Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Drop Spindle Bags
Have I talked much about my drop spindling here on the blog? I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but a while back I took some classes from one of the lovely ladies in my knitting group who was showing people how to use a drop spindle. I'll admit that I haven't done it much lately, but it really is a lot of fun! So I decided to add to my Etsy product line and make some Drop Spindle Bags, perfect for spindling works in progress:
By the way, the Back to School Sale is still going on in my shop, lots of stuff is gone but there are still some cute stitch markers and cards to be had!
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Muffin Quest
Muffin Quest, the eternal search for the perfect blueberry muffin. Every once in a while, I loves me a good muffin, and that good muffin is usually blueberry. But I haven’t really found a recipe that I love yet, not that I haven’t tried many of them. Last night I made two batches, first I made the Bakery Style Berry Muffins from Vegan Brunch and then I made a batch of the Blueberry Lemon Muffins from The Joy of Vegan Baking. First, the ones from Vegan Brunch:
Good texture, pretty good flavor, but there could definitely be improvements. The flavor just isn’t quite there for me. And the ones from The Joy of Vegan Baking:
I really don’t like the texture of these, they’re weirdly smooth. The flavor is good though, I like the lemon with the blueberry, it’s a nice combo. So maybe the perfect muffin is somewhere in between, more experimentation is needed! Do any of you have a great go-to blueberry muffin recipe?
-Kala
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Back to School Sale!!!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Sushi, Stellastarr, and Sewing
I looove sushi, it's one of those foods that I could eat all the time and never get tired of, so yummy! I prefer homemade (we're making some for dinner tomorrow!) but as far as market sushi goes, the packs from Lunds are pretty good. Now if you want really good restaurant sushi with tons of vegan options, you have to go to Midori's Floating World Cafe in Minneapolis. It's crazy good and they moved into a new space this year so it's not quite so tiny inside.
As for the rest of the day, I have lots of sewing to get done for my Etsy shop and I have the new Stellastarr album to listen to while I work, whee!
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Winner of The Vegan Scoop
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Review: Knitscene Fall 2009
I've been dying to find a copy of the Fall issue of Knitscene since I first saw a preview on the Green Apples blog (great blog by the way, check it out if you haven't before.) I finally found it yesterday at Depth of Field and I'm pretty impressed with this issue. I'm totally making this (sorry for the tiny pics!):
Heather Hoodie Vest by Debbie O'Neil:
Isn't it super cute? It's a short sleeved cabled hoodie and I must have it! It would be a great layering piece and I can totally see myself wearing it this fall to school. So the yarn to make it counts as school supplies, right? Ha, but anyway, I'm thinking Berroco Comfort Chunky - I have a ball in red that I can swatch with but I haven't decided on the final sweater color yet.
I also love the Lace Twist Mitts by Debbie O'Neil (I didn't notice it was the same designer as the hoodie until right now, cool):
I don't know if they'll end up being for me or my mom, but they're very pretty.
The Crochet Bobble Beret by Robyn Chachula is also super cute, it's knit for the ribbing and then you crochet the rest:
And if I could pull off something this fitted, I would totally make the Carnaby Street Pullover by Melissa Wehrle:
I love how it fits the model and all the details but I wouldn't feel comfortable in something that tight, my tummy would not be happy! But it's so gorgeous...
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Wednesday, July 22, 2009
FO: Crazy Comfort Socks
Is it wrong that I just had a chocolate covered strawberry for breakfast? Ok, maybe I'll have something else later.... Hey, I finished something! I actually finished these socks a few days ago but I totally spaced blogging about them. They're from the basic sock pattern that I use (with a few little changes) from the book Getting Started Knitting Socks by Ann Budd. I've said it before but I'll say it again, if you're new to sock knitting or want to get into it, this is a must have book, I use it all the time for reference.
The yarn is Berroco Comfort Sock (50% nylon/50% acrylic) in the Cosmopolitan colorway. I really do like this yarn quite a bit, it's soft and easy to care for. After a few washings it's not quite as soft, but they don't get rough or anything. And I'm not gentle with them, I don't hand wash socks and the washer for our building doesn't know the meaning of "gentle cycle." I also through all socks in the dryer which of course doesn't have a low heat setting, but it works for me. Ok, I need to get dressed now, the post office calls!
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Saturday, July 18, 2009
Vegan Scoop Contest!
It's time for another contest! This time, Shane and I are having a giveaway on our food blog, Vegan Caliente for a copy of The Vegan Scoop by Wheeler del Torro. It's a very cool book full of vegan ice cream deliciousness! Be sure to check it out, the deadline is next Saturday. Click here for more details and to enter!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Ok, I was wrong...
...apparently I do need a door. Do you remember a few weeks ago I was talking about my car door needing to be fixed and I said that I could just ignore it? Yeah, not so much when it won't close AT ALL without a neighbors help closing it from the outside. Sigh. So Shane's picking the car up now and although our wallets are over $400 lighter, we will have a nice safe door. The expense comes at a really bad time, but what can you do. I tell you, my car must have a gypsy curse on it!
Ok, on to more pleasant and less whiny things! Look, I have more crochet blocks done:
I was pretty productive this last Tuesday at knit night, although I felt pretty zombie-ish because my stomach was in knots about car stuff the whole time. Good thing granny squares don't take much brain power :) I have lots of little squares done and it hasn't even made much of a dent in my leftover bin:
As you can see, I usually have quite a bit of yarn leftover after a pair of socks. I have pretty big feet (US size 10) but I don't knit very tall socks so I guess that makes up for it.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
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Thursday, July 16, 2009
Giveaway at Pink Chalk Studio
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Sew and Sew and Sew
Since the Fall tuition due date is coming up really really soon (not to mention books and supplies I need to buy) I've been trying to get a lot of sewing done for my Etsy shop. I put up a couple of new things today and I'm now shipping to the UK as well and the US and Canada! Here's some of my new stuff:
thanks!
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Monday, July 13, 2009
Granny-tastic
I'm always looking for ways to use up leftover sock yarn and this is my newest project. It's the Granny's a Square Afghan designed by Allison Haas and it's a free pattern. It calls for worsted weight yarn but I'm going to use sock yarn and a smaller hook (D) and I think it'll work nicely. Of course, it might turn out totally hideous since I'll be using all sorts of crazy colors :) It's made up of three different size blocks, the smallest ones work up super fast, I have six done so far. I also worked up one medium block in some purple Maizy:
This will probably be a long term project unless I get really addicted and decide to buy yarn specifically for it, we shall see.
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Saturday, July 11, 2009
Berroco Sock Star Contest
This might be old new to some of you but I just heard about it today so I thought I'd share. Berroco is having a cool design contest and one of the yarns you can use is Comfort Sock! Visit the site for complete details and rules, but basically you design and either knit or crochet something from the yarns listed and send it in for judging. The top 8 will win $250 and have their design published in a future Berroco booklet. So get your brains going and get crafting, the deadline is August 31st!
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Friday, July 10, 2009
From Scotland With Love
It's been said many times, but knitters really are some of the most awesome people around. And no offence to all of the non-vegans out there, but vegan knitters are awesome X a million! I literally just got in the door from a long road trip, but I absolutely had to blog about the crazy cool package that came today from the lovely Mirella of the be my playground blog. Mirella is a vegan crafter living in Glasgow and she generously sent me a box of goodies (you know I loves me some goodies!)
There's a skein of Wendy Happy yarn in a cool variegated blue color (it's a bamboo nylon blend), 2 vegan chocolate bars (wheee, one's mint!), some super cute buttons, solid perfume, tea, tape measure, a batch of homemade shortbread, and she even made me a mix cd! The shortbread is delicious, I've already broken into it of course, it's made with real mint and it's a totally new taste for me but I love it :) The mix cd is titled Blow My Socks Right Off - Music for Discerning Knitters and it includes such awesome bands as The Delgados, Belle and Sebastian, and Rilo Kiley, she got my music tastes dead on! Thanks again Mirella!!!
Skeeter Bites
Friday, July 03, 2009
One Sock Down
I juuust finished weaving in the ends on this, it's the first sock from my ball of Cosmopolitan Comfort Sock. I'm so in love with the colors, pink and green are so awesome together! Now to cast on for it's mate...
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Wednesday, July 01, 2009
That's a big bag of corn
No really:
Can you guess what I've been making with this huge bag of dried corn? It's a sewing project. Any guesses?
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Bean Bags! It's a wedding project for a certain tall blond friend that's getting married this month, she's going to have one of those games where you throw a bean bag through a board with holes (this game probably has a name but I have no idea what it is) and I'm making the bean bags:
I did the bulk of the work today while listening to a bunch of podcasts and I only managed to stab myself once with a needle. The fabric was a little tough to do the hand sewing to close the openings and I scraped the needle across my index finger, ouch! But luckily I didn't bleed on anything :)
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