I blame JK Rowling

Okay, so since I finished the quilt, I've literally done nothing but read Harry Potter. I reread books 5 & 6 & just finished reading Book 7 last night. I've been close to 3 weeks, and over 2000 pages entrenched in nothing but Harry Potter. Now, I'm done, so back to work!

So I think my first order of business will be to start the bath mat that I mentioned earlier, although I think I've changed my mind about what to put on it. Sadly, my kids are not so into Sesame Street as I was. My son loves Blue's Clues, and there is a character on Blue's Clues called "Slippery Soap" who is, you guessed it, a bar of soap. I think I'll try & find something with him & make that into the bath mat.

I have the canvas, the yarn (or at least some of it), and the latch hook. Now I just need to make a pattern & go.

She will always be taller and younger and thinner, now this!?!

My sister is cooler than me.

Not only did she find red plastic bags to knit with, she told me what she is going to make with them and it is excellent. However, when we were on our travels together and we found a random convenience store that used red bags, she totally understood that I had to ask the cashier for extra bags. Now I just have to think of something that isn't a copycat of what she is doing.

As for an update with my plastic bag knitting, I've revised the plan slightly for how the final plastic mat will come together. Instead of icord forming the the majority of the mat, I'm braiding instead and will use icord for design purposes. We'll see how it all comes together...

Late Comer

Hi All. I'm Rachel. Since this is my first venture into the on-line world as anything other than a reader, that's my only identity. I come to you through Kathy, who I met when we worked together several years (and for her Several jobs) ago. My craftiness runs more toward kitchen craft. I've been known to do ribbon embroidery but patience, my cat and now a 1-year old conspire to convince me that's not to viable a hobby now.

So here I'll venture my occasional entries on cooking and thoughts on the herb plants I'm growing as I try to cultivate an interest in gardening. Occasionally sharing these thoughts with a pastry chef might be intimidating but I have taught Kathy a few things: like the cheese bread recipe that, in part, won my husband.

When I resigned from my job last year to stay home with our daughter I thought there would be plenty of time to dedicate to cooking and baking. Nope. For the first 6 months the little one was disinclined to nap; since then I've been disinclined to do anything *anything* to wake her from a hard won nap. Dramatic but true.

Drumroll, please...

I finished the Puzzle Quilt!




I didn't meet my goal of having the horizontal ditches sewn before my trip to Texas, but I managed to knock all but 3 of them out the day I was leaving. I finished it up today. I got on a roll working on it last night & it became like a book that I was close to finishing...I just had to see how it was going to turn out! Also similar to finishing a book, I now feel an empty space as though I don't know what to do with myself...Fairy costume, here I come!

Here are a couple of closer up shots so you can see the border stitching & the individual pieces:

And here is the back with a close-up of the outlines of the puzzle piece stitching:

What do you guys think? I think it looks pretty nice for a first "solo" effort!

I always knew I had deviance in me.....

My sister demands pictures and well, what else could I do but supply them, which meant finishing this little critter here. Ok but wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.


Like I said, I've been all up ons the mochimochiland little projects... anything that I can accomplish in a day makes me feel better about the universe.

So The first I made was the misshapen multicolored heart. The shape was as much a product of that yarn as it was my way fabulous knitting skills coping with a new way to increase and decrease stitches I had never tried. Then came the Blade of Grass. He's a bit more minty green than you can tell in this picture. So much fun to make this, I have no idea why. But then... I went awry.
It's not like I have to follow recipes to the T or anything, but I lack confidence and skill to depart from most crafty patterns. But that's what I did. That orange guy there? He was a heart. He became the Deviant Beet. I even deviated from my sister's suggestion for the leaves! Craziness! And then, to make matters worse, I made Purple Robot there without a pattern at all. What am I turning into?

Well, apparently, someone who knits plastic bags. Eventually this will become the welcome mat that can be stolen without heartbreak. For now, I'm still odd.



Just wait, someone asked me to make them a beanie this week.

I had a great time at least

Well it turned out I did most the driving so no "car time" to crochet :( Here is the photo of my progress...i got the blanket in the bag, hook, yarn and scissors and there they stayed snuggled for the entire weekend. I need a new pedicure too!

I was unjustly fired from my job yesterday...i suppose no one ever says they were justly fired, I just wish I would have been fired for cussing out my boss instead of not meeting his unattainable demands. 2 good things from this event are 1) i don't have to work with my dumb-a** boss 2) I will have plenty of to work on unfinished projects or at least start new projects that can hang out in the Corner of Unfinished Projects

I understand the idea of diminishing returns but i hate the rechargeable batteries anyway.

One of my coworkers today mentioned something about needing a part-time job because he had "too much free time" right now. We haven't really hit the slow season at work, but we're very close and I admit, my work weeks have been hovering under the forty hour line. But what is this free time of which he speaks? I know no such thing! Then I realize two very important factors of the equation:

1. He is a kind-of-single manwhore who has a veritable bevy of suitors desperate to do things like his laundry for him. Seriously, they even do his ironing. I should enjoy such perks in my world.

2. My house has sprouted knitty, crafty things. Not quite sure how it happened, and it is probably due in part to all those cute little projects on mochimochiland. Seriously, I even finished a bunch of these things! And made up some stuff on my own!

I blame this website.