Another Baby Blanket

In my last post I said that I was working on a project for a friend. I don't remember if I told what. Anyway I was working on a baby blanket for my lovely friend Johnette and her husband, James who are expecting their first baby in July, which I can attest is an awesome month for birthdays.

I decided against my usual feather and fan blanket this time considering the fact that I knit two of them before I started on this one. I looked high and low for the perfect pattern and I hope Johnette agrees that I found it. The pattern is called the Heirloom Baby Blanket. It can be found on Ravelry.

I chose to use Pima Petite cotton yarn by the Unique Sheep. I purchased it from Eat.Sleep.Knit. (you want to buy from this store. They are fantastic and have great customer service. And I'm not just saying that so you'll follow my link and help me earn free stuff by buying from them when you do.)

I started in April.

And finished just in time for her baby shower in May.

I call it the Sunfire Heirloom.

Johnette, I hope you get years and years of use and enjoyment out of it!

This was a fantastic pattern and I will definitely be using it again. It was not a difficult pattern at all. Once I did the first couple repeats, the pattern got into my fingers and I didn't really have to think about it too much.

Now I need to figure out what project I want to start next. I think maybe I'll sew something.

Hello Spring!

As normal here lately, I am sorry for my lack of posting. This working thing really gets in the way of my fun time! I kind of enjoy the paycheck though, so I muddle through. Seriously, though, I have been a little busy. I am re-reading the Wheel of Time series, by the late Robert Jordan. The most recent book in the series came out either at the end of last year or the first of this year. In preparation for the new book and since it had been so long since I had finished reading them I decided I needed to read them over...I've been working on this since September. I have 2 books to finish until I get to enjoy the last one. I'm really looking forward to finishing. I need a few good trashy romance novels...err...umm...I mean NY Times Bestsellers. I work during the day, knit at lunch and when I get home and read in the car and if I have time before I get ready for work. Most of the time blogging and visiting blogs doesn't cross my radar and honestly, I miss it. Somehow I need to find the time to get back to it more often. I partially blame Mafia Wars on Facebook.

Anyway, back to crafting. I'm afraid I do not have any new knitting pictures to share. I'm working on my third baby blanket since February-ish. 2 of them have been the same feather and fan pattern you've seen me do before. But the one that I'm working on now is a new pattern for me. I'm not posting any of the details here because the person it's for may visit and although she knows she's getting a blanket that's all she knows. I'm so excited though!!!! It's already so pretty!!! If you want to see my progress and you're a member, check me out on Ravelry. I'm Bubbette.

Lacy Goodness

My last couple projects have convinced me that maybe I'm not as much of a mediocre knitter as I thought. I made the lacy cowl in my last post for a christmas present and the lavender scarf also in my last post. Both of those patterns were comewhat challenging for me. But I managed to get through both and was happy with how they turned out so I decided I needed to challenge myself some more. I poured over patterns on Ravelry and finally decided on the Swallowtail, a shawl pattern by Evelyn Clark.

After finishing the shawl I have come to several conclusions:

1. People who write patterns for knitting lace are geniouses. Or magicians. Possibly both.

2. Lace isn't as hard as it looks, it's just intimidating.

3. Lace is addictive. It's almost like getting a tattoo. Once you forget the pain from your last one, you have to get another one.

Yarny Holidays

If you have not read my first post, start at the post before this one, there are other pictures and even a recipe!

I've been knitting!

I've made some christmas dish cloths and I also made a cowl for my father's wife:

The cowl was difficult enough that it gave me the confidence to try something a little more advanced. So now I'm working on my first lace scarf.

I'm so excited about it! The pattern makes sense and it's actually turning out the way it's supposed to so far! I absolutely cannot wait to get it finished and blocked to really show the pattern.

Now, I really hope everyone has a happy holiday season or if nothing else a happier new year than 2009!

Happy Holidays!! (Knitting, Sewing and Baking! Oh My!)

As you may have suspected, I've been keeping pretty busy.

In November I had plans to go to the Carolina Renaissance Fectival with my dear friend, Heather, and her sister, Amber. This year I finally got up the courage to dress up. It was so much fun! It really did make it more enjoyable. The only problem was making what I had to wear fit. My bodice was significantly too small, because, let's face it, I'm not a little person by any means. I had to add a panel on either side. It would have been really easy if there had been a seam where I needed it to be, but nope, had to completely cut it up the side. I freaked out about it a bit, because I have no experience sewing clothes or making alterations of that nature. I managed to get over it though after I made that first cut.

I completely forgot about taking progress pictures to show what I did, but here's the fonished product.



I'm the one in blue. Heather is in purple. I can't wait until next year!

Then weekend after Thanksgiving we started getting ready for christmas. I love the holidays!
Here's a picture of our tress. Why, yes, that is the usual area for my crafting.

Then came the christmas baking...This year I made baklava.

And if you're interested, here's the recipe:

This makes 2 pans.

1 lb phyllo dough, thawed according to package directions

4 cups finely ground pecans

4 cups finely ground walnuts

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground clove

1 1/2 lbs butter (no, that's not a type o)

Combine nuts, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.

Prepare work station. This is how I organize myself:

Layer 6-8 phyllo sheets one at a time, brushing each generously with butter. Sprinkle with nut mixture. Layer 4 more phyllo sheets, sprinkle with nuts, ad nauseum until you're left with 6-8 phyllo sheets to go on top.

Most phyllo packages come with 2 rolls of phyllo sheets. One pan is from one roll of phyllo sheets. You should have one roll of phyllo and half the nut mixture left.

Before it goes in the oven, cut it into your preferred size and shape. While you're cutting, preheat oven to 300.

Bake for 15 minutes, then cut oven down to 250 and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

15 minutes before baking time is over, start syrup.

You'll need:

3 cups sugar

1 cup honey

1 1/2 cups water

juice of 1 lemon

Boil all syrup ingredients together for 10-15 minutes (med high-med heat). Stir continuously.

This syrup recipe makes only one batch.

After baklava comes out of over, spoon hot syrup over hot baklava.

YUM!!!!

When Country Came to Town

Last weekend I Michael and I went to the big city of Atlanta, GA for Dragon*Con. We'd only been planning this since May! Needless to say we were very excited, but I was also quite a bit nervous...I have never been to a city as big as Atlanta. (I'm not counting Las Vegas, where Michael and I got married because to me that was like a large network of tiny hotel/cities connected by side walks.) I grew up in a very rural area of a tiny town so this was completely different for me. Country truly had come to town.

We got into Atlanta around 4:30 Thursday afternoon. We checked into our hotel (the Westin at Peachtree Plaza. Don't stay there by the way, it's an overpriced shit hole, pardon my language) and then walked down to the Sheraton where we had to pick up our badges. After standing in a line to stand in another line for several rather interesting, hot, hours we got our badges. Then we had to walk somewhere to get supper. Of course the hill we had walked down to get to the Sheraton didn't seem even a quarter as steep as when we started walking back up it. Halfway there and halfway dead from being fat and terribly out of shape we found a great spot to rest our weary feet: The Metro Cafe, a 24 hour diner/karaoke bar. Great gyro, not the greatest Greek salad, good booze.

Friday morning we got up early for breakfast and to get the line for the first panel were wanted to see. Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner at 10 am. Loved them! We had great seats!

Later on Friday we went to see Charlaine Harris. I'm a huge fan of her Sookie Stackhouse books and now I'm a huge fan of her. Listening to her talk you could tell that she has that perfect mix of sugar, spice and sass that makes southern women so spectacular.

SOmetime on Friday or Saturday, not sure which, we went to see John Billingsley and Anthony Montgomery, who were on Star Trek Enterprise. John Billingsley has also been on this season of True Blood on HBO.

We took a few minutes on Saturday to go to the Walk of Fame the first time. We got to meet Craig Parker. Craig Parker played the slightly overweight elf who commanded the Elven Army that came to help the people in the stronghold fight off the Orcs. He now plays Darken Rahl in Legend of the Seeker (not sure what channel).

We got to see Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies.

We got the opportunity to meet Kevin Anderson who co-authors the newest Dune books with Frank Herbert's son, Brian Herbert. We were able to bring our hard back books of his to be signed.

Sunday we got to go to a panel where my favorite author, S.M. Stirling, talked about his books in the Emberverse series. It was absolutely amazing getting to talk to the people who were waiting for the event to start and to sit and listen to Stirling talk about his books. I was very impressed by the process he goes through with his books and how much care he puts into making them just so. We were also able to go to his autograph session.

Then we went back to the Walk of Fame since we had some spare moments.

We got to meet and talk to Tom Felton and Michael got his autograph.

We got to meet Anthony Montgomery and Michael got his autograph.

And John Billingsley...

And just for me, James Marsters. (he's so dreamy!)

And because this is supposed to be a blog about crafting and making things, here are some of the costumes we saw, of which I am sure at least some portion is somewhat handmade. These are the ones that turned out pretty good. No, I don't know what all the characters are.

And for my own viewing pleasure, here are a couple pictures of James Marsters that I wasn't supposed to take. Oops, my finger must have pressed that button without realizing it. Oh, darn.

Overall, Dragon*Con was fantastic. The people, the costumes, the topics...just fantastic. I'm very impressed with the people I got to meet. I know we tend to put celebrities and famous people on a pedestal, but now that I've met a few and talked with them I know better. They're real people just like we are.

More Crafty Fun!

Look!!! 2 posts in one month! Well, just barely, but it still counts.

Since my last post I've been mostly working, but I have had some crafty opportunities. I just got finished painting 2 boxes for a friend.

I've also been having a rotten bout of insomnia this past week. I had high hopes of sleeping Friday night when I went to bed but was sorely disappointed when I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 2:15am. I surfed on the net for a while and then I got the idea that if I wasn't sleeping, I could at least be productive, so I started organizing my little craft area. When I first set up my craft area I had intended to keep it neat and orderly. If you know me at all, neat and orderly usually doesn't fit in the same sentence with me. The little table quickly became a catch-all. Last weekend I went out and bought some rubbermaid storage drawers just for that purpose. I started working on putting everything away and organizing Saturday morning. It says a lot about the sad state of affairs that I'm still working on it.

I also found out that yarn was a sales tax free item this weekend...

I went by In the Loop at their new shop and I couldn't let these 4 skeins stay there. They begged me to bring them home. Who am I to ignore pretty yarn? And believe me, that's some beautiful stuff!