Leftover Yarn and Baby Hats

Whenever I finish up a knitting or crochet project, and I have that little ball of yarn leftover, I don't ever seem to be able to just throw it away.  Instead, I save it knowing that some day I will make something out of it.  It seems like such a waste of a potential project.  Recently, in the midst of a big craft room reconstruction, I gathered together a number of lonely, little balls of yarn, and decided I needed to actually do something with them. 

Baby hats came to my mind first, so I chose a nice soft yarn, and began knitting away.  To make it easier to keep the little yarn ball under control, I used a cute little bucket to keep it contained so that I wouldn't be constantly chasing it as it fell off of the table.

I was making great progress .....

when several stitches fell off of one of the double pointed needles.  I tried briefly to get them back on before they began unraveling as quick as they possibly could.  When this happened, I decided I would much rather just pull everything off of the needles and begin once again.  I think the time I spend trying to pick up those little stitches is too stressful, and especially on this small of a project, the stress just isn't worth it to me.  So soon after I took the above picture, my sweet little hat looked like this:

Not to worry though.  I just began once again, and was extra careful when I got close to the end, holding my breath through every decrease round.  This time around success was there waiting for me.

So, one half of a ball down (the hats really don't use up very much yarn), and many, many more to go.  But with the variety of yarns I have to work with, I certainly won't be getting bored.

April Showers

Enjoying a morning cup of tea while sitting in the sunshine coming through my kitchen window is one of my favorite things.  Throughout the winter we don't get much morning sunshine; however, with the arrival of spring the sun decides to start gracing us with its appearance now and then.  On Sunday morning, I was able to enjoy it while also enjoying my new cute flower pot:

Oh Monday, there was no sun to be had.  We woke up to heavy snowfall and it was actually sticking to the ground.  This picture was taken after the first bout of snow had melted, the sun shone for a while, then the rain came which changed to hail, followed by thunder, and then more snow.  April weather at its finest.

Brownie Cups

It is so nice to have daughters that just taken it upon themselves to bake at a moment's notice.  Yesterday my youngest did just that.  She wandered out into the kitchen with a cookbook in hand.  A short while later, this is what was cooling on my kitchen table:

Ahhhh, what a treat they have been.  The recipe actually calls for peanut butter chips; however, not only did we not have any on hand, but peanut butter things really aren't my husband's favorite so we substituted chocolate chips. 

Brownie Cups
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg) peanut butter chips (or any chips of your choice), divided

Heat oven to 350 deg. F.  Line 18 standard size muffin cups with paper or foil bake cups.

Place butter in large microwave-safe bowl and microwave at high 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until melted.  Stir in sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs; beat well.  Add cocoa and beat until well blended.  Add flour, baking powder and salt and beat well.  Stir in 1 1/3 cups flavored chips.  Divide batter evenly into muffin cups and sprinkle with remaining 1/3 cup of chips.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until surface is firm.  Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

~Enjoy~

The Beginning of Garage Sale Season

On Saturday morning, two of my daughters and I attended our first garage sale of the season.  Fortunately it was an indoor sale since our weather certainly was misbehaving that day.  There were many vendors and all kinds of junk to look at.  And yes, most of it was junk.  But it certainly can make you laugh to see some of the items that people expect others to buy.  A good case in point ..... a watering can purse.  Now, this just made me laugh, and I had to take a picture.