Advent

Dear Pioneers of Life,
I'm sorry that I have been absent for so long, and I won't try to make any excuses, but I hope that what I'm going to say and do next will make up for it.

In the days of pioneer life Christmas was a lighthouse, guiding through the dark days of winter. It was something to look forward to, something to remember and tell stories about, and a good excuse to gather and find warmth in each other's company. This still holds true for each of us in some way, so we spend a lot of time preparing for it.

Every year getting ready for Christmas is my most productive time of year {at least in terms of crafts}, I am frenzied, panicked, and out of control. However, over the years I've come up with quick crafts and recipes that save time and make it seem like I know what I'm doing. This year I will be sharing these crafts and recipes with you through my blog, like any good, neighborly pioneer.

I'm doing a Christmas craft-along!
Here's how it works:
Starting today, I will post a craft or recipe that I've done, with pictures and my time-saving tips, as often as I can until Christmas. Each craft or recipe will come with a difficulty rating of 1, 2, or 3.

1 - Super easy, anyone can do it.

2 - Easy, may require some previous experience.

3 - Not as Easy, requires previous experience and patience.

Let's get to it!

Advent Craft #1:

Holiday Hats

Difficulty rating: 3

If you're a knitter, mark the difficulty rating on this down to 1, all instructions for this craft will be written for people who have knitted before, so you might need someone who knits to explain if you want to try this.

Most hat patterns are based on the same set of measurements, so it's easy enough to free-style knit a hat. Here are the specifics on how to do that, as well as some quick and easy patterns I recommend.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

Worsted weight yarn, about 130 yards per hat.16"

Circular knitting needles, whatever size needed to obtain guage of 4 stitches x 6 rows = 1" square, or guage called for by separate pattern.

1 stitch marker, to mark the beginning of the round.

☙ The basic formula for creating your own hat pattern ❧

Cast on edge should measure about 24", so around 80 stitches should be about right. Keep in mind that it should be an even number.

Knit in your preferred style of ribbing for an inch and a half.

{Special note}

Most patterns say an inch, or 2 inches, but an inch and a half looks just right. That might just be me.

Continue knitting in whatever style you choose, until the hat measures 7" from the bottom edge.

Start decreasing every third or fourth stitch on alternating rows until you have 6 or 8 stitches, then finish off in preferred fashion.

Here are some great free patterns I have done and recommend:

Ditto, a cabled hat by Anne Gagnon

Daisy Stitch Hat, by Jenny Lang, which can be found on Ravelry or on her blog.

Big Chunky Comfy Hat, by Erica Kempf Broughton

Tips:

The chunkier the yarn, the faster the hat goes.

Ribbing throughout on a chunky hat makes it go faster, and helps you keep track of your decreases.

You can always knit the body of the hat a little longer rather than running a little short, slouchy beanies are supposedly stylish.

You can always add stripes and color work to mix it up a bit.

That's all for now folks, merry Christmas crafting!

Strawberry Muffins

Hello everyone,
I am back again with, guess what, a recipe! Today I made Strawberry Muffins, they are quick and rather easy to make. You only need forty-five minutes and some basic ingredients.


What you will need:

Dry Ingredients:

• One cup of all-purpose flour.
  
• One cup of oats.
• Two teaspoons of baking powder.
• Half a teaspoon of baking soda.
• Half a teaspoon of cinnamon {ground}.
• Half a teaspoon of salt.

Wet Ingredients:

• One egg {beaten}.
• Half a cup of milk.
• A quarter cup of olive oil.
• Half a cup of sugar.
• Three tablespoons of strawberry yogurt.
• One cup of chopped strawberries.

Preheat oven to 425℉.
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
Whisk egg, sugar, oil, and milk together in a large bowl. Combine thoroughly and add strawberries.
Sift dry ingredients half at a time into the wet ingredients, and combine thoroughly. Add yogurt to mixture. Line a muffin tin with liners and fill evenly. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a knife inserted into one of the muffins comes out clean. Enjoy!

State Fair

This summer I entered things in our state fair. Entering and being a part of it was very fun, and getting to see all the things other people had made was fabulous! I am very glad that I decided to enter, and I won second place in both of my categories.  Fairs have been held in our part of the world for centuries, initially they were only for livestock and handwork, but other attractions soon came along. The Ferris Wheel and the Carousel were some of the first, but now there are many that I do not even know the names of. Anyway, I just wanted to show my entries to everyone, so here they are:

Lemon and Strawberry Cupcakes

Christmas Potholders and second place ribbon.

&

                  Second place ribbon for cupcakes.

I entered two categories: baking: cupcakes, and textiles: hand sewing: embroidery. I really enjoyed seeing all the wonderful talent and ingenuity of the other participants, and they have inspired me to persevere and continue crafting.
   I hope that you will continue to craft and enjoy it, and I hope that I am helping others to continue crafting.
  In my next post I hope to continue with the sachet series.


Thank you for reading and being patient with my tedious self,  I appreciate having such a wonderful audience.

Sachets: Teabag style

In December I took a poll from my readers to see what they wanted to read about next on my blog, the result was that Sachets were chosen as my next craft. Life has been getting in the way of crafting and blogging for a while, I am very sorry this has taken so long.

I am going to make three different kinds of Sachets in three posts.
These are the easiest to make on the "spur of the moment" and if you are not a knitter or a sewer these are the kind for you.

       You will need:

• A rectangular piece of paper. Newspaper, a copied page from the dictionary, or lined notebook paper.
• Secure tape. {double sided works well.}
• Staples.
• Potpourri. {we will make some, but you will need the things you want to scent it with.}
• Used tea bags. {dried}
• Ribbons and other decorations.

Take your piece of paper and fold in thirds, this is how wide your sachet will be. If you want it to be thinner leave the excess paper on the outside so that you can cut it off.  

                                              Cut off any excess paper, crease folds, and unfold.

             Fold in half perpendicular to your other folds, and crease. Unfold and fold into thirds again.

 This time tape the inside edges, {the white strip, and the thin column of text on the right.} to the other side by folding it over the double-sided tape. If you do not have double-sided tape take a piece of packing tape as long as the sachet and roll it , lengthwise, into a thin tube and use the same way.

Now, if you squeeze at the folds, you should be able to look through it like a spy glass without it coming apart at the lines of tape.                                                                                                    

Potpourri❦

• Gather your ingredients, including the teabags, and a spoon and bowl for mixing with.
•   Empty some of the teabags into the bowl: we will use the tea bags as a base because it absorbs the other scents.
• Add  your other ingredients and mix.

Fold your sachet so that it looks like an M, with the v in the middle about an inch on each side.

Unfold M and fold in half, then fold on one of the M creases, but to the side {picture}.

Refold into M and pinch so that v is not filled with potpourri. Scoop potpourri into hollow sides.
Fill until potpourri is an inch and a half from the top.

Fold the top of each side into a triangle by folding down the top corners to meet in the middle. Then fold the tip of your triangle down so that it tapers to a flat top. {picture: fold down where my finger is.}

Staple both sides together and shake so that lumps of potpourri settle. Attach a string and tag to make it look like a teabag, or decorate however you like. Thank you for reading!

Four Fictional CharectersTag

Hello everyone! I am so sorry that it has been such a long time. Life, and everything involved, has gotten in the way of blogging, but on the upside that means I have many crafts, stories, and experiences to share with anyone who wants to read!

   I have been tagged for the Four Fictional Characters Tag by A Girl With Ideas!

The Rules:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you
2. List four fictional characters (use pictures if you want! They can be from movies or books) and, if you like, describe what they're like and why you believe they relate to you
3. Tag a few other blog people! Three, or four, or even twenty. :) Share the fun!
Be sure to let them know you've tagged them!

I am:

Elizabeth Bennet

I tend to judge people before I know them.

I claim to play piano very ill,{in my case it is true.}

I love to read.

I am not "well accomplished" in the
terms of Miss Bingley and Mr. Darcy.

My sister is my confidant.

I braid my hair before I go to bed.

I hope I will be better at the end of my story.

Hermione Granger

I love school, and I think English is magic.

I love to read.

I do not have many friends, but I try to help those I do.

I am often annoying to others because I raise my hand for every question.

Laura Ingalls

I try to be helpful, but sometimes I just mess everything up.

I love to hear my father's stories.

I like to spend time with my sisters.

I like to help my mother.

Agnes Grey

I love to teach and make an impact on the lives  of  my pupils.

I love my family, and I miss them very much when I am not near them.

I do not want others to think poorly of me, so sometimes I do not handle situations in the best way.

I am set firmly in my goals and determined in my beliefs.

I love to read and write.




Notes: I have only read Little House in the Big Woods of the Little House series, but I look forward to reading the rest of it. As I am like Agnes Grey I am also like the author, Ann Brontë, who based Agnes on herself. Also unlike Agnes, {Ann}, Elizabeth, and Laura, I am the oldest sister.

This is a very enjoyable tag, thank you A Girl With Ideas for tagging me!

I hereby tag:

Erudessa Aranduriel,
Natalie {Raindrops on Roses},
Olivia Fisher,
      and
Anyone who wants to do it!

If you do it please post a link or address in the comments so that I can read it. I am very excited to read what you all have to say. Thank you!

Shawl Knitalong

This is the last post of my shawl knitalong. This week we will cast off, make one more rosette, and add  the final touches. This week is where the crochet hook and rosettes come in.

Shawl:
Continue in the pattern from last week until you reach your desired length.
Cast off.
Your shawl may curl at the edges, to remedy this you can bloc the shawl.
To bloc: soak the shawl in warm water for 10-15 minutes,
and stretch it out on a towel in the shape you want it.
You can put weights on the edges that curl.
When your shawl is dry you can start on the decorations.
I would recommend blocking before the decorations.

Decorations:

            

(Decoration) You should have a gradual curve.

Cast on 2 sts in lace weight, also using 2 double points.

First row:k1 kfb.

Next row: k across.

Next row: k1 kfb k1.

First purl row: p across.

k row: k2 kfb k1.

p row: p across.

k row: k3 kfb k1.

p row: p across.

k row: k4 kfb k1.

purl every purl row, knit 1 more before your kfb every knit row, when you have 10 sts on your needle knit stockinette for 5 rows.

It should look like this right after cast off.

Next row: k1 k2tog k across.

p row: p across.

k row: k1 k2tog k across.

p row: p across.

k row: k1 k2tog k across. Repeat k1 k2tog k across every k row, purl across every p row, until you have 2 sts left then cast off.

Leave 3 inch strand of yarn after casting off, use to tie/weave in a spiral until it resembles a rosette.

The end product rosette.

All 9 rosettes.

Alright, now gather your rosettes, finished shawl base, and crochet hook. You may also want to weigh down the top of your shawl so that it is easier to attach the rosettes. 

I used books to weigh down the top. 

Now spread the rosettes out on the knit side of the shawl along the edges.

Turn over the first rosette and find the 2 separate strands, you will use these to attach them to the shawl. Place back on the shawl slightly below where you want it to be. Put 1 strand to the left, and the other to the right. 

I have outlined the st the rosette will be attached to with the crochet hook, which we will use to pull the yarn through.

Pull the right strand from right to left through the outlined st, and the left strand from left to right. Pull tight so that the rosette is drawn up to the st. Tie a double knot to secure. Do not cut the strands.

Right to left.

Left to right.

Continue up both sides of the shawl until all the rosettes are attached.












Using the strands from the first rosette we are going to make a leaf. Start by hooking the yarn through a st to the left. Loop the strand twice around the st, and move up and inward to another st.

Do the same on the other side. Choose a st for the peak of your leaf and draw the left strand through from right to left, and the right strand from left to right.











This is 1 side of the leaf, it creates a ridge that will show up even if your colors are very similar.

Tie over the top of the st, and you have a leaf.
Do this on each rosette at different angles so that it looks more natural. Trim the strands.

Now you have finished the leaves, but we aren't finished yet.

Draw a loop of yarn through the top and center of the shawl, pull the loop larger and larger until you can pull the loop to the nearest rosette, fold, and pull the end back to the source with a little extra yarn. pull the end not connected to the ball/skein almost tight, but keep the loop about the same size as your finger.

 Put your crochet hook through the loop and straight down through the shawl.













Hook the yarn and pull through the shawl and the loop creating another loop, put your hook through the new loop and the shawl and hook and pull through again, creating another new loop.

This will turn into a chain st, work in this way down towards the nearest rosette.
When you reach the rosette pull the last loop large enough to go over the rosette, pull over the rosette and pull the yarn on the back so that the loop is tight, and tie off.

Continue to connect the rosettes with the chain st branching off of other rosettes, connecting from the top, or whatever pattern you like.

When you have finished connecting the rosettes with the chain st you can add a few leaves onto the stems so that they look more natural.

And that is the end of my shawl knitalong. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, and I am looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you for reading!