Another Winner!

Well sadly Katie H never contacted me.  I'm guessing you guys aren't so sad since that means one of you gets a second chance.

And that person is....

Comment #4 Sarah!

Congratulations.  The pattern will be in your inbox!  And congrats on the baby girl too.  Please send me a photo if you make her the hat!

And now since there has been a lot of knitting and chevron going on here let's check out the pups.  I have been lazy and have no been very good with my DIY projects.....but they're coming.  I promise.

Winners of the Chevron Baby Hat Pattern!!

And the two winners of the Chevron Baby Hat Pattern are........

Comments #10 and #3.

Congratulations Katie H and Cal + Claire!!

Claire -  your pattern is in your inbox.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy the pattern.

Katie - I don't have your email so please send it to me by Sunday night.  If I don't hear from you by then, I'll pick another winner.  I don't want to that though so hopefully I will hear from you soon.

If you didn't win and you still really want the pattern you can head to my Etsy shop to purchase it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chevron Baby Hat Pattern - LAST DAY

C'mon people.  You too could be sitting on your couch knitting a super cute and fun chevron baby hat.  Just head to the original post and leave a comment to enter a chance to win one of two Chevron Baby Hat patterns.  The giveaway ends Friday at 11:59 pm.  So hurry up.

I just cannot stop knitting them.  I love them.  And while I am knitting, Lola is keeping me company.

Cupcake Baby Hat

I just had to share these two little girls with you all.  They are beyond adorable.  

Can you believe they are not twins?! 

Cause they're not - they're cousins.

I'm going to try explaining this without making your heads spin.  Here it goes.....

My good friend, the beautiful Madelyn shown here holding them, bought two of my cupcake hats for her two cousins' (who are sisters) little girls.  Thus making them cousins.

Wow, I am terrible at this.  Either way, these girls are beyond cute.  I just love their rosy cheeks.  I wish I could hire them to be my baby models.  This photo will have to do. 

Thanks for sharing Madelyn!

__________________________________________________

And I have to remind you all to enter to win the Chevron Baby Hat pattern.  Just comment on this post.

Chevron Baby Hat Pattern Giveaway (reminder)

Okay people....you asked for it and here it is.

The Chevron Baby Hat Pattern

And I am giving it away to 2 people

just leave a comment on the original post

And let me tell you - at this point your odds of winning are pretty darn good

so leave a comment please

the chevron baby hat pattern is finally here!

It has taken me F-O-R-E-V-E-R but it is finally here....the Chevron Baby Hat Pattern.

You know the one I promised here and here.

I created this pattern and have spilled my blood, sweat and tears into it.

So don't hate me but that is why I have decided to sell it on Etsy rather than give it away. 

Before you hate me forever let me explain. 

I really have to tell you that it was a tough decision.  I love sharing my random DIY projects, crafts and especially my knitting with you.  I also love all the inspiration that I have received from you all and your blogs.  This really is an amazing community of really talented and creative people and I love the ease and accessibility of it all.  I don't want to take away from that.  I don't want to take that away from you.  But Sweet Pea Knits is my business.  I sell the Chevron Baby Hat as one of my products and if I just give away the pattern then I may be hurting my own business.

To make it up to you I would like to giveaway the pattern to 2 lucky readers!

To enter to win please leave me a comment on this post telling me your not horribly, awfully mad at me......or you can just share which of the Sweet Pea Knit hats is your favorite. (I may be considering sharing more of my patterns.) Also, be sure to leave your email so I can send you the PDF pattern if you win.

The giveaway will close next Friday, January 27th at 11:59 pm.  

The winners will be announced Saturday, January 28th.

Thank you for being so understanding.  

I know it has to be frustrating for those who have been waiting for it.  

I did not make this decision lightly.

Laundry Time

We recently took advantage of the post-Christmas sales and bought a new washer and dryer.  They are a beautiful pair and have changed the way we do laundry - really.  Now Brandon does the laundry and I watch.  It is great!   Really though, they were a smart purchase and for so many reasons but the number reason is the Quick Steam cycle on the dryer.  A lot of our work clothes are dry clean only but often times they just need a refresh in between uses instead of a full dry cleaning.  For those clothes we can throw them in the Quick Steam and they get sanitized and de-wrinkled and freshened.  I LOVE IT!

What I don't love......the space around the washer and dryer.

This is what it looked like behind are washer and dryer.  I had to wear a hazmat suit just to clean it.

And the wall.....scary.  Not to mention the nasty old utility sink that I am afraid to use - so I don't.

I also hate all the piping and wiring and the location of the ridiculously large junction box.  

Seriously, our switches take up a third of that box.  

But somehow the washer and dryer make it slightly more bearable - just slightly.

Now once the finances bounce back a bit we are hoping to do an EXTREMELY budget friendly little space re-do.  I am not going to call this a renovation because we are not in the market to finish the basement or laundry room which means no drywall or tile flooring. But what we are hoping to do is add some storage, hide some of the hideous piping and make this space more useful.

Since we can't add a wall the only thing I can think to do to cover up the nasty walls and piping is to add some tall cabinets and make a storage unit out of this corner.  Now it won't look as refined and finished as these spaces but here are some inspirational images I found.

I think I could mimic one of these with the help of some budget friendly Ikea cabinets.  We used Ikea cabinets for our kitchen remodel and really like them.  No complaints yet.

I went to their website and did some searching and I think that if I stack the washer and dryer in the left corner (with enough space for the junction box) and then add another tall cabinet unit for storage we could do a base cabinet or two, add a sink and be done with it.

So that's one of the plans for now.  In the meantime we are enjoying the new machines.

Fortunately these machines work well with or without cabinets and shiny new spaces.

It's Finally Here!!!

THE SNOW IS FINALLY HERE!!!!
And it made quite an appearance.  We had a lot of fun in it too!!

Actually it is still falling so we will continue to have lots and lots of fun it - well they will while I shovel and take photo breaks.

Best Frozen Yogurt Recipe (Red Mango knock-off)

Yes I realize it is January in Chicago and a winter storm is headed our way - who cares.  Frozen yogurt ALWAYS tastes good.  ALWAYS.

So read on - I promise you won't regret it.  And if it is too cold for you then Pin It! for this summer.

You have probably figured out by now that I tend to have an obsessive personality perhaps addictive.  When I fall in love, I fall hard.  The latest victim - Red Mango frozen yogurt.  I could eat it for every meal.  My budget could not.  So what does any desperate girl do?  She creates her own cheap, homemade version.  Now cheap is relative considering Greek yogurt is expensive but a small fro yo from Red Mango runs between $4-$5 and a 32oz container of Dannon greek yogurt is about $6.  That same 32oz container creates a lot of yummy scoops.

Now I warn you.  If you have never had Red Mango or Pinkberry then you must know that it is tart and tangy - just how I love it but if that is not your thing then I would not suggest this recipe.  However, if this sounds yummy (and it is) then here you go.

Ingredients

32oz greek yogurt ( I use vanilla because I love the flavor and it mixes well with the fruit but others recommend plain)

1/2 c. sugar (I like mine less sweet so I use 1/2 c. but if you want it sweeter than you could add 3/4 c.)

Now I love it plain and simple but it is also yummy with some fruit.  I used frozen fruit from good ol' Trader Joes - raspberries to be exact - but any fruit would work well.  I tossed the whole bag in the food processor and added a little lemon juice.  You won't need the whole bag but I will be using the leftovers for smoothies, yogurt (non frozen), or maybe even as some breakfast topping. Oh and it is important to note that you may want to strain the seeds out.....my sis taught me that.

So once you have your ingredients you'll need your ice cream maker.  Don't have one?  You could get an arm workout by freezing a metal bowl and stirring and stirring and stirring for about 20 minutes - I don't recommend it because I don't want you to blame me when your arm falls off and all you have is really cold yogurt.  If you do have an ice cream maker then I recommend that you put the bowl in the freezer RIGHT NOW.  There is nothing worse then a fro yo craving and no bowl to make it in.

Ok, now that your bowl is in the freezer we can proceed.

So mix all the ingredients together in a separate bowl (I used the actual frozen bowl and it was fine but things were freezing to the sides before they were completely mixed in.)

Then turn that baby on and watch the magic unfold.  You will really start to smell that delicious sweet, tartness.  It's like bacon only better.

Now the above is raspberry and it is very good but like I said my favorite is good ol' plain vanilla.

I didn't take any photos of it because my sis and I were too busy eating it.  Oh and I was looking for super cute paper ice cream containers to put it in but then I realized the yogurt container is actually perfect for re-storing the fro yo.  It may not look as cute but it is super convenient.  So sorry it looks like I just took a picture of the yogurt.  Oh and you can't tell but it is already more than half gone.

So I hope you try this recipe out and fall madly in love as I did.  Love at first scoop.  I'm done.

Oh and thanks to my lovely sis for helping me with these recipes.  She is far better in the kitchen than I am - my baby sister is much better at many things.   She teaches me a lot.