Sweet and Sour Chicken

What do you make with an after Christmas present of a brand new ceramic pan?

 Sweet and Sour Chicken of course! This was a  hit with both of my children and my husband. The ceramic pan heated up faster than some of my other pans and made quick cooking a snap. I found the Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe at Recipes From My Kitchen. I really did not tweak it to much, however I used a fresh pineapple instead of canned pineapple and replaced the pineapple juice in the sauce with lemon juice. This was a quick and easy meal that will definately be used again in the near future.

The sauce was everything you would have expected not too sweet and not to sour. The chicken cooks quickly, because it is cut up into 1 inch pieces. You can use any color bell pepper that you want, I used yellow and red. I got a great deal on bell peppers at Aldi this past week at $1.69 for a package of three colored bell peppers. Amazingly the colored peppers were actually cheaper than the green ones for once.

Though the pineapples are not in season using the fresh ingredients is definately worth it. Especially since you get more with the whole pineapple (this allows you to snack on the yummy leftover bits). You can cut the pineapple up into sizes that you prefer, and you get a richer flavor from the fresh product.

Beginner Ribbed Newborn Hat

The other night I got a strong desire to do something other than a 12 inch square from my large project. I decided I wanted to make the little boy on the way another hat with some baby yarn I had in my stash. I wanted a vertical ribbed hat that gathered at the top. So I went looking for a pattern and this is what I found.

This is a simple pattern using hdc and sc stitches to create a rectangle that is approximately 12 inches.  This is super simple all you need to be able to do is count your stitches. I believe that you could change up the pattern stitches and still come out with a super cute hat such as using a dc with a hdc. The original pattern just called for the bow at the top, but I decided to add some flair to it by making a couple of small pom poms using two of my fingers. The pattern for this hat can be found here. If you are looking for a super cute, non traditional newborn hat to make really fast this is the hat for you.

Sweet Potato Muffins

These sweet potato muffins are fabulous! I took the original recipe from Once a Month Meals, but I altered it slightly. The original recipe called for using baby food, specifically sweet potato puree. All I could think of was gross when i read that, but you could make your own sweet potato puree that was purely sweet potato and nothing else, making it healthier and more appetizing at the same time. I pealed and boiled 3 sweet potatoes until they were very tender and drained them. Then comes the "hard" part use a fork and mash it into a puree. Obviously this is not difficult, in fact it is down right easy and no special tools are needed.

The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of the puree, I however put 2 1/2 cups of puree into my batter. I did not significantly change the recipe other than the fact that I omitted cloves and substituted pumpkin spice into the batter. I also left out the chocolate chips, because though I love chocolate I felt the sweet potato in these muffins should stand on their own two feet. This recipe yielded 12 muffins that will be a wonderful addition to breakfast here at our house.

More Crochet Squares

Being sick seriously curtails what you do around the house and now that I am starting to feel better I want to share the one thing I managed to get done before I was sick and one or two squares afterward. Some of my projects will be shared after Christmas as I want to show the finished projects on their recipients. I have finished five more squares since my last posting. I have altered some slightly from their patterns, but both their original and the alterations are pretty and fun to make.

 Shining Star Square: By Crochetville and Wheel Lattice: By Dayna's Crochet

The Shining Star Square was slightly difficult and reminded me to read and reread my patterns several times before attempting them, but it turned out wonderfully. This square is also only designed to be a 10 inch square so I added to the edges until I reached the 12 inches I desired. The Wheel Lattice square was extremely easy to complete not to mention fast.

Sunshine Jewel Granny Square

This pattern was also easy to complete. I found this pattern on Ravelry and you can see many completed projects and how you can change your colors to create a different effect within the same pattern.

Dream Catcher

This is another pattern I found on Ravelry. This worked up in around a hour with me taking my sweet time. It is made mostly of chains and single crochets, making this a very beginner friendly square.

Yarn Clouds Square

This square was fun allowing me to use a few back post stitches, which allow for more dimension and dare I say frilliness to this square. I also found this pattern on Ravelry. This pattern is worked partially like a granny square. Like I stated above I altered the pattern slightly, because I loved the pattern stitch so much.

If you missed my last post I am making a 12 inch block afghan for my husband and myself and I am working up to 56 squares to complete the project my total count at this point is 8 squares.

12 Inch Squares

In the pictures below you can see the start to my next big project. I am making a sampler afghan that will fit our queen size bed. This means I have to create 56 12 x 12 squares. Below are my first three squares I have completed with the links to their patterns posted below. These squares were fairly easy as long as you paid attention to the directions. I will be showing you more of my work on this afghan as I go along.

 Solid Stripe Square

 Lacy Sun Square

Bobby's Square

Second Chance Scarf

My latest project is this diagonal scarf from Crochet Me. I am calling this my second chance scarf, because I totally screwed up my first attempt. If you look at the picture below you can see what I mean. The scarf on the left is the completed correct scarf and the one on the right is my sad first attempt. The lesson to learn from this is though not everything in life deserves a second chance, a lot of your projects do deserve at least a second look.

 My suggestion should you attempt this scarf is to read the pattern around 5 times and do not take for granted that it will turn out right with a first reading. This was the most irritating basic pattern I have had the pleasure of dealing with... of course that was until I figured out how to do it correctly and then it was easy. 

Crochet Car Hat

My little bit is modeling a car hat I just designed and completed for a family friend. I think I may have to adjust the size slightly and make one for Sam now that he has seen it. To tell the truth I saw that coming, because he is a car fanatic.


Crochet Car Hat
Size 4-6 years old
K Hook

MC
Round 1: 12 HDC in MC sl st to join
Round 2: 2 HDC in each st around
Round 3: Hdc in next st 2 HDC in next St around
Round 4: HDC in next 2 st HDC 2x in next st around
Round 5: HDC in next 3 st HDC 2x in next st around

Round 6-16: HDC around


Ear Flaps

Row 1: On one side of the hat HDC 12 st, turn
Row 2: HDC2tog, HDC to last 2 st, HDC2tog (10)
Row 3: HDC2tog, HDC to last 2 st, HDC2tog (8)
Row 4: HDC2tog, HDC to last 2 st, HDC2tog (6)
Row 5: HDC2tog, HDC to last 2 st, HDC2tog (4)
Row 6: HDC2tog, HDC2tog (2)
Fasten Off.

Repeat on opposite side of hat.


Make a pompom. I used my hand to create this pompom. Attach to top of hat.

Car Applique

I used a pattern online for inspiration, but my final creation is my own creation.

C Hook

Ch 12.
Row 1: Turn SC in 2nd St and each st across. (11)
Row 2: Ch 1 turn DC across. (11)
Row 3,4: Ch 1 turn SC across. (11)
Row 5: Ch 10, TCH in 6th st from hook, CH 7 sl st in  10th st, SC in last two st.
Round 1: SC around car to create a substantial frame to top of car.
Fasten Off. Leave Long tail to sew to hat.

Wheels (Make 2)

MC.
12 SC in MC sl st to join. Fasten off.


Attach wheels to car body with yarn needle.

Attach completed car to hat with yarn needle.

Kids Bookshelves

My children have accumulated quite a few books over the past couple of years, so much so that I have split them into 1/3 downstairs for daytime use and 2/3 upstairs for afternoon and nighttime use. Storage of these books has been a problem however. I was going through the kids toys searching for give aways and organizing what is left, both in their play area and in their room and I got to thinking it would be nice for the books to have shelves to display them for the kids to see easily and solve my storage problem. I thought it was going to be an issue that would take a shopping trip to solve then I realized we had an empty bookshelf my husband had built several years ago that we could not decide what to do with since we did not need it any more. I decided to reuse it so I took it apart and created the shelves you see pictured above. I am not very handy with tools, but I had no problem putting together these simple tools with a drill and a few screws. These are the books downstairs...now I think I will rope my husband in to helping me with the upstairs shelves as he is much better with tools. Over all the the shelves look great I will probably paint them this summer. And they are functioning great!

Yummy Spaghetti

If you are looking for comfort food this fits the bill. My kiddos loved it and so did I. It was so easy to make and will definitely be a staple in our household.

Spaghetti Meat Sauce

Ingredients

1 lb Ground Beef
2 cups noodles
1 can diced tomatoes
1 Bell pepper
1 can tomato paste
2 cups water
3 beef bouillon cubes
Bay leaves
Oregano
Pepper
Sugar

Directions

Brown beef in large pot. Drain and set aside.
Chop bell pepper and saute in pot for 2 min. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, water and bouillon.
Add 1 bay leaf. 1/4 tsp oregano. A pinch of sugar and a pinch of pepper. Stir and simmer for 20 minutes.

While sauce is simmering cook 2 cups of whatever noodles you want to use. I used macaroni noodles for convenience, but this would be wonderful with any noodles. When noodles are done and sauce is done mix noodles and sauce together in individual serving bowls. Enjoy!

DIY Body Wash

I have been making my own body wash for several months now. This soap is fantastic, it lathers well and lasts a long time with out being difficult to make.

I use Dove bar soap as I know it will not irritate my skin.

Step 1.

 Shred your soap with a cheese grater. This takes a little time, but it smells wonderful.

Step 2.  For each bar of soap that you shredded place 1 cup of water in a sauce pan and heat. This step is much like creating a cheese sauce with out a roux. Once the water is heated turn the heat down to medium low and slowly as the soap as it melts in the water. It should look like the picture below in the beginning. It will not be thick at this point.

Once all the soap is added and completely smooth with no chunks or bits of solid soap in your water turn off the burner and move pan to a trivet to cool.

At this point your soap will still be quite watery, however I allow my soap to cool overnight which thickens it up substantially, before I put it in the body wash bottle. This is a cheap easy way to make body wash that is great for sensitive skin and lasts longer than store bought body wash.

Baby Boy Layette Set

You may have seen the baby blanket in this photograph from a past post, but I loved the colors so much I decided to make a full set for our third baby boy that is due in February. In addition to the baby blanket this layette set comprises of a baby cocoon, hat, and diaper cover.  The cocoon and hat set pattern comes from My Merry Messy Life and the diaper cover pattern can be found here.

The cocoon was easily worked and though I made it 10 rows shorter than the original pattern. I also shortened the amount of rows for the newborn hat.

The diaper cover I essentially kept the same however I crocheted around the edge with the burgundy color to create a nice finished edge and used a crochet button I made instead of a store bought one.

Will it Felt?

I have wanted to make my own dryer balls for quite sometime, but I do not generally use wool as a rule. I was given some Patons Classic Wool and this was the first thing to pop into my mind. You generally need 100% wool for it to be able to felt and this fit that description, however it had been treated to be machine washable. So I did a little research and found that it may be possible to felt washable wool if you use a high enough temperature water while felting, then cross your fingers that it works.

Step 1. Wind your balls of wool yarn. (I made mine about the size of a baseball.)

Step 2. Use a yarn needle to weave end of yarn into the ball.

Step 3. Put yarn in a sock and put it in the washer with a load of clothes and hot water. (Top load only as it will agitate the yarn the best). When the wash cycle completes put it in the dryer also on high heat. When cycle is complete remove balls from the socks you put them in. 

 The picture above is after the yarn had been felted...so the answer to my question "Will washable wool felt?" is Maybe, but not very likely. The darker yarn began to felt and has continued to felt as I use it. The other two balls still work for their purpose, but if I do this again in the future I will definately use wool that has not been chemically treated.

Knit Cowl

A few posts back I talked about a chunky bobble bow hat I had made. This cowl is made from the same yarn. It is incredibly soft and warm... and probably one of the very few times you will ever see me knit. I have taken a knitting lesson, and it just did not hold much of a fascination with me other than the beautiful objects that can be made. I did however, have an individual show me their loom knit work many a year ago and I can not credit them here, because I did not know their name then. I somehow retained the knowledge about how to use a round loom enough to make a hat. I used that theory to create this cowl on a 41 peg round loom.  The picture below is what my work looked like after the first round of  stitches on the loom.

As I progressed around adding more rows it started to look like the picture below.

I continued adding rows until my skein of yarn was almost gone. Then I cast off using a single crochet around the edge to finish off.  The end result is pictured below.

Fleece Tie Blankets

Christmas is getting closer and it is getting colder. We have already had to light a few fires in the fireplace this year and we had a forecast for snow flurries before Thanksgiving (if you know the south you will know that is extremely unusual.) . I decided some time ago to make fleece tie blankets for my little boys. They love blankets and I wanted them to each have something warm to cuddle this winter. These blankets are so, so, so easy to make. They just take a little patience, but not much skill.

I started with three different fabrics. One solid, and two prints. The solid color I got three yards of, and I got 1 1/2 yards of each of the printed fabrics. The first step is to lay both layers of fabric on top of each other and trim the edges to match and any fabric printing from your fabric.

 

Step 2. Cut your corners. This size can vary depending on your preference the polar bear blanket I cut a 6 x 6 corner (the owl blanket is a 4 x 4 cut out) out of each of the four corners of the blanket to create ease in tying.

 

 





 

Step 3. Cut your ties for the polar bear blanket I cut one inch strips 6 inches deep on each side. (The owl blanket I cut 2 inch strips 4 inches deep).

 

 

Step 4. Double knot your strips.

 

 

 

Once you have tied all of your sides your blanket is complete!

 

 

 



 





Cupcake Coasters

The other day I had a notary lend her services to me free of charge and I have been wanting to say thank you. After some thinking I decided to crochet something. Well to be honest it did not take that much thinking I absolutely LOVE to crochet and will do so if given any little excuse. I ended up deciding on coasters, but I did not want to do your normal round boring coasters that I could whip out in my sleep. So I went on pinterest, my favorite go to for finding free crochet patterns and came across these cute little cupcakes at Louie's Loops.  I also decided this would be a great way to use some of my scraps and make each cupcake a little different from the other to give it more visual entertainment. As you can see I still attempted to make each of the cupcakes tie together as a whole using similar colors for different parts of different cupcakes and while some cupcakes do not resemble each other in color as a whole they interrelate.

This pattern was so easy to follow. The original pattern called for a "G" hook, I instead used a "H" hook to make my work a little larger.

Step 1. Create 14 rows of ribbing by crocheting in the back loop. FO.

Step 2. Crochet evenly around all four sides. Do NOT fasten off.

Step 3. SC 2x in first SC. SC across till last SC. SC 2x in last SC. 

Turn sk 1st st SC 14 across. CH 1 Turn.

SC 14 across. DO NOT CH 1. Turn

sk 1st st. SC 12 st. CH 1. Turn.

SC 12 st. CH 1. Turn.

SC 12 st. DO NOT CH 1. Turn.

sk 1st st SC 11. Turn

sk 1st st SC 10. Turn.

sk 1st st SC 9. FO.

Step 4.  Join yarn in 4th st from end. SC in same st as join, SC in next 2 st. Turn.

sk 1st st. SC in last two stitches. Turn.

sk 1st st. SC in last stitch. FO.

Step 5. Pick up yarn that you did not fasten off. 

SC up side of top of cupcake evenly. Do not SC in top st.

SC around the cherry and down the other side of your cupcake. Sl St to join. FO

Weave in ends.

This is a simple pattern that I completed in just a few hours and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to make a quick gift.