Contemporary Farm Girl

We've Got a New Home on the Web!

2012-05-31T21:22:00.000-04:00

Dear Contemporary Farm Girl Community,

These last few months have been a BLAST. I never expected to gain so many followers in such a short time! I love sharing my journey towards simple living with you all. Know that it's your comments that make this whole blogging endeavor so fulfilling!

Things have been a little crazy lately as the school year winds down, so I apologize for the lack of new posts. Don't despair, I've got some new material in the works that will be posted soon...however, at a new address!

In an effort to unify my online presence (aren't I fancy, I have an online presence!), Contemporary Farm Girl will now be kiss me awake. kiss me awake is the brand that I created for my Etsy shop and use for my social media accounts, so it only makes sense to keep everything together.

This blog has been set to automatically redirect to my new online home, kiss me awake. Hop on over there to add the new address to your reader, subscribe by email, and/or join through Google Connect. Can't wait to see you there!

xo,

Elizabeth

Stamp Socks to Eliminate Pairing Nightmares -or- How in Heck Did I Not Think of This Sooner?

2012-04-07T10:36:00.003-04:00

We all have it.

The pile of unmatched socks that we keep next to the dryer, hoping that one day they'll all be miraculously reunited with their mates. It doesn't happen. The pile grows, and if you're organizationally OCD like me, starts to haunt your dreams.

We've tried family sock-pairing parties, where we bring the pile upstairs in front of the TV and barrel through, hunting down the estranged couples. This consistently results in my mom and I doing all the work, cursing the men of the house and watching way too much Lifetime Movie Channel. Mom has threatened to just throw them all away, but my eco-conscious mind won't go for that.

Obviously I am extremely blessed, since mismatched socks is the primary dilemma in my life right now.

After weeks of contemplation while folding laundry, I've realized that the root of the problem is that we have seven people living in this house, all of whom tend to wear white socks of various sizes and styles. Different enough that you can't mix and match, but similar enough that they all look the same fresh out of the dryer. I came to the conclusion that we needed some kind of code to be able to tell each other's socks apart and quickly pair them up.

One extremely long introduction later, allow me to introduce you to....

The stamped sock!

Sock salvation? I'm hoping.

I'm hoping that stamping each family member's socks with a shape or color just for them will make it way easier for my mom and I to fold laundry, and will keep that hideous pile to a minimum. Read on for the tutorial!

You'll need:

*Socks
*Stamp (I used an acrylic I had for paper crafts, but you can use rubber, foam, or even a stencil. Also, simple and blocky is better...details won't show up anyway.)
*Fabric paint
*Sponge brush for applying the paint to the stamp (you could use a regular paintbrush too)
*Bowl or plate for squeezing the paint out on

First, if your socks are brand new, you need to wash them. Here's a good tip for fabric painting in general: if you flick some water on to the fabric and it beads up, that means you need to wash it. If the water beads up, it means it isn't soaking in because of the way the fabric is treated, meaning the paint won't set in either.

See the water beads? No es bueno, must wash.

Once your socks are washed and dried, lay them out, soles up.

Bottoms up!

Squeeze out some fabric paint. This amount I squeezed out was actually way too much. You need just a tiny bit of paint.

Using your brush, swipe a layer of fabric paint onto your stamp. This is a rare case when less is not more. Because sock fabric is pretty cushy, you won't leave much of a print if you only put on a thin layer of paint.

Stamp that sock, baby!

Here's what I mean about not putting enough paint on the stamp.

For my next try, I was more generous with the paint. The design is less detailed, but that's okay for my purpose.

Here you can see the side-by-side difference of more and less paint.

And, we're already done! That was pretty quick, right? After I had my supplies together, this seriously look me less than 60 seconds.

Voilà!

I've only done my gym socks so far, but my mom and I are planning to get everybody's done in a different color. I'll let you know if this solves or at least alleviates our problem!

First of all, tell me I'm not the only one with this problem in the first place, right? And then, how do you keep your socks paired up?

Prettier (But Still Super Easy) Knitted Dishcloth Tutorial

2012-03-31T20:50:00.000-04:00

Hey fellow knitting newbies, ready for something a bit more interesting and attractive than the Absolute Beginner's First Knitted Dishcloth? This Prettier Knitted Dishcloth is still super easy and appropriate for beginners, but you'll get to learn a few new tricks AND it looks way nicer than the boring back-and-forth first one we did.

Thanks to Beth at the chiropractor who not only first got me into knitting, but also showed me this fun pattern!

Here's what you need:

*A ball of Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn (you'll be able to make at least 2 dishcloths out of one ball)
*A pair of #7 knitting needles: as I explain in the first video, you might want to have both 9" and 13" needles
*Scissors and a yarn needle for finishing off

*The pattern...since it's not the same thing over and over like our first dishcloth, it's nice to have as a reference just to double-check yourself

Prettier Knitted Dishcloth Pattern

1. Cast on 4 (remember, the slipknot counts as 1)
2. Knit 1 row
3. Next row: knit 2, yarn over, knit 2
4. Next row: knit 2, yarn over, knit to end of row
5. Continue step 4 until there are 45 stitches on needle
6. Next row: knit 1, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to end of row
7. Continue step 6 until there are 5 stitches left on the needle
8. Next row: knit 2, knit 2 together, knit 1
9. Cast off 4 stitches

10: Cut yarn and weave in ends

Let's get started!

If you need a review on tying a slipknot and casting on or how to knit stitch, go ahead a take a minute to view the videos linked in this sentence.

This video will get you from the slipknot to the halfway mark of the dishcloth. You'll learn how to increase, or add a stitch to each new row, which is how we start from a corner and knit diagonally.

Here's mine after a few minutes. See the pretty border made by yarning over?

As you keep increasing, your 9" needles might start to feel a bit too short for holding all those stitches. In this video, I show you how to switch out to longer needles.

Once you've got 45 stitches on the needle, woohoo, you're halfway there! Now it's time to decrease. Watch below.

Just to emphasize that it's perfectly fine if you make mistakes, here's some proof of my knitting fallibility.

Finally, when you've got 5 stitches left on the needle, it's time to cast off and finish the dishcloth.

Aaaaaaand, voilà! I love making these in bright colors, they're so cheery and make me feel like my new granny pastime is somehow hip and cool.

So, how'd you do? Give it a go, then come back and tell me about it!

Someday Project: Greenhouse from Salvaged Windows

2012-03-14T18:15:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, we went to a salvage sale in nearby Binghamton, NY. They had tons of doors, pillars, molding, and a big collection of windows, all beautifully junky and shabby in the style I LOVE.

Future baby (plant) makers

The huge collection of salvaged windows priced at just a few bucks each got me and Tomasi thinking...GREENHOUSE! We've always said we'd love to have a greenhouse once we have our own place, but I've heard they can be pretty pricey. The salvage place had a lookbook of projects made from salvaged materials, and one that really caught our eye was made from a hodgepodge of mismatched old windows. Way cheaper than a kit, and (ding, ding, ding!) good for Mother Earth!

Tomás is handy enough that I know he'll be able to put together one of these babies once we have our little homestead. In the meantime, here's some awesome inspiration I found by searching on Google and Pinterest.

Seattle Tall Poppy

Better Homes & Gardens

Sustain Lane

Better Homes & Gardens

Green Home Building

Country Living/Donna Griffith

Speaking of Pinterest, I started a greenhouse love pinboard to keep track of my inspiration for this someday project. You can follow my board here.

Oh, and if you live in the area and want to check out that salvage sale, there's info here.

Anybody out there have a salvaged materials greenhouse? Comment and inspire me!

Genius Antique Shop Idea: In the Rough Room (Americana Roads Antiques Part 2)

2012-02-29T10:27:00.004-05:00

Remember the amazing treasure trove we toured in my last post? (That spool cabinet...COVETING!)

As promised, welcome to Part 2, featuring the oh-so-fun In the Rough Room.

Now, I'm not enough of an antiques buff to know if this is actually that unique of an idea, but I was just totally taken with the concept of an "as is" junk room in an antique store. It was such a neat experience as a shopper to find this picker's paradise in an out-of-the-way room off the main store which is otherwise so gorgeously meticulous.

I was smitten with this compartmentalized shelving unit (maybe an old mail sorting cabinet?).

I would love it as an oversized trinket cabinet, like this but with deeper shelves.

source

Back in the regular showroom, I fell in love with this salvaged wood table. I think Tomás could make us one!

I actually might like it a bit more rough ... double entendre anyone? ;-)

Vintage luggage looks super chic stacked. Imagine this...

luggage for sale at Americana Roads

...as this.

from 6th Street Design School, lots more great luggage ideas!

Even with nothing in them, these vintage photo frames look beautiful grouped together!

Love the shape of these little mirrors!

Messy bookshelf is a perfect addition to my library love Pinterest board!

Someone left this message on a vintage chalkboard. Couldn't have said it better myself!

"this is a place with old stuff"

The sign on this box of old photos gave me a good giggle!

If you live in the NEPA area or happen to pass through, be sure to stop at Americana Roads Antiques. Even if you're looking to buy, it's a great place to get vintage-inspired decorating ideas.

What's your favorite antique shop? No matter the location, tell us about it!

Awesome Local Find: Americana Roads Antiques in Springville, PA (Part 1)

2012-02-12T16:25:00.004-05:00

What aspiring farm girl doesn't love a great antique store?

Last weekend, my parents and I were lucky enough to stumble upon Americana Roads Antiques in Springville, PA. I made a small ($17) purchase, but way more valuable than that, the items and displays at Americana gave me lots of inspiration for things I'd like to incorporate in our home one day.

Americana doesn't have a website, so I'll do my best to give you the grand tour right here.

Here's what you'll see when you drive up. I actually decided to stay in the car and knit while my parents ran in, but my dad was back out in minutes to tell me I just had to come in. I'm so glad I did!

Americana is located on Main Street in Springville

View when you walk in the door

The first floor is set up with kitchen and sitting room displays.

Love the antique glass bottles in this cabinet

Have you ever seen an antique spice box before? I would put this on a display cabinet in my kitchen or dining room.

I just loved this piece; complete with nutmeg grater!

I'm used to seeing (baby) grands in black...I love the polished wood look of this one! It would take up a good chunk of space in a room, but since I can (kind of) play piano, and more importantly, really enjoy playing, I think the space consumption would be worth it if we actually put the piano to use. Functional beauty, baby!

Tag said "Hazelton Bros., est. 1849"

Now this piece was THE awesome find of our visit. This is a rotating spool cabinet by J. & P. Coats. Rebekah (the very sweet proprietor who showed us around) explained that a shop owner would have used this in the 1800s to display the Coats thread he had for sale. I just adored how Rebekah had it set up as a side table. Again, I love the idea of not merely displaying an antique, but using it and incorporating it into your daily life as well.

My new love

Roll up that front panel, and you can see how the thread is inside.

Squeal, just love the rolltop (rollside?) panel!

Another side is glass-paneled so customers could see right inside to the spools of thread.

It's like an antique vending machine!

There's a hinged flap at the top where the show owner could restock and drop in new thread.

Notice the numbers-gotta love that organization!

However much in love we were with this extremely rare and unique find, it was already sold - for $1,500, which I think is a very fair price considering how special it is. I just hope that a similar one crosses my path again one day when I'll be able to afford to take it home with me!

I was really taken with this little beauty, too. It's a 19th century foot warmer, marked at $155. I love the primitive punched heart design. I think this would look really neat on a mantle or on the floor near a fireplace or woodpile.

I'm a sucker for antique house goods turned rustic decor!

Tomás really loves copper and cast iron cookware and kitchen utensils, so I can see us doing something like this in our kitchen. Of course, as per the recurring theme in this post, I would want the cookware to actually use the cookware, not just display it. (*Does anyone use vintage cast iron for cooking/baking? I'd love your take on the feasibility of using that versus modern cookware--comment at the end of the post!)

Could hang over counter space or an island

This was my parents' drool-inducing find. It's an 1890's medical cabinet, where a surgeon would keep his instruments (yikes!). It's marked at $1,950. My mom is thinking about getting it, but she wants to make sure she'll put it to use and isn't yet sure what she would do with it. Any ideas on what to store in here?

Very neat how the shelves swing out!

See those adorable, tiny antique books? That was my big purchase of the day! $17 for all six. For now, I'll use them as props when I take pics for my Etsy shop, and then I'll find a cute way to display them when we have our own house.

I've never seen such tiny books--none of them are over 6" tall!

See that cute screened-in pie safe? We really liked that, too. Tag says $595.

I think that pie safe would look great in a kitchen, storing pots
and pans. Also might make a good little pantry.

The last thing I'm going to show you today is this awesome suspended ladder used as a shelf for those baskets. How cool is this? I'm not sure where I would put this or what I'd use it for, but I heart it very much.

That's a pretty long, photo-laden post for one day, so I'll let you digest and bring you Part Dos in a few days. Don't forget to comment below if you have any knowledge about using antique cast iron cookware!

They're Ba-aaaaack! Clean and Disinfect Your Bird Feeders

2012-02-05T17:19:00.001-05:00

that's some good seed, lady!

"Mom, Mom, get up, they're back! The birds are back!"

i've missed these little pudgers!

Isn't it so cute when the little ones wake you up with such excitement early in the morning?

Will you still think it's adorable when I tell you that I don't have any kids, and that was actually 26-year old ME running to my parent's room this morning to tell my mom the news?

Not so much? Well, let me explain...

our neighbor's shed washed up against our bridge

Our neighborhood was hit pretty hard by flooding in September as a result of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. In addition to the damage, mess, and helplessness such an event causes, an additional major bummer has been that we haven't had any wild birds at our feeders in months. Ever since the flood, our usually busy feeders have stood untouched.

can you tell I was having fun with photo effects today?

One farm girl skill I've got down pat is a love of nature, especially birds, so this has been a pretty sucky winter in terms of bird watching. I love to sit in our sun room with my binoculars and field guide, observing and identifying the feathered characters that stop by. I've really missed that this year.

finally some winter beauty

So, when this morning I noticed the cat staring out the window with that jerky attentiveness that can only be caused by a little flying fluffball, my heart jumped a bit. I looked out in the garden, and there on the dried stalks were a half dozen American gold finches, chowing down on thistle seeds!

welcome back, friend!

Now that I knew that the birds were still around here somewhere and were starting to reconsider our yard as a hangout spot, I decided to clean and refill our feeders.

How to Clean Your Bird Feeders

I'd never cleaned feeders before (my mom's always taken care of that), so I Googled an article form Cornell Lab of Ornithology to find out how to properly do so. This will be a lot easier in the summer when I can do it outside in big buckets or plastic tubs, but the sink worked fine for today.

I filled one side of the sink with hot soapy water (I used Dawn, because I figure if it's safe enough to wash oil off penguins, it's got to be okay for the bird feeder). I put the first feeder in and let it soak for a bit, then scrubbed it with a dish sponge.

The Cornell Lab article said to then soak the feeder in a a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water. I started measuring very carefully to make sure I'd get the ratio right, then I realized it was going to take forever, so I just filled the sink with hot water and threw in some Clorox. I probably ended up putting in about 4 cups of bleach. I don't know how that came out in relation to the 1:9 solution, but I don't think it could have been too far off. It seemed to get things clean, but it didn't reek like bleach either.

once I moved the first feeder to the bleach solution sink, I put
the other feeders in the soap water

Once everything had been washed and rinsed (I rinsed VERY well to make sure the bleach was off), I set everything outside to dry.

After a few hours, I put fresh food in the feeders, and my sweet hubby hung them outside. Now I'll really be on the watch out for more homecomers!

can't wait to see who stops by!

My question for you all is, how do you clean your feeders? Do you know a better way? Please share!

Absolute Beginner's First Knitted Dishcloth (You Can Do It!)

2012-02-01T18:28:00.000-05:00

Have you been practicing your slipknot and casting on?

NO?! (mock horror)

Well I guess that's alright, considering you're a real person with a life and everything. It doesn't matter since I've included the casting on tutorial video again in this post, because that's how much I love you. So no worries.

You're going to learn to make this!

This post is going to walk you through how to make your very first knitting project, a cute and functional dishcloth. It's very important for me to stress to you that you CAN do this, even if you've never even picked up a pair of needles before you. I have been knitting for two and a half weeks now (seriously, that's it, never even tried it before), and I was able to pull this off. So trust me, you can do it too.

I got mine at A.C. Moore and Michael's

You need:

*A ball of Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn (check out all the awesome colors!)

*A pair of #7 knitting needles (I got Clover Takumi bamboo--less slippery than metal, and bamboo is a very renewable resource!)

*You'll also need scissors and a yarn needle (or bobby pin or paperclip) at the very end when you're done.

Close up so you can see what kind of needles I got

Now before we get started, let me give you a quick pep talk (inspired by this post by Ashley of Make It and Love It):

You will probably kind of suck at this to begin with. The needles will feel really awkward in your hands, stitches will fall off, and you will very possibly end up with some unexplained holes here and there (this is still happening to me). Your first project is not going to be perfect; it may even be slightly hideous. But it will be YOURS, and you will be proud of yourself, and you will get better the more you do it. Don't stop or give up because things don't feel or look right. You'll get it in time.

Okay, enough of that touchy-feely stuff. Here we go!

First, you need to tie a slipknot at the end of your yarn, and then cast on 29 stitches. Here's a video to remind you how.

You should have a total of 30 stitches on your right needle (the slipknot plus the 29 you cast on). Now it's time to knit, baby! Follow along with the video, and feel free to pause and backtrack as needed. And shout out to my mom for the great camera work! :-)

After you knit your first row, you just start over again. Here's a video on starting a new row.

Now you just keep knitting your little heart out until you have enough rows that your dishcloth is more or less a square. To prove that I'm still a beginner that somehow ends up with holes in her knitting, here's a piece of evidence.

Now where did that come from?

Every few rows or so, count your stitches to make sure there's still 30. I tend to end up with 31 or 32 (not sure why!), so here's how you fix that.

Once you've got a square (and don't worry if it's days or weeks or whatevers later; work at your own pace), you're ready to finish off your work. Watch this tutorial to see how to bind off and tuck in the ends of string.

After you tuck in the tail of the string you finished with, you can do the same thing with the tail from the slipknot.

And then, drumroll please... YOU DID IT!

My finished dishcloth, holes, bumps, and all

Use it, frame it, or unravel it to start again, whatever floats your boat. Regardless, show it off for a bit first, and come back here to post a photo or tell us how it went!

Repurpose a Pipe Cleaner as a Knitting "Bookmark" for Unfinished Projects

2012-01-26T17:37:00.000-05:00

For the past week I've been practicing my knit stitch (over...and over...and over) in preparation for an upcoming, top-secret project tutorial for all of YOU lovely people.

Here's the conundrum: I'm not done yet with the practice project I started (and I don't want to unravel/shelf it), BUT I'm ready to start another one from scratch to start teaching y'all with. Aaaaand I only have one set of needles.

What to do?

Well, if you have more common sense than I do, you'll just borrow your mom's needles for your new project. But that was way too conventional and uncreative for me (small print: the thought never entered my pretty little head), so I had the brilliant idea to use a pipe cleaner as a sort of bookmark to hold my row until I come back to the project.

All you need is a pipe cleaner.

Feed the pipe cleaner through the row that's on the needle. My stitches were pretty tight, so I could only get one on at a time and had to transfer the stitches really close to the end of the needle.

Once all the stitches are on the pipe cleaner, they might be bunched up, so spread them out a bit just like they'd be on the needle.

The great thing about using a pipe cleaner is you can then twist the ends together to make sure the stitches won't fall off!

Now I realize that experienced knitters probably have some contraption (or just extra needles!) to handle situations like this, but for me, this was a quick and easy solution. Part of being a contemporary farm girl is making do with what you've got at hand and not being afraid to try things different ways (and potentially look silly doing so!).

Experienced knitters, are there any other strategies besides extra needles and pipe cleaners for "bookmarking" projects?

Sweeten Up Your Wardrobe: Simple DIY Doily Stencil T-Shirt

2012-01-23T16:35:00.000-05:00

Whether you're a Valentine's Day person or not, this T-shirt craft is too cute and quick to pass up!

Make this sweet shirt in less than 10 minutes!

I admit it, I'm one of those perpetually festive people who takes advantage of any and every opportunity to dress all matchy-matchy and accessorize on a theme. When my husband and I first started dating, he told me one of the things he loved most about me was how cute it was that I had a color-coded outfit to go along with every holiday.

Although I do have a fair number of red shirts (it's our school color, and every Friday is school spirit day), I don't have any Valentine's-specific ones. So when I saw this craft idea in the February issue of Disney's Family Fun magazine, I knew I had to try it and share it with you all!

This is all you'll need!

You'll need:
*A shirt (I got mine on clearance for $3.60 at Target!)
*Fabric paint (I used Tulip Soft in Scarlet Pearl)
*A paper doily; browse here on Amazon (I used an 8" heart, you can choose your own shape and size to suit your taste)
*A foam stencil brush (the Family Fun instructions called for a plunger-shaped one, but at Michael's the kind I bought was way cheaper, and it worked fine)
*A glue stick
*Newspaper or cardboard to put under the shirt when painting
*A dish or plate to squeeze the paint out on to
*A paper clip or toothpick
*Little nail scissors are helpful, but not completely necessary

See those little bits of paper still stuck in the doily?

Start out by using the paper clip or toothpick to poke out all the paper bits.

My doily had some little blocks that weren't punched out at all, so that's where the nail scissors came in handy to cut them out.

Once the doily's ready, put the newspaper or cardboard inside the shirt, under where you're going to put the design. This is to protect the shirt from paint soaking through on to the back.

Dab some glue on to the back of the doily. BE CAREFUL, just put on a bit. I made my first mistake here by really layering it on, which made for a lot of frustration later (you'll see what I mean in a minute).

Place the doily on the shirt and smooth down. I lined the top of the heart up with the armpits of the shirt, but I would suggest doing it a bit higher; I think mine came out looking a little too low.

Squeeze some paint on to the container or plate.

Get paint on your brush and dab it all over the doily to fill in every white space. Make sure you use an up-and-down dabbing motion. I brushed back and forth in some spots, and that made it harder to pull the doily off later.

Use just a corner of the brush on the edges of the doily, where you have to be really careful that you don't go out of the design.

Check your design to make sure you covered all the white spots with paint.

Once you've made sure you've filled the design, pull off the doily. DON'T wait until the paint is dry. I did wait, and look what happened!

I attribute this slight disaster to three mistakes: putting on too much glue, brushing instead of dabbing the paint, and letting the paint dry before I took off the doily. It took nearly an hour to pick every little bit of doily paper out of the dried paint.

At this point I actually gave up and called it a failed project, but some you-can-do-it-and-for-God's-sake-stop-whining talk from my parents and husband got me to take a second look and realize I could salvage it. It was really annoying, though.

Also, my sweater was a mess after having to pick off all that paper. So I say again, pull off the paper doily as soon as you're finished painting. The alternative is a real bizznatch.

In the end, you'll end up with this ADORABLE design! Let it dry and set according to the instructions for your particular fabric paint. I let mine dry flat all day, and I'm going to heat set it tomorrow with an iron. Also, be sure to wash cold, inside out.

Isn't it pretty? The design looks kind of Scandinavian to me, which is one of my favorite winter styles!

If red and hearts isn't your thing, try it out with a round doily and a different colored shirt and paint to suit your style. Whatever you do, let us know how it goes by commenting below!

Lunch, Olé! How to Make Authentic Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish Omelette)

2012-01-21T20:53:00.001-05:00

Nothing hits the spot like comfort food, especially on a snowy weekend day like we're having here in Pennsylvania. Whether you're holed up inside like me, or soaking up a hot sunny day in one of those warmer climates I've been told exist out there somewhere (jealous!), today's recipe is intended to fill your belly and your heart.

Tortilla de Patatas...mmm, ¡qué rica!

This isn't your grandmother's comfort food, though (unless your granny is a sweet Spanish señora who continually insists that you eat "¡Más, más!"). Today's recipe is straight from the heart of sunny Andalucía and is brought to you thanks to my guapísimo husband Tomás, 100% Spaniard and 99% momma's boy (hence the awesome cooking skills).

My man and his momma, two awesome
Spanish cooks, on our wedding day

Tortilla de Patatas, or Tortilla Española, is a very typical Spanish dish that is basically an omelette stuffed with fried potatoes and onions. You can eat it hot or cold, which makes it versatile as a classic dinner on a cold night or the perfect dish to bring along on a summer picnic.

So, ¡vamos!; let's get at it!

You're going to make one tortilla, which will serve 4 people as a main dish or 8 people as a side dish. We actually made ours as two smaller omelettes because we only had a small skillet. Whether you do one big one or two smaller ones, the instructions are the same, just use your egg mixture accordingly when it's time to pour it in the skillet.

My supplies, minus a couple things I didn't realize I'd need
(but everything's on the list below!)

You'll need:
*8 large eggs
*4 medium-sized potatoes
*1 onion
*Salt
*Olive oil (preferably extra-virgin)
*2 skillets (one for the onions and one for the potatoes, and later, the actual omelette)
*A strainer or bowl to rinse the potatoes in
*A mixing bowl
*A plate for flipping the omelette
*A knife and/or potato peeler for peeling and cutting the potatoes and onion
*A spatula
*A whisk
*One sexy Spanish guy (if you don't have one readily available, just borrow mine via this post)

First, peel the potatoes and chop them up into chunks. Don't make them too small-they're supposed to be chunky in the omelette.

Rinse the potatoes. Might seem obvious, but I've been known to overlook seemingly apparent details, so I don't assume.

Pour a generous amount of olive oil into one of the skillets, enough that a layer of the potatoes are going to be covered by olive oil.

Let the olive oil warm up on a medium heat setting (we put it on 6 by our stove's setting).

The olive oil is ready when you can hold your hand over the skillet and feel the heat rising off the oil. Don't wait for it to be boiling. Once it's ready, put in the potatoes. (Note: if you're using a small skillet like we did, only about half of the potatoes will fit in the skillet. Once these are done, repeat with the second half of the potatoes.)

While the potatoes begin to fry, get your onion ready. Tomás taught me to first slice off the ends-this makes it easier to peel off all those papery layers.

Once the onion is peeled, chop it up. These pieces should be smaller than the potato ones.

Get your second skillet on the stove, but this time, only put in enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Warm it up on a medium setting and wait for it to warm up just like we did with the potatoes.

Once the skillet's ready, put in the onions. You should be able to fit all the onions in the one skillet.

Now we wait for the potatoes and onions to fry up. Keep moving them both around to keep them from sticking to the bottom and to make sure they get evenly cooked.

The potatoes are done when they are starting to turn golden.

Same for the onions; just get them a bit golden.

Once the potatoes and onions are golden, take them off the burner. Remember, you may have to go through the potato steps twice if they didn't all fit in the one skillet. We moved our potatoes to a plate so we could brown the second batch in the same skillet. In the meantime, just set the onions aside.

Golden and soon-to-be delicious

Now you can crack the eggs into the mixing bowl and whisk them up.

Make sure to whisk them really well so the mixture isn't stringy at all.

Add in all of the potatoes and onions.

Add just a few quick shakes of salt. A dash, if you will.

Stir the egg mixture to make sure everything's evenly mixed.

Take one of the skillets you already used and put it back on the burner. Add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom, and warm on a medium setting.

Once the oil is warm, pour in the egg mixture. It'll be the whole mixture or just half, depending on what size skillet you used. When the egg is in, turn the heat down a bit.

Use your spatula to push the omelette away from the edge to allow the egg to fill in that space and cook. Do this all the way around the edge to make sure no egg pools on top.

Keep pulling up the side of the omelette to peek underneath. As soon as the bottom is starting to look golden, it's time to flip it. This is a crucial step where the omelette could get burned if you wait to long to flip it, so be sure to do this as soon as it starts to look golden.

It's time to flip! Tomás has a very scientific method which involved covering the skillet with a plate, flipping it over fast as lighting, and sliding the omelette from the plate back in to the skillet. Allow him to demonstrate:

Now that the omelette is flipped, do the same thing again, keeping an eye on the underside and taking it from the skillet as soon as it's looking golden. Go ahead and do the second omelette if you were making two smaller ones.

Ya está, ¡muy bien! When you're ready to serve, cut the tortilla into sections like a pie. Enjoy warm or cold. Tomás wants me to add that most Spanish people prefer it cold!

If you make this recipe, come back and let us know how you liked it! I find that Americans tend to be a bit wary at the idea of an omelette that's made with potatoes and not eaten for breakfast (especially if it's served cold), so I'm very interested to see what you think! I'm a very picky American eater, and I love it, so it can't be tooooo exotic.

¡Qué aproveche!

Adventures in Knitting: How to Tie a Slipknot and Cast On Like Nobody's Business

2012-01-16T17:16:00.000-05:00

If you're so new to knitting that you don't even understand half the words in the title of this post, then read on; this one's for you, babycakes.

Before 8:00 a.m. this morning, I had never cast on in my life, and now I'm writing a tutorial on it. So trust me when I say that it's easy ~~as pie~~ (scratch that idiom, I actually suck at making pie), and you'll have it down pat in no time.

Knitting needle with some stitches cast on

Quick side story: this dive into the world of knitting started (unbeknownst to me) last week when I was at the chiropractor's for my twice-weekly adjustment and physical therapy session. One of the ladies who works in the office admired my scarf and asked me if I had made it. I told her no, that I couldn't knit at all, but was hoping to learn in the near future.

So I show up this morning and there's Beth, needles and ball of yarn in hand, ready to get me started (did I mention it was 8:00 a.m.? and I hadn't even had my coffee yet?). It's a testament to Beth's excellent teaching skills that by the time my appointment was called ten minutes later, she already had me well on my way to a cotton dishcloth.

Beth sent me home with the needles and yarn and told me to keep practicing. The actual knitting stitches aren't too pretty yet, but I've got the basics down and felt confident enough to share this first step with you today.

So let's get to it! I used a number 9 needle and some scrap yarn I had from a previous failed attempt at crocheting, but for practicing purposes, you can use whatever you have at hand.

Tying a slipknot and casting on is much better shown than described, so I made this video tutorial to show you how.

Keep in mind that by no means is this the only way to tie a slipknot or cast on. It's just the way that makes the most sense to me.

My goal for this first adventure into knitting is to make a cotton dishcloth like the one Beth got me started on. On Saturday I'm going to a MaryJane Farmgirl meeting to get more help with the dishcloth, so I'll share what I learn after that.

Happy casting on!

Repair Your Underwire Bra in 15 Minutes (No Sewing Required!)

2012-01-13T19:04:00.001-05:00

Ladies, we all know how nearly impossible it is to find the perfect bra. I found mine about two years ago and was super bummed when the underwire poked through about eight months later. It had served me well, but it still sucked having to throw it away and shell out another $45+ for a new one.

Youch! Get back in there where you belong!

So when Perfect Bosom Buddy #2 broke free of it's oh-so-soft lining yesterday, I began to grumpily resign myself to the idea of having to make a trip to the mall this weekend and use that credit card I'm trying to keep nice and cool in my wallet.

But then I realized what a perfect opportunity this was to get another contemporary farm girl skill under my belt! I decided to give underwire bra repair a good college try. It it worked, that'd be $45 still in my bank account, and one less abandoned bra taking up space in the landfill.

I'm very pleased with how the repair came out. The bra feels very comfortable, and it took me less than 15 minutes to fix it. Want to try my method with one of your poky underwires?

Here's what you'll need:

*The bra (duh)
*A hot glue gun and glue stick
*A small piece of felt, any color (I just used cheap felt that I had in my craft box)
*Scissors

I used regular and nail scissors, but you'll be
fine if you just have one of those.

First, plug in the glue gun so it can start to get hot.

Pull out the offending underwire so there's enough exposed to pinch between your fingers.

Don't pull it out too much or it might be hard to get back in.

Next cut a little piece of felt. I cut a piece one inch square.

It doesn't have to be exactly 1"; I ended up
trimming quite a bit at the end anyway.

Fold the felt in half so it's double-thick.

Fold the felt side to side.

Squeeze some hot glue onto the back side of the wire and attach the folded felt to the back.

If the felt tries to unfold, put a tiny bit of hot glue
in the fold and squeeze it shut.

Now squeeze a spot of glue to the front of the wire, and fold the felt down OVER the wire.

Dot of glue...

...and fold down the felt.

Now trim the felt on the bottom and sides (this is where my tiny nail scissors came in handy). It's really the tip of the wire we're trying to pad, so it's okay to trim on the sides really close to the wire.

Looks like a little Q-Tip!

Now we've got the get the wire back in place. I had to cut the fabric that covers the underwire a little bit so the newly fattened wire could fit.

Little vertical cut...

...and back in place.

At least with my bra, the cover fabric wouldn't stretch back over the end of the wire since it was bigger now from the felt. So I put some glue on the backside of the felt and squeezed it against the fabric with my fingers.

Bit of glue behind the felt...

...and squeeze for a few seconds to set.

Finally, I used a bit of the felt that I trimmed off to make a rectangle big enough to cover the opened area. Squeeze some glue over the spot, and press on the felt rectangle. You might need to add a little bit more glue around the edges to smooth it all down.

Glue another piece of felt over the repair area.

Voilà! I tried my bra on right away, and it felt great. I'll have to see how it stands up to wear and washing, but I'll keep you posted in the comments section.

All finished and can't even feel it against my skin!

Have you ever repaired a poky underwire before? I'd love to hear your techniques!

How to Prevent Earbud Tangles with Old School Friendship Bracelet Knotting

2012-01-11T18:46:00.001-05:00

****hey Pinterest fans! we've up and moved, but you can still find this tutorial and more on my new site here!****

We've all experienced it: the small electronics cord tangle of death.

I swear, I put my earbuds in my bag wound up so nice and neat, and in the ten minutes it takes to get from home to work, they somehow get themselves into an intricate pretzel of frustration that I can't even begin to deal with until I've had my first cup of coffee.

So I was super-psyched when I saw this idea on Apartment Therapy yesterday. One way to prevent earbud tangling is to make the cord thicker, and AT wrote about achieving this through string-knotting à la preteen summer friendship bracelets. Take a look:

My finished project: wrapped earbuds = less tangles!

Pretty sweet, huh? If you've made friendship bracelets before, this will be a piece of cake for you. If not, still make this super easy! Because I was the teen queen of embroidery floss bracelets, and I will walk you through it, baby.

First, what you'll need:

*3 skeins of embroidery floss, 8.7 yards each (there's only one in the picture, but you'll need 3; and don't get the satin kind, it's really pretty but doesn't hold a knot worth crap)
*Scissors
*Tape
*A paper clamp (not necessary but will make things easier)
*Earbuds
*Not a measuring tape...he kind of just snuck his way into the picture

Supplies - make sure you've got three of the skeins of floss

I picked a variegated color because I wanted to have some color variety, but I didn't want to have to go through the trouble of tying different colors on and off.

Ready to rock? Here we go:

Start by taping the plug end of the earbuds to the table.

Taping in an X pattern seemed to hold it better than just putting a strip across.

Wrap the other end (the "buds") around the back of your chair, and clip in place with the paper clamp. If you're working in the floor, you can tape the plug end to the floor, and (this sounds weird, but it works really well) wind the other end around your big toe.

The paper clamp holds the other end in place so the cord is taut.

Here's what my work space looks like so far.

See how the cord is stretched instead of slack?
This will make it easier to wrap the cord.

Now, take out a skein of embroidery floss and untangle it. Even when it's fresh from the skein, it ALWAYS tangles when I take off those little paper rings!

Don't be alarmed, floss tangles are normal!

Next, find the two ends of the floss and the midpoint of the entire length.

Hint: After you find the midpoint, pinch it as we go to the next step.
It's easy to drop it and have to start over!

Put the embroidery floss under the cord, and keep track of the midpoint so you'll be able to tie a knot with relatively even lengths on either side. Tie a knot around the cord, just like you would in the first step of tying your shoes.

Tie a single knot...

...and pull it tight.

Next, use your hand to roll up each side of the floss. It's really long right now, and it'll be a pain in the butt to work with if you don't roll it up.

Just wind each end (one at a time) around your hand...

...and set down on either side of the cord.

Alright, now here is where this gets really sexy and awesome, because -- guess what! -- I made a short video tutorial to show you how to do the Chinese Staircase stitch! This knotting technique is very easy, but it's better shown than written. Watch, and be amazed at how incredible you will be as you try it along with me.

As you get farther along in your wrapping, you can move the already wrapped part up and tape it over the wrapping. Otherwise, you'll be working with your elbows in your sides like a T-Rex.

Move the tape to get the cord in a comfortable position for wrapping again.

Eventually you're going to run out of floss. When the ends are getting too short to work with, trim them to about 1 inch and wrap them with a short piece of tape. Then just start off a new skein of floss same as we did originally, tying a simple knot and then starting the Chinese Staircase again.

Trim and tape the ends.

Start a new skein and wrap right over the tape.

When you get to the end of the cord (where it splits off into each earbud), tie a simple double knot, trim the ends very close to the knot, and dab on a tiny bit of clear-drying glue. I use my fingers to spread the glue around the knot and squeeze it to flatten the tiny ends of floss.

Tie a double knot, then trim the ends close to the knot.

Dab on some glue to secure the knot.

Now, to wrap the two earbud strands, you just start over again. Tape an earbud to the table, clamp the already wrapped cord to your chair, and go at it. When one earbud strand is all wrapped, do the other one.

Tape on the earbud just like we did with the plug end of the cord.

Clamp down the already wrapped end.

You'll have to tie off and knot on a new skein when you run out, or if your one of your earbuds has a plastic piece in the middle like mine do. Don't worry, just go back and follow the simple steps we already went though. I'm sure you're ROCKING this!

It took me about three hours to finish this project. You don't have to do it all in one sitting, though. Since we're essentially wrapping the cord with pretty knots, it won't come undone if you set it aside for awhile.

Love, love, LOVING it!

So how'd it go? If you attempted this project, let us know how it went! Especially leave a comment if you're stuck or had problems--we'll work it out together!

Recipe Walk-Through: Complete Beginner's Easy 5 Ingredient Vegetarian Lasagna

2012-01-09T17:32:00.000-05:00

This weekend I had some friends over, and I decided to cook something versus our usual pizza or potluck approach. When I asked my one girlfriend, "How about veggie lasagna?", her reaction was (pause) "You're going to make that?"

Yup, that's the reputation I have among my friends when it comes to the culinary arts.

But yes, I was going to make that, and guess what -- I did! And it turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

I started with this recipe from Food.com. I knew I wanted to make a vegetarian lasagna (I'm not a vegetarian, but I wanted something light), and I also wanted something simple since I'm new at this, and I didn't want to have to shop for a bunch of ingredients.

The recipe calls for:

1 28 ounce jar pasta sauce (we already had a big jar of Prego, so I used some of that)
8 ounces no-boil lasagna noodles (I had no idea what 8 ounces of lasagna noodles looks like, but we had an almost-full box that said 16 oz. on it, so I figured that'd be fine)
15 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
3 cups lightly steamed vegetables (I bought a little bag of green beans, 3 zucchini, and 2 yellow squash; we already had a bag of carrots at home--turned out to be about twice as much as I needed!)
8 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese (I got a 16 oz. bag of shredded cheese)

My supplies

You'll also need a casserole dish (or whatever you like to use to bake lasagna in), a microwave-safe bowl for steaming the vegetables, a little mixing bowl, cling wrap, tinfoil, a knife, a spoon, and a spatula.

So here we go. I did NOT preheat the oven from the get-go, because I prepared the lasagna in the afternoon to put in the oven later that night. My mom said that was a good idea anyway with lasagna to let everything soak in. Anyone else do that?

My first step then was to cut the vegetables. I used a paring knife to slice them up in no particular fashion. I just tried to keep the pieces relatively small since I prefer my veggies inconspicuous.

I wanted lots of veggies, so I actually ended up using about 2 cups of yellow squash.

I did just one cup of green beans because they're not my favorite.

I did somewhere between 1-2 cups of zucchini, then 2 medium-sized carrots (not pictured)

Right in the ingredients it says "lightly steamed vegetables." I am not ashamed to say I had no idea how to steam veggies, lightly or otherwise. After a quick Google search, I put all of the veggies I cut up in a microwave-safe casserole dish and added a layer of water (just so it peeked above the veggies).

In some parts you can see how the water is just covering all but the top layers of veggies

Then I covered the dish with plastic wrap, and left one corner uncovered so that it wouldn't explode and burn the kitchen down in a fiery mess (that would certainly start this blog off with a bang, eh? pun nerdily intended).

Note the uncovered corner

Based on my extremely brief Google research, I determined that the mean steam time for my particular vegetables would be about 5 minutes. So I popped it in the microwave and continued with the next few steps while they were steaming.

Next, the recipe said to cover the bottom of a 9"x13" casserole dish with a thin layer of sauce. I used a slightly smaller dish because our 9x13 one looked too shallow to me. I didn't adjust the recipe, and it worked fine.

Thin layer of sauce at bottom of dish

I then added a layer of noodles. The noodles were longer than my dish, so I had to break them. It did not look pretty, but I was fine with that.

Notice the splash from dropping rather than setting in the noodles!

Somewhere around this point the microwave beeped, so I took out the steamed vegetables (I did have enough common sense to use mitts) and brought them over to the counter.

The next step was to prepare the ricotta by dumping it out in a small mixing bowl and adding 1/4 cup of water. I stirred it up until the water was mixed in well.

Ricotta with water just added - appetizing, no?

All blended

Once the ricotta was blended, I plopped 1/3 of it over the noodles and used a small spatula to spread it around.

The recipe then said to spread "1/3 of the remaining pasta sauce" over the ricotta. However, I started with a bigger jar than what was called for in the recipe, so I just added what I thought was a good amount to cover the cheese. I didn't want it to be a really saucy lasagna (my friends and I are saucy enough ourselves, ooh la la!), but do whatever you think you'll like.

Sauce over the ricotta

After I spread the sauce around with the spatula, it looked like this.

Then it was time for veggies! I drained them because there was still quite a bit of water, then I just eyeballed it to add about 1/3 to the casserole.

First vegetable layer

The next step was to add 1/3 of the mozzarella. Again, I had a different starting amount than what was called for. The recipe said 8 ounces total, so I looked at my mom's cabinet cheat sheet and saw that one 8 oz.=1 cup, so I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup to see how much cheese I needed.

In what world is that enough mozzarella?

After I put that on top of the veggies, it didn't look like enough to me, so I just used my non-professional judgment for cheese distribution from that point on.

Then I just repeated twice, starting with the noodles and ending with the mozzarella.

Layer two of noodles

At the end of the prep stage, here's what I ended up with.

Looks pretty yummy, right?

This whole process took between 20-30 minutes, way shorter than I thought it would. I was pretty proud of myself for preparing this solo and with no issues.

Later that night, I preheated the oven to 350°F and topped the dish with aluminum foil. I put it in the oven and set the timer for 60 minutes, and I removed the foil when 5 minutes were left (another tip from Mom).

Ta-da!

The final verdict? Everyone said it was delicious, but I wouldn't put it past them to be extra nice since it was my first attempt! I'm an honest self-critic though, and I was very happy with how it turned out. I wished the vegetables were a little more tender--would longer steaming time have done that? I also might add some oregano or something to add some more flavor. For a first try though, I was very pleased.

Do you have any easy lasagna recipes? Any tips to make mine better? Also, if you try my recipe out, let me know how it goes!

Operation Contemporary Farm Girl

2012-01-08T17:49:00.000-05:00

Hi there.

My name's Elizabeth, and I'm a 26-year old newlywed living with my husband, parents, two brothers, and a menagerie of pets in rural northeastern Pennsylvania. I have a full-time job as a teacher, and I also run an Etsy shop called kiss me awake where I sell shabby chic jewelry and decor, mainly for weddings.

I did not grow up on a farm, and I do not have a domestic bone in my body. I never learned to cook, garden, sew, knit, crochet, or do any other old-fashioned homemaking skills, and until quite recently I was very happy in my household ignorance. That is, until my husband proposed to me and I started to daydream of that utopia called our home.

Now I have the nesting bug pretty bad, and I'm determined to turn myself into a real contemporary farm girl. Since we're living with my parents for a while to save up money for our dream homestead, this is the perfect time to experiment. I'm going to try my hand (and my sanity) at cooking, baking, sewing, and other good farm girl arts.

However, I'm also going to keep it real, hence the "contemporary" part. Most of us 21st century ladies don't have the time to spend on these activities that our mothers or grandmothers did. Plus, there's some things that are just best left to modern conveniences (read: dirty dishes. gross.).

Another motive for beginning this project is my love of the earth and my desire to be more aware of and involved in where my food and other things I use come from. I'm really interested in the simple living movement and in adding more handmade and DIY to my life.

If you're looking for an expert, this is not the blog for you (but don't fret, I hear Martha's got a pretty kickin' website). However, if you want to learn along with me, or share some advice, or even get a giggle out of my inevitable mishaps, then stick around. Add Contemporary Farm Girl to your favorite reader, or subscribe by email at the top of the right column of this page. Either way, come by often, and don't be shy to chime in!