Knit & Crochet: Pink Camo Edged Angel Fleece Blanket

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Knitted for Anna Prathipati’s baby girl coming in a couple of weeks. I missed the baby shower today but hope that I can still get it to her in time. I actually started a knitted dress but it is taking hours on end so I had to go back and get this white knitted blanket I had originally started for one (okay, two) of Don’s sisters and never actually got around to finishing. I decided to give it a pink crocheted camo edge and it is really, really cute. I made it at least 1 1/2 years ago and added the edge this morning. I love the Angel Fleece yarn – so soft but I must admit I still prefer wool as a natural fiber but you can’t beat the washability of something like this for babies! Here’s a link to the Ravelry page (be sure to favorite it if you like it!) and here is a link to the photos directly on our flickr account.

Cole Turns 15

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Sigh. He’s 15. We should be getting a learner’s permit, right? He’s got some catching up to do in scouts for that to happen. He’ll do it – he’s a self-motivated kid and we don’t push like some scout parents. I wish we could have given him a bigger celebration this year because he means the world to us but finances are tight and the poor kid didn’t get anything at all present-wise from us though his grandparents on both sides came through. He does know we love him and I offered to make him his favorite dinner but he couldn’t commit to one so we had Taco Bell. He did get the traditional family chocolate cake. He is the best kid we could have ever asked for! I wouldn’t even trade him for a girl. He’s always been a good kid and here’s to hoping it lasts at least through the rest of the teenage years (one can hope, right?). So anyway, here’s a very public birthday note for Cole: We love you, Cole! You make us proud in every single thing you do. You are a great big brother. You are a smart, capable, responsible young man and you surprise us almost every day with your intelligence and witty humor. We will forgive you the antics on early morning seminary drives (that would be your antics, not ours). Love, Mom & Dad

What I Designed Today: Dorothy Keddington’s Book Cover – Finally Done!

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I haven’t worked on a book cover for a little while and I’m really enjoying working again. Good thing since I’ve been burned out for nearly a decade. Just kidding – it just has felt like that with four kids and fourteen years. Since my kids are aged 4 to 14 I guess I did have one full decade there, didn’t I?! Well, back to some creative endeavors. This book cover has only been in the works for almost a year… I finally read the book and it’s a fantastic, quick read.

Christmas Dinosaurs & Homemade Kool-Aid Play Dough

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I heart homemade playdough. Ben had gotten new Play-Dough of the store variety for Christmas but since we shipped the stuff from Omaha, and it has not yet arrived, I resorted to a tried and true kool-aid play dough recipe that is easy, cheap, and fantastic.

Kool-Aid Play Dough Recipe

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup salt
3 T oil
2 packets of kool aid powder (we used another brand)
glitter – optional
additional coloring such as Wilton’s – optional

Mix dry ingredients with a whisk. Add oil and blend. Pour 2 cups boiling water over all and mix. After it’s cooled, the child can help mix the dough. I mix it and then spread it out on our metal top table and finish mixing it so it cools faster.

Enjoy! I love how Ben always makes his a dinosaur land. He simply can’t conceive of anything else he’s so into dinosaurs.

The Texas Renaissance Festival

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Our first time at the Ren Fest was FANTASTIC! We loved it. The place is huge, the entertainment is vast and varied, and each of the kids found something interesting to make it a great night. Gabe loved the dragon items, Jack enjoyed the jousting, and Cole claims to have enjoyed just being with his family (cough, cough, I think he liked the belly dancers best). I highly recommend the place for lots of entertainment. We are glad it was a relatively colder day so that many of the girls were more covered up than usual, probably!

Thanksgiving at the Church

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So there were lots of people so my MIL reserved the church. It was nice to have everyone sit down to eat together but there was an awkwardness afterward with no football and no couches. Moral of the story: Thanksgiving was meant to be held at home! It WAS fun, however, to see all of the Roberts and meet Ali’s kids and Rebecca and Josh, Boyd’s new wife and baby.

Knitted Newborn Baby Boy Hat & Mitts

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The CUTEST (and my first!) newborn baby boy hat and mitts. The hat is a variation of Susan B. Anderson’s “Go Team” hat published on her Spud & Chloe blog this past week. The mitts I made up but they seem to work well. I might try lining those with polarfleece so that the yarns don’t catch tiny, fragile, newborn fingers. More pics of the sweet baby wearing the goods at my Ravelry account. Even more pics at our flickr account.

Houston International Quilt Market Giveaway!!!

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So last year I got to meet Amy Bradley at Houston’s Quilt Market 2009 and then I had a giveaway of one of her books. Let’s do it again! This year, I had something a little different in mind: giving away a bag of wool roving in the most delicious colors! I will post the giveaway soon. Quilt market was fun but, since I don’t quilt, I think two years is plenty of industry tradeshow experience for quilting.

Halloween 2010

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I gave birth to an entire crew of stormtroopers. The kids know their own names but I have no idea who these costumes are supposed to be. I just shelled out the money.

Crochet Baby Diaper Cover & Flower Hat

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Baby diaper cover and hat

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I used a stretchy yarn that you have to order online (even my local yarn store had only 3 balls and it only came in this tie-dye color so I had to use it – but it turned out cute). It’s called Cascade Fixation and I. Love. This. Yarn. Once you get used to working with it, there’s no problem. This is only my second “real” crochet project ever so I am going easy on myself. The bottoms turned out a little large but when I washed them they did shrink a little bit. The hat turned out perfectly. I think I’m going to try to work it in the round next time so there’s no seam on the back. It is so stretchy and soft — perfect for fitting babies. The pattern can be found in Annie’s Attic Crochet book “Diaper Covers & Caps” #871058. Hook up with me on Ravelry (name: 10cowife) if you make any of these – I’d love to see different color combinations. And if you’ve got the flower on page 18 figured out — please let me know!!!

San Antonio, We Love You!

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We had a quick weekend trip a few weeks back to San Antonio and LOVED IT! What a great city! We visited the Alamo, walked the Riverwalk, the Witte Museum (fantastic!), and — best of all — went to Six Flags. The boys love adventure parks and Cole declared this one his favorite since the roller coasters were all “big”. We have never taken them to a huge Disney park so their perspective is slightly limited. We love Adventureland Des Moines (clean and great for smaller kids – lots of little kid rides). We also love Worlds of Fun in Kansas City but it is dirty and the food is gross. We REALLY liked Silver Dollar City near Branson, Missouri – that is such a fun town, too. Don’t forget to eat at Landry’s if you go anywhere near Branson – fantastic food. But, for Texas, San Antonio’s Six Flags beats Schlitterbahn hands down. Of course, we’ve only been to Schlitterbahn at Galveston – perhaps the New Braunfels one is better. Worth a try!

Crabbing at Crystal Beach

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More pics on our flickr account. We had a great time several weeks ago at Crystal Beach. It was a Thursday and Don had off work because he had done some extra (many extra!) hours while we were in Omaha. It paid off. We didn’t even have to wait for the ferry – Don saw dophins in the water both ways. We just drove right on and went over to “the zoo” at Crystal beach and there were maybe a handful of people there that day, since it was a weekday and rain had been in the forecast. We took a chance and it paid off! Solitude on such a beautiful, popular beach. Don found some crabs and took the boys crabbing. I made Cole clean them after we boiled them. I kept chanting “Fear Factor” as he was getting grossed out. I thought the “science” kid would love that, but I guess not. It was a great day!

First Day of School 2010

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I’m blogging while Cole’s in seminary. I have been walking/running with the dogs every morning and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it that early in the morning but I broke my pinky toe last night and it hurts pretty bad this morning. No walking for a week (hopefully not more than that) for me. Oh well, I probably have more than a week’s worth of blogging to catch up on. Cole started a new, huge high school “far, far away” and he starts and ends school quite early so, between him and the littler boys, I’m not getting as big of a block of time open during the day to work, etc. Meanwhile, I have a 9th grader, 4th grader and 2nd grader. Next year will be the year of total change when Bennie enters Kindergarten. Until then, he and I are going to have a blast this year while all of the other boys are at school. Buckle up! It’s going to be some kinda ride (please, you must say this like Gene Wilder in The Frisco Kid: “Some kinda Torah!”).

Custom Made Round Dog Bed

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My first zipper. My first dog bed. My first custom made dog bed cover. While it’s in my blood, I ought to whip one up for Christmas. Otherwise, I may move on to something else and give it up completely. It’s adorable fabric – I just wish it matched something in my house (we’re all reds here) but it is really, really cute. The boys are enjoying it which makes me want to make them some bean bags for the playroom. There are some giant knitted bean bag type things I’d like to make for them…another day, another project!