Movin' on over to Tumblr full time, Please follow me!

So after a lot of thought, I have decided to move my blog over to Tumblr full time.  This allows me to post a lot more content, with a lot more variety in how that content is delivered.  Wait, that sounds too fancy.  I am very ADD when it comes to creativity.  I have a few things that I like to do all the time, like crochet, or cross stitch, or cook/bake.  But I also like to try new things all the time too. 

I have always wanted to do stop animation, and with technology being so awesome, I can make short gifs on my phone, and cross post them to Tumblr.  Since I got my Iphone, I do pretty much EVERYTHING on it, including pictures and blogging.  I can cross post pretty much anything to Tumblr, and about nothing to Blogger (sorry Google, I do love you). 

So please follow me over to Tumblr, the link is here. 

I will have more consistent posts, as well as being able to share all my Instagram stuff in real time.  There will be gifs, as you follow my learning how to use these apps, as well as dip my toe into some animation. 

I will still have all the content here, since there are a few popular posts that might be inspirational for people.  I still follow other blogger peoples. 


<3 nik

http://professorcrochetos.tumblr.com/

Mo' Baby Stuff

Here are some quick shots of the baby set I made for a gift. Found the patterns on Ravelry. I used all cotton yarn, in colors I picked as an attempt to be gender neutral. I was happy with how it came out. In fact, the bunny face is my best face work yet.

Tea Time! One Person's Obsession with Tea

So in having a little talk about tea on facebook, I decided to really take stock of my tea, and show all the different ones I have.  I tried to take lots of pics.  There are even some of the dogs, mostly Virgil, because he is so helpful whenever you do ANYTHING. 

Almost all my teas!  I discovered 1 tea by the sink I forgot was there, and there were 2 loose leafs in my purse.  So the final count was 23!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A closer look at my stash.

I didn't realize just how much tea I have until I decided to do a blog post about my tea and organized it for pictures.  21 teas made it into the pictures, whoa!  It is clear that I don't need to buy tea for a long, long while.  But I can't help it! 

I even have a couple cold brew teas.  Great for summer. 

In the spring and summer last year when it was sooooo hot all the dang time, I gave these cold brew teas a try.  I wanted to drink cold tea at work, but not just brew hot tea and wait for it to cool.  Some of the cold brew varieties are very weak in color, but not in flavor.  You can also re-brew these about 2 times.  These are good for your cold drink reusable cups. 

These are my top 3 favorite teas. 

Here are my top 3 teas, the ones that I just love and can't live without.  J turned me onto the first one, it is a brown rice green tea.  It has little pieces of popcorns in it.  I found it at the Asian market we frequent.  As you can see, it is a loose leaf tea; it can be re-brewed 2-3 times!  This is what I love so much about tea, how some of them are so cost effective!  Can you re-brew coffee?  I don't think so, but I'm clearly not a big coffee person.  I could be totally wrong. 
My second favorite is my Republic of Tea Hot Apple Cider.  Republic of Tea is a little on the pricey side, this is the only flavor of their brand I have.  But hot apple cider is one of my all time favorite flavors, and it was on sale when I bought it.  I love this tea because it really nails the flavor I am looking for (like you get with the hot apple cider mixes) but it completely sugar free; not even any sugar substitutes. 
The last of my favorites is also another one that J made for and I had to have some of my own.  Jasmine pearl tea is also a cost effective re-brewer!  You can use it 2-3 times per bag.  These are usually sold in loose leaf form (but they are actually little balls, that open up when brewed).  I found mine at World Market, in a tea bag;  they are not very expensive, I think just over 5 dollars for 1 box.  

Virgil, helping as always while I clean up. 

I rarely add anything sweet to my tea, but if I do, I usually just add a little honey. 

I drink my tea very plain usually.  I was never taught or raised to drink milk or cream in my tea.  I just got a new thing of honey yesterday, I found some raw honey that is local-ish (it's from Dallas).  I still feel like its helping with my allergies; I feel less congested. 

How freakin' adorable is my robot tea infuser?  Tea is very popular right now, and I have seen SO many cute infusers online.  I have seen a T-Rex one, one that looks like the Titanic, a rubber duckie one... I could go on and on.  I got this one last year; J and I made an impromptu visit to BookPeople and they had one.  There was no way I could walk out of that store with out bringing this guy home!

There are also much simpler and cheaper ways to brew your loose leaf tea.  I keep the first one, my "travel infuser" in my purse 24/7.  Yes, this is how much of a tea dork I am.  This is the only way I can make sure that I can have some kind of tea anytime.  Mostly though, so I can make tea at work. 
I keep the ball around because I am not the only one who likes tea around this house, so sometimes J will need to make loose leaf the same time I do. 
I found these nifty bags on a trip to the Asian market once.  I don't use them as much since I found the infuser I use in my purse.  But they are very handy. 

I can't help but add adorable pics of my puppies. 

Living in pictures.

I haven't posted much lately, been really busy making gifts. I did an ornament swap. Participated in the Reddit Secret Santa event, and made a few gifts for family.

I've been making fun recipes and drinking fancy teas. Decorating my little Christmas Tree and my dogs.

Enjoy
<3 nik

Fancy tea; so dark it looks like coffee. 

Happy "Howlidays" from Payden and Virgil  (Virgil's antlers were to big and slid off)

Mass Effect multimedia art for my Reddit Secret Santa

Minecraft perler art coasters

Meatless Monday at our favorite raw/vegan restaurant

Reddit Alien perler art for my Reddit Secret Santa

All the gifts for my Reddit Secret Santa (not included a flat of ketchup chips sent directly to him)

Cranberries with Blood Orange Vodka. So yum.

Yarn store in Paige, TX.  I explored, and was so inspired and amazed at so much yarn.

"Smashed Potatoes" I saw on Pinterest.  They were a hit with J and Little Bro.

Enjoying local lights is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. 

Perler art in the works.

Happy Holidays

My spoils from the fancy yarn store, Yarnorama!

Doctor Who Mug

If any of you follow my blog, you know that not long ago I made a tea mug and a matcha green tea bowl. I used the sharpie marker method so often seen on Pinterest.

Little bro didn't know they weren't dishwasher safe though. I pulled my tea mug out of the dishwasher and it was a blank canvas again. Sad panda.

So our next trip to Michael's I bought a black and blue glass paint marker. The instructions say it will be dishwasher safe. That same shopping trip J bought this big tea mug (I was jealous he found it first and their was only 1 left) with the intention of using the markers on it.

Well that was months ago and he either forgot (most likely) or could never decide what to do with it. This weekend I had a huge lightbulb moment and freehanded this baby after J went home. I'm surprising him with it tonight.

It is inspired by River Song's journal on Doctor Who. I'm not completely happy with my paint job but I think it's okay for my first time using the markers. My free handing could use more practice too!

Looking back it seems like it was fate that I bought black and blue markers.

Enjoy!
<3 nik

Halloween Hair Bow with Pattern

Halloween falls on my regular day to work this year, so I'll be spending it at work.  We get to dress up, but it can't be anything really gross or scary (I work in an ER setting).  Twinkie Chan posted a super cute tutorial on her site for making a cute rib cage and heart to affix to a t-shirt.  I figured it was cutesy and kawaii enough that I could get away with it at work.  You can find the tutorial here.  I haven't made the heart yet, but the ribs work up real quick.

I also wanted to make a cute bow for my hair and add googly eyes to it.  Who doesn't love googly eyes? (You are a communist if you don't like them just an FYI)  So I whipped up this super easy hair bow.  It would be great for someone just beginning to crochet.

I used black and orange, but you could use any Halloween type colors you want (I almost did black and bright green).  You could also use this same pattern to make any number of color combinations.  There is a color change in the pattern, which is easy if you have never done it before.  Once you get to the last stitch before your change,  pull your yarn through the last stitch so you have 2 loops on your hook, then put your new color on the hook, and pull it through the first color (I hope this makes sense).  If not, just do some googling.  Seriously its really easy.

Supplies:
Yarn
H hook
Crochet needle (I use the big plastic blue ones)
Googly eyes
Hair clip of your choice (I use the small alligator ones)
Glue gun


Hair Bow Pattern:
Using color 1
Chain 11
R1 Skip first chain, sc across, ch 1 turn
R2 sc across, change color, ch1 turn
R3 sc across, ch1 turn
R4 sc across, ch1 turn
R5 sc across, change color, ch1 turn
R6 sc across, ch1 turn
R7 sc across, ch1 turn
R8 sc across, change color, ch1 turn
R9 sc across, ch 1 turn
R10 sc across, color change, ch1 turn
R11 sc across, ch1 turn
R12 sc across, finish off.

Now to the most annoying part!  Hiding all the tails!  I love striped crochet, but I hate all the tails it leaves.  Once you hide all the tails, use your crochet needle and a 12 inch piece of yarn.  Pin the middle of your swatch how you want your bow to look, and then use the needle to sew through the middle.  I sew, then wrap a couple times, then sew, then wrap the rest of the yarn.  Once you have wrapped  it around and made the bow look how you want, glue the ends.

Once that dries, affix your googly eyes how you like.  Let it dry, and then affix your hair clip so the bow will sit how you want.

Sorry in advance for the lack of pictures.  I just did this real quick last night.  I used one of my dogs as a model, I'm not sure he was super into it.

<3 Nik

The tiny bit of Halloween I have done this year

Don't really know why but I am just not feeling it this year when it comes to Halloween. It's usually my favorite holiday next to Yule/Xmas. I have given into the pumpkin fever though. I'm about to make some pumpkin baked oatmeal muffins for my weekly breakfast (go menu planning!).

We did get our pumpkin carve on though. It is one of my favorite things to do. I kept it simple this year. My pumpkin is the one with the mustache. J's is the one committing pumpkincide.