Sorry for such a delay in my posts!! I had hoped to be posting on a more regular basis but life got kinda busy with kids & puppies and my part time job at clothing store here in town!! Anyway, without further delay, my current project!!
This is Jalopie … he’s a giraffe. As I continue to work on him, I will post more pictures!
And this is one of Jalopie’s legs.
I can’t wait to finish this little guy and find him a new home!
I am so excited about these little hats because they are just TOO CUTE! I had a lot of fun working on these today. The munchkin is off at gramma’s for the night so it’s given me quite a bit of time to work on some projects. Even had a break to go out to our favorite Vietnamese diner here in town for dinner…. it was incredible as always!
So here come a few pictures of the adorable little pom-pom beanies I made today… I based these off a free pattern you can find at Oodles 4 Noodles blog. I made the pom-pom by wrapping yarn around 4 fingers until it had the thickness I liked, tied it off in the middle, and then cut them to shape! I am going to be adding these to my Etsy Shop.
I’m feeling frustrated with my crochet again because I just found out that another one of my hats didn’t work out for a good friend’s baby. So I think I’m just gonna have to spend tomorrow morning making a new batch of hats to send out to customers whose orders I shipped last week before all this hullaballoo started!!! I believe in creating a product I can stand behind, so I’ve got too work this out. Four more hats to finish up tomorrow and get mailed out right away then!! I’ll post pics of the revised hats when they are completed.
Meanwhile at work earlier, crazy parking lot lady from the kid’s school appeared. She made it a point to find me and argue with me last year, if I parked crooked … OK THANKS LADY .. and no it is not her job, she was there picking up her own kids. We haven’t faced off at all this year, thankfully. She didn’t recognize me at first because I was dressed up and had makeup on, which normally I don’t wear everyday. But then, all of a sudden, she realized who I was and her speech turned into a growl and that was that. Can you make a customer happy if she already doesn’t like you? Hmmmm..
Third day without smoking has passed uneventfully. I am so thankful it was this easy to quit this time around!! I do love to smoke but I love to breathe too!! And waking up to 3am asthma attacks for 2 weeks is not how I want to spend the rest of my nights!! It’s surely all down hill from here as well as far as smoking can take me!! How did I quit? Cold turkey is the only way to go. All those quit smoking aids that slowly step you down are a HUGE waste of money, just like cigarettes. They always made me WANT to smoke instead of satisfying that craving. I guess God was listening when I asked for help!! Now I hope I just don’t gain a spare tire substituting food for smoking!! Can’t let myself do that!
And blah blah blah blah blah …. good night. I’ll leave you with some pics of my new yarn I picked up earlier today! HAPPY DANCE!
They’re lucky I love them because I’m ready to kill them!! Who? My miniature daschunds of course … Yet again the sneaky little Mika snatched a skein of yarn and she and Rosie had wonderful fun wrapping themselves in it. OK, I know it’s pretty funny … but too much of my yarn looks like this thanks to these two.
mika and rosie in the yarn again
rosie know its bad
Tonight I have to work at my other part time job at Marks Work Wearhouse. It will be nice to get out of the house and socialize with adults instead of kids!! Hopefully I’ll have a chance to do some crafting afterwards but I’ll probably just end up going to sleep. I spent my time earlier continuing to try and get my yarn stash and crafting supplies organized. So I haven’t started any new projects today 
I did however pick up some new yarns to add to my stash. Michael’s has a great one day sale only going on Loops & Threads for $2.49 a skein! Just couldn’t pass it up.
Well! I had a minor setback this weekend. Empixx had a photo shoot and the hats I made didn’t fit the baby’s head!! OH NO!! I was so disappointed. So after having a minor meltdown, I ran to The Wool Emporium, one of our local stores here in Saskatoon, and grabbed some new hooks. I know that I crochet tighter than some people, but I was lacking in larger hooks to make up for that in the patterns I’m crafting! And I am much happier with the new hats I”ve created with my new larger hooks! Trial and error I suppose, at least now I know and can make the right adjustments in the future.
I also finished up the Empixx Ladybug Cape & Hat Set with the black and red hats. I used Loops & Threads Charisma yarn in black & red for this project. This is another pattern that is available for purchase from Calleigh’s Clips. It sure feels good to get these projects knocked off my to-do list!
I just finished up the Monkey Cuddle Critter Cape Set for Empixx Photography!! Can’t wait to see some newborn cuteness in this. This little cape & hat set will also be available for purchase in my North Country Crafting Etsy Shop!!
**You can purchase this crochet pattern from Calleigh’s Clips Etsy Shop.
New babies are on the way, so that means new photo shoots coming up in the month of February! I can’t wait to see the beautiful pictures Erin @ Empixx Photography produces next. And I’m very excited to be providing her with many new crocheted photography props to use with the little ones! You can find her work online at Empixx Photography or follow her photo blog at Empixx Photo. I can’t wait to see her photos of my work on some sweet, little babies!!
Turkey Turkey Turkey!
You must be thinking “so soon after the holidays?” Well, yea. We got a free turkey over the Christmas break at our local Superstore grocery store. But with all the dinners at our families houses, we never got around to making ours! So we’ll be enjoying turkey dinner tonight and leftovers for a few days to come!
So I was searching for stuffing recipes earlier on the internet and as usual, ended up having to improvise a little with my own. My stuffing has bread and cornbread in it. And a few other surprises as well!
what does harvest time mean in your house? this year for us it’s lots of fresh veggies! now I’m trying to figure out how to use them and save them so they don’t go to waste! my first project today was spicy refrigerator pickles.
i found this recipe in one of my mom’s old southern cookbooks and thought i’d give it a try! enjoy!
Refrigerator Pickles
1 cup bell pepper, chopped 4 tbsp celery seed
1 cup white vinegar 1 cup onions, chopped
2 cups sugar 7 cups cucumbers, sliced
2 tbsp salt
Mix all ingredients, put in a large container, I used an ice cream bucket. Cover and refrigerate for 4-5 days before eating. We love spicy food in our house, so i added a few habanero peppers and a small amount of peppercorns.
Spicy Refrigerator Pickles
Short on space to grow fresh vegetables for yourself and your family? Why not create your own space? I have such a small amount of soil to plant in on the property we rent, I am making some veggie grow bags for a more bountiful harvest for my family!
I made 2 bags this size. They turned out a bit larger than I had planned, so I am going to use them for sweet potatoes since they get much bigger than other potatoes. I will go into more detail on creating these awesome grow bags in my next post.
North Country Crafting 