Top Ten Posts of 2012

As we get ready to ring in 2013, we thought we'd recap the top ten most popular posts from 2012!

1. The Head Wrap Crochet Pattern.

By far our most popular post.  A free tutorial and a great gift project!

2. DIY Dishwasher Detergent.

The "recipe" for a quick n' easy homemade detergent.  Works well and so much cheaper than buying the pre made stuff.  (Besides, how cool is it to say you made your own detergent??)

3. Lacey Circle Scarf Pattern.

A free crochet tutorial for a gorgeous scarf.  Long and short versions included!

4. Chunky Circle Scarf Pattern.

An easy scarf pattern for beginners, but beautiful and quick for experienced crocheters as well!

5.The Loopy Flower Pattern.

This was SO much fun for us to make, tweak and post about!  Its a quick flower that adds fun to anything (a scarf, headband, a purse pin) and is so fast to make.  Our free pattern includes two variations as well!

6. Whip-It-Up Wednesday: Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup.

A perfect meal for a cold winter day!  

7. Chunky Bow Crocheted Headband Pattern.

A free crochet tutorial for a super cute headband.

8. Pinterest Friday: Homemade Gak!

A total 1990's throwback!  See a quick and fun way to make Gak for your kids.

9. Last Minute Cowl Crochet Pattern.

We put this up a few days before Christmas as a last minute gift. A quick (and free!) crochet pattern for a cowl (men's version included too!).

10. "Frightening to Fantastic: A Thrift Store Dress Makeover."

A hideous thrift store dress remade into something SO cute and trendy!

From this: 

To this:

Wowza!

These are only ten of our posts.  We have so many more!  Definitely check out the tabs at the top of our blog to find other great ideas.  And we'd love to hear from you!

Is there anything you'd love to see more of?  Let us know with a comment or email us at domesticblisssquared @ gmail.com!

Introducing Our New Etsy Store...and a sneak peek for next week!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  We each had a great time with our husbands and kids and are grateful for the Christmas season.  The homemade gifts we made were definitely a hit and we hope that some of you were able to make gifts using our tutorials (like the Lacey Scarf, Last Minute Cowl or Little Girl's Jewelry Holder).  

Do you love the things we've made, but don't have time to make them?  Check out our Etsy store!  We are SO excited about this...we've got scarves, earrings and all sorts of homemade goodies!

Click on the picture above to get to our Etsy shop or go to www.etsy.com and type in Domestic Bliss Squared.

There's some gorgeous things on there that are really affordable! Click on the pictures to go directly to the store!

The Lacey Circle Scarf (Buy it or check out the tutorial here and make your own!).

Those are real pearls...beautiful!

Next Monday, we'll be counting down the top 10 posts of 2012.

We are so excited about January!  We will be posting more crochet, recipes and thrifty tips.  We've also tackled a new project and will be sharing it with you next week!  

Here's a hint....

Do you have any suggestions for posts?  Let us know...leave a comment or send us an email! 

Have a great weekend!

~Hilary and Jessica

Whip-It-Up Wednesday: Indian Food!

Growing up in California, I was blessed to be able to eat lots of different types of ethnic foods.  Now that I'm a mom, I try to introduce my children to as many unique foods as possible (my 4-year-old daughter's eaten squid and her favorite food is sushi!).  So when my husband asked if we could do something different for Christmas dinner, I jumped at the idea.  We brainstormed picking a different country's cuisine and making a full meal of different and new dishes.  Great idea, right?  It took a while to nail down a country's cuisine since we eat gluten-free and it can be tough to find lots of ethnic, wheat-free dishes!

We do eat a lot of Thai food (almost no wheat) and Indian food (very little wheat) when we go out and we've always wanted to make Indian food from scratch.  So we found three incredible recipes and made this gorgeous feast:

Instead of publishing one of my own recipes, I'm including the links to the three great recipes I used! 

Find the chicken biryani recipe here.  The only change I made was I added two chopped bell peppers to make it more veggie-intensive and used one less onion than it called for.

Find the chicken saag recipe (an amazing creamy, spinach dish) here.  We used shrimp instead of chicken and substituted ground cardamom for cardamom pods.

Find the chicken vindaloo (spicy!!) recipe here.  We used fresh tomatoes instead of crushed tomatoes, but it's a super tasty (spicy!!) recipe!

Everything was gluten-free.  Unfortunately, our dessert of apple pie and gluten-free Christmas cookies wasn't super authentic, but it was still yummy...

Merry Christmas!

We just wanted to say Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to everyone who's stopped by our blog!  Posting may be a little spotty this week, but we have a ton of ideas, free tutorials and more crochet coming up in the new year!

We hope you are enjoying the time with your families, friends, pets or whoever you're with this week!

~ Happy Holidays from Domestic Bliss (AKA Hilary and Jessica!)

Last Minute Cowl Crochet Pattern

The Last Minute Cowl!

This is a really simple, easy cowl pattern that looks complicated but only takes one skein of yarn, and less then an hour and a half to make! That's why I called it the "Last Minute Cowl," because it is the perfect last minute gift! The stitch used is a modified V stitch, and we have a detailed tutorial for how to crochet this stitch in our Lacey Circle Scarf pattern.

In addition, it's gender neutral! Just get a "manly" color of yarn and this looks just as amazing on a guy as on a girl. May I present...
...my gorgeous hubby wearing the manly version:

And see, still cute on a girl:

Yeah, that's a picture of me looking ridiculous. Merry Christmas. My husband likes to take the goofiest pictures possible when he's the photographer...sigh. Good thing I love that man so much!

Supplies:
N hook
1- 1 1/2 skeins of Lion Brand Yarn 135-212 Hometown USA Yarn

Time:
1- 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of your cowl

Key:
DC: Double Crochet
Sl St: Slip Stitch
Ch: chain
st: stitch

Row 1: Ch 48, sl st to join into a circle.

Row 2:  Ch 3, then in your sl st, dc 1. This will form a kind of triangle.

In third st from your triangle (so skip 2 st, dc in third st), dc 1, ch 1, dc 1, all in the same st, to form another triangle.

Make sure you do not ch in between the last dc of the previous triangle, and the first dc of the next. The pattern should go dc, ch 1, dc--skip 2 st--dc, ch 1, dc. Continue this pattern until you reach the end, you should be 3 st from your first triangle. Sl st in the third ch 3 st, it will be at the very left hand edge of your first triangle.

Rows 3-11 (or 12) : Ch 3, then dc into your sl st that joined your first row together. Then, instead of skipping 3 st, you simply look for the st between your triangles, and start your next triangle in that st, with the same dc, ch 1, dc pattern. Remember, this sounds complicated, but please refer to the pictures here for detailed instructions! After you have completed -- rows, sl st to join and weave in ends. Done! Wasn't the easy? 

There is one more optional thing you can do to add a little bit of dimension to this cowl. If you make your foundation chain very very loose, and progressively crochet tighter and tighter stitches until your last row is very tight, you will get a cowl that has more drape then just a simple tube. I had this happen by accident the first time (the purple scarf), but I love the way it looks and it makes for a more dimensional cowl.

I hope as always if you make something from one of our patterns you'll send us a picture!

Quick and Easy Christmas Stocking Tutorial

Anyone still need a Christmas stocking? We had a new member in our family for Christmas this year (for a pic of my new little Dude see this post), so I needed to whip up a stocking for him since everyone else in our house has a homemade stocking. I didn't want him to suffer the indignity of having a store bought stocking!

It's super easy, too! Here's what you'll need:
Supplies:
two kinds of fabric, they can be scraps about two feet square
thin batting (optional, really)
some ribbon, about 6-7 inches long
embroidery thread
a button

 

1. Trace an existing stocking onto a piece of paper. If you don't have big pieces of paper you can tape several smaller pieces together:

2. Add 1/4 inch around your traced stocking shape for seam allowance. Cut it out and pin it to your fabric--this is your pattern!

3. Cut out two of each fabric and two pieces of batting. It's very important that you fold your fabric in half before you cut out your stocking, so that you get two pieces that have the toe "facing" different directions, so you can actually sew them together! They should look like this:

4. Pin them together, right sides facing. With the interior lining fabric, you will actually sew the batting on the outside of the stocking, like this:

Then you'll sew them together, and turn only the patterned exterior fabric so that it's right side out with the seams on the inside...the other lining "stocking" leave just as it is for now.

5. Slip the lining inside the exterior stocking fabric, with the wrong sides facing each other, batting sandwiched in between:

Use your hands to push the lining and batting so that it fits inside your exterior fabric. It doesn't have to be perfect, but you should try to line up the side seams, like this:

6. Fold the exterior and the interior fabrics over to make a clean edge on top, then pin in place like this:

You'll fold it over about 1/2 inch, making sure to get all the batting on the inside as well!

7. Sew all the way around the top where you have pinned, about 1/4 inch from the edge.

8. Next, you'll be adding the loop for hanging. You're almost done! You will need your ribbon, about six inches long, and button and some sturdy thread for this part.

9. Place your ribbon where you'd like it and sew it down to make sure it's extra stable. I don't want my stockings falling apart with all the goodies crammed into it! I just sewed a small square where the two parts of the ribbon crossed:

10. Sew on your button, right over your square:

You're done! Wasn't that easy? Here is the finished stocking, hanging up and looking very boyish and modern:

Have a fun time with this project! And as always, if you make something using one of our tutorials please send us a picture, we'd love to feature some reader work on the blog very soon!

Whip-It-Up Wednesday: (Gluten-Free) Pumpkin Cheesecake

I LOVE cheesecake in all forms and pumpkin cheesecake is towards the top of my list! Here is a simple, yet rich and creamy version of pumpkin cheesecake just in time for Christmas.  I've included two variations, the gluten-free variation and the gluten-y variation with a crust.

Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (15-oz) can pureed pumpkin
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 c. Greek Yogurt (I used vanilla-flavored, but plain would work too)
1 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 Tbsp. tapioca flour
1 Tbsp. rice flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping:
1/2 c. pecans, chopped
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
pinch of cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, Greek Yogurt, sugar and spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together on medium-high or by hand until well combined.

3. Lightly spray pie pan with cooking spray and pour filling into pan.  Spread out evenly and place in oven for 1 hour. 

4. Put pecans on a cookie sheet and sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon over the top.  Bake in the oven (along with the cheesecake) for a few minutes until toasted.  Pull out of oven and set aside.

5. Remove the cheesecake from the oven (after 1 hour) and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

6. Before serving, put a dollop of cool whip or whipped cream on slice of cheesecake and lightly sprinkle pecans on top.

Gluten-y Variation:

Follow all directions, except for:

Pour filling into a premade graham cracker crust, instead of directly into pie pan.

Use 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour instead of rice and tapioca flour.

Enjoy! ~ Hilary

Thrifty Tip Tuesday: Christmas Soaps

I've always wanted to make soaps, but lately all my money has been going to jewelry making (stay tuned, we'll be posting soon about that!), so I wondered if you could make molded, pretty soaps from bar soap.  After last week's Pretty Almond Bark, I had some candy molds left over and wanted to use them for another project!  Here's what I came up with...

These soaps have to "cure" for about 1 to 3 weeks.  I let mine cure for 5 days (I'm too impatient) and its working well.  I have it on a little plate by the sink!

Here's our easy Christmas Soap Tutorial!
One bar of Dove soap***
Candy or soap molds
Fragrance Oil (I used apple cinnamon)

***I used Dove for several reasons: a) it's white and I wanted white snowflakes, not blue or green ones, b) it's got a lot of lotion so it melted easier than the Fels Naptha I used (which burned and didn't melt, yuck!), and c) it's hypoallergenic so no scent, which made it easier to add my own scented oil to.

1. Grate the soap using a cheese grater (I used the whole bar and it made three big soaps).

2. Put the grated soap and about 1 tsp of fragrance oil into a BOWL and microwave for 30 seconds at a time, quickly stirring between.  If you throw it in for too long, it turns into a giant fluffy mess and overflows.  Keep a CLOSE eye on it.  (I used a thick freezer bag at first and it melted the bag which created a hole and leaked soap all over my microwave.  Use a bowl instead).

3. Scoop/pour into molds.  I "coated" the bottom of the mold quickly at first, then filled in the soap to the top, packing it down with a spoon

4.  Put in the freezer for 3 hours.

5. Pop the soap gently out of the mold onto a plate.  Let cure in a dry place for 1-3 weeks.

6. These would be adorable wrapped in tulle and given as a gift!

There you have it, a cheap, quick and beautiful Christmas gift with three things you already have!

Lacey Scarf Crochet Pattern

This scarf is super light and airy, but still warm. You can wear it long or double it up, and because it's so loosely crocheted it's still not too bulky when doubled. I've made two for myself already, as well as various Christmas presents for friends and family. It comes together fairly quickly for a scarf, about 3-4 hours depending on how quickly you get going on it.

This is basically a modified V stitch, for those of you who already know what that means. For those of you just starting to crochet, I've included a detailed tutorial with pics below on how to make this stitch happen. It looks complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it goes really quickly! Much quicker then doing an entire scarf in a simple dc!

You will need:
I hook
1 skein of Caron simply soft yarn in the color of your choice

Key:
DC: Double Crochet
Sl St: Slip Stitch
Ch: chain
st: stitch

Row 1: Ch. 138(?) ( I know! Ugh!) Sl st to join, while somehow not twisting your chain into a mobius strip. This is hard, if someone knows an easy way to do this, please I beg you let us know in the comments below!

Row 2: ch 3, then in your sl st, dc 1. This will form a kind of triangle.

 Once you have ch 3, you will dc in the sl st of the ch 3 to create a little triangle like this:

 

In third st from your triangle, dc 1, ch 1, dc 1, (all in the same st, to form another triangle)

Make sure you do not ch in between the last dc of the previous triangle, and the first dc of the next. The pattern should go dc, ch 1, dc--skip 3 st--dc, ch 1, dc.

Continue this pattern until you reach the end, you should be 3 st from your first triangle. Sl st in the third ch 3 st, it will look like the very left hand edge of your first triangle:

Row 3: Ch 3, then dc into your sl st that joined your first row together:

Then, instead of skipping 3 st, you simply look for the st between your triangles, and start your next triangle in that st, with the same dc, ch 1, dc pattern.

Your next row of triangles should look like this:

Rows 4-16: *ch 3, dc in sl st of last row. Dc in st between triangles, ch 1, dc in same st. when finished with the row, sl st to join* repeat until scarf is completed!

When you have enough rows is will start to look like this:

Short Variation on the Lacey Circle Scarf:

This makes a slightly shorter, thicker scarf that is made for wearing as a loose cowl rather then doubling up.

Row 1: ch. 99, sl st to join.

Row 2: Follow instructions above, but crochet 18-30 rows for a thicker circle, width wise. I would try it on as you go, to see how much thickness and drape you like. The blue scarf above is 28 rows because I wanted it to be really thick and drape nicely.

Now go make your own! Below is part of my stack of Christmas presents (except the grey one--that baby's MINE!). I am addicted to this pattern and I hope you love it too! And as always if you make this scarf we would love to see pics. So send us a link to your creations and we may just feature what you've done on our blog!