Playing Santa

I love making gifts. I love kids. I love giving gifts to other people's kids. This Christmas I got to be Santa and made some gifts for two sweet kids, a brother and sister.
First, I found fleece on sale. REALLY on sale. With the help of my cousin, I made fleece blankets. The girl's has owls on one side (matches her bedroom) and butterflies on the other. The boy's has sports balls on one side, and dinosaurs on the other. When he got his blanket, he thought it was a superman cape (!).

I love fleece blankets. I was given one as a gift when I graduated HS, from Fran, a lady who I taught swimming lessons with. I still use mine! It's the green and brown striped blanket on my bed, which is the backdrop for many of these photos.
I also made similarly colored sweaters for these kids. The boy got a sweater vest that should fit him for a few years. I love, love, love sweater vests, and obviously the smaller they are, the cuter they are. His mom loves them too! This was a pattern from DROPS that I modified.

The little girl got the "Little Mary Anning" sweater by Mary Ann Cunningham-Kim, which has a shell pattern on it. I'd originally started this at the end of August, and have been working on it on and off since then. I had to rip back a number of times because I'd missed something in the pattern. I was happy to finish it, and have it turn out well. Additionally, while I thought I was making the 2 yr old size, I was actually working the 5 yr old size, but it fits her now and should for a couple of years. 

More holiday posts and test knits to come after New Years!

Mermaid Mittens

I just realized today that I haven't posted in over a month. That doesn't mean I haven't been knitting and baking- on the contrary! In addition to birthday and Christmas presents, I've been doing a number of test knits, part of the publishing process for pattern designers.
One that I worked on in November was a pair of lovely mermaid mittens. I actually only made one mitten, though, because I realized too late that they were going to be much too big to fit the intended recipient. I've got the pattern, yarn, and notes, in case I want to make the second (and keep them for me!).
This mitten was worked from the tip of the fingers down to the wrist, which is not the direction I normally work when making mittens. I did learn a nifty new way of casting on (involves a crochet chain, but instead of picking up the back loops as in conditional cast-on, you pick up stitches from both the top and bottom of the chain... very clever!)

I love the seaweed on the palm of the hand, as well as the lacy cuff that mimics waves! This Mermaid Mittens pattern was written by Julie Hamilton is available for purchase on Ravelry. 

Mini Apple Pies

These weren't difficult, but they were pretty labor intensive. And delicious. I was trying to make them look like little apples, but I think they look more like calzones.

And some Pi pie for good measure!

Jester Baby Suit

As promised, I finished it last night.
Ta-da!

And it's being sent to Japan this afternoon. <3

Cowls on Call

I almost forgot:

I've got some lacy cowls for sale at Royal Grounds coffee:

It's the perfect weather for soft, lacy, warm circle scarves. I really love these variegated colors too- I've got a purple one in the works and will be doing one in browns and one in grays in the future. Get one for yourself and one for a gift. ;0)

Sneak Peak

Hi,

I've been busy knitting, crocheting, baking and doing classwork and haven't been able to keep up with posting finished projects! Here are a few sneak peaks of what is to come:

This is a "jester" baby suit for a friend's baby. I anticipate finishing it TONIGHT (now that I've said it, I have to do it <----- see what I did there? accountability) and mailing it off to Japan tomorrow. More pics (of the details) to come.

This fall sweater is DONE: buttons, blocking and all. I've been wearing it around town in my stubborn belief that it is still fall. It reminds me of maple trees in autumn and the wool is super cozy. I have yet to get finished pictures of it due to the weather/ not being outside during the day/not having someone to take a picture.

Another sweater that is done: I knit it in August, but didn't block it until last weekend when I got pins/foam mats and could block the lace properly. I will add finished photos when I get them (for the same reasons as above)

Another sneak peak: 

More of this next weekend! (and a recipe too!)

:0)

Take a Hike (Socks)

While it was still nice and fall-like, with yards and some streets covered in colorful leaves before it got cold and rainy, I finished testing a sock pattern. These were fall-themed socks, which I liked, and had neat cables, which I really liked and I was able to find an autumnal colored yarn to work them up in. I finished these socks (the pattern's called "Take a Hike" by Heather Hamilton and is available for sale on Ravelry and on her website: http://embracethefumes.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/take-a-hike-download-available/) and took pictures with them off campus before a class on the last day of beautiful fall weather before the rains came.
Here's my amateur photo shoot:

These socks are SO cozy, fun to knit, and part of my appreciation of fall! :0)

Pumpkin Hat

Monday night at class I tested a pattern for this cute, crocheted baby hat. Not only was the pattern really well written and easy to follow, it's quick! I finished it in less than 2 hours- and that includes the part of class when I was taking a quiz! I think it's an adorable pattern and already have a recipient in mind, since I know someone who had a baby over the weekend. :0) Hooray for fall and seasonal items!

The pattern is available for FREE on Ravelry under the name "Harvest Pumpkin hat" so go check it out!

Pecan Pie

One of my favorite fall pies is pecan. Recently, I've started using pre-chopped pecans instead of pecan halves. The real reason is that chopped pecans is all I had available to use at work (Royal Grounds)*, but it has the nice added benefit of making the pie easier to cut into slices. 

Pecan Pie

Spread out 1 cup chopped pecans (or pecan halves) in  the pie crust. 

Mix together: 1/3c melted butter, 3 eggs, 1c corn syrup (dark is better), 1/2 t salt, 1/2t vanilla and 1c sugar.  Pour this mixture over the  pecans.

Bake @ 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the edges of the pie are set. It's ok for the middle to be a little big jiggly still, but not the whole pie. I usually bang on the oven door or the oven rack to assess how much the pie jiggles. For pecan, this is the best way for me to be able to tell if it is done. 

Allow to cool to room temperature (feel the center bottom of the pan to be sure) before cutting into it. It's best to refrigerate it too.

*The pie in the photo is currently for sale, by the slice, at Royal Grounds Coffee, in Minneapolis.

Let's Get Started

I've never been one for blogging. I've not good at journaling. But I do like baking (some cooking) and knitting (and crocheting, and some sewing). I usually do some every day, but I'm not good at keeping track of everything that I do. I'd like to keep this really simple, but just be able to post some photos and possibly recipes or patterns of things I make and bake. Since joining Ravely, I've gotten better at recording the things I knit and crochet, but not all the creative things I do fall into these two categories.

Here is an apron I sewed for my 10 year old helper at Royal Grounds back in August: