Groovy Baby Ghan

Here she is...

Groovy Baby Ghan

Pattern:  Sunny Spread (Free)

Size:  25" x 30" (12 squares)

Yarn:  Chroma worsted by KnitPicks in Smoothie and Sunrise & Vanna's Baby in Lamb

Hook:  Size I

Edging:  2 rounds of sc in Vanna's Lamb, 1 round of sc in Chroma Smoothie, 1 round of sc in Chroma Sunset, remaining rounds in Smoothie: 1 round of v-stitch, 1 round of double-v stitch, last round is sc, (ch 3, sk a st, sc in next st) around.

Satisfaction Level:  That felt so good, I need a cigarette. Haha!

A Teaser

Oh, WOW...

She's turning out lovely.

You'll die when you see the whole thing!

I have to work this morning and maybe part of the afternoon, and then I need to crochet at least one more round onto the border. So I will be back before the day is over with the reveal. It's taking all my willpower not to blow off work to finish it up right now!

Later, Girlies!

Crochet Things & Q&A

Finished trimming all the squares.

Time to sew together and start the trim.

The circles are made with two different colors of Chroma Yarn from KnitPicks(which is lovely, lovely yarn -- one of my favorites). Had I known I was going to make a baby blanket when I made these, I would have just gone with the fruity colored yarn without the grays and browns in them (it was called 'Smoothie), but I didn't know that at the time. It does make the blanket interesting, and it does look somewhat better in person in the right light. I should be able to photograph the blanket outdoors in better light when it's done. I'm going to make several rounds on the border because it's a little smaller than I want it. Each square is 6.5 inches, and I'm going to crochet them together with sc. I'll probably add another 3.5 or 4 inches with the border. Stay tuned.

I cannot believe how my crochet mojo came back with such a rush for me! I'm crazy with ideas and things I want to do again. Yipee! I was so lonely without my crochet "stuff." Thank goodness I didn't give it all away in a big snit. I'm really good at big snits. Hehehe.

ANYWHO...

I made this darling kitty cat square last night.

Obviously, I didn't block it. (My pet peeve)

Do you love it?

I do!

Here is a whole blanket made of them. A baby blanket made of 9 squares would be cute. Each square is supposed to be 9.5 inches, but mine turned out to be 10 inches. Also, you should know that the bobbles are smallish ones made of three stitches...definitely not as big as the ones from the baby bobble blanket I just made, so it won't be a huge yarn hog like the other was.

And here is the Leisure Arts leaflet it came out of. I bought this a couple of years ago used. I have never seen a pattern by Anne Halliday that I didn't like. She writes the best patterns, although they can be more complicated than others. This was published in 1996, and I'm not sure it's even in print anymore.

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Q&A

1.  Pammy Sue, how much weigh have you lost? (Okay, so I am the one who asked that question so I could tell you that I weighed today and I've lost another 1.5 since Sunday -- total minus exactly TEN pounds!)

2.  Where did you buy the Rowan Cotton Glace yarn?  I Googled it and bought it on sale from a little yarn shop in Rhode Island, of all places. It was half price. Here is the link: Lets Knit

3.  I miss your Search bar so I can find recipes.  (Not a question, but I added it back in the sidebar. Sorry. When I change templates, everything doesn't always make it back up.)

4.  How is Fletch's Cherry-Eye?  I gave him a Benadryl that day, and his eye was back to normal the next morning. Allergies are bad here in Texas, and I always keep a supply of Benadryl on hand for the doggies. My dogs are all 20-something pounds, and I half a 25mg tablet and shove it down their throats. Ha. They hate the liquid one. Fletch takes a dose nearly every day in the spring and summer because he has a skin allergy from grass that makes his belly red and itchy. He loves to take his "medicine."  When I say that word, he comes running. Weird dog.

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I am starving to death. Time for an omelet!

Have a nice day.

Egg on My Face

That's a dumb title, but whatever.

Read on.

Rowan Cotton Glace

This yarn is so luscious and soft. I ordered it for my next project and have had it for a few days now.

It is the recommended yarn for this table topper. I have a couple of these made already. Twenty five more to go. I can do that, right? It's another pattern in The Big Book of Crochet.

I also have a cabled baby blanket in progress. I'm thinking about ripping it all out and starting over because I hate the Simply Soft yarn I'm using for it. I really don't like that yarn and never have, but I wanted to use up my stash and I had several skeins of it in bone. I think I'll just bite the bullet and rip it out and start over.

AND...

Remember this beauty that someone made on Ravelry? (See previous entry for a link.) I told y'all that I had some squares made by this pattern already made in my WIP stash. Here they are:

I know this is a crappity-crap-crap picture, but I had to take it under the dining room lights because it's raining and dark outside today. I have more of this yarn in my stash for the border and some Vanna's Baby in cream to crochet it all together with.

The Captain came up with two of these plastic omelet/poached egg doo-hickies for the microwave the other day. It makes GREAT omelets...

Ain't that purdy? Do you like my food styling with the whole Roma tomato and cilantro? Hee-hee. So maybe I should have sliced the tomato.

ANYWHO...

When I tried to make poached eggs yesterday morning, the damn thing exploded on me. Note the mess in the microwave. When I heard KA-POW! from that side of the kitchen, I knew I was screwed. KA-POW! is never good in the kitchen, or probably anywhere else. The Pammy Sue Mess-Maker, strikes again. Next time I'll follow the instructions. Duh.

I'm off to rainy-day crochet! Yea!

Is there anything better?

Baby Bobble Blanket

Blanket Pattern:  From the book, The Big Book of Weekend Crochet, Hilary Mackin and Sue Whiting

Edging Pattern:  Pattern #7 from the book, 50 Crocheted Afghan Borders, Jean Leinhauser

Yarn:  Bernat Softee Chunky for body and Deborah Norville Everyday Solids for red trim

Crochet Hook:  J

Satisfaction Level:  Off the chart. I love it. It was totally worth the hours upon hours it took.

If anyone would like to purchase this, it is available. Leave a comment with your email address (which I will not publish). Otherwise, it's going to charity later in the year. $55 plus shipping. I paid about that much for the yarn alone. Please keep in mind that I do live with dogs (I mean, they live with me). A stray dog hair or two is possible, although I keep them away from it and keep it as clean as possible. It's only fair I disclose this since allergies are such a big deal these days.

I'm off to start my next project. I have two I'm torn between. Maybe I'll do them both at the same time! I have new luscious yarn to show you too. Mmm...yarn.

Oh, I lost 2 more pounds!
I'll take it.
I'm going to keep on keepin' on.
-8.5 pounds total.

Bye!

Yucky Peanut Butter

I just wanted to jump on right quick and tell y'all not to make the peanut butter that I made. It's horrible and bitter. I have no idea why I didn't get online first and see how to do it. Duh.

I'm throwing it out and making some almond butter in a few minutes instead because I have a bag of those. I'll let you know how it turns out.

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I am discouraged.

One more thing...I went to the doc yesterday for some blood test results. The last time I was there was in December. He weighed me yesterday, and his scale only showed that I had lost ONE FREAKIN' POUND. I even wore lighter clothes knowing he was probably going to weigh me.

GAH! What's up with that? How is that even possible? His scales also show me NINE POUNDS heavier than my scale at home. My clothes weigh something, but not nine pounds worth. (I took my shoes off to weigh.)

I'm not feeling very encouraged right now. And you can say all you want about not giving the scale power and all that crap, but it does matter. Why have I been working my ass off at this damn diet. Right now I feel like it's not been worth the trouble. Seriously.

I will keep it up until I weight on Sunday, but I swear, if I don't see a vast improvement, I don't know what I'll do. This is baloney.

No need to comment on this. I'm just sayin'. No results after perfect compliance for nearly three weeks = discouragement. It's pretty simple.

Sweet Blankets & More Low-Carb Food

I saw some pretty blankets on Ravelry last night while looking around and thought I'd share. The link to the Ravelry project pages with more info are beneath each photo.

I really love this one! I also have enough squares like these already made in a swirled peach color to put together a baby blanket like this. It is next on my list after the Baby Bobble Blanket is finished. Ravelry Page: HERE.

I thought this was a cute idea with the solid square and flowers appliqued in the middle. It seems like it would be a really quick project to do with only two seams to sew or crochet together. Ravelry Page: HERE

Knit but really neat. Ravelry Page: HERE

This is a huge square. It only takes 12 to make a big blanket. See the blanket on the Ravelry Page: HERE

I really liked this Christmas afghan pattern and the yarn used. Ravelry Page: HERE

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Lookie-Lookie!

That's right...it's LOW CARB! The crust was made with cauliflower, eggs, mozzarella, oregano, and garlic powder. It wasn't crispy, but it was delicious! (The front piece in the above picture looks yellow because there was cheddar sprinkled on that half of the pizza.)

Low-Carb Cauliflower Crust Recipe: HERE (I used different toppings)

FYI: The lowest-carb pizza sauce I have found is Muir Glen brand, and it's terrific. Five net carbs per 1/4 cup, and I don't use much more than that on an entire pizza. I had two slices of pizza for dinner last night. I would do the math on that, but I hate math so I'm not going to. Let's just say it's less than 1 carb per slice, m'kay?

I made some home-made peanut butter this morning with the leftover peanuts from Christmas candy. I just poured them into my food processor (raw peanuts, no salt) and processed until it was a sandy texture. Then I added about 1 Tbsp Splenda and then kept adding tablespoons of water and processing it until it was the smoothness I wanted. I ended up adding about 1/2 cup of water for 8 oz of peanuts. (You could add oil.) Then I added a dash of salt. One net carb per ounce. (8 servings in the container pictured above.) The total carbs was 4 per 2 Tbsp of peanuts, but then you can subtract the fiber content, which is 3. Total net carb = one.  Yay!

I absolutely cannot stand any diet drink. They just have a horrible aftertaste to me, so I've been sticking to water or unsweet tea since we started this low-carb eating. But Tuesday when I was at the surgery center, they gave me one of these Diet Sierra Mists. Oh my! I like it a lot and had The Captain run up and get me some when we got home.

As much effort and cooking and planning and chopping I've done for this "diet," I should have the skinniest ass in town! Not quite there yet.

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Have a nice day.

Leave me some love.

~XOXOXO~

In Which I Rant a Little

I've been working on the baby blanket every evening. It's getting there, and I'm enjoying it a lot. I'm just a little pissed that I'm going to have to go buy more yarn to finish it. I was just trying to use up the stash I had. I'm surprised it is eating the yarn like it is. It's just going to charity in the end anyway. I'm definitely going to do a different border than the pattern. I think I want some scallops or shells or something a little lacier to trim it. I'm not sure yet.

The pattern I'm using...

Soft-Touch Baby Afghan

And the book it's in. I think I got this book at Half-Price Books a long time ago. Or maybe I bought it used from Amazon. I really don't remember, but it's the first project I've made out of it. It's a nice book.

I went ahead and ordered some Angel Eyes to sprinkle on Ollie's food to get rid of the stains around his eyes. He's been on it only about three days, and it's supposed to take 3-5 weeks for his hair to grow out and the stains to be gone. This will serve as the "before" picture. I washed his little eyes with a warm washcloth before I took this picture. You can see that it doesn't do any good. His tears are just a brown color and it stains the white hair around his eyes. It has something to do with the oxidation of the fluid that makes it turn brown like that. Supposedly the Angel Eyes corrects that and makes his tears clear. Stay tuned for results.

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My Shit List

So guess who's on my shit list today? It's the Salvation Army! Those bastards. We have always donated to the Salvation Army. They  have picked up countless pieces of furniture and TVs from us over the years.  Well, today they came to pick up a TV, a love seat, and a practically brand-new $700 recliner (less than a year old). The love seat has a tear in one arm where Ollie started to chew it. Other than that, it looks pretty damn good, has a recliner on both ends, and is less than 5 years old. Anybody who is truly in need would be thrilled to have any of these items.

When they came to pick it up earlier today, the SA guy said, "We can't accept that love seat with that damage."

Captain:  Excuse me?

SA Guy:  We can't accept that love seat with the damage on the arm of it.  AND we only accept flat-screen TVs now.

Captain:  Just stares at him incredulously. Seriously?

SA Guy:  Just stands there like a dumb-ass and moves towards the chair to take it.

Captain:  Well, you can just leave then because this is a package deal.  Goodbye.

They turned and left.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THE GALL???  Ever heard the old saying, "Beggars can't be choosers"? How about, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth"?

Unbelievable! It's not like we were trying to unload a bunch of crappy, dirty, worn-out furniture that was good for nothing either. Like I said, anybody in need would be happy to have any of it. We just saw on the news the other day that 40-something families lost everything in an apartment fire in Dallas. What about some of those people who have nothing but the clothes on their backs? Do you think they care about a 1-inch tear in the arm of a love seat or that the TV isn't a flat-screen? Both items are probably way better than what they had to begin with, as these were low-income tenants. 

The Stinkin' Salvation Army will never get another donation from us, and their annoying bell-ringers during the holidays can kiss my ass! Only flat-screen TVs accepted. O.M.G. I don't think so, you greedy assholes.

Rant over.

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Okay, Jeez.

I guess I let that really upset me.

I'm breathing now.

Don't give them any power, Pammy Sue.

Okay, I'm better now.

But they still aren't getting even my soiled panties.

Ah-hem...if I had any soiled panties.

Which I don't.

I hope.

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The Steroid Queen (that would be me) had another spinal injection yesterday. Oh joy. That is probably why I'm here ranting and rambling like a mad woman. Me and my roid rage red face had better just go. See ya.

I'm Boring But Busy

Thrift find. I don't know why, but this picture grabbed me when I saw it so I grabbed it back and bought it. The frame is 10 x 13. Usually these kinds of frames are smaller. The glass is bubbled-out in the front. Do you know what I mean? Anyway, I love it.

Fletch woke up with Cherry-Eye this morning. He gets it every now and then, but it always goes away if I give him a Benadryl. Sammi got this as a tiny puppy and we had to have hers fixed surgically. It's common in short-nosed dogs.

The beginnings of a baby blanket. I've always wanted to make a bubble blanket. I did a few more rows after this picture. Stay tuned for the reveal in a couple of weeks. I'm not going to hurry through it though. I'm using some Bernat Softee Chunky that I had in my stash of yarn. Sorry about the crappy picture. I took it under terrible low light in my bedroom.

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Weigh-in Day was yesterday.

Minus 3 more lbs.

Total is 6.5 in two weeks.

Not one cheat!

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Yesterday I made a plate of medium shrimp with a slice of fresh jalapeno, wrapped in 1/3 slice of bacon, and cooked until crisp. They were very good. Wish I'd had some low-carb BBQ sauce to drizzle on them. They would have been even better that way. Next time.

Subway salads are becoming a regular meal around here when I don't feel like cooking. They are so good and filling.  Eggs, cooked any old way, are another.  There is always a bowl full of boiled eggs in the fridge to grab if we are overcome with hunger. The sugar-free jello fluff is always in there too. I've discovered if I use the Orange SF jello and add a tsp of vanilla with the cream cheese, it tastes just like an Orange Dreamcicle. So good! Well, so good when you haven't had a carb in a while at least.

Have a good week!

I've got a busy one full of Dr. appts, a nail appt., vet appt, and the Salvation Army is coming to pick up a donation one day too. I don't usually do that much in a month. 

Just Dogs

Janie

Looks fake, huh?

Janie smiles.

Cross-eyed in one eye, blind in the other.

Lordie, she's sweet.

Eli enjoying a stick.

Fletch trying to take a nap in my desk chair.

Ollie was too busy eating poop to pose for a good picture, and Sammi was too busy being a solid, black mass to show up in a photo.

Wasting Time

I looked out onto my back porch a few minutes ago and saw Ollie snuggling with Janie on the glider. That is Janie's favorite spot in the sun. She will stay outside by herself all day in that glider, even when it's a little chilly. Fletch loves it outside too, and he loves it that she is out there with him. Otherwise, he would reluctantly come in. That boy loves company.

Here's a little closer look at Ollie & Janie.

Ollie looks like he has a fat body in that picture, but it's an illusion because he's pressing up against her. He is super-skinny with long stick legs. He still weighs just 7 lbs.

Chinese Beef Soup

(I had just added the bok choy leaves)

It was really good and tummy warming!

Next time, I'm going to use beef broth instead of chicken and see what the difference is. I was surprised that it called for chicken broth since it had beef in it. Weird. Here's the recipe for you. I'll be making this again.

Chinese Beef Soup (Low Carb)

1 lb ground hamburger meat

1 small onion

1 Tbsp chopped garlic

1 carton of sliced fresh mushrooms

1 head of bok choy, leaves & stems separated, washed, then chopped

32-oz carton of chicken broth (or beef)

2 Tbsp soy sauce

Black or white pepper to taste

Brown hamburger, onion, and garlic until done. Add mushrooms and bok choy stems and cook and stir until the bok choy begins to soften, about five minutes. Add broth and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Add bok choy leaves and warm through. It's ready!

For supper we had hot chicken salad over open-faced Oopsie rolls and a pickle spear on the side. Yum! The Captain stole the leftovers and took them to work today.

One day last week when it was overcast and froggy (yes, I know it's foggy, but I like to say froggy because my Daddy always does), I snapped this picture in our backyard. I didn't even notice the birds until I looked through my pictures later. I just held the camera over my head and the fence and snapped.

I need to go finish up really, really, really, really boring transcript. There is hardly anything worse than listening to somebody yammer on and on about something really boring, especially when they think it's not, hence the yammering. Nerdy tax people. Kill me now, Poindexter.