Wished I loved it but didn't...

I couldn't even finish this book. I tried several times to read the book Ties That Bind by Cindy Woodsmall that I received for free from the publisher through Blogging for Books for my review per FCC rules. Normally I enjoy her books but I couldn't get into the characters at all. I usually like at least one character in a book, and will continue reading but this one for some reason I didn't like any of them. However, I always say that if a book sounds interesting to someone they should read it no matter someone's opinion, sometimes I have liked books and others not. It is hard for me to really rate a book since I didn't even finish it, but since I did read some I will give it a 2.

This could be completed in another week...

or so depending how much I am able to get done. I think the progress so far has went really good. I know my cousin really liked the colors of the yarn. I haven't ever thought a baby blanket should be just big enough for a few months, after all the child will grow quickly, so I try to make them more toddler size. In case anyway wanted to know this yarn si by Lion Brand and called Ice Cream Big Scoop.

Not sure about the colors...

so far in my temperature blanket. I like some of them but not all of them, some of the colors look different than in reality. The bright yellow isn't as bright and the puny green is actually a light green, almost like the color of sage. This is the progress I have completed until the 26th. I have thought about adding a white row in between the months, a few people are doing this, but not sure if I should or not. Perhaps it would show up too much and be distracting. What are your thoughts?

Library Books.....

These are the library books that I currently have checked out, and of course there is somewhat of a theme of most of them being mysteries. Sometimes I go through periods when I only read one genre of books, not always through. What are you currently reading?

Trying New Recipes

I like to try a new recipe every now and then, lately though I usually change something about the recipe that I think would make it taste better. I have never made a pastie (pasty?) before but thought they sounded good. I found a basic recipe but changed it a little bit; used ground turkey, added dried basil and oregano, and a little bit of cheese. I think next time it needed more herbs and cheese, otherwise it was a little too dry even with dunking the pastie in a condiment such as ketchup or mustard.

This meal actually feed us for a few days, and in the recipe it did say they could be frozen (although might not be a good idea if you added cheese to them).

I also tried a chicken with potatoes and carrots in the slow cooker. The reviews did say that it was a little bland so I added a lot more salt, rosemary, and paprika. I made a error though in adding all that salt, it created a lot of water so much so that all the vegggies were totally submerged under the liquid (some of it in the end didn't taste the greatest). The chicken came out good though, so perhaps I might make the veggies in a different way or use less salt. I forgot to take a after photo, but here is the before.

Granny Stripe Blanket Complete

I actually finished this baby blanket on the 23rd. I love how it turned out and it only took me about two weeks, sometimes not working on it that much. I was pretty sure my friend was having a girl but just in case had bought the baby boy yarn. Good thing I did that as of course it turns out I was mistaken. I was unsure what I was going to do with the girl yarn since I didn't know anyone else expecting soon, but found out that a cousin of mine and his spouse are adopting a girl. I have started another granny stripe blanket already. I really love this pattern and it is so easy, it would be great gifts  for a scarf, shawl or blanket.

I only have a few rows done for the new project but I am liking it so far.

Refrigerated Pickling Vegetables

I have seen a few things about pickling veggies, but never tried to make them before. Great thing is that there is no canning involved in this and it was really easy to do. I used peppercorn, mustard seeds, garlic, cumin seeds, salt to add spices to the onions, cucumber and carrots. In another container I made the spices to be ground turmeric, garlic, salt, and peppercorn. I thought I added a little too much turmeric in that one, but Mr. Crafts4others loved it. Today (being Tuesday), I made another one but with onions, carrots, and bell peppers with cumin seed, garlic, sugar, salt, apple cide vinegar, peppercorns, turmeric, red pepper flakes. This is the first one that the brine had sugar in it, but that will probably make it in the end more of a sour/tart and sweet flavor. We will definitely know in the next day or so.

Here is the main Recipe that I used to create the pickled vegetables for the picture above.

This is the new one and waiting for the brine to cool before putting it in the fridge. The color looks different since I used different spices and apple cider vinegar.

Have you tried pickling before? Do you have some good recommendations of spices that go good together? 

Interesting Colors...

That are coming together with the differen temperatures for the afghan. I am a few days behind, but thus is updated till Saturday. The yellow is really bright in the photo but in reality it still stands out but not as bad.

Some Good Leftovers...

I had made some ham balls and cut up pieces of apple with cinnamon and sugar a few days ago. They were both great as leftovers. Do you have a favorite ham ball or meat ball recipe?

A Little Bit More Complete

on the baby granny stripe blanket I am making for my friend. I think that I am almost halfway there, not sure how long I will have it be, but want to ensure he can grow into it for awhile at least. Have you ever tried the granny blanket, whether in the round or stripe? I know this pattern is dated but just love it, and plus I like vintage items and some clothing.

First Week Complete

for the temperature blanket and this was the result so far to the 9th of January. I am making sure now that I am at least one day behind so that I can look at the full 24 hours in order to get the true highest and lowest temps. The coldest temp so far is 13 degrees which is the purple, and (not pictured) the highest is 70 which is yellow. Has anyone decided to join in or perhaps thinking about making a blanket next year? I know some are doing blankets for just a particular month, or even just six months out of the year. Definitely next year I plan on using a different type of stitch instead of the garter.

Granny Stripe Baby Blanket

I have never been to good at crochet as I always had a hard time getting the edges even, but have always love the granny afghan. I have seen several people do a granny strip afghan for temperature blankets, so I decided to be adventurous and try my hand at crochet again. I am glad I did and am loving how quick and easy this is going so far. It will be a gift to a friend of mine who is having a baby boy. I only started working on it Friday and this is my progress until Saturday night. I think next year this pattern will be my temperature blanket.

Temperature Blanket Update Days 1-5

I have gotten a few days behind in working on this but thought I would show my progress thru day 5. I cast on a little over 300 stitches in garter, and am using the circular needles. The highest temp so far has been 57 with the bright green color and the lowest temp 28 the light blue.

Here are the ranges I have used so far:

Bright Green 55-64
Green 45-54
Bright Blue 35-44
Light Blue 25-34

I have included both the high and low temp for each day.

Homemade Pizza

I love to make pizza but still had a few issues with recipes that I saw. I ended up really liking one from Taste of Home, and I didn't use the toppings they did. I think from now on when I make a pizza it will be with this crust. My apologies if this post makes you hungry, I had thought of scheduling this to be later in the day, but then thought at least if it is early then you can get the ingredients later in time for dinner.

Christmas Gifts 2016

I made all of the Christmas gifts in 2016 and already have a head start for this year as well, which was mostly because I had quite a few problems either finishing or finding the needing items to finish other projects. I made five pillowcases and I due have two more to make (the fabric was sold out), and several knitting washcloths, and several handmade EPP ornaments.

I made the pillowcases a lot bigger, but just have them folded in the pictures.
I made two of these for my nieces which they enjoyed.

This one was for my mother who enjoys gardening.

This one was for my Dad who is a huge fan, I plan to also get similar fabrics for the other two pillowcases I still owe my sister and her husband.

I made this one for my husband who is a huge fan of the Simpsons.

This is one of the ornaments completed, I made one for each niece with their name and the year. The one with the snowmen are halfway done and it was for my sister and her husband. I made one with bears for my nephew.

Temperature Blanket 2017

I am excited to start this year with doing a Temperature Blanket. Basically, every day you take the highest temperature in your area (some also due both low and high temp.), and knit or crochet a row with a particular color for that degree. Some even go back and due a "historical" temperature blanket of events such as a year someone was born,wedding, etc. I plan on just doing a garter stitch, and haven't decided if I will just due the high temp or both. Here are the color ways I have picked;

95+ Red
85-94 Burnt Orange
75-84 Orange
65-74 Yellow
55-64 Bright Green (it is brighter than the pic shows)
45-54 Sage
35-44  Bright Blue
25-34 Light Blue
15-24 Dark Blue
0-14 Purple

I plan on making a notebook to keep track of all the temperatures of the year and my journey, just in case I get behind. I think this is also a great idea to do this for crafts such as quilting and perhaps weaving. There is a group on facebook and I have seen a few posts on other people's blog showing the colors and degree's they have chosen. It should be fun and interesting to see how it turns out.

Getting Caught Up...

I have quite a few posts to put up this week and perhaps more after that. I hope that everyone had a great holiday and New Year's. I did quite a bit for Thanksgiving and made a homemade Apple Pie for the first time, it wasn't all homemade as I didn't make the crust. I just put butter, salt and pepper on the green beans. I did something different with the turkey breasts this (now last) year, I took off all the skin and added a rub of different spices and cooked it in the slow cooker. It was really good and had lots of flavor. I made the homemade rolls, they were ok turned out more biscuity that I would have liked. The sweet potatoes most were the homegrown ones, but a few store bought ones as well, then I added brown sugar and butter to them. In order to save time though I made them the day before and they had more flavor.

One of my cousin's got married in early December and I was unable to attend the event, but made some hand knit dishcloths as gifts. 

I made two of each color and each pattern.