going to give that one a shot soon.

The plan for today is to buckle down and finish those baby shower things I need for tomorrow. So far, I've not been industrious at all. I watched a free movie On Demand and ate two slices of cold pizza for breakfast. I've still got time, right?

Wish me luck, haha!

Whoops!

Getting my gigundo not-so-minivan out of my parking space and down my driveway requires reversing back towards my neighbor's fence and doing a K-turn.

I'm terrible at judging distance when reversing. Terrible! So you'd think that I would know NOT to answer my phone while reversing towards the fence.

Mmm, not so much. So I'm reversing... the phone rings... I look down to answer it... forget I'm reversing... and @#$^&%&$%!!! Back right into the neighbor's fence.

I was going slow enough that I didn't knock it down, but I did crack a post. I'd like to tell you I was cool as a cucumber and handled my stupidity well. But, I can't lie to you. I didn't handle it well. I panicked and then I cried.

Having to ring the neighbors bell and confess was really hard to do. But, my neighbors happen to be pretty relaxed people and weren't mad. In fact, they found the humor in the situation.

When I came home from work the next day, this is what I found. Mini orange cones protecting the fence. Ha!

Totally hilarious and completely deserved! I've learned my lesson, I promise!

Belts, Birthdays, and Cakes, oh my!

Piper started taking Tae Kwon Do classes in September and has taken to it really quickly. She's earned three stripes on her white belt since she started, which earned her the privilege to test for a new belt. Yesterday morning was her first testing day and she rocked it! Check out her fancy pants orange belt. I'm pretty sure she could kick my butt with those moves!

In other family related news, my dad's 47th birthday was this past Wednesday. We couldn't make it to Brooklyn that day because of parent teacher conferences, so we went to have dinner with the fam yesterday.

Yes, we're the dorky family taking pictures in Pizzeria Uno.

My little BFF and I.

My dad with my twin sisters, Jennifer and Tiffani. My other sister Inky was there with her boyfriend, but I guess I didn't get them in any pics. Sorry Inky! Should analyze the unconscious motivations of that? ;)

My uber cute parents.

I baked a Boston Cream Cake on Friday night. Baked is really a loose word for this one. The whole thing was made with a yellow box cake, French vanilla instant pudding, and microwaved frosting. It was really good though.

One little problem though... the top cake cracked when I was putting it on top. Oops!

Being as it was late and I had no fancy cover-ups, Piper and I decided to throw some chocolate discs on there, stick a candle in the mouth, and call it a day. Can I get a woo woo for the totally ghetto cover up? Ha!

Here's dad, grandpa and mom's favorite baby, Shyla. I swear that dog thinks she's human.

It was really nice to spend the night with my crazy family! Happy Birthday Dad!

This monkey never gets old.

As this is the third one this year, you must be sick of me showing you Molly Monkeys by now. But they're too cute not to make!

My other teeny neighbor Ava, turned 5 in October and I thought Molly Monkey would be a great gift. Especially since she is BFFs with the other 5 year old neighbor who got a Molly Monkey in February. Now they both have monkeys (I made sure to make them different so they don't confuse them).

I knew Molly was a hit when Ava told me that Molly has a special spot on her bed with her favorite dolls. That's the best kind of thank you a crafter can get.

You can get the free pattern for Molly Monkey HERE.

**Please excuse the dark nighttime pictures. Ahh, crappy winter pics are back!**

P.S. - That carrot cake added two pounds to the scale over the weekend. I may have gorged myself a bit, but oh man, it was so worth it!

November...

... is not for dieting!

Carrot Cake recipe at the end of THIS post.

Halloween Wrap Up

Ahh, what a fun Halloween we had! I realized I totally forgot to show you our pumpkins. They're the same kind of felt pumpkins we made last year. Since they're not carved, they'll last a few weeks. Yeah, I know, totally cheating by not carving, but this was so much easier.

We also finally finished the straw. We went super simple... rolled up poster board covered in white felt. I was going to add stripes but Pi insisted on a solid straw. Easier for me? Ok!

I wanted to go with the duct tape idea to attach the straw, but it wouldn't stick to the inside of the laundry basket. Hubby came up with a genius idea. Wire ties! Three of those suckers held that straw in place all day!

Then we headed downtown for some pre-costume contest trick-or-treating at the stores. We found this awesome Addams family display by the train station.

A lot of the stores went all out with decorations. Who knew a whole town was this into Halloween?

It was FREEZING so we stopped for cappuccinos. Yum!

Next came the costume contest. The kids had to stand along side barricades to display their costumes to the judges. There were a few different categories, like best food, best athlete, etc. If a judge liked your costume, you had to parade around in front of the crowd to get judged some more.

My little Slurpee was chosen to parade around pretty quickly. There were some other really amazing homemade costumes too. I was in awe of the time and effort people put into these things. My favorite had to be a cupcake made of quilting batting and corrugated cardboard. Completely adorable. After about 30 minutes of this, they finally announced the winners.

Pi won the "Sweetest Costume" award and received a medal and a $20 gift certificate to the best bakery in town. Do you hear that sound? It's my waistline expanding.

As if that wasn't enough, we went trick-or-treating house to house after the contest.

Last, but not least... a quick trip to 7-11. They were so impressed (and amused, haha) that they offered Pi a free Slurpee.

I don't think she could have had anymore fun today! Seeing Pi's face light up when she won the contest made all the time and effort worth it.

Happy Halloween everyone!