Crochet Baby Blanket

My newest project (currently in progress) is a blanket for my niece-to-be.  Like the crochet gift that I posted about earlier, I am making this blanket from the same yarn that I used for the blanket that I made for her mom.  This has a few advantages (1) you already know what the yarn will feel like in its final form (2) save money by starting with the yarn left over from the previous blanket (3) save time by not obsessing about which colors to use or trying to pick colors that look nice together (4) everything ends up matching adorably.

The down side is that if you do not have enough yarn to finish the blanket, you may have trouble matching certain colors depending on how long ago you bought them.

The leftover yarn and my initial plan for color order:

I have been told that the baby's room is being decorated in pinks and greens.  My main concerns with yarn for the baby blanket were that it would be soft on the baby's skin, that it wasn't wool (allergies), and that the material and colors would be machine washable and not show stains easily.  I like this pattern (http://www.favecrafts.com/Crochet-Afghans/Bavarian-Rainbow-Afghan) because it seems bright and interesting and durable.  A lacy baby blanket with lots of wholes seems impractical to me.  If you are interested in working "in the round", this is a relatively easy and interesting pattern that consists mainly of triple crochets.

First two rows:

The point at which I ran out of dark green yarn (approximately 20 inches in diameter):

Unable to match the dark green yarn color from several years ago, I rip out the stitches : (

I have 4 or 5 more rows to go.  I will update with a picture of the final product when I am done.

We cook: Almond, Raisin Biscuits

I know how to cook basics.  I can make pasta or rice, throw a fish fillet in a frying pan, follow directions to make a basic stew, and cook scrambled eggs/grits/pancakes on a moments notice...and that sadly is about it.  I can follow directions reasonably well to cook from recipes, but I do not have practice making many different meals or experience to know what flavors taste good together. My knowledge of vegetables and spices are especially lacking.

In an attempt to eat healthier, stop spending so much money on restaurants and take-out, and not waste all of the new kitchen equipment we received as wedding presents, I am learning to cook!

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For a girls night this past Thursday, I modified an easy oatmeal raisin cookie recipe: http://bakerbettie.com/perfect-oatmeal-raisin-cookies-with-only-6-ingredients/

I love this recipe because it boils oatmeal raisin cookies down to the bare essentials.  I am so happy whenever (1) I can make recipes without going to the grocery store and (2) a recipe actually tells me which ingredients are necessary and which ones are optional.  It makes life so much easier for a minimally experienced cook.  Here, I wanted to make a hearty, slightly healthy version of oatmeal raisin cookies that could potentially be eaten for breakfast instead of dessert.

















They were definitely not super sweet, but they tasted healthy and the almonds made them much heartier.  I ate these for breakfast on a couple of road trips this weekend and they worked rather well : )

Ingredients

• 3/4 STICK SOFTENED BUTTER (3/8 cup) 
• 1/2 CUP SUGAR
• 1/4 CUP HONEY
• 1 EGG
• 1 TSP BAKING POWDER (optional)
• 1 CUP PLUS 2 TBSP FLOUR
• 1 CUP RAISINS
• 1 1/2 CUPS ROLLED OATS
• 1/2 to 1 CUP CHOPPED ALMONDS 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Mix the butter and sugar together until completely combined.
3. Add the egg and honey and mix until incorporated. If using, add the vanilla, baking powder, and cinnamon and mix until incorporated.
4. Stir in the flour then the raisins, almonds, and then oatmeal until combined.
5. Drop rounded mounds of dough on greased (she called for ungreased, but that never seems to work out for me) cookie sheets and sprinkle with salt if using. Flatten the dough mounds slightly before baking.
6. Bake at 350ºF until just lightly browned on the edges and middle still looks undercooked, about 9 minutes (it took me about 14 minutes).

Blueberry Picking

In other news this weekend, we picked 18 lbs of blueberries.  Including the 30 minute drive each way, it only took us about 3 hours.  We are all about projects and saving money recently and I have never been blueberry picking, so I was very excited.  I will just say that it was very fun and the blueberries are delicious!  We froze most of them to be pulled out over the year for baking with or eating in Cheerios.  We also saved the smushed and under-ripened blueberries to experiment with for our next round of brewing.  DH wanted to try to make a blueberry wine but I'm more excited about trying to add them to our next honey-wheat beer.  I'm not normally a fan of fruit beers, but for some reason a slightly blueberry flavored honey-wheat sounds awesome to me.

DH Moves in! (Part 2)

Determined to actually clean our apartment, DH and I steam clean the carpets, scrub out the fridge, spend 2 hours removing cat hair from the couch, organize closets, and begin to set up the library.

DH Moves In! (Part 1)

My roommate moved out this past Saturday.  Since then I have been unpacking and cleaning like my life depended on it.  Between moving my old roommate out, scrubbing the place from top to bottom, trying to get rid of cat hair, steam cleaning the carpet, reorganizing everything, unpacking wedding presents, moving DH in, trying to fit all of our furniture into the apartment, and decorating, this will definitely be a project!  

But he's moving here and it's the first time we've lived in the same city in over 4 years.  I am very excited.  We are going to try to decorate and make the place look nice, but I'm sure that that will take more time : )  

This week's project:  learning to buy and use basic cleaning supplies so that I don't spend a fortune on Scrubbing Bubbles and Clorox Wipes.

Small World & Ticket to Ride

DH and I have put together a small collection of board games over the past year.  Until now our bookshelf included:

Monopoly, Yahtzee, Cranium, Munchkin, Pandemic, Forbidden Island, Zombie Dice, Gloom, and Flux

...plus few print and play games like Pocket Civ.  We have also played Cards Against Humanity, Settlers of Catan, and Zombicide (which is awesome) but they aren't  worth buying right now because our friends own them already.  I really enjoy table top games. Having friends over to eat or have a few drinks and play a game is a fun and inexpensive way to be social.  Also, they are awesome for holidays when you are sick of bad tv and don't know what else to do with your family.  

As a wedding present, instead of getting us something off of the registry, one of DH's friends got us Small World and Ticket to Ride!  Since I finally got around to playing both of them, I thought I would give my opinions.  

 












  
Ticket to Ride feels very "classic board game".  The rules are very straight forward and there is a good mix of luck and strategy.  It plays a little bit slowly with five people but I think it will be great to play with people, like my mother, who may be intimidated or judgmental of other games.  

Small World is very fun and ridiculous and fantasy themed but (like Munchkin) is slightly dangerous if you're playing with overly competitive people who will hold grudges.  One really cool thing about this game that I didn't realize before is that it comes with 4 game boards.  The game is for 2-5 players and the board you use is determined by the number of players.  Thus, if you play a 2 player game you use the smallest world and if you play a 5 player game you use the biggest world.  The smaller game boards mean that DH and I can play together when we're hanging out just the two of us : ) which means the game will get more use

Crochet Gift

This week I am working on a crocheted gift for my niece-to-be.  My brother and sister-in-law are expecting a little baby girl (the first baby for my siblings) and asked if I would make them a baby blanket.  I learned to crochet when I was 13 and have made several large intricate blankets for myself and family members.  I decided that this time I would to try to make a snuggly stuffed animal/security blanket instead.  Enter this pattern.  It's adorable, it's pink, and my sister-in-law loved the idea.  Having never made a stuffed animal before or worked with so small of a hook, I have to admit that it was a little harder than it looked.  

In progress:

The final product:

I think it turned out ok!  I ran out of pink yarn so I couldn't do the outside row in pink like I wanted to initially.  If I make another one, I will change a few parts of the pattern.  I do not like that with the current pattern there are sc2tog stitches on the front of the face.  While reducing stitches are necessary to make the bottom part of the face curve in to close, I think that having such stitches on the front of the face are noticeable.  I would have preferred to hide them a bit better.

The stuffing is inside a cotton fabric lining so that the baby can't pull any out to eat, it is machine washable, and the face is made with yarn instead of buttons so that nothing can be eaten.  Hopefully they like it!

 

Introduction

I passed my qualifying exam on April 24, 2014.  It was a long and intimidating process, but in the end not all that hard.  Three weeks later, I married my best friend and became Mrs. Powell...and that is officially the first time I have ever called myself Mrs.  It's a odd feeling.  Calling him husband came naturally and I distinctly remember saying "I've already lost my husband 3 times!" about 5 minutes into the wedding reception.  Wife was a bit harder of a word for me to grasp...and changing my name is just odd.  But I am very happy to be married.  It was a wonderful day.  It was a wonderful honeymoon.  And I'm excited for our wonderful, if stressful, life.  

I imagine that it will be a life of projects and adventure and to do lists and work.  We tend to take on more than we can handle.  I completed a B.S. in chemical engineering in 2012, during which I completed 2 years of work in undergraduate research, 1 year as a ballet instructor, and 16 months as a full time process engineer co-op.  I am currently 2 years into pursuing a Ph.D. in chemical engineering.  DH graduated with a B.S. in bio engineering in 2011, has since completed a Masters in physical anthropology while working two part time jobs to pay for graduate school, and is in the process of applying to med schools.  There is always stress, but there is also sarcasm, goofiness, coffee, and games. 

I do not often talk about sappiness and love.  But I am going to briefly because I want to remember.  I am very lucky.  I am very lucky to have found DH.  I am very lucky for the relationship and the love that we have.  No one has ever known me better, has ever seen quite so many of my ups and downs, faults, ambitions, passions, and fears.  I do not understand how he has been so amazingly, consistently, and unconditionally by my side and accepting of who I am.  Though he can be indecisive and reserved, he is also a caring, hard working, unjudging, selfless, and loyal man.  He is one of the best friends you could ask for and I trust him with my life.   

I am writing this blog to document our life together.  I do not know how long I will keep up with it, but I want to remember these times and all of our random projects, games, and adventures.