Cupcakes and Wine

I hope you had a nice Valentine's Day.  I got Mucinex and tissues.  I can't believe that less than a week after having that horrible stomach bug, I got the cold/sinus/flu bug.  Thankfully, the day before I got sick this time around, I'd accidentally bought myself cupcakes.

I didn't mean to buy so many.  I was at work and noticed the Key Lime cupcakes.  And the strawberry sounded good too but... Key Lime!  I grabbed a box and did a price check.  They were on a Buy One Get One type sale so... I went back and got the strawberry too.  But while I was grabbing the strawberry, I noticed the lemon.  I love lemon flavored deserts.  And if I was going to get key lime, strawberry and lemon, I had to get the fourth box so....  Now I have cupcakes!

What I don't have is wine bottles.

I saw this idea on Facebook.  I feel terrible that I'm not sharing the source but I guess the fever got to me and I didn't keep track of where it came from.  I just remember seeing it on Facebook.  Anyway.... I have a lot of those plants and am constantly rooting pieces of it and I absolutley love this idea!  The problem is, just a few weeks ago, I threw away over 20 empty wine bottles I'd been saving for a 'one of these days I'll make something with these'  type craft project.  Doh!  Oh well.  Guess I just need to drink more wine.  

Meanwhile, I've continued knitting on Rambling Rows.  I've made a little more progress since taking that photo.  I'm currently on block 52 out of 55.  I am so excited to get this baby finished.  It's only been four years in the making.  The problem is, once I'm 'finished,' I need to dig through the stash pile and find a skein or two to knit a border around it.  I'm torn between a garter border or an icord border.  I want the icord border but I'm having a hard time mentally facing that much icord. Not sure why - icord is pretty simple and would probably take less time than a garter border, but....

While I try to choose border styles, here's a picture of Hayden's Valentine's Day hair-do.

She had heart hair!  After the photo was taken, her mom even turned the heart red by rubbing red eyeshadow over it.  So stinking cute.

And now, I'm going to go finish my Mucinex, eat cupcakes and drink wine.

Happy knitting!

Sunday Supper - Valentine's Day Cocktails

 Today's recipe is a little different and only for the adults.

photo and recipe courtesy of bbcgoodfood.com

Forget Valentine's!  I think I could happily drink one of these cocktails every day!  The recipe sounds delicious and refreshing.  And hey, there's fruit in there so it's healthy and good for you too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sunday Supper - Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

 

photo courtesy of aheadofthyme.com

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and what better way to say I love you than with a homemade, made from scratch, molten chocolate lava cake?  The recipe, from aheadofthyme.com, looks simple enough and uses ingredients you probably already have in the pantry.  Yum! 

Enjoy!

Who Knows

Who knows what's about to happen to this blog.  Today is the day the domain expires and I still haven't been able to communicate with the current domain company.  

I also haven't had the time, energy or nerve to attempt to change the domain address to the new name on my own. Plus, I'm torn about changing the name.  I just handed out over 500 business cards at Winterfest with the old name and I still have 1,000 more on hand.  I hate to waste all that.

And because, as I've mentioned before, I'm lazy.  I don't look forward to the hassle of changing the name on all my social media accounts and every where else it shows up.  Heck, I don't even know the locations of all the places the blog name shows up.

But I also have never been able to figure out if I can re-purchase the old name with the new domain company the day after it expires with the old company or not.  Confused yet?  I sure am!

And then there's the fact that I've been considering changing blog hosting companies for years.  Maybe this is the push I need.  Simply shut this one down and start completely fresh with a new name and a new location.  

Who knows what I'll do.

Meanwhile, instead of thinking about/doing something about the domain name issue, I've been preparing for Valentine's Day.

Well, preparing my Etys shop for Valentine's.  I've been making these little fur faced gnomes.  I think they are adorable.

And beading Valentine's socks.

But mostly, I've been hanging out with my favorite little Valentine.

And yes, I realize January 14th is a little early to be talking Valentines but.... seeing as though this could potentially be the last post, Happy Valentines! 😍

And don't forget, if I don't show back up here, you'll be able to find me at jeanniegrayknits.com.  Eventually.

Three on Thursday - Quick Knits for Valentines

Thank you all for the wonderfully positive knitting and puzzle mojo you sent my way.  After reading your comments, I quickly finished the puzzle and pulled out a box of yarn and started a new project.  I'll show you the new shawl tomorrow but for now, I wanted to give back and share a little Valentine's knitting mojo with you.  So, for today's Three on Thursday, we have three quick to knit Valentines projects.

First up, and probably most difficult of the three, Valentine Plaids Hats from Cassandra May.  I just may have to knit all three of these for Hayden.  She's growing like a weed though so I better hurry!  The patterns are designed for newborn up to toddler size.

Or how about a cowl for the grown-ups?  Sweet Valentine Cowl, designed by Ambah O'Brien, is written for two sizes - a long and a short version.  I really like this one because I don't think I'd really notice the hearts if the cowl wasn't knit in traditional Valentines' colors.  Honestly, and no offense to the designer, I see lily pad leaves rather than hearts.  But that's probably because I've been reading a lot of fish pond/aquarium books lately and they are on my mind.  Whether they are intended to be hearts or lily pads, I like this design.

And, last but not least, a Valentines Dishcloth from Cecilia Fameli.  This pattern would be great for those of you (and most likely me) who have procrastinated until the 13th and are in a sudden Valentines Day panic.  Although it's technically a dishcloth, it could easily be used as a special wash cloth for the little one in your life.  Or knit it in manly colors for that boy child who's living on his own and may need a little motivation to wash his dishes. 

Thanks again for sending such an outpouring of knitting mojo my way.  You wouldn't believe how much it helped and I hope one of these patterns returns the favor.  I also hope you'll join me over at Carole's for today's Three on Thursday link up.

Sunday Supper - Homemade Chewy Brownies

I realize it's a little early to be thinking of Valentine's Day but tonight's Sunday Supper dessert will be a trial run.  

If this recipe for homemade chewy brownies from Countryside Cravings turns out anything like the photo, they will be our Valentine's Day dessert.  

And how do you turn brownies into a Valentine's treat you ask?  Simply cut them with a heart shaped cookie cutter and save the scraps to 1) sprinkle on top of ice cream or 2) put them in a quiet to open container and stash them in your knitting bag so that you can sneak bites without having to share later on.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Instead of knitting all those little hearts to hang on a miniature Christmas tree that I was planning to knit....

Celebrating Valentine's with a new dish cloth

I knit a dish cloth.  

Much, much easier.  And quicker.

I used Knit Pick's Dishie cotton and was pleasantly surprised by it.  I've never liked knitting with cotton but this stuff was great to knit with.  Soft and not at all hard on my hands.  I just may be knitting a lot more dish clothes in the future.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Three on Thursday - Current Projects

Once again this blog post comes to you from my new office/home away from home.  This no internet at the house thing is Killing me.  Absolutely Killing me with a capital "K".  All we have is a rather expensive hotspot that runs out of data after about 10 of the 30 days.  Thank God for Dunkin' Donuts' free wifi and friendly staff that don't mind me hanging out hour after hour every night.  And since I'm using their free wifi, I feel it's only fair that I drink a giant jug of coffee and eat enormous amounts of donuts while I'm here.

Anyway....

Ooh - One more thing before I get started on my three for Thursday....

If you are local, make sure you stop by Yarn Matters near Williamsburg this Saturday.  My friend, Martha Cook from Dying for Art, will be having a trunk show there from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  I can't wait to see what new yarns she's got to show.

Okay, on to my three for this Thursday...

My current projects are:

The Big Secret Baby Thing

1.  The never ending Big Secret Baby Thing.  Ha!  "Secret" - who am I kidding.  It's pretty obvious but shhh... Sometimes the mom-to-be checks in here.  Hopefully she won't recognize it for what it is.  I also hope I don't accidentally knit that hair into it.  Eeww!

Urban Girl Yarns, Virginia

2.  Okay, so this one isn't an actual project yet but....  Let me tell you, if that grandbaby was a second grandbaby and not the first grandbaby, I'd be casting that Big Secret Baby Thing aside in a heart beat and casting on with this instead.  It's another skein from Urban Girl Yarns and it's going to be another Reyna.  A knitting friend had grabbed this skein and was going to purchase it, I commented on how much I liked it, she went to the shelf and grabbed another skein and tossed it to me.  I said I didn't really like the second skein as much.  The green was more aqua and the pink was more magenta... And she said she liked it better than the first... So we traded and well, it's not my fault I broke my no yarn purchase rule.  It's Betsy's fault.  Not mine!  Betsy's!  And now we are both going to knit Reyna shawls.  I can't wait to see how different/similar they turn out to be.  Oh, and the yarn's name is Virginia.  How appropriate!  At first I was like, Virginia??  What does pink, white and charcoal gray have to do with Virginia?  And then it hit me like a brick.  Dogwood!  It's 'dogwood tree in bloom' colored and the dogwood is Virginia's state tree. Or flower. Or.... okay, so I'm horrible at that kind of thing.  But it's our state something.  

Scrap yarns, mostly from Knit Picks

3.  Can you guess what I'm doing with all this pink, red and white yarn?  I'm not enjoying it, that's for sure!  Don't get me wrong, despite pink not being my favorite color, I love the yarns.  It's the pattern I'm using.  Ugh!  No wonder the pattern book was on clearance.  Anyway, can you guess what I'm knitting?  And nope!  It has nothing to do with the soon-to-be-granddaughter! 

Three on Thursday - Valentines

Welcome to Three on Thursday, Valentine's style.  

Nope, we're not all lovey-dovey, we're just writing in red today.  We're also joining Carole for a backwards Three on Thursday list.

My three...

I had three squares left to knit on my mitered square blanket.

And then there was one square left to knit.

And suddenly, I was done!  What a fantastic feeling!

Happy Valentine's Day!