Finally out of the Kitchen!

I'm exhausted, haven't stopped cooking since yesterday. This year, I decided to make my own dinner rolls, which turned out pretty good. My husband taste tested 4, so I'm guessing they will do. It was actually kind of fun once I got into it, just very time consuming. I used a recipe that I had been saving for a while. I liked that with this recipe you can make them ahead and freeze them. My Kitchen-aid mixer was a big help as the recipe makes 4 dozen rolls. Each small ball of dough has to be rolled into a 10" log, and then tied in a knot with the 2 ends pinched together and hidden underneath. At first it was tricky, but then it became meditative. Anyway, you bake them at a low temp for a few min. then after they cool, put them in the freezer for another day. I think it was worth the effort, because I have plenty for our family's Thanksgiving dinner and anytime we want rolls with dinner, they can be popped into the oven frozen, and finished baking, so they will taste just as fresh as when I first made them.

That was yesterday, today I started baking the goodies with my daughter. We made pumpkin bread, apple pie, pumpkin pie, corn muffins and cornsticks that I made in my antique cast iron pan. I'm looking forward to spending tomorrow, cooking and spending time with my family, maybe even having time to eat.lol If you are interested in the dinner roll recipe that I used, leave me a comment and I will add it to my blog. I hope that everyone is enjoying a holiday weekend with their families as well.

On another note, I am having a Black Friday sale at my Etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/KnitsBellissimo#  Nov. 23-26th  use coupon code usship4free for free domestic shipping on the promotion days. Hope you'll stop by :)

A wreath that I made years ago

Buried in Yarn!

Help! I need a new way to organize my abundant supply of yarn. Yarn is so expensive, (for the good stuff), that when I find a bag of new yarn at a yard sale or Ebay, I have to buy it when it's available.
So, needless to say I have enough to last the rest of my life. I have tried numerous ways to organize it. Here are a few:

Put similar yarn together in plastic bags
Group the same colors in vintage suitcases
Decorative Baskets                                                                                                                                   I tried those vacumne seal bags that are "as seen on tv"

Nothing has been ideal. If you have any new creative ideas for me, I would love to hear them.

Also, announcement for my Etsy Shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/KnitsBellissimo
My "Christmas in July" sale is ending tomorrow at midnight.
Hurry Hurry put in coupon code: christmas10 for 10% off everything!

These hats are examples of some of the items in my shop. Hope you like them :)

I have a new hat for sale in my Etsy shop

http://www.etsy.com/listing/82095028/slouchy-hat-knit-in-beautiful-italian

 This is the one that I was working on, on the way home from New Hampshire. I finally have my head model and one of the wigs. I think it makes a big difference compared with the Styrofoam ones that I have been using. I just started working on another one with the same yarn. I wasn't that happy with the looks of the yarn in the skein, but when it is knitted up, I love it. It's so soft. The yarn is Moda Dea
"Cartwheel" in the color Coral, just in case anyone would like to make their own hat in this yarn. It's a bulky yarn that is "thick and thin", kind of rustic and warm.

New Hats for my Etsy Shop

I have been working hard designing some new hats for my Etsy shop. This is the first time for me completely designing hats from start to finish. It's a lot harder than it looks. I have scoured all my reference books for pattern ideas, looked at fashion magazines etc. and have come up with a few different designs for my hats. My college age son told me that he has seen lots of girls walking around the college area wearing "slouchy" hats so I decided to try my hand at it. So far I only have made one in each style, but I am planning on adding some different variations and colors. I'd love to know what you think of them. :)

Free Pattern! cushion covers for you're favorite headphones

I have another free pattern for you today. Do you have a favorite pair of headphones that the cushions for your ears are falling apart? Seems like a waste to throw them away. I had some cotton candy pink yarn, leftover from my cupcake hat, (archived on this blog) It's very soft and "cushiony" a bulky weight yarn.I came up with this very easy, quick way to keep using my headset comfortably. Hope you'll try it. :)

A small amount (just a few yards) of whatever bulky weight yarn that suits you
size H crochet hook or whatever feels right with the yarn you have chosen
chain 6, join with a slip-stitch to form a ring
chain 3, 14 double crochets in the ring, join with a slip-stitch into the 3rd chain of the chain 3
chain 3, 2 double crochets in each stitch all the way around, join with a slip stitch into the 3rd chain of the chain 3 of the previous row
leaving about 18 " cut the yarn and thread it into a yarn needle ( a large eye blunt tipped needle)
Now weave your yarn in and out, all around the stitches of the last row.
place your cover onto the headphone cushion and if you have to, stretch to fit and cinch it closed
now just tie a secure knot and weave in the yarn tail to hide it.
note: if your headphone cushions are larger than mine, just add an extra row before ending.

If you have a questions, leave a comment here and I will try to answer it for you. Good Luck :)

Coral Bath Puff finished

I finally finished my hyperbolic bath puff. It was fun. This was an experiment to begin with, just to see how it would develop. Next time I will use some soft cotton yarn and make one I can really use. I decided not to add the second color, only because I couldn't find anything in my stash that would look right. Anyway, that's that. Have a great weekend!

"Bite Me" Fingerless gloves

Here are the pics of the Twilight gloves that I mentioned earlier. I finally uploaded my pics. I bought the pattern on ravelry.com from someone called "lovebug mama's designs" in case you are interested in making a pair. (a little shout- out to a fellow designer) They were pretty easy to make. The gloves are knitted first, then the design is duplicate stitched on later. I think they're pretty cute :)

Just had to throw in one of my sweetie-pie Moe modeling one of his many sweaters.