Lions and tigers and…octopi? oh my!

While I haven’t been writing much here lately (life has been busy behind the scenes – nothing noteworthy, just busy and often sleepy), I have been getting my crafty on in numerous ways.

Sharon had a birthday last week, so I cross stitched her this little octopus.

The pattern came from this little etsy shop, the cloth was just 14 count navy aida, floss was 3 strands of a variegated pink.

I keep forgetting that cross stitch takes me longer than embroidery, so I found myself frantically finishing the last few rows last Wednesday before knitting in order to gift it in a timely manner. But I’ve learned at least a little of the lesson here & will hopefully remember this for my next deadline-related cross stitch project.

I also made a little winter hat for myself.

The pattern is Molly (again), the yarn is malabrigo rios in natural.

I love how this turned out – it’s perfectly slouchy and will pull down to cover my ears when it’s cold.

I also finally sewed the button band on my Twenty Ten cardigan closed, which makes it fit (and look) a ton better. I now love it.

There are more crafty things and such coming soon. :)

Dear blog,

Earlier today I realized that this is my 8th blogiversary. Eight years of blogging – that’s a little crazy. When I started writing in this space, I never imagined I’d still be blogging today.

I haven’t really had time to think about this whole 8 years of writing thing. In the past year or so, I’ve thought about giving up the blog a couple times (especially during the week or two dry spells where I don’t have things to write about), but I always come back to wanting to be able to have a place to talk crafty pursuits, weight loss efforts, and general life stuff.

Eight years. Who would have thought?

(As an aside, the only thing that made me realize that today was my blogiversary was the Yarn Harlot posting her blogiversary post today – we’ve even been blogging the same number of years. Go figure.)

Handmade Holidays 2011: Fabric & Floss Edition

Oh, hello there. I meant to get back here just a couple days after the last post, but then I got busy with things (and distracted by all the knitting that I get to keep now. MINE!).

Anyway, I finished off the handmade portion of my holidays with some sewing, embroidery, and cross stitch.

These bags are little knitting project bags I made – I went a little crazy & made (I think) 17 of them total. The tutorial is a pdf here.

See? SO MANY BAGS.

For Mindy, I made this crochet hook case – a modified version of this one. I made mine a bit wider to hold more hooks. I also really need to make one of these for myself – my crochet hooks are all over the place.

Also for Mindy, this little “eggs” cross stitch piece. You can find the pattern for it here, though I changed her hair color.

And finally, this Super Troopers piece for Mindy’s husband. He loves the movie so much & loved this as well. Another pixel people pattern from wee little stitches.

Handmade Holidays 2011: The knitting edition

Let’s talk holiday crafting, shall we? I once again made many of my gifts myself, so there are a few to talk about. Today I’m only focused on the projects I knitted – I’ll cover the rest next time.

First up are a pair of Monkey socks I made for D. The yarn is Dyeabolical Strong Arm Skinny one of the sock club colorways – Always Rainbows. D LOVED them. She immediately took her own socks off & put these on and wore them the rest of the day. When I saw her again on Saturday she had already washed them & was waiting for it to be cold enough for her to wear them again.
I made these toe-up with a heel flap, but read the chart the same (so the pattern is upside down from the knitty version).

For Dad, I started a pair of socks & ran out of time. I’m ready to start the gusset increases on the first sock now, so he should have them just in time for the weather to warm up.

Instead of socks, I made him this ice scraper mitt (forgive the picture – I forgot to take one & had D just snap one with her phone for me). The pattern is the Ice & Snow Scraper Mitt (ravelry link) & worked up fairly quickly. I probably should have gone up a needle size, but I used 11′s and the next size up I had were 15′s – I thought that might make the fabric too loose & defeat the purpose of keeping one’s hands warm while scraping ice off the car.

For Mindy, I made a Molly hat out of Berroco Vintage – she has a sensitive head, so I wanted to use something that wouldn’t make her itchy. I liked it so much that I want to make one for me now. I started decreases after the 16th repeat of the 3-row ribbing pattern (instead of the 19 the pattern called for), as it was already super slouchy.

I made this tiny hot dog for Mindy’s hubby as an add-on to his gift (which was “awesome like a hot dog”).

The pattern for this one is in the Teeny Tiny Mochimochi book.

And finally, I made a pair of Commuter Mitts for Kim out of some Malabrigo Rios in Arco Iris. I loved working with this yarn because the color was fun – I just wanted to see how it would look when I was done. It was hard to capture with the camera, but the yarn & pattern worked well together.

And that does it for things I made with yarn this year.

Tags: gifts, holidays, knitting

2011 In Review & Shiny New Goals for 2012

Now that we are firmly ensconced in 2012 & I’ve been able to step away from Doctor Who long enough to use my computer for other things*, I can do my year in review & goals for 2012.

In 2011, I finished 33 knit and crochet projects. Several of them were wee small items, but I did finish 2 sweaters & got some old UFOs off needles this year.

As for sewing/embroidery/cross stitch – a total of 20 items finished there, though there were 2 quilt tops and 17 of the fun little totes I made at the end of the year (which I guess might make the total 36). I did also get the quilt blocks for cousin Christy’s quilt made, I just have not gotten around to sewing them all together for the top yet.

How did I do on my goals for 2011? Well, not great, really.

• Reading – I wanted to read more of the books that I have on my shelves. While I did get through a few, I did not read nearly as much as I did the previous year. In fact, I only read 15 books this year. I think if I count re-reads that didn’t get recorded in Goodreads, I can get up to 20, but that doesn’t compare with the 37 I read in 2010.
• Health/Fitness. This was kind of a roller coaster this year, but overall it wasn’t great. I’m in the loss column for weight on the year overall, but 8 pounds is nothing to write home about. I did also have to undergo physical therapy for the hip again. One the plus side, I walked a 10k over the summer, so that was good.
• Crafty. See above. I think I did pretty good on this one – I was able to follow patterns for my quilt tops (the last and only one I made I just created from my mind). I didn’t get any weaving done, though I did successfully warp the loom at one point.

So, what about 2012? What should my goals be? I read something Saturday afternoon that said resolutions fail because they’re too vague (it was only one reason, but it’s the one I’m going with). So let’s be specific.

• Reading: I want to read 25 books this year – first time reads. So I can reread things, but they don’t count for this goal. I know I have enough in my my “to read” list to more than cover this & I’m sure more books will come out this year that I want to read.
• Crafty: This one is a little harder to make specific. The big thing that I want to accomplish this year is finishing a quilt by myself – specifically, let’s take one of those quilt tops I’ve made & get it quilted & finished off with binding and everything.
• Health/Fitness: Specific goals – go to the gym 3 times a week.  Get 5 servings of fruit/vegetables per day. Focus on how I’m feeling instead of the number on the scale (this one is kind of vague, but my thinking here is that if I can get to the gym & eat healthier, then I’ll feel better. If I feel better, the weight will start to come off again. But if I focus on the scale, I’ll be disappointed when it doesn’t move as fast as I want it to).

So, that’s it. Here is to a wonderful 2012 for all of us!

*I watched all of season 5 in 3 days. That can’t be healthy. Also, netflix doesn’t have season 6 yet. What is up with that?

A brief holiday review.

It was a busy week leading up to Christmas, so I didn’t get a chance to pop in here much. Of course, I also had very little to talk about that week – secret knitting, other secret crafting, cooking, and cleaning don’t make for a very interesting blog.

But now the holidays are (mostly) over, gifts have all been exchanged, and I am off work until the 2nd. Yay! Once I’m not chained to the sewing machine this week, I see many episodes of Doctor Who in my future. Well, as many as I can watch given that Ten is about to regenerate into Eleven & season 6 isn’t available on netflix yet.

We had our traditional family Christmas Eve celebration at my uncle’s place out in the middle of nowhere this year. Seriously – I was driving & my dad was giving directions. About the time we tried to call to make sure we weren’t lost we found the house. But we had good food and the family is always fun. We played “dirty Santa” again this year, as we always do. I joked at the beginning that I hoped I didn’t get tools again (as I’ve ended up with them the past few years) and I did not. The first thing I had was an Old Spice variety pack, which my cousin stole to give to her boyfriend. As I opened the present she had picked for me, I looked at her and said “You did not do this to me…” and pulled a set of screwdrivers out of the bag (they were nice screwdrivers, but I have quite a few already). Eventually one of my other family members stole the screwdrivers & left me with a holiday picture frame.

Christmas day I had D-squared up here for dinner, where I cooked a turkey breast in the crockpot, tried a new sweet potato casserole recipe, and ate my weight in monkey bread. After they headed home, I just chilled for a while & finished knitting a hat for Mindy (part of her gift).

So now I’m spending my week off not getting much done (so far). I’m trying to get myself back in the habit of going to the gym 3-4 times a week, so I went on Monday & I’ll head there again tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. I also need to get back to doing my hip exercises, but it doesn’t seem to bother me as much if I’m a little bit active. I also found my lost pedometer/fitbug*, so I’ve been using it the past couple days. Even though I’m not walking as much this week as I would if I was at work, It’s nice to see how many steps I’m managing to get in around the apartment.

*it had fallen into my couch & I found it when something else fell in.

Tags: life, random

Stitched up.

Over my Thanksgiving vacation/dogsitting, I found myself attached to a cross stitch project. I was kind of obsessed – I had 8 million crafty projects with me and I only worked on the one most of the week. My pal Rachel, she likes the superheroes. And she pinned this Justice League cross stitch pattern, so once I got the pattern I had to make sure I had the proper supplies to get started.

Cross stitch fabric – check.
Embroidery floss – check.
Needles – check.
Other cross stitch necessities – check.
Fancy gold floss to bling out Wonder Woman – CHECK.

The original pattern didn’t call for any metallic floss for Wonder Woman (or anybody else, for that matter), but I decided that she had to have the proper bling.

Once I finished, I was able to frame it up & give it to Rachel last week.

Tags: crafty

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes

Prior to the party on Sunday, I discovered that one of the attendees doesn’t like chocolate.

This concept is completely foreign to me & makes my brain do weird thought spirals. It’s like those words just can’t exist together “do not like chocolate”. Inconceivable! Most of the cupcakes I want to make these days involve chocolate in some way. Recipes are almost always enhanced by tossing a handful of chocolate chips into the batter. Even the easiest cookies in my arsenal require chocolate.

So, resigned to knowing that some people don’t like chocolate (weirdos), I challenged myself to make something without chocolate to appease the audience and in it I found something deliciously amazing. Yes. Amazing and delicious both. It was the frosting. The cupcake was delicious in it’s own right, but this may have been the best frosting I’ve ever made in my entire baking career. It’s my new standard in buttercreams.

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes (found here)

Chai Spice Mix (I used the one from Chockylit’s Chocolate Chai Spice Cupcakes because I had it left from last time I made those).

2 teaspoons fennel
2 teaspoons cloves
1 tablespoon cardamom
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger

Mix all these together. Store any leftovers in a airtight container.

Cupcakes: Make cupcakes according to directions. (I was mildly disappointed that mine were flat & did not have a nice dome, but it looks like they turned out the same as the originals. They still tasted good.)

Vanilla Chai Buttercream – I’m reprinting this recipe here because it’s seriously THAT GOOD.

1 cup (2 sticks butter)
1 tsp vanilla (or vanilla bean paste, if you have it)
2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tsp chai spice mix

Cream the butter until fluffy. Mix in vanilla and chai spice mix, then add the powdered sugar a little at a time until frosting is the right consistency. Try to avoid sticking your face in the bowl and eating it all before you frost the cupcakes.

Tags: baking, cupcakes

A holiday table runner. Or “why do I keep making things for myself when there are holiday gifts to finish?!”

A few days ago I thought that it would be nice to have a Christmas table runner for the holidays. I don’t often eat at my table, as it’s mostly a crafty table, but I’m having D-squared up for lunch/dinner on Christmas day & thought it would be good to be able to sit at the table to eat.

I looked at the runners at Kohl’s when I was there on Friday and they were seriously not my style. So I looked at Target and saw some cute ones, but at $15 for a mini runner, I thought that I could whip one up with the Christmas fabric I have left from making stockings and such. As I spent the better part of Saturday chained to my sewing machine, the timing was perfect.

I kind of love how it turned out – the red/pink polka dots are on both ends. I originally wanted to use some green polka dot fabric I have, but I made a cutting error & didn’t want to piece it on the front. It would have looked weird.

And it is technically reversible, though the dots/snowflakes side is (to me) clearly the back of it. Finished dimensions are about 60″x20″ – that was the intent when I started cutting, but I didn’t measure it finished.

I thought about adding batting & quilting this, but it would have made a super-simple project a lot more complicated and I didn’t want to do that. In the end, I did sew a line down each side where the front fabrics meet, which will hopefully keep it from separating too much in the wash.

And here it is with a sneak preview of some cupcakes I made for a holiday gathering I went to on Sunday. (I’ll talk about them later this week.)

Tags: holidays, Sewing, table runner

Brown Butter Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

That’s right, people. Cookies with chocolate, bacon, and browned butter. As I’ve mentioned before, I love browned butter – it just gives things an extra oomph without it being too much. And the addition of it to chocolate chip cookies? GENIUS.

These would be a fabulous cookie without the bacon, but the addition of it gives you that salty/sweet thing that I just love. And, as Siri said on Sunday, bacon really does make everything better. She also told me that I can never put these cookies near her again (I think she actually said I can never make them again, but that’s a little extreme. Just no cookies for Siri.)

I used this recipe and didn’t make any changes to it other than chopping the milk chocolate really really fine (it melted if I tried to grate it – next time, freeze it first) and baking the bacon* in my oven until crispy – you know I can’t fry bacon without burning it & baking it is the PERFECT solution. Of course now I can make the perfect crispy piece of bacon, which is dangerous for my waistline (let’s not even talk about how I cooked the remaining bacon and then ate it ALL for dinner the other night. SO MUCH BACON.)

These were a big hit with everyone who tried them & will definitely make my “let’s bake cookies” list again.

*The 1 cup of bacon turned out to be about 10 slices.

And today’s musical selection – A song I love this time of year, almost regardless of who is performing it.
Sarah McLachlan – River

Tags: bacon, baking, chocolate, cookies