My new hobby makes me sick!

So I've recently caught the knitting bug. And as most bugs do, it's making me sick. Over the weekend I was knitting an infant cap for an infant to be. As I was knitting I started feeling a little woozy and dizzy. K took my blood pressure and it was really low. I went to bed with my feet up and when I woke up my blood pressure was even lower. I called my doctor and she told me to eat something salty to bring up my blood pressure and to walk around and look out the window as often as possible. I've done all this and still I'm not feeling well. I really enjoy knitting but I don't know if I can take the vertigo. You'd think this would be a nice relaxing hobby. Who knew it would cause so much trouble?

I will show you the beautiful projects that came from this though! A cat for L's birthday at the end of May when he turns the big 5! And an infant umbilical cord hat from the Stitch and Bitch book.

No Oven... Again!

We just spent money to have a new ignitor put in our oven. Then, in March I was baking some most delicious cinnamon sugar bread when I opened the oven and saw that the inside window was cracked. It has since shattered and the glass has fallen into my oven. This is a huge loss for us. We bake daily. This was after I bought a 50 pound bag of flour to make our daily bread. But it's not a total loss, we have been getting crafty with our dough. We now make daily; english muffins, naan, stuffed bread, calzones, and fried dough, all in the comfort of our iron skillet.

We're doing our research and trying to decide if we need a brand new oven that can take daily abuse or if we're better off fixing this one yet again. In the mean time we'll continue to make some delicious apple cheddar stuffed bread with jam spread on top!

Whistle While Your Son Works!

There's nothing better than getting to use machines!

My house is a mess, but look what I made!

The boys and I made a cute Easter craft I saw on this blog. A little bird's nest made with shredded wheat covered in chocolate. How can you go wrong?! Well, it did back fire a bit. The boys and I are not used to nibbling on that much chocolate and I think the combination of caffeine and sugar made all three of us go a little loopy. We had a bit of a hectic afternoon, but they crashed hard at bedtime.



My parent's 40th anniversary is this Saturday!! So of course some homemade gifts were in order. I made them each a luggage tag they can use when they come to visit. And Liam drew their portrait which I embroidered on the other side of the tag. I also made them a little pot holder that says, "40 years and still cooking!". Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!



Now I'm onto Easter crafts. And like all my ideas, I come up with them just a couple days before the event and then work all night to get it done, or not get it done. For Easter I just decided today to make the boys little bunnies I saw here. I made one and have one to go. K and I are also in the process of making a little fish game where you catch the fish using a little magnetic fishing pole. I finished my bunny embroidery from my crafternoon but have yet to make it a pillow. All in good time.



I also just quickly made these little snack bags. I don't like to use baggies so I made these out of oilcloth. We'll see how they work out.

Crafternoon Delight-ful!

My first crafternoon was a wonderful success! We had 6 adults, 4 preschoolers, 2 toddlers, and 1 baby. And with all that we even managed to get some crafting done!



The theme was embroidery. I got a bunch of books from the library to inspire us. We made felt Easter eggs, felt bunnies, and a bunny embroidery taken from this blog. Everybody found their niche and even the kids helped out or sewed a project of their own.

There was an abundance of sweets, cupcakes, chocolate pretzels, Gianna's cookies, and macaroons! I made some fruit sushi that I saw in Craft's latest zine. I also made some hummus from a recipe my sister-in-law gave me and some homemade naan I made with my bread dough from this recipe.

I'm already looking forward to next month's crafternoon! I'm trying to think of a good mother's day craft.

Hummus:
1/4 cup packed fresh basil
1 clove garlic
1 can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
1/2 cup of tahini
3/4 t. salt
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil

-In food processor, process garlic and basil until finely minced.
-Add chickpeas, tahini, salt, lemon juice, and olive oil. Process until smooth.

Refrigerate 2hours - 3 days.

Recent Crafty Endeavors

I got a hole in the toe of these cute argyle socks. They were going to head to my dog's sock toy but I thought these are too cute to chew on! So we found a couple of willing volunteers to be our models and we cut up the socks a bit for some plush sweaters. L added a leash and bell to the ensemble!


My adorable niece turned 2 in March and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make her a birthday crown. I was told, although she's not really a hat lover, she wore her crown all through opening her presents and eating cake! It warms a crafter's heart! The other picture is a green cape with gold lining and t-shirt I stenciled with my brother-in-law's charity Greenseed Educational Supplies logo. A fantastic charity that collects gently used school supplies and donates them to schools and other organizations that can use them. I'm sure it will flood the nation in the next few years!


My Everlovin' Sister came to visit me so I crafted her and her wife some nice items. I made some napkins with their initials on it. I also made these cute 'otedama' juggling bags I saw a pattern for in craft zine for my sister-in-law's birthday. And, not pictured, L drew a picture of his Aunt H and I embroidered it onto a bookmark. This idea was seen in mothering magazine and will be in a book called Handmade Home due out in August.

Well that was my own little crafting March Madness. Tomorrow is my first ever Crafternoon! I'm having about 4-6 adults over and assorted kids to do some embroidering. I'll take some pictures and share next week!