Spoons & Stitches

So a while back I posted my little rant about Christmas cookies, potlucks, and peanuts . If you missed it, the gist is that I am newly allergic to peanuts and am having a tough time guessing what has peanuts and what doesn't, particularly in the cookie category. Last week we had a Division-wide potluck at work. I had asked our office manager if she could ask folks to just post what they were bringing that contained peanuts. Her answer, "I'm not sure, I'll see what I can do." I was nervous at first due to the non-committal nature of her response. But as it turns out she did great! She arranged two tables-one for items with nuts and one for items without nuts. Works for me! I'll admit that I prefer to just avoid things with peanuts, as other nuts don't bother me. However, it's easier to avoid everything with nuts than to guess and get a migraine. Thanks, Kay! This week my team has what they call "BAD Goodie day." BAD is my team acronym s...

Let me start by saying that Christmas and Advent is my favorite season of the year. Even before I was a true Christian I loved it . Well, minus about ten years right after my folks split up-but I got over that. I love the Christmas music-they could start it in October and I'd be okay with that. (Yes, that's ME you hear blaring TSO on Halloween!) I love the feel good movies on tv. I love the decorations, again, even if they go up way too early. Most of all I love the feeling of good will toward others that you can find in many places, minus, perhaps, the malls. But today what's on my mind is FOOD. The Christmas season (if you call it holidays instead, that's okay. Just replace it in your mind because I say Christmas) is filled with holiday dinners, potlucks, cookie exchanges, goodie days, and many more forms of food torture. Well, torture if you don't enjoy it or can't eat it anyway. I love the cooking, the baking, and the experimenting that comes along with ...

For thanksgiving this year my family has decided to go out of town. Not to a relative's house (love ya, mom!), but to Myrtle Beach. November might seem like an odd time to go to the beach, but I like it for two reasons: 1. It's no cooler than my native North Carolina and there's plenty to do. 2. No one else likes to go to the beach for the holidays-less people. My mother is going with us, so we'll still get all the fun of a family holiday. The good news is I don't have to clean my house every week from now til then to get it semi-suitable for human beings to view. There is the challenge of how to cook the holiday meal when we get there. Our little suite has a kitchen, so that's no issue. But I'd rather not pack the entire kitchen into my van for the trip. So here's the beginning of my planning space. First, we're cooking for only five and two of those are little boys. That means a turkey breast will be enough. We do NOT need a whole bird. If ...

Okay, so this one is more about the power of prayer and a mom's morning that started off, well, let's call it not good for the sake of the kids, ok? So last night just before bed I started to get a headache. By the time I made it to bed, the pain was spreading quickly. I put on my usual cold cloth compress with peppermint oil and hit the sack as fast as I could. When I woke up, that headache was but a whisper in the back of my head. But even those whispers are a bit of a scare these days. I've had migraines off and on for the last 2-3 weeks. I thought very seriously about skipping work. I got up and went to the bathroom and back, turned off one alarm clock and laid back down.  Then the other went off again. Yes, I have two alarm clocks. Yes, I need them both. Yes, I'm that hard to get out of bed. Ask my husband, poor guy. In my defense, one of them is my phone. Then I told myself this is foolish. If my boss wasn't on vacation I would go in anyway and work as lon...

So in light of my inner geek, I'm embracing the need for way too many mobile apps. How many times have you gone to the yarn store only to realize you're not sure how many balls of yarn you need for your pattern? Or maybe the yarn you wanted is out and you need a different one, so the numbers are different. So you need that pattern, but you didn't print it and bring it with you. That's me every time. Though, I tend to take it another extreme even. Half the time I don't even know what I'm planning to make when I get there. I'll find a cool yarn and then wonder how much I need for a shrug, or a hooded blanket, or such. I could look it all up on the web, but that is a pain. My eye sight isn't what it used to be and that text is TINY ! Apps can be better, so I do have a few that are yarn-company specific (Lion Brand for one). But what I really want is to take Ravelry.com with me into the shop. But even that text can be tiny and the links near impossible to...

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This little bracelet was designed for a Lakota friend of mine on a thunderous, rainy day. The Cascade fixation yarn is soft and warm without being heavy. The beads are about 15x10. These particular ones are a variation of a yellow turquoise stone. Materials : ·          Yarn: Cascade Fixation Solid ·          Beads: 5-6 large beads, as needed according to size. ·          Size F crochet hook ·          Yarn needle Instructions are given for small wrist. Adjustments for larger wrists are given in (). Beaded sc stitch : Insert hook into yarn, push up bead, hook yarn on other side of bead, pull through all loops. Method : Chain 25 (30). Join to original ch st with a sl st. Round 1: Sc in same st. Sc in next ch. Beaded sc st in next ch.* Sc in next four ch, beaded sc st in next ch* Repeat from * to * until 2...

This little bracelet was designed for a Lakota friend of mine on a cold, rainy day. The Cascade fixation yarn is soft and warm without being heavy. The beads are about 12x8. These particular ones are a variation of a yellow turquoise stone.    Materials : ·          Yarn: Cascade Fixation Solid ·          Beads: 5-6 large beads, as needed according to size ·          Size F crochet hook ·          Yarn needle Beaded chain stitch : Push up bead, hook yarn on other side of bead, pull through chain. Chain 5, Beaded chain stitch, *chain 5, beaded chain stitch* until you reach the right size for the wrist- five beaded chain stitches for small wrists, six for larger. Join with a sl st to the first ch. Round 1: ch1. Sc around, join to first sc with sl st. Round 2: sl 2, *sk 1, tc 7 in next sc (...

Y'all have really inspired me! I noticed today that the last time I posted a pattern it was almost a year ago-April 29, 2011. So, I'm thinking perhaps I just get inspired in the spring. I also noticed that when I post patterns y'all come 'round to get 'em. So I'm working now to write up some of the other patterns I've made. I'm almost done with my fusion craft Batman hat pattern. After that comes my snake scarf that I made for the kiddos I hope. Remember, these patterns are free for your personal use, but please don't redistribute or sell them. You can also keep up with me on Ravelry where I keep a shop of all my patterns. (Don't worry, if it's free here it's also free there.) My Ravelry id is jenna3 . See you there and happy stitching!

  I created this bracelet this morning as a gift to a Lakota friend of mine. The beads are made of wood and remind me of drumming. The yarn I used is Cascade Fixation, which is rather elastic. You can use the button hold method like I did for the bracelet. If you prefer, it should be easy enough to create a one-piece that stretches enough to go on and off. I'll be working on that next. Materials Yarn: Cascade Fixation, less than 1 skein. 11 Beads: 12x8 oval wood beads, or any you like. 11 beads for small wrist, 15 for larger.   Beaded single crochet : Insert hook into stitch, yarn over, pull loop through stitch, push up bead, yarn over, pull through all loops.  Bracelet with a Buttonhole Load 12 (15) beads to start. Ch 24 (32). Row 1. SC in second chain from the hook, sc across. Row 2. Ch1, sc in first sc. *Beaded single crochet in next sc, ch 1, sl st in next sc* finish with a single crochet. Ch 8 or number of chains needed to go around 1 bead se...