DIY: Photo Candle Holders

So I decided it was about time I showed you all another tutorial for a gift I made for my family for Christmas. It's a lot of fun to make and I'm definitely making more!

This is a super simple and cheap gift idea that is guaranteed to make any sentimental person break down and cry. That is if you are using photos that mean something to that person. You can always use non sentimental photos, but I can't guarantee the tears then. Just kidding...

What you'll need:
Glass Candle Holders
Clear Shipping Labels
A Digital Copy of a Photo
Printer

Recipe: Spinach, Feta, and Turkey Burgers

If there is one thing in the world that I love, it's a good burger. It's always an added bonus if I can make it a healthy burger that actually tastes good. So I give you my personal recipe for my turkey burgers. I'm warning you, they are super easy and super yummy!

What You'll Need:

1lb to a 1.25lb of Ground Turkey

About 1/2 bag of Chopped Baby Spinach

2oz container of Feta Cheese

DIY: Dyeing Wool with Tea, Coffee, and Turmeric

 

I recently came into possession of a white ball of wool yarn, and I thought to myself, "Huh, how boring!" So I decided I would try my own attempt at dying yarn. I've never dyed yarn before so I started to do a lot of internet research, and what I found included a lot of crazy toxic dyes, all of which weren't readily available to me. But then I stumbled across this site: http://www.pioneerthinking.com/naturaldyes.html. It lists a bunch of natural ingredients and what colors they make. For the first time I was starting to think that this will be doable. And you know what, it totally was doable! In fact I entered this idea into a contest on instructables. Click here to Vote on it and help me become a finalist!

Yup, I'm totally being "that" person right now.

What you'll need:
Water
Vinegar
Coffee
Tea
Turmeric
Some bowls
A ball of white wool yarn

Thursday Night Unwind

 Tonight we have arrived.

We have arrived at another wonderful Thursday night! Which means we have made it through the marathon of the work week and are simply 1 measly shift away from freedom from "the man" or "the customer". Even better is the fact that my last shift before freedom is only 4 hours long.

So that makes me in a good mood. and when I'm in a good mood, I like to grove. My ultimate groove music is by Bitter:Sweet. The music is very big band and jazzy mixed with some smooth electronics to make a really fun genre of music that I have no idea what it's called. If you know, please share. The first song up for tonight is called The Mating Game (if you like it continue past the jump for more two videos!):

 

Knitting Tutorial: Knit and Purl Continental Style

This is how I knit. I am a continental knitter. It basically means that you hold the yarn in your left hand instead of your right. This method is also favored by many crocheters as how you work with the yarn is similar to crochet. This is also called the German Method or Left Handed Knitting.

This is also a great method for left handed people since you control the yarn with your left hand. However, I am right handed and knit this style. It's faster to knit this way since you don't have to take your hand off the needles to knit. Continental knitters hold the yarn in their left hand, which allows the knitter to simply scoop, or "pick", the yarn with the right needle. This is why this method is favored by crocheters since when you crochet you are always grabbing the yarn with the hook.

The biggest challenge with this style of knitting is the purl stitch, which requires a lot of practice to to comfortable and accurately.

So here is how to knit and purl continental style.

Knitting Tutorial: How to Long Tail Cast on

So I recently got a sweet little HD camera. SO I've decided to make the most of it and start making some knitting tutorials! If you have a request for anything knitting related, let me know and I'll do my best teach you! This first video is a quick tutorial on how to do a Long Tail Cast On.

It is my favorite cast on to do. It just looks really nice and is really sturdy. It creates a good foundation for your work and helps to give it a more polished look. It's also really fast!

Thursday Night Unwind

Hooray! I've made it to another Thursday! And the best part? I have Friday off! Unfortunately this means I'm working Saturday and Sunday, but at least I get to enjoy a Friday for once! This week I wanted to share with you some great music (as usual), but this band is really REALLY good! 

They are called Balkan Beat Box. It's kind of hip hoppy, sorta rasta, a bit belly dancing music... Oh just click play and LISTEN! 

This one is called War Again:

Knitting Pattern: Boneyard Shawl

This is a great pattern to knit if you've never knitted a shawl before. I found it very easy to understand, and as a us, you can use whatever type of yarn you like! You can find the pattern on Ravelry written by Stephen West of Westknits.com. He has a lot of great patterns, most of which are for sale, but this one happens to be free! You can download the pdf at the Ravelry link, westknits.com, or click here to download it.

What You'll Need:
Needle US 8, 32in circular (or whatever size needle matches your yarn, I used a size 4)
Yarn DK / 8 ply (or any kind of yarn. I used a Light fingering/3ply yarn) 3 skeins (654 yards)
Stitch Markers (it helps to put these around the center stitch)

What you need to know:
Long tail cast on
Knit
Purl (continental) Purl (throwing)
M1R and M1L
How to add another ball of yarn
Bind off or a Flexible sewn bind off
How to weave in the ends

DIY: Photo Candle Holders

This is a super simple and cheap gift idea that is guaranteed to make any sentimental person break down and cry. That is if you are using photos that mean something to that person. You can always use non sentimental photos, but I can't guarantee the tears then. Just kidding...

What you'll need:
Glass Candle Holders
Clear Shipping Labels
A Digital Copy of a Photo
Printer

Recipe: Killer Tomato Bagel Sandwich

So yes, I know that I missed this weeks Thursday Night Unwind. But you know what... it's ok because there is gonna be a great band featured next Thursday! Besides, I was busy getting some sleep because I was going to be awake from 6:30am on Friday to 5:00am on Saturday... that's almost 23 hours! And this little lady need some rest or I wouldn't have enjoyed my trip to Chicago! So to make up for it, I'm going to share with you all one of my favorite things to make.

This is a really refreshing and simple sandwich that is great for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack!

What you need:
A Bagel
Some Cucumber Slices
Some Roma Tomato Slices
Whipped Cream Cheese (any kind will do, I used plain!)
Fresh Basil (1 large leaf should do)
Some sort of toasting device

Optional Ingredients (based on variations I've made of this sandwich):
Bacon
Red Onion Slices
Spinach

DIY: Harry Potter Golden Snitches

Having a Harry Potter themed party anytime soon? Then this will be one of the perfect treats you can serve (and it hardly takes any time). I made these for my friends New Years Eve party, which was Harry Potter themed. We drank butter beer and ate a big feast (fyi... don't eat a big turkey on a night you need to try to stay awake), we also ate jellie bellies (for the every flavor bean), And watch a ton of Harry Potter movies. It was quite fun!

What you need:

Ferrero Rocher candies

White or Gold feathers

Hot Glue Gun

Knitting Pattern: Transverse Cowl

Guess what everybody... I wrote another knitting pattern!!! This one is also for a cowl, but it has a really nice diagonal pattern to it. It's a simple pattern that again is just interesting enough to make sure you don't get bored. The diagonal pattern is created by doing an oblique rib stitch.

What you'll need:
Size 10 - 29" inch long circular needle
Stitch Marker
3 Balls of Bernat Alpaca Natural Blends yarn. (or roughly 260 - 360 yards of some bulky 12ply yarn) Mine is the color called Fern.

What you need to know: (click on the links if you need a video to show you how)
Long tail cast on
Join in circle
Knit
Purl (continental) Purl (throwing)
How to add another ball of yarn
Bind off
How to weave in the ends
You don't have to know this, because the pattern walks you through how to do this, but if it helps, this is a link to the stitch we are doing.

Thursday Night Unwind

Hello all! We've made it to yet another Thursday! This means we are all just one step closer to getting to that wonderful time called the weekend. To help you all feel the calm that the weekend can bring (that is if you plan on chilling all weekend long), I decided to introduce you to a band called Boards of Canada.

They are pretty hard for me to describe other than experimental electronic music that is pretty chill sounding. But seriously, when I need to chill out and find my zen or my center, this band does it for me.

First song up for tonight is Dawn Chorus.

Recipe: Instant Hot Cocoa Mix

A few days ago I posted up a recipe for instant vanilla chai tea mix. On the website that I found that recipe on was also a recipe for instant hot cocoa mix! It sounded so yumy that I decided to gift that to people as well. I originally found the recipe over on momadvice.com. It sounded yummy and I decided to make it for everyone! The only problem I had with her recipe is it didn't really say how much it makes.

So this recipe makes 4 quart sized jars.

Ingredients:
8 cups nonfat dry milk powder
3 cups sugar
2 cup non-dairy coffee creamer
1 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 (4 ounce) packages instant chocolate fudge pudding

Knitting Pattern: Chunky Ribbed Hat

This yet again another present I had made for somebody for Christmas (see, I told you I was busy!). This was a really easy knit and also really fast. And again, I'm including videos for the different stitches you need to know (I might as well make this as easy for you as I can). I originally found the pattern on Ravelry by Groovy Mom. If you click on the link it will take you to the original pattern. I pretty much followed the pattern exactly, except instead of knit I did a twisted knit. The reason I did this is because of the type of yarn I used. I use a brand called Homespun and it tends to be really fluffy. The twisted knit tends to give the hat more structure which was needed with this type of yarn. I also decreased differently so the decrease wasn't so extreme.

So to get started you are going to need:
16 inch circular needle size 10
Size 10 DPNS (for the end of the hat)
A Ball of Bulky/12ply yarn (I used Homespun)
A stitch marker

What you need to know: (click on the stich you need to know to be taken to the video)
Long tail cast on
Join in circle 
Twisted Knit Stitch
Purl (continental) Purl (throwing)
K2TOG (Knit 2 Together)
P2TOG (Purl 2 Together)
Bind off
How to weave in the ends

Recipe: Instant Vanilla Chai Tea Mix

This is something that is great to have on hand for those cold winter nights, but it also makes a great gift! In fact, this is one of the many gifts I mad this year. I originally found the recipe over on momadvice.com. It sounded yummy and I decided to make it for everyone! The only problem I had with her recipe is it didn't really say how much it makes.

So this recipe makes 4 quart sized jars.

Ingredients:

2 cups nonfat dry milk powder

2 cups powdered non-dairy creamer

2 cups French vanilla powdered non-dairy creamer

5 cups white sugar

3 cups unsweetened instant tea

4 tsp ground ginger

4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp ground cardamom

2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp white pepper