cozy up

I've never been sure what the appropriate spelling is, but I'm going with this: koozies, that which keeps your drink cold and your hand warm.

I made some for Christmas presents this past year and they were a hit.  

I made them in two colors: wolfpack/razorback red for the boys, and a lovely purple blend for the ladies

Pattern: you could do this some fancy way with circular needles, or you could do it the alex way and knit a rectangle and sew the seam. 

Boom.

My red yarn was size US 8, my purple was US 10

If using size US 8, cast on 36 stitches  

If using the US 10, cast on 34 stitches  

For either:

Knit row 1 

Purl row 2

For rows 3 on, alternate between a knit and purl stitch (K 1, P 1, and so on)

Do this until the piece is the appropriate height, about 5 inches. 

Cast off

It should look something like this:

If you have a long tail from your cast on or off you can use this yarn and a yarn needle to sew the two sides together.  Just take your rectangle, fold it in half, and sew the long edges

So you get something that looks like this:

Ta-da!

A winner indeed.

xoxo

the very last of the season

yes. i was terrible. 

i was one of those people.  

to be fair, i took down almost all of the christmas decorations at a very reasonable date in early january.

but i left up the wreath, garland, and stockings, because they were just so cute, and well, it was going to look so sad with nothing up, and i had yet to finish my valentine's day garland (post to come soon).

so i finally took it all down january 28th. ashley gave me until friday, but it's all gone now. 

not a speck of holiday cheer is left in the house.

well. 

except for the candy canes. there are still candy canes in the candy dish.

but they are in valentine's colors so it's okay!

but anyway, since all the christmas cheer has left the house i thought it a good time to post the advent calendar i made for the boy that was well documented in the tumblr but got no love over here.

So, the recap:

goodbye christmas, see you in a few months!

xoxo

Christmas in Arkansas

Christmas was spent in Arkansas this year with the whole family.  It was a very relaxing week filled with lots of great time with the family and so very much food.

-- Some highlights --

I made gingerbread cookies before I left using Martha's recipe and some royal frosting:

Once in Arkansas, Mema put us to work making the peanut butter and coconut candies (two types, not together):

There was so much food but little photographing of it, I was too busy eating of course!

But here is one: roasted potatoes, black-eyed peas, slaw, and bacon wrapped green beans. 

These were the sides that accompanied the fish fry.

There was much card playing per the usu:

And SNOW! 

Yes Arkansas had a very white Christmas for the first time since 1926! 

It was beautiful and there is plenty of proof:

I really liked the snow, if you couldn't tell.  And it was a good snow,  a few inches that stuck around a couple of days but no ice. So perfect.

Hope y'all had a very merry Christmas!

xoxo

stockings filled with cheer

No Christmas decor is complete without stockings.  So I had to make some for the Forum. 

I made one for myself, mike, megan, and jonathan.  Yes, it's true, the last two don't live with us, but we like them a lot.

I picked a red lightweight fleece (I think they call it baby fleece, or flannel...) with little white polka dots, and then a white and green linen for the trim and lining. 

I drew a stocking on cardboard and then drew a half-inch border around it and cut it out.  

Next I cut out all the necessary pieces.  This works out to be:

2 red cutouts per completed stocking, 

2 whites with an extra inch-and-a-half at the top, 

and 2 one-inch wide pieces of green 

**remember when cutting out the stockings to fold the fabric in half, with right sides out, so you will have a front and back piece

Your pieces should then line up as so:

The first step is to sew the green trim to the white lining.  You will sew them to the "front" of each white piece, as if the backsides were touching each other, so one stocking's lining should look like this:

Then when you put the respective white piece behind the red and flip down the trim you get this:

Then sew the green trim edge to the red, about an inch down from the top of the red piece:

Then iron all of the pieces.  

Fold each side of the trim over and put the two red pieces right-side in:

then sew around the edge of the stocking except for the top and trim edges: 

Flip inside out and ta-da:

Stockings for all! 

I then used some stamps and fabric paint to print our names on the stockings.

Hope everyone is ready for Christmas!

xoxo

Christmas Decor, Part I

(some supplies)

I do love decorating the house. And Christmas time of course requires a fresh set of decorations. 

So I'll just go through the sections.

The wreath: 

Crafted of course. The wreath is from Hobby Lobby and the sprag/picks (depending on your view) are from Hobby Lobby and Michaels. I attach mine with mini zip-cords. 

Ta-da:

Next up, the garland. You know I love a garland.  This one uses felt pendants, bells, and ornaments. 

I used a paint pen to write out be merry on the ornaments (frosted glass)

And sewed the felt pendants to some red yarns with a zig-zag stitch.  

(I did the same thing for the fall garland)

I then tied the ornaments and bells to the yarn in between the pendants:

There are three little scenes (i guess scenes, i don't know what else to call them) made from a variety of things.

On the coffee table, scene 1: pine cones, bowl with bells and gilded mini pine cones, cranberry pick, gold acorn pick, and a frosted white pick of mixed fruit and leaves, on a green felt pendant:

Other side of the coffe table: a pumpkin! (yes yes yes, deal with it) some felt in green and red, a candy-inspired pick, pine cone, glittered santa sign, and jar filled with mini ornaments  bells, gilded baby pine cones, and regular pine cones:

On the bar: a glittered noel sign, a bowl with bells, cranberries, and gilded mini pine cones, another filled jar, a felt stocking, white snowflake, and santa head. 

The stockings: (post to come on how to make these):

The mantel: 

In the middle, some candles, a leaf trivet, and a nativity scene ornament from the Wooley's:

On the sides: pine leaves, pine cones, and various metallic picks:

(Almost) All together now:

 

Hope you've had fun decorating for the holiday season!

xoxo

a new but classic guest to this party

So green bean casserole usually doesn't happen in our house.  

But I decided to try it out, with some twists of course.

I started with an onion and started to saute it.  Then I added some chopped mushrooms, both baby portobello and shiitake. 

 

After it had started to get brown and delicious I added some seasonings: nutmeg, garlic and onion powder, cayenne, and salt and pepper

Next up I added some spinach, boom!

And then I chopped up some green beans and added those

 

Then it was time to make a little roux - 2 Tablespoons butter and flour

 

After it had all cooked for about a minute I added some milk, about a cup, and some gruyere 

 

I let that all thicken up and divided it up into a greased muffin tin

And then topped it with some more cheese and some puff pastry, adorable

They came out looking good and were tasty, but I'm not sure on an ideal presentation of such a dish...

xoxo