Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Lately Friday has turned into my baking day! Today I made my grandmother's recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Yum :) I have modified the recipe a little, but basically it is hers. In case you would like to give them a try here's the recipe:

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies


1 cup sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour or all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 2/3 cups rolled oats
2 cups raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Cream together the sugar and oil, add eggs, beating well. Mix together flour, cinnamon and salt and add to creamed mixture. Next stir in oats, raisins and walnuts. Mix baking soda together thoroughly and then add to the mixture. Mix well. Drop from teaspoon (I use small ice cream scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10 - 15 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven. Makes approximately 6 dozen.

Enjoy!

Prayer Shawl Progress

Our Prayer Shawl group meets next Monday evening, so it got me to think about the status of my knitting. The two mint green baby prayer blankets were finished, but they needed their little gold crosses sewn on. This I did as you can see. They are ready. The yarn I used was Lion Brand Pound of Love. They are very soft and you can't beat the price of the yarn. The one skein was enough for these two blankets with some leftover. I will combine all my left overs and make some striped ones later. The pattern I used is really a dishcloth pattern only made bigger. This is basically the pattern I used, except I used a thinner yarn. This pattern calls for homespun. The blanket I made is small, about 36 inches across if you hold it corner to corner. Just the right size for our minister to wrap the baby being baptized. Every baby baptized in our church now receives one. The prayer blanket makes a nice keepsake.

Edited May 10, 2007: I have had a couple comments wanting to know the needle size I used for the baby prayer blanket. I used size 10 and kept on increasing until I had 129 stitches on the needles then began my decreases. This makes about a 36" square blanket. One skein of pound of love makes two blankets of this size.
This is the prayer shawl that I am currently working on. This is made with Lion Brand Homespun. I am almost through my first of three skeins of yarn. The pattern is basically knit 3, purl 3 and the the next row and subsequent rows, you purl the knit stitches and knit the purl stiches. For more information about the Prayer Shawl Ministry check out Janet Bristow's website. There you will find out all about the ministry and there are patterns posted. It is truly amazing the comfort a shawl can bring to those in need of comfort!

My first Log Cabin....dishcloth that is!

I just finished my first log cabin...yipee! This dishcloth is for the Dishcloth Fun KAL. I really enjoyed making it. Picking out colors to use always keeps me interested. This is the pattern I used. I used large stitch holders instead of putting the stitches on the yarn as suggested. January One's blog has very good information on how to build a log cabin. I finished off my log cabin dish cloth with an applied I-Cord. This is the first applied I-cord for me, but not my last. This is a wonderful video tutorial for the applied I-Cord. You can find more information here as well. The I-Cord finished the cloth off nicely. Give the the log cabin dishcloth a try, especially if you're been wanting to try out the technique of the log cabin. This is a very good place to start before getting too involved in a big project.

Now I have a huge hankering to do a real big log cabin blanket from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book. Just wish I had more time to knit. I'm forever seeing patterns all over the internet...I keep bookmarking them and put them on my to-do list. I really don't think I'll ever not have anything to knit. I'm happy as long as I have a stash of yarn to knit with. In addition, in case you don't already have the Mason Dixon Knitting book, wanting to make a big log cabin blanket would be a great reason to go and buy the book. All the information you ever wanted to know about log cabins is in the book. The pictures are wonderful, but you also get Kay and Ann's witty and inspirational writings as a bonus. It's not just a book of patterns, but a book filled with sentiments that I know everyone can identify with.

I can't wait for October's Dishcloth Fun KAL, as it's going to be a mystery knit-a-long. Yesterday I bought my black Sugar & Cream cotton yarn. That was the only color I didn't have. I'm ready...I'm really curious what we are going to knit??!

More gifted dishcloths

I made another daisy scrubbie, "swish with a twist" and garterlac dishcloths to add to the two ball bands that I previously made. They all went into a gift bag with a bottle of dish detergent and a small bottle of hand lotion. They are a little wedding remembrance for my friend's daughter who is getting married. We are not invited to the wedding but I wanted to give her a little something. We have know her almost her whole life. I brought the gift package to her today and she was thrilled with it and the colors were perfect. I had taken a chance on the colors and it worked out after all.

Next I'll give you a little update on the Harvest Festival. We make 50 pies Friday morning and we sold every one. The weather was not so good, light rain off and on, but it didn't stop people from buying the baked goods. We made over $700.00 dollars. Isn't that great. Just about every family donated a baked good. The coffee rings I made were sold very quickly. Next time I'll have to try and make more than two. We had 50 bountiful baskets. They make $1900.00. They had all sizes of baskets from large ones with twin mountain bikes (gently used) to small candy baskets. My "joyful dishwashing"basket went for $15.00. Despite the weather it really was a sucessful fair. They won't have the final totals until next weekend, but everyone seemed happy.

My bountiful basket is complete!

I put the finishing touches on my bountiful basket donation for our church's Harvest Festival today. I wrapped it up in cellophane and even printed up a little card with all the necessary info. The basket contains two ball band, one "swish with a twist" and one garterlac dishcloths. A small bottle of hand lotion and a bottle of dawn dish detergent was also added. Then I came up with something cute to perk the basket up. The special little something that I crocheted last night really does adds a little bit of fun to the package. I had to give the basket a name (theme), so I'm calling it "Joyful Dishwashing". Anyone who receives the basket should find the chore of dishwashing just a little bit more fun with the hand knit cloths and a cheerful daisy scrubbie, don't you think?


If anyone is interested in making the daisy scrubbie, you can find the pattern here. The pattern is really easy. What's nice about it, is that it's a pot scrubber and dishcloth combined. A very clever idea and it was fun and quick to make. I found the pattern link on Yarn Tomato's blog. Thank you, Yarn Tomato, you had just what I needed to complete my basket. Isn't "google" wonderful? Last but not least, I would like to thank my friends at MDKal for helping me with all your wonderful advice and suggestions. With your help I now have a basket that I think is pretty wonderful.

Sneak Peak

This is just a tease. I'm showing you a small portion of my felting project that I have been working on for a while now. I'm not going to tell you what I am making...yet, as I want it to be a surprise! The yarn is Paton's Classic Merino. I've been working on this off and on...more off than on! I've just been too sidetracked with other things.

Today I gathered supplies to complete a basket for our church's Harvest Festival bountiful basket auction this coming Saturday. I have a small basket that I'm filling with two ball band, one "swish with a twist" and one garterlac dishcloths. I'm including a bottle of dawn dish soap, a sample sized bottle of hand lotion and I bought a nylon scrubbie that I'm going to transform into something special. I will post soon with the finished results. I need to get the basket to the church by Thursday.

Then I'm going to be busy Friday morning baking pies in the church's kitchen. We are very lucky this year as the local orchard is donating the apples all peeled and sliced! Isn't that nice :) Then Friday afternoon I'll be baking in my own kitchen. I have promised two coffee cakes. I'm going to make the swedish coffee ring, but cut the dough in half to make two. Thought I'd fill them with apples, nuts, raisins and of course lots of cinnamon! Saturday afternoon I'll help sell at the baked goods table. We are all praying for a beautiful day and hopefully our fundraising will be fruitful for our church!

Ball Band Mop Cover Pattern

This is my pattern for knitting a mop cover to use instead of the disposable dry and wet pads.This should fit a standard size mop, but the pattern could easily be adjusted to fit a larger mop.**The pattern is based on the "Ballband Dishcloth" pattern and can be found in the Mason-Dixon Knitting book by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne. The pattern can also be found on the back side of the Peaches & Cream label. I found mine on the 1lb. cone I purchased in Walmart. Another place you can find the pattern is on the Dishcloth Boutique website where the pattern is known as the Textured Slip Stitch Dishcloth. **

Edited 8/8/08 You can also find the ball band pattern at elmore-pisgah.

Edited: 8/9/07
Please email me if you would like the PDF file of this pattern for easier printing. I would be happy to email it to you. I am looking for another site to host my patterns in the PDF format. If anyone can recommend a reliable free site please let me know. Thanks :)
Edited: 9/28/2007
Click here to download pattern PDF file. Please email me with any problems or questions. Thanks!

Materials:
Worsted weight cotton yarn. 2 small balls, 2 colors A and B. Most worsted weight yarns should work. My thoughts are acrylic might be a good choice for dry dusting, especially in the winter with all that static electricity flying about. Just rub briskly before using, but beware there might be sparks! I have not tried doing this, but it is on my to do list!
Size 7 circular 16" needles, or size 7, double pointed needles
Crochet hook, size 5 or H
4 stitch markers

Gauge: 18 stitches / 32 rows / 4" in pattern stitch

With A cast on 45 stitches, loosely. Work Ball Band pattern( ** see above for pattern stitch information) for 6 bands.

With the yarn you began with, knit one more row. You should have 45 stitches on your needle. Place marker on needle, pick up and knit 32 stitches (short side), then place another marker on needle and pick up and knit 45 stitches, place another marker on the needle and pick up the last 32 stitches and put the last marker on the needle. You will continue from now on in the round.

Knit one round.

Decrease rows: Beginning with the next round * SKP(slip a stitch on the needle, knit the next stitch and then pass the slip stitch over the knit stitch) after marker, continue to knit until 2 stitches before next marker. K 2 tog (knit those 2 stitches together), repeat from * until there are 6 stitches left on your needle on the short sides.

Ribbing: At the beginning of the next round do K1 P1 ribbing for 3 rows.

Eyelet round:*K1, YO(yarn over) k2 together, repeat from * for one round ending with a p1

After eyelet round do K1 P1 ribbing for 2 more rows.

Bind off loosely in ribbing, join last stitch to complete ribbing.

Weave in ends.

Drawstring: With crochet hook, loosely crochet a chain of desired length, turn, skip one chain and crochet a slip stitch in each of the chain stitches until the end. Weave in ends and thread drawstring through eyelets.

Happy mopping!

Be advised: I would not recommend washing the dirty mop heads in with my regular wash. Brush off dirt and dust with a brush or wisk broom first and then wash separately.

If you have made an item from one of my patterns, please send me an email
[ hakucho19(at)yahoo(dot)com] and I would be happy to post it in my gallery!

Copyright ©2006 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Mason Dixon Ball Band Mop Cover!

This was my project for the weekend: to try and make myself a knitted mop cover. I was inspired by Mandy (Green Mountain Mama) with her knitted swiffer cover and thought I might like to give it a try. I don't have a swiffer, but I do have a scotch brite mop, which when I put an old towel on it, the towel always falls off. The wet pads that you can buy for this kind of mop can be quite pricey and sometimes they make my floors sticky. I thought to myself how can I make a cover that will be hard to come off? I really like the colorful ball band dishcloth pattern, so I definitely wanted to use that part. Here's what I came up with: a fitted cover that slips on and then can be tied with a drawstring. What I ended up with looks like a sweater or soaker for a mop! I think this will be wonderful to use for damp (and even dry) mopping my floors as well as soaking up those nasty milk spills, then just toss into the washing machine. What could be easier? Now I have no excuse not to mop!

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Delicious Chewy Spiced-Up Ginger Cookies

Here is my Eye Candy Friday post for this week:

I just finished baking some delicious chewy spicy ginger cookies and thought I would share. They are crispy on the outside, but chewy in the inside. The recipe is called Spiced-Up Ginger Cookies. I made one modification to the recipe. I used King Arthur 100% white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose. This is a new, but similar recipe to the ginger snaps I usually make. I thought I would try this new recipe because it calls for candied ginger. I used crystalized ginger. Ginger is a natural anti-inflamatory, so I thought what would be a better way to get some ginger in our diet. I know I have my aches and pains. There is usually always someone complaining in my household... this week especially my youngest son's neck was hurting because of a too heavy backpack. What would be a better way to end this school week than to have homemade ginger cookies waiting for them when they come home from school. I know he and the rest of my boys will love these cookies. I didn't roll them in sugar. I usally only do that at Christmas time to make the cookies special. I think this recipe will be a keeper!

I also finished my second "swish with a twist" done in white peaches and cream. After doing it a second time the pattern really gets easier. This is a very enjoyable pattern and I know I have many more in my future!

Swish with a Twist

Swish with a twist from Creative Knitting Magazine is my first dishcloth I have made since I joined dishcloth fun kal. The only reason I made the cloth so fast is that I brought it with me for the drive and wait to move my son back to college yesterday. The pattern is a fun and a different type than the Mason - Dixon ballband and the garterlac because you do slip stitch twists which are like tiny cables. I enjoyed making it except I had a casualty, one of my beloved cable needles is lost in my car for eternity. There is no way to get that needle out with out taking my car apart. I definitely don't recommend this project for the car! One thing I did find out is that it is really not necessary to have the second cable needle because the one single slip stitch is so big that it just hangs out in front while it waits to be picked up.

After we moved my son into his dorm, I convinced my husband to check out Walmart and AC Moore in Dartmouth for yarn. I was hoping this Walmart would have some different colorways in their peaches and cream one pound cones. No such luck, so we moved on to AC Moore. I scored two one pound packages of 100% cotton mill ends. It was the first time my husband joined me in one of my yarn purchasing maneuvers. Even though I didn't bring my coupon from home, we both were able to use the store's 50% off coupon each to buy the yarn. I think AC Moore is very commendable for giving us the coupons. The final cost was only $5.oo for both packages. Here's a picture of what we bought:
Something happened yesterday that really made me know I was addicted to knitting not that I didn't already know I was. After cooking something in my old black cast iron fry pan I was distracted and inadvertently left the gas on under the pan with a plastic spatular resting there. Needless to say the smell alerted me to what I had done. At first I was terribly worried about ruining the pan which was handed down from my grandmother, then I burst into uncontrollable laughter for when I picked the spatular up there were all these tiny plastic fibers and my first thought was I can knit that! See for yourself and I'll leave you with that thought!
P.S. Does anyone out there know how to remove the plastic film that is left in my pan? I was thinking scrubbing it with steel wool and then re-season. What do you think?

Eye Candy Friday

Here's my Eye Candy Friday photo:


Today I made a Swedish Coffee Ring from the Betty Crocker's International Cookbook with a couple of modifications. This coffee cake is made with a yeast dough flavored with cardamom and has an almond filling, yum! I love baking almost as much as knitting, but knitting is probably better for my waistline!

You haven't heard of Eye Candy Friday yet? Well then check out Purly White's post about Eye Candy Friday...after all it was her idea!