An Idea Who's Time Has Come

Where has this been until now? Yarn that looks like your cat! It's brilliant, it's beautiful, and it's definitely an idea who's time has come. The Meow Yarn Collection has stunningly beautiful yarns in colors like Blue Persian, Brown Tabby, and Maine Coon - I'm speechless. Check out this amazing collection and get started on a project for that cat lover in your life.

http://ancientartsfibre.com/Meow_Yarn_Collection/

And yes, fear not Fido friends, there's a Woof Collection too. http://ancientartsfibre.com/Woof_Yarn_Collection/

Who doesn't want to look like their Saint Bernard?

Baby Fever

I've come down with baby fever - not the kind I'd have to change and feed and put through some very expensive schooling - no, this is crochet baby blanket fever. And I've got it bad. What's not to like about baby blankets? They're small, so they work up really quickly. The colors are sweet and bright and the yarn is oh, so soft. I think I'm in love. And they have that great baby smell - wait maybe not.

I was recently down in Florida and finished this fantastic pattern I found on Ravelry called , Rainbow Dash.

So fun to make and the colors are amazing. I liked it so well that no sooner had I finished, I picked up the hook again and made a second one.

And when that one was done, well yes, I've started a third. No picture yet, but it's a tropical theme and it's simply stunning. I really don't see an end in sight at the moment :) The other great thing about these, in addition to the endless combination of colors, is that they are fantastic stash busters. To make the original, I followed the instructions to the letter and purchased 4 balls of Lion Brand Pound of Love - you could easily get two of these made from those four balls. The one I'm currently working is with Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn (btw, I do love that yarn). We'll see how many skeins I need for that. After the tropical I'm thinking of an ocean theme - blues and greens - spectacular!

Original pattern link is here http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/rainbow-dash-baby-blanket

(Wo)Man Could Live by This Alone

Pinterest Picture

My mother-in-law, Donna, is a fabulous cook and is always trying new recipes. Growing up she regularly made homemade bread for the boys and they still talk about it to this day. Served with her navy beans - that homemade bread has become legendary! Oh boy, I'm suddenly hungry :)

My dad loved crusty bread. In fact he liked the crust way more than the soft, chewy inside. He liked to bite into a fresh loaf and crunch through that crust - you could actually hear it. He always talked about getting a really crusty loaf and hollowing out the middle, then stuffing it with butter and eating it just like that.

I too love a crusty loaf of good bread. And I've tried over the years to make homemade bread with varying degrees of success. I even had a breadmaker for a while, but eventually gave it away and went back to store-bought. All the kneading and mess and it never really came out great.

Well, this past week, I stumbled across a recipe on Pinterest called, "No Knead Dutch Oven Crusty Bread". It calls for a really quick mix of flour, salt, yeast and water and then a LONG resting time before baking it in a really hot cast iron dutch oven. The picture looked amazing and I thought, "Yeah right, mine won't look anything like that!" But I decided to give it a try and to amazement it came out perfectly. Crusty - oh yeah! Delicious and almost no effort! Absolutely no kneading and I got this amazingly beautiful loaf. This bread has changed my life. I can't imagine an easier and more perfect recipe. So if you haven't tried it yet - what are you waiting for?

Nailed It!

Find the recipe at: http://www.jocooks.com/bakery/breads/crusty-bread/