Matching Legwarmers!?

I finally did it!
Matching legwarmers for Ella and I to perfectly suit the coming Spring weather -- they'll keep us warm, without that bundled up winter feeling. :)

The baby leggings were made using that pattern I used last time.
And the adult-sized one were one I just sorta concocted from logic and experience.
Using size 7 needles and COing on 60 stitches, it starts with 2 inches of 2k2p ribbing, and then goes the rest of the shin in basic stockinette, ending in another inch of 2k2p ribbing.
The end.
I also wove some green ribbon through the top ribbing because it wasn't as grabby as I'd wanted, and this helps them stay up. While adding yet more touch of color ;)
Now to work on some presents for other folks finally!
Enjoy the beautiful spring weather, all ya'll and happy knitting too!

Happy Birthday...to me! :)

Hey, everybody!
Today was my 26th birthday and not only was today excellent but the whole weekend!
I really am tempted to say it was the best weekend everrrr!! :)
It was my fabulous and loving husband and unparalleled friends who made it just amazing~
Allow me to demonstrate...

First, on Saturday, we did vegetable-shopping at the local Farmer's Market and also scored some seeds and starter plants for our garden! We have seeds for soy beans, lettuce, and cilantro, while our start plant is also cilantro, courtesy of the local Plant a Row for the Hungry program. I hope it grows and flourishes so that I can donate a whole lot to PAR recipients!!

After that, our good friend, Greg, told us about the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland so we drove up on a whim and had a great time!! Delicious Mexican lunch, inspirational artists, a long-overdue purchase... Craig Thompson's Blankets from Top Shelf!! Mr. Thompson was there himself Sunday but we weren't going to be there, so Greg kindly brought my copy to be signed by him for me!!


Then, when we got home that evening, the Hokazonos asked us to stop by...to present me with the Strawberry Shortcake Kae baked me!! Japanese style, so it's sweet but not too sweet, and just gorgeous! And the whipped cream frosting...so good!!! And the strawberries...so big!! :D They also gave me a beautiful gift basket of organic body care products -- just what I've been thinking about! I really do love that family so very much. ♡


Then came today.
Sunday, April 25th. Sunny, high in the 60's, and with a light breeze~
After an amazing oatmeal breakfast by Daddy complete with raisins, cinnamon, apples, and a pinch o' sugar, we took a family bike ride to the County Fairgrounds for what we thought would be a general "Swap Meet & Flea Market" but turned out to be an antique automobile show instead! So cool!!
On the ride back home, we took a route behind OSU that is all fields and greenhouses and agricultural buildings...fabulous!!


Then we dropped Ella Rose off with Kae and company and Daddy and I went roller skating just the two of us!! ♡


The rink was in Lebanon and so stuck in the late-80's, we loved it!!


We then topped the evening off with some fine Indian dining.
Saag paneer, vegetable biriyani, garlic naan...
I love Indian food!!!

And we still had plenty to bring home as leftovers for a tasty lunch tomorrow!
Scoooore!
That just about wraps up my birthday celebrating, because once we got home, I totally conked out! Daddy had to go and pick up Ella Rose by himself, while I slept straight from 7:30pm to 7:30am. Ha!!
See you all again soon and thank you everybody who made my birthday so very special!! :)

Pasta!

Hello, everybody!
This past weekend of April 16-18 was the Great Oregon Coast Garage Sale -- a united effort by coastal residents from Newport to Lincoln to simultaneously hold garage sales for that 20+-mile stretch of highway.
Naturally, we had to go, so from 9:30am until 5:00pm, we must've visited at least 12 different garage sale sites!
To be honest, the fruits of our travel were pretty menial...binders, paintbrushes, cheap videos, etc...
And then we found this. Our new pasta machine!!


For a mere $5, we can now make all the linguine/spaghetti/papparedelle/etc we want! And far quicker than by hand (me thinks...)
Wednesday night we made our first batch of linguine and it was divine! It took a little while to figure out how to balance the wetness and dryness of the dough as we rolled it through, but Daddy eventually nailed it -- thanks, love!!
I'd been boycotting buying pasta in our household for the very reason that I wanted to make it myself, so now that we have that down, you can expect a lot more Italian dishes in our home :)
'Til then!! ♡

New Sleeping Arrangements~

I know, I know -- I really should be blogging about the fact that Ella's turned one year old and had a birthday celebration we'll never forget (involving surprise visitors, lots of cake, and wedding dress shopping!) but I've just been so busy, that when today's developments happened, I had to blog out of order!
So pardon the non-chronological posting, but enjoy this latest bit of news from the Dashiell household:

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but since the day of Ella's birth, she has always co-slept with Daddy and I. That means she sleeps in the bed with us, making for frequent nighttime nursings and extra warmth and cuddling through the night as well as the first thing in the morning. It's been oodles of fun and very bonding, but it has occurred to us that Ella might be getting just a weeee bit too big to be sharing the bed with. Especially when she rotates herself 90 degrees -- that little body suddenly takes up 2/3 of the queen-sized bed...minimum!

And so this morning, Daddy suggested a way to accommodate our growing girl without totally dropping the co-sleeping arrangement. We toyed with the idea of bringing the futon upstairs into our room, but we settled, instead, on just removing the crib's mattress from the wooden framing and pushing it up against our bed.
This is the result!

That's our bed on the left, and Ella's mini bed butted up against my side of the bed.
We salvaged the mobile from the crib so that it (sorta) hangs over her head. I hope she enjoys it~
Tonight will be the first time she sleeps in it and I have high hopes that it will work out. She'll be close enough to feel the love, but far away enough that the constant smell of breast doesn't tempt and wake her up all the time. :)
When I wasn't preparing her bed, Ella Rose seemed happy enough, but we'll see how it goes tonight... This photo Daddy took wasn't exactly promising!! {:)

Wish us luck!! ♡♡♡

Light Switch Plates

This is a craft project that I first took on back in November, taught to me by the ever-crafty and cool, Kim! Thanks again so much for teaching us. This has really added a lovely touch of color to our rooms.
I am finally featuring it here to show the latest one in preparation for the arrival of June, my mom-in-law, in preparation for Ella's first birthday party~!

I'll show you how I went from this:


To this:

Besides the light switch cover and paper of your choice, this little project only requires the few following materials:

• Mod Podge
  
• clear acrylic sealer
  
• sand paper
  
• X-Acto knife or scissors
  

Everybody ready?
Let's begin!

1) Sand the plate until it is just scratched (this will help the design stick to the plastic better) and then wipe down with a damp cloth.

2) Lay out your design on your plate, folding it tightly around the edges.

3) Poke holes in the design through both screw holes with a blade and then pen

4) Cut an X in the switch hole starting at each corner and fold the flaps over to the back of the plate.

5) Remove the design and trim until about 1" overhangs all sides, snipping off the excess at the corners too.

6) Apply a medium coat of Mod Podge to the front of the plate and the back of the design.

7) Quickly now, place the design on the plate and position it by lining up the holes for the screw holes.

8) Working from the center, smooth out the design, using a pen to re-establish the screw holes and smooth that whole situation out.

9) Apply more Mod Podge, this time to the back flaps, to stick nice and close to the back of the plate. Coat all this with a thin layer of Mod Podge for extra security.
It will look something like this:


10) Set the plate, face up, on an overturned yogurt container or any other such thing that can act as a pedestal for your plate to rest on with minimal contact.

11)Let it dry for a couple of minutes, then apply 2-3 coats of Mod Podge to the face of the plate, letting it dry 3-5 minutes between coats.

12) Let it dry again and then spray with 2 coats of acrylic sealer.

13) Mount to your light switch hole in the wall, screw in place, and enjoy!!

Here are some other ones I've done around the house:


The more switches, the harder, that's for sure.
And all the designs came from a stash of nice Japanese paper I received some years back. That means the paper is somewhat thinner than other stocks and the coloration on them is gorgeous~!
And for those of you who have covers with a far smaller flip-switch, lucky you! That means more surface area for your design to cover, instead of a big, white switch. {:)

Well, either way, I hope some of you try to give this a go yourselves and enjoy the end result!
Keep me posted if you do!!
'til then~ ♡

Birthday & Yarn Tree

Today is Daddy's birthday!! Happy 38th, my love~!!!
Such a difference this past year has been, and I'm more in love with you than ever. :)
It makes me excited to see what this year holds for you and me alike! We'll see one year from now ;)

And on an unrelated note, even though it was the birthday boy's week and he should have been pampered and allowed to indulge in anything he wanted (which I tried my best to do!), he took it upon himself to indulge Mama and build her the yarn organizer she's been coveting for months!!

Behold, a creation from Daddy's own brilliant mind...the Yarn Tree!


Sure, it may look modest and small, but this fantastic combination of thrifted dowels and wooden planks has come together to inhabit a modest corner in our guestroom and bear fruit to a multitude of beautifully colored yarn!


Again, H4H supplied us with the dirt cheap materials for under $3 and were completely salvaged from old homes. Hurray!
By simply piercing my skeins of yarn through the center, I can work right off their branches as they slowly rotate around and around~ It's really quite fun!
And since about 90% of these skeins are also thrifted (thank you, Arc!), I have a ton of little scrap yarn balls too! I organized them in rainbow-order in a basket:
Pretty, no?


Looking at all these colors is much more effective to stirring my creative juices!!
Oh what to make next...in rainbow colors!!!!

I'll keep you posted as to that~
For now, off to wrapping up our lovely birthday celebration weekend :)
And to think Ella Rose's will be next weekend! What a time of the year!! ♡

Crackers~!

The Dashiell household's really gotten into homemade crackers this month. For young and old, alike!
Here, I'm going to share with you the recipes and step-by-step tutorials for making your own recipes at home.
First, baby crackers...

This is all they require:

And in these quantities!

• 1 1/2 C rolled oats
  
• 1 C brown rice flour
• 1/4 C olive oil
• 1/2 C water

The steps are as follows:

1) Grind the oats into a coarse powder.
(I use our Magic Bullet, and it's just the right size!)

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2) Mix ground oats and rice flour in a large bowl.

3) Add the olive oil to the mixture and mix by hand until it reaches a crumbly consistency.


4) Pour in water and knead until the mixture is pretty compact and sticks well together.


5) Roll out onto a greased baking dish until it's nice and flat -- it should fill to ever last corner with the help of a really good "rolling pin".


6) Cut into whatever shape and size you want. I like mine itty bitty.


7) Prick with a fork. I like mine itty bitty because the prick marks make them look like little Legos!

8) Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

9) Let cool and you're done!!


A salt-free, sugar-free, spice-free snack!
With the tiny Lego size, this recipe yields a gross of cookies! That's 144, in case you didn't know ;)

Well!
The recipe for the "adult" version of our crackers will be up soon too.
Until then, happy baking~!!