Homemade Bread (Cyster Approved!)

Both my husband & I have been on paths to healthier life styles over the past year.  Sometimes our paths have intersected - both of us gave up all soda, for example - and sometimes they felt miles apart - over the summer, I was following a High Protein Low Carb plan, and he was exclusively juicing.  I've since switched to the essentially vegan Cyster Diet, and the hubs is in a "generally making better choices & watching portions" stage; but one of the things that we are always in sync on is the desire to pass our healthy choices on to our kiddos, to set them up for long term success.

We try to be role models for the boys, without being obsessive about food, either.  So, we emphasize stopping when your tummy is full & not eating just because you're bored... we talk about how yummy healthy foods are, and how good we feel when we eat fruits & veggies... but we also encourage them to enjoy ice cream & choose Happy Meals every chance we let them ;)  And, perhaps most importantly, we try to make sure they understand where their food comes from, so they can grow up to appreciate homegrown / homemade foods regularly, over processed choices.

Tonight, I attempted homemade bread for the first time, and in keeping with our vision for our family, I had the boys help me.  Luckily, this healthy, Cyster Diet-friendly recipe has just 4 ingredients, so it was an easily managed adventure.  And I am just so pleasantly surprised at how well the bread turned out!

The recipe we used was from this blog I love, and it only has 4 ingredients: warm water, sugar, yeast, and Einkorn flour.  I'm gonna be honest, if you're wondering what Einkorn flour is (and I'm sure you are), you should Google it.  My husband discovered it in his research of various health foods, and encouraged me to look into it for my nutrition plan.

In fact, this whole home baking endeavor of ours was his idea, too!  We've been trying to streamline our finances / improve our budget, as well as improve our eating habits, so our efforts there include a new vegetable garden (still in planning stage)... making our own butter... grocery shopping changes... and baking our own bread, to avoid the chemicals in store-bought options.  He has attempted a few recipes, both in the oven and in his bread machine, but this was my first go at it.

So, anyways, I gathered my few ingredients, putting the flour in 3 cups so each of my boys could "help."  We stirred the sugar into the warm water & sprinkled in the yeast, and the kids watched it bloom like it was something fun, lol.  When it was ready, they crowded around the mixer to dump the flour in, I drizzled the yeast mixture in, and they cheered it on as it combined.

This no-knead bread has to rise twice, so I covered the bowl with plastic wrap & let it sit while we ate dinner.  We came back to it 45 minutes later & Aidan's eyes were like saucers when he saw the puffed up bubble of plastic wrap - what a great opportunity for a science chat, too ;)

The rest was super easy - pour it into the buttered loaf pan, cover with buttered plastic wrap, let rise again.  Then bake it for half an hour & let it cool completely before slicing.  Unfortunately, I chose a too-small pan, which I didn't realize until the second rise, so the top mushroomed over a bit...

But it was still delicious - especially with some all natural apple butter on top ;)

Taco Bout A Party!

I can hardly believe it, but my baby boy turned three this month!  To me, he's still my baby, but if you ask him, "I not a baby, I a big kid."  And really, he's right!  He talks (endlessly), he does everything possible for himself, he climbs in & out of his crib (Lord, help me!), and he keeps up with his six year old brother like a champ!  He also knows how to plow his way through a few tacos and an order of chips & queso, so it only seemed fitting that we had a Birthday Fiesta for him this year ;)

As always, I kicked the theme into gear with the invitation we sent out:

I just design these in publisher, which is my favorite program in the word, y'all!  Print them 4 to a sheet of cardstock, cut apart, and they can be mailed in envelopes or even as a postcard, to save a little money.  I'm gonna be honest, I gave them out to family in person, and I texted a screenshot of it to anyone not in the area.  Lol, I didn't want them to get lost in the shuffle of Christmas Cards.

Back when my Aidan turned one, I started a tradition of making a shirt for the Birthday Boy, matching the theme & personalized with his name.  To connect to our Fiesta, I created a design of Mexican party flags spelling his name, and added "is three!" underneath.  I have to admit, it's easily my most-favorite shirt I've done so far - no doubt because of my new Cricut machine, which made it so easy to do!

I also used my Cricut to make the various signs & banners to decorate our house.  As our friends & family arrived, the "no time to siesta" sign greeted them.  Over our buffet line, I strung a banner saying "taco bout a party."  On the fireplace & on our window frame, I used Mexican fiesta flags to spell out "Happy Birthday Leo" and "Leo Is Three."  The bright colors, the fun puns, and the flag cut outs all added to the festive theme I was aiming for.

The buffet I mentioned before featured tacos & nachos, with both beef & chicken options, and plenty of fixings - queso, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, tomatoes, lettuce... I had hard shells, soft tortillas, and chips for anyone who prefers nachos.  Our kitchen is set up in a sort-of U-shape, with doorways on each end, so it really lent itself to a smooth-flowing buffet line, complete with drinks in the sink!  Everyone had something to eat, and seemed to really enjoy it, from toddlers to grandparents.  

 

The best part of the party food, though, was the "pinata cake" I made.  Let me choose to word this nicely, and just say it was quite a labor of love... the actual cake was easy: I layered 4 round cakes, cutting out a circle in the bottom three, to create an empty core.  I filled it with mini M&Ms and sprinkles, then topped it with the fourth layer, and iced the whole thing in white frosting.  My fatal error was deciding to coat the entire cake in rainbow nonpareils.  I was going for a festive, Fiesta-like feel... but what I got was a MESS!  Sprinkles all over my kitchen, stained countertops, an emotional late Friday night... Ay yay yay, I will never do that again!  But, I will say, it was worth it, because Leo's face lit up when he saw it, and all our guests enjoyed it!

 

As if the candy-stuffed cake wasn't enough sugar, we sent each person home with a rock candy stick, with a personalized tag to match our theme.

I have to say, throwing a themed party for my boys is one of my favorite things to do.  I attribute it to my mother, who planned the most epic themed Day Camps you've ever heard of, and who throws the best bridal/baby showers ever!  So as long as my kiddos let me, I'm gonna keep it up ;)

Unicorn Graphgan

Remember when I made this unicorn pillow for my niece?  She just loved it so much, I thought I'd make her a blanket to match it, for her Christmas gift.  It turned out to be a much larger endeavor than I anticipated, but it was definitely worth it, because she was delighted, and I was quite pleased with what I made ;)

I've posted about using the Corner To Corner (C2C) crochet method before, like when I made my cross-body tote and for L's baby blanket.  For anyone who doesn't know how to do this yet, I use this great picture tutorial from The Lazy Hobby Hopper.  I love the fabric it creates, but I also love it for another reason - the grid-like structure lends itself perfectly to graphgans!  A graphgan uses a graphed pattern, similar to counted cross stitch or perler beads, to create a picture out of the crochet stitches.  So, in this case, I turned the picture of the unicorn pillow into a graph of a unicorn:

I think there are websites that will do this for you, but you can just do what I do & put graph paper over the picture & do your best.  LOL.  Once the graph is designed, you just start at a bottom corner & work your way row-by-row through the pattern.  It builds diagonally, of course, moving... well, corner to corner ;)

I just love the first color change - it's so exciting! 

Just looking at the graph, it didn't look too scary; however, as I worked my way through it, I realized it was making a much larger blanket than I anticipated.  Thank God I started it waaay early, back at the start of the school year, because with my limited crocheting time available, I was still weaving in ends on Christmas Eve morning!  It was totally worth it, though, because it turned out to be my most-favorite project I've done to date:

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year, y’all!

Goodness gracious, it has been a looong time since I’ve posted – almost 6 months!  I’m not sure how I let that slip up happen, but I’m going to try my best not to fall into that trap again!

I don’t usually put much stock into the whole “New Year, New You” concept of making resolutions, but this year I figured I’d try it.  Nothing about losing weight – I’ve already been on a path of healthier eating & respecting my body for a while now, and anyways I absolutely refuse to be consumed by the toxic mess spewed by the diet industry.  My goals this year do include continuing my healthy endeavors, but they are also about my mental health, and about taking steps towards my ultimate desire in life of being a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM).

My path to a healthier physical self is all about treating my PCOS – exercising regularly, drinking plenty of water, remembering to take my medicine twice a day, and following my “Cyster Diet” meal plan (more on that in a later post).

My goals for improving my mental health are making time for Bible study and praying a rosary (at least one decade) every day and making sure I continue to read the kids’ Bible with the boys every night.

Working towards being a SAHM is a complicated, long-term plan for my hubby & me – we’re working very, very hard to get our finances under control and get everything in order for that.  But, in addition, I have a secondary goal of being able to grow a (very small!) crochet business, once I’m no longer going to an office every day.  So, to that end, my 2019 Resolutions include crocheting for 30 minutes each day, and making sure I blog at least once per week (you’re welcome).

To keep me on track with all of this, I ventured into a territory I always swore I'd avoid (if only because I had a feeling I would become addicted, and add pens/graph paper to the list of supplies my husband has to roll his eyes at)  - Bullet Journaling.  I kept it to just this one subject, though, and I created it on my computer, so that I kept the supplies to a minimum.  I simply made the chart in excel, printed them for a binder, and began filling them in with my pen.  I'm hoping my competitive nature, combined with my OCD & love of beautiful patterns, will keep me on track with all of my goals.

You can see today is not over, so the row for 1/2/19 is incomplete

I have a pile of projects I never posted about: a pillow for one niece, a blanket for the other… some house decorating…stockings for my family… So, beginning next week, I’ll roll those out as soon as possible.  But I’m also going to use this blog for the originally designed purpose, to share personal aspects of my life, as well.  So, hopefully, my weekly entries will help others in similar situations, or allow my loved ones to learn more about me, and ultimately connect to my overall goal of a healthier, happier me ;)

Unicorn-Unique Niece

My niece just turned 9, which I can't even believe is possible - how is she growing so fast?!?  In my mind she's still my little Livy-bug, but in reality, she's old enough to have an Instagram-worthy, hashtag-ready, rainbows & unicorns themed birthday party.  Seriously, this girl needs to be introduced to an old friend of mine named Lisa Frank ;)

I decided to crochet her a pillow - something she can snuggle up to while reading, or cozy up with watching tv.  I have had this awesome pattern saved on my Pinterest for quite a while now, just knowing it would come in handy.  It was super easy & it worked up quickly, I was pleasantly surprised :)  I even had it done before we went on vacation, a whole month before the birthday!

You can see I did a sleepy eye, instead of a hard plastic one, so it would be a bit cozier.  I also did the mane differently - as much as I just LOVE the one in the original picture, I wasn't thrilled with how it was turning out as I crocheted it... so I just used a rainbow yarn and made a fringe trim along the top & back of the unicorn's head (I cut a guhzillion pieces of yarn then gathered 3 together, folded them in half, and used my crochet hook to pull them through the edge stitches & knot them in place).

I think it was a hit - when she opened the bag (which I also crocheted - that post will be coming sometime) she let out a squeal and jumped up to give me a hug.  That, of course, is my favorite part of crocheting for my family & friends ;)  And, my sister texted me that my niece has requested a blanket, so... we shall see where the inspiration takes me, on that!

All You Need Is Love...

Y'all.  Y'all!  I know I say this all the time, but this time it's for reals - this is my FAVORITE thing I've ever made (aside from my sons' baby blankets, naturally).  This project was super fun, the yarn was a joy to work with, and the whole concept of it was a new thing for me to try.  So, I am so happy to present to you my niece's birthday present, The Beatles Blanket:

My niece is turning 6 on Monday, and thanks to the show "Beat Bugs," she is a huge Beatles fan.  Enough of a fan, in fact, to have a Beatles themed birthday party!  She decided this far enough in advance that I was confident I could finish a (small) project in time, and I started searching online for a project.  Of course, I just couldn't find anything that really called to me.  Lots of Sgt. Pepper amigurumi stuff, but... honey, no... I felt myself moving in the direction of a blanket to snuggle up with, but I couldn't find any great patterns.  So, I drew inspiration from a picture I saw online, and I came up with a pattern I could turn into a graphgan (afghan made from a graphed pattern, where 1 block = 1 stitch).

Keeping with the Beatles theme, I picked a psychedelic-looking yarn for the words, and a super soft grey for the background.  Even though it can look intimidating at first, a graphgan is actually super easy - you just carry the non-working yarn along inside the stitches, and switch back-and-forth whenever the chart tells you to.  Depending on which stitch you use, you may need to do TWO stitches for each block on the graph (i.e., in sc, 1 stitch is accurate, but hdc, dc, or even tc will really skew your results - I did this blanket in all hdc, which is why mine is taller & narrower than the graph.), but other than that, it's quite straightforward.  The only important thing to remember is to always hold the "secret" yarn towards the back of the picture, so that it doesn't show through on the front side.  You can definitely see some spots where I got lazy with that (particularly the bottom left side), and I tried to pay more attention to that as I went on.

Once I had the graphed portion of the blanket done, I went around the whole thing with single crochet, then did a second round in dc.  This made a nice, uniform border, and also helped restore the blanket to a more squared shape, after it got wonky from being handled so much.

I'm really hoping my niece likes this blanket.  In true almost-6-years-old fashion, she changed her mind about a week ago & requested a gymnastics party (though my sister did me a solid & merged the two), but she still loves the Beatles & neon colors ;)  Either way, this project was fun & a big step for me into trying new techniques!

Baby Blanket for the Brussels Sprout

This post has been sitting in my "to post" bin for a bit, because I was waiting til the recipient opened the present at her Baby Shower.  And boy, what a fun time that party was!  My cousin, who is having a baby in August, lives in Belgium.  But the families are scattered, from Colorado to New York, Massachusetts to Maryland... there was no way we were going to be able to get everyone together, right?  So, Momma-to-be's sister came up with the idea of a "virtual shower," and It.  Was.  AMAZING!  Everyone shipped their presents overseas in the weeks leading up to the big day (T, how did you ever have the self control for that?!?), then we all gathered at local homes to join in on a shared video call to get to chat & watch the presents be opened.  They even shipped decorations to each home & ordered cupcakes from local bakeries - totally genius!  I swear, it was one of the best showers I ever "attended," and I was just so impressed with how much love & dedication the Auntie-to-be put into it =D

All of the presents at the shower were wonderful, of course, but in my completely biased opinion, this blanket was my favorite one!  I picked a super soft, cozy, cuddly yarn, and worked it up on a nice, fat hook, so the stitches are soft & puffy.  And yes, I know that creams/browns aren't traditionally baby colors, but this color scheme just called out to me in the store - you see, my cousin's "happy place" is the New England beach, and this yarn instantly reminded me of the rocky coastline & beautiful beach where she got married :)

This is 3 skeins (minus the couple yards that got so tangled I had to cut it off...) of Bernat Baby Blanket yarn.  I've never used this before, because I tend to stick to worsted weight yarns, but once I felt it, I was in love.  I can't wait to use it again and again!  Because the variegated colors created a pattern naturally, I didn't use any fancy stitch here - just straight rows of hdc.  Which was nice, because it worked up quickly & it's easy to do while watching tv, or between chores.

My favorite part of making baby blankets is watching my loved ones enjoy the present - it warms my heart when I see people get excited over something I made!  My cousin was super excited, which made me so happy (and it was so cute to watch her snuggle the blanket herself).  I can't wait to see her little Brussels Sprout wrapped up in it, too!

Crochet Gingham Blanket

Hee hee, can you tell I'm trying my best to get caught back up with my blogging?  3 posts in a week must be a record for me!  Today I am happy to share with you the blanket I crocheted for my newest nephew, born in January.  I adore being an Auntie (I have 2 nieces & now 2 nephews!) for many, many reasons, not the least of which is that I have extra kiddos to crochet for.  Each one of my buddies has a blanket I made for him/her, and it makes my heart so happy!

This time around, I chose to use the tapestry crochet technique to create a gingham pattern, using white, sage, and forest green yarns.  In a nutshell, tapestry crochet just means you create a row of stitches in 2 (or more!) colors by carrying along the color you're not using, hiding it inside the active stitches.  So, for example, in that first stripe (left side in the picture above), when I was making the white blocks, I was hiding the sage yarn inside, then when I switched to sage, I tucked the white yarn in each stitch.  It is a SUPER easy way to create more complex patterns in your work, without having a guhzillion ends to weave in later.

As always, I started with a solid row of single crochet, to get a good foundation, before I started working in pattern.  In this case, I chose to chain 121 stitches to begin, single crocheted in the second chain from the hook and in every chain after, giving me a foundation of 120 stitches.  At that point, I began carrying my sage yarn across with me, and I created the blocks of color every 15 stitches (8 blocks x 15 stitches each = 120 stitches total).  The secret to getting the smooth transitions is to pick up the next color in the final yarn over of the last stitch of the previous color.  Just be sure that you're always pushing the yarn to the back of the work, which will be away from you on odd rows & toward you on even rows, of course.  This is especially important at the edges, when you carry the non-dominant yarn up a row.  You want all of these visible spots to be on one side, so the front of the finished project is clean, with no tell-tale signs of transitions:

I chose this pattern because my sister-in-law and her family are down home, country living kind of people, and I thought she'd like the aesthetic.  But, it actually turned out to be one of MY most favorite things I've ever crocheted, too!

Momentos for Christmas

I know most of my posts are about crocheting, but I do enjoy many other crafts as well, and my sewing machine is one of my most prized possessions.  It has unfortunately been stuck in storage for 2 years, while we moved out of our townhouse, stayed with my parents for a year, and moved into our new home.  My DH just got it out of the storage unit this week, actually, so I can't wait to get it set up... But, in the meantime, I was forced to hand sew any projects I wanted to work on.  For the most part, this translated to putting items on the back burner.  But, there were two Christmas presents I just knew I wanted to make, for special, sentimental reasons, and I forged ahead without my machine.

As I've discussed, my DH, our 2 sons, and I moved last year, into his Nan's old home.  We are SO happy & honored to live in the home she filled with love & wonderful memories for so many years.  It's such a blessing to be in our "forever home," establishing those warm & fuzzy experiences for our own family, surrounded by Nan's memory.  I wanted to extend that blessed, loved feeling to my husband's family, so I used some of Nan's clothes to create a couple momentos.

The first thing I created was this pillow for my mother-in-law.  Using one of Nan's soft, comfy cardigans, I cut squares from the front & the back, being careful to preserve the embroidered pattern, which is just "SO Nan," and the buttons, to keep the look of the shirt.  On that front panel, I hand-embroidered a poem:

This is a shirt

Nan used to wear

Whenever you hug it

Know she is there

The easiest way to do this is using water-soluble stabilizer, like this one.  You print the design in your regular printer, stick it on the fabric, and embroider it however you like.  Then all you do is soak it in warm water & the stabilizer flakes off, leaving you with hand-embroidered fabric.  Best.  Invention.  EVER.  Once that was dry, I hand-sewed the two squares together, using a back stitch, to make sure it was sturdy.  The best part of this project was that the buttons created a built-in opening to insert the pillow form, so I didn't have to leave a hole to sew up later ;)  Easy peasy, and I think it turned out just beautiful.



I also made a teddy bear for my (at the time) nephew-to-be.  My sister-in-law was very close with Nan, and took her first son to visit quite frequently.  Unfortunately, Nan passed away before this second baby made his appearance.  So, I used another one of Nan's cozy shirts to make a memory bear, so Nan's love & snuggles could still be available in at least a little way.

I did not come up with this pattern myself - I used this tutorial, from the PA Country Crafts blog.  I've had this pinned for quite awhile, hoping to make bears from each of my boys' "coming home" outfits, so I was very excited to try it out.  Let me tell you, it was so easy & simple - even without my machine handy! - that I can't wait to do it again =D  This bear turned out exactly how I wanted it to, right down to the floral pattern that reminds us so much of Nan.

Cluster V-Stich Rainbow Blanket

Lord have mercy, how long has it been since I've posted?  6 1/2 months?  Whew!  I'm not sure what's gotten into me, because it's certainly not like I stopped crafting.  I've made a blanket for my brand new nephew, Colton, holiday gifts for various family members, and some holiday decorations... and I also made this random blanket, for no one in particular, just because an idea struck my fancy.

I was sitting in my office, daydreaming about a crochet project (as I frequently do), and I was hit with the idea that rainbow stripes, alternating with a stark black for contrast, could make for a beautiful blanket!  I have always loved rainbow colors.  I'm positively sure it's because of my anxiety/OCD - I love colors in the "correct" order, so rainbow stripes just feel good.  I frequently find myself drawn to LGBT-pride items, which cracks up my family & friends, but to me that's a win-win, right? ;)  So, it's not surprise that my yarn stash already had all of these colors just sitting around, since I use them in so many projects, and I had the black leftover from an ill-fated Disney project (lol).

I wanted a chunkier, more substantial stitch pattern, to hold up to the worsted weight yarn and the bold, primary colors, so I went with a cluster v-stitch.  It works up similar to a traditional v-stitch, working into the spaces of the previous row, but each v is made up of a puffy "cluster."  It's super simple to do:
Yarn over, insert hook through stitch, yarn over and pull through two loops, leaving two loops on the hook.  Yarn over and insert it through the same stitch. Yarn over and pull through two loops, then yarn over again and pull it through 3 loops remaining on hook.  Chain 1, then repeat to make the second half of the cluster: yarn over, insert hook through stitch, yarn over and pull through two loops, leaving two loops on the hook.  Yarn over and insert it through the same stitch. Yarn over and pull through two loops, then yarn over again and pull it through 3 loops remaining on hook.

I always start my blankets with a row of single crochet.  Controversial among crocheters, I know, because most people prefer to start their foundation row in the pattern.  But I prefer the sturdier foundation, as well as the easier stitches to work with when I start my pattern.  This blanket needs an odd number in the starting chain, so I settled on 75, for a baby-sized throw.  I single crocheted across, chained 3, and turned my work, before starting my pattern:

Row 1: DC in first st, *skip 2 chains, Cluster V-stitch in next chain, repeating from * across, DC in the last stitch.  Join in next color, Chain 3, turn.

Row 2: Cluster V-stitch in each of the Cluster V-stitches from previous row, DC in last chain of your chain 3.  Join in black yarn, Chain 3, turn.

Continue the pattern, repeating Row 2 & alternating the colors.

The only tricky part to this was having to weave in all of those ends when I was done – hoowee, I hate that part!  I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I tie knots (gasp!) and just crochet over them when making the border.  But shhh, that’s our little secret… Anyways, this time, I did it right, then I finished up by adding a black, single crocheted border down each edge, so the entire blanket is framed by that bold line.

I really enjoyed this project, because the stitch pattern is lovely but also super simple, and the blanket was done quite quickly.  I think this would also look beautiful using just one variegated yarn (which means no ends to weave in!), and I think I'm gonna try that asap!  But for now, this is folded & stored in my craft closet, waiting for the right person to give it to :)