I finally did it!

I finally figured out how to crochet! I'm so excited! Hopefully this new love doesn't take over my knitting. Lol. I think I'm going to start with a simple heart, then granny square, then who knows? I might end up with a huge afghan of granny squares lol.

Baking addiction...

Hubby bought me a cupcake/muffin pan. And I have not stopped baking since I got it. A dozen cupcakes disappear before the day is through. When it comes to sweets, his family is huge on sweets and so it's no surprise that atleast half are gone before I wake up from my nap. And since I'm pregnant and my family are huge on sweets as well, it's no surprise that I help him finish everything, lol.

I remember when I was in high school, one of my younger cousins learned how to make Red Velvet Cake while she was in Georgia visiting family. Although, she was given a family recipe, I guess she must have skipped a step or forgotten something. Plus baking, you must be very precise with measurements, so that could also be a factor.

Being a huge food fan, I love watching cooking shows, and pretty much shows about food. Food Network recently aired "Cupcake Wars" and I've been addicted ever since. And almost every single baker on that show claims to have THE BEST Red Velvet Cupcakes.

So, I decide to try it out, although I wish I knew to get the big bottle of red food coloring! And they came out amazing! I took a recipe from simplyrecipes and compared it to Paula Deen's. We all know she is famous for anything to do with food, especially sweet treats! Paula uses oil instead of butter and simply recipes uses butter instead of oil. From past experiences I know that oil makes a very moist cake. So I decide to mix butter and oil, so the outcome would be a moist yet melt in your mouth sturdy cupcake, instead of an oily disaster. No offense Paula!



Here's my take on red velvet with smooth, delicious cream cheese frosting.

Big news ...!

I'm pregnant! :D 5 weeks and some days and this little sucker is making me gag at some terrible smells. Thank God for no morning sickness, or just yet atleast. Well, it's time to get cracking on some knitwork for the little booger growing in my tummy.


You can barely see but there's a very faint line there too. Two positives yay!

Bubba's afraid of laying on me or sleeping with his hand on my belly lol. So cute that he's overprotective about the growing fetus in me. It's wonderful to have such a loving man.

Updates ...

As of March 5, 2010 I was officially married to the love of my life. :) A few days later I found this wonderful job. Waitress and all of the above at two chinese restaurants. Keeps me busy, happy and fed. :) I'm not knitting very much these days because I work basically everyday.

Life is kinda wonderful apart from the non-knitting and apartment searching. Booooo! But I have my wonderful bubbas so I am very content.

First day

...today was my first day of work. I've been unemployed for practically the last 6 months or so. And I did awesome! Definitely impressed my boss. :) And one of my co-workers is also an avid knitter. Well she does mostly crochet now but she does knit here and there. I will master the art of crochet one of these days... Even if it takes me forever!! :)

First lace scarf !

I've relocated with my Bubs. Unfortunately he is out of a job and I was already unemployed. Thankfully his godfather took us in until we can get back on our feet. So nice to have family! So 3 days of constant packing, cleaning and moving and unpacking. I'm a tired little bee, but that doesn't keep me from knitting. Of course not! I'm one of those girls who keeps a skein or two of yarn and a small pouch of knitting tools in my purse. Constantly knitting everywhere I go. So here's what I started...



I finally decided to try a lace pattern and I'm loving the outcome. :) I have got to get ahold of more yarn soon because I'm almost out of my Sugar'n Cream. Boo!! =( I absolutely loveee this yarn! It's so soft and smooth.



I'm almost done. Will post more pictures upon completion. Since I had other things to do, I was not able to finish in the two days like I normally do. Rawrrr, but since I'm almost out of yarn, this definitely satisfied my obsession for the time being. I guess I'll have to do something with my baby bouncle. So irritating to knit with but absolutely soft when completed. Rawrrr!

New pattern

Possibly my next project Branching Out.

White Chocolate covered Strawberry Rosemary Scones

Absolutely delicious! Giada's strawberry and rosemary scones but instead of her glaze, I used white chocolate. I didn't have any non-holiday related cookie cutters or strawberry jam. I used a cute little snowman and a small piece of fresh strawberry on top of each. Definitely something I will be making again and again.

Completed at 12:05 AM!

I'm finally done, yay! And I absolutely loveee it!

Alone

I guess I have to get used to spending special occasions alone, such as Valentine's Day and Anniversaries... Well, atleast I have my knitting, right?

Birthday strawberries :)

Happy 9 months for me and my Babe. <3



Babe and I went to the grocery store and we didn't have enough for everything we got so Babe decided on his own to take out MY strawberries. =( I was so sad! So I said, it's your cigarettes, that's why we don't have enough! And so the cashier stuck the big box of strawberries in a bag and said "Happy Birthday!" :D I was so happy! I guess since she knew I was too broke to do anything for my birthday, I could atleast have my strawberries. She's such a sweetie!



I spent almost all night knitting. I couldn't sleep because I wanted to finish or atleast get close to it. Just 3.5 panels to go and I'm done. Yay! And it matches one of my favorite 3/4 sleeve sweaters from Target. :D It's so nice when you happen to have something that matches what you're knitting. I would probably wear it with almost everything anyway but still. It's nice. :)

Addicted much?

You know you're addicted to knitting when you keep atleast 2 skeins of yarn in your purse along with a small pouch which contains knitting tools.



My purse. :) I absolutely love days like these. Babe works with his Dad and since he's in construction and is constantly on the move, I'm able to tag along in the truck. I bring a bag/backpack with snacks, books, lots of yarn, knitting tools and, of course, my ipod! While Babe works, I get to start on books just sitting on the shelf or complete knitting projects just sitting on needles. It's nice to have that little bit more quality time together. Every little bit counts. :) And fortunately for us, we can never spend too much time together. Absolute bliss. <3



Dinnertime. :) We haven't had very much food in the fridge for the past few weeks since business is pretty slow and checks seem to disappear in the mail. So having meat in my dinner is quite a luxury tonight. Instead of spaghetti noodles, I used these small twisted noodles. My spaghetti sauce smells like deliciously seasoned spaghetti sauce since I love to melt mild cheddar in it. (Sometimes half mozzarella cheese if on hand.) Just garnish with shredded parmesan cheese and a little chopped parsley. And when I do remember to make garlic bread, I'm in heaven. So spaghetti and grape soda for me tonight. Yum!



Let's not forget dessert. No matter how full or bloated I get, I will always have room for dessert! Babe did a great job choosing ice cream. He always gets his Pecan Praline or something close to it if it's not on sale. Caramel Caribou was this week's choice. And boy was it delicious! Delicious choclate bits and Denali Caramel infused in Toffee ice cream. And of course, my cold mocha coffee. :) Which will be put aside while I knit through the night. I'm excited about completing my scarf!



The scarf is pretty close to completion. I should finish tonight or tomorrow morning. It's turning out beautifully. My first attempt at adding colors. Normally I would purchase yarn which is already dyed in different colors. This time I decided to go for a crisp green and cream combo and I absolutely adore it! This time, the scarf is for me. I guess this is my late birthday present to myself. :)

Youtube Video

I finally decided to make a video of my current february completed and in-progress knits. I love this video-making program, it's fun! :)

Song: I don't wanna wait - Playbreezy ft. Sokhary
This is the song that's always stuck in my head, loveee it!

Starts off with:
1. Birthday yarn
2. Cloverleaf eyelet scarf in progress to completion
3. Cable border (still on hold)
4. Striped eyelet scarf (cream & green still knitting)



Enjoy! Love, domesticjenne.

Striped scarf

I absolutely love the contrast of these colors. Plus they look so good together!

Lonely Valentine's Night

It's 7:02 PM on Valentine's Day and I'm spending it knitting alone at home. Either I have a problem or I'm just that lonely?

First attempt at knitting with the cable needle

I bought this cable needle quite a few months ago and the first actual attempt, I failed terribly. So I decided to try again but on a small project, cable border for a blanket. It went so smooth! And I was completely fascinated with the outcome too!
So I've decided to create a scarf out of it. I finished a whole ball of yarn with just that one long piece. I'm not sure if I want an eyelet design for the middle panel or the cable for the middle panel. We'll see soon. :) Here's a few pictures, enjoy!

Christa's Scarf

Here's the completed scarf hanging in her closet. :) That makes me so happy. And she wore it the next day to work. And a co-worker of hers wanted to copy my work, lol. I guess I did better than I thought. I'm actually tempted to make one for myself but in green. I forgot to ask Christa to model it for me, so I did with headless shots, lol. I think this was the hardest pattern I've done so far and I conquered it! As a beginner knitter, it's definitely a big accomplishment!

So here are the other pictures modeling my beautiful knit-work. :)

Progress on Christa's scarf ...

Here's how far I've gotten from knitting all day yesterday. Of course that includes breaks from blogreading, playing with Bubbe, and walking with him to Petco to get dog food & yummy treats since he hasn't had any in a loooong time.

I have til probably 6:30 tonight to finish the scarf, wish me luck! I'm only halfway done? Eeeeeek!! It's look so good that after I finish, I wanna make one for myself! :)

I NEED COFFEE NOW! =(

I'm out of coffee!!!! Why does Babe have to suddenly start drinking coffee when my favorite Hazelnut is in limited supply (in my pantry of course!). I'm a sad coffee-feen today and a stressed knitter! But, a happy blogger. :) Three moods all in one, haha. That shows you how complex I am. Thankfully Babe is so used to me and my strange mood-swings. At some point, he thought I was bi-polar! Lmao!

Cloverleaf Eyelet Sample

My fiance's younger sister's birthday is on the 11th. Yes, I know! Only one day to create something fabulous for her. (Actually all day today and until 6 tomorrow.) So here it is, I finally decided after many cast ons and several worked rows and just ripping them apart just as the knitting is beginning to feel like a routine. I found this cloverleaf eyelet design on about.com and absolutely fell in love with it. Turns out I am getting good at this. :) Maybe soon I can advance to lace patterns and all that good stuff. I was just too afraid to try them and thank god I found this pattern. Just seeing the results gives me a lot more confidence in my knitting.

After christmas, my fiance's dad gave me a giftcard for Barnes and Noble. So I went with his mom and we picked out a baby knitting book. It is now, what, the middle of february and I have yet to actually start a project in that book. Just one will do, so it doesn't seem like I purchased the book for the cute baby pictures and adorable cover.

Seems like once I start a project, I end up thinking of other projects to start. At this rate I will never finish anything! My mind thinks faster than my hands can work or my lips can speak. *Sigh*

I'm thinking about participating in the Ravelympics. (Is that how it's spelled?) I don't know. We'll see. Or maybe next year, I'll definitely be a more advanced knitter by then. :)

Treats, Knitting, and Company!

I decided to have something like chocolate covered strawberries, and they were gone within minutes, courtesy of moi. Lol. Definitely a must at my wedding, whenever that may be.



Babe's hand, my lime green ipod and yarn&needles = a relaxing evening!

47 purl stitches. The first row is always the hardest for me! I've tried seed stitch for the first row, and it took me like 30 minutes! So last night, Babe wanted me to sit with him while he watched the military channel. Which by the way is not the most interesting channel for me! So I turned on my ipod and brought my knitting stuff with me. And yes, we have a twin size bed in our livingroom. We use it as an add-on to the couch. Plus I will not do without my bed! I absolutely love it and if it were a queen size, we would sleep on it in the room!



Today I have a little visitor. Babe's mom's moody yet adorable little chuhuahua. He's so strange but I absolutely love him. He sleeps with me and keeps me company. But don't let his small size fool you because his bark is certainly loud and aching to the ears. We believe that in his mind he thinks he's a big dog but really he's stuck in the tiny, shedding body of his. Come on now, when he sees his own reflection he starts growling all crazy because he doesn't recognize his own reflection lol. I wouldn't have him any other way!

So, today is my trial day for a cloverleaf eyelet design I found on About.com. We'll see how that goes because I've never done ssk or yo's in a pattern. But thankfully, I have the guidance of The Knit Witch on youtube. :)

Lifetime movies and knitting

Today is my day to just sit back and relax. Lifetime movies and knitting, what more could I ask for. Ooh, and I had strawberries and blueberries that babe bought me. :) He's my mister wonderful, most the time! Lol.

I started like 3 projects and then after like the 10th 11th or 12th row, decided to just rip them apart because I was unsure of what I wanted to knit with my yarn.

What to do, what to do?

I watched a complete tear jerker today. Remember Peggy from Married With Children? Well, she was amazing in this movie. It's about a couple who develops a close relationship with an ICU nurse while dealing with the health issues of their 23 week premature daughter. The mother later gets cancer and dies. It was so sad yet such a sweet movie!

This is actually the first movie that made me cry like that! It was like she was my mother or close friend dying on that bed. She is an amazing actress. The movie was No Higher Love.

Birthday Presents

The ring my baby bought for me from James Avery, how coincidental that his name is James too! Lol. Simple yet absolutely precious in my eyes. :)


My birthday was the 6th of this day and my wonderful fiance and his family got me a few things. But most importantly hubby got me some new yarn of my choice! Even though I have the yarn I wanted, I'm having such a hard time deciding on what to knit. I'll cast on for both small and large projects and as I'm getting into the teen rows, I decide to just completely pull the whole thing apart! I guess it's something like: " What if I want to knit a sweater in this color and run out of yarn? Do I knit in a different color with it? "

I guess everyone goes through this sometime, right?

And besides that I have got to decide to knit something for my fiance's younger sister because her birthday is in two days! I'm such a procrastinator!



I am completely in love with this yarn!

Quick & Easy Tortilla Pizza

Here's something I figured, obviously having not much food in the fridge as I'd like. =( But I can always make things work and create something yummy for my hubby-dearest. My amazing, hard-working man deserves to come home to good food any day of the year! :) I had some spaghetti sauce with spinach from my soon-to-be mommy-in-law, leftover tortillas and some ground chuck and finally a small block of medium cheddar cheese. So I figured since others are using slices of bread for crust, why not tortillas?! When I make tacos I always stick them in the oven before eating because I love crispy tortillas! I actually eat those by themselves for a snack too! :) Plus I love anything bread-like.

I browned some ground chuck in a skillet. Cook as much as you'd like! Of course I had to use a lot since my hubby is a big meat eater. He loves A LOT of meat on everything! Then I spread the spaghetti sauce on the tortilla leaving about 1/4 inch on the edge for the crust. Then spread a little beef on top of that and then of course the cheese. But do not put on too much cheese because it will become greasy, ewwww. We don't want that now, do we? Then top that with more beef and stick it in a 350-375 degree oven until the cheese melts and the edges brown. If you don't like a very crunchy crust then you can take it out sooner. This is a much cheaper alternative to pizza. And I will be prepared when we start having kids and they have all their little friends over. I will definitely be the smarter mom who saves money on snacks for the kids! :)

Hope some of you try this because it's really delicious and barely takes any time, compared to actually making a full size pizza, yeast and all. Happy eating!

Healthy Classic Recipe Makeovers

I noticed lately I've gained quite a bit of weight so I decided to try to go on a healthy diet. My mother-in-law and one of my sister-in-laws are kinda doing the same but a more intense diet. Like no carbs. NO CARBS?! WHO CAN LIVE THAT WAY?!!!

I stumbled across this cooking magazine website which has a recipe makeover section. So, even though cheesecake is so fatty, you can switch up some of the ingredients to make a less fat yet still creamy cheesecake and so on with other classic recipes.

Here's the link, hope I've helped some of you!
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Healthy/Recipe-Makeovers

Easy knit hairband

I wanted to start a project that wouldn't take much time at all. It always feels great to complete anything, especially a knitting project! Also, something that is completely functional for everyday use! :)

When sleeping with my dearest hubby-to-be, stray hairs always irritate him! I knew I needed to get some hairbands but have been too broke to do so lately. No job and hubbs isn't getting too much work and barely any money lately! (Boo for the economy!!!) So I figured I could knit it since I have all this yarn lying around. Little did I know that even mommy-in-law-to-be wouldn't even notice that I made it! :D

So here's the pattern, pretty simple and easy to follow even if you do put it down.

Cast on 8 sts.
Knit 4 rows.
Start stockinette stitch
(Row 1:Knit Row 2:Purl)
Continue stockinette stitch until desired length.
Knit 4 rows.
Cast off.
Sew ends together.

If your knitting curls, don't fret! I ironed mine completely straight! :) Irons are such a wonderful invention. :D

I used my own head to figure out the length of my headband. As soon as I saw some length on my project, I wrapped it around my head and let it stretch until the ends touched together. Mine turned out a little big because it stretched more when I put it over my head and onto my neck. So next time I will definitely knit less than I did this time. Enjoy!

Inspirational change

Today I went to a church in the fifth ward (Houston, TX) and it was the most amazing experience ever. Everyone was up clapping, dancing and praising God. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they sang till their voices ran out. Then suddenly, the pastor comes up and asks a few to come up to the altar to pray for those in Haiti, and just about everyone in the room fled to the front.

That just made me think, I used to help others. I used to volunteer anywhere I could. I loved helping and making a difference in someone else's life. I remember when I was 15, I went to a Christian Conference and I was completely inspired to go on a missionary out of the country.

And now, I wonder what happened to that girl? Just that one experience changed my view on my current lifestyle. Insane, huh? But that's just the work of God in my life. I'm grateful that he provides for me as much as he can and now it's my turn to provide for someone else.

Introduction

My name is Jenne and I'm 21 years old. I decided to create this blog because I wanted to share recipes and craft ideas with you. I live in Houston with my fiance, James. He's my motivation for every project I start. I didn't know I could cook until I was 19 and everything else just came along with it. I love to paint and knit. Those are two things I find completely relaxing when I'm stressed. I've always been a creative soul. I started writing poems in middle school and soon advanced to songs in high school. I hope I can inspire atleast one person and help many...