She said she doesn't want you here when she gets back because you've been ruining everybody's lives and eating all our steak.

I really feel like that about my camera sometimes. It eats all my steak and makes me really angry. I try to get good shots and they end up blurry. I change the settings and the picture is no longer blurry but is dark, etc., etc. I even manually set the aperture and shutter speed to no avail. I miss important moments and I am hardly EVER in any of my own pictures as I am the only one who knows how to take pictures on this thing. Whenever I hand the camera over to someone else, I am blurry. Ugh. Grrr.

So much for a glorified point-n-shoot. Someday I'll have this camera. Or if God really opened up the floodgates: this one. As well as this one for other people to take pictures of ME with.

All that said, here are the pics I Photoshopped to death. Remember this post? I was working on a charcoal hat and I really think I had to undo that thing about four times before I got the gauge right. I am still not a master of gauge. Or apprentice even.

But hats are wonderfully quick and easy to knit - nothing like a full-size sweater or even one of those loooong scarves that just won't end. I have been going hat-less this winter for the most part because a few of my hats are outdated or lost and I just can't bring myself to buy one when I can very well make one!

This hat is Couvercle from Knitty. If you look at the picture from that website and compare it with mine, you'll notice that the brims are pretty different. I would LOVE to tell you how I modified it but the simple truth is this: I completely made it up as I went. It is supposed to be a crocheted brim and I don't really know how to crochet and what the crochet abbreviations mean. I was so eager to get this hat done that I just grabbed a crochet hook and stuck it in the hat and went for it. To my complete surprise, it worked. I could not duplicate it though.

I'm going to HAVE to learn how to crochet though. There are so many cute, cute toys on Ravelry that will be perfect for using up those half used balls of yarn from other projects. I love this yummy cupcake, and this little guy I'm going to make asap.

Ever since returning from Jackamo's house, I have also been sucking down the hot tea this winter. So, obviously I need one of these: Patty mug covers. I am reallying loving the moss stitch.

On the path...

And the Winner Is...

G'G'MA, Congratulations! Oh, I am so very excited. It was very hard seeing all of your initials on the buttons, wondering who would be the recipient. I was very fair, putting you all in a mug, shaking you up Yahtzee-style, and then picking out the FIRST button my fingers touched. So, I am very happy to send over the Mint Chocolate bean bag and liner over to you, G'G'ma. Just email me at jennyem1(at)gmail(dot)com with your mailing info.

Of course, I'm finding that doing giveaways isn't quite as nice as I thought it would be. While I am very excited for the winner, I really have this huge urge to make EVERYONE a bean bag now, but I can't do that as I would be working forever. I love you all, but I guess not that much. I do plan on doing more giveaways though, so just keep in touch!

Stay on the path...

The Contest is Now Closed

For those of you who put a comment on this post, congratulations! I am VERY excited for each and every one of you as I know you all and have visited your blogs as well. So, whoever wins this contest will just tickle me pink (or mint, as the case may be). It's a win/win for me.

Thank you, dear eFriends, for stopping by my blog once in a while and inspiring me with your blogs as well. Tune in for the winner ....

Stay on the path.

Again and Again...

Now that the holidays are over, I am just super busy! Work is heating up, the temperature outside is way down, the to-do list is growing and I'm just one girl. I knock out ten of the items on my list in one day and there are 20 more to replace them. Do you feel that way? Hey people, it's after the holidays - isn't this supposed to be the slow time?

Since it is the coldest time of the year, hot soups are in order at our house. I whipped up this carrot soup this morning to have something warm for lunch. Very low fat and very yummy too - I didn't need to over-compensate with crackers on this one. Just some carrots, onions, chicken stock, salt, pepper, grated ginger and fat free sour cream. Dill for garnish. Very yum!

I'm feeling very homemaker-y and even going as far as making my own chicken stock this winter. Now that I'm into the soups and sauces mode, I find that I need more and more chicken stock. Why not make my own and save a couple of bucks? Just got off the phone with a friend and she gave me some tips on how she makes her most excellent stock - whole black peppercorns are included.

I have so much to post - especially about the wonderful holiday exchange gift that I received from my exchange partner, Kate. It was such a wonderful, well-thought out gift that I feel I need some time to really take some good pictures and write a good post to do it some sort of justice. Check out Kate's great photos on her Flickr site, HeyK8, and say hello. She's really nice.

I am also knitting like crazy this winter. It's not that I have a lot of time, but it's that I don't have a bunch of functional hats (I have a big head) and the fact that I have yarn already and am a knitter makes me feel that I shouldn't go out and purchase any knitting headgear. It seems sort of redundant. So I'm trying to figure out what the heck I did to this hat in moss stitch while watching a movie the other night. It wasn't that great of a movie, but apparently I was intent enough on it to really mess this sucker up. I may just go on with it and put a little bling over the area that just isn't working.

Another fun knit is the little dress below for miss Ava. I received a bunch of different colored yarns from my mom for Christmas and this is what I decided to do. A stripey dress is just the ticket to bring on an early spring, don't you think?

I have had to stop knitting my easy socks again, until I can get some direction on what I am doing with the heel. Bummer. I also had to stop knitting my son's striped sweater/pull over as I ran out of yarn. Sad! Now I'll have to shop for more yarn - always a burden I must bear. ;)

Stay on the path!

Win a Sweet Treat!

After a crazy hectic couple of weeks, I am happily and gladly announcing my 100th posting Sweet Treat giveaway!

I realize that many, MANY bloggers enjoy giveaways from time to time to mark certain occasions or events, and they also use that contest to draw more readers. To be very honest, I've thought about a contest to do just that by having people put a cute icon on their blog or to invite 10 friends to leave a comment or to even have some clever contest that would involve creative writing or a video clip.

Well ... I'm not going to do that. These past 100 posts have been so much fun for me and through blogging, I've met some pretty amazing people. It's you (family, friends and e-friends) that read my blog simply for enjoyment or for an inspiration or two that I'd like to target with this contest. So keep it under wraps if you want to increase your chances of winning! ;)

I have seriously enjoyed blogging back and forth with all of you - visiting your websites and blogs, Flickr pages and favorite online shops. You all have given so many creative and fun ideas that my to-do list is seriously long and I my head is constantly whirring with projects and ideas. So, thank you!

THE RULES:
Simply leave me a comment to this post with a valid email address or a link to your blog so I can find you. If you and I already know each other through communications on this blog, just keep doing what you've been doing. I know where you are..

I will leave this contest open for about two weeks so that everyone will get a chance to see the contest and enter if they want. CLOSING DATE FOR THE SWEET TREAT CONTEST IS: JANUARY 26TH, 2009!

After the 26th, I will tally up all of the commenters from this post and put you all in a name jar and draw a winner.

THE PRIZE:
A hand-made, one-of-a-kind child size bean bag. This bean bag is approximately 32" in diameter when filled and is made of heavyweight, durable, machine-washable cotton. The heavyweight zipper is plastic, so please don't use an iron on this part. Included is the muslin insert that is also approximately 32" in diameter when filled.

BEAN FILLING IS NOT INCLUDED. Hey, I'm giving this away for free, so go find your own filler. (I found mine at my local grocery store believe it or not.)

I can not wait to see to who's home this little treat will go. I have a bean bag chair I made for my children and they just love it (mostly for rolling around and playing games with). These were so much fun to make and easily made out of small pieces of heavyweight fabric.

Good luck to everyone and thanks so much for stopping by. You are appreciated!

Stay on the path...

My Baby...

My baby is now three. What a sweet little boy he has grown to be. He always has a hug and a kiss for his little sister every morning. He calls his daddy his best buddy. He loves yellow cars. He loves me.

I just adore this little man and am excited to see what he'll do in this new year.

On another note, I am very close to my 100th blog posting and would like to offer up a sweet treat as a giveaway! More details to come...

Stay on the path!