Questionnaire

Ok, so for my dishcloth swap, I have a survey to complete... Here goes :)

1. Do you knit, or crochet, or do both? How long have you been knitting\crocheting?

• I can do both, but I really consider myself a crocheter... I've been crocheting since the beginning of my senior year in high school (2001) and really enjoy it! I've knitted a few things, too. Mostly scarves, but nothing too complicated... One of these days, I'll really sit down and concentrate on knitting, but until then, I find crochet easier and faster...

2. Have you knit dishcloths or dishtowels before?

• I've made myself a few crocheted dishcloths from sugar 'n' cream yarn, and really like them...

3. What are your favorite cotton yarns? Is there a cotton or linen you’ve been dying to try but have not?

• I've really only used Sugar 'N' Cream, and Lion Cotton and I like both fine. I've just discovered the abundant supply of yarn on the net, and it looks like sooo much fun! The CotLin on Knit Picks site looks interesting... I've never used a cotton/linen blend. Question... Can you make washcloths with any cotton or cotton/linen blend yarn???

4. Are there any cotton yarns you don’t enjoy knitting with?

• Not really :)

5. What type of needle do you prefer using? (Metal/Wood/Plastic)

• I use metal hooks, don't care for plastic at all and have never tried wood, but would like to!

6. What other projects do you enjoy knitting or crocheting?

• I've been baby-blanket crazy lately, and bags are fun... I also have a few afghans in progress for my momma and mom-in-law.

7. Do you have other hobbies or enjoy other kinds of crafting?

• I like to scrapbook, and am thinking of trying out digital scrapping for my honeymoon album, if I ever get to it :)

8. What kind of treats do you like? Chocolate? Candies? Nuts?

• I think my favorite would be chocolate or yogurt covered pretzels... Also, anything... anything, anything, anything with peanut butter in it :) I think peanut butter m&ms might be the perfect food!

9. What colors are your kitchen and bath decorated in, if any?

• My kitchen is Tuscan reds, yellows, blues and greens (see the fabric in a previous post) and the bathroom is dark sagey greens, dark chocolate browns and light linen browns... To match my favorite mermaid poster…

10. What are your favorite colors and what colors do you dislike?

• I like just about every color but purple... nope, not fond of purple...

11. Do you drink coffee? Tea? Other beverages?

• Coffee??? Did someone say coffee??? Hehe! I can't go a morning without it, and if I do, I'm pretty crabby... ask my hubby :)

12. Do you have any kids (human or pet variety!)?

• Nope... Not yet!

13. Do you have any allergies?

• none of those either

14. Please share 3 tidbits about yourself that you think your pal and other swappers might find odd or interesting.

• Oh jeez, hmmm...
1. Even though I'm only 23, I love opera music. Most of my friends think I'm crazy, but I L.O.V.E. it.
2. Hubby and I are buying a new house (moving in Thursday!) and he thinks I'm crazy cause I already have all these crochet projects in my head for each room. I ripple afghan in the formal front room, granny square pillows for the couch in the living room, etc.
3. I've really been wanting to felt something... Now, after all the friends and family have had babies, I wish someone else would get pregnant so I could make a felted diaper bag. Wouldn't that be cute? I think so...

Dishcloth Swap

Yeah! My first swap :) I wandered around the other day and found this... The Dog Days of Summer Dishcloth Swap. How fun! I've made about a zillion of these and what a fun way to start some fun. I have to include...

• A knitted or crochetted dishcloth
• A pattern for a dishcloth
  
• Some sort of yummy specialty soap
• A skein of cotton yarn for your pal to make cloths with
• Any other edible or good smelling goodies you wish to include

So, I was meandering through Etsy and found these so totally cute handmade soaps! Check out the site!!! "Filthy Farmgirl Soap"... Now I just have to learn what kind of smells my swap partner will like... Or should I buy one of each??? Haha :) I love the names... "Silly Sarsaparilla", "Tipsy Tea Tree", "Rowdy Rosemary"... Too cute!!!

Curtains

I don't think I've mentioned that hubby and I are going to be proud, brand new home-owners as of the end of next week... We are soooo excited :) Today we went with mom-in-law to the fabric store as she has offered to make our drapes for us. JoAnn's is having a crazy home-fabrics sale, all in-stock and special orders are 50% off through this Saturday... We found some gorgeous fabric in the special order section...


For our living room we went with this exotic looking one... Our couch is going to be this one...
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S59841014
in "leaby red"... We like color, can you tell? I think we are going to go with a taupy color on the walls tho, I think it's called "brown bread" from Behr... we'll bring in color with everything else :) We're also going to make the valance in the kitchen from the same fabric, but another (maybe a stripe) layered underneath for some contrast...

By the way, how proud are you that I put a "link" in my post?!?

Then, our house has a formal front room when you first walk in... That's where I'm putting my
piano :) I want to paint the wall with the stairs a pretty beachy, greyey tealy color, and this fabric went perfectly with the vision in my head... The colors didn't come out so good in my pic, they are a little more vibrant in person... Also bought these gorgeous mother-of-pearl curtain rods and pull backs from the JCPenny's Home Store... So pretty!


The lighter colored tie back and the smaller rod...

I am having sooooo much fun :o)

Bag Update

Well, I have two squares done, but I'm not sure if I like the second one (the non-rose one)... Whatcha guys think???

Granny Bag

Well, Father's Day was fab... We ate incredibly expensive KFC (when did that happen?!?) and all the boys (step-daddy, hubby and 2 bros) devoured the banana pudding... *smile*

Granny said the afghan square was gorgeous, but not quite the same as her moms, so I guess I have to do some more searching and trying... I loved the square so much, tho... So what's a girl to do but make a new bag? And that girl hopes that her momma will be more than happy to line it when all the crochet is done... hint hint :) I'm going to do 4 squares per side, 2 of the roses and 2 other solid squares in another pattern that I haven't decided on yet (maybe a traditional granny?)... I'll post more details when I get an actual square done :) Here's a sneak peak!

Baby Crazy

First off, let me say thank you so much for the warm, warm welcome! This is going to be fun :)

Anyways, so many people that I love have had recently or are having babies. What's a girl to do but crochet and crochet and crochet? This better stop soon or I'll have carpal tunnel by the time I'm 24... haha... I wish I'd taken pics of the first baby blankets I'd ever crocheted for my twin nephews who were born in January, but I didn't... next time we get down to So Cal, I'll try to remember to photograph them... I've made 3 others in the last coupla months... The first was to my friend in HA who had a baby boy in May... I loved the bright colors!

Red Heart Yarn in banana berry print. One big granny square made to about 36" square.

Next, a camo ripply blanky for a friend in the Army whose wife is pregnant and due in September... It turned out too small but momma convinced me that it's the perfect size for a carseat, so small it stays...



It's from Leisure Arts "Our Best Baby Blankets", pattern "Lacy Ripples"... Yarn is Red Heart again in camouflage. It was very easy and quick to work up because it's of all the spaces that make it lacy.



And last, but not least... definitely my favorite so far! It's a blanky for my hubby's friend who is very rock star. I kept bugging hubby to find out if his friend and wifey were having a boy or girl, and when he called, the daddy said, "Well, we're not sure yet, but I'm positive the baby will like the same colors as me... red and black!" So, here's my "Daddy's a Rock Star Blanket"! Atleast that's what I call it... I'm so sorry, but I can't remember where I found the pattern... On the net somewhere... I'll do some research and let you guys know!

Oh... and last night I was thinking of my granny... she was telling me and momma about this afghan her mom had made that had granny squares with roses in the middle... I made block #28 "Christmas Rose" from "200 Crochet Blocks" by Jan Eaton and if she thinks it's close to the one great-grandma made, maybe I'll make a whole afghan for her for Christmas.

Mmmm :)

So my first post will be about food... If you would have told me 3 years ago that I would be eating, let alone cooking, foods named falafel and tabbouleh, I would have looked at you like you were crazy. Last November I married an amazing, handsome man... a 100% Armenian man... A bit of a culture shock, but all I can say is that my life has become so much richer by his awesome family and their culture.

One of the first things I learned to make, mostly because I could eat a whole bowl of it, was tabbouleh. It's very easy and very good for you! Falafel is not much harder... it's made of ground up dried garbonzo beans with different spices. It comes all pre-mixed in packs and all you do is re-hydrate it and then pan fry it in veggie oil. You eat those as if they are little meatballs, in pita-bread with yummy yogurt tahini (basically peanut butter made of sesami seeds) sauce. It's all so good and simple to make... Here's a pic (sorry I forgot to take a pic of the food all pretty on a plate) and the recipe for the tabbouleh, next time I make the falafel I'll post the directions for it, since tabbouleh was the first thing i learned to make, it'll be the first thing I'll teach you to make :)


Tabbouleh:
1 cup bulgar wheat
1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 bunch green onions
1 bunch curly leaf parsley
3 tomatoes
1/4-1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4-1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

First, combine the bulgar and the boiling water in a bowl and let sit 15-20 minutes until all of the water has been absorbed. While that's working, finely chop the parsely, green onions and tomatoes. Mix the veggies with the bulgar and then add the lemon juice and oil until it's just wet, not sitting in dressing, but just wet... then salt and pepper to taste. Mmmm!

Next, for something more up my family's alley, my step-daddy has requested banana-pudding for Father's Day, for the I don't know how-manyith time... It's Paula Dean's "Not Yo' Momma's Banana Pudding". If I new how to link to the recipe I would, but until then I'll just say it's on the FoodTV.com website. Sooooooo Gooooooood! Here are some more pics.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!
And there was just enough left for two mini ones for me and hubby!

Anyways, this is going to be an interesting journey! Hopefully I'll post some of my recent crochet projects next time.