Holiday Sale...

Etsy Shop ... great gifts

hats in etsy shop

Added finished items to my Etsy shop... just in time for the holidays

 $20.00 each

etsy shop  

Owl Fingerless Mitts knit pattern

60 yards worsted weight yarn ( approximately )

8 US dpns or circulars needles

Gauge 4 sts. by 6 rows to 1 inch

cable needle

sewing needle and matching thread

4 small buttons

 on ravelry

7 owl beanie pattern colored up

 Been getting orders for different color owl hats... thought I'd share how the pattern looks colored up.. all are done with Simply Soft yarn

pattern on ravelry

You Tube tips .. Cabling without a cable needle

I love You Tube.. around here we have learned tips on knitting, crochet, beading, cooking, raising our flock, feeding our flock, fixing the cars.. it is a very useful site.. I will be posting a few videos I have found useful in my yarn and bead works here.. under the label You Tube and tips... please give them a thumbs up and consider subscribing to their page :D

 

 Cabling without a cable needle...

been trying it out with my  7 owl beanie knit pattern

 

 

 

You tube crochet tips

I have found these two tips very helpful.. the first a very easy way to keep long chains from getting twisted before joining in the round... the second, no ends to weave in join for adding yarn or color changes...

7 owl beanie knit pattern

As long time owl fan myself, when a friend asked me to design a hat that had owls in a beanie style I had to give it a go... I made one for them, a few others for sell at market.. had it all typed out but didn't get the yardage.. made another .. sold as soon as it hit the table.. that is when I recalled I still needed my gauge...

I had made them using different yarns, all claiming to be the same weight but you know how that goes...

So I started over... got my gauge and yardage for the yarn it's made in now lol..

hope you enjoy the pattern

on Ravelry

Pattern sale

With the holidays just around the corner I have decided to have a pattern sale...


Here are the links to my pattern store... I do have many free patterns that are only on my blog... type in free pattern in search bar ( upper left corner ) or click on link listed under "My Patterns" heading along right side of blog ...



on Ravelry

How to peel fresh eggs

We get asked often how to hard boil fresh eggs so they can be easily peeled ( so posting again ) ... after trying many ... many ... and a few more ways the only sure fire way we have come up with is so easy...

 

add your eggs to cool water, bring to boil.. cook for the hardness you want .. ( I add a touch of salt.. keeps the eggs from spilling out if one should crack while cooking )

 

For Large eggs:

• Soft-cooked yolk 4 to 5 minutes
• Medium-cooked yolk 6 minutes
• Hard-cooked yolk 17 minutes

For Medium eggs:

• Soft-cooked yolk 3 minutes
• Medium-cooked yolk 5 minutes
• Hard-cooked yolk 12 minutes

while boiling get a bowl/sink of ice cold water ready.. here in the desert ice melts too fast and cold tap water doesn't happen except in the dead of winter.. so I freeze water bottles and place in a sink full of water...

 

move the eggs straight from the boiling water to the ice water.. LEAVE until cooled off

then peel

 

These eggs are right out of the coop.. not even hours old

 

Jewelry post number 1

I have been making jewelry to sell for a number of years now.. while I have put patterns/charts out of my some of my seed bead designs I have never posted about my other items.. So.... I will be doing these with lots of photos to make it as clear as possible ..


Note: any of my earring designs you make, you are free to sell... if you share online a link back to my pattern would be great :D


The first item will be earrings


you will need .. beading thread and needle, 42 black seed beads size 11/0 ( 21 for each earring ), 2 earring hooks, two o rings, and 2 drop beads ( with hole going through the center )

take thread through the bead going downward, add 3 seed beads go back up though the main bead again

add 18 seed beads and the o ring, tie off

run thread though out once again, tie off weave in ends.. place on earring hook

repeat for second earring

quick and easy.. enjoy

Free football seed bead chart

Materials needed

2 earring hooks

fine beading thread and needle

all seed beads are size 11/0

NOTE

this pattern assumes knowledge of straight stitch beading techniques

52 brown

9 white

add ear hook to loop.. Check ends of ear hook ( if you didn't make your own ) for sharpness, a bit of smoothing maybe needed.

pattern by Barbra Szabrowicz

items made from this pattern may be sold

Jumbo Pharaoh quail

 

We got Quail :D at 3 weeks of age they are already half way to laying eggs.. been reading different reports on how many eggs they lay.. lowest number is 200 they did add "or more" though lol.. most others are saying around 300

 

 

keeping in mind the eggs are pretty small but so cute lol

 

 

We started out just buying eggs and ended up getting 8 half grown birds :D ... A bit stronger tasting, very quick to cook up  lol  we even got a double yoke one

looking forward to getting our own eggs soon.. only two weeks to go ..  

Malards seed bead earring chart

on Etsy

now with The Rubber Duckie chart

Rubber duckie seed bead earring chart

update will be added to Etsy shop

New Moonlight mist vest

Another take on the Moonlight Mist Pattern by Drops done in Simply Soft ( sleeveless )

Starting to get back to yarn work.

finger healing up enough :D

good thing I had my beads to play with lol

A few beads

Been working with my beads ... in spite of Yanni's help lol ..

Thanks for saving my beading tray Jorden :D

duckie update

 

So these sweet little ones

 

 

are now these beautiful large birds.. still very sweet and happy

 

                  already getting orders for when they start laying lol

The BIG 50

 

This week I turned 50.. something I had been looking forward to my whole life.. I have been saying for years I'd have a huge party.. then it dawned on me I don't like big parties lol..

so instead we had a huge egg sale at market.. chickens have been very good girls, we had plenty to sell.. great turn out :D

I was very surprised by all the gifts and well wishes I received this year... I even had a star named after our shop .. The Reiki Shack

Brent got me the chicken shirt I so wanted, as well as so many other things.. he even took the week off of work ..

I have wanted a pink bb gun for ages.. been having so much fun shooting cans lol

two friends at market gifted me plants and meal worm beetles... the aloe came from a older man who has been seeing some rough times.. he easily could have sold it, the meal worm starter kit from a young man we love to chat "chickens" with.. both very cool dudes in their own right.. going to this market has enriched our lives beyond monetary gains I had never dreamed of, you can never have enough good people in your life   ..   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check this gift out.. from good friends and my best egg seller lol SWEET

 

As if things weren't busy enough around here already ... we added to our flock.. geese.. oh and a few more duckies... and a few more... came home with a couple more today ( not all shown here as the post would be sooo long lol )

So many wonderful things have happened.. Brent spent his week off fixing everything from the dryer to starting to rebuild the large green house taken down by 60+ mph winds... sales have been better than ever at the market.. was told today we have a "set" spot so no more searching one out.. looking into doing another market in town...

Brent knew how much we wanted to catch a few things on tv like debates and the summer games.. no one wanted to get back into the cable racket though.. He found a antenna on clearance .. we now get enough local channels to watch them.. and news.. it's been years.. odd to see commercials again lol...

Then the coolest thing happened to us that can only be called a true blessing.. 

the kittens we got ... 

needed to get their shots.. so they could be "fixed"

I see on a Facebook post that they were offering them for low cost at petsmart.. the catch it was market day.. it needed to be done.. even though we were all loaded up and ready to go, we loaded up Zahara and Yanni instead.. their first car trip.. to a place that had dogs every where.. they were not happy campers to say the least lol

we walk in and are asked if we were there to sign up to have our pets "fixed" for FREE ..

no I say but tell me more...

there is such an issue with unfixed pets and such around here I am told.. please sign up and it will all be covered..

when we agreed to take these kitties into our home it was due in large part that I didn't want to see them just turned out and having kitten after kitten.. but there was a real worry about covering costs for two at the same time..

not only was it free but it was done with care an skill

never had I seen before..

both are doing great only one day after.. counting my blessing and giving many thanks