greetingarts

what's cookin'

The girls had a birthday party to go to this weekend, a cookie decorating event with a really sweet (ha!) 8 year old.

I had this great Michael Miller's Kitchen Gadgets fabric (bought quite some time ago), and using Joanna's very simple Chef's Hat tutorial (the link makes my computer crash, but she so graciously emailed me the .pdf file) and improvising on a kid-sized oven mitt lined with Insul-Bright, we packaged this up with a set of nesting metal cookie cutters, some frosting, and fancy sprinkles.  Of course I also wanted to make the birthday girl an apron, but didn't since she already had her personalized one from Rebecca's art party.  Two chocolate chip cookies that I crocheted (whoops, forgot to take their picture) were tied to the gift bag as the finishing touch.

The gift was very well-received, and I felt so good knowing that everything came from my stash.  The only thing I had to go out and buy was the Velcro to make the hat adjustable.  Only .99 and I even had the audacity to use my 50% off coupon on it.  Can you believe it?  What a cheapskate frugal woman I am, eh?

fix or flop?

Rebecca was given this perfectly nice pink and white sweater a few months ago, but it has proven to be completely unwearable.  I don't know if clothing from other countries suffers the same fate, but a lot of stuff from China (I'm a proud Chinese-American so no one should think I'm racist) has just *ridiculous* English writing on it.

"Beny knedee?"  Or is that an "h?"  "Hnedee?"  "Beny?"  Anyone got a clue on that one?  Ugh.  *Any*way, it's been cold here.  Like, highs in the low 50s (trust me, that's practically unheard of here in So Cal), and my girls really don't have very many sweaters.  And it was such a waste to have this one sitting there, exactly the right size, in colors Rebecca loves, simply collecting dust.

I thought of removing the embroidery and the heart, but after looking at the construction, I realized that just wasn't going to work.  So I took a cue from the flowers along the bottom, and made some crocheted flowers one night.  I hand-sewed them on this afternoon, but I'm not entirely convinced that I've fixed the problem. 

What's the verdict?  Wearable now?  Or not?

eptitaph for a peach

No, I'm not talking about the incredibly good book.  Unfortunately, I think I've somehow become allergic (like, really badly!) to my favorite fruit of all time.

Is this even possible?  To not be allergic to a fruit your entire life and then 38 and a half years later suddenly become itchy just because you picked four white peaches out of the bin at the supermarket to take home?  This evening, after washing and slicing one up for the girls for dessert, my throat is itchy and feels slightly swollen.  I first noticed this last summer, but chalked it up to pesticides or something on the outside of the skin, or the peach fuzz, or something else, anything else!  But this is about the third or fourth time I've experienced it, so I'm starting to panic. 

Say it ain't so!  Please!  I *love* white peaches and nectarines!  Waaaaaahhhh!

knitting along

You already know how much I like KrisKnit's patterns.  So when I heard about the January Knit-Along, I jumped right in.

Wanna play, too?

carried away

Dang it!  I was going all gangbusters on the project I'm working on for my sister, and got a little carried away.

A combination of misreading the numbers and the pattern directions results in a lot of wasted hours.  Damn, damn, damn!  And it was so pretty.  Off I go to rip out more than half of it.  But first, I think I'll go reread those directions again a few dozen times.  Just to make sure, you know?

handmade for dad

When I saw him at Thanksgiving, my dad requested a knit beanie that he could wear underneath a cap that used to belong to my grandfather.  Now that my dad is a little challenged in the hair department himself, he needs something to keep his head warm all the time.  But my grandfather's cap is still a bit large, and a warm woolen lining underneath would be the perfect thing.

He wanted something simple, of course, so I chose the Turn a Square pattern by Jared Flood, but instead of using a self-striping yarn for the contrasting color (which I didn't have), I used several different colors of Wool-Ease from my stash.  Came out a bit bolder than I would have preferred, but I think Dad liked it, anyway.  Here he has it worn with the edge rolled, though it actually has a ribbed band.  I think it looks good on him!

handmade for mom

I love giving books for gifts, paired with a little knit or crochet thing.  After Rebecca and I read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, I knew I needed to get it for my mom.  So I bought it a few months ago, squirreled it away, and started looking for a cute bunny pattern to knit.  There are so many great ones, but I chose Chubby Bunny from Itty Bitty Nursery.

What a blast to knit, and the embellishments are fun to do.  It's supposed to be a baby toy (might come in handy when Grandma has to do all that babysitting soon!)  I used Lily Sugar 'n Cream in ecru for the main color and white for the details, size five needles.  Edward is stuffed with a combination of polyester filling and little plastic pellets.

I definitely plan on using this surface embellishment again in the future.  Basically, you take a crochet hook and chain stitch across the right side of your knitted fabric.  Then you whipstitch (straight stitch?) around and around the crochet chain, creating a smooth, raised pattern.  It's great fun.