A Lovely Package Exchange

This is the first year I'm participating in the {lovely} PACKAGE EXCHANGE graciously hosted by Danni from oh, hello friend.

Nearly 200 lovely bloggers signed up to exchange pretty presents by mail and I was matched with Carrie Koehmstedt from Carrie Loves and Sweet Faerie Designs. And oh happy day, her thoughtful gift was one of my favorites from Etsy: a Gourmet Sea Salt Kit from Cook Outside the Box.  

My offering was a bracelet from Wish by Felicity and little Moleskine notebook set since Carrie's favorite colors are turquoise and pink and she put the most adorable photo up on her blog:

[photo by Carrie Koehmstedt]

Thanks, Carrie and Danni for the holiday cheer!

Fun with Fruit

Happy November!  I've been so inspired by lots of fall fruits and events lately, everyone is as busy as little bees....I really enjoyed Pie Party Live hosted by Jackie & Ken -- great job, guys!  I even won a copy of the Sarabeth's Bakery Cookbook, hurray!!

I'd been meaning to make a pie (or 2!) but being sick for the whole month of October threw a wrench into my plans.  Eventually I got back to canning with some black grapes and red plums from a recipe in Canning for a New Generation.

Love how the kitchen smells when fruit is simmering...

Vanilla Peach Lemon Abundance

My 4th canning venture went pretty well.  Justin was away, so Kate came over for Chinese food, wine and to keep me company in the kitchen.

Peeling peaches was easier than I expected, just a little boiling water bath, then a plunge into ice water and....

gasp!  Naked peaches!  They kind of looked like big egg yolks.

Test Drive for Teeny Tiny Feet

A few weeks before my friend Allison's due date I took More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson for a book test drive: could these little baby socks really take only the suggested 3 hours a pair? Not counting the 12 minutes it took to find the right size needles in my stash, this 1st pic below was taken at 7:30 p.m.

Next by 7:45 p.m.

Then a break to answer some work e-mails that popped up and grab a snack.  By 8:13 p.m. there were 2" and the leg section was done.

I turned the heel flap the wrong way and had to take a few rows out, then look up the SSK (slip-slip-knit) stitch,

and how to pick up stitches along an edge

since it's been a while since I knit my last little baby project.

Once the heel was done it was on to the toe.

And by 10:11 p.m. finishing off.

And voila!  One done by 10:38 p.m.  So, already that's almost 3 hours (with various interruptions) and the 2nd one took about that long too: twice the quoted time, but I need to brush up on my speed.

In any case, I liked this sweet card to go with it.

And always love gift wrapping, especially for something so very small and soft.  It's nice to use a strand of the yarn for a preview of what's inside.

There are lots more projects in the book I want to try too: soft baskets (2 - 4 hours), spiral seat cushions (6 hours), socks (more than 8 hours) and more...maybe my time ratio will be a little better next time.

Crafty Holiday Wrap-up

Craft punches by Martha Stewart, cards from Papyrus,

pink wrapping paper from Target, white and red paper from 
The Container Store

Better a belated holiday wrap-up than never!  What with such a range of prices for gift wrap this year I got a few different designs for a little holiday splurge and wrapped up my gifts, handmade and otherwise.

When I knit a hat for my Dad last year from Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Taupe Mist it only fit Guinness the dog, so I tried again for Christmas...it sorta fit, but quite snugly -- gee, a gauge swatch really is a good idea!  Off to buy more yarn and a new pattern, here's to hoping 3rd time's a charm.

I made my sister Emily a lace applique tank very similar to mine.

And used the Heather Prime Alpaca I got back in October from ImagiKnit in San Francisco

to make her a fluffy pink Diamond Knit Cowl from a beautiful pattern by Susan St. Martin.

And THIS actually fit (much easier)!  I whole-heartedly recommend Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off, a really nice finishing touch. 

The tank and cowl got wrapped up in little, pink packages with Martha Stewart craft punch Icelandic snowflakes.

I liked that her gift to me was wrapped so the penguin was peeking out around the little gold bow.

Feeling a little chilly myself I started a cowl for me with 2 huge balls of heavy grey wool my Aunt Jean sent me as part of a big box of craft supplies donated to my blog! 

It seemed the perfect yarn for the chunky seed stitch pattern of the GAP-tastic cowl by Jen Geigley.  I got about 1/3 through before running out of yarn (mental note: this and the hat fiasco proving I must work on more accurate yarn-age estimates...) but no worries, it's quite wide.

I can drape it twice around my neck and hopefully stave off these cold, cold days we've been having in NYC.  

Happy New Year crafting!

Crafty Holiday Prep 2010

[from Martha Stewart Living]

One week to Thanksgiving!  Once again, Martha Stewart Living is having a Holiday Craft Sale, this year on Saturday, December 4th.  I really enjoyed it last year, so I'll sure be going again.  And I can't wait to get their December issue packed with exciting, new projects: ornaments made from strings of sequins?  Yes, please.

Amy Atlas has a very pretty Thanksgiving Crafty Round-up.  I want even just a few more days to do all of these.

I want to make this sweet, little knit pumpkin I saw over on FlowerPot Designs.  How many can I make by next week?!

I'd also love to have these felt oak-leaf bowls from Martha Stewart on my Thanksgiving table.  And how cute are these paper pilgrim hats?

It isn't too early for holiday gift project plans.  Over on the purl bee are ideas to get you started on your knitting and sewing: they have the most gorgeous fabrics and luxurious yarns, a lovely way to make your projects even more special.

Great array of holiday gift tutorials over at Sew, Mama, Sew with categories for Hipsters, Pet Lovers, Foodies and more.

Paper Source has fun holiday card kits.  Looking forward to visiting the new Brooklyn location with Koru Kate!

And lots of holiday decor patterns over at Lion Brand Yarn.  If you're in the NYC area don't miss visiting their beautiful studio.

Those are just a few for now, and this year I want to get back to things I haven't done in years:

1) get a real Christmas tree
2) make a gingerbread house
3) send holiday cards
4) actually cook something
5) have a party
6) go see The Nutcracker
7) and finish a few gifts I've started on already, shhh...

Happy holiday planning!

I Left My Heart...

...in SAN FRANCISCO...That's where I saw this cool graffiti last year and we're heading back next week: Justin to speak about cookbooks at the BlogHer food conference, me for some much-needed vacationing, so if anyone has any cool, fun, crafty, foodie SF tips I'd love to hear some recommendations!

I've finally completed a (small) sewing project: a little drawstring bag with pink lining and silk ribbon, just in time for the end of National Sewing Month.  It isn't as awesome as the Wonder Woman costume my Mom made, but it's a start and the pattern is perfect for my next bout of car crafting and to take some supplies along for my trip west.  What to do with all that plane time?

There was a bump in the road when my worst fears were realized and my beautiful machine jammed: the very thing that had made me hesitant all this time!  Fortunately, Justin stepped in and I didn't need to carry it into the city for a check-up and she seems to be running well again, phew...

I also had time to package up all the bath fizzies: it's good to not be working until midnight these days!

I can't wait to give them to all the hard-working ladies who helped me so much during Fashion Week, thank you, all, I couldn't have done it without you!

A Tale of 3 Fizzies

Fizzy #1 (back left): from Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts

Fizzy #2 (front): from Martha Stewart Living, December 2008

Fizzy #3 (back right): from The Martha Stewart Show, February 2007

"Are you making cookies?" the boyfriend asked one evening.  A fair question: he was starting to make chocolate peanut butter brownies from the new book Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef.  "No..." I admitted.  Next question: "are you making soap?"  How well he knows me.  

I had made soap on Valentine's Day with glycerin from Majestic Mountain Sage and this time I was using another one of their products: citric acid.  So began Bath Fizzy #1:

Sift 1 3/4 cups baking soda, 1 cup citric acid and 2 cups cornstarch, mix with essential oil, spritz with colored water until crumbly and pack into flexible ice cube trays.  It was a little tough to get the consistency just right, so by the next morning I had these:

Cute, pretty pink, smelled like lovely lavender, but some trouble un-molding them so they weren't the perfect squares I was hoping for.  They still fizzed in water though!

So, into a package they went and off to a friend's house on a lovely Sunday to see her and her husband, French bulldog and new baby.  

Later in the week it was on to espresso brownies and Fizzy #2 with slightly different quantities (1 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup citric acid, 3/4 cup cornstarch) and the addition of a 1/4 cup sugar.

Having done the 1st batch I knew a little more about what to expect, and this recipe seemed to make more sense: the sugar gave the rest of the ingredients something to grip on to and it packed nicely.

I let them dry longer this time and there were still some variations in the un-molding process, but:

there were a few nice, smooth squares!  They were lucky to be in the middle of the tray so the pressure from the surrounding squares kept them together.  Thinking of that, it was time for Fizzy #3 (and bourbon pecan brownies).  You can see Martha's video here: she grinds 1 cup of baking soda together with the essential oil, which really blends the scent into the mixture.  Then 1/2 cup citric acid, 1/4 cup epsom salt (I used sugar again instead) and NO CORNSTARCH and pack into a ball mold.

This mixture needed less water to hold together and it dried hard.  I only had this packaging from a stress ball toy, so it wasn't a real mold that held itself together. 

The two halves stayed together well when I held them with my hands, but eventually I tried using a book:

then just the bag of sugar:

but ultimately some of it squeezed out the sides and expanded, so I let it dry open and then it cracked and rounded a bit.

This was the firmest of all the fizzies, so next time I'll try a mold that stays closed so there will be just one piece, not like this:

In the end, the winner for me is Fizzy #2!

And what to do with the extra?  Bath sugar!

Oh and about all those brownies, didn't miss the gluten at all, they were delicious...