Yellowbird Yarn Room

Snow Day!!!

I've always considered myself a bit of an old soul with an easy laugh, grateful to my big-kid husband for keeping me young at heart.  But there is one way in which I believe I have "one under-ed" him in the maturity department.

I love snow days!!!!!

For the sixth time this year the poor guy has left notes for the boys to celebrate their good fortune while he throws it into 4-wheel and forces his way into work, leaving us behind to revel in our ability to sleep in and stay in our pj's all day if we like.

The sudden release from scheduled responsibility is such a beautiful thing!  It's like finding an extra $20 in the pocket of a coat you haven't worn for two years.  What are you going to do?  Be fun or be responsible?  Or a little of both?

As the natural queen of scale-balancing I am off to do some laundry, dishes, and bake some cookies.  Then I'll throw on my husband's Carhartts and play with the boys while shoveling the driveway before cracking the whip for violin practice and school projects.  If I'm lucky maybe I can fit in a little knitting.  Because, you know...I need to work, too...

Blame it on the head cold

It's been a long week of feeling fuzzy, but I thought I had finally turned a corner yesterday. 

The morning started off well.  The boys were up, fed, and dressed, with lunches packed and everything they needed for the day, in plenty of time to "skate" down the still-icy driveway and climb the tree for a few minutes before the bus came.  Then I found myself packed for the day and all computer-type things done by 9:15.

I had 35 minutes before I had to be out the door for Open Knit and all I had to do was brush my teeth and fix my usual travel mug of tea.

But something had been bugging me.  My hat.  It was not holding up well to daily use.  I had opted not to felt it before in part because I just couldn't wait and in part because I loved the way it fit straight from the needles.  But the fabric was just too soft and wimpy for a button band.  It was becoming a bit pointy where the two sides meet, and you could see the inside flap being pulled by the button something awful.

(I may be able to show you some pictures of this phenomenon soon, but right now my computer's moving far too slow to handle the upload.)

So, at 9:15 yesterday morning I became inspired and decided to felt my hat.

I was still doing great, though.  I put the kettle on to boil for my tea while I got ready.  The tea brewed as I scrunched and scrubbed away at the kitchen sink.  Then it was off to the bathroom for blocking and brushing teeth.

It took forever to get that hat blocked out in a way that made me happy.  I tried hanging it over a styrofoam ball that was covered in batting and plastic wrap to make it the right size, but the hat was far too wet for me to be able to get the bottom to hang nice.  I found that I had to block it flat on a towel for it to dry a bit (when I got home in the afternoon it was dry enough to go onto the ball and still hold it's shape well at the bottom).  But it had shrunk more than I would have liked so there was still a lot of tugging and pulling and stretching involved.

By the time this whole process was complete, though, I'm sorry to say that I was officially late.  It was 10:05 as I swerved down my still-icy driveway, glad I live only 5 minutes away.

The rest of the day went really fairly well.  I enjoyed some good company and a little knitting at Open Knit.  I enjoyed my usual Thursday volunteer duties at the school.  I even enjoyed my quick trip to the grocery store.

It wasn't until I met the boys as they got off the bus after school that I realized that I was, in fact, fuzzy.  Quite fuzzy.  But not in the way I had been all week, unfocused due to the congestion of a terribly annoying head cold.  This time it was different...something else...something I had forgotten to do...

My teeth.

My most sincere apologies, therefor, go out to everyone I spoke to throughout the day yesterday, as well as to all those who may have inadvertently taken a breath as they passed me and I smiled my biggest smile and said "Hiiiiii".  Just blame it on the head cold.  I will.

My PC may be pitiful, but River City's rockin'!

So much time, so little to say!

Wait.  Scratch that.  Reverse it.

Let's start off, then, with one very important word:  SALE!!!  This Friday and Saturday (the 11th and 12th) River City is offering up a storewide 10% off!  

Niiiiiice.  And just in time to pick up a little something for your Valentine!  The kiddos in your life might could like an Usborne book or some handmade doll clothes.  If it's a man you're shopping for, I do believe you can find some nice microwavable rice pillows to warm up his feet and a cup cozy for his coffee.  But if it's a woman you're shopping for...well, let's see...there's jewelry, Miche bags, neckwarmers, hats, furniture, decorative household items.....  Need I go on? 

Also, be sure and check in over the next several weeks or so because Judy has a number of exciting new crafters coming in - you just never know what you may find! 

Now, if you're interested at all in polymer clay, let me just tell you what I have up my sleeve!  Next Tuesday, the 15th, I will be bringing my craft oven to Open Knit, along with some Fimo and painting supplies, and I will be setting myself up to make the buttons for my latest ponytail hat!  I'm hoping to have the hat finished before I leave, but...  I can be a bit finicky about these things so I foresee having to finish painting them and sewing them on at home.  I will certainly try, though!

A side note for those of you who are not yet following me on Facebook:  I will most likely not be at Open Knit tomorrow due to outside obligations, though you are certainly welcome to come in regardless!

Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures of the finished Convertable Ponytail Hats very soon, but I'm afraid that depends upon how quickly I can get my computer up to scratch.  My poor PC, which is around seven years old and never properly upgraded, recently took on a heavier security burden which maxed out all possible memory capacity.   My picture-posting process was already fairly time-intensive, but as it now seems to take a good several minutes to load the more complex web pages I don't think even my vast patience can handle even the thought until I can get it in somewhere for a bit more memory!

In the meantime, come on in to River City to check it out in person and maybe find a few other treasures while you're at it! 

ISO: The Ultimate Hot Chocolate Mix

Growing up, my mother would mix up a giant batch of hot chocolate mix that would last us all winter.  I was always so proud of this fact, that she made it herself, and had such fond memories of her special hot chocolate that as soon as my kids were old enough to drink it I got the recipe from her and rushed out for the ingredients.  It turned out to be a simple mixture of powdered milk, powdered sugar, nondairy creamer, and Nesquick.

Now, this recipe was great for several reasons.  First and formost, it made a very creamy and yummy hot chocolate!  But also key to its greatness was its simplicity.  Take a mug, fill it 1/3 full with mix, add boiling water, embellish with marshmallows as you see fit, and enjoy!

See?  Simple. 

But here's the problem:  when I say it makes a giant batch, I mean it makes a GIANT BATCH!

Did we really drink that much hot chocolate as kids, or did my mother give it away as gifts?  Or did she and my dad drink a lot of it...with friends...every weekend all winter long?

I will likely never have an answer to this mystery (my mother just laughs at me and says she doesn't know), but what I do know is that this mix is just not practical for me now.  So what's a girl to do?

Well...what do you do?  Do you buy pre-packeted mixes, or do you make up your own?  Do you pull out the double boiler, or fill a mug and stick it in the micro? 

I do have cool idea, though, too, and I wonder what you might think...

Just a week or two before Christmas I stumbled across this Chai Concentrate recipe via the Angry Chicken blog.  I made it once for a gift, and just whipped up my third batch for myself yesterday.  It is yuuuuu-me!  It did get me to thinkin', though...couldn't this idea work as a hot chocolate concentrate?

I did try one batch that we just finished off yesterday.  I took a can of Eagle Brand and added some unsweetened cocoa, powdered milk, and sugar.  It was quite good, and even my finicky husband enjoyed it.  The problem there was that so many dry ingredients meant you practically had to pull out the hammer and chisel to get any, then you had to stir it forever for it to dissolve.

So, I'm thinking, maybe I could just mix in the unsweetened cocoa and maybe a little sugar?  Boil water, add a spoonful or two of concentrate, stir to melt, then maybe a splash of half and half?  What do you think?

If you have some chocolatey input but have trouble leaving comments on the blog, I certainly welcome all Facebook comments and emails!  I'd love to hear what you do, even if it does involve eight ingredients and a saucepan!