Minnie Mouse Knitted Diaper Cover and Hat

I was looking to knit a infant Minnie Mouse outfit for the newest edition to the family. I have seen them done in crochet, but I prefer to knit. I enjoy the way knitting moves. I modified the pattern by picking up white yarn  to form Minnie's poka dots. The pattern can be found in www.raverlycom. under The Frantic Mama Knitted Soaker Pattern. I used Patrons Canadiana worsted yarn 100% acrylic yarn.

The hat was done by casting 72 sts in the Patrons Canadiana worsted yarn med weight. Work the ribbing sts by k2, p2 till it measures 2 inches. Change to thick chunky yarn knit skipping every other stitch. you will have 36 sts.
Work the seed st. p1,k1 across the whole row.
Next row knit where you purled, and purl where you knitted. Work this pattern till it measures 5 inches all the way from the bottom.
Next row k2tog to end of row. There will be 18 sts.
Next row knit
Next row k2tog to end of row There will be 9 sts remaining. Cut yarn, leaving a 16 inch tail. Thread tail through remaining sts and pull to gather. Use remaining tail to back seam.

To make ears. this part has to be crochet. Chain 3 sts, slip st to form small circle, keep increasing till the circle measures 21/2 inches. Make 2 ears.

Quiet Book

I saw this fabulous tutorial for making a interactive book for children on how to make a quiet book. My granddaughters are at the stage where they love to discover, and work with their hands, and minds. I changed  some stuff depending on what I had on hand.

Supplies
2 yards canvas material
Assortment of buttons
Snaps
Felt squares in green, white, brown, yellow, red, tan, and black
Material scrapes in your choice of designs
Yarn
Shoe laces
Photos of your choice
3 dimensional tulip paint

Pick the apples from the tree, and place into the basket.

One or two scoops of ice cream?

The animals are in the fence, or in the barn.

I found these cute knitted animal finger puppets at the Atlantic Breeze Alpacas store in Meadows of Dan.

Open the door and see who is there. 

Open the basket to set the picnic table cloth.

Learn how to weave a mat. 

Weaving felt square.

Picking the posies.

Put the flowers in the flower pot.

Tie the ribbon on the teddy bear/

I know how to tie my shoe.

Check the mail.

Fresh Tomato Basil and Cheese Snack

This quick delicious nutritious snack is child friendly. Right now is tomato season in the mountains, we have a surplus of tomatoes.
This recipe is about simplicity. Sometimes having to many ingredients spoil the true flavors of meals. In this dish you can taste the fresh basil, and olive oil., they marry well with the tomato and cheese.

Ingredients
Fresh tomatoes sliced
Mozzarella cheese sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh basil chopped, infused with extra olive oil

Select ripe tomatoes, slice them into 1/4 of inch rounds, pepper and  salt to you taste.























Place mozzarella cheese slices on tomatoes and grill under the broiler till cheese is melted.

Place chopped basil with olive oil on top. Enjoy!f

Cucumber Juice

Here's a fantastic thing to do with all those cucumbers coming up in the garden. It's cucumber juice, it's really delicious, and refreshing. Cucumbers have a lot of nutrition,  like Vitamin A, K, potassium, and B-Carotene.

Ingredients:
4 cups blended cucumbers
1/3 cup water for blending
2 cups additional  water
1/4 cup sugar

 Clean and dry cucumbers.

Cut into small chunks.

1 cup of cucumbers to 1/3 cup of water ratio.

Blend thoroughly well.

Strain the cucumber pulse. Add 1/4 cup sugar. Refrigerate till chilled. Enjoy!

Harvesting Garlic

This is the first year my husband has grown garlic. We received  the bulbs from my sister-in-law Maggie.  One of the reasons we sought to grow our own garlic, was due to the lack of flavor in some of the store bought ones. Have you noticed the bigger the garlic the less flavor it seems to have? Not only that but it tastes different.

Some interesting facts about garlic is that it is planted in the fall, and harvested in the summer.The plant fully grown has the appearance of miniature corn to me  To plant take the bulb separate into cloves planting the blunt side down 1 1/2 deep, 6 inches apart.

The garlic is ready to harvest when 2/3 of the leaves turn yellow and dry up.

After harvesting let garlic sit out side until the dirt is dry.

The mud will peel off with one of the layers of paper skin.

Cut roots short from top of garlic.

Place in refrigerator in butter compartment enjoy.

Can I Freeze Basil?

Have you ever wondered " can I freeze basil?"This year I have an abundance of fresh basil which I can't possibly  use all up. Here's a quick way to save the summer freshness of the basil, to use during the winter month in spaghetti sauce, or soups.

Supplies

1. fresh basil
2. zip lock baggies
3. olive oil
4. food processor
5. paper towels

Pick fresh basil, removing stems and any discolored leaves. Rinse well under cold water removing any debris.

Pat dry with paper towels.

Add basil loosely in the processor

.Add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Spread all over to cover leaves.

Pulse coarsely.

Measure 1 tablespoon of basil mixture per side of bag. It's very important to squeeze all the air out of bag.

Fold into thirds.

Double bag into a larger zip lock, place into the freeze for future use. 

 

What to do when things go wrong with your pottery

What to do when things go wrong, this rooster was so cute in every other way, except for the tail popping off during the second firing.

It's truly challenging to fix a piece of pottery that you worked so hard to make. This was the second rooster that was thrown. I thought I would go through the processes that I went through to preserve him. 

My first thought was to try fashioning a tail piece made from filmo clay since I would be keeping this rooster for my own kitchen. I wasn't happy with this fix.

My next plan was to make another one out of clay. The challenge was to figure out how much shrinkage would  occur.  I left the sides opened and used a bisque piece of pottery to keep the clay from touching each other.

Then it was attached to the rooster with epoxy glue. This is the side view.

I'm happy with this fix, what do you think?