Camping was awesome; and I got my new needles!!!

I absolutely loved camping!  I had so much fun with the boys, although I didn't get to take as many pics as I had planned.  I kept forgetting the darn camera!

One of our favorite parts of the tractor show is the car museum.  It's really cool.  Todd loves looking at all of the old race cars.

Lynn Paxton(with maroon hat) posing with his car.

The main reason I love the camping trips is so that I can see all the tractors!

Aiden loves riding on the wagon!

Well now...Before I just fill this up with pics. :-/  There was a clown there Friday night.  The kids really seemed to love her, but I couldn't really find anything appealing about her.  I didn't get too much knitting done during the camping trip.  It's not so much that I didn't have time.  I had lots of time, but I didn't have long enough needles to finish my shawl so I was stuck working on a scarf.  I spent a whole 5 min working on it, and then boredom set in.  You can only make so many scarves before it begins to get monotonous.

Today I picked up my new needles!  We stopped at the yarn store, but we were a whole half hour early.  I was too desperate to wait a half hour so we ran over to Joanne Fabrics to pick up my needles.  It feels so good to start working on my shawl again.

I don't think it's turning out too bad.  At least I'm not mysteriously adding/losing stitches anymore.  For some reason every row was producing the wrong amount of stitches. I can't even count how many times I've had to restart, but this is the first chart pattern I've ever worked on.  I am hoping that I will finish it within the next two weeks.  Then the only problem I'll have is finding something else to work on.

My mom wants me to knit her a blanket.  I don't exactly know what made her think that I was that skillful a knitter.  I am sure that I can do a whole learn as I go thing, but I'm worried that once she gets the finished blanket she may not like how it turned out.  She said that she is looking for a pattern now, and I sent here a few patterns myself.  She is going to buy all of the yarn required to make the blanket.  I hope she doesn't pick anything too difficult.

Well back to my knitting!!!

Camping Season Here!

It's so exciting!  I can't wait to get out of the house for a little bit.  We don't have too much to get together yet, but I still feel like we're going to end up forgetting something.  We'll be using the pop-up, which sadly has no toilet. (AHHHHH!)  I have no problem using an outhouse...It's the nasty people that leave it all gross with you-know-what all over the place!


That's not the real problem though...

I CAN'T TAKE MY KNITTING ALONG!!!!  The shawl that I was so passionately working on can't be completed, because my knitting needles aren't long enough to hold all of the stitches.  I have to wait until we get back from camping to get the needles that I need.  So that project is set aside for the time being and a new project was started just last Saturday.  Well that isn't fitting on the needles that I have for that!  I even stooped to knitting it with all five of my DPNs.  I felt like I could cry!  I don't think that I've ever been able to feel this passionately about something so simple.


My husband says that he can see it now; That I'm going to be unbearable to live with until we can get to the yarn store to get the things that I need.  I would love to get more yarn too.  I plan to get a circular needle set too.  One week is such a short time, but it seems like forever when you're really waiting for something.

We're going to have so much fun camping though.  I know that I'll be able to find something to keep myself busy even though I won't have my obsession to keep myself busy.  Last year they had a clown there for the kids, and my oldest, Todd, and I both had fun just riding the trolley back and forth.  I also love watching my husband riding the tractors around.  He likes pulling us on the wagon sometimes, but I don't think that we'll be going up the huge hill to the museum this year.  It was too much work for our little turd tractor that we took to the tractor show last year.  We all love watching the tractor pulls, and I will get to show of my onbuhimo baby carrier, with it's awesome green and yellow (Gotta have my John Deere colors!).

This whole next week will probably be spent trying to find something that I might possibly be able to knit that weekend.  The only needles that I have that are not currently "in use" are my size 7 needles, but now I just need to figure out to do with the yarn that I have....

My Awesome Hat!!!

I finished my hat that I had been working on.  I made a "test" hat, but it turned out to be a little bigger than I had hoped.  I had gone to the yarn store and gotten some Berroco Remix.  It's blush.  I loved the way it looked and felt.  It only really took me a few hours to complete it, but I did it over 2 - 3 days.

 It was so easy to make!

I fell in love with this hat the moment I put it on my head!  I can't wait to make something else now.  My mom wants me to make one for her too.  I'm not sure if I have enough yarn or not, and I'm not sure if she'll like the color.  I don't really have any other yarn, and I can't afford to get anymore right now.  I had gotten the pattern from Ravelry.com Combination Summer Hat.   I used a size J hook instead of the K, and I think that it turned out perfect (for me at least).  I might start on my next project today....As soon as I figure out what it is...

Easter Sunday

Easter went wonderfully.  We all went to church in the morning, which was something that we hadn't done in a long time.  We even ate Easter dinner twice.  Once at my aunt's house after church, and then back at my in-laws'.  We had to wait at my aunt's for about half an hour before food was ready, which is better than the over an hour wait from last year.  There wasn't really much to do over there.  I didn't get a chance to grab my knitting like I had originally wanted to.  So I just followed my youngest, Aiden, around the house.

I am still trying to figure out what size crochet hook I should use to start the hat that I really want to make.  I haven't really had a chance to try out any of the one's that I have yet.  Obviously I didn't get to start working on it yesterday like I had hoped.  Til we got back home and ate with the in-laws, I was incredibly full and needing a nap.  We spent the rest of the evening sitting outside and enjoying the nice weather.  They were calling for rain, but I was very happy to see that it was so nice.  Today is my chance to catch up with things.  I spent a good bit of the day outside, and gave Aiden his first hair cut.  The poor boy was so hot.  Now I'm going to get ready to clean up inside from all the Easter stuff.  After I get Aiden to sleep I am going to sit, relax, and work on my knitting.

Happy Anniversary to Me!!!

Today my husband and I have been married for 2 years.  It's been a little rough, but we're still hanging in there.  It rained most of the day, and we had a pretty bad thunderstorm with tornado watches.  We went out the the yarn store and I got some yarn and needles for my next project.  I can't wait to start it.  Then for dinner we went out to Applebee's.  We went with his parents, brother, and sister in-law.  It was also my mother in-law's birthday.  It was so busy there, and they kind of screwed up our order.  Dinner was still nice though, and dessert was great.  I ate so much food that I didn't think I was going to be able to stand up afterward.  It was raining so hard that we could barely see on the way home, and we heard the tornado warnings twice til we made it home.

Overall I think that, even though the weather has been kind of crappy, we had a very nice anniversary.  Now I plan to relax, and maybe work on my next project.  I at least need to practice working with the DPN's before I start the project.  I would rather screw up some scrap yarn than the yarn I had to practically beg to get. 

 ☻

My Joy/Obsession with Knitting

I have a new found love.  I can't really explain it, but I love it anyway.  I have crocheted, sewn, and now have moved to knitting.  To me, knitting is very relaxing.  I have ADHD, but it keeps both my hands moving enough that all I really think about is that I need knit faster or spend more time doing it to get done what I am trying to do.   This is after only spending 2 days to knit a really long scarf.

I had wanted to learn to knit several years ago and bought one set of knitting needles (which is no where near enough for what I want to do now), but felt after a few attempts that it was too hard.  I didn't think that I would ever find the time to learn.  Now I find that I have a lot more time than I thought to knit, and that it is very relaxing for me.

Of course my scarf that I made was very simple.  I didn't really look into the different stitches that I could try.  I also felt that it would be better to practice the basics first.  Two days knitting, and I already have 3 knitting books coming in the mail this next week.  After my husband's next paycheck I am going out to get a bunch of different sizes of needles, and a lot of yarn.  I only have 1 ball of yarn.

I find myself amazed at how excited I am about knitting.  Last night I finished that scarf, and I have been thinking all day about knitting.  How did I not know about this wonderful craft before?  What ever could have made me think that I would never be able to do it?  Why am I not doing it right now?  What will I do with my free time now that I am practically out of yarn, and how can I survive the next two weeks until I get more?

Okay.... I am obsessing just a little, but I haven't ever really had any hobbies that I could really feel myself actually wanting to stick to.  I can't wait to get more yarn and try something a little more challenging.

BBQ Meatloaf Patties

Ingredients

1 pound of hamburger

1/2 cup of milk

3 slices of bread

1 small onion (optional)

1/2 cup of ketchup

1/2 cup of barbecue sauce (I prefer Bulls-eye hickory smoke, but choose based on your preference of flavor)

2 Tablespoons of mustard

2 Tablespoons of vinegar

1/2 cup of sugar

3/4 teaspoons of salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Tear the bread into small pieces.  In a large bowl mix together the hamburger, bread, and milk.

Line a 13x9 baking pan with aluminum foil for easier clean up if you like.  Then form the hamburger into 6 patties, placing them into the dish.

Now mix the ketchup, barbecue sauce, mustard, vinegar, sugar, and salt together.

Pour the mixture onto each of the patties.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil, and bake for 45 minutes.

Then uncover and bake for another 15 minutes

My Results With This Recipe

My husband fell in love with this dish the very first time that I made it; which was definitely a surprise to me. (He's pickier than a two year old.)  I had done this more as an experiment than anything else, because we had wanted to try something new and different.  The meatloaf patties came out moist and absolutely delicious.  There were no leftovers, and this is the first dish that I have made that my husband absolutely wants to eat often.  Feel free to leave comments and change the recipe to suit your own needs and tastes.