What's cooking?

I've been on a bit of a culinary tear lately. Can't say that I've been doing much cooking myself, but I have been bookmarking, daydreaming and salivating over many a good cooking blog.

We've had a house guest since the 21st of January and I did make a pretty mean meatloaf one night, chicken parmesan another (but forgot the spaghetti!), and I tried these Spicy Chicken Nuggets on Monday night. They were yum! I think the marinade (1/4 c. dark rum, 1/4 c. lime juice, 1/4 c. soy sauce and 2 tbs. sugar would be awesome on steak or grilled chicken).

Lately, I've found it's easier to avoid conversation if I bury my nose in a book or my laptop, than to try and knit in my free time and so I am getting behind on productivity. I need to get on it though, my aunt has requested another pair of wrist warmers and they won't be so useful if I wait til June to make them!

As for my creative outlet, my wonderful and very missed friend Rach sent me a set of LOLmagnetz and so I've been spending my down time at work futzing with those. Yay magnetic LOLpoetry!

Put a lid on it

I've been knitting a lot lately but I got too busy to take photos! Found a good deal on Lion Brand Jiffy, so I whipped up these caps to keep me and my honey warm.


Nick in his new cap.


My new cap.


Caps (couldn't get the size right for the big headed dude).


My cap with matching wrist warmers.

I also got a little beading done today. Like every other bracelet I've ever tried to make, this required two revisions before I was happy enough with it to wear. My mom bought me the really cool frog pendant. It's a Safe Journey frog and I love it.


Front


Back

Hopefully some more sock knitting will occur in the not too distant future :) I blame my new distraction, the Wii, for taking me away from my more productive hobbies. It's worth it though, to spend some time throwing plungers at rabbids.

Revisiting the Stars

My friend had a birthday earlier this month, so I used those cute little stars to make these for her!



Nothing fancy, but I'd never made a bracelet like that before. I'm going to try to make a couple more as gifts this season (time permitting), I got some really cool beads on Black Friday.

It takes two...

So, I finally finished my first pair of socks. And then, I was so excited, I went ahead and finished a second pair. Four successful socks! Woo! These were both patterns from the wonderful Mystery Sock class at Temptations.

These warm puppies are staying with me:


I learned a lot about my tension issues with this pattern. I lost my spots when I knit too tightly and ended up pulling it apart and starting over more than once. But, they're super warm and they both look the same, so I'll chalk them up as success.


Pattern two was much easier and sooooo pretty. And! I have enough yarn left to make a second pair... score!






Dig that wiggle?

Finally, a riff raff scarf I just finished. I'm feeling a little iffy about it, but I think the sparkle helps. I'm making another with the same yarns, hopefully I like it more....

And my model looks fantastic in it!

Tiny trees, take II. Buckeye Beading, too!

I was busy this week. I think stringing seed beads has temporarily replaced my addiction to knitting. Look at this lovely!



(It's a bracelet ;))



I stopped by the bead shop down the road - Jennifer's Beads on the way home from work on Friday. That place is dangerous! I found some pretty fall colored small beads and used them to make these:



They also had a nice assortment of OSU related beads. I cheaped out and got a small batch of polymer buckeyes. I want to go back for some of the nicer glass ones, but in the meantime, I will wear these:



(Gratuitous photo of me, and my new hair cut, but really I took it for the jewelery. I promise...)

She sees shooting stars

Got some beading done today, but I'm not totally satisfied with all of it. At any rate, I got some really cute star beads the other night and made these:








I've also been trying to master peyote stitching on wood beads. It's a pain in the rear and it takes a long time, but I'll probably give it another go.






Finally! I really wanted to try this after I saw it on Craftster. There are some great ones on there. I over estimated my bead stash though, so when I make another one (I sure will!), I'll have to buy some good beads or chips to make up the leaves. It's such a neat idea!

Dry Spell

I've been crafting pretty regularly, but I've been really bad about taking pictures and posting. I finally finished the knitting part of a baby blanket that took about 3 months to complete, but it won't be done until I add some kind of backing to it, and that's gonna be something of a challenge!

In the meantime, I did knit this unkillable desk plant for a friend at work (it looks like the real one which she watered til it died!)