Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Etsy sale from now until Christmas

Ok, we all know the Christmas shopping season is well underway.  From now until December 25, I will be offering a 30% off coupon code at my Etsy shop.  Enter code DEC2010 at checkout to receive 30% off your total purchase.  Happy shopping!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Cyber Monday sale!

What?  You didn't get a chance to take advantage of the Black Friday/Thanksgiving weekend sale in my Etsy shop?  Well, then here is a new coupon code for Cyber Monday, November 29, starting at midnight and running 24 hours Eastern Standard Time.  The code is CYBER2010 and it is good for 30% off at checkout, regular and sale-priced items included.  Now go shop!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving Weekend Sale on Etsy!

I just wanted to announce that I am having a Thanksgiving weekend sale on my etsy shop. Most items are already marked on sale 20 - 25% off. If you enter coupon code TURKEY2010 at checkout, you will save an additional 15% off the sale price. This sale runs from Thanksgiving Day, November 25, through November 28, 2010. There are knitted garments, toys, and chainmaille bracelets on sale. Or, choose a non-sale item like PDF patterns or woodworking goods, and use the coupon code, and you can still save. Check it out!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Cooking in the yarnhoardin' household



We have been doing a lot of cooking here lately, both me and the girls. Emily loves to cook, and last night she insisted on watching a cooking show on tv. So today, she was putting on her own cooking show. She was narrating which 'gredients she was adding to make 'ssert (dessert lol), and she also made soup and I'm not sure what else. She made sure to announce each ingredient as she added it from a separate bowl, just like they do on tv, mentioning how many grams of each item (grams? that's her own thing lol) and describing how to mix them. And yes, she does like to pose for pictures. Can't you tell?

Last night, Maddie wanted to make butter. We found this great book at the library, 50 Science Things to Make and Do. It called for filling a jar half-full with heavy whipping cream, a pinch of salt to taste, and shaking it for 15 minutes or so. Who knew it was that simple? Ok, so a lot of people did, but I didn't. lol It doesn't look like much, but we have this fresh, spreadable butter in the fridge, waiting for me to make a fresh loaf of bread to go with it.


As for me, I have been working on clean eating, trying to cut out white flour and sugar and man-made chemical additives in my food. So I found this recipe for snack bars made out of dates and nuts, and the kids think they look like dog poop, but they are very tasty. I used pecans instead of cashews.

And finally, for those interested, I have been doing some knitting. My Coraline cardigan is in time-out right now, for daring to let me mess up the first row of smocking on the yoke, and not noticing until I was up to the neck. I ripped back almost 40 rows. So there she sits, in time-out for now, and I'm working on the Krista tee with some friends. Here is the back so far:

Oh, and while you're here, don't forget to click the link towards the top on the right for Eat.Sleep.Knit. I'm collecting yards in the yarnathon and I get 5 yards each time you click! ;)

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Help paying to finish college

I am less than a year away from finishing my bachelor’s degree in accounting, and have run out of federal student loan availability. I do not qualify for private student loans, as we had a foreclosure a few years ago when I lost my job and the ARM loans started going crazy for everyone. I can’t even qualify with a co-signer. I’m trying (desperately) to find scholarship/grant opportunities. I am supposed to start a new class in 2 weeks, but I have to come up with $1,675 first. My new Pell money comes in June or July and will help somewhat, then I’ll be a few thousand short of the rest of my program. Any suggestions on help for the meantime? Any benevolent benefactors out there who just want the satisfaction of seeing a mom finish her degree and return to the workforce?

Friday, April 16, 2010

Cassie is home safe!

I just wanted to update, the missing girl (Cassie) was found and returned home safely, thanks to a good Samaritan who spotted her with the help of the media and many bloggers/Facebook members who posted about her.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Please help find this missing girl


Hi, I am posting this for an online acquaintance, a fellow Raveler, whose daughter has gone missing. Here is a link to her blog to see the whole story, and a picture of Cassie. She left New Jersey and is possible heading for Virginia, so the more people that see this, the more can help spot her. Thanks and God bless.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Easter eggs and monkeys, Jack Russells and knitting designs


I know it is a few days past Easter, but here are the blondies tie-dyeing Easter eggs last Saturday.

And here are the finished eggs. Very nice. Our fingers looked much like the eggs.

This is one of my first designs, the Swingin' Summer Tank Top pattern, which is newly published and available from Knitpicks.com for only $1.99. This knitting pattern has sizes for 12 months, 2T, 4T, and 6. I'm very proud and excited to have this up on the Knitpicks website. I would be fully grateful for any purchases anyone makes of this. You can't beat it for $1.99.

For Easter, I whipped out 3 mini sock monkeys in 3 days. The pattern is the Funky Sock Monkey (not one of my patterns this time lol). This is Froot Loop.

This is Grapes.


And this is Bananas. The girls named the monkeys themselves. lol


We also made a special bunny cake for the family to enjoy after Easter dinner.


Lucy had a blast at Grandma's for Easter. Her best friend Mocha lives there.

She moves so quickly, it's tough to get a picture!


I hope you all had as nice of a holiday as I did.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Dances, birthdays, and paw prints

Seems we've been busy around here the last few days. Last weekend, two of the girls had a date with their dad to the Father-Daughter Dance. They love dressing up and going out, and Mommy gets to stay home with only one kid for a bit.


Today is my youngest's fourth birthday. We made a cake together, which she changed from a Barbie cake to a froggy cake just before pouring the batter in the pan. Ok, so the frog's leg broke off coming out of the pan and was stuck back on with frosting. So, we didn't have the mini Oreo's for the pupils, we used sprinkles. And oh, of course we had brought home chocolate frosting, so we had to quick mix up some vanilla frosting with green food coloring. He's not pretty, but she loves him, and requests to eat his eyeball after supper.


Here are a few pictures of the birthday girl with her favorite gifts. Notice the doll needed an outfit to match hers.


To top it off, our three year old next door neighbor gave her a Valentine today, a bit early. Check out this adorable box of chocolates, from a little boy to a little girl.


How cute is that? And finally, I'll leave with with a picture of what the coffee table is really meant for.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

New design-- funnel neck cardigan




Well, I finally finished my newest design, and I'm ready to unveil it. After multiple revisions, the pattern is now available for sale. You can't beat it, a women's sweater pattern in 5 sizes for only $1.99! Soon to be available from Knitpicks, thus the fabulous price.






Thursday, January 28, 2010

New design in progress



These are in-progress photos of a new cardigan design I'm working on. I purposely left them a bit rough so I didn't give much away! The pattern will be part of Knitpicks Independent Designer program once it is completed, hopefully, in the next few days here. The sleeves are almost ready to attach to the body and then there is just the yoke and collar to complete.

Monday, January 4, 2010

The gingerbread train

Well, I made the girls wait until after all the Christmas cookies and snacks were mostly gone before we put together the gingerbread train. This was a lot of fun, and it looks so cool! lol



Enjoy the view, keep warm, and check out my two favorite online yarn shops, Eat.Sleep.Knit. and The Loopy Ewe. The first rewards purchases by the yard (see the Yarnathon) and the second rewards by dollars spent. Woohoo! Rewards for buying yarn? Why not? I'm off to shop...

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Happy new year!

Happy 2010, everyone! Let's hope this new year brings joy and goodness to us all. To start, if you are reading this blog, chances are you like knitting or crochet and love yarn. Well, Jeff here is having a contest on his blog, and he is giving away cool stitch markers and gift certificates to Eat.Sleep.Knit. My fave online yarn shop! So I thought you all might want to check out his blog, although if you don't, that means less competition for me. Mwahaha! Just kidding. Go check it out and enter this cool contest for yourself.