Casner Family Blog

A stocking for a small dollhouse or a Christmas ornament for a tree?? We will soon see.

I love it that Alli loves handmade scarves and hats. 

A bit of warmer weather on Monday.

Saturday night Mat and I went to see Toby Mac, RelientK and a couple of other bands. He scored a press pass and around 800 super-cool photos. If you have a couple extra minutes, go check them out.  

From the end of September until a few weeks ago I had been stalking the fruit and vegetables section of the grocery market for cranberries. Nothing is better with pumpkin then cranberries, or cranberries and white chocolate… so since their arrival we have been enjoying pumpkin muffins with cranberries, and this evening, some white chocolate cranberry cookies. So a recipe… cranberry pumpkin muffins.(The recipe was from Taste of Homes Muffins and Cupcakes magazine issue, maybe last year?)

Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins

2/14 c. all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped

In a bowl, combine the first four ingredients. In a mixing bowl beat the eggs and sugar; add the pumpkin and oil and mix well. Stir in the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the cranberries.

Fill foil or paper-lined muffin tins 3/4’s full. Bake at 400 ° for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Yield’s 2 dozen.

This is one of the many sunsets I have seen while walking back from putting the hens and Cooper up for the evening. This Autumn I have worked really hard to become a coffee drinker so I can last a little longer outdoors when the air is cold… just to enjoy scenes like this. Nothing I can make can compare to what God can create.

A word to describe this last weekend. We headed to Lawrence Saturday morning so Matheau and Hannah could go to the KU game with Dad and Jeff. The rest of us ‘braved’ the cold to make a trip for ice cream and then we all heated up around the fireplace. Some of us even took a nap.

Photo courtesy of my Dad.

I also was able to fit in enough knitting to finish my pair of Mystery socks.

The yarn is from The Plucky Knitter. I have been holding onto since last December. (That is how long it has taken me to get up the nerve to attempt knitting socks!)

Last night Luke and Alli stayed up late so he could read to his sister-for almost an hour. As Matheau and I were in the other room I would hear snippets as he read aloud to her, it is always so amazing when reading clicks and it transitions from chopped up words to a smooth flow of words. Luke struggles with dyslexia,  it has taken us on a different journey of learning to read.  

 

(Photo from the warmer summer days.) 

with a bit of star wars action thrown in.

Needles:

16 in. (40cm) circular

size US 8 (5mm)

5 double pointed size US8

Yarn:

Worsted weight

Gauge:

16sts and 24 rows to 4 in. st stitch

Sizes:

Toddler (2-4 year old)

Child

Pattern:

Using circular needles, cast on 64 (72) sts. Join for working in the rnd (round), being

careful not to twist your stitches. Place a stitch marker (pm) at the beginning of your

work so you know where the beginning of each round is.

Work K2, P2 as follows:

All Rnds: *K2, p2; repeat from * to end.

Work K2, p2 rib until the hat measures 1in. from the beginning (the cast-on edge).

On next round:

Knit all the way around and continue until the hat measures 4 in. from the

beginning*

*If you desire to add some stripes, change to contrasting color when you are ready. On

the hat in the photo, the contrasting color was on the fifth row above the edge of the

ribbing.

To shape crown and begin decreasing

Setup round: Knit  16 (18), pm, K16 (18), pm, K16 (18), pm, K16(18). You are now

ready for your decreases.

Round 1: k2tog, knit until 2 sts remain before the next marker, ssk, slip marker, k2tog*

repeat until you are all the way back to the first sm. (sometimes I will clip 2 sm’s together

so I know which marker is the beginning of the round.)

Round 2: knit all stitches

Repeat last 2 rounds, switching to double pointed needles when necessary, until only 4(6)

sts remain on each needle. [16 (24) sts] Break yarn leaving a 7 in. tail. Weave tail through

live stitches and tighten. Weave in ends & block.

Note: For Luke’s hat (in photo) I used the solid color up several inches and then begin knitting with the self striping yarn for the remainder of the hat instead of adding the stripes as mentioned in the pattern.

Miss. Grumpy this morning.

How are all your Christmas projects going? Mine are not going as fast as I would like, but slowly….

to get out and vote today. Our choices today impacts the lives of our children’s tomorrows.

 

Whenever I sat down to type, all thoughts of what was on my mind vanished due to the amount of things that needed to be done around me. So beware, this post is going to be a bit of knitting overload. Last week, my knitting projects included 3 hats, 1 pair of  Toasty’s (hand warmers from Leslie), and finally a completed Lady February Sweater.

A hat for Luke to match the one I made for Matheau’s birthday. The self striping yarn is Run Forest Run from  Jenny over at Etsy. The camel color is from  Knit Picks.

A hat for a friend. The Pattern is the same one I use for Matheau’s hats.

Another children’s hat for a sweet little guy. The yarn is some great wool I had been saving and some Mission Falls wool. The pattern is one I came up with. I will try to post it in the next week…

After two months of on and off working on this, Lady February is finished! The yarn is from also KnitPicks, the color is thyme.

Besides for knitting, there was a birthday party for Hannah, a costume made for Jedi Hannah, new recipes (like pumpkin swirl brownies) tried in the kitchen, bulbs planted for next Spring, more roses starting to bloom, more winterizing outside. Luke is beginning to read like crazy! Our first Thanksgiving with family, a Fall Festival, a bit of sickness and pink eye along with everything else… One more thing, a couple of weeks ago I received an email from a new friend with a photo of a hat I had knitted for her daughter, Veronica (our friend, Azucena’s niece) in Spain. Since I don’t get mail from Spain everyday, nor photos of little darlings wearing knitted hats, I asked to include a photo of her with her Dad.

Thanks for letting me post these Belen! Hello Azucena.