Comfort Food and Comfy Blanky

Inspired once again by the Pioneer Woman and by my bestie, Jenn's runny nose, I set out yesterday to make a nummy chicken soup. I didn't stick very closely to her recipe, though. I used the bones of the recipe, but it seemed a bit... bland to me. So, I started out with some bacon grease (always a good thing), sauteed the onions and celery, removed the veggies, then browned the outside of the chicken before adding back veggies, stock, and seasonings. I pulled out more than half of the soup for Oscar because he doesn't care for any sort of pasta, but if I'm gonna slurp chicken soup, it better have noodles in it:). So, I added a bag of No Yolks noodles to my half of the soup. Ok, so I like a lot of noodles. I never claimed to be anything other than a complete carb addict :P. Here's a gander at the finished product.

Trust me, it was as good as it looks:). I'll be making this when my family all gets together at my Dad's place for New Year's.

I spent most of the evening working on a crocheted blanket that I've been working on FOREVER. No, really. FOREVER.
 

I started it as a baby gift for my niece, Sara when she was pregant with her son... Who is now almost 3. Baby #2 is on the way now, so I am hoping to finish the blanket before this new little one starts kindergarten!  Kidding... I think. This is what it looked like a few months ago. It's much bigger now, but I've still got a way to go. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...

Now, if I can just get the last of my Christmas gifts purchased tomorrow and start the wrapping process so that we'll be all ready for the Big Day!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Progress

I've been knitting like a maniac for weeks, but I haven't finished any more than one little owl washcloth!

The other projects I've tackled (a sweater for myself and a scarf for a yet-to-be-determined friend or family member) are moving along, but not as quickly as I'd hoped. The scarf will be finished tonight or tomorrow, but the sweater will be a while! I've finished almost the entire torso, but it got put aside in order to have time to finish the scarf. I'll post pictures of both once I am done.

On the cooking homefront, my friend Karla and I made homemade Caldo de Res (Mexican beef stew) a couple of weeks ago. It was delicious!!! It was fun to cook together. She pretends she doesn't know much about cooking, but she's awesome and we had a ball!  Here is a picture of the finished product! So yummy!

So, that's about it. Nothing terribly earthshattering going on here :-). Knitting away, dreaming of someday starting my own yarn store. A girl can dream, right?

Life Gets in the Way

So, it's been a while... Something like a year! *embarrassed* Life sometimes gets in the way, and I've been in a bit of a cooking/creative rut for a while. But, I picked up my crochet hook recently and have even finished a couple of knitting projects (easy washclothes) over the summer. I am planning out my crocheting/knitting projects for the fall, including my first knitted garment (a sweater for me) and a crocheted amigurumi toy for Malena for Christmas.

Right now, I am plugging away at a baby blanket I started ages ago... It looked like this a few weeks ago.

I've added about 20 more rows since this picture was taken (each row of color represents 2 rows), so I've aproximately doubled the size from what is shown here, but I am still less than halfway done. It's a boring pattern to work, but it will be a beautiful finished project when I am done.

I shall be more diligent about posting here in the future, not that anyone is reading! LOL! It is, however, a nice way to chronicle my daily life and creative achievements;).