It's Week 5 of 52 Weeks of Dishcloths and the pattern is called the Cupcake Crochet Dishcloth.

I took my dog Bosco for a walk this morning by the water.  On the side of the road are these pretty tulips and today they are reminders that it is Spring.

Saturday we met up with a friend who was in town on business from Singapore.  We ate in an Italian Restaurant called a voce.  There are two locations, we ate at 41 Madison Avenue (at 26th Street) NYC.  The food was amazing and I recommend it if you like Italian food.

The house is quieter now that my neighbors dog Scout is back at his house.  I think my dog Bosco is actually happy too to have everything back to normal.  I started the week off with crocheting a cute dishcloth in a pretty multi color green.  I will save a lot of them and give them as gifts for my crochet and knit friends for Christmas presents this year.

Bosco looks comfortable.

Tuesday I went to my crochet group and started crocheting another baby hat in a cute pink, lavender and white multi colored yarn. I will also crochet the little poncho to match the hat and make a set for the crochet sale in November.

At the meeting Sister Jean (who runs the crochet group) brought to us some beautiful yarn, pattern books, knitting needles, and circular knitting needles that someone donated to the church.  We all went through all of the goodies and we each decided on what we would keep.  I brought home a lot of different crochet books, 2 knitting needles, and 2 circular knitting needles.  I kept some goodies for myself and I gave some books to my knitting group and the yellow plastic knitting needles I want to save in case my teenager decides she would like to learn to knit someday.  I have enjoyed these past few days looking over the all the books and I'm still not done.

Knit/Crochet Goodies

I went to my knitting group last night and we meet each week in a local coffee shop that has a nice corner we all sit in and drink coffee, and we knit and share and laugh about each others week. One of my friends was nice and gave me a yarn winder and metal knitting needles.  I am going to keep 2 knitting needles for myself and I will give the rest to the crochet group because some of the ladies in the group knit.

While I was at my knit group last night I finished knitting a scarf that I had been working on since Easter and I gave the scarf to my teenager and I was so happy when she said that she loved it.

The yarn I used is Lion Brand Yarn, Baby's First, in the color Sea Sprite.  I used one skein and to start off I knit a few rows with a size US 17 - 12.75mm needle and then for the rest I knit using a size US 35 - 19.0mm needles and then at the end I switched and knit a few rows to end using size US 17 - 12.75mm needle and then you just cast off.  It is simple and it makes large knit stitches that look pretty.

Great news, my mom has promised me that she will knit me a sweater.  I brought with me to the knit group 2 pattern books that we all looked through and they helped me narrow down the decision for a pattern.  I will have to show my mom and then we will decide on the yarn to use.  I am so excited that my mom is going to make me a sweater.

2 knit pattern books that we looked through for a sweater pattern for me.

Knit scarf  I made for my teenage daughter.

Today I went for a nice walk with my dog and where we walked is right near the water.  The sun was shinning this morning and it was so nice that I stopped to take some pictures.  My dog Bosco actually stopped to look at the boats and water too.  It was so funny and cute to see him do that.  We both just stayed like that for a few minutes enjoying the water, boats and the sunshine.  It felt so good and soon the weather will be even warmer.

On the path walking with my dog Bosco.

Bosco standing there posing for me.

The view of the water from the path.

Another view of the water.

The Sea Streak Boat - A Commuter Boat taking passengers into the city.

Another Boat.

When I got back to my house I took a picture of my cherry blossom tree that is in my front yard.  It bloomed this week and looks so pretty.

My Cherry Blossom Tree

 I made a berry salad that we all enjoyed for dessert.  It is such a simple dessert and healthy too.

Strawberry, Blueberry and Blackberries I made us for dessert tonight.

It is already week 3 of the 52 Weeks of dishcloths.  The pattern used for the dishcloth is from "Magnolia Tea" and she used the Tulip Stitch.  For details and the pattern go to Being Spiffy and join this fun linky party.  To look at the details you can also go to the button found in my sidebar.

For the yarn I used Sugar 'n Cream Stripes and the color I used is Lime Stripes.  For this pattern it calls for a chain of 35 and to use the entire skein.   For my dishcloths I happen to like mine small, so I chained 25 stitches instead of 35 chains and used half the skein of yarn.  The pattern also calls for 16 rows, for mine I used 8 rows.  The pattern is easy and it uses chains and double crochet.

Crocheted Tulip Stitch Dishcloth

Thanks everyone and enjoy.

Julie

Tammy Hildebrand is a crochet designer who is known in the crochet world and has a blog called Hot Lava Crochet.  The article tells about how she first learned to crochet and what led her to become a crochet designer.  Her designs have been featured in several books and magazines, and at Red Heart.

Today I am going to tell you a little bit about my dog Bosco.  Five years ago we rescued my dog Bosco who is a corgi and dachshund mix from a house in Jersey City, New Jersey from a women who is a foster parent to cats and dogs.  We found a picture and description of our dog on Petfinder and we thought he looked so cute.  Well we went to go pick him up and he was running all over the foster house and all over our car and we were happy to get him to our house.  When we got Bosco his name was Short Stop and I said to my self that his name did not flow nice.  We all thought and thought and then I came up with the name Bosco because when we were little my mom made us chocolate milk  and it was called Bosco.  My dog is so sweet and friendly and loves people and other dogs and the name fits him perfect.  I also think that the reason why he is so friendly is that he was adopted by someone and then returned.   When we got him he was very sick and we had to take him to the vet to get him better and I think that if he had stayed at that house he might have died.  When we got Bosco he was only 7 months old and he used to jump a lot and nip at your hands and pants.

Well our dog has turned out to be the best dog.  He listens to everything you tell him to do and he loves his walks, he loves to cuddle, and loves taking rides in the car.

We have a neighbor who has a dog named Scout who is a jack russell terrier and I am pet sitting Scout  for 4 days.  Scout just arrived this morning and we will watch him while my neighbors go on vacation.  The funny thing about Scout is that he does not get along other dogs but he likes our dog and I have found that out because when you walk them both together Scout will sometimes bark at other dogs he sees.

Well my house is going to be a little chaotic but we love Scout and both dogs play so nice together and our neighbors watch Bosco when we go away.  He will be staying with us until late Sunday night and we will all have a lot of fun with Scout.

Here are some pictures of the dogs together.

Scout is on the left in his bed and Bosco (my dog)  is on the right in his bed.

This is a few minutes later after they decided to switch beds!

A few days ago I came across a tweet I saw on Twitter from Jill Swensen who's blog is see the link Being Spiffy and is hosting 52 Weeks of Dishcloths.  When I saw this I became interested and thought that she had a great idea.  My mom used to use dishcloths all the time to wash her dishes and it made me think that using a dishcloth is a great idea.  With a dishcloth you can just throw it into the washing machine and clean it.  Well Saturday morning I went to Michaels and bought the yarn and came home and made one in about 2 hours.  I used the whole skein but for the next I will use half the yarn and make 2 dishcloths.  For the details pop on over to www.beingspiffy.com and maybe you might be interested in crocheting one for your kitchen.  How about being green?

For this pattern I used the pattern from Week 1 - Bubblegirl - Dishcloth pattern.  I used Sugan 'n Cream yarn in the color: Mod Ombre (you can use any color you like) and it costs $1.99, you can't beat that price!  So lets get started and have some fun.  They would make great gifts also.  Here are some pictures of my dishcloth.

This link to make this dishcloth can be found HERE.





Thanks everyone and enjoy.

Julie

I want to wish everyone a nice weekend and I thought that I would share with you a recipe that I found in a cookbook called Crock Pot Cookbook, By R. Wilson.  

Here is the recipe for Crock Pot Pork Ribs that our friends Rudy and Alina asked for a few weeks ago.  It is an easy recipe to make and is good served with any kind of rice.






Crock Pot Pork Ribs

6 or 8 pork ribs to fill crock pot
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 large carrots peeled and chopped
1 cup of ketchup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. vinegar
1 Tbsp. mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Mix together all the ingredients together.  In the pot put all of the vegetables and then add the ribs.  Pour the marinade over the ribs in the pot. Cook until tender.  Cook for 1 hour on high and then about 4 hours on low.




Thanks everyone and enjoy.

Julie

Last week I went to my Crochet Group at my church and my friend Rachel taught me how to crochet a baby hat. I crocheted it in 30 minutes and the pattern even had decrease in it. This week she was nice enough to sit with me and teach me how to crochet a baby poncho from a pattern she had. I worked on it for about an 1 1/2 hours at the meeting yesterday. When I got home I was so excited to be learning something new that I finished the poncho last night! I now have a completed baby hat and poncho set that I will be giving to the Christmas Fair our church has in the fall. I have learned two new patterns in the past 2 weeks and I will be making more sets through the rest of the year for the sale because they gave me more yarn to use. I will also be able to make a set for someone in our family if they have a baby.

I love learning new patterns and I am happy that my friend Rachel was willing to sit with me and teach me.

Crocheted Baby Hat and Poncho Set Please Note: I do not have the baby hat pattern available.  The link for this crocheted poncho pattern is not working or available.  I have a similar crocheted poncho pattern available that can be found HERE.

Thanks everyone and enjoy.

Julie