I love this worm scarf pattern so much that I have made several of them. I love mine and wear it all the time! That is why I gifted this scarf to a very kind friend and I hope she loves it as much as I do. I cast on double the stitches this time, however, so this particular scarf is extra-wide. It took twice as much yarn as the original pattern which makes complete sense since it’s only supposed to be 9 stitches wide. Oh well - turned out beautiful if I do say so myself. Yarn: Lumpy Bumpy by Farmhouse Yarns, 99% merino wool and 1% nylon. One of my favorite. yarns. ever.

I ran across a new website that I love and the companion video is too good to not share:  Wendy’s Look Book is the site and she has produced a phenomenal video giving instructions for 25 variations of scarf-wearing!!!  Her hair tutorials are wonderful as well.  I hope you enjoy the ideas as much as I have.

I ran across this the other day on Zulily and thought it was brilliant. We’ve successfully used a large wading pool to contain Legos in a playroom but this would be even quieter. It’s temporary on Zulily and I don’t know how to find them elsewhere but the official name is Lay-N-Go.

Some of my favorite recent quotes include these that I prepared for a church lesson. The one without the attribute is also from Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Dare I wonder if the 2nd quote down means computer is part of idling away my time? I’d rather like to think of it as sharing a talent instead!!!

My very favoritest scarf works up quickly and easily and is a very gratifying gift to give (and equally, if not more, gratifying to keep and wear — oh how selfish I am!). Details on The Worm Scarf, originally created by Julie Weisenberger, can be found on my Ravelry page. It works up most beautifully in Farmhouse Yarn’s Lumpy Bumpy which is a fantastic, textured wool yarn. I first became familiar with it at the Hen House in Spring, Texas, but I’m not sure if they carry that line anymore. The blue scarf pictured above, however, was worked up in a more readily available, less-expensive yarn: Lion Brand Homespun. It is so soft and pretty but I must admit that I love the Lumpy Bumpy wool better (pictured in the Cherry Pie colorway from Farmhouse Yarns).

So our neighborhood is having a Christmas lights contest and, since ours is relatively tasteful, one can be assured we will not win. At any rate, I thought it would be a good time to learn how to use my Nikon D90 and get some pictures of the lights. My hubby is a very experienced photographer so he tried patiently to explain ISO and shutter speed to me. It still doesn’t quite make sense but here goes: ISO goes as high as your camera will go - I set mine at 3200. Interestingly enough, the shutter speed varied - some pictures came out good at 1/10, some at 1/8 and some at 1/25 and lastly, be sure that the camera is in manual mode and the flash is off. We found the interior tree pictures came out best if surrounding lights were turned off, too. It was fun to change the speed and see what happened. Now if I could only figure out how to get the dang camera on and off the tripod…I’m pretty much hopeless when it comes to photography! If composition were the only factor, I’d have it made.

You don’t even want to know why I needed to draw pink pigs. But aren’t they cute?! Cole had a good time fixing up the ears for me. Feel free to download and use the high res jpg. If you need vector artwork for this item, check out Bigstock for vector download - it should go live in a few days.

So my smarty-pants friend is, among many things, very good with words. He compiled this testament of a book as a Christmas gift for friends and family and asked me to do the cover. I can’t wait to see the final product!

Anybody else’s kids come home with this many pebbles in their shoes? It doesn’t matter what KIND of shoes Ben wears, either. He’s managed this with his tennis shoes as well. On another note, I had a wonderful phone conversation with a very good friend from Houston and she told me that her 9 year old girl refuses to get rid of a stick that my boys carved for her (we moved 7 months ago now). I think that’s pretty cute. Rocks. Sticks. {Sigh} Boys.

So while I was sick (and clearly not in my right mind), I volunteered to cook turkey and make gravy for the Kindergarten classes. It was worth it to see all those pilgrims and Indians enjoying their meal.

The kitchen looks so nice when it’s clean. I quickly sewed a couple of muslin slipcovers to go over our blue chairs since only two of the new kitchen chairs that I ordered had arrived by Thanksgiving! Gotta make do, right…they have unfinished hems but I have a fantastic idea for hemming them. Info and pics to come. Also, I need to share the tape method Cole helped me with to make the custom pattern for them - it helped so much when it came to sewing them from scratch. And if the resident sewing newbie (me) can do it, anybody can!

Our island could fit 6 to 8 places comfortably but since we already had one bench and one stool from another home we lived in, I gave up my idea for new seating completely and just ordered another small stool to flank the bench. I think it looks pretty good for using what we’ve got!

I never thought I’d say this but I love that stupid freezer on the bottom that I resisted for so long. Now if I could just remember to not kick and shove it to close the thing!

While we were grateful for a small Thanksgiving gathering this year with new friends, we did miss being with family. We are kind of travel-ed out so I think for the holidays this year we will be staying put. Never fear, though, we ate like kings. Today (the day AFTER Thanksgiving), we all had pie for breakfast. What more could signify a successful holiday? We are thankful for many things: the gospel of Jesus Christ, jobs, home, family and friends…and technology.

I was going through a VERY old hard drive on my computer and ran across this batch of ideas for things to knit. This was so long ago that I have completely lost the source of the images to give them credit. I am going to share them here but, please, if you find they are yours, do let me know so I can attribute them correctly and so that many others can find their way to the actual pattern or source for some of these wonderful knitting ideas!

Hubby drove it into this barn 20 years ago — the summer before we were married. It’s about time it was rescued! Lost cattle got into the barn and used it as toilet paper and added a few dings to the body but otherwise, it’s in great condition, except for the interior. I don’t envy Don this restoration job but he sure seems to be excited by it and I hope the boys will get lots of quality time with their dad.

The boys have stain in their newly acquired, adorable haircuts. I timed that wrong! Well, I hope they learned some sort of life-enhancing lesson through all that work! The interior of the fence is done. Hooray!

So we got “poo-ed” by a couple of skittish ghosts running from our front porch. So cute! The bag included all sorts of poo: vampire poo (hot tamales), skeleton poo (skeleton bones: mini marshmallows on pretzel sticks dipped in white bark), bat poo (chocolate covered raisins), spider poo (cotton candy), and clown poo (skittles). Very clever! A fun idea to pass along a church group and/or neighborhood.

Another favorite quote sign that I have hanging in my home (a Goodwill find!): “Write it on your heart that the ones you love are life’s most precious gifts.”