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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

WIP Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! I'm excited to show you what I have been working on the past few days. Have you ever had one of those projects that you enjoy working on so much that it grows faster than you thought possible? Normally I am not a monogamous knitter- I usually have between 3-5 things on the needles and I bounce back and forth depending on my mood. But lately I seem to be shifting into a much more focused mindset- I only have one other project on the needles right now, the stripey socks that I used to carry with me to school, and they haven't been touched in a few weeks.

Anyway, this is the project that has captured my heart:


This is the Jackson Blanket pattern and I'm knitting it in some acrylic baby yarn I've had sitting around for a while. This is a blanket for my new niece Rebecca, and I think that part of the reason I am enamored with this project is that I'm so excited she has become part of our family. I wont get to see her in person for a while, as my brother and sister-in-law live in Florida, but I'm hoping to get this finished in a few weeks and send it down to her.

Here is a close up of the pattern and yarn:


I think it is fun how the multi colored yarn is striping and pooling a little. It might be too much if I didn't have the while stripes in it, but I think it balances itself out :) I started this on Friday and it's about 10 inches long right now. At this rate it should be finished in about 2.5 weeks!

I'm still reading a lot of the same things I have been, but I've had (a little!) more free time so many of them have actually made progress! I'm still working on Game of Thrones; I think that one is the closest to being finished. I'm reading this one the most because I really want to start the TV series with the hubs, and I'm one of those people who likes to read the book before seeing the movie/TV show.


The next book I started listening to on audio while I spin on my wheel. Its funny- I am waiting until June 1 to start my next bump of fiber, and I'm antsy to spin AND to keep listening to the book! It is A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie King. I started reading this series years ago and kind of forgot about it. Thank goodness for Goodreads! It keeps me much more organized :)


The last book is Real Marriage by Mark and Grace Driscoll. This one is something the hubs and I are reading together, but it got set aside for months while we were both so busy with school last semester. Its definitely going to be a long term read- some nights we have other stuff going on and don't want to stay up the extra 10-20 minutes to read a section. But that's ok- I figure as long as we are making some progress we will get through it eventually ;)


Lots of knitting and reading going on here! I'm hoping it continues even though the weather seems to be having mood swings and we don't have our AC unit up and running yet.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Menu on a Tuesday

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and those of you in the states had a lovely Memorial Day weekend and maybe got an extra day off :) We had a jam packed weekend that was 90% fun and 10% unfun but productive, so it was good :) Here are some photos that show a little bit of what we were up to:








After watching the parade in the hub's hometown and having a quick lunch at his parents (the last photo is the view from their house- how awesome, right?) we did yard work and stuff around the house for the rest of the day. I tried a new meal for dinner- calzones based off of this recipe- and made 3 buffalo chicken and 3 chicken mushroom and spinach. Of course I forgot to take a photo, but I think this recipe will be made again. It will be fun to come up with different filling combinations!

Here is what our menu for the rest of the week looks like:

Tuesday: lunch- leftover calzone
dinner- cheesy potato wedges and pineapple (not together!)

Wednesday: lunch- sandwich and apple
dinner- we are trying a new restaurant! Toro Tapas Bar

Thursday: lunch- either leftovers or a wrap
dinner- the taco salad that hubs fell in love with from the other week

Friday: lunch- whatever I throw together :)
dinner- jumbo salads

Tomorrow I will finally have some knitting progress on a new project!

Monday, May 20, 2013

Beginnings and Endings

The past weekend was crazy busy, but really fun. So that this post isn't miles long, I'll recap by saying that went to a fire at a friends house, graduated, celebrated another friend's birthday, had my graduation party, and visited with some family. I'm really blessed to have close family and friends that have encouraged me while I finished school, and celebrated with me when I was done!

(I am in this picture, but even I had a hard time picking me out!)

This week, while the first week not going to classes, is still crazy busy! Tonight after work I'm going to my dad's softball game, tomorrow the hubs works late, Wednesday we have plans with friends, Thursday is another late work night for the hubs, Friday will be a big day of shopping to catch up on all the random stuff we have needed for weeks but havent had time to get, and Saturday I have a Thirty-One party I'm going to.

This is the new normal for us. Slightly crazy work schedules, but more time to get random house errands done, more time for friends, and hopefully more time with each other as well. It is also very summer-like here, and it was so nice to be outside for my graduation party. I even got a bit sunburned on my shoulders, which I am totally ok with as it means the nice weather is here to stay!

Our menu this week:

Monday: leftovers from the graduation party for lunch and dinner!

Tuesday: lunch- sandwiches and carrots
Dinner- burgers

Wednesday: lunch- tuna salad and crackers

Thursday: lunch- sandwich and an apple
Dinner- leftovers

Friday: lunch- eat out!

Friday, May 17, 2013

Whew!

Posting has been a bit sporadic, and I know I mentioned that it might be, but to be honest I had hoped to stay on my schedule of three times a week. Ha. But I finally turned in my last final yesterday! Graduation rehearsal is today, and tomorrow I will be officially graduated with my Bachelors!

I thought I would make this a bit of a catch up post since I missed both Monday and Wednesday. Surprisingly, I did sort of have a menu plan for the week, it just never made it on the blog :) We tried a new recipe this week- Taco Salad. A relative used to make a similar recipe for every family function when I was younger, and I was really hoping this was it! It didn't taste exactly the same to me, but it was similar and good, so it's a win!

Last night's dinner was pretty good too. Pasta with salmon and garlic white sauce- simple but yummy. 


We also had small salads, but those don't look nearly as good! 

The knitting is coming along slowly. I have a project that is for a friend that I would really like to have done for Saturday, but there's still a lot of knitting to do. However, the exciting fibery thing that happened this week was that I got my wheel!

I have been saving for and researching wheels for about six months now, and decided that it would be a perfect graduation gift to myself. I was careful to order it as close to graduation as I could because I didn't want to procrastinate on my finals by playing with my wheel :)

After researching and going into a LYS to try out a few wheels, I decided on a Sidekick. I ordered my wheel form the Woolery, and not only did they have a good price, their shipping was fast! My wheel came from Kentucky in 2 days. 

By the time the wheel got here I already knew what I wanted to spin on it first. Last year for my birthday I ordered some yarn and fiber, and one of the things I got was some Finn wool from Pacasha in the Rosmerta colorway. I figured the wool would be good to get used to the wheel with because it has a long staple length. I spun up one bobbin between Wednesday and yesterday, and started the second 2oz last night. I love it!


Just a couple of pins to share because I know this post is starting to get long :)

This recipe is one of those things that is super simple, but looks so good! Skillet veggies on cheese toast. We might roast or grill our veggies though!

This Beef and Noodle salad just looks so fresh!

I came across a few picture of bedrooms that I really like the looks of. Maybe if we move (or stay here long enough) I will use one for inspiration to redo ours!



Well that's its for today! Here's hoping things go back to the regular schedule, maybe with a few additions? Who knows :)

Friday, May 10, 2013

Friday Pinterest Finds

Even though it was forecasted to be a very rainy next few days, the sun is out for now, so yay! I finished my last class Thursday and will be doing essays and finals until next weekend. So, somewhat quickly, I wanted to share my Pinterest finds!

Crayon Art- I'm not artistic, but I think I could do this!


Cookies and cream cupcakes... for when I want to indulge :)


I wish!


This Taco Salad reminds me of a dish that used to appear at a lot of family functions


This penne dish looks good, only we would omit the sun dried tomatoes. 


Calzones are a fun way to use up leftovers! Bonus- freeze for later.


This chimichanga recipe only feeds my obsession with mexican flavors :)


Monday, May 6, 2013

Menu Monday

I skipped posting on Friday because, oddly enough, I had no new pins to share with you! I hope that by skipping a week and sharing this Friday that I will have some interesting things and not just fluff for the sake of posting.

This weekend was beautiful, and it is supposed to carry into the beginning of the week. They are calling for some rain, but I guess that comes with spring weather. The weekend was fun, but nothing to write home about. I did get more frozen yogurt from Cindy Lou's. Seriously, I cannot get enough. So good! I already want to go back.


This week the menu came together much easier than usual thanks to getting my butt in gear and shopping on Saturday. Normally I shop mid week, and on Mondays I am struggling to make a menu with not as much food to work with. 

Monday: Lunch- bean and rice casserole with guacamole
               Dinner- Paninis

Tuesday: Lunch- gift certificate for school cafe!
               Dinner- Applebees to celebrate the end of the semester (aka I found a giftcard in my purse!)

Wednesday: Lunch- maybe more bean and rice casserole?
                    Dinner- Chicken sausages and salad

Thursday: Lunch- not sure yet!
                 Dinner- hot dogs and oven fries

Friday: Lunch- eat out?
            Dinner- Leftovers!

So Sunday I took some time and made both the rice and bean casserole I mention above and some banana oat bars. For the life of my I could not find the recipe I used the first time that turned out so well, so I just used this one and added peanut butter, and it was pretty good. I love making up some foods that pack easily for lunches for the week, but so far I don't have a lot that I make. Sometimes I hard boil some eggs, and casseroles work well for my lunches, but the hubs doesn't have ready access to a microwave so can't take anything that needs to be warmed up. Poor guy has been eating a lot of sandwiches, wraps, and snacky foods. Do you make food ahead for the week? What are your go to items?

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

WIP Wednesday

I made it through yesterday, and half of the big projects that are due this week for school, so yay! I'm taking a quick break to share my knitting progress, my planned knitting, and some reading progress with you. I'm hoping that the first Wednesday I will share what my plans for the month are. I think its a good way to keep myself organized and accountable!

I haven't had a ton of knitting time, so the ruffly scarf looks almost exactly the same, and I didn't take a new photo. I have worked a bit on the stripey socks though, and I hope these will be done soon!


If you look closely you can see the light green stripe in the dark green at the very top of the second sock near my needles. That's my afterthought heel line, so not too much more to go!

I have four projects that I plan to start in May, but only three are patterns I can really share. The fourth is a crazy-requested-by-my-husband-self-designed-monstrosity that will have to wait for another post :)

The first thing I plan to cast on is the Monkey pattern by Cookie A.


I'll be using my Knit Picks Stroll Multi (which is now discontinued) in the Cupcake colorway.


As evidenced by the date on this photo, I've had this yarn for a while! Yay for using old stash.

The next pattern is the Spa Day facecloth.


I've been meaning to make more washcloths, some for me to use on my face and some for the kitchen. For these I plan on using some Lilac Knit Picks CotLin that has been hanging around.

The last pattern is the Chunky Crochet Basket. I think this will be great to carry knitting stuff from the upstairs office downstairs and for storage.


This is the project I am most nervous about because my crochet skills are abysmal. Still, I really want the finished project, so hopefully that motivates me to push through! I'll be using some Knit Picks Wool of the Andes doubled for this.


Wow, all Knit Picks yarns! I promise, I own other brands ;) It just so happens that I have a lot of Knit Picks old stash that I am trying to use.

Lastly, I finished two books this week. One of them I didn't read every single page, since it was a book for school, but I finished the part we were required to read and, to be honest, I don't ever see myself reading it more for fun, so in my book I consider it read!

This book, however, was pretty interesting and I'm debating keeping it. Maybe not. Who knows! If you are interested in the Vietnam War, it is definitely worth checking out. Lots of documents addressing all different sides and parts of the war.


The other one, like I mentioned, was just so so. However, it did have some good info for the paper I just finished, so yay!



My currently-reading book list is still super long, but as my classes finish up it should be a more manageable length and I hope to start sharing what books are in progress as well!

This post is linked up with Ginny's Yarn Along