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someone had a birthday, and it was little lil. one of our cutest and sweetest friends. i made a skirt for her out of this great matryoshka doll fabric::
lil picked out the ribbon trim on her own. great color choice right? so, what to do with the extra yardage. i grabbed three from joanns. i have an idea for indy and ellie that i hope will work out. more on that to come.
happy birthday lil!
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i know i should be focusing on the many knitting projects i've just started, but i have a ton of sewing projects waiting for attention at the same time. i've decided the best way to handle this is to leave the machine out and at the ready. no excuses. sew as much as life will allow by day, knit like a fiend by night. i've taken steps (ie: bought a lot of patterns and materials) to dive a little deeper into sewing. i have some new toy/stuffy patterns on the list and some adult clothing patterns lined up as well. by adult i mean for me. as opposed to the kids. this is a family blog remember? you clearly have a one track mind.
so, in warming up to the idea of unfamiliar sewing waters, i started with some napkins. made just the same way as these::
again, i made a bunch of the smaller sized ones for the kids. these are roughly 8 inches square. maybe a little smaller. they are perfect though, not just for snacks and lunch, but for dinner and all the time. the larger dinner napkins are still too cumbersome for them i think.
these napkins opened up a nice slot, albeit a small one, in my fabric cabinet and i'm totally inspired to keep going with other forgotten fabrics and scraps. we could use all the napkins we can get at this point. our dryer gave up the ghost a week and a half ago, the night before laundry day. paper towels are flowing like wine and outfits are harder and harder to come by. i'm pretty sure someone wore a pajama top to school yesterday. and the day before.
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monday morning inspiration!
wish there was a pattern for this owl cap (also by her). so glad i happened upon helen rodel.
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these little circulars are killing me. why is it that as things get smaller they get so much cuter? maybe so that the larger knitting needles will be more inclined to take care of them? that's the scientific explanation. these are size US 3, 16 inch::
next week's goal? less winding and casting on, more working. four knitting projects in progress are more than enough. now, let's see how many of these i will actually finish. before 2014.
happy saturday and sunday!
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baking our way through these single digit temperatures and negative wind chills. i won't admit to how many of these i've eaten. the very popular everlasting bran muffins.
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not a huge amount of snow, but it's always a treat to wake up to white on cape cod. more often than not, the ocean turns all of our storms to rain. i went out to shovel early yesterday morning and wound up just standing for a while, listening to the quiet. i'm not sure there is any other time where there is such complete silence than after a blanketing of fresh snow.
and then there was a noise, just barely audible at first but getting louder. was it a bird foraging for breakfast? a branch cracking under the snowy weight? no, it was the yelling of my children penetrating all closed doors and windows. i headed back in to break up the first argument of the day. note to all cape codders:: will shovel for childcare!
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what better time to start a wes anderson marathon than when i have 400 stitches cast on and ready to be joined in the round for a slow moving, intimidating pattern. this i will knit only in the evenings, when all are sleeping and i can really concentrate, and watch movies that aren't pixar::
i've seen each of these so many times that i just let them run in the background. i pause and rewind when i miss something while working, so each one takes a few nights to get through. which is fine by me, the music alone is good company. the last one i finished was the darjeeling limited. i had forgotten how great that one is.
** and good news to fellow wes anderson fans, the next movie is already in the works and due out in 2014! the grand budapest hotel. **
meanwhile, moonrise kingdom is one i will have to watch maybe a couple more times. the new cast threw me on this one. ed norton. bruce willis. i don't know. i missed the usual crew. and spent most of the movie pretending sam was played by jason schwartzman. i missed luke and owen wilson. all previous new actors/actresses have worked out. ben stiller, gwyneth paltrow, cate blanchett, adrien brody, etc. maybe it was just that the newbies outnumbered the old crew this time, whereas usually the new faces are just slightly sprinkled in. i could see owen wilson as the scout master and luke wilson as the island police officer. definitely. maybe they were busy.
can't wait for the next one!
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right before the holidays, i very happily inherited an antique yarn swift that used to belong to big b's grandmother (thanks mom!). the same grandmother that taught me how to crochet when kai was in a bouncy seat. how special is that?::
look at that beautiful center pull ball of mink deliciousness (more on the yarn and it's pattern destination later). also, look at that angle on the yarn that ellie is helping me wind. i helped the tension along a little and things went smoothly for our trial run. next time we will rearrange some furniture to get a better line up. i was a little excited to get started winding. i love, love this gorgeous swift. and i miss, miss, miss you grandma schneck!
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remember my search? well i think this is just about as close as it gets. i'm so happy i picked up a copy of this book, i highly recommend it::
five egg yolks, but not too eggy tasting. and all that vanilla? mmmmm....::
after this i want to make every recipe in the book. and there are many, many recipes. not just ice cream! is it wrong that i want to go back to san fran just to visit the shop? also, if you've never tried making your own ice cream, this book has an excellently photographed and perfectly detailed step by step on the techniques. next up? i'd have to say it's a tie between the salted caramel ice cream and the brown sugar ice cream with a ginger-caramel swirl. oh. man.
happy weekend!
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here's a recipe i've been meaning to try for a while. i've seen it a few different places recently and decided to give it a go. the last time i sampled a meringue i was probably 8. and then never again. my memory of the event is hazy but the overall feeling wasn't so much aversion, it was more like confusion. part of me wanted to make them just to clear things up::
i used the meringue recipe from this book. they're just egg whites and sugar. that's it. 2 ingredients. i think as a kid i must have been thinking "there's no cookie in this cookie". but my adult self can definitely see the potential for pavlova's and the addition of fruits and whipped cream. not to mention that melt in your mouth texture. similar to the center of a whopper. you can't go wrong with that!
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