CDC admits no one has died from consuming raw milk products...

It seems like there is always something in the news telling us how bad one thing or the other is. This time it is people getting sick drinking milk.  The milk that is suppose to be safe since it is from the store. Why? Because it was not handled properly from what I can gather. Not only this, but as someone who owns a goat in milk, I have since learned how difficult California has made it to share this with others. For fear of losing everything (!) I cannot sell or even give it to folks (unless for Pet Use Only) for their own consumption. Thankfully, my family can enjoy it daily.  :)  Yay!

Today I came upon this article and I wanted to share it with all of you out there who consume raw milk.  You're gonna love it.

CDC admits not a single person has died from consuming raw milk products in 11 years

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034169_CDC_raw_milk.html#ixzz1dyxAfrUI

As it turns out, the majority of the human consumed milk in the world, comes from goats. Gatta love that! And for those of you who may be reading this, and think that goat milk tastes 'goaty'. I have found that proper handling, and cooling of the milk produces a wonderfully sweet and delicious glass of milk. So drink up!

More information about the goodness of Goat's Milk
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=131

Make your own Nursing Cover

With baby #4 due to make an appearance any time now (I pray, walking and being as big as a house is so not working for me) I wanted to have one of these. I am a frugal person. Didn't plan it. Not the fault of the economy, just how I have always been. If I can make it (or think I can make it/do it) I will give it a go.

These nursing covers are uber popular right now. I know I will be making one as a baby shower gift coming up in a couple months. I see them everywhere. The park, church and even in the grocery store. I wanted one too! But not for $30 plus. Yikes!

I made mine from Alexander Henry's "Sweet Cherries" fabric. I have admired this fabric for quite a long time now and even though I am having a boy I wanted something that was for me. Very rarely do I make anything for myself so this was perfect. Armed with my 40% off coupon I went to Joann's and got what I needed. Yipee! I was so excited. Smiling ear to ear. I used the tutorial found here. The directions are straight forward, easy peasy. I like that. It was my first time sewing in months (since I found out I was pregnant really) but it eased me right back into it. Like riding a bike. Now I am working on skirts and crib sheets. The materials you need are really low key as well, 1 yard of fabric, 2 1" D Rings, and boning. The boning I was able to find at wally mart one day for under $3 so I snagged it from there.

If you make one, I would love to see it. I think these things are so great. I am one of those moms that refuse to have to go and sit on a toilet to nurse my baby but I like some modestly as well. I cannot wait to use this when this little guy makes an appearance. Much better than a receiving blanket being draped over us.

Better than a new pair of shoes....almost

For ten years now I have admired these mixers. While I did not get one as a wedding gift (because my parents had given us some beautiful china my dad had aquired while he was still in the war) I have always wanted one. But the cost. Well while at wally mart to replace the badly depilitated computer we have that is ready to keel over and die, hubby went down this aisle. And I am so glad he did! We got her (yes, her) yesterday, he unpacked her for me last night, and this morning she had her first maiden voyage. Yes, I am a dork. I'm okay with this. Hubby's only request is that I make him some brownies. Done. Now I am going to get down and make some bread. Oh yum, smelling the brownies and homemade bread in the same day. I'll blame it on pregnancy cravings.

I'm being featured

as well as some other great artist on the Helping Others Street Team Blog. Otherwise known as HOST. A group of etians who come together to help others that are in need in various different ways. Go and check it out here and learn more about what HOST is all about.

Cowl Pattern for sale

Just a heads up that I have listed my cowl pattern for sale in my shop.

You are welcome to sell the finished items as long as a link and credit it given to me. However I did work hard on this pattern and scrapped a lot before I was able to achieve the elegant drape and warmth I was looking for so out of respect, do not sell the pattern or give it out for free.

You can find it here.

Early Christmas Shopping

Here I am ready to have a baby pretty soon and it strickes me that Christmas (!!!) is almost here. I have started to crochet, knit and sew presents now because I know I will not get it done after Matthew has come.

So today I have added that knitted chunky thick cowl/neckwarmer to my shop for anyone else who wants to start shopping early. I have been working on this for a couple weeks now in between other projects. I looked forward to it. Why? Because the feel of this cowl is amazing. I loved having my hands on it. (yes, i'm slightly obsessed) I love these things! Not only are they awesomely stretchy so I can wear them over my shoulders if I want to, but they are so warm. However you can confortably move it away from your face ( I hate turtle necks because they are so restricting) when inside some place warm. It's like being hugged and feeling all cozy, enough to fall asleep. YUM. I love it, and winter and reasons to wear this. :)

My First PDF Pattern for sale

So this is what I did today. I got a convo from someone interested in a pattern for this Lovie. Now I asked her to give me a week to make sure I could transfer it to a PDF format. But then I said why not start tonight. I am feeling pretty good, little Matthew is not kicking me into sickness till it is his time to come out. So going into my huge binder of written crochet patterns, I started in. Yeah, I finished! Whoo Hoo. If you want to check it out you can find it here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29419511

And that cute little model.....my littlest one (who by the way is excited that she is going to be a big sister before Halloween).

The Breast Doll ever?

I watch my kids play house and of course they have those little baby bottles where the liquid disapears as the baby "eats". It is natural and causes no concern for me to watch them do this. Now here is an interesting twist to playing house. A spanish toy company has come up with a doll and apron with daisy nipples for this kids to wear to mimic breast feeding. Is it wrong? Is it right? I am not sure. I breast fed all my three kids and plan once again to breast feed this one. I have watched my kids take their dolls and place them at their breast to feed. Now ,while I am pregnant my 2 yo will take one of her babies and shove them in her shirt. Then tell me she has a baby coming out. I think it is cute. If you want to read more about the article and breast doll you can find it here.

Tools to make Etsy selling easier

Some days it is harder to get the photos and the listings done. Not to mention the tags. And how to you know that your tags are staying up to date with what is currently on Etsy? In walks the tag finder tool from craftweasel.com. Enter one or more tags and craftweasel will actually search Etsy for items with those same tags. Not only that, it will then nake graphs and suggest related tags that might be suitable for your items. Is that not total awesomeness! Go and check it out and see how you like it.c



http://craftweasel.com/

Where can I find free knitting patterns?

So now you got all these great expectations to knit. If you are any thing like me it starts to become an obsession. I have found that the best places to look are the library (if you want a book) or the internet. Here is a list of some places to get Free Knitting patterns. Some like Lion Brand, you will need to become a member so view them. I have never had a problem with spam emails from any of them.



Happy Knitting!



http://www.lionbrand.com/content-knittingPatternIndex.html
http://elann.com/freepatterns.asp
http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/
http://www.bernat.com/search.php?pst=k&advps=y
http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/patterns/default.aspx- must join
http://www.straw.com/cpy/free_pattern_yarnssort.html
http://www.knittingonthenet.com/
http://www.anniesattic.com/free_pattern_day/index.html
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp;jsessionid=B3CTPF5FNO0YEP4SY5EFAFJ50LD3OUPU?CATID=cat3593
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter08/patterns.php
http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/kategori_oversikt.php- clickon the american flag
http://www.berroco.com/pattern_library.html
http://www.ornaghi.it/modelli_en/logged.htm
https://www.ravelry.com/account/login- MUST JOIN
http://www.dailyknitter.com/patterns.html
http://www.craftbits.com/viewCategory.do?categoryID=NED-
http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/patterns.html- you have to search around, but they're there
.http://www.allcrafts.net/





Do you know of others out there that are great? Share them with us.

An old craft revisited and shared

For years I have owned a couple pairs of knitting needles. Determined that one day I would be able to knit as well as crochet. This was not to be. I would try and try and try and I would mess my tension up so badly that I would end up with some kind of mess that looked as though I had tossed my yarn to a cat to bat around. It was okay, I always had my crochet to go back to and I LOVE to crochet. Truly I do. I dream about different yarn color combinations and yarn textures as well as what I could make and for who.

Now here I am pregnant with my 4th child and having to spend more time resting then I want to, hubby's orders. After reading the Twilight Saga twice, my thoughts once again drifted to those knitting needles nestled safely with one of my many piles of stash yarn. ( I'm an addict for yarn, but it's ok I tell my hubby. I like my addiction just fine. ) During one afternoon at nap time I settled myself in with YouTube, yarn, and needles. Whoo Hoo! Victory. Tension was perfect, no dropped stitches and I made myself an over sized washcloth. Used it right away as well so no pictures were taken to share. I liked everything about it. Maybe even more than my crochet ones. The texture, the flexibility. I could not keep my hands off if it. So battling the skin condition of a teenager with this pregnancy, I decided to make a face cloth as well. A rectangular one to use with my bar of soap. Love it! Soaps up beautifully and feels so so good on my skin. Now I am making some granny smith apple green ones for my shop. Really liking green this summer.

My kids naturally wanted to know what I was doing so I got brave and decided I would try to teach my 9 yo. Previously she had wanted to learn crochet but just picking up the hook seems to send her into panic so that will be revisited when she is older. Bracing myself I showed her how to cast on. Amazing! She did it. No tears, no frustration, just wonderful enjoyment of the fiber art. What a gift I felt I was giving her. Then we moved to learning the garter stitch. She is now working on her first washcloth, pink of course, after having made a scarf for one of her barbies. Now she has had to frog this project 3 times so far but has kept with it. Then one day on youtube someone said a nursery rhyme that use to be used to teach kids to knit. Brilliant. Now she says this when she knits and she is doing marvelous. In walks in my 5 yo and 2 yo. They have learned the nursery rhyme as well. The 4 yo is still learning to hold her needles and the 2 yo holds on to them with mommy. My little chanters. This is such a fun adventure to be sharing with them. My 9 yo came up to me the other week. "Mom, I really like having this time with you to make stuff. Just you and me." Smiling I chocked back tears. Still my baby after all. I am pretty sure I would have been crying anyway, pregnant or not. I am so blessed.

So here is the nursery rhyme that now echos in my house instead of cartoons. :)

In the front door,
Around the back,
Take a peek,
Out comes Jack

This is used for the English version of knitting. I do not know if it would be the same for Continental. I think it may be easier for kids to learn English first.

As a side note. My 9 yo who frets at the hook wanted to learn how to do a provisional (invisible) cast on. Daddy (yup, the man is amazing and constantly blows me away. I love it.) stepped in to help her watching youtube with her to learn as I was also learning it. I wish I would have had the camcorder on.

Crochet provisional cast on for knitting

I recently came upon a pattern that called for a provisional cast on. A what?! Yeah that is what I said and I found some really great tutorials online that showed how to do it. However they did not show me what came next. Okay great, I got the done and so now how do I add my main yarn onto the provisional? Here is the most helpful link that I found to do it and I hope that you find it helpful as well. It takes you from doing the crochet provisional cast on right into knitting your first row. Easy peasy!

Crochet Provision Cast on

How color effects your etsy store

I found a very interesting article today that I think is worth sharing. It is called 'The Psychology of color' and it is worth a read. Here you can learn how different color combinations can help or hurt your online selling image. It's a quick read so enjoy!

Free lunch for kids at Ramona Elementry

Who doesn't like a free lunch? If you are in the Ramona area and have kids that are hungry ages 1-18, then you can stop by Ramona Elementry located on 8th street (near the Chevron station), from June 15- July 24. Click here to see what their menu is. Lunch is served from 11:30 -12:30 Mon-Fri. Adults can also get a bite to eat for $3.

We are going to go and try this today and see how it works out.

Argh Matie!

This was fabric I had inititially bought to make a tote bag (and I still may with the remaining fabric) but it was was too fun to not make an apron for it. I am sure this is something that my sister would like. I know I would enjoy this while crafting or cooking. Even a teacher during a pirate themed craft could find this fun. This is a popular apron style that I sell locally to the various resturants in town. They are fun, different, and made with heavy duty fabric so they last. Straps are generously long so you can tie them in front. Right now I am pregnant and I am thankful for longer apron straps. Especially since my belly seems to hit the dirty counter before my cotton washcloths do. LOL

Hot Hot Hot!

A great new little apron for work, crafts, or your next vendor show. This is a popular design that is sold time and time again in person. Check out more here

An Alternative to wasteful cotton balls

So soft and absorbant these make-up remover pads will be a favorite! Not to mention you will be doing a part in being enviromentally friendly. I currently have a set of these in my shop ready to ship out in an Ecru color but they can be made in any color that you want. All you need to do is ask. You can check them out here: Set of 8 Ecru make-up remover pads

Cream and Brown crochet baby lovie! New today

I just added this in my shop today! It is a popular design and between my two shops I had customized 3 of these. Two of them were to match a blanket I had made for a little boy using the same pattern. It now happily lives in Texas with a little boy who I am told adores it. That there is better then any feedback I could hope to have in my shop!

My littest one is my model today. She completely took to her role as well. We had so much fun and then as reward for all her 'hard' work, we had a grand time playing at the park. Dos Picos park is here in Ramona, CA and it is the best one, my favorite anyway. Ducks to feed, updated play equipment, fishing, hiking, etc. As an added bonus the sprinklers turned on while we were there! Go for it kids! They all had a blast and so did I.

What a blessing to be able to stay home with them. The sacrafices we make out weigh any material object that more money could buy us in leaps and bounds!

Making a chore a little nicer with color

These are new today in my shop. I have been working on them this last week and finally finished them for their photo shoot. I am so excited about these. I love when a crochet project can get me excited and these do. The colors just make my senses wake up! I am going to make a set for me to use in the house too. Oddly enough the ones I use are dark colors or white or ecru. These ones are so much more exciting! If you want to read all the great things about going green using crochet cotton cloths then check out my new shop at http://www.4lilmonkeys.etsy.com/

Home-school Mondays, Finding a schedule that works

I remember when I use to do daycare I had a schedule. I followed that schedule precisely, mainly because it worked for the kids. I look back now and wonder why it seems as though it was easier then with six kids ( including grocery store trips with all in tow) then it is now with 3! And then in a moment of clarity I realized that I don't have a schedule now. So what? Who needs a schedule. I don't have state workers (since I was state licensed) dropping in at what ever time they wanted. I don't have parents coming in for interviews and my kids know what they can play with and cannot.
So why is it harder?

Back then I was dressed and the house was ready by 7:00am the latest, every morning Monday through Friday.

7:30 Breakfast cooked
8:00 Breakfast clean-up and wash kids hands and faces, check diapers
8-9:00 Free play
9-10:00 story time and talk about or act out the story
10:00 snack
10:30 clean up like before and then outside to play in the back yard till lunch time
11:30 Lunch
12:00 Clean up and get ready for nap time
12:30(45) - 3:00 Nap time
3:00 Change diapers, brush hair and play inside
3:30 Snack again
4:00 Free play or watch tv till parents come to pick them up

See, scheduled. And it worked. It was amazing. I look back at it in awe at how well those kids behaved. So why can't mine have days that go as smoothly? I don't have a schedule. A schedule is important not only to me but also to my kids. Kids thrive on a routine as well - it is comforting for them to know what’s next in their day, even those things they don’t like.

So here is what I am hoping to accomplish as a schedule. Lots of things can run us off the road so to speak. So now I am going to attempt to drive myself out of the ditch.

6:30 Get up and shower
7:00 Get Pumpkin up and have her get dressed and feed the rabbit, wake up
rest of kids
7:30 Breakfast
7:45 Make sure snack is packed for Pumpkin
8:00 Take Pumpkin across the street for pre-school
8:15 Get Princess and Peanut started on chores for the day while I clean up the kitchen
9:00 Start third grade home-school or have Princess start on her "Daily works" folder if I am not ready. This consists of at least an hour of work she can do on her own. More on that next week.
10:00 Snack time, they just think better if they stay fueled
10:30 Home-school lessons till it is time to go and get Pumpkin
11:30 Walk across street and get Pumpkin
12:00 Lunch time
12:45 Peanut and Pumpkin go down for a nap
12:45 Princess continues home-school, I clean up from lunch then go and help her/teach lessons
2:30/3:00 Peanut and Pumpkin are awake
3:00 Outside to play or a trip to the park to play and feed ducks
5:00 start to make dinner, kids are done for the day


I think this is do-able. I am following pretty much what we do. There are just some time constrictions. Also this helps me to see when two activities are to be done at the same time so I remember to tell Princess to go and work on school work. Ideally she would just know and she would remember to do it on her own rather than depending on her pregnant mom. Alas. She is a kid. lol

So what is your schedule? Do you have one? Share it. Maybe we can help to make each other's more efficient.