Easy-Peasy Crowd Pleaser

I made these snowflakes today to take to a function at Jake's school. The moms all went totally nuts over them. I have to admit I walked past the cookie table several times to listen to their comments before I finally confessed to making them and told them how. (They really DO taste like Girl Scout "Thin Mint" cookies!)

Easy!

1 box Snowflake shaped Ritz Crackers
1 bag white chocolate Wilton Candy melts (14 oz or so)
Wilton peppermint oil to taste
Wilton edible glitter

Melt chocolate according to pkg. directions. Add peppermint oil to taste.
A little goes a long way!
Pour some into a small squatty container so that
the crackers can be dipped at least halfway.
Let drip a little and scrape back of coated cracker on the edge of the container.
Carefully place on waxed paper.
Do about 10 and then sprinkle with edible glitter.
If you sprinkle the glitter on while the chocolate is still really warm,
it will basically soak in. So let them cool a bit.
You want the glitter to stay on top so it's pretty!

Refill small container as needed, reheating chocolate if necessary.
1 bag of Candy Melts should do a whole box of crackers.

Let harden and arrange on holiday tray.

Stand back and collect the accolades!

Sending you....

Pay it Forward

Ideas blow around in blogland...some are knit-alongs, some are memes, and here is something that is going around right now that I would like to participate in, and I hope you do too!

Here are the rules:

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I don't know what the handmade gifts will be yet, I am going to wait and see who my first three commenters are and then choose something appropriate to them ;-)

All I ask is that is you commit to the idea wholeheartedly and pay it forward on your own blog!

Make sure I have your email to get back in touch with you if you are one of the first 3 to join!

Let's have fun with this!

More socks!

Don't be fooled into thinking I knit these socks since Saturday when I posted the last completed pair. They were pretty much both in progress the whole time together. I actually started this pair first, for my sock class, then got the other pair going so they could be at different stages for the class, since all of my students seemed to be on completely different knitting schedules! It's hard to convince them to do their homework so they can all be ready to do the next step at the next class. That can be very frustrating.

I used Regia Multi Effekts for this pair. I had gotten this yarn at Mary Maxim's tent sale. I believe it was 2 summers ago, and I'm not sure this color is even still available. I used the "Stem" pattern from Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks book

I may have made these a little too long in the foot. I guess we'll see when I wear them. I like how they turned out though!

Today I went to the foot doctor. I have either a plantar wart or blocked sweat gland...he wasn't sure, but the treatment is the same so away we went. OWWWWW.
Anyway, the gals in the office AND the doctor were all smitten with my handknit socks (the ones in the post below). The doctor picked up the socks off the chair and was examining their construction, asking questions, etc. Kind of fun.

I have to go back next week, and possibly for more weekly treatments. I'll be sure to wear a different pair each week. :-)

I was really excited to be done with both of these pairs so that I could finally start a pair from Cat Bordhi's new book. But I'm thinking now that it's too close to Christmas, and I really should get going on a little holiday knitting.

BUT...I think I might have to do some swatching with this....



It's 100% silk from Colourmart. A whole cone for $16 including shipping, from UK! And it only took 5 days to get here. Pretty amazing.

Anyway, I am completely, insanely obsessed with the Hyrna Herborgar shawl, and I think it will be quite stunning in this silvery silk. The most beautiful one I've seen, and the one that had me clicking on her blog repeatedly for several days, is the one in the July 28th post of Beth's Knitting blog. That shawl is just stunning, and I must. make. it.

I have the book (Three-cornered and Long Shawls from Schoolhouse Press) on order through Threadbear, and hopefully I will get it soon. I've browsed through my friend's copy, and see that the charts are hand drawn, so I may use the Knit Visualizer software to create charts that are easier on the eyes.

Newest socks

This is the latest pair of socks I finished. I started them to use as my class demo recently. Online Supersocke 100 yarn from the Tropic collection. (I believe color #928, though it doesn't look exactly like the one on their poster, and I misplaced the ballband) I got this yarn at Knitter's Mercantile in Columbus when Kim and I went down for TNNA this summer.

I have another pair on the needles that will hopefully be done soon. I am really itching to start my next pair, which will be from Cat Bordhi's new book New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I want to make the pair that is on the right on the cover of the book...the one with the braid-y looking cables going up. Unfortunately this means buying sock yarn since I don't have an "almost solid" in my stash. I think I will use Ranco sock yarn from Araucania (since it's on sale at Labor of Love right now). There are some really pretty colors. I'm deciding between the last 3 on the color chart. I think I've eliminated the pink though, so it's the teal or the blue.

Got my invite!

So I'm officially on Ravelry now. My user name is BloominKnitiot (of course!) I've spent the better part of 2 days getting my profile and patterns pages set up, adding books to my Ravelry library, adding a few projects to my notebook. I've joined a few groups and read just a little bit on a couple of forums. It's an awesome resource...I can't wait to see how it evolves as more features are added.

Today should be the day!

I was really late in signing up for Ravelry, but I finally did, almost a month ago. At that time there were over 11,000 people ahead of me in line. This morning this is what I saw when I checked my status:

You signed up on October 9, 2007
You are #41619 on the list.
145 people are ahead of you in line.
11832 people are behind you in line.
76% of the list has been invited so far

Yeah! I'm about to be a Ravelry-er!

See you there! (I hope it I can be strong and not be sucked in for too many hours per day!!!)

WNIC, I boycott you!

It's wrong. It's plain, downright WRONG!

I was sitting at the corner with Jake this morning waiting for the bus. He decided to flip channels on the radio and what did we hear? CHRISTMAS MUSIC!

Excuse me...WNIC...it is ONE DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN. It is WEEKS UNTIL THANKSGIVING... I realize that Target probably has Easter decorations in the aisles right now (pretty soon the seasons are going to lap themselves and we'll be back on track) BUT IT'S NOT TIME FOR CHRISTMAS MUSIC YET!

I yelled NO! And pushed another button on the radio. Jake thought it was funny and kept turning on "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (NO it's NOT!...the leaves are just falling...after all, it's FALL!!) So I kept turning it off and saying "NO! It's not time for this!"

Why do we have to push it? Remember the days when the Christmas decorations didn't show up in the stores until the day after Thanksgiving? These days the school supplies are barely out of the stores and the Christmas trees go up. Please...time goes by fast enough without hurrying it along like this.

I love Christmas as much as the next person, don't get me wrong. I'm the first one up on Christmas morning, long before the kids...I turn on the tree lights, put on some Christmas music (yes, THIS is an appropriate time to listen to it) and wait for the fun to begin.

But 2 whole months of Christmas music? I'd be gagging on it by the time the first flakes fly. It's just not right...

So WNIC....HO-HO-HOLD OFF! (and just so you know, I won't be listening to your station until December!)

Now, back to our regularly scheduled AUTUMN activities.....

(....like holiday knitting....maybe I'm so upset by this because I am woefully behind in this department????)

Spinning

I've been spinning and spinning, and plying and skeining and setting the twist and then waiting impatiently for the skein to dry. I wish I could get a picture that shows the true color, but I wasn't able.The real colors are more saturated than the first 2 pix, and more olive-tones than the last 2. It's more Targhee. (I love Targhee!) I think it may become a Clapotis. One way or another I am just itching to finally knit myself something out of yarn I spun myself. So far the only thing I've knit with my own handspun is the moebius I knit for my mom for her birthday. But this beauty is mine, all mine!



(speaking of mine, all mine, I made the last payment on my Joy spinning wheel today. My sister, who so generously loaned me the balance a few months back, is no longer the co-owner of my wheel. We are both happy the transaction has been completed!)

Fun Birthday/Weekend

My birthday itself was rather a busy, errand-running day, but I did get to have some fun in the evening. I met up with my knitting buddies at Borders, and Tam brought some homemade cannolis that were to die for. Thanks Tam....they were sure delish!

I bought myself a birthday present while I was there: More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlotte Schurch.

My weekend started bright dark and early Saturday morning. I left the house about 7:15 for my 2 hour drive to Lansing. I was spending the day at Threadbear for their 3rd Annual Fall Festival. The shop was hopping the entire day....it's so fun to be in the midst of all that excitement! I brought socks to knit, and also brought my portable wheel. I was able to get both knitting and spinning done while I was there for over 8 hours. I also sold some goodies. I did a little better than last year, selling some bookmarks, orifice hooks, patterns, stitch markers, pens, etc. But no matter what, it's always great to be there.

One of the other vendors there was selling some gorgeous yarns and rovings she had dyed. I ended up getting a bag of superwash merino roving that I am going to try to spin for a pair of socks. It's from To Knit Perchance To Dream and it's appropriately called Last Leaves of Fall. Pretty, no?



I finally got a chance to meet Kristi....what a sweetie she is! And Kellie was working that day...I had originally met her in line at a Yarn Harlot book signing. It was nice chatting with her again too!

My friend Kim was there for a while, hanging out with me and one of the other vendors, Rebecca, who she's known and been friends with for a lot longer than me. Kind of fun that we were in the same place at the same time again this year. I originally met Rebecca at a similar event at Heritage Spinning and Weaving a few years back, and we both also did the Threadbear event last year.

After a fun day hanging out surrounded by tons of fibers, I drove home (in the dark, having missed out on a perfectly lovely, above average temperature, sunny fall day....but it was worth it). I was pretty exhausted when I got home just before 9pm, and was dozing at times while I did some laundry. I would have loved to just drop into my bed, but I had to get Kaitlyn and her friend from work at 11:30. They are ticket-takers at the haunted house/haunted hayride at one of the many orchards in town. What a fun job, huh? Not fun for those of us who have to pick them up at that late hour though. Oh well, it's just for this month, and she's loving it.

Sunday was my birthday celebration with my mom and dad, and Kim and Drew. Mike made dinner for all of us. Oh my, was it good. We had Beef Burgundy with homemade noodles, a loaf of bread fresh from the breadmaker, roast butternut squash, veggies and dip and mom's banana cake for dessert. Mike did all the shopping and cooking (except for the squash, which I made,and the cake, which mom made), did all the dishes during prep and after dinner, etc. It was just so nice to sit back and relax. Thanks Mike!

I got some great gifts for my birthday. Earlier in the week, my friend Jane sent me a package of goodies. I could feel there was fibery goodness in the package and I couldn't wait a few more days til my birthday to open it, so I tore in and found these goodies. A green Chibi, cute bumblebee tape measure, some great sock yarn from Lotus, and these two beautiful Zitron rovings. I can't wait to spin those rainbows! Thanks Jane!



Then on my birthday I got a Knitpicks gift certificate for my mom and dad. My plan is to put it towards a set of Options needles. I've wanted them for a long time, but was in no big hurry because I have 2 sets of Denise needles (one of which I am planning on selling, so if anyone is interested, send me an email soon, before I put them up on ebay). Thanks Mom and Dad!

Kim and Drew gave me a gift card to renew my XM subscription, which was just about to expire. And the cutest cell phone holder EVER. It cracks me up every time I look at it. I tried really hard to buy myself a pair of lime green Crocs (or knockoffs) all summer but every time I found them in lime, they didn't have my size. Maybe next year. Thanks Kim and Drew!



Diane sent my gifts home with my mom and dad when they were visiting her recently. She sent a great skein of Rio de la Plata sock yarn in a bright yellowy-green. It's got a funny story behind it. Several months ago, Rob from Threadbear had called me (knowing my fondness for all things green, and sock yarn, esp. RDLP sock yarn) telling me about this skein, and wanting to know if he should save it for me. At the time, funds were very tight, and I couldn't justify buying another skein of sock yarn. I was IM-ing with Diane, and told her about the phone call from Rob. She immediately emailed him and told him she would buy it for me for my birthday. I had completely forgotten all about the phone call until I saw the note on the yarn. Isn't she sweet? Diane also sent me a great green vase from a store called Blooms. She's always finding me something that's got "Bloom" on it, and I love that. The bag was tied with ribbon that said Blooms, and there was also a pen with their Blooms logo. So cute! Thanks Diane!





My friend Maria in California sent me a Starbucks gift card. I look forward to sipping a nice hot cup of Chai Latte while thinking of her. Thanks Maria!

Here is a picture of the felted pumpkin basket I gave to my friend/neighbor Donna on her birthday Friday. I kind of screwed up the increases but I think it still turned out ok. She loved it! I'm not sure if it was the pumpkin, or all the chocolate I packed into it. =)



All in all, it was a great few days!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, it's my last birthday that starts with a "4". EEK! I'm so old I was born in black & white!

I wish I could just hang out today, to sit 'n spin, or sit 'n knit. Unfortunately I have a lot on my plate over the next few days and need to get busy. I did get to spin 3 times in the past week though, which feels good after several months of the wheel(s) collecting dust.

Today I need to do some banking, run to the Secretary of State to get tabs for the plates on Mike's car (which is in the shop getting a new ball joint in preparation for being sold....we're wishing we had done this before the tabs needed to be bought, but oh well...I digress....)

I also have some more to do to get ready for Saturday at Threadbear's Fall Festival. I'll be bringing a bunch of my beaded stuff to (hopefully) sell. Even if it's not a huge money-maker, it's always a lot of fun to be there.

However, this visit to Threadbear will be somewhat somber. Connor passed away this week. Connor was one of canine members of the Threadbear family. She and Tate could always be found wandering around the shop, or settled in for a nap on the ottoman or elsewhere. She will be missed by many, but especially by Rob and Matt. If you will be stopping by Threadbear, be sure to give the guys some lovin', and give Tate an extra petting too. He's got to be missing his buddy as well. Sniff.

After creating more goodies for Saturday, I will be at Jake's school this afternoon for my weekly library duty. From there we'll finish up any errands I didn't complete earlier in the day, and we'll meet Mike at New Moon restaurant for my birthday dinner. We have somewhat of a tradition in our family of going out for Chinese for our birthdays. Usually we end up at Leong's in Chesterfield, but that is in the opposite direction from where I need to go after dinner....it's Thursday, so it's knit night with my buddies. I definitely don't want to miss THAT on my birthday!

Speaking of my knitting buddies...we have another sweet baby girl born to our group this week. Just about a month later than Deb's baby girl was born. I can't wait to sniff me some more baby head. Congratulations, Miri and Michael, on the birth of your beautiful baby girl! (who was born in color, I might add)

Spirit Week/Homecoming

It's been a really strange week around here. Spirit Week started with the Powder Puff football game on Monday evening. That was a lot of fun. The Junior girls won the game, and of course the Senior girls all claim it was 'fixed'. There were so many girls on the team that Kaitlyn only got to play for a short time, but they all had a blast, even if it was mostly cheering from the sidelines.

Mid-week there was a bomb-threat found written on a bathroom stall so they evacuated to the football field, had the building searched, and then had heightened security the rest of the week because the threat actually pinpointed Friday as the day something would happen. Lots of security at school, the football game, etc. Kind of put a damper on things. We didn't go to the football game because Kaitlyn had to work that night. Luckily nothing came of the threat, but these days you just never know. Used to be kids would pull the fire alarm at school to get a few minutes out of class. Now they've resorted to terrorism. Most threats I'm sure are just pranks, but each one has to be taken seriously. When it is a prank, it just just a huge waste of time, resources, manpower and money. I really hope they find out who made the threat and put a black cloud over what is supposed to be a really fun week at school.

Yesterday was the Homecoming Dance. Here is a picture of Kaitlyn and her date, Bruce.



In knitting news, I'm working on another pair of socks right now. I've got 2 pairs on the needles...must be because I'm teaching sock classes these days. This pair is in OnLine Supersocke Tropic color 928. It's a strange mix of colors, but they will be cute. I'll post pix when both pairs are done.