Rebecca Danger

Starting the Week Off Right

The theme of this week: taking it easy. I am trying to take down a notch this week and remember that I don't need to be doing something all the time, it is ok to just sit and take a few minutes for me, and I don't need to get everything done today. I have never been good at any of this and have worked way too hard for way too long. Part of the reason I knit is because I don't sit still very well. I don't know, I just have ansy pants and feel like I need to be getting everything done now. So this week I am trying to remind myself that I really don't. We will see how it goes.

Hope every one else has had a good start to their weeks. I have some fun stuff planned to share on the blog here, yeah!

Style Saturday: Closet SOS

My closet has been driving me nuts this week. N.U.T.S nuts. We live in an old house so closet/storage space is at a premium and my closet is really more of a hole under the stairs. It is just a disaster, full of things that I don't wear or are too big which then block me from seeing the things I actually want to wear.  Disaster I tells ya.

So in true Style Saturday spirit I am going to clean it out this evening. After the success of my baby sleepy bag (which I managed to make this morning, not Tuesday) I am inspired to sew some pencil skirts in various colors and some other things, knit more sweaters, and fill my closet with things I actually love to wear. But, clean out is the first step since I need space! Hmmm, know any good closet organizing tools and tips? Especially for tiny closets?

Thursday Knit Night: Yarn Sale!

Today is my birthday! Thank you so much for all of the wonderful birthday wishes in all of my inboxes, you guys are so sweet!

Guess what....in honor of my birthday, Valentine's Day, and my business anniversary (I started Danger Crafts 3 years ago this week), I am having a sale! All in-stock yarns are 20% off, and the prices are already marked down in my etsy shop and on my website. Sale starts February 9th and goes through February 29th. 

And....I just sent out my first newsletter! So if you are signed up, I finally, FINALLY got a newsletter out. Go me!

Ok, now get off the blog and go get some yarn!

Weigh-In Wednesday: More Soup!

After the delicious (but stinky) success of my broccoli soup last week I decided to try my hand at another soup this week. It is definitely soup season around the Pacific Northwest!

Source: pearls-handcuffs-happyhour.blogspot.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

 

So I whipped this up last night. (Whipped is so not the right word, I don't whip up anything in the kitchen. A better phrase would be "I beat my head against the kitchen cabinets while making this," or "though I dropped half of my ingredients on the floor I still managed to make.") It was de-li-ci-ous. I am not even a tomato soup person and this one has quite a bit of tomato in it. Yum. Seriously, go get the ingredients and make this as soon as you can. It would be good with or without the cheese. I had avocado, but it had gone bad, so I threw black olives on the top instead. I also see now I didn't put sour cream on it, it was still amazing. And with brown rice and as much organic as I could find, it was super good for you too.

If you want my broccoli soup recipe, it was based loosely on the potato soup receipe I posted a couple weeks ago. Here's what I did:

*Approx 2lbs potatoes, cubed (I used part of a bag of potatoes o'brien we had in the freezer and chopped up a few organic potatoes I had in the fridge)

*Some frozen, chopped onions

*Broccoli (I used what had come in my veggie bin plus some. I don't know, a few cups worth? Do to taste for you), broken into little pieces

*Some celery, chopped up

*Some carrots, chopped up

*One box of chicken broth (I used low sodium, organic, 32oz-er)

*A cup of water

I threw all this into the crock pot. I cooked it on low for about 8 hours. I food-processor-ed it in my ninja blender . I added 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. After it melted I threw in some turkey ham, and then put it in a bowl. Then I put a little bit of cheddar on it. Yum, delicious. But stinky. Very stinky.

Ta-da! I never thought I would be giving recipe advice. So, take it with a grain of salt! But do make that chicken soup over rice because it is amazing.

Tutorial Tuesday: Zippy Baby Sleeping Bag

Today I am going to make a wearable blanket sleepy bag for The Kid. I found this tutorial a long while ago:

Source: thingsforboys.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

 

And since they are like 20-50 bucks for these things, I decided when The Kid grew out of his last month that I should just make them. Fleece is so cheap, especially in the winter, the materials for 2+ cost me less than one pre-made one. So I bought one pre-made one to use as the pattern in December when he outgrew his last one and we have been using just that one since. Yikes. Well now, I attempted to make one when it was snowing here (what was that? Three weeks ago? Four weeks ago?) I got mine all traced up and cut out with some baby help, put The Kid down for his nap, got back up to my studio, grabbed the pieces, sat down at my sewing machine to go, go, go, and realized I had no black thread. None. Not a yard. Which, after running a handmade bags business for 7 years is so weird. As far as I can remember I have never, ever, ever, ever, ever been out of black thread. I mean for Pete's sake I used to buy thread by the pound, not by the spool. Cripes. But, since it was very snowy outside I decided the project would have to wait. Which it has. And we have kept functioning with one very yucky sleepy bag that gets used 3 times a day. 

So, today's the day. I have my fabrics all picked out:

 

I even have the cars one all cut out and ready to sew. I am excited! I will be sure to let you know how it goes, but if you want to make your own, check out that awesome tutorial. Oh, and make sure you have black thread.

Presley's 9 Month Photo

Here it is!

He has grown and developed so much just this week. Instead of more thinking about it then going, he can crawl to anything he wants like a rocket. And he has decided that crawling isn't enough for him anymore and he has started pulling himself up on everything. Which means more head bonking, which is no fun, so I am watching him like a hawk these days. No teeth yet, but this kid is going to be walking so fast. Here's a pic of one of my favorite new things. We call it singing:

It is really more like screaming. But it is super cute. Of course we think everything he does is super cute, so I am probably not the best source on that!

Style Saturday: Legwarmers in Action

I love Mohop shoes, have you ever seen them? I have been lusting after them since they came out in 2005. Every year I say, "This is the summer! I am going to order a pair of Mohop's this year." And every year I don't for whatever reason. So, I was pleased as punch as I was making my annual visit to the Mohop website this week and saw in the gallery some legwarmers being rocked with the awesome shoes:

Images from Mohop.com

Love it! I don't see legwarmers in action very often and these are great. What do you think, with my recent legwarmer obsessions is this a sign from the universe that I need to order these shoes finally?

 

Friday Favorites: Baby Legs

Alright, to fit with my legwarmer mania theme that seems to be happening around here, this week I am in love with baby leg warmers! We have 2 pairs:

Images from Amazon.com

I adore these things! When The Kid was a tiny, tiny baby nothing fit him, so he was in baby leg warmers and a onesie most of the time. Now they are perfect for crawling knees, and closing the gap between baby socks and pants (since let's face it, all baby pants turn into shorts). They're really great.

I know there are a bunch of patterns to knit them out there too, but I have not managed to cast on for any. Seeing as I just queued up all my projects and there are about 15 ready-to-go, I don't think a pair will be happening anytime soon, either. Though, I do love these:

Image from Ravelry.com

So there we go, more legwarmer love. The Kid is even being included in this craziness! Or, maybe his baby legs are what inspired my own legwarmer obsessiveness.

 

Thursday Knit Night: Meet Chadwick!

Wow it has been awhile since I have had a post like this, and how perfect to be my first "Thursday Knit Night" post. Meet Chadwick the Shakespearean Caterpillar!

After so many, many (many!) requests, I have finally gotten this guy done. I lurve him and so does The Kid:

Yup. Gratuitous use of my baby as a model. That's what we have come to. Here's some more:

This guy is perfect for self-striping sock yarn, or to use up bits and bobs of yarn. Each segment only took about 35-45 yards on the worsted weight one. He'd also be great to add crinkles, and bells, and rattles to for a baby discovery toy. He's awesome.

Notice the name change from Charlie to Chadwick? Well, when I originally wrote the pattern for the LYS tour I had forgotten I already had a monster named Charlie. So, I decided Chadwick was a good name instead! Chadwick is available through Knit Picks, or I am setting it up on Ravelry after I finish typing this for international buyers who have difficulty with the Knit Picks website.

Enjoy!

 

Weigh-In Wednesday: Broccoli Soup!

Today I decided with the success of last week's potato soup to do the same kinda crock pot veggie soup deal with some broccoli I had in the fridge. Big mistake. I threw my veggies in, put The Kid down for a nap, and hopped in the shower. When I got out, I went "Sniff, sniff? What is that awful smell? I think the garbage is really ripe." Then I thought, "Could the garbage really rippen that quickly? I was only in the shower a couple minutes." And then, "Wait, we have those stupid Febreeze garbage bags, so the garbage should not smell like that."

Nope. Not the garbage. My soup stinks something fierce. I thought about turning it off and not trying to make it, but it was already going. By this point in the day (5pm) I am very much not looking forward to this soup since I have been smelling the stinkyness all day. Mr Danger is out of town again this week, which is probably for the best so no one else has to try and breath in this danged stinky house today.

Bleck!