February 27, 2014

Granny Stripes

I started this blanket for my cousin Kyle and his wife Megan who are having a baby girl in the next few months. Kyle and I were born less than a month apart. Along with our cousin Eli who was born a month or two later, we are called The Triplets. My Grandpa gave us that nickname and it has stuck for the last 28 years. At every family party we always snap a few pictures of the three of us together.

The Triplets at Grandma's 80th Birthday Party, August 2013
Kyle--Eli--Sarah

I love these boys dearly and I was very excited when I heard that Kyle and his super fun wife Megan were expecting.

I saw some unique stripe patterns on Pinterest (where else!) and thought I would try this super simple stitch with a little bit of a twist in the pattern. The stitch is very easy- it's called the granny stitch which is basically groups of 3 double crochets over and over. It can be made in waves, squares or stripes. I am sure you can do a ton of other things with this basic concept too.

I had colors picked out for this project and true to my indecisive self I changed it up at the last minute. I liked the light yellow and coral with the stark white and navy. After a few rows I realized that it was reading very primary-colored. The coral ended up looking a lot more red than I thought it would. The more rows I worked the more the colors grew on me and by the time I was finished I wanted to keep it for myself!





I fall in love with every blanket that I crochet and it's hard to send them off even though I know they are going to great homes.


I mentioned that I used a unique color pattern to shake it up a bit and it went like this:

White
Coral
White
Navy
White
Yellow
White
Navy
Repeat

You can see it a little more clearly here-



One of my goals for the blankets I make this year is to do nicer edging. I think it makes things look polished and completed. For this blanket I knew it needed a really girly border and decided that shells would be perfect. The first round is single crochets to give it some stability and hide all the yarn that was carried up the sides. The second round I did a simple shell pattern- SC, *skip 2 chains, 5DC in next chain, skip 2 chains, SC in next chain* repeat.



I love how it turned out and I can't wait to send it off to a new little one!


The Stats

Yarn: Red Heart Soft  and Impeccable Impeccable Crafts
Colors: White, Navy-Red Heart Soft, Coral, Yellow- Impeccable
I used just over two 5-oz balls of white, nearly two of navy and maybe half a ball each of the coral and yellow.
Hook: 6mm
Finished size: 37x37
Starting Chain: Any multiple of three, I began with 90 I think



I have to give a shout out to my new camera! Aren't these pictures so much better than the ones my phone takes!

February 24, 2014

Intertwined

I was sitting at work this afternoon when my phone rang. I was surprised to see the caller ID come up as Sister Eyre. Most people would just call her Charity but she will always be Sister Eyre to me.


Sister Eyre and I served together as missionaries for 4 1/2 magical months in what we lovingly called the Armpit of the Bristol Stake. Trowbridge is a small town just outside of Bath, England. That town crushed out spirits many times but somehow it still holds a very special place in our hearts. There was so much sacrifice there, excruciating heartache, both sorrowful and happy tears and lots of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in our freezer. Our hearts became knit together in that little town and although we have gone our various ways, we will always be connected by our time there.

We literally stood at Heaven's Gate together
As much as we grew and stretched together as missionaries, the last few years have been even more transforming for each of us. It's been nearly 5 years since we returned home and she's now living in the Bay Area and I am in Boston. There's a lot changing in both of our lives, decisions to be made and plans to lay. It's funny how the transition stage of life never really ends. When you're in college you think graduating will solve all of your problems and make your future more clear, when you're single you think life will be so much easier if you were just married. When you're married you want to find your place in the world and settle there, but where is that place? What does settling look like and when do you move on to a new adventure?

Sister Eyre REALLY likes Christmas!
These choices have and always will be hard. But hard is okay. Hard is good. Hard makes us look back on our lives and feel accomplished and fulfilled. Hard things are a guarantee and they are rarely the same twice.

We are really tough, and tired. Mostly tired.
Whenever I feel like my life is too complicated or difficult I often think of my dear Sister Eyre and remember to be thankful for the toughness. And sometimes, when I really need it the most, she calls out of the blue and reminds me in her own gentle, humble words that there is so much golden goodness to enjoy.

As Sister Eyre drove down the warm, sunny California coast and I sat in my office looking out on a blizzard we agreed that life is good. You have to take the bitter with the sweet and choose to love the whole journey.

Thank you Sister Eyre, I needed that today!

February 21, 2014

This is Why I Crochet

I just got this picture from my friend Hollie, her little girl wasn't feeling well and the first thing she did was grab her new blanket for a snuggle. I may have cried a little just now...


February 20, 2014

I don't hate many things but I hate winter!


We have had so many snow storms this winter that I have totally lost count. I hate the snow, I really don't like the cold and gloom and I am very ready to move back to Santa Barbara. I have found myself wondering almost every day why in the world we ever left. Have I mentioned that I hate winter??

This is us in Santa Barbara this summer:


 And this is what it looked like on my commute home last week:



And this was my commute this week:


The next morning it was all sunny and you think it looks so nice with all the trees covered in white but there was actually a half inch of solid ice covering my whole car.




Dear Winter,


I hate you and I hope you die soon. I can't wait for you to take your biting winds and piles of snow and get the heck out! If you don't leave, I will.

Sincerely,

Sarah

February 18, 2014

Harlequin Stitch Lovies

This blankie is for a very special, squishy cheeked baby boy who lives in Hawaii. When talking to his mom she mentioned that it is so hot there they can't find blankets that are cool enough for the house. I decided to make him a small snuggle blankie that he can tote around without being too hot. I found the pattern on Raverly and thought it would be a nice stitch to practice. It's a little more complicated than other ones I have done and I had to refer to the pattern many times.


This is a much smaller blanket than the ones I have been making. It ended up being about 20" square. I love the modern look of it with the asymmetrical stripe pattern. I think it will suit little baby J perfectly!



I just got a picture of little Jakeroo with his new blankie! Check it out!



I used this stitch to make two other projects as well. The first was a square for a community quilt that is being sent to a sponsored family in the Himalayas and the other was a companion blanket for the Berry & Teal Shells blanket. 

I didn't get a great picture of the quilt square because I forgot about my assignment to do the project until the night before I needed to have it finished. The total size was about 7x10 on this project.



The companion blanket for Shells is for my friend Hollie's daughter. She is about to turn 5 and a new little sister is on the way. My hope is that this big sister will feel as special as the new baby. When mama is wrapping up her baby in the Shells blanket, big sis can wrap up her dollies in a special blanket too.

The colors of this remind me so much of the Little Mermaid!


The Stats

Yarn: Red Heart Soft, I just used leftovers from previous blankets
Colors: 1. Gray, White, Deep Teal   2. White, light pink leftovers 3. Lilac, Mint, White, Berry, Deep Sea
Hook: 5mm
Beginning chain for blankies: 73
Finished size of blankies: 20" x 20"
Pattern: Here

February 14, 2014

Happy Valentines!

I love love, I love being in love.

I love my life and I love my husband.

It's been a crazy couple of years together but I feel like we have always come out on top, we've weathered a lot together and I love this guy even more than ever.


February 12, 2014

Biscuits & Gravy

When I am feeling nice and lazy and don't want to make anything for dinner I whip up some biscuits. Sometimes we have them with gravy and sometimes we just eat half a pan of them with jam and call it good. It takes no time at all to make these biscuits and they are quite delectable if I do say so myself.

They're so easy that a 9 year old could make them and win Sweepstakes at the Cache County Fair in open class. That is a true story. It happened to me. I have been making these biscuits for a lot of years! This recipe seems long but I have added in a lot of tips and tricks that I have picked up over the years.


Baking Powder Ranch Biscuits

(Ranch, as in a cattle ranch. Not Hidden Valley)
4 cups flour
2 sticks butter- you have to use real butter, not margarine or spread. Just use butter!
8 tsp. baking powder
1 scant tablespoon sugar
dash of salt- seriously, just a dash especially if you use salted butter
1 1/3 cup milk
Oven temp 400*

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Toss in the sticks of butter and cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter. It looks like this:

You can get one here

You could also use a couple forks to do this but a pastry cutter really does the best job. You will know you are done cutting in the flour when your arm hurts and the mixture looks like very coarse corn meal with some chunks of butter that are small pea sized.


Slowly add in the milk and mix/toss it with a fork. Mix everything until it just barely starts to come together. If you over mix at this point your biscuits will get tough. We want light and fluffy so don't get too crazy mixing. It should look like this:

 
 Turn the mixture out on a floured counter top or a pastry cloth. I prefer a pastry cloth because I can sort of wrap the dough up and squeeze it together to get all the crumbly bits incorporated rather than having to mix it more. Have I mentioned that you shouldn't over mix?

Pat the dough out with your hands until it's about 1/2-3/4 inch thick. Cut with a glass or a clean tin can, just something with straight sides.

Now comes the key part. I don't know why I do this but I feel like it makes the biscuits better. You have to shake the biscuits. Shake is not the right word but that is what my little nephew B calls it when I make these biscuits with him- you can see he and his brother shaking them in the pictures below. Hold your hands like you are about to clap them together with the biscuit sitting on the counter between them. Then just roll the biscuit between your hands like you are trying to open a jar lid with freshly painted nails. Does that make sense? Just shake each biscuit around once or twice.

Pop them on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes at 400*.


Gravy

While the biscuits are cooking I usually whip up some gravy. It's more of a method than anything else. I don't think I ever use a recipe but I will try to explain it.

Brown 1 pound of ground sausage- I like Italian or hot but really any kind will do. Once it's all brown sprinkle in some flour right on top of the meat. I think something like 1/8-1/4 cup? Mix that around until the flour soaks up the grease in the pan and sort of cooks onto the meat, it just takes a minute or so. Then just pour in some milk until it looks right. It will thicken the longer it cooks so keep your milk out and just add it and stir until it is as thick or thin as you like. I add a lot of black pepper to my gravy as well.

Once the biscuits are out of the oven, pull them apart and pour that delicious gravy all over the halves. I like to pair this entree with some home-canned green beans and home-canned peaches. We always had home-canned growing up but now store bought is how we roll.

You can also eat these with honey butter, berries and whipped cream or just some homemade raspberry jam.

February 10, 2014

Berry & Aqua Shells

 This blanket is a great one for beginners. The pattern is easy to pick up and the rows go quickly. I had planned to use only 4 colors including a different green but it just didn't seem right. I managed to find a giant ball of mint colored yarn on sale the other day and I wanted to include it somehow. After digging through the bags of yarn under my bed, switching a few things around and pestering the Dr. for his opinion I finally decided on white, mint, berry, lilac and deep sea. All the colors are from the Red Heart Soft line with the exception of the mint which is a Lion Brand Pound of Love (it's a pound of yarn and will last forever!).


I found this picture and pattern on Pinterest but it wasn't very good although I did end up using their instructions for the edging. I have found that there are a lot of confusing patterns out in the world and if you don't understand one then you just look for another. So, I headed to my trusty YouTube and my favorite channel- New Stitch a Day. Sure enough they had a much better pattern and their video tutorial for the solid shell stitch was great.










I chained 98 to start the blanket (multiples of 6+1+1) and it ended up being about 33" wide. I changed colors at the end of each row and carried the yarn up the sides. This made it so that I didn't have so many ends to weave in at the end. I find that carrying the yarn up the sides also helps the ends of the rows stay a little tighter and look nicer.

This is what you edges will look like if you carry the yarn up the sides
Once you do a single crochet border all those strings will be hidden!
It can be a little tricky to keep 5 balls of yarn attached to your blanket but I just put all the balls of yarn in a paper bag so I can tote them around with me. You can find instructions on how to carry the yarn here.

My bag of yarn
I think I say this with every blanket that I start but this one really is one of my favorites. I love the color combination, I think it looks very modern and girly without being too pink. I can't wait to send this one off to the precious little girl being born to one of my dearest friends in May.


The Stats

Yarn type: Red Heart Soft (One 5-oz ball of each color), Lion Brand Pound of Love.
Yarn Colors: Lilac, White, Berry, Deep Sea and Mint (Lion Brand)
Hook size: 6mm
Starting Chain: 98
Finished Size: 33" x 35"




February 6, 2014

My 28th



I feel like the older I get, the less exciting birthday's are. It could be that the high temperature on my birthday was 19* or that turning 28 is just one day closer to 30. I have a pretty irrational fear of turning 30.



I remember reading a piece my grandmother wrote in a creative writing classes years ago; the prompt was to write about one day in you life you would like to revisit and one you would never want to live again. The day she wrote about never wanting to go back to was her 30th birthday. I'm not sure why but that has always stuck with me. At 30 my grandma had seven kids, my grandpa was working for the railroad and they were trying to run a ranch. Later that year Gram became a freshman at Idaho State University. I think about those circumstances and all I see is a strong, driven woman who is on of my favorite people in the world. What was it about 30 that made her never want to see that day again?

30 freaks me out.

But 28 isn't so bad.

I love lasagna, I make it on my birthday quite frequently

The day sort of came and went without much hoopla. I made a lasagna and the couple that is living in our spare room (more on that later) made me an amazing chocolate cake.

It's been a crazy year. We've moved all the way across the country, the Dr. became a PhD, we both started new jobs, made new friends, traveled to all 4 corners of the country, the Caribbean and a few places in between. It's been a good one.

There's so much to look forward to this year too. We've already got plans to go to Europe and see a few concerts. We're excited to explore more of the East Coast, make even more friends here. Oh, and I am really excited for summer to come back.

Heather & Ryan making a cake for me





Me and my new toy

So Maybe 30 will be terrible, but for now I am going to enjoy 28.
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