Pinterest Pretties: Livestock.

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I've been thinking about livestock a lot lately. I'm talking, it's consumed my mind, but more on that next week. For now, we'll just look at the pretty animals.

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Happy Weekend! 

Zucchini Bread.

Yesterday was a nice little day in my world. I signed my offer paperwork for my new job, made zucchini bread from the first zucchini in my garden, and drove to Boise to pick up my little brother. He left his Harley here a few weeks ago when he was visiting and is now going on the next section of his 5 leg trip he's making. He's going to take back roads from here to Salt Lake, going through Yellowstone on his way.

I wrapped up a mini loaf of zucchini bread for him to take with him. I also wrapped one up for our friend down the street. He is the coolest guy and has tons of peppers growing in his yard. He gave us a lot of peppers yesterday and I think I'm going to end up drying them in the oven because I'm not sure what else to do with them as I have a ridiculous amount of peppers in my garden too. It seems like we all grew the same things this year, peppers and tomatoes.

If you have zucchini coming out of your ears and want to make zucchini bread, this recipe is excellent. My only suggestions would be to use a little less cinnamon than it calls for, and to not drain the zucchini. Most zucchini bread recipes call for you to drain the zucchini but this one is much too thick without that extra moisture, which is awesome since it cuts out a step! The recipe makes two normal sized loaves or about 6 mini loaves, which are great for sharing.

Fruit & Crashes.

Jake and I went over to the neighbor's and picked a bunch of plums and grapes. They taste amazing. The house we got them from is vacant but the owner gave the other neighbor permission to pick them and so he let us into the backyard and said it was okay. I know that there has been some controversy lately over harvesting from vacant homes, especially when some of them weren't actually vacant.

It cracked me up that a neighbor offered to let us use one of their boxes (we were unaware of the plums and only took one box) that had once been full of "real fruit" fruit snacks where the second ingredient is high fructose corn syrup, when they had this bounty of fresh fruit, for free, right next door.

On an unrelated note, my dad wrecked his Harley over the weekend which really stressed me out. I dislike being so far away when he's in the hospital. The bike was pretty badly damaged but luckily he only broke his heel. He's going to have to have surgery and will have a long recovery time but at least he's alive. The very first thing that smacked the ground was his head, but as he lives in Oregon, he was wearing a helmet which probably saved his life. I just want to appeal to any of you who ride but live in a state without helmet laws, please, please, please, wear a helmet. My dad is an experienced rider who has been riding for years and rides frequently, you never know what will happen out on the road so please take precautions to protect your life.

Kahlua Cupcakes.

This is my favorite frosting, ever, hands down. It can be used on cakes, cupcakes, brownies, anywhere frosting is remotely appropriate. Some people say it tastes like a maple bar a little bit but if you're familiar with kahlua, then you'll know what it actually tastes like. So go buy yourself the extra large bottle, even though the recipe only calls for a tiny bit, you can throw a white russian part afterward in honor of The Dude.

First off, bake your favorite cake/cupcake/brownies how you normally would. Sometimes I substitute about a 1/2 cup of water for a 1/2 cup of kahlua in the batter, just to give the cake a little extra punch of flavor.

Ingredients for Frosting:

1/2 c. softened butter
2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
2 T. kahlua
1 t. instant coffee
1-3 T milk

Mix first 5 ingredients together, if too thick, add a little bit of milk until frosting reaches the correct consistency.

Spread all over cooled cake/cupcake/brownies.
Serve and enjoy!

*disclaimer* the frosting in the photo looks a little lumpy because I forgot to take a picture when it was fresh so I used the frosting that had been in the fridge for a few days (and had subsequently hardened) for this photo and it wasn't quite as creamy as when made fresh.

I've linked up for Tasty Tuesday and These Chicks Cooked. 

How To: Begin Canning.

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I've done a lot of canning this year and as I've shared about it on my blog and personal facebook page, I've gotten many comments by people who are interested in canning but don't know where to begin. They are intimidated by the whole process, just as I was at first. So, I thought today I would share some knowledge on how to get started, where to get the equipment, and which websites I find incredibly helpful.

Equipment:

You'll need a canning pot. There are two different ways to can, in a water bath canner, or a pressure canner. High acid foods, like fruit, can be canned in a water bath. So if you're planning on making jam and pickling things, go with a water bath canner, they're very easy to use and can often be found at your local thrift store for just a few dollars. If you're planning on canning low-acid foods, like meat or veggies that won't be pickled, opt for the pressure canner, it is the only safe way to can low-acid food, do not even attempt it in a water bath canner. I now own both kinds of canners but I definitely use the water bath most often since I'm usually making some kind of jam.

Next, you'll need jars of course. Ask around, I was able to score 100 jars this year from my Aunt who no longer cans. If you don't have any relatives giving away glass jars these too can be found at thrift stores for incredible prices. If you're not sure if the price is a good one, just think, is it less than $8? The lowest price our local store seems to ever have on a box of new jars (around 12-15 jars) is about $8. There are things to consider when buying used jars. Look them over, be sure they aren't cracked, check that the rims aren't chipped, if everything looks good, you're set.

Lids and bands can be purchased at your local grocery/hardware/all purpose store. You need to use a new lid on every single jar. So, once you eat that yummy concoction you've made, you'll toss the lid and buy a new one for next time. The screw on bands however, can be reused over and over.

In addition to your lids, you'll want to pick up a little canning kit for around $10. It includes tongs that are rounded for picking jars up out of hot water, a tool to measure headspace (empty space left at the top of the jar), a magnetic wand for picking up lids out of hot water, and a nice wide funnel which I think is invaluable to me not making a giant mess (which I tend to do).

So, if you were to buy everything you needed brand new, it would be a little spendy, but I'm telling you, check your local thrift stores first. I know one here in town has 3 boxes of jars, a water bath canner and a dehydrator on their shelf right now, the stuff is out there. Canning is increasing in popularity so it's a lot easier to find the things you need in regular stores now too, if you wanted to go the brand spankin' new route.

Canning Websites:

Now that you've got your tools, you'll need some knowledge.

The best, most official, have tested all of the recipes a zillion times to make sure they won't harm you, place to look is the USDA's Complete Guide to Home Canning. Not only does it tell you exactly how long to process everything, it also has a ton of recipes and tells you exactly what to do.

A website I visit often is Food in Jars. Marisa has a beautifully long list of recipes in her recipe index. Not only does she explain things well but she has a Canning 101 series where she answers frequently asked questions and goes over the basics. She also has a great tab at the top of her site for canning resources, including where to find produce and how to find canning classes in your area.

Pick Your Own is also a great site, although poorly designed, with a wealth of information and step by step photos which are so helpful when you're learning the basics.

Go visit your local library. Here in little old Weiser there are at least 10-15 books on canning and pickling, I'm sure your library has a few good reads as well. Check out a few and compare recipes, there are so many variations on every recipe that it's fun to compare and see what sounds good to you.

Where to Acquire your Produce:

Plant a garden! I'm already plotting and planning my garden for next year. If this weren't a rental, I'd tear up at least half the backyard and plant crops, but that's just me.

So you live in an apartment or don't have the means for a garden... check craigslist. Go to the farm+garden section. People often list their locally grown crops there or excess from their gardens at prices that will blow your mind. I bought tomatoes Saturday for 34 cents per pound, it's amazing what is out there.

Google is your friend, search for orchards or u-pick farms nearby. Have you heard of a CSA in your community, check it out!

Farmer's Markets. They are popping up everywhere and have the best your region has to offer.

I'm not a professional and I don't can for a living but if you have any specific questions, I will do my best to answer them or direct you to where you might find the answer. I really want to stress how rewarding canning is. It feels so great to preserve food for your family that you know is fresh, locally grown and delicious. I know exactly what is in my food, and it isn't high fructose corn syrup or fillers.

Giveaway Winner!

The first leaves have changed color and I can't wait for the rest of the tree to turn, it's going to be so beautiful. 

The winner of the giveaway is #11, cb from the citybird's nest. Congratulations!! I will be emailing you shortly for your address. 

More Canning and Other Nonsense.

Tomato sauce, canned whole tomatoes, and roasted tomatoes. 

I went ahead and canned the 25 lbs. of tomatoes first since they wouldn't keep as well as the pears and apples. I got through all of them yesterday, which I was really excited about. I think I may try and pick up a few more this weekend since I want to try a couple other preservation methods, like making ketchup.

Tomatoes slow roasted in the oven then stored in the freezer. 

Jam night last night was really fun. Some people from out of town showed up and it's always nice to have fresh blood in the group. One of the regular players finally replaced the strings on his banjo so we got to hear some wonderful banjo music and now I have, "you get a line, I'll get a pole..." stuck in my head. 

Do you guys have any big weekend plans? Jake's mom is visiting this weekend so I'm sure we'll be really busy with all kinds of fun stuff to do. It'll be nice to have her here for a few days, I know Jake has missed her since we've moved and he's really excited.

I've received a lot of comments from people who are interested in canning but don't know where to begin, check back next week for an intro to canning post. For those of you who aren't into canning, I'll also have a post about my favorite cupcakes, the frosting contains alcohol!

Don't forget, today is the last day to sign up for my giveaway, I'll be drawing a winner tomorrow!

Free Business Cards from Moo.

A week or so ago I saw a link to get 10 free business cards printed at moo.com. Of course, because they're free they add a little strip down the side advertising moo but what the heck, they're free. The best part though, is that you can upload a different design for each card. Or, if you don't want to upload any designs, they have a wide range of fun, vibrant colors you can choose from. My cards came today in the cutest little box, and they are gorgeous. The quality is really nice, I chose to go with the "green" cards, meaning that some of the materials used have been recycled.

I don't necessarily have a purpose for these cards yet, as I don't have a shop, but I know many of you do have shops and who wouldn't like 10 free business cards? So go here for your 10 cards. If you don't want the little strip that says, "Business Cards by moo.com" then you'll have to pay for yours, but no worries, here is a discount code to get 15% off your order of 50 cards: G2MSCG

A Little Progress on the Canning Front.

This is what I had made as of Tuesday night, aka, very little headway. I had gotten through all of the tomatillos, about 10 lbs. of pears, and 4 beefsteak tomatoes from my neighbor's garden that had been in my fridge and were about to expire. That leaves me with 15 lbs. of pears and 25 lbs. of apples, not to mention the tomatoes I picked up yesterday, but we'll get to that later. Have I mentioned we have company coming this weekend and I still need to pick up the house and do laundry? I think I might be a little crazy. 

So, I used the tomatillos to make salsa verde. If you're interested, I based my recipe off of this one from Doris and Jilly Cook. They discuss both the pressure canning and water bath canning routes. I went ahead and water bath canned my salsa, since my water bath canner is already out due to having a zillion pounds of fruit in my kitchen. Because tomatillos are closely related to tomatoes, it is only safe to water bath can them (and any kind of tomato) if you add acid to your recipe. In the recipe she suggests lime juice but I went ahead with a suggestion from one of the canning books I own (Put 'Em Up!) and used vinegar instead. I also used more jalapenos than was probably necessary but Jake wanted it spicy spicy. It turned out to be amazing. I tried to can the salsa in smaller jars to have around to use for just one or two servings, rather than a giant jar that will take up space in my fridge once it's opened. 

Next I went ahead and made pear "jam". Pears are incredibly easy to work with and they taste so good. I used the recipe for pear jam that comes in the pectin box. The only change I made is that I added a tiny bit of cinnamon. The jam didn't firm up as much as I wanted it to. I considered reprocessing the jam to get a better set but decided against it. Right now the consistency is somewhere between syrup and jam and will be perfect for pancakes and waffles.

Since I already had the canner out and full of water, I decided to do something with tomatoes a neighbor had dropped by. She had given us some nice big beefsteak tomatoes and I had 3 left, that were way past the point of me chopping them up for a salad. I added a nice big yellow tomato from my garden and got to work. I decided to make a basic plain tomato sauce because it's easy and versatile. I used small jars for this recipe as well because Jake doesn't like tomato sauce so I'm the only one eating it.

So, you'd think I'd be slowly working through all of that fruit I bought, right? Wrong. I had to go to Boise today to get fingerprinted for my new job and on the way back decided to stop at the Blue Barn. I had seen them advertising on craigslist so I decided to check it out. It's located in Caldwell, Idaho and isn't it beautiful? The flowers are stunning. They not only sell a wide variety of locally grown produce but they also carry pies that looked amazing and locally canned jams. I was exhausted and in a hurry so I didn't poke around as much as I would've liked but I'm sure I'll be back.

While at the Blue Barn I picked up a box of tomatoes, 25 lbs. of them to be exact. I think I'm going to can some whole, make some more sauce, and maybe roast and freeze a few. Marisa has a lot of great instructions over on Food in Jars on what to do with your tomato bounty.

My plan for today is to can, can, can, with some cleaning and laundry on the side. I feel exhausted just thinking about it.

Damsel in the Dress {Interview Outfit}

I like to wear this outfit for job interviews sometimes but it's also perfect for fall. Brown is one of my very favorite colors to wear and I especially love pairing it with coral. I feel confident in this outfit, and feeling confident as you walk into your interview is what it's all about.

Tweed Blazer: Urban Outfitters

Polka Dot Blouse: H&M

Slacks: Maurices

I love this big maple tree right next to our house. I can't wait until the leaves start changing. It's going to be stunning!

Jake and I became "facebook official" yesterday. I had to laugh when I got home from my interview and saw I had a relationship status request. You know, a year and a half later. Too funny! I teased him that I was going to decline it.

EDIT: BAM! The outfit did it, I got the job! It's a part-time (which I was so hoping for, I really didn't want to have to work full-time) teller position at a bank!

I'm linked up at The Pleated Poppy.

If you haven't signed up for my giveaway yet, there are only a couple more days to do so! You had better get on it or someone else will win all that amazing home canned goodness. 

Pinterest Pretties: Chickens.

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I really want laying hens but Jake is not so keen on the idea. I told him last night (jokingly) that he is killing my dreams. Poor guy. I will get my chickens though, eventually. Just you wait and see.

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A Busy Canning Week.

I stopped by the orchard today, just in time for gala apples and bartlett pears. yum!

My stick blender came at the right time. I'll definitely be using it on some apples later this week.

I also picked up some tomatillos and jalapenos to make a batch of salsa verde.

I'm off to dig through my canning books/blogs to uncover and create some yummy recipes for all of this beautiful produce.

Any great ideas for what I should make with my apples and pears?

P.S. Check craigslist's farm/garden section for your area. You might be surprised at what you find. Today I bought 60 lbs. of extremely fresh, locally grown produce for around $20. What a great deal.

Pom Garland Tutorial.

It always seems like I finish crafts at night, and then my photos have no natural light. boo!

My sister emailed me last week asking if I could make a pom garland for Lana's 1st birthday party. She wanted it to be the color of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. Her party has the cutest theme but I'll leave that for her to share later. I thought I'd share with you how to make your own garland. It's really simple and fun. You could make one of pretty fall colors to celebrate the coming of Autumn in your home.

Materials:

2 pieces of cardboard
A pen
Yarn
Sharp scissors
Darning needle

Draw a circle on your cardboard, with a smaller circle on the inside. The larger your outer circle, the larger your pom will be. Cut these out, as seen above. You will need two of them.

Put the two pieces of cardboard together, tightly wrap yarn around both pieces.

You'll want to wrap yarn several layers thick, to make sure your pom is nice and fluffy.

Snip off the end of the yarn. Then begin to cut through the yarn, between the two pieces of cardboard, as seen above.

Once you've cut all the way around, you'll have lots of little pieces of yarn in the center of your cardboard circles. Cut a piece of yarn, this will be what ties your ball together.

Slide your piece of yarn between the two pieces of cardboard. Make a knot and pull it tight. Repeat (double knot it). If you'd like, pull the string back and tie another knot on the other side of your pom.

Remove the cardboard, it's starting to look like a pom!

Take your scissors and trim all of the ends. Voila! You now have your very own pom.

To make your poms into a garland:

Cut a long piece of yarn in whichever color you'd like to use. I made my garland around 10-12 ft. long.
Thread the end of the yarn through a darning needle.
Find which direction you tied the knot in your pom, push your needle so it is under the area you tied the knot (through the center of the pom).
Once you've threaded all of your poms onto your garland string, space them out evenly.
Tie a knot in each end of your garland so your poms won't eventually fall off, pesky gravity.
And there you have it!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a bunch of jars of canning goodness I made.

I've linked up here and here.

Fabulous Friday.

* I've been working on a DIY project today that I can't wait to share with you on Monday once I get all of the photos uploaded. It is ridiculously adorable and perfect for a party or home decor.

* My little brother gets here tomorrow. We were going to take him to see a local band but the date of the show is now tonight instead of tomorrow night. I'm a little disappointed about it but it's okay. I'm sure we'll find something fun to do.

* I got to skype with my sister and my niece today. Lana turns 1 next week and she is so close to walking. Her little legs are so cute and wobbly when she's trying to walk. I love her!

* I've been waiting all day to post this because I had something coming in the mail that I am really excited about and wanted to share with you but it's now 5:30 and it's still not here. Grr!! It's said, "out for delivery" since 8:30 this morning. Maybe I'm just being impatient because I'm so excited.

EDIT:

No more than two minutes after posting this I saw a guy on my front porch. I flew off the couch, almost tripped and fell over a laundry basket, made it to the door, shouted, "thank you!" as he was getting back in his truck and proceeded to do my Christmas morning happy dance. I made Jake take pictures, and yes, I am wearing pajamas at 6pm, what of it?

I finally have my very own pressure canner!! Can't you just see the joy all over my face, I mean, I'm hugging the thing, tightly!? I have wanted one for so so long but they're too expensive for me to consider purchasing but as it was gifted to me, I'll take it. I was also able to buy myself a stick blender with some Amazon gift cards I had been saving up for that express purpose. I am one happy girl today. Also, aren't my pajama pants sweet?

Do you have anything fun planned for your weekend?

Giveaway Day!

I've wanted to do a giveaway for a very long time but I wanted it to be good, something that reflected me, and something that I'd actually want to win if it were switched around. I think I've finally got it all figured out. 

ta-da! I'm giving away a half pint of peachsauce (like applesauce but sub peaches) and pickles, and an 8 oz. jar of strawberry rhubarb preserves. You also win the two crocheted dishcloths they're pictured on. I'll very likely add in some other canned goodies that are tbd and I will most definitely be adding in some other crocheted goodies that are useful around the kitchen. In other words, I'll be stuffing that flat rate box like nobody's business. 

How to Enter: 

* Follow my blog (either with google or bloglovin') and leave a comment so I know that you do. 

For Additional Entries:

* Tweet, blog, or post on facebook about this giveaway - leave me a comment with the link to your tweet/blog/fb post. 

* Follow me on twitter. I'm so boring on twitter, I still don't get how it works half the time because I'm a genius; I need people to talk to. @trailergypsy  Of course, leave me a comment here letting me know you followed me. 

Next Friday I'll randomly choose one number that corresponds with a comment and that person will be the winner (not sure if I want to use random.org or put all the numbers in a jar and blindfold Jake and have him pull one out, it sounds more fun to do that. I wonder if I could convince him to let me video it?). 

Be sure that if you don't have your profile setup that you leave your email or a way for me to contact you in case you're the lucky winner. 

Good luck! 

Geek Update.

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My desktop stopped working one day so I haven't played WoW since April. That was fine, I hadn't really played much for most of the previous couple months anyway. After the Cataclysm expansion came out, I played nonstop because I wanted to experience everything but I got burned out and lost interest. Now my interest is slowly returning but I have no computer to play on. I try to sneak some time in on Jake's computer but he's usually on it, doing arena or raiding. I suspended my account because I didn't see the point in paying for something I barely ever got to use. I still wanted to play though so I started a new character on Jake's account. Tonight I asked if I could borrow his computer for an hour to play, and because he's a sweetheart, he agreed. Then he fell asleep on the couch so I got to play for 2.5 hours. Woohoo!

I got to level 13 really quickly because of all of Jake's BoA gear that gives extra experience. I am happy Jake has BoA gear because I have a ton of it on my account but I can't use it since I suspended my account and I would be so frustrated to not have extra xp. I thought it would be annoying to level from the beginning again but they've really changed up some of the zones and leveling is ridiculously easy now. It kind of doesn't seem fair how easy it is to level compared to how it used to be. Also, I made a goblin and the goblin starting zone is so much fun. 

Have you guys seen the trailer for the new Goldeneye 007: Reloaded game? It brings back so many memories of playing N64 with my little brother. 

Tuesday Tidbits.

I'm a little obsessed with this Hank 3 song, Mississippi Mud. The guys usually play it sometime during jam night and I've come to love it. It makes me want to dance around. That's good because I need to clean our house this week since my little brother is coming this weekend and I love to clean to upbeat music. I can't wait to see him. He's going to ride his Harley over here and then leave it at our house and fly out of Boise back to work. Then fly back to Boise on his next days off and ride his Harley down to my sister's house in California. A friend's band is playing this weekend at the local bar so it will be fun to take my brother to see that, they're really good. 

Do you guys like my awesome poor man's bookshelves? Someday I'd like to organize my craft room so I can actually craft in there. Right now it's a giant disaster zone of boxes because I don't have shelves to put anything on. I really don't want to spend money on shelves right now and I never see any at the thrift store. I kind of like my cardboard box shelves though, they do the job well, even if they aren't fancy or pretty. 

I've started making my Christmas list. Not a list of what I want, but a list of what I'm going to give everyone. I make one every year. It helps me to think about what I should make everyone in advance and gives me plenty of time to finish the projects so I'm not rushing on Christmas Eve (which usually happens to me anyway). Have you guys started planning for Christmas yet?

Pinterest Pretties: Horses.

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Growing up I was never that interested in horses, even though I had a couple good friends who were completely obsessed. Now that we live in a rural area, I see horses every time I go anywhere and I've got to say, they sure are pretty creatures. There is one house about a mile out that has a white horse and every time it's out in the pasture I can't help but repeat a little childhood rhyme and make a wish.

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white horse, white horse, lucky lucky me,
white horse, white horse, bring this wish to me...

I had other photos to share with you but for some reason they aren't loading. *sigh* If I can get them to work properly, I'll add them later, they were so beautiful.

Game Day Food: Jalapeno Bacon Poppers.

Do you like my bright green plate? I only use it for preparing or holding meat. 

I love football. I get really pumped up for games, I scream at the t.v., and I get pissed if my team loses. I can't help myself. Since football season officially starts today I figured I'd share a game day recipe. This recipe is not my own, I've seen it all over pinterest, in many different forms, so I'm not even sure who to credit it to. It was however, a huge hit when I made it last weekend for the college games.

Ingredients:

Jalapeños - I have a ton in my garden and people keep giving us more. I needed to use them up.
Cream Cheese
Bacon
Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Ground Mustard, etc.
Toothpicks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the jalapeños in half lengthwise, remove the seeds.
Mix the cream cheese with any extra seasonings you'd like to use. I used garlic powder and mustard because that is what I had on hand.
Fill each jalapeño half with cream cheese mixture.
Wrap bacon around jalapeño and stick a toothpick through it to hold bacon in place. It usually took about half a strip of bacon to reach around the pepper.

Bake at 350 for around 45 minutes or until bacon is fully cooked. Be sure to use a cookie sheet that has sides as there will be lots of bacon grease sizzling in the pan. Save that bacon grease and use it to make dog biscuits.

I just have to add, GO JETS!! J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS!!

Week in Review.

Our friend Zane works for a seed company and they're developing some Italian onions to grow in the area. They're called cipolline, which just means small onions. Onions are the main crop here and I love how the air smells like onions during harvest and processing. As you drive down the highway, there are onions all over the sides of the roads that fell out of the back of trucks. It's like an onion wonderland. Apparently these cipolline are supposed to be hotter than what we're used to and with a high sugar content so they'll caramelize nicely. I want to find an extra special and oniony recipe to try them in.

When we went to California earlier this summer, my Aunties gave me 12 skeins of this ancient yarn. This stuff is vintage and awesome but the skeins aren't very big and I wanted to make something special with it for my Aunties. I think I'm going to make them each a pair of slippers and make sweet little poms for the toes, they'd get a kick out of that. 

Earlier this year when LA of Freckled Nest was celebrating her 5 year blog anniversary she was offering to make free buttons for people, on a first come first serve basis. She had about a zillion responses so I never thought she'd actually get around to making one for me and I was so surprised when I opened my email today to find this lovely button. I love it, it even has crocheted hangers, it's so perfect. Thank you, LA!