The 'Do Rag

Yesterday, I attended a company sporting event on St. Pete Beach, FL.  It was called the America II Corporate Sports Fest 2012.  It was a blast!!

Normally, when I workout,  I just wear my hair in a ponytail and bobby pin my bangs up.  That, however, does not control the whispies that I get from the wind and general movement.  I hate the whispies!

For Sports Fest, I knew there would be cameras and people taking pictures, so I wanted to ensure that those whispies don't even get an appearance.  I decided to wear a bandana on my head, in a 'do-rag fashion.

Rockin' the 'Do Rag!!

It worked like a charm!  It stayed in place all day.

Now, you may also want to don the 'do rag when you are at home doing housework, working in the yard or going for a neighborhood jog but may not have a cool bandana at home.

You can easily make one with an old t-shirt and a pair or scissors:

Here is the bandana I used, I folded it so it really is just a triangle:

Half a square, is all you need

I took an old t-shirt that had a cool design on it:

Eh, cool enough.

Then I placed the folded bandana on top of the design and did a rough cut through both layers of the t-shirt, following the edge of the bandana:

Step 1: Lay on top

Step 2: Cut

Well, guess what?  You're done!  It's that simple.  The best thing about this too, is that when you cut through both layers of the t-shirt, you have just made yourself two 'do rags!  A two-fer!  It doesn't get much better than that!

If you do not have a bandana, then just cut a large triangle.  Really, your cut lines don't even have to be that straight or perfect.

To put it on your head: Hold the long side ends so that the middle of the long side is against your forehead, having the design facing outwards.  Flip your head over so that your hair is hanging down and bring the ends that are in your hands to the nape of your neck.  All of your hair should be within the 'do rag at this point.  Then pull tight and make a tight knot at the nape of your neck.  Flip your head back over and pull the 'do rag back to about the start of your hairline.  Untuck your ears.

Ah, no more whispies!

Here is me with my two-fer 'do rags:

Two-fers, come and get your Two-fers!

Now, go out and rock that 'do rag!!

Razzy Socks - Complete!

Yes, finally, I have completed my Razzy Socks!  I first featured these socks in January (original post).  I really did not think that it would take me this long to finish them. 

This is what they looked like before:

I had the pair pretty much done.  I could have kept knitting the ribbon part up my calf, but I really did not want to continue anymore.  So, they sat with the ribbon about an inch high for 3 months.

My sister is my resident expert on socks, so she instructed me to bind off with a needle size that is 4 sizes larger than the original needle size.  I knit these on a size 1, so that means I needed a size 5 to bind off.  That seemed strange but hey, she's knitted over a dozen pairs already.  Who am I to argue?

I bound off with the size 5, keeping it loose.  The goal is to have the sock fit over your heel.  If bound off too tight, then it won't fit.

Here is my loose bind off.  I then slipped them on to get a feel for them....

Viola!  I'm finally done.  They fit a bit loose, with the bind off loose as well.  Well, this is my first pair of socks and I forgot all of the techniques my sister has taught me.

If (I did say if) I make socks again, I will have to do it when I'm with my sister again.  She will have to get me started again.  The next time I do a pair, I will use a size 0 to knit them.  I like my socks tight, these are too loose for my liking.

These may not be perfect, but they were created with my own two hands.  I love 'em!

Black Denim Dress & Bow Earrings

I have a par-tay that I will be attending soon, so I wanted to get something new for it.  I've recently lost a few pounds, so some of my cute clothes do not fit right anymore.  This is the perfect time to get something new or new-to-me.  Which in this case, it was new-to-me.  Don't knock Goodwill, it really has some great stuff!

Anyway, I bought this blackish/steel gray denim strappy dress that is a mix between casual and dressy.  I like the top: it is fitted to the waist with adjustable straps; then it is full in the skirt.  I don't mind the fullness, it is just too long.  I will be hemming this.

Bad hair morning...look at the dress not my hair!!

I'm simply going to cut about 6 inches off the bottom.  The rest fits fine.

Major chop-off

I calculated that the hem will be 1" so I will need a 3/4" fold and then another fold that is 1".  This is so the raw edge is folded away.  Subtract those lengths from 6", I will actually cut 4 1/4" off the bottom.  I used chalk to mark my cut line.

Time to fold and press

Once pressed and pinned, I sewed around the edge with black thread.  That's it for the dress.  I told you it was easy.

Now, I wanted to make matching earrings.  I found this pic in a magazine of bow earrings that I pinned to my Pintrest board so I could do a designer knockoff on it someday.

Source: rubymarrow.com via Nancy on Pinterest

These earrings are from Delfina Delettrez  and they retail for $1300 - way out of my price range (c'mon, $1300??) so I will have to improvise.  I gathered some jewelry supplies and I was off.

Black ribbon & pearls

I had thin black ribbon, a strand of pearls (that was me practicing my bending wire technique), a few flat-head pins and a pair of fishhooks.  My idea is to make bows with the ribbon and place them in line with pearls.

First, I had to learn how to tie a bow prettily.  Eh, just a minor obstacle.  I Googled "tying a bow" and I found a tutorial from It's in the Details blog from Lisa Pace that made it a snap.

Second, I tied four bows; I took a flat-head pin and placed a pearl on it and poked the other end through the bow from the bottom.

Nancy's way of beading

I'm sure there could've been a better way of doing this, but I don't know enough about beading to care.  After the bow was threaded on it, I trimmed the pin down and made a loop for the link.  This will be the bottom segment of the earring.  From the bottom, I linked one of the pearls, a link to thread another bow on, then another pearl.  I then finished it off with the fishhook.

Black bow earrings: Priceless!

I think they came out cute!  To make sure my bow stays tied, I dotted glue on the backs of each of the knots.  Vince then wielded his mini torch to sear the ribbon edges to prevent fraying.

Much better (dress, not the hair) lol

The dress does look much better as a short dress.  I have the earrings on too, but it's sort of hard to see in the pic.  I will post a pic or two when I'm at the party, so you can see the dress and earrings in action.

Have a great week!

UPDATE: Here is Vince and  I at the party on Friday night.  We were supposed to have our mean face on...oh well. 

Ribbons and pearls

You can see I am wearing the earrings and I added a necklace that I used the same black ribbon but I took a pearl bracelet and tied the ribbon at the ends so it hung in the middle.  Accessories made easy!

Blueberry Oatcakes

Happy Easter!

For Easter breakfast, we made up some healthy oatcakes.  Now, oatcakes are not the first thing that comes to mind when you think Easter, but it was a recipe that I wanted to try out.

Vince's daughter gave me a few old Self magazines from last year and while I was thumbing through one of them, I came across a few yummy, albeit healthy, recipes.  I don't mind healthy recipes, but I feel bad subjecting others to it (only sometimes, some recipes are so good that you can't tell they are healthy).

I will share the recipe, so everyone can eat healthy in the morning, too!  

Yummy!  (Really!!)

The recipe is from the September 2011 issue.  They are called Blueberry Oatcakes.  This is a gluten-free recipe, and they were really good.  Here it is:

Blueberry Oatcakes

Yields: 4 oatcakes

Calories: 341 for all 4 

(does not include the optional ingredients)

• 4 egg whites
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (old fashioned oats)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp water
• 1/3 cup blueberries (or more, if you like)
• 1 tbsp sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup fat-free greek yogurt (optional)
• 1 tsp maple syrup (optional)

1. In a bowl, combine the egg whites, oats, cinnamon and water; whisk for 1 min.
2. Stir in the blueberries and almonds.
3. Heat a skillet to medium heat.  Spray skillet with cooking spray.
4. Spoon the batter onto hot skillet and cook until the egg is set on the bottom (~2 min).
5. Flip the oatcakes over and cook for another min.
6. Optional: Spread the greek yogurt over the oatcakes and top with the syrup.

At first I did not think the yogurt would be very good on these, but it actually was.  The syrup is needed, but everyone uses a different amount, so I did not include that ingredient in the calorie total.  I just put the syrup in a small cup and dipped my cut up pieces in it.  The oatcakes soak up the syrup like crazy, so this way you control the amount of syrup to a decent portion size.

Really, these were good!  The recipe makes about 3-4 oatcakes, and this really is one serving size.  But because it has oats and almonds, it will keep you going in the morning.

You can always substitute any diced up fruit in these oatcakes.   

If you don't have time in during the week to whip these up, try them on the weekend.  Let me know what you think!! 

Thank you Self magazine, I never would have come up with this recipe!

Birthday - 2012

Happy Birthday To Me!

I'm so lucky, where I am celebrating my birthday all weekend long.  Let me go over what I've been doing so far. 

First, there was a Friday night Happy Hour at a marina bar called Rick's on the River in Tampa on the Hillsborough River.  We celebrated my friend Cathy's birthday which was last weekend and my birthday, which is Monday.  Unfortunately, I did not bring out my camera until after Cathy had gone home already.  Here are a few snapshots of some funny moments:

A few of the Ladies from the group

Hey, I'm supposed to be giving Vince a smooch!

Can't have a B-Day HH without doing a shot or two!

Even Elvis came to the HH!

Second, Vince took me out for dinner on Saturday night to Roy's Restaurant: Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine in Tampa.  He had made reservations and the menu had a nice birthday message in it.

A nice pic before we left

Birthday message with confetti

Ahi tuna for my app

Tiger shrimp with mixed veggie and rice

Another nice couple pic

Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle

The dinner was delicious.  Vince's appetizer was baked calamari and his entree was macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi.  Roy's has a gluten-free menu, which I had no problem choosing items from.  The dessert was so delicious, that between the two of us, it was gone faster than it took me to blow out my candle!

Tonight, Sunday, we are having Vince's family over for cornish game hens and gluten-free banana cupcakes.  Stay tuned for those yummy pictures.

Books - Quarter 1

I'm off to a steady start with my reading list.  Even though the quarter isn't technically over yet, I am only half-way through my current read, so I won't be finishing it this week because I'm putting in a lot of time knitting the Seafoam Lace Scarf from last week's post.

Here is what I have so far....

1.  I started reading this in December and only just finished it in February.  This is the second book in the yarn series by DM (first book was The Shop on Blossom Street).  In a nutshell, women who have something going on in their lives (divorce, reluctant reunion with an ex-husband, overweight teen starting in a new high school & a bad break-up) join a knitting class at the yarn store on Blossom Street.  This class brings these unlike women together to form a lasting friendship.  I chose this book because I had read the first one and because the class they took was a sock knitting class.  Remember, I was knitting my own socks about the time I started this book (which, I still need to finish...)
It was enjoyable, but a bit slow.  I give it 2.5 thumbs up.

2.  I bought this book at the library sale because it looked interesting; I had never heard of this author before.  Apparently in 2008, this was a best seller.  The author wrote this book while he was in medical school, during his residency.  You quickly see the sort of thing they teach you in med school/working in the ER, in the first few pages of the book.  It goes into detail about how he dislocates a mugger's elbow in the parking garage.  Basically, the doctor in this book is an intern at a hospital in New York and his past reveals that he used to be a hit man for the mob, where he is now in Witness Protection.  He runs into a patient who knew him in his past life and now the intern must outrun the mob guys that are now trying to kill him.  This novel is very graphic with blood and body-related medical tricks that he uses to get him out of precarious situations.  I would say this is a high intensity read and I recommend it.  It even has it's own website with a game (BeatTheReaper).  I give it 3 thumbs up.

3. Here is a book that I came across at a yard sale and I couldn't not buy.  The Nancy Drew series is what got me into loving reading in the first place.  Originally published in November 1930, this book has sold over 2.7 million copies as of 2001.  Rereading this book as an adult, I still find it stimulating.  Yeah, it is written for young readers, but so was Harry Potter and Twilight.
This book introduces Nancy as an 18 year old that gets interested in a case that her hometown of River Heights is upset over when an inheritance of a recently deceased townsman was willed to a very snobby and social-climbing family.  Nancy and others do not believe that the heirs are truly these people and goes in search of a newer will that must exist.  I really did not remember any of the details from when I read this book at the age of 10, so it was very nostalgic to reread it again.  I will always love my Nancy Drew stories.  Fun-fact: Carolyn Keene was just a pen name given to the variety of ghostwriters that wrote the stories.  There was up to 11 different writers.  I give it 4 thumbs up.

4. This is the first book in a mystery series.  It takes place in the year 1900 in Indiana, when houses still had servants and maids.  The head maid, who is the main character, Hilda, finds a dead body in the lilac bushes.  The person is unrecognizable due to the gruesomeness of the crime.  You soon learn that it was an affluent neighbor's sister who has just returned from China.  This novel takes you back to a time where servants were not seen as equal, so Hilda has to sneak around to solve this murder.  The police are corrupt and her friends and family thinks she is crazy for trying to help.  She gets herself into several sticky situations but eventually solves the murder and is able to keep her job.  I thought that the ending and conclusion were rushed.  I was on the last two pages of the book where the conclusion came together, then the book just ended.  It was still enjoyable, though.  I have the third book in the series so I might as well read it to get it off my bookshelf.  A funny note about this book: it takes place in a section of IN called South Bend and that was a crossword clue in my daily newspaper the other day.  It said to name the school in South Bend; which there is a scene where Hilda walks across town to Notre Dame to gather clues.  If I was not reading this novel, I would not have known that!  I give it 2.5 thumbs up.

So, apparently, you can learn life lessons reading fictional stories.  Let's go over what I have learned:

1. I can make friends by joining a knit class.  Well, not always true.  Some women that visit yarn stores on a regular basis tend to form a clique and not welcome you right away.  I don't want to offend anyone by saying that, but I find that to be true in my neck of the woods.  In MA, the Wool Patch was very open to my friend and I when we went a few times to the Thursday Sit N Knit.  So, not every shop is like that.  Take away lesson:  you can't be shy when you go in...just act like you know yarn and talk to those ladies about their projects and you'll do fine.
2. I can make weapons out of my own bones, if I do not pass out from the pain first.  Yes, in the Reaper novel, that is just what the main character had to do to save his life.  I would pass out at the sight of my own blood, never mind having to actually cut myself deep enough.  So, that lesson is not that practical.
3. That riding around in a convertible is way cooler than a regular car and it does not cause any extra attention to you when you are tailing bad guys.  Hmmm, I always found this funny that an 18 year old drives a convertible and nobody thinks this would stick out.  Yes, Nancy Drew's father is a lawyer, but back in 1930, wasn't convertibles really expensive?  I also learned that a closet clothing rod can be used as a lever to pry a locked door from it's hinges when you are trapped inside.  I will try to remember that the next time I break into an old house to find a clock. (psst, the will was hidden in the clock)
4. Finally, I can pick a lock with the stays in my corset.  Well, I wear an underwire bra these days, so I guess that would be the next best thing.  Picking locks sounds fun, but I'm not sure if I have the patience to do it under pressure.  I will rip apart one of my old bras and try breaking into my own house.  I'll report back later.

These are valuable lessons that I may need to reflect on in the future.  So don't ever think that reading novels is a waste of time.  If you are reading anything now or have just finished one, please share what it is you have learned, however unpractical.

Seafoam Lace Scarf - Part 1

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I did not come prepared with a green, St. Patrick's Day project.  I should have held the Unbiased Cardi until this weekend.  Anyway, the project I am featuring this week does have some green in it, so that will be good enough.

When I was visiting MA over the Christmas holiday, I bought some yarn at The Wool Patch in Middleboro, MA (I mentioned it in my Vivica Beret post).  I bought yarn for two projects, the beret and this scarf.  This scarf comes from the book Feminine Knits by Lene Holme Samsøe.

In the book, it is called, simply, Lace Scarf, but that's pretty generic.  I have renamed it the Seafoam Lace Scarf because as I work it up, it is so light and airy and one of the colors in it is a seafoam green.  It reminds me of real seafoam when the water breaks on the beach and it creates the bubbles (foam).  That is how the lace pattern appears to me, foamy and light.

The scarf will be knitted in two different textured yarns.  First, I will knit the main scarf in Queensland Collection, Caracara, color # 003 (50% acrylic, 30% Nylon, 20% Kid Mohair).  The number 003 is not that descriptive, but it is a light green, mint and blue-violet variegation.  Then when the main lace scarf is complete, then I will crochet a lacy border with extra detailing at the ends with Elsebeth Lavold, Hempathy, color # 042 (41% Cotton, 34% Hemp, 25% Rayon).  Again, the number 042 is not helpful, but it is a grayed, baby blue.

In a nutshell, I will knit until I reach the length I want the scarf to be (about 30") or until I run out of yarn, whichever comes first.  I started this towards the end of February, by first making a gauge swatch to ensure that I can knit the lace pattern without too much trouble.

The scarf is only 5 1/2" wide, so it goes by quickly.  This is what I have done as of yesterday (Saturday):

It measures about 10", so that means I'm a third of the way done with the main scarf.  This project is definitely going to span a few posts.  I will have to remember to end the scarf with green, so that both sides will match.

See how light and airy it looks?  It is very delicate looking, but it is more durable than you think.  The mohair element of the yarn gives it that fuzzy, almost halo look. 

Very feminine, indeed.