Two Balls of Yarn - One Chunky Ski Band with Poms and Sparkles

I love to wear my hair up in pony tails and buns, so a ski band is a bit more my style rather than a hat to keep my ears warm! Knitting a little bit, here and there while watching a couple of movies, I made a warm, cozy ski headband in a weekend. Perfect for a cold windy and even snowy day! 

I was rummaging through a box of yarn I had and realized what a great match the pompom yarn was with a rosy beige sequin yarn laying next to it. I'm sure you could use any combination of colors though. I just picked a fat pair of knitting needles--around size 10--and I was ready to make the cutest, coziest ski band. If you want to experiment with different sized knitting needles, depending on your yarns, just do a test swatch.
When you're ready, cast on 12 stitches with your two yarns, and start knitting. I knit a length of about 18-inches to fit my head perfectly, but you can measure around your head as you go. Then I cast off and stitched the two ends together with the sequin yarn. The seam doesn't even show!

The thing I love about the sequin yarn is that it is not just loaded with sequins...they are really spaced out on the yarn. When it is combined with the pompom yarn, a lot of the sequins get tucked in there, but just a few show here and there which is perfect for this everyday ski band to keep any head cute and cozy during winter. You could also stitch on a flower or a big cute button.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

A Little Yarn Shop and the Best Corndog Ever

Good corndogs are not cheap!

 At least once a summer (at least) I have to treat myself to a good old-fashioned corndog! Oh yeh. And preferably, it is fresh cooked at some theme park somewhere and I get to enjoy it in the fresh air. Afterall, good food on a stick should be enjoyed while you're walking around! The other day we were at Silver Dollar City and happened upon Butterfield's Onion Patch--best known for cooking those blooming onions, which I plan to try next time. But this time I was on a mission to have a corndog and visit the Yarn Patch (another store with "patch" in its name). My husband and daughter were and always are on a mission to ride as many roller coasters as possible.

The line did not seem very long--but they were cooking everything fresh on order, so it took a while. That's when I noticed these three little adorable sisters who were standing in front of me. So cute--just huddling and making their plans.

Finally we made it up to order. The girl who took our order was so sweet and told my husband he had a beautiful family. Made our day. So did the corndog--sooo good.

We walked for a little bit and then found a great table. This was our view of a waterfall while we ate.

 This was the sign on the wall over our table. There is lots of cute and vintage-style signage all around Silver Dollar City--it is an 1890's style theme park except for all the amazing high-tech roller coasters. Even their newest "wooden" roller coaster, Outlaw Run, is one of my daughter's favorites -- very smooth ride she says.

I confess--I couldn't eat my whole corndog. Hubby helped. But I was happy, and I was off down this little path to find the Yarn Patch.

 All of the flowers were in full bloom everywhere.

And there it was--oh how I love a little shop full of yarn. I get a lot of my yarn from Michaels and Hobby Lobby, so visiting a specialty shop is always a treat.

 The Yarn Patch had skeins and skeins of everything from raw to hand-dyed to ready-to-spin yarn! They also had little ready-knit goodies of all kinds. What really made me happy was when I walked in the door, there was a lady weaving at her loom. Love, love, love. I could have talked to her all day about spinning, weaving, knitting, and yarn, yarn, yarn. I don't know how to spin, and I did take a weaving class long ago for several weeks, and i guess that's why I'm completely fascinated when I see a loom or a spinning wheel!

Maybe I need to learn how to spin?

The very sweet lady told me that she had purchased this loom when it was completely broken down and rusted out--she and her husband restored it. After chatting for a while, I had to yarn shop!

So, I'd had my corndog, picked out my yarn, had a delightful conversation and I was ready to move on with my day. I had some blueberry preserves to pick up at the big store on the way out of SDC, and hubby and daughter had a hankerin' to ride the barn swing!

The Barn Swing ride!

I really want to weave again sometime.

A nice shady place to knit and have tea.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch Happy, Have a Corndog

Summer Time -- It's Almost Easier to Live In the Moment

When I'm sitting outside on a warm breezy summer morning, whatever I'm doing just seems to be a little more relaxing than usual, very zen, and completely refreshing. Here's a few things I need to do more of and inhabit every moment with thankfulness and bliss.

♥ Enjoy more morning coffee - like a meditation. Taking a few moments with my coffee and the fresh breeze makes me more thoughtful and really sets a good mood for the day.

♥ It's  time to knit something with that fun t-shirt yarn I made last year!

 ♥ Let myself feel calm and happy as if I'm walking by a fountain or a waterfall through the whole day.

 ♥ Create fun scenes like this in the garden!

♥ Add some entries to the cutest upcycled art journal I've ever made.

♥ Well I may not have an adorable antique stove like this -- but I do have the ability to plan some fun summer meals.

♥ I need to type on this thing more for some fun summer art journaling and scrapbooking.

♥ Bento box lunches are the best -- it's time to get those guys back out of the cupboard and make some fun to-go lunches.

♥ I totally need to play checkers outside with somebody! That is summer!

♥ I bought the most amazing blueberry preserves the other day--so good! I'm definitely buying a couple of more jars of that amazing stuff to enjoy with my coffee.

♥ After all this fun it will be time for some afternoon zen moments in a nice chair, with a nice book or a little stitching and fresh air.

 ♥ My stitches are being turned into some nice patches for a future little art quilt. My week is planned!

Have a wonderful week enjoying your summer time moments each day.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Enjoy

A Perfect Summer's Day at Last

We are about to kiss Summer 2013 goodbye. I'm relaxing with my little laptop, and thinking of all the best moments. Summer lovers must be a little sad--although we've all had our weather roller coasters, the last bit of August was absolutely beautiful here in the Ozarks, and September has heated up enough to keep my tomatoes and my tan going--why would I want to bid all this heaven farewell?

There are things I love about fall like wearing sweaters, making apple pies, decorating pumpkins, and hot cocoa on a crisp fall day, it's true. 

But it will all have to wait one more moment while I reminisce about my summer. I stumbled upon a sweet summer memories blog post, which made me think it's time for another. I had posted this one in July of that year, and it was kinda fun.

♥ Read Cats and Quiches

 This year we were not able to travel...and I didn't even really have my deck to sit out and sip coffee on because it is all torn up right now! I've been looking forward to a new deck for a while. So, things are not perfect, but that's no excuse not to find some bliss. 

These are a few of my favorite things from this summer.

I found a new cozy corner on my greenhouse sunporch.

We actually grew pumpkins this year! We've already harvested the first big orange one. It was great weather for the squash family.

My aloe vera plant (which has now been moved to that new cozy corner) is huge!

My front yard flowers have been amazing. In the flower box hubby built for me many moons ago, are marigolds grown from seed, impatients, and pink lavender.

My mailbox garden was grown from seeds...marigolds and zinnias.

I made blueberry muffins with real blueberries! So yummy. I'll post this recipe soon, I promise.

I finally went to the new location of the FM Store--my favorite fabric store. I just get lost in there dreaming about all the things I'm going to make! This time I was picking out a chair covering. Here's a few fab pics!

I actually knitted a lot this summer. I finished a patchwork knitty quilt, and I'm almost finished with the second piece of my knitted tank top. Woo hoo!

Minnie is hanging out with me right now, telling me her best moments of summer. ♥ She loved my daughter being home and constantly hanging out in her room--especially when she has friends over!

I love wearing summer shirts and shorts much more than cold weather clothes! Almost all the shorts I wear have embroidery on them! Embroidery is how I tatoo!

Speaking of wearable art (embroidery in particular) I found my Mexican dress! A dear friend actually bought it for me in Mexico and it is filled with the most amazing embroidery...gorgeous! My daughter thinks it looks like a blue tent on me, but I don't care because I'm so in love with the embroidery. What a nut! I need a good photo of it and soon. ♥

I discovered "earthing" the simple act of walking barefoot on the ground to transfer the earth's free electrons (the most potent antioxidants) into your body. It sounds so simple--too simple almost. But there are places in the world, like in Austria and Switzerland, where there is a tradition of getting up in the morning and going barefoot. What will I do when it's too cold outside?

I'm still eating, cooking, and canning tomatoes fresh off the vine. Nothing like it, period.

I decorated my typewriter! Might as well...only four ribbon cartridges left before it gets upcycled!

Finished the butterfly scarf--it will be fun to wear this fall and winter. Now that's something to look forward to!

I became a contributor to Tag Tuesday. I love making tags, and they have so many uses. Being a part of Tag Tuesday is just more motivation!

My hubby's in an awesome show at the Little Theatre, but still took time to go to a lovely craft fair with me!

I started making mood boards - fun! Kinda like inspiration boards. And I've turned Pinterest into many inspiration boards for myself. Love it. Join me on Pinterest! (see my link at the top right)

I made pink lemonade a lot. Yum.

I made an upcycled summer art journal using vintage file dividers for the covers--very cool.

Read Upcycled Art Journal here.

I did a lot of reorganizing in my crafty corner!

Don't forget to write down what you loved about this summer, whether you blog about it, put it in your art journal (I'm putting mine in there too), or just make a list--it's really fun to look back on and makes you remember all the things you love about your life.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Summer-at-Home