Yarny post!

Wow what a week!

Monday I felt a little funny but didn't think much of it...until Tuesday I felt a little more funny.

Then started the vomiting. Blah.

I'll spare you the details but let's just say stomach bugs are horrible! I haven't had one in years (although I certainly was reliving my "morning" sickness during this illness...), and I hope I won't for a few more years now. 

I'm so GRATEFUL that my little muffin didn't get sick and that hubster only got a very mild case of what I had. How fortunate!

Needless to say, not much has been happening here this week.

I have however, today, gotten around to taking a few photos and I figured I'd better do something with them before they just sit around. If pictures could sit. 

Ugh, it's one of these days.

 This amaryllis is from a bulb that was supposed to only have two stalks and dutifully bloomed around New Year's and after. Then it produced a surprise third and I was tickled! However, the plant itself is pale and pitiful, so I just chopped it off and put it in this little vase. Cute and sooooo vibrant!

Almost makes me like red more. ;)

I'd better get on to yarny stuff because I called this a yarny post!

Here is all that is left of my blue and green stash that my stash-busting sunburst granny square blanket is supposed to use!

It's dwindled quite a bit if you compare it to this post from (ahem) 10 months ago HERE, you can see that I have used quite a bit of yarn. I will say, I discarded two yarns. One because it was just too thick, the other because I wanted to make the scarf below in this post. :D 

I don't know if I'll make it to 88 squares, but I'm up to 50 now! 

Oh, and pictured above is not the 3 skeins (150g) of the gray border yarn. I bought quite a bit of it since it was just on sale and well... If I run out of color perhaps I just make a decorative border?

Oh, and below are only 40 squares. I haven't sewn the last 10 on, and think  I won't until I'm done. I'm worried that the blanket will then end up lopsided because I ran out of certain colors or something.

 

Ah and this project.

This is a Drops design pattern which you can find here. 

I really like this but I'm stumped as to how I've managed to add stitches where they do not belong... I need to:

a) unravel until I find the culprit

b) ask my mom. 

:D 

 

Oooh crawling baby getting into trouble.

That's my cue!

Ta-taa and cheerios!

I hope you're staying healthy despite the bugs going around! 

Oh, and a picture of my cuteness before I go! Almost forgot :) 

Silly muffin says "what?!"

Winter prettiness

I finally had time to get out and take photos. We've had gorgeous weather all week, very cold (-15-20c) and sunny. This weekend, a little warmer and cloudy, but I'm sure we will have white crisp sunny weather again soon.

You can faintly see in this picture the "glitter" snow gently falling in the sun... I LOVE when this happens! 

Sun as a bug in a rug. ♥

 

It was such a mild fall and early winter that the pussy willows started to "bloom". Now they're snow covered. 

 

I was really enjoying the low sun and trying to capture the flare in the lens. 

 

Winter ♥

I love when it's sunny and cold and snowy...

but I do miss summer ;)

Hope you're staying warm where ever you are!

Starburst-sunbursts and possibly the 2nd rainbow reveal

Lots of this again. Yay!!

Link to tutorial and pattern

I've gotten back into the groove with this blanket which has sat in the pile of WIP's since early summer. In fact, last time I crocheted these squares, I was pregnant! :O 

After making what feels like 10000000 crochet Christmas presents, I was definitely wanting to make something stress-free and all for ME. 

What delicious colors, I could play with these all day. 

I've even been a good girl and I've been following a "sew-in-all-the-ends-rule" every 5 squares. 

I've made 33 squares and I'm thinking of making it an 8x11 rectangle...so just a few more squares to go ;)

I took the pictures below for my Ravelry account.

I realized I had never updated the picture there to show the final product even though I finished this blanket before Miss Muffin was born... 

Now I wonder if I ever revealed it here...and I'm too lazy to go back and read so here it is! :)

By the way, I highly recommend having ravelry account if you like to crochet or knit. TONS of patterns there and lots of inspiration. Plus, if you upload the pictures of your projects to your account, it's a nice reminder of things you've made. I post most things to this blog, but to see projects, I'd have to search labels etc... On my ravelry page, I can see them all ka-bang right there!

Other than crochet, I've been baking. A lot.

Scones have been my latest conquest, something I've been trying to perfect. I love them with coffee!

I baked brownies today for a guest and covered them in whipped cream and sprinkles. I love the picture, I just want to swim it or something. Is that weird?

These two!

I loves 'em!

Miss Muffin started crawling this week (super exciting). 

She's still pretty slow though so life hasn't changed all that much. Yet.

Bubba is sweet as ever and hang out with her. She was cracking up at him licking his leg...  :D 

 Well that's it. For now. 

I'm trying to get back into a blogging groove. 

I kinda have missed it.

And it really inspires me to take more pictures of every day life... which is priceless later in life when every day life changes and these small moments are forgotten. 

See ya around! :)

Some things are certain.

What a strange year this is turning out to be!

We have had NO SNOW since mid-December or so. Very weird and made for a strange Christmas and New Years. Now, we have snow again which makes me so very happy as there is reflected light --> even cloudy days aren't so gloomy anymore. Today however (this picture was from yesterday), we have actual blue skies and sunshine. It's lifted my mood a lot and now that I think of it...when was the last time we even had a sunny day?!

One characteristic of this year is that it's totally unpredictable. It increases my anxiety levels but makes for a sense of adventure too. Who doesn't love spontaneity and adventure?!

The last time I had an unpredictable year like this was when I was about 19... And choices I made then, still affect me today (mostly in a good way!), so let's hope that the same can be said later about this year!

Adventure? What adventure?

The possibility of going to Japan again! (lots of reading this book and drinking tea and coffee at the moment)

Adventure of becoming an entrepreneur! It's in the cards and is my resolution. Although, I really don't do resolutions. Hubby and I do mottos. This year we haven't decided on it yet totally, but I think it's getting financially stable. Something definitely related to that! 

One thing that isn't uncertain: we eat well.

This gorgeous cinnamon rolls were consumed in honor of the new year. With cream cheese frosting of course!

This cake was my mom's birthday cake. It was a gluten-free sponge cake with a layer of meringue on top. And in between the layers and on top, a creamy coffee chocolate filling. And on top of that, ganache!! 

Oh. My. Word.

This was totally improvised. Totally delicious.

And it hasn't all been desserts. We've made yummy curries, savory casseroles, and there's a high consumption of these below at the moment. 

We really need the vitamin C now, since we are all a little sick. Poor muffin has her first cold. ;(  

She's still mostly in a good mood.

And no cold is going to get in the way of learning how to crawl!! 

She's 7 months and rocking on her hands and knees. 

We are going to be in mega trouble soon! :D

Another certainty: I will always be taking flower photos. 

This amaryllis has been blooming since New Years. First one stem. 

Now the one below. A nice little surprise too, a THIRD bud is coming up!

:)

For the first time this year, one of my all time favorites: tulips.

I don't think I've ever bought them so early in the year before, but I'm not one to argue with sales. ;) 

And my favorite, flowers on the nightstand. ♥

I got a cute Vera Bradley tote from my sister for Christmas, in which I've been stashing my yarny crafts. 

I gave up on the mittens since hubby broke my bamboo needles! 

So instead I started knitting this thick and chunky basic scarf.

My mom gave me some gorgeous yarn, so after long debate with myself and ravelry, I decided to make another south bay shawlette. I made 3 or 4 of these a few years ago as Christmas gifts, but never with a variegated yarn. I love this pattern and I love how it worked with the yarn!

It's quite big but super cozy.

The last pictures I wanted to share make me giggle. 

The aftermath of taking down the tree a month after having it.

:)

2014...already??

So here we are in 2014, I can't believe it!

I had such an eventful 2013 that it went by so quickly, too quickly! I spent the first half of the year with huuuuge anticipation for June and it seemed like time was craaaaaawling... then BAM! January 1st, 2014!

Obviously, as anyone who has ever had a baby knows, time FLIES when you have a little one... We were no exception to this phenomenon. I'm hoping that I will learn to keep up with it or at least get used to it... I'm still just blown away some days that I have a daughter and she's already ...months old. Can't imagine when it becomes ...years old!! 

So yes, I am hoping for a lot of things in 2014, but mainly just the chance to enjoy it fully. As in, time not whizzing by me!

I have lots of photos backlogged for the blog... Nothing new there these days so I'm just going to once again skip them and share some more recent ones. :)

Our beautiful tree.

Playing with f-stops, tripods, and Christmas lights...

 

My gorgeous bowl of white hyacinths that started blooming perfectly just before Christmas.

And bokeh!

 

Getting back into lightroom and editing photos into B&W.

Just love the mood.

 

My lavender/blue hyacinths that bloomed right before New Year's.

 

Enjoying what my camera can do in literally no light.

 

And I had so much fun with the fireworks display on New Year's Eve!!

 

 

(These are my favorite because it's like gold glitter in the sky!.....it has my name all over it! Lol!)

So that's pretty much it!

Thanks 2013 for an amazing year!