Blog Post

Today's blog post has been canceled do to frantic construction. More after the Christmas break. See you next year. Merry Christmas!! Happy Holidays!!



                      Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!   

Christmas shopping

    I am almost done with my Christmas shopping (just a few knickknacks). I would have been done on the 12 but the carrier wouldn't leave the last two packages across the gate because we don't have numbers displayed on our house. Yes, I live on one of the few roads that doesn't have mailboxes down it. We have a bunch of mailboxes along the highway, instead. Which is crazy because it's dangerous getting the mail like that, our boxes have been wiped out a couple of times, and the road in front of our house is paved it's just a dead end. I'm always amazed when Mom and I go looking at properties and we'll see these places down long dirt roads, sometimes dead ends, and they will have mailboxes at their driveways. Crazy. We'll be painting our address within the next few days, though.

    Anyway, we went to the post office to pick up the packages. Fortunately when we got there the line wasn't so bad. It got worse after we got there, though. I have a feeling it's only going to get worse as the week wears on.   
  
  I ordered all the books (the ones she's getting me too, so the order would cost enough for free shipping from Barns and Noble.) online on Cyber Monday. It was nerve whacking waiting for the them, but being able to track them really helped. If it hadn't been for online tracking I wouldn't have know one of them was in. For some reason we didn't get the notice.   
   I'm going to slowly go though the items in my shop and raise the cost of shipping on all my items $0.95 to include a tracking number. Except for the Colorful Boucle Cowls, I've already raised their shipping.

   ~Use coupon code HOLIDAYS for 5% off your entire purchase from 12/13/13 to 12/17/13!~

        Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

 

No-knead Rolls, Kolatches, and Cinnamon Rolls

  At the end of this post is a link to a blog with a good no-knead dough recipe. I was skeptical at first, but decided to try it anyway, and am very glad I did.
 You might need extra flour. I made them with oil and had to add a half a cup of extra flour to be able to work with them. I made four rolls that were really good, but little sweet. And made the rest of the dough into cinnamon rolls and marmalade and cottage cheese kolatches. I've been having a craving for kolatches and this is a much smaller and easier dough recipe than my old one. The one I have makes 3 dozen when cut in half, and it was cut in half from the original recipe and uses a lot of different mixing bowls for the dough alone. This one used one bowl and made the four rolls, a dozen kolatchs and about 15 cinnamon rolls.

                      For Kolatches:

  I used some Marmalade from last year, but somehow it ended up losing it's sweetness after I caned it. (If have any idea why this would happen please tell me.) I added a little sugar to it. And made the cottage cheese filling by draining about three tablespoons of the cheese and mixing in a tablespoon of flour and some sugar to taste. Then I spooned some into an indention I made in the middle of a golf ball sized ball of dough using my thumb and forefinger. And added a teaspoon of marmalade because cheese and fruit kolatches are delicious. And don't forget the posypka (crumble topping). The recipe I have calls for 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour and 3Tablespoons butter to be mixed together and sprinkled on top before baking. I didn't want to make that much so I wing it the on the measurements.

         For the Cinnamon Rolls:

    Roll out half the dough and spread with soft butter. Then sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar, and chopped pecans (if using) . Roll the dough up and cut into one inch rolls.

             For Either:  

   Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until browned.
Here is the link
http://www.averiecooks.com/2013/06/no-knead-make-ahead-dinner-rolls-with-honey-butter.html/

    You can freeze them before or after baking. If you freeze them before I recommend taking them out to rise the night before.

          Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Chirstmas Lights

     Last Thursday I told you my mom and I were putting up the Christmas lights after I finished my blog so I thought I would show you the pictures. We're not having a tree this year. The cats destroyed the last one and we decided not to get a new one since we don't have a room that they can't get into that also has room for a tree. We're probably going to makeshift something. But for now since we can't have a tree we're stringing lights all around the living room walls and the entryway ceiling.

  Yes, those are rooster ornaments hanging from the lights mom strung in the entryway. It turns out that as much as I like the roosters Mom likes them even more. Here is a close up of Mom's with it's extra long tail feather.

 

 

 

Here are some of the ones I put up around the door.

 

And over the cat poster.

 

Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Ornaments and Chistmas Lights

          There's a cold front blowing in that's supposed to drop the temperatures here to the 40s and 30s and bring rain to boot, so Mom and I are going to spend today inside putting up the Christmas decorations. (and baking cookies)


    After many tries and several site changes I finally got a good picture of all three of my knitted roosters. It was almost impossible to get a photo that wasn't too far away and still showed their pretty tail feathers and the rest of them, at the same time.

      I ended up having to get my mom to hold a branch from or tree while I took a photo. And spreading a bunch of gauzy fabric under my window with some between the roosters and my window to make the sunlight less harsh.    

   As you can see the black rooster in the picture has green eyes. He is a Christmas present for my mom and she said she wanted it to have green eyes. Unless someone orders a custom color the black roosters will have yellow eyes.  After this I will also be gluing an extra long tail feather she found while feeding the roosters onto mom's rooster. She was born in the year of the rooster so this is a good luck charm for her, too.   

 Here's a link to the listing: https://www.etsy.com/listing/169909098/rooster-ornament?

                  Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Colorful Boucle Cowls

I've got a new listing! It's my 43rd. And like everything else in my shop ships for free within  the US if ordered before midnight 12/4/13 using Promo code FREESHIPPING.

I love this cowl. Unlike my feather and fan stich cowl it only takes about 6 hours to knit. Last time it took 8, and about 20 extra rows. It was like a horror movie I kept knitting and knitting but it didn't get any bigger. I think I was knitting too tightly. I'm giving a couple to my mother and will be keeping a few of the prototypes for myself. Anyway here's the listing:

These boucle hand knitted cowls come in a verity of colors to fit any skin tone or color preference. Buy one for everyone on your list (and don't forget yourself). 

  Each cowl is 10" square and knit so that it stretches to be worn fashionably loose, but still fits snugly against your face and neck when things get chilly. Stylish, functional, and oh so soft. A truly unique gift; Due to the nature of variegated yarn no two cowls will look exactly the same. Each cowl is signed with a small 'J'.
    Available in A Lighter Shade of Green (green and cream), Turquoise Sea, Ocean Blue (mix of light and dark blue), Berry Purple, Fade to Black (shades of white, grey and black), A Forest of Green (different shades of green), Cosmic Colors(black with stripes of different colors), and Magenta Pomegranate.   
  They are made in a smoke free environment from a soft 88% acrylic and 12% nylon blend yarn that feels wonderful against your skin. Hand wash and dry flat.

Click here to order your own: https://www.etsy.com/listing/171658076/colorful-boucle-cowl


Note: Last Tuesday I told you I was making pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, and green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. I didn't burn anything! The cranberry sauce was good. And I mixed two different pie recipes to made a good pie. With enough pumpkin left to make three more pies. The green bean casserole was pretty good, but it was just frozen green beans, mushroom soup and onions.

               Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!