sew knitpicky

Meet Henry

2012-01-21T10:23:00.005-05:00

When I first got to know boyfriend, he volunteered at our local hospital, and would occasionally make paper cranes to entertain visitors. I wanted to make him a stuffed something as part of his Christmas present, and I have a soft spot for Canada geese, so this goose-crane hybrid was born. It was the perfect combination in my head, because I would be working off a pattern I knew well by heart (ie. paper crane folding) while also incorporating a little bit of sewing to make it extra special. So, I found this fabric in a fat quarters basket of a fabric store downtown, and folded it origami style:
I ironed down the folds as I went, which helped make it look crisp and neat, but my limited ability to visualize and place appropriate seam allowances meant that I ended up making a tailor's strap out of the leftover fabric and sewing it along the wingspan so there were no raw edges on the underside. Once it was folded open, it looked like this:
From there, it was a matter of pinning everything in place and sewing it all together. I started with the neck and tail, using an invisible ladder stitch (I have no idea if this is actually what it's called but this lovely lady has made a tutorial for it!) and stuffed it with some stretched out cotton balls. Henry is completely stuffed with dollar store cotton balls cause I had no idea where I could find poly-fill down in Philly. It was actually kind of a pain to stuff the body because I would consistently overstuff it, and that would make the wing folds open up. I ended up understuffing a little until I had sewed down one side of the tailors strap before stuffing a little more into the body. I cut pieces of felt in the shape of the wing and slipped it into the wing space so that it would be more substantial, and then sewed down the wings with the aforementioned tailor's strap.
Perhaps my favourite part (and proudest achievement) was the felt head gusset! Having never made a 3D toy before, I embarked on a massive google search, and found this website. She has absolutely amazing tutorials for the toys she makes, and it made visualizing the process so much easier. I ultimately chose to do a pointed oval gusset on the top of the goose's head. And it actually worked! I loved how easy it was, although it took a while of poking with a tiny crochet needle to get all of the beak inside out. The white chin strap was an easy addition, and after that I just plopped the felt around the neck of the bird and sewed that baby down. And so, Henry was born! Honk!

Banana bread cake muffins

2012-01-08T12:27:00.007-05:00

When I was young, my dad and I would occasionally share a muffin over the kitchen sink for breakfast. Our favourite part of the muffin is the cap: there's something extra delicious about the slight crunch and the fluffy underside that you just don't get with a muffin base. Often times, the cap would be quickly devoured and then we would grudgingly pick at the base so as not to waste food. We don't really buy muffins anymore, and I've been away at school long enough that I don't get to share breakfasts with him too often, but when I make muffins for myself, I always think of our mutual lack of enthusiasm for the base. Enter, mini cake moulds.

One of my best friends gifted me this mini cake mould this christmas - it's a silicone baking tray that has decorative icing ribbons built into the mould. I've never used silicone bakeware, but I admit that I was 70% hooked after I found out you don't need to grease the pans. I decided to make banana bread this morning since I have a whole bunch of very sad looking bananas in my freezer...

Seriously. How adorable are these???

And this was what the pan looked like after I popped all the cakes out. No scouring required. Definitely 100% impressed. But the most exciting part?? Baking the mould upside down means the base expands and rises like a muffin (= crunchy cap win!!)...

...and the traditional muffin base is made ten times more interesting because it has tiers and decorative ribbons!!

These are dangerously delicious and fun to eat.

I wanted to keep the recipe simple so I could try out the pan, so I took out a lot of the extras from the recipe. Here is the revised:

1 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 mashed bananas
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix dry ingredients together in a big bowl. Mix wet ingredients together in a separate smaller bowl. Add wet to dry along with chocolate chips and mix until just blended. Bake for 22-23 minutes. I checked mine at 20 and they were undercooked and took them out at 25, and they look a little brown at the top tier, so I assume somewhere between there is perfect :) Happy sunday!

Tired

2011-12-18T22:06:00.005-05:00

I'm closing in on the last week of classes before Christmas break, and every single day I spend studying feels more and more tedious. And yet the days are passing by so quickly: it's incredible that I haven't posted anything since October. But my hands have certainly been busy in this time making some cool crafty things! Many of them are Christmas presents so I can't show them off on here just yet, but there are several knits and a sewing project (it's been so long, and I've missed it!!) that will appear soon.

In the meantime, I have become completely obsessed with sunflower seeds over the past little while. Trader Joe's sells these 1lb packs for something like $2, and I've been eating them with my morning oatmeal, and baking with them. My absolute favourite concoction is a chocolate chip sunflower recipe that is made with oil..The recipe uses a mix of brown and white sugar, which adds some depth of flavour, but I love the texture and nuttiness of the sunflower seeds with the semisweet chocolate chips. They literally take 30 minutes from start to finish, and have been the perfect comfort food when I'm studying.

Adapted from this recipe:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 350F, mix the dry ingredients (including the chocolate chips and sunflower seeds) together, mix the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl, then add the dry to the wet and mix until just combined.

At this point I usually wet my hands and make little 1.25" balls of dough in my palms - usually I get about 25 cookies per batch. Bake them for 9-10 minutes, turning the pan halfway through if your oven is like mine and cooks unevenly. Enjoy :)

I also had half a cabbage, tomatoes, carrots and celery in my fridge, so I took a study break this morning to make a pot of borscht (I know, not technically borscht cause there aren't any beets), but its something my family makes every so often, especially with a turkey carcass after thanksgiving. I had no such carcass, so I brought in the flavour by sauteeing some diced chicken breast, frying a diced tomato, plenty of spices and pepper, and sauteeing the veggies before adding water. I then took another study break (as I said, running really low on motivation at this point) and made soda bread with sunflower seeds. There was a recipe I used when I was younger that was a photocopy of some old magazine that consistently made great soda bread with flax and whole wheat flour. I had neither that recipe nor the flax, so I tried a simple one from seriouseats, which I sort of screwed up, but it had a phenomenal crust and I may have eaten all the crust from half the loaf tonight.
I used plain yogurt in place of the buttermilk (score one more point for using things in my fridge up before I leave for the holidays!) but didn't score the bread deep enough or poke holes for aeration, which I suspect was what trapped the moisture and left the centre slightly undercooked. Part of my impatience stemmed from the fact that it was really sticky - my distant memories of the soda bread I made in my childhood was easy to work with and not nearly as frustrating, so after 15 minutes of trying to powder everything with more flour and not have such a sticky mess, I gave up and just plopped it into the oven. For gustatory excitement I added poppy seeds (2tbsp) and sunflower seeds (1/3 cup) - I love love love the texture they gave to the bread. Unfortunately I kind of burned the bottom from overbaking because of the undercooked centre. Blast (but not really cause it gave it a wicked crust). I can't wait to go home and find that recipe and make it for real!

One more week till Christmas... can't wait to share all the handmade gifts after that :)

Happy birthday to me!

2011-10-26T11:43:00.004-04:00

Last year, my brother and sister-in-law gifted me a skein of very expensive, very gorgeous silvery silk yarn. I started making an echo flowers shawl with it, frogged that, and started a dancing cranes stole. Which I knit, for an eternity. This was actually made worse by the fact that I got far more repeats out of this yarn than anticipated, which speaks volumes about my ability to do math and my pathetic attention span. But a couple weeks ago, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and miracles of miracles, the shawl is done. D. O. N. E. Seriously, waiting for this thing to dry after blocking was the longest 24 hours of my life. It was the culmination of 15 months of guilty looks from the corner it sat in in my room, where it would scream 'Why am I in a cheap ziploc bag? Why aren't you loving me??' Seeing it all pinned out, he love has hit me hard again. The pattern came through ten zillion times better after stretching it out and I am obsessed with following the squiggles and lines running through the stole.
Why yes, wearing soft silk around my neck will make me gape and stare in amazement. Believe it or not this picture was already one of the better ones.. I need to find myself a photographer.
I took these pictures this morning, and I'm not sure if it's the lighting or my camera, but it seriously doesn't do justice to the shininess of the yarn. This one is a little more like it.
Did I mention how much I love the squiggles?

I love them.

cheesecake brownies

2011-10-17T17:49:00.003-04:00

This past weekend was one of the best I've had in a long time. Friends, boyfriend, NYC, fried chicken, a lovely dinner at home, surprises and these. Cheesecake brownies. Baked at 350 F for 30 minutes. In a pie plate because I don't have an 8 x 8 pan. Read the recipe card, that's all it takes. Why haven't I made this at least once a week for the past 22 years of my life?

I'm not really sure. But you've been told - now go make a batch!

quiche

2011-10-13T18:23:00.004-04:00

Grocery shopping in Philadelphia is different from shopping at a Food Basics or Metro in Canada. I find produce here is generally a little more expensive: mushrooms never seem to go on sale, whereas broccoli (that is actually Canadian grown) has been in season and on sale, but still not as cheap as it was in Canada. Also, oranges here are fugly. I am crossing my fingers and praying that that is because it's not the season for them and that I will not be deprived of my favourite citrus fruit for the next four years. On the other hand, I can get 18 eggs at my local grocery store here for $1.99. Wow. I don't think I'm ever going to go back to buying a dozen, but I have been thinking of different ways to use eggs. Enter quiche.
Sorry, I was too excited to see whether or not it had actually set/tasted as fabulous as it smelled so I cut (and downed) a piece before I even thought to take a picture. Worth it. If I wasn't making it to share with someone, I would've eaten at least several more (and larger) slices. I used this recipe as a guideline for the egg:milk ratio. I used the following as my filling:

1 onion, chopped
3 giant leaves of kale, stalks diced and thrown into the pan first and leaves shredded
4 oz of mushrooms
liberal sprinklings of italian seasoning, garlic powder
small sprinkle of nutmeg
1 tbsp of ketchup
4 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk

And my go-to pie crust recipe, sans sugar:

1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp milk

I have something to confess: I have a terrible track record of finding vegan recipes and making them non-vegan for convenience sake.. In the case of the pie crust, I just used regular milk. I find they are usually healthier, and still very delicious. Plus, this pie crust is quite aptly titled, because it is the world's easiest pie crust. Instead of rolling it out into a sheet and placing into a pie plate, you mix all the ingredients together into a bowl and then pat the resulting dough out onto the plate. It doesn't do the whole puffing up and needing to be weighed down thing when you pre-bake it, which is one solid check mark in my book cause it means less cleaning.

I was watching criminal minds while I made the crust today, so I was a little distracted and didn't spend as much time patting it out and making it look pretty. Rest assured, the taste and texture did not suffer. It is flaky and delicious! I pre-baked the pie crust for 10 minutes at 400 F, then poured the filling in and baked the quiche for 40 min at 375 F. Took it out and let it sit on my counter until it had sunken down (quiches are so funny looking when they come out of the oven because they are all puffy and expanded!).

Om nom nom. Find some eggs and make it! Guaranteed a win.

Fresh start

2011-10-04T18:18:00.002-04:00

Hello!

It's been a long time since I've tended to this blog... 2011 has passed by so very quickly, and there are some pretty big changes:

1) I've left Kingston, ON for good, and am now in Philadelphia, PA
2) I'm starting my first year of dental school!
3) I'm starting all of these things with a fantastic man who has completely and utterly swept me off my feet :)

Through all of this, I have been swimming, baking, knitting and running - these things have kept me sane and I can't wait to start sharing again. Without further ado, here is my version of the waffel hat!I made this hat back in June - the yarn is some beautiful seafoam Drops silke alpaca, which was a super cute and thoughtful birthday gift. The hat took just under 2 balls, knit on 4mm needles. I'd consider the pattern only semi-fun to knit, but I do love love love the way it looks when its stretched out. So simple, but so cool! I was given four balls, and I am currently dreaming of making a pair of fingerless mitts - I'm thinking something like fetching, but with the waffel pattern and individual finger holes for extra warmth. Stay tuned...
The only thing I changed about the hat pattern was the crown. I always have issues with knitting the crowns of hats, because I hate it when the crown pops up while you're wearing it or if it just doesn't sit right. I didn't really like the look of the ribbed crown, so I decided to kind of wing it and go for some symmetrical decreases around the crown. This way, I was able to continue the pattern pretty much to the end. I really like the way it turned out: it looks like some kind of flower or snowflake! The true test of whether it was a good modification will come soon: the weather down here is getting chilly and I have a feeling this waffle hat will get some wear soon!

Whee!

Roasted cornish hen

2011-01-31T08:43:00.003-05:00

My parents sent me a cornish hen last term. It had been sitting in the freezer until last week, when I was sick and craving protein. Damn these birds are good!
I defrosted on the counter overnight, and marinated it in a bag in the morning. I used liberal sprinklings of thyme, paprika, crushed and chopped garlic, salt, pepper and a tablespoon of vegetable oil. After letting it meld in the fridge for the day, I roasted it at 425F for 45 minutes in the evening. The internal temperature was 15-20 degrees higher than the recommended (around 165F), so it could probably do with less time, but it was still very very juicy and the skin was deliciously crispy.
I ate half of hen for dinner and saved the bones and other half for stock and cream of chicken noodle soup (post to follow!). Thanks mom and dad!

Holiday knit

2011-01-18T09:44:00.002-05:00

My grandpa, who lives in Hong Kong, turned 90 a couple of weeks ago. To celebrate with him, I took a short trip during my holiday break to visit. Since Hong Kong can get fairly chilly in the winter (it can get down to 10C, which doesn't seem that low, until you realize that few apartments have central heating systems), my mom suggested I make him a pair of fingerless mitts. I cast on during the flight over, and knit a bit every night, finishing the night before I left (9 days later). The pattern is Amy Ripton's Hedgerow Mitts, modified to have finger holes. I used close to one ball of Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply - it's wonderfully springy and easy to knit. Even though the colour (a beautiful burgundy) is fairly stain-masking, I'm glad that yarn is washable. I used a pair of 2.25mm circular needles, and switched to toothpicks for the fingers (which averaged 16-18 sts around, and 8-10 rows long). As ridiculous as it sounds, the toothpicks weren't too bad to knit with, and probably less fussy than if I had tried to wrestle with the long circular needles.
I like that there is so much elasticity in the ribbed pattern - it makes sizing pretty forgiving. My grandpa likes to sit in his chair and read the newspaper to pass the time during the day, so he really appreciated having the warmth of mittens with the functionality of being able to use his fingers. Happy birthday, grandpa!

Festive cranberry loaf

2011-01-01T20:55:00.002-05:00

Those who know me well know that I spend a good chunk of time each day perusing food blogs and websites. Every time I see something delicious, I bookmark it for future use. This cranberry bread, for example, has been bookmarked for at least a couple of months now because I rarely find fresh (or even frozen) cranberries in supermarkets! I'm so glad I finally tried it, because it is the perfect combination of tangy and sweet, and pretty much fat free.
I tweaked the recipe a bit because I ran out of brown sugar and added some orange zest because I've been inspired by all the holiday recipes I've seen lately. The resulting loaf was colourful (so many orange and red flecks!), and deliciously light.
Adapted from Three Many Cook's cranberry bread
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk
2 cups of fresh cranberries
1 tbsp orange zest

Preheat oven to 350F. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Combine egg and milk in a small bowl and add a splash of vinegar. Halve approximately one cup of the cranberries. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in orange zest and all the cranberries. Pour batter into a loaf pan. Bake until golden brown and a cake tester comes clean, about 1 hour. Let cool a few minutes. Run a knife around pan to loosen bread. Slice up and dig in! The bread is delicious with ice cream or yogurt. Happy holidays, everyone!

Down to the final four

2010-12-23T09:47:00.005-05:00

Hello! My last fall term of undergraduate life has gone by so quickly it amazes me: I'm back at home for the holidays, and I'm still pinching myself. Part of the reason I've been away so often is because I've been interviewing at different dental schools in the US: six different weekends, in fact! I finally decided last night that I'd be going to UPenn, so here's to four more years of schooling!

My travels to these interviews have taken me on some ridiculously tiny planes. This has not always been great because I have a huge plane phobia, and that is made ten times worse by finding out that I will be spending two hours in the air in a ten row propeller plane. I also find it unsettling when I need to walk onto the tarmack to board the plane. Gulp.
My favourite tiny plane story is when I was flying back from Indiana. Before we left the gate, the flight attendant had one request: could a volunteer move to row 11 to balance out the plane? Like I said, still pinching myself.

Anyway, mental freakouts about interview prep and finishing assignments are pretty much over now, so expect some awesome food and knitting posts in the near future!

PS: I discovered Qdoba on one of my trips. There is a Qdoba across the street from the Penn dental building. Mmmm.

2010-11-03T08:33:00.002-04:00

Last week, my friends and I went to KFC to try their new Double Down sandwich: for those who haven't heard of it, the burger doesn't have a traditional bun. Instead, it has two pieces of fried chicken breast as the 'bun', with cheese, bacon and 'colonel's sauce' inside. This is one epic heart-busting, artery clogging burger, so I felt compelled to have lots of veggiesfor lunch. Enter the kale-pumpkin bake: I had roasted the rest of the pumpkin the night before, so all I did was scrape out the meat, and mash it in the pan with a light sprinkling of salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme. While sauteing a chopped onion and a minced clove of garlic, I washed the kale, cut the leaves away from the stems and trimmed everything down to big bite-sized pieces. I threw the stems into the pan with the onions and let them cook a few minutes so they wouldn't be too tough, then added the leaves. Added a splash of water and covered to cook down a bit, and after the leaves had wilted and the water had evaporated, I layered it on top of the pumpkin. Topped it with a bit of cheese (I used mozzarella and a slice of processed cheese that I had in the fridge), and popped in the oven (350F, or around there) for around 10 minutes, for everything to get warm and delicious.
Dig in and enjoy! Pumpkin is supposed to be full of anti-oxidants and beta carotene, and kale is also supposed to be full of beta carotene, vitamin C, potassium and a whole host of other minerals. I ate this by itself, but I can imagine it going really well with couscous or quinoa. Yum!

PS, the double down was amazing. It was generally agreed amongst us that having some tomato slices in it would have made it even better, but it was a deliciously salty, crunchy treat. Thank goodness it's only in Canada for a couple more weeks!

cold potatoes aren't hot

2010-10-26T21:32:00.006-04:00

Somehow, it's fall again, so many of my favourite fall classics are back! I picked up a pumpkin for $1.50 at the supermarket the other day, and I've made some pumpkin stew and fish curry with it so far. Last week I had some potatoes that needed to be consumed, so I brought a potato salad to a potluck. Back home, we make two kinds of potato salad: this one features celery, corn and pickles, and the other one has egg, ham, apples, peas and carrots. It's no coincidence that I made the one with less ingredients: my parents are very particular about making sure everything that goes into the potato salad has been patted dry, and the other one just takes way too long! I mixed in a couple spoons of miracle whip, a squirt of mustard, salt and pepper, and let it sit overnight to let the flavours meld. Delicious!
I didn't soak the potatoes in salt water while I was cutting them, so they darkened a bit. Still, potato salad is always awesome.
I've also been trying out some new stuff: these are my kale chips! I finally saw some at the market and I've always wanted to try because I've read so many bloggers talk about how they taste just like chips. True story. This is great stuff. Cut the spines away, washed it, spun it dry, laid it out, sprinkled with salt and drizzled some oil and then baked it at 350F for 10 minutes. They did get a little less crunchy as they cooled cause I think I took them out a little early, but I don't mind having a little vegetable with my chips! If you see kale at the market, I highly recommend picking some up and trying these :)

progress?

2010-10-10T10:32:00.004-04:00

As the frequency of my last posts have suggested, this school year has taken me a while to adjust to: between filling out applications and doing readings for all my classes, it's been hard to find time to relax. So, the silk shawl is growing, but pretty slowly....

This is a sideways shot of it (it's knitted on its side, remember?) I'm still fairly in love with it. Occasionally, I wish that all the holes actually made a pattern instead of looking like a cluster of nothing, but the waves always win me over:
I really want to finish this thing and block it! It doesn't usually take me so long to finish a knitting project, especially one in such a gorgeous yarn. The weather is getting terrifyingly chilly, too soon, and I worry that by the time I'm finished it won't be warm enough to use outside!

it's not delivery, nor delissio!

2010-10-09T10:12:00.005-04:00

As a student, I find myself always on the lookout for quick, easy and nutritious meals. This year, one of those has been homemade pizza! The pizza craze was mostly inspired by a jar of Ragu that I had opened and some intense cravings. Besides, there are only so many times you can eat marinara pasta! Even though I love my pizza extra saucy, I believe I still made pizza 3 or 4 times with that jar. Like most of the things I make, what went on top of the pizza mostly depended on what I had in my fridge. In this case, sliced tomatoes, unfrozen corn kernels, red peppers and monterey jack cheddar.
The crust is yeast-free for ease and convenience. The whole thing literally takes ten minutes to throw together and 20 minutes to bake.

Crust
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup skim milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil

I'm pretty sure you can get away with substituting water for milk, but I did promise myself to try to get more calcium into my diet :) If you want a little more flavour in your crust, throw it one or two tablespoons of spices (I use a combination of thyme, chili flakes, oregano). Mix all the ingredients together and then knead it a few times to make sure it's all combined. Plop the dough onto a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil (easy clean-up!) and use a rolling pin/fingers to flatten it out. Make sure its not more than 2cm thick so that the crust has enough time to bake. Before you pour your sauce on top, spread a couple teaspoons of oil on the top. This will prevent the sauce from drowning the dough and making the middle layer of your pizza a gross gluey mess. Then throw on the sauce, your toppings, more spice mix and shred some cheese! Bake at 425F for 20 min, or until crust turns golden. By then, the crust will have developed a crunchy base. Take it out, cut it up and dig in!
My mother is appalled that I keep making pizza for dinner instead of having a real meal (i.e. one with rice), but at least it's healthier than this one! (I'm not going to lie though, I definitely saw that and wanted to try it...)

ugly rant

2010-09-29T07:19:00.004-04:00

Many of the people I've talked to recently have told me how fourth year is the most emotionally turbulent, but also the greatest year of their lives. I must be in a huge slump right now, because it's 7 hours before my first class of the day, and I'm up. Why? (The three example form has been drilled into me that it's almost innate, so apparently, even my rage is defined by three things) 1. I love that garbage pick-up in Kingston is so efficient that it comes at 6 in the morning, but the weeks we have blue bin recycling are just so damn annoying because the bottles always make a ruckus. 2. The crows outside my window. Don't crows migrate anywhere? I wish that they would stop trying to join in and harmonize with each other because let's face it crows, you sound like crap. Please just go away. I would really like to not get woken up by you at sunrise because I have been up late finishing essays. 3. Why on earth do I keep getting completely blindsided by people? I try so hard to give people their space to do their own thing and not micromanage but recently they just turn to me when it's past the deadline and ask me to finish up. Not cool. I have lists and calendars for a reason. So that I don't get nasty surprises. Argh. So all that together equals cranky Laurel wishing it were a weekend but resigned to the fact that it's not and that it's time to put on pants and make the most out of the day.

I don't want to end my post on all this bitterness, so I will share an etsy page I found through craftgawker last night. I really liked the fireflies and the little bugs set most: the dashed flight paths bring back such fond memories of childhood books/clothes. They are sketches that have been outlined, scanned and then digitally coloured. Gorgeous and whimsical. Check it out!
The first time I saw a firefly was when my grade went camping as a grade trip post high-school graduation. I had the brilliant idea (probably inspired by a book) that you could probably make a flashlight if you got enough of them in a jar. But then I thought about how pissed off I would be if someone crammed me into a tight space with hundreds of other people. So I let the one I had cupped in my hand go. I have the utmost respect for creatures that can make their own light. Maybe that's because I have terrible night vision. Who knows.

Ack.

2010-09-04T20:15:00.004-04:00

This past week, I've done some things that have made me wonder if I'm getting dumber. When I shared this with a friend, he told me that it comes with age. Well, I must have done some considerable aging this week, cause I cannot believe how long it took me to realize something was wrong with shawl v.2.I finally picked the dancing cranes shawl as THE one for my skein of silk. And I cast on 300 sts, and started knitting. It thought of why I would be casting on 300 sts for a shawl vaguely wandered through my mind, but I put it off by saying that it had been a while since I'd made a rectangular shawl and clearly I'd forgotten just how tiny those stitches are. 10 rows in, I took a break and went back to the ravelry galleries.

This shawl is knit sideways.

Firstly, why doesn't it say that anywhere?? And secondly, why didn't I realize?? Gah. I've been trying to figure out how long it will turn out because I'm using 3.25mm needles (instead of 4.5mms). My calculations say around 54" (I'm getting about 2" per repeat), but now I'm wondering if that's long enough for my taste. I suppose I could always add to the width and then block it longer, and I think that's what I'll probably what I'll end up doing. Because seriously? How many times could I possibly frog this thing and still have the silk look gorgeous and shiny? Mostly I don't want to rip it cause it's taken me surprisingly long to knit it. Lesson learned. Swatch with expensive yarns. Boo!

phew!

2010-09-04T11:51:00.005-04:00

The last two weeks have flown by again: I was busy finishing up a paper for my summer job, then packing up everything to move back into Kingston. Since it's my last year, I was trying not to move too much stuff back, and it was really hard deciding what to bring and what to leave behind. Sadly, part of what was left behind was a giant 1lb ball of yarn that I was using to make the sleeves of the collared pullover. It's been a while since I've felt like knitting anything, especially since this summer has been so hot, and I was sad to only be able to knit half of both sleeves before I left. Hopefully next time I travel back to Toronto I'll have time to finish it, for real!
I did have room to pack the skein of gorgeous silk that I bought earlier in the year in New York. I was going to make the echo flower shawl with it, but I'm thinking I want to do a rectangular stole instead. Although I really really love the flower pattern, I don't wear triangular shawls very often, and I don't want the yarn to be wasted! So, I'm on the hunt for a nice rectangular shawl pattern. I've made Eunny's print-o-the-wave stole before and I wasn't too keen on picking up a zillion stitches along the edge, but who knows! Maybe I will design a new pattern in the next week, before school starts...

bye bye, echo flowers!

laptop case II

2010-08-20T15:16:00.004-04:00

My dear brother got married to the love of his life this past June, and because we have a lot of family in Hong Kong, we all went there for post-wedding celebrations. Because my summer job involves a lot of writing and researching, my family surprised me with a new netbook for my birthday so that I wouldn't have to bring a large and heavy laptop. I decided I would make a laptop case for it, but with all the traveling and other sewing projects, I just never got around to doing it. Well, I finally made one, and it's absolutely perfect.
I made a laptop case for my parents last year, but used a different construction for mine because it's so much smaller and thinner. Instead of building a side, I just folded a large rectangle and seamed the sides. Simplicity. Gotta love it when it works!
Both the inside and outside fabrics are leftovers. The blue is from a t-shirt: I angled the shirt so that I could reuse a pocket from the original and then added a wider pocket on the other side. The beige print is leftover from a remnant that I used to make a clutch: I played around with the print by adding sequins and beads. You can't really see the sequins, but occasionally it catches the light and brings a bit of shine to the case.
Now I can finally pop all the bubbles from the original packaging sleeve!

flourless cookies

2010-08-18T20:57:00.010-04:00

I'm always on the lookout for gluten free recipes because my partner can't eat wheat. Often times, I'll automatically bookmark them and then come back to them when I'm bored. I recently discovered a bookmarked recipe for flourless chocolate-walnut cookies. After a quick google search (mostly to investigate whether adding 3 cups of icing sugar really was sane. It really isn't.), I discovered that practically the whole world has heard of, and made, these cookies. After all, they are from New York Mag. Oh well, it's never too late to jump on the bandwagon, especially when it makes something so delicious. I only wish I had made them sooner!
I've actually made two batches of these: the first time, I added a little too much liquid and the batter became too runny. The problem was compounded because I forgot what time I put them into the oven (idiotic, I know.) and left them in a little too long because I was overly cautious. This made them more like really sweet chocolate toffee with walnuts that spread like crazy, but it was still delicious.
The second time, I drastically reduced the amount of sugar (both times I made half batches, and I ended up using 3tbsp of sugar instead of the suggested 1.5 cups), and baked them for 14 minutes: they came out perfectly soft, chewy and brownie like. Instead of using walnuts (I found the first batch a little too nutty), I used a mix of shredded coconut, hazelnuts, chocolate chips and marshmallows. I wish I could say it was because I knew it would taste awesome together, but it was mostly an attempt to clear out a lot of stuff that's been sitting in our pantry for a while. Voila!
Both times I tweaked the recipe, so my recipe looks more like:
1 and 1/3 cup total of nuts/chocolate chips/coconut/marshmallows/whatever you want
3 tbsp icing sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/8tsp salt
1 extra large egg white
a splash of liquid: I used applesauce the first time and milk the second time. I don't think it really matters.

Bake at 350F for 14 minutes
Makes 6 cookies

The splash of liquid is just to compensate for taking out the second egg white: the batter looked almost ready after the addition of the first egg white, so I was worried that adding a second would make it too runny. So add a little of your liquid and mix before you add more, because it really needs very little (as evidenced by the first batch)!
Be warned: these cookies really are as addictive as others have said. I've already made several trips downstairs to get another cookie to "photograph"!

PS: During the first five minutes, the marshmallows expanded a little and the cookie looked GORGEOUS, but then as they cooked they started melting and left sad holes in my cookies. Does anyone have any suggestions for this? Or are all baked goods with marshmallows doomed?

lunch date dress

2010-08-10T09:48:00.006-04:00

Here's the coffee date dress in all its glory! I took these pictures quickly this morning, so my apologies for the unmade bed (I also cropped my face out because it was a morning of weird expressions haha). I'm not sure if this is true for everyone, but I find that my 'morning' waistline and my 'end of day' waistline differs by at least a couple of inches. When I made the dress, I aimed for somewhere in between the two measurements. I didn't want it to be too tight, but I feel like it's a little too loose in the mornings now, hence the belt. I actually really like the belt with this dress: I think it breaks it up a little, especially since I was worried about the dress being too matronly. Honestly though, it fits, it's cute, and I still have a couple of weeks to wear it before summer ends!I'm still toying with the idea of ripping a bit of the side seams and adding pockets. Currently, laziness is winning, but my love of pockets does run deep...

I've been sewing lately...

2010-08-09T10:40:00.004-04:00

... with a real pattern, no less! Talk about diving into the deep end.
I made some slight modifications to the bodice. I've obviously never made a top before, because I couldn't decide where a dart for a bust should go. I modified the pattern because I didn't like having a dart aim straight for my nipple, but the way it fits now it goes off to the side a little and I'm not sure how much I like that either. Perhaps it would have been better to just shorten the dart (so that it ends below my nipple) instead of shifting it. Oh well, power to experimentation.
This is the fabric I used: it's synthetic, and I bought it from a Fabricland that was closing, so honestly I have no idea what it is. It feels rougher on the outside, but the inside is quite smooth and comfortable. And it's thick enough to not need a lining, hurray! I'm going to assume its "machine wash cold-able".

So this is the coffee date dress from burdastyle. I've never worked with a pattern before, but it was actually a lot of fun just printing everything, taping it together and cutting. I'm actually procrastinating at work, and I forgot to upload the pictures from my camera last night, but the dress is done, and *gasp* it fits! My knitting is notoriously just a little tight, so I was worried the dress (less forgiveable, cause it has no stretch) would be tight, but it's actually on the loose side instead. So stay tuned for a final look-see, as well as a glimpse of the next project!

2010-07-30T22:29:00.002-04:00

Ever since I stumbled onto this recipe for cauliflower paratha, I have been on the lookout for a cauliflower sale. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem summer is the season for them, cause they've been crazy expensive. When I saw cauliflowers for 85 cents last night (okay, it's true, it really wasn't in the best shape, nor was it very large, but I really wanted to try the recipe), I immediately bought one. I think it actually turned out to the perfect size cause it made enough to feed us. Score.
I ended up adding way more than the 6tbsp the recipe calls for. (Scratch that. I just reread the recipe, and realized it said start with six and add till it's done. That makes so much more sense.) In any case, I think I started with a little too much moisture cause I didn't take the time to really drain all the water out after blanching it. I'm also wondering if the salt makes the moisture come out of the cauliflower even more. In any case, it was really really very delicious. I loved how the cauliflower was almost palate cleansing, and broke up the whole wheat dough so that it wasn't as tough. We ate it with some Kerala fish curry: my grocery store didn't have any curry leaves today, so I substituted some Kaffir lime leaves. It was a fairly large bag, so I washed all the leaves, blotted them with a paper towel and froze it in a freezer bag to be used in the future. The curry took on a different taste because of the lime leaves, but it was still really good. Almost like Thai-Indian curry, I suppose.

Seriously though, if it looks at all intriguing, make it! It didn't take that long and it makes a really chewy delicious bread.

an ode to perfection

2010-07-28T11:40:00.005-04:00

Oh, coconut! I love you so. I love you in all your glorious fine shred, medium shred, extract, milk, toasted, sliced and chunk forms, for the texture and the fragrance you impart on everything around you. I love seeing your snowy white flakes on top of my favourite desserts. I love you baked into banana bread, on top of ice cream, in jello, within a blanketing layer of chocolate, and now, on top of a cream donut?! The donut gods have heard my dreams and answered. Tim Hortons, you just made my day.

(sorry for the crappy picture. I'm at the library, and I'm supposed to be working.)

Sometimes impulsiveness just doesn't work

2010-07-24T22:35:00.003-04:00

It's been a while (i.e. a few days. boy, time moves slowly during the summer!) since I've done anything, and it dawned on me that school is starting in just over a month, so I decided to make a makeshift dress form for myself. Okay, it was really more of a "omgosh, I think I read somewhere that you can do this using duct tape!" In retrospect, maybe it would have turned out better if I had read the instructions before instead of after. Oh well, you only live once, right?
There were several things that went wrong. I used possibly the crappiest duct tape in the world, no joke. The tape was so old that the non-sticky side was also sticky. That just made for difficult taping. Then I ran out of said tape. This is partly why the damn thing is so shiny: I had to use some clear box tape instead. I opted for using a plastic bag instead of a t-shirt as the base because I didn't have very high hopes and didn't want to cut up a t-shirt. To be honest, I don't think it would be that big a deal. The bag was definitely the least of my worries!

In case anyone is interested, there does exist a great tutorial for this.

Much as I'm bashing it, I think it might actually be usable. If it works out, you'll hear about it. If not, then let's just assume it's been relegated to the City of Toronto's waste management team.

I'm itching to make myself a dress, and I think I'll be using the coffee date dress pattern from The Selfish Seamstress. Luckily, as loosey goosey as I may be occasionally, I'm way too anal with my fabrics to impulsively cut!

PS: I had the assistance of my dear dad. Ladies and gents, don't do this by yourself, especially if it's an impulse thing. Just don't.

Safari time!

2010-07-18T16:48:00.008-04:00

Taking advantage of the gorgeous weather we've been having, I made a trip out to the African Lion Safari this weekend: the park exceeded our expectations by far, and we saw some really fun animals! Although at $30 a person, it was a little steep. Anyway, I love wildlife, and I especially loved the patterns on the animals and how distinct they are from each other.

We saw thirsty ones...Mating ones...
Hungry ones...Even hungrier ones...Fighting ones...
Curious ones...Stripey ones...
Absolutely fantastic ones...Flightless ones...

Regal ones...

My favourite animal of all time...

And some omnipresent favourites...

(Canada Geese: not an official part of any exhibit, but still lovin' the safari grounds)

As evidenced by the pictures, the park was fairly busy: lots of families with young children were there. I'm not sure who was more excited: us or them!

Elastic skirt

2010-07-12T13:46:00.008-04:00

As I mentioned, I've been planning/daydreaming of lots of dress/skirt patterns. This indubitably means a lot of browsing of online shops (forever21, anthropologie, urban outfitters especially). All in the name of research! I'm always looking for some cool structuring and fabrics, especially since I have some more unusual fabrics (silks, linen) on my hands. Incidentally, it struck me recently how hem lines are getting higher and higher up the thigh every year. I can't even imagine trying to sit in some of the "dresses" I've seen! Call me a prude, but I'm all for daily fashion that doesn't require careful and extensive positioning and fidgeting. That said, it is going to be a toasty 42C in Toronto this week, so I'm going to be making things that will still let my body breath. Here's one I just finished:I'm using junk fabric that's been living in our basement for the last decade, probably. As this skirt is the first bigger sewing project of the summer, I want to have a warm-up before I move onto prettier, more expensive fabrics and tougher patterns.The skirt has pockets (because I don't like carrying bags and there's always something that I want to bring. Seriously, pockets are an ingenious invention). I spent a long time deliberating over whether I should cover or leave the elastic exposed, but after soliciting some input from a patient and wonderful man in my life, I decided to cover it. I'm worried that it will look too boring (the fabric does kind of look like pj-material), but I think that wearing it with a belt will fix that. Luckily, belted skirts are in this year.
On a side note, I found some gorgeous (and cheap!!) fabrics at the Fabricland on Yonge, north of Steeles: the store is closing at the end of July, and most of everything they have is around $3 a metre. I bought a rotary cutter for $8, and I am so glad I did because cutting fabrics is SO MUCH EASIER now! Cutting my fabrics has always been my least favourite part of sewing, and often the most stressful because I'll make a mistake or try to pin the template to the fabric and fuss about there being wrinkles. Anyway, nightmare over. What a steal.

It seems that after I have finished this skirt, the weather has decided to cool itself off: it's been surprisingly tolerable and breezy the last two days! Oh well, one can never have too many skirts...

vintage button bracelet

2010-07-10T13:15:00.004-04:00

During my trip, one of my aunts gave me some fabrics she had had lying around. Since then, I've been dreaming of things to make, and last night, I flipped through some 50 pages of craftgawker. It's the first time I've been on that site - I've been inspired by it's sister site foodgawker for a while now, and boy, craftgawker is no less full of creativity and fun. When I saw this bracelet, I knew I had to make one for myself. The weather here has been consistently oppressively hot, so instead of going out to buy supplies, I scrounged around. While I did a lot of beadwork and wirework when I was younger, it's been a long time since I've held a pair of pliers and twisted and bent things to make anything. I'm happy to admit that it's still a lot of fun!

First, I made the chain by connecting jump rings...
And then I chose eight buttons from the giant vintage stash I've mentioned before:
And attached them to the chain using paper clips:
I LOVE it. The whole thing took less than two hours, and light coloured accessories are always welcome during the summer!

Happy Saturday, everyone!

from across the ocean blue

2010-06-25T09:58:00.006-04:00

I have been in Hong Kong for the past few weeks visiting family and this week my parents and I made a short trip out to Taipei, since none of us have been to Taiwan before. We were thoroughly impressed with this country: the people were so nice, food and transportation was so cheap and they have a subway system that is clean, easy to use and can take you anywhere, really. We went to some suburban towns, where we ate lots of street food (such a great deal!), and saw lots of local crafts. Some of my favourites:
from the first day: those dark clouds broke out into pouring rain storm that lasted for a couple of hours! little fabric craft owls!
flowers in a can: if you open the can and water it, you can grow a plant out of it!
noodles from a famous shop in Ximending: the shop has no tables for patrons, and everyone sits on a stool with their bowl of noodles and eats!
Delicious green onion pancake: it was full of leeks, scallions and chives. yum!

I'm heading back to Toronto soon, hopefully by then I'll have some crafty projects to blog about!

lace lace and some more lace

2010-06-01T09:39:00.004-04:00

I finished the patons sock shawl last week, and am pleasantly surprised by how big it became after I blocked it (I really do love how much blocking lets it grow. It's kind of sneaky, getting so much more width/length without actually having to knit it.) I decided to pin the edge every two stitches because I was bored by having another shawl with 7 or 8 points - I think it worked out better at certain points along the edge than others, but I like the shallow zigzags. They look more casual, and this project was really a casual wear project, so, success!
This one, on the other hand, is 100% silk. Ommm. I am currently kicking myself for not heeding the advice of the lovely woman at Knitty City and winding it on a swift. I wound it by hand, and every 30 yards, I need to untangle a silky ugly wad before continuing to knit. Even though it's gorgeous gorgeous yarn, its a major pain in the ass. I'm knitting the echo flower shawl: I love love love the clever flower pattern even though it involves stitches like 2 into 9 and 3 into 9 (ie knitting the same two stitches over and over until you get 9 stitches). I was knitting in a Chapters the other day and accidentally dropped 8 stitches and flipped out because I had to pick them back up and kind of wing the pattern. It still looks a little loose, but given the pattern, I'm fairly sure it could have gone way worse. Anyway, I love the sheen of this yarn. I'm not quite used to how thin it is, but it's growing on me, I think.

Patons stretch cotton, two ways

2010-05-22T10:23:00.005-04:00

Numero uno:
These socks. Remember these? Yes, it's taken me embarrassingly long to finish them. I knit them two at a time so that I wouldn't have lone sock syndrome, but then they both just sat on my needles half finished. I think I was slowed by the tiny needles (2mm), which gave me hand cramps. Anyway, they're for my grandpa (who has smaller feet than I do, so the poor socks are horribly stretched on my feet). My goal with these socks was to use up as much of the yarn as I could, since I didn't really like the yarn and couldn't think of anything I could do with any leftovers. I made a contrast toe and hem because it was leftover from a skein of Wildfoote that I used for a hat. Again, goal was to use as much of it as possible. In the end, I was left with 3.5 inches of Wildfoote, and 2 inches of the Patons stretch socks (see picture). Boo-yah.
Deets: 1 ball of Patons Cotton Stretch and some leftover Wildfoote
Started with a figure 8 cast on and increased to 64 sts on 2mm needles
Twisted cable pattern: I did two ribs of cables alternating with two plain ribs. I think it was the cabling ribs that got to my hands. I don't think I'm going to be doing this again.

Numero dos:
More Patons stretch cotton sock yarn. I bought this when the big Kingston department store was closing for good and there was a bit of a discount on their yarns. After making the socks for my grandpa, I was pretty sure I didn't want to make another pair of socks. Enter trefoil. I found the pattern on ravelry, and while I don't particular like the edge and the dangly bits, I do like the diamond part. Since I only have 220m anyway, I'm just going to keep knitting till the yarn is almost out, do a couple rows of garter stitch and call it a day. I've found this pattern particularly hard to knit cause I can't seem to memorize the 7 row repeat. Usually I can pick up a pattern pretty quickly, but this particular one just isn't getting into my head. Luckily, it's still a fairly small project. I'm making it on 4.5mm needles since the yarn is much thicker than the pattern calls for, so I'm hoping that I will be able to block it into a decent size. It's already bigger than I expected, so I'm thinking it will actually be used a fair bit.

So. one yarn, two different products. Any other ideas? I think I have another ball of this stuff somewhere...

purple

2010-05-15T23:03:00.004-04:00

I didn't even notice until I looked through these pictures how much I've fallen in love with shades of purple in the past year or so: somehow both my most recent knitting projects (and the one I started tonight!) are some shade of purple! oh well, as far as I know, purples are still sort of in this year. check it:mustard scarf (plum scarf?)for my mom: she likes a short scarf that she can throw on when it gets a little chilly. Super fast knit (it uses 10mm needles!), easy pattern and used very little yarn.
Que sera cardigan from knitty: I messed up the gauge. The negative ease is a little overdone, and it shows. boo. I also added some rows so that it wouldn't be such a giant scoopneck, but forgot to adjust the button placement accordingly. All in all, slightly imperfect. I used Bernat handicrafter cotton: 8 balls of the body colour, and 1.5 balls for the border shade. In the past, this cotton yarn really hurts my hands when I knit with it, but it wasn't too bad this time, and was actually really fast too! I made yarn wrapped buttons out of some silver yarn (mostly because I didn't have time to go buy buttons and I really wanted to wear it back in April), I'll add a closeup of them in a later post. I got home last night from a short trip to New York City for my big brother's graduation. It was a lovely trip, and we got to spend time with him and his fiancee. We had delicious meals (at Sarabeth's, Nobu, Jean Georges and craftbar), and we even managed to squeeze some time in to visit a yarn store! I will display the goorgeous yarn I bought because it's so gorgeous it needs a post of its own, really.

nom nom nom

2010-05-08T10:33:00.004-04:00

So I've still been cooking and baking (and eating) lots in the last few weeks, especially since I wanted to use up a lot of little pantry supplies. Here's a recap of everything:
Gluten free lemon meringue pie: the pie looks really sad cause I put it in the fridge overnight and I had overbeaten the meringue to begin with, but it tasted really good! I used a frozen GF pie crust (El Peto) that looked kind of sketchy but was actually quite tasty. They come in packs of three and I made two pear pies (like apple pies, only with asian pears) with them and both times they were deliciously flakey. Sometimes I wish I had a creme brulee torch so that I could have just hand torched the meringue: when I put the pie back into the oven the filling started getting soft and runny from the heat and it was a bit of a nightmare. Still, delicious :)Chocolate coconut hazelnut banana bread: my goodness I love banana bread. I made this twice and both times it all disappeared within hours. It's a fairly basic recipe:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup nuts, chopped
1/2 cup medium shred unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup oil (other recipes usually call for 1/2 stick butter, but I rarely have butter around, so I substitute)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
3 mashed ripe bananas

Bake at 350F for around an hour. To be honest, the you can use as much or as little nuts, chocolate chips and coconut. It's fairly safe to just liberally dump/sprinkle :) Kerala fish curry: based off of this recipe, only I substituted 1.5 tbsp dried chili flakes for the green chiles and 2 tbsp dried curry leaves for the fresh ones. Super delicious, I loved the flavours in this curry.

The next post will be filled with finished sewing and knitting projects!

exam comfort food

2010-04-15T18:06:00.004-04:00

Every exam session, I start being more and more adventurous with the food I make because a) I want to kill time and b) I want to finish as much food as I can before the year ends. I had half a little bag of fine shredded coconut and half a tin of ginger butter cookies I didn't want to eat anymore, so I made coconut pie :) My housemate and I pretty much made this recipe up, adding things and tasting as we went along. This picture was taken an hour and a half after the pie was finished: it turned out surprisingly well!
Filling:
liberal amount of finely shredded coconut (probably around 1/2 cup)
3 tbsp cornstarch
3 cups milk
6 tbsp sugar
sprinkling of allspice

Crust:
2 tbsp of corn oil
16 ginger cookies (or butter cookies)
4 tbsp ground hazelnuts
4 tbsp of fine ground coconut
splash of milk

Break cookies with a rolling pin. Mix with hazelnuts and coconut. Gradually mix oil in and milk until crumbs can be pressed into shape in the pie plate. Bake until golden brown in 350F oven. Whisk together coconut, sugar, allspice and cornstarch in a pot, then pour in milk. Bring to a boil and continue to stir over medium low heat until thickened. Pour filling into crust, sprinkle with medium sized coconut shreds and broil for 3 minutes, until coconut shreds are a little toasted. Take it out, wait as long as you can, then cut and eat!

Recycled fashions

2010-04-11T12:38:00.004-04:00

I took a class called Gender, Dress and Fashion this term and for the final project we had an option of making our own outfits from recycled fabrics. This is what mine turned out like!I made the top by sewing lace curtains over one of my brother's old undershirts that I sewed into a one-shoulder top, and braided a border. It's fairly loose cause I was afraid of making it too tight and not being able to get into it (and because I was sewing it while it was on me the night before and then the power went out and I had to do it by flashlight). The skirt is made out of a shower curtain that I found at value village for $3.99 and is elastized an the waist. I love love love the oomph the skirt has, and definitely got some stares (for better or for worse!) throughout the day. The headpiece is a giant flower made out of cut up cloth doilies and accented with a vintage bead from a box of findings my aunt gave me years ago. This was one of the most enjoyable term projects I've had in a long time!

PS, although I haven't been blogging, I have been knitting. Hopefully I'll stop being ridiculous, weave in all the ends and post about that soon :)

Mocha phyllo cups

2010-03-18T18:27:00.003-04:00

Yum! Loosely adapted from this recipe:
Ingredients:
8 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp instant coffee granules
6 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
3 cups skim milk
phyllo sheets
margarine
1 tsp cinnamon sugar

Whisk together cocoa, coffee, sugar, cornstarch, then add milk. Stir over medium heat (I alternated between high and low cause I'm impatient like that) until pudding comes to a boil and starts to thicken. Be careful not to let it solidify and burn on the bottom! Using a whisk helps to keep lumps to a minimum. Remove from heat.

Cut stack of phyllo sheets into 3 or 4" squares. Dab a little margarine and cinnamon sugar onto each sheet and place into muffin tin. Place three or four sheets of phyllo squares into each tin, staggering them so that the corners point in different directions. Bake at 325F for 7 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove, let cool for 10 minutes and let cool on a baking rack.

Spoon pudding into phyllo cup and enjoy!

i'm alive!

2010-03-17T18:56:00.002-04:00

The last 6 weeks have been so busy and have flown by so quickly it is absolutely amazing. I literally hadn't knit a stitch until today when I got together with a friend at a cute tea shop to knit! It was fantastic just taking some time out of my day to do something fun, and I think I might actually finish those pair of socks that have been sitting on my desk projecting guilty thoughts at me. I actually finished more UFOs since the last post, but apparently I suck at taking pictures of knitting before I gift them. So here's a crappy cell phone picture (taken in the car while I was in front of her house!) of a camera bag:
and I also finished the hippocampus mittens, but unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of them. doh. I stupidly stretched them over a glass to block them, took it off and realized they were way too big and had to soak them and re-block them again. Serves me right for trying to rush it!

I got to spend the weekend with my bf - and he brought me a box of sandwich cookies! There are coffee, raspberry and lemon flavours - delicious!

My life gets a little less insane after Friday, so I promise more exciting posts!

Hedge!

2010-01-31T22:34:00.005-05:00

Behold, a belated christmas/birthday present - affectionately nicknamed Hedge.He's based loosely off of Ysolda's Smith - I prefer to generally make things up as I go, so Hedge is a product of experimentation. I think my favourite parts are his feet and his nose...
But I'm pretty sure the recipient will appreciate the rainbow colours most :)
Used leftover rainbow sock yarn, some bernat yarn for the body, and brown yarn scraps. Stuffed with polyester fiberfill.

slowly but surely

2010-01-28T19:06:00.002-05:00

I finished off these socks last week and sent them off - it seems they were very well received and I'm glad I could provide some comfort to the recipient.They look kind of funny in these pictures because my feet are a couple sizes bigger than the recipient's. But these socks were really fun to knit and I will probably knit a pair for myself in the future!

In the mean time, I'm slowly trying to get caught up with schoolwork - I don't have very many hours of class this term, but somehow I've been filling all the extra time with tasks and mundane things. I have my first midterm in three weeks, so I'm trying to stay on top of things so I don't get surprised by deadlines. I will be visiting the friend who I promised the hippocampus mitts next weekend, so I plan on getting a move on those this weekend. eek!

i swear life is on fast forward

2010-01-19T15:12:00.004-05:00

There are so many UFOs sitting in my room right now, it's mindboggling. Pretty much everything you can imagine, I've got on my needles:

a rainbow Smith: belated birthday present for someone who likes rainbows even more than i doA pair of ribbed cabley socks for my grandpa - the toe is knit with Brown Sheep Wildfoote that was leftover from a shedir hat, and the grey/white is Patons cotton sock yarn. This was my first time knitting two socks on a needle and I gotta say, these tiny needles are murder on my hands.
Log cabin socks in patons decor 'country pink' for a family friends mom who is slowly dying from a metastatic cancer. I shortened the rib at the cuff because I wasn't sure if I would have enough yarn, and I'm still not sure if I'll have enough. eep.

In addition to those, the hippocampus mitten still needs a mate, my cabley sweater still needs sleeves and I still have 200 pages of readings to do for this week!

new hat for the new year

2010-01-04T13:43:00.003-05:00

Happy new year! The last two weeks have been a flurry of wedding planning and shopping, although I've tried to sneak in as much knitting as I can before I head back to school next week. It seems like I'll have more time this week, so I'm trying to get as much done as I can! I'm amazed by how fast the last six months have passed by - a lot of things have changed in my life, in terms of volunteering and learning and attitudes. In looking back on the past year, I wish I had made more time for friends, so 2010 will be a year in which I make more time for all the lovely people in my life. I wish everyone happiness and health - may all your dreams come true!
I made my dad a hat for christmas this year because he doesn't own a hat and Toronto has been bitterly bitterly cold this year. I originally set out to make my version of habitat, but I decided to stretch out my cables because the yarn I was knitting with was really stiff and difficult to cable quickly. I cast on 132 sts and increased to 144 sts because my dad has a giant head, but I think the hat ended up being a little bigger than it should have been. In any case, I suppose it's better to have a slightly looser hat than a tight hat. I anticipate that as it gets snowed on it'll felt and shrink a little anyway. My dad is a big fan of a dash of red to 'highlight' things, so I embroidered his name onto one of the ribs.
I finished this hat at 4am the day of Christmas and my first embroidering attempt was with embroidery floss - needless to say it was a terrible halfassed job, and I think that even though the new 'SAM' (done with red yarn) is kind of big and billboardy, my dad is a much bigger fan.

The wool is leftover from a skein I bought at a farmer's market in Kingston - really waxy and scratchy to knit with, but softened up a lot after I washed it. If I had more time, I definitely would have washed it before knitting so that it would've been kinder on my hands.

A coconut tale

2009-12-30T13:02:00.004-05:00

Once upon a time, there was a coconut.

The coconut was smashed.And the meat was blended.And mixed into a syrup.And covered with chocolate (which unfortunately didn't really melt properly and had to be slathered on rather unattractively).And faux bounty bars were born.
And they all lived happily ever after in my belly.

I used this recipe, but it turned out quite differently because I took the syrup off the stove too early and the chocolate was too thick and couldn't be smoothly poured over top. Still, you can't really go wrong with chocolate, sugar and coconut.

Treats #3

2009-12-21T23:05:00.004-05:00

Candy Cane and Hazelnut truffles!

I followed this recipe, but didn't add peppermint extract and added 3tbsp instant coffee instead. I used 8 ounces semisweet and 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, so that they wouldn't be too sweet. I bought bricks of chocolate from our local natural food store, but if I hadn't had a fabulous helper who slowly broke it down with a bread knife into smaller chunks, I would never buy bricks to make truffles again. This was my first experience making anything with heavy cream, and they came out remarkably creamy and delicious. I mixed the ganache around 10 in the morning, but didn't have time to roll them into balls until after dinner, so the mixture was pretty much solid. It softened up as I worked with it though, and then it got to the point where I had to wash my hands fairly often to make it less melty. I packaged them up into festive takeout boxes:
PS: foodwishes is an incredible blog - I love learning from videos and watching people, and most of the videos are short enough that I don't lose attention.

And then I wrapped up the first two treats in some festive cellophane bags. (It just so happened the candy cane bark went into the cellophane bags with candy canes!) The bark and truffles have been tasted and given a pretty big thumbs up :)

#2 (and a half)!

2009-12-20T09:38:00.002-05:00

This first one was a make-and-eat dessert: baked alaska! While my baked alaska wasn't to-the-tee (gluten free chocolate chip cookies on the base), it was pretty much as delicious as "meringue/icecream/cookie" cake sounds. I thought I took a picture before we put it into the oven, but... apparently not. But here's what it looked like afterwards!
mmmm. We tried to set it on fire with some vodka and a match (not quite the Grand Marnier, but hey, it's a student's house), but unfortunately the matches weren't in perfect condition and the cake as a whole just didn't seem to want to be ablaze. We did get a little blue flame for a brief ten or so seconds though.
The real holiday treat: chocolate almond clusters! I chopped up 1/3 of a pound of plain almonds and used 1/2 pound of semisweet chocolate chips. Melted the chips in the microwave, mixed the almonds in and scooped onto wax paper to set. Simple and quick to clean up, especially when you have housemates who are on hand to lick the bowl clean after ;)

Holiday 2009 treats #1!

2009-12-16T15:43:00.003-05:00

Candy cane bark!
I saw this at the end of the holiday season last year on sixoneseven and knew I had to try it. As much as I like cooking, sometimes melting chocolate and crushing candy canes is simple enough to provide a good laugh (not to mention the endorphins from all those chocolate crumbs!). I used semisweet chocolate chips and Belgian white chocolate chips, so the chocolate is really really creamy and decadent. Admittedly, I went a little crazy with crushing the candy canes (I used 4 and its a 9 x 9 pan), but I didn't really want to deal with too much leftover crushed candy cane, so I dumped it all on anyway. I think the pinks and reds look better anyway.

And yes, this is #1, so there will be other treats that will be made! I'm doing them one at a time as little study break treats for myself, so you'll probably see more in the next few days.

preggers!

2009-12-14T16:05:00.004-05:00

Not me! Dear Mr. Aloe (who I've had for ~5 years now) is having another baby! When I first noticed it the other day, there was only one leaf, but now there are two poking out! This is great news to me because the last time he had babies, I transplanted them out and put Mr. Aloe back into some really crappy soil. He sat all summer in that crappy soil under the care of some dear friends, and when I got back in September, he had lost many leaves and was looking really sad and sick. So I repotted him with proper soil in September and have had my fingers crossed ever since. The appearance of these lovely young green leaves relieves some of my guilty conscience!

that last bit always gets to me...

2009-12-12T22:01:00.004-05:00

I almost gave up on this because the ball of yarn lasted so long! It seems like I always underestimate the yardage as soon as the ball starts getting flatter. The edge has a liiittle tendency to flip up, but it's barely noticeable. It actually ended up being pretty close to the size of the original, but my 5th avenue scarf is a little longer (10" x 62"). In the end, I'm glad I used baby yarn (even if it was 100% acrylic, ugh) because it's super soft and really really warm. (It's Loops & Threads Snuggly Wuggly baby sport in 'soft red') I would definitely use this yarn again, provided I can find another colour that doesn't scream BABY haha.

Chilly nights, begone!

simple pleasures

2009-12-08T22:32:00.005-05:00

so exam season has officially arrived - this pretty much means I'm working harder, eating harder and playing harder. especially the latter two. In true distract-myself-and-start-new projects fashion, I finished the left mitt (well not quite, i haven't done the thumb yet) of the hippocampus mitts, which I promised a friend I'd make for her back in September. yeeah.

front and back!

These mitts were fun - it's been a while since I've done colour work, and I've never done any colour work where there are as many as 14 stitches in between colour stitches. This is my way of saying that I didn't figure out you could string the strands along so they don't dangle until about halfway through. So the top half of the mitt is markedly less tangly on the inside than the bottom half. oops. Also, colour work is so devious because I keep telling myself I'll only do a few more rows... and then I make half a mitten.

And as I was contemplating starting the right mitt, I stumbled across this delightful scarf. Usually, I draw the line at scarves - I hate the mindless knitting back and forth for a billion inches. This scarf appeals because a) it looks great, b) its knitted in the round, c) somehow knitting width wise is better than knitting length wise. I know that you still end up with something that's pretty much the same length, but still. So I went to Michael's today after my first exam and bought a ball of yarn. check it!I'm a little worried about this baby curling up into an unrecognizable mess, since I won't be able to block it into submission (I got cheap and decided to get a 100% acrylic baby yarn, argh), but it seems to be doing okay so far, so I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed for now. It's strange that the pattern looks like little diamonds in the picture - I was freaking out earlier tonight because I didn't think it looked anything like any of the pictures I've seen on ravelry, but this picture looks like them, so I guess it was fine after all. I notice the holes a lot more in the actual scarf - perhaps as I knit more I'll try to take pictures to show you what I mean.

hope that wherever you are, it's not as freakishly cold as it is here!

all done!

2009-11-30T17:47:00.003-05:00

pre-blocking

post-blocking!

like rings of a tree :)

I don't think the rug actually grew much more after blocking, it just lies a little flatter, which is fine. I love the colour of it, and it's comfy to step on too!

up next: a slightly off gauge mitten!

ecstatic

2009-11-25T19:16:00.005-05:00

After finishing a big crunch week two weeks ago, I seem to have lost any academic motivation:
a) I went to visit the bf this past weekend, and had a BLAST. We watched Up (which is awesome, I was a nonbeliever until oh, 3 minutes in), I cut his hair with safety scissors (god, I love that man and I still can't believe he trusted me), and on my way back...
b) mmmmmmm. hello shoes. I had just over an hour in Toronto between buses and I bought these babies. Oh aldo outlet, how I love thee. They're eggplant purple and comfy, considering their height. anddd they were $25. Thank goodness I only travel through that area once in a while.
c) my rug is coming along! I had actually thought I would finish it before I left for the weekend, but that little cone is actually taking a ridiculous amount of time to finish. I'm hoping I'll get to wash and block it before the end of the week though! Just in time - it's starting to rain again and days are getting chilly!hopefully by next post you'll see the last in progress picture of this rug and I'll be able to start some new fun things! Oh, and if you find my academic motivation, send it back my way please, I start exams in three weeks. Eek!

some more crocheting

2009-11-16T15:16:00.005-05:00

Somehow in the last two months, I've started more crochet projects than I ever have. Weird, right? The only change crochet-wise in my life has been the addition of the "America's Crochet Book" on my bookshelf... but Genetics doesn't seem to be calling to me the same way, so what is it??

little...

medium...bigger!

The shoe is for scale - although I admit in the first picture I was just too lazy to move it out of the way. I'm using some yarn I got at a Value Village in Toronto - I bought it because it was $1 and I thought at first it was natural yarn (blast you, sealed plastic bag!), but then I realized it was super synthetic and not very comfortable. At all. Since winter is approaching and my room is the coldest in the house and I have a giant empty space in the middle of my room, a rug made perfect sense. Maybe it's not the greatest idea to be crocheting a rug with a 3.75mm hook, but I like that it's a slow(er) process. Speaks to the idea of perseverance, I guess.

Some thoughts

2009-11-13T09:31:00.003-05:00

So I didn't get to update on here as much as I would have liked to because of a cluster of exams and papers, but here are some things I wrote down in my daily log while I was 'on welfare':

Really exhausted. Had to stay in the library all day writing, but didn't have money for little snacks
Was in Toronto for the weekend, spent $10 on tokens to get home and to go downtown. Even though the TTC is the cheapest form of transportation to go from uptown to downtown, that's still 1/3 of my weekly allowance
Everything takes longer to do: I walk a lot further than I otherwise would because I don't want to have to pay for gas money
I find myself eating a lot of the same things for several meals - I had eggplant for two meals, cabbage for four etc.
Wanted to go shopping after my exam, but couldn't afford to because I didn't have very much money left

In the end, I spend $38.86 in the week - $7.86 more than I should have. While a big part of that ($20) was for a buffet dinner I couldn't get out of on Saturday, that's the part that struck me the most - keeping up a healthy social life while on welfare would be so hard. I often found myself really tired and had some trouble focusing in classes. At some points, especially towards the beginning, I felt confident that I was going to make it through the week, but it really was a big shock when I realized I would have to pay for something I hadn't accounted for. I really wish there was something I could do to help and change their situations for the better. I feel like I only got a little peek and that my feelings only skimmed the surface of what someone on welfare feels all the time. :(

Welfare Challenge

2009-11-05T12:49:00.002-05:00

One of my classes this term is on the Canadian welfare state, and my entire class was challenged this week to live as if we are on welfare. in Kingston, the average amount for a single person is $572 per month, so subtracting out rent ($450), we get $31 per week for food and necessities. Although this experiment obviously has its limitations (we're only doing it for one week, we're not counting utilities, we're sure we'll be back to our usual lives after, we get to keep our computers, cellphones etc.) I imagine it will be eye-opening to experience a fraction of the worry and anxiety over whether or not we'll make it to the end of the week.

The challenge started yesterday, and I've spent $2 on food so far - I'll keep you posted on how it goes throughout this week, and I extend the challenge to everyone - look up the welfare rate for your region and see if you can live on welfare for a week!

mmm soup

2009-10-30T09:09:00.001-04:00

Leeks, potatoes and ham. life probably couldn't get any better.

Revamping an old dress

2009-10-23T14:59:00.005-04:00

......

tada! Picture on the left is the original dress I made back in... 2006/7 and picture on the right is the unravelled and revamped version! I must admit, I love it SO much more with the longer sleeves and the fair isle pattern on the bottom edge. The blue trim at the bottom still flips up a liiittle bit, but its nowhere as bad as the original - that one used to just stay flipped up no matter what I did. When I finished the hem (it's a stockinette with a purl row for the edge and then a few more rows of stockinette on the back side), it still flipped a bit, so I steamed it (I was petrified I would melt the acrylic, but I made sure to only iron the back side, so if anything did happen, it wouldn't be too noticeable). It didn't end up turning into a puddle or anything, but it was still a little flippy so I wet the edge and neurotically clipped it with clothespins:
... and waited nervously for a day for it to dry. It worked pretty well - it flares out a bit, but I think that's mostly cause my fair isle gauge is tighter so its not quite the same width to begin with. Still, better than the permanently upside down ribbing hem (the only reason it's not like that in the before picture is because I carefully folded it down before taking the picture. I'm pretty sure if I had taken 5 steps it would've flipped back up).

Other additions: Basically, I unraveled the dress from as many directions as I could and made everything a little different. I added a few more rows around the neck because I always felt like it didn't sit right and had to be tugged at with the original. For the hem, I chose not to continue the increase rows past the widest part of my body, so I got a pretty big ball of yarn to work with after I unraveled 8 inches of it, which was nice. I like that it now hugs my body better and doesn't flare out as much (not to mention, it was so much easier to not have 400 st rows!).

It's been a week or so since I've finished it, and I've already worn it more than I have in the past three years!

wtf?? It's 17 degrees outside??

2009-10-20T16:59:00.007-04:00

So maybe the mittens and hot chocolate are a bit premature. But I swear while I was making them the weather was consistently hovering around 0! This year, these birthday mittens made it into an envelope within a month past her actual birthday (a bit of an improvement from three, I guess...) This is the first pair I made for her two years ago:

(Shifting sands on the outside and moss stitch on the palm side)

And here are the new ones:

outer side, palm side

I kept the same pattern on the outer side (grumperina's shifting sands), but decided to go with a simple diamond pattern on the inside. I do like the way they turned out - it helps having done pretty much the same pattern before, although I think I must have started the pattern later than last time because I don't think I ended up with the same number of repeats. In any case, she has smaller hands than I do and they aren't big on me, so they should fit pretty well. I also decided to leave the thumbs in plain stockinette, since I was already alternating yarn balls because they had different dye lots and didn't want to forget where I was in the pattern and what colour I should have been using. They are very warm and don't take up very much space in pockets, which is always a plus. Let's hope she likes them!

desperate times call for desperate measures

2009-10-18T15:30:00.005-04:00

So midterms and assignment deadlines are fast approaching (in fact, I'm kind of in the middle of all of it). And of course, that means I'm spending my time procrastinating away instead of sitting down at the library. And last night, I fulfilled that by crocheting a headband with a knitting needle.It doesn't look as good as the original, but I think that that's because a) the yarn had previously been a sleeve of my dress and was unravelled and wavy, and b) my crochet skills are a little lack lustre.

The first person who taught me how to crochet was my grade 1 teacher - I think I was done my work and bored, so she taught me how to make a crochet chain with my hands. I found that tolerable, but when I officially learned crochet in my afterschool program a few years after that, I immensely disliked it. And then there was the time my aunt told me I wasn't holding the needle properly and made me relearn it. Newsflash, it really annoys me when people get so caught up in doing everything by the book, especially when the end product is still great. And yes, I knit funny and I crochet funny. Since then, I've aged a bit more and found it more tolerable, but still, I feel much comfortable holding a knitting needle. I feel like if I had a real crochet hook it might look better, but I was so impressed with Marta's that I had to make it NOW. I swear I packed a hook with me so that I could weave in ends for my knitting projects, but I actually cleaned my room looking for it and could not find it, so obviously I had to use the next best thing. (I will admit I even tried googling 'crochet hook substitute', but short of whittling my own, no luck.)

But it worked out! In fact, it's been sitting on my head without slipping all this time (headband slippage is possibly the most annoying thing ever), so I think it's a real winner and I can see myself making more!

Bonus points to those who might have noticed I've been working with a lot of blue yarn lately... I purposely didn't bring much of my yarn stash to Kingston with me so that I wouldn't spend too much time knitting (clearly not working so well), so everything I've been making is dark denim Patons Astra. And the last couple of pictures have been pretty washed out, so here's one I took last night after I finished it - it's much closer to the actual colour: (PS: somehow instead of 8 outer petals, as Marta had, I came out with 9. ??? I feel like it might be flatter if I had 8, but whatever. The itch has been scratched.)

Pumpkin stew

2009-10-15T15:09:00.006-04:00

My dad is a master chef. He's all about experimenting and trying new flavours and putting a bit of every kind of seasoning into his cooking. Having watched and helped him quite a bit in the kitchen (especially since I get to snack on whatever he's making before dinner!), I've also gravitated towards experimenting myself. His pumpkin stew is a fall classic, and since I haven't had much of his cooking lately, I decided to make my own. This week, pumpkins were on sale for $1.99! Perfect!Ingredients: 3-4 cloves garlic
1/3 of a pumpkin
4 chicken thighs
3 slices ginger
1 tablespoon whole preserved black bean
1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce
a couple glugs of soy sauce

1. Skin chicken thighs and remove excess fat. Chop into toonie sized chunks. Marinade with a couple of glugs of soy sauce, a teaspoon of cornstarch and some black pepper.
2. Smash/chop up garlic and saute in a teaspoon of oil on medium heat until golden.
3. Soak black beans in a bit of warm water for 10 minutes. Discard water.
4. Add chicken to pot and saute until most of it has changed colour.
5. Use a pointy knife to cut through the pumpkin, then a bread knife to saw the portion you want. Scoop out the seeds.
6. Carefully cut away the peel (it's easier to cut into smaller chunks and then slice away the peel) and cut pumpkin into chunks (an inch all around...ish). Add to the pot and add some water (to about half an inch high). Add soy sauce, oyster sauce and ginger. 7. Cover and cook on medium heat until pumpkin has softened, about 10-15 minutes. If you prefer your pumpkin a little more mushy, leave the lid on with the heat off for another 10 minutes. Add salt to taste.
Serve with rice!

diamonds are a girl's best friend

2009-10-13T17:44:00.004-04:00

mittens... all done!

an update on an old dress... almost done!

It was Thanksgiving this past weekend in Canada, which means an extra day for a big feast, spending time with the boyfriend and knitting! oh! and visiting an alpaca farm!My apologies for the crappy picture - we forgot the camera in the car and took this last minute one as we pulled away. Luckily, their charming nature and adorable personalities have imprinted themselves onto our memories forever. We visited Dave and Deb Coles at Hickory Lane Farms in Napanee - if you are ever in that area, you should drop by! Their alpacas are almost as sweet as they are - bf and I greatly appreciated their taking the time to answer our questions and letting us gush over their animals!

We made Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday night - roast chicken, roasted beets, mashed potatoes and corn and mushroom curry. Somehow we managed to finish most of everything before thinking maybe we should document our feast. So, no pictures again, but definitely lots of deliciousness!

The mittens for my friend are finished! I just need to weave in ends and then they will be ready to be shipped off. And there will be pictures of them before they go.

One of my first projects after I started knitting again in high school was a knee length dress - it was inspired by something I saw on lenealve.blogspot.com, like an extended picovoli shirt. Anyway, I wore it maybe once because I didn't really love the hem, and I finally decided to redo it. So I've ripped back some 60 rows and added a diamond fair isle pattern. I'm finishing up the sleeves so there will be a post about that in the near future too.

Happy short work/school week, Canadians!

clutch-ariffic

2009-10-03T21:12:00.004-04:00

While watching the latest Bones episode, I finally finished sewing the front and back pieces together! Overall, this pattern was pretty easy to put together (provided you don't print pattern pieces on duplex and then forget which side you're cutting out...) - but check it out!

I'm very glad I did the gold stitching - it adds a bit more bling to an otherwise plain bag, I think. And you can barely see the taped part....oh yeah. those dots are cause it's a fabric remnant. personally, I like sewing with remnants because I like the finished edge - sure it's dotted, but I'm always paranoid that my sewed item will just spontaneously come apart, and a machine finished edge is always a friend, especially if I don't have to do it myself. ridiculous? maybe.

some sewing first

2009-09-30T15:39:00.005-04:00

After a couple weeks of not crafting, the sewing bug has come and bit me hard - this is the latest project!
before:now!:(I still haven't sewn the front and back pieces together, but I have sewn the lining, interfacing and fabric for both pieces together and the snap button.) This project came together after a spontaneous trip to the fabricland in Kingston (where I am currently living).

I'm not really loving that the inside is so glaringly white, as I'm sure in no time I will have marked it up with keys and pens and god knows what, so I'm considering adding a pocket made of the same fabric as the outside. The lining of the clutch is also kind of awkward because (as always), it was a remnant and was a lot more marked up and non-symmetrical than the remnants I've found in the past. And I kind of did something stupid...

When I was cutting out fabric and pattern piece (which, by the way, is a kwik sew pattern), I accidentally cut off a chunk at the bottom. Unfortunately, the remnant wasn't wide enough for me to cut a new pattern piece, and I don't have any other scrap fabric here with me, so I kind of just taped the bottom edge back on. BUT I'm thinking it'll be okay because a) the tape is not visible when you look into the bag, b) there's interfacing, so it should thicken everything up and hold it together and c) at least it was the lining and not the outside!

So I moved on. I've done quite a few things differently - I'm not entirely sure how piping works and I didn't really want to explore, so I've sewed the lining and outer fabrics with the edges hidden. It'll probably be less visually interesting as the original, but I'm alright with that. I do LOVE the beige print though - some of them look like seahorses to me, and I think overall it is a fun but classy print. And I didn't use a fancy snap - partly cause I have a billion of these sew on snaps handed down to me by my grandma, and partly because I again, wanted to play it safe.

a mini update

2009-09-22T14:52:00.002-04:00

hello blogworld!

It's been a while - school has started up, I'm back to living (and cooking) by myself, and I've been readjusting to new courses and extracurriculars. Things are slowly starting to fall together though, so hopefully I'll get a chance to do some knitting soon. It astounds me that it's the 22nd already - time is passing far too quickly.

This year I took up a women's studies minor, so to make sure I get enough credits before I graduate, most of my courses are arts courses. Having been in Life sciences for the past two years where every evaluation is a multiple choice exam, it's been strange, but exciting to have readings and essays and assignments (and no three hour labs!). I'm really looking forward to this year - there is more responsibility and juggling of schedules, but that's also part of the fun :)

mittens

2009-09-12T19:26:00.003-04:00

A couple of years ago, one of my closest friends asked me to make a pair of mittens. Since I had a great skeleton pattern for mittens that starts with 40 sts in mind, I chose the shifting sands stitch pattern after being inspired by grumperina's scarf featuring that stitch. The original pair I made my friend were a heather brown, with the shifting sand pattern on the outside and a basic double moss stitch on the palm side. Since then, the mittens have worn down, so this winter I'm making another pair for her! I've kept the shifting sands pattern the same, but decided to do a simple diamond pattern on the palm side.
But I seem to be running into a little problem... the yarn is Astra, but it seems they've discontinued the colour! I'm contemplating ripping some yarn from a dress I made with this yarn years ago and don't really wear, but part of me also wants to just knit as much as I can with what I have and decide from there. And of course, there is the option of just scrapping this mitt and starting over with another navy blue (her colour of choice). Decisions, decisions.

mmmm shiny

2009-09-05T15:04:00.005-04:00

front!

side!

back!

Okay, so this one turned out a liiittle bit weird. Like, the fabric around the zipper in the back does the weird wrinkling thing, and somehow after I sewed the purple to the black, the front pieces overlapped further than they should have and the fabric retains water marks if you get spots of it wet (!?). But I do like this skirt and all the materials cost me like $3. So it's a good run-outside-and-look-cute-while-you-do-your-errands-cause-you're-wearing-a-shiny-skirt skirt.

Specs: 0.5m purple "polyester/spandex" (this is in quotations because the band is actually completely illegible and that seemed to be the closest, but its not actually stretchy, so...), 8" invisible zipper (which I got on Queen St and was way cheaper than you'd find at fabricland or a big sewing store), black polycotton, 2 1.5" wide elastics that I sewed together to make the ultra thick waistband
pattern: self drafted, with a paper Gap bag (they really should make more of those, it was the perfect thickness)
pockets: hells yen
Things I've learned: I have a lot of thread and sewing things I inherited from my grandma, and I learned that one giant spool of what I thought was black thread is actually dark green. Luckily, I only used it on the inside seams, so no awkward splash of green.
- pin all the pattern pieces BEFORE cutting the fabric. I ran out of space and had to cut the fabric for the back piece with the grain running in the opposite direction from the front pieces. I suspect this caused some of the funny wrinkles.
- if you're going to make pockets, do it right and actually cut a reasonable sized square. My hands fit in my pockets, sometimes. I suppose for this one it's not as big a deal because it would look weird if I had my hands in my pockets, but for future reference, definitely focus.
- when using this kind of shiny fabric, definitely sew the zipper with super small stitches. My first zipper attempt turned out ridiculously bad (much to the amusement of my boyfriend and dad), and even with these small stitches it's still a little wrinkly:
The only thing I'm a little unsure about is what happens when I sit - I try not to flash the world, so I attached a snap button connecting the overlapped part and the pocket, which means its not half as bad as the original Aritzia one, but still means I need to be a bit careful. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

something old, something new

2009-09-03T10:49:00.003-04:00

I've spent the last couple of days unpacking and hanging out with my brother and his fiancee, who were visiting for the weekend, so here are some pictures of the long finished tulip skirt and another one in the works...
front
sideback!
When I cut out the rectangular strip for the waist band, I didn't accomodate for the fact that the top part should be shorter than the bottom part, so the skirt is a little big - I've tried to sneakily take it in on the side of the skirt that doesn't have the zipper, but I think I might try to take it in some more, because it does sit a lot lower than I would like it to.

Specs: 0.5 yard Cecilia fabric from Ikea, dark green thread, 7" zipper
Pockets? yes!
Changes in the future? I followed this this tutorial, but in the future, I think I'll just draw the shape first and then shape the pleats with the paper pattern, as I did for the skirt below. I also think taking in one inch from each edge of the front and back pieces was too much - although most of the time it's fine, I do have a little bit of issues going up an escalator or getting on a bus. I imagine that if I did take the waistband in, then the hemline would sit higher up and I might be a little more mobile.

Overall, I really do like this skirt - I don't usually wear loud patterns, but since most of it is black and white I find it more versatile. And here's a peek of the next one (which I've been trying on as often as I can because a) I love the fabric, b) I want it to fit perfectly and c) because I'm vain:I drafted this skirt with a skirt I'd seen from Aritzia a while back in mind - I found the fabric at Fabricland, and its a 0.5m remnant, so it was only $1.50. The skirt isn't finished yet - the front pieces haven't been sewn onto the black waistband and there's no back piece yet. But I definitely am excited to finish it and wear it out before it gets too cold! I suppose this skirt is more of a true tulip skirt than the other one - if I remember correctly, the Aritzia skirt looks more pleated than mine, but I actually really like how the side pleats are longer than the center ones. It makes it fancier, I think!

im back!

2009-08-28T00:33:00.004-04:00

Hello! I'm back after a couple of amazing weeks. My bf came up to visit and we spent the week exploring a variety of Toronto restaurants and malls. We don't get to spend a lot of time together usually because we live in different cities, so this was a very special trip. Then I spent this past week in BC and Alberta on a whirlwind tour of Vancouver, Kamloops, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper National Park, Kelowna etc. Even though it was a bus tour and most of the days were spent on the bus, the gorgeous scenery more than made up for it. We were lucky enough to have sunny, not too hot or cold weather, which made for some great pictures.It never ceased to surprise me how many trees there were everywhere and how big the mountains were: you really don't see that in Toronto!At Lake Louise, which has a scrumptious buffet lunch, btw.We stopped by an orchard on the way back to Vancouver, and this fellow was scratching himself with his horns! I kind of fell in love with goats, a lot. And back in Vancouver, we went to Tsukiji, a Japanese restaurant in Richmond. I'm too much of a hungry hippo to remember to take a picture of the sashimi before I ate it, but goodness, it was the freshest fish I've ever eaten. These last two rolls are their house roll, and had shrimp tempura topped with eel and avocado and salmon roe. yum!

I'll post some more pictures and a finished sewing project soon!

okay, maybe not.

2009-08-13T11:16:00.006-04:00

so maybe ease isn't my bitch. still working out the pleats and folds to make it fit better...
After measuring myself and drafting the pattern, I managed to cut the fabric out without any major hiccups. and yes, I took apart a paper jcrew bag because I didn't have any large sheets of paper and I didn't want to tape ten together. It was actually really convenient because its thicker than most paper bags so it was easier to work with.
back...front...Unfortunately, it seems the front part has grown a couple of inches - probably because I didn't double check the measurements of the pleats before sewing them down. but instead of going back and resewing the pleats, I think I'm just going to take it in from the back piece. maybe. argh. the fabric looks less weird than I thought it would though, which is a relief. wish me luck! and yes, the skirt does have pockets! I love that the shape of the skirt makes it almost natural to have one, since any skirt or dress that has pockets is automatically loved by me. They're just so functional!

ease is my bitch

2009-08-08T17:15:00.009-04:00

The last few days, I've been tv and internet free - unfortunately, it was due to my stupid cable company and not an active choice. Fortunately, it meant far fewer distractions, so I actually cracked down and finished the laptop cover!

tada!

I've always had problems with ease, especially in knitting. Usually things come out smaller than they should, although the last couple of times things have been coming out a bit big. Having not done very many sewing projects, I can't really say whether its the same with sewing, but for the better part of the process, every time I tried the cover onto the laptop, it seemed to be just a bit smaller. And it still kind of is - the laptop fits way better one way than the other, since its apparently not the same size top and bottom (what the heck, Dell?). But it fits! With only a bit of fiddling! And that kind makes the past month worth it.

The bottom edge is the more accommodating side, apparently.

I'm also really really pleased about the lining fabric - its from the basement scrap box so I couldn't get two large rectangular shapes (hence the chunk in the corner), but I really like the way it looks paired with the beige:And I love the zipper - all the lines on this cover are approximately straight, but hopefully it'll be enough to hold everything together. The side panels are just smaller rectangles that turned out not to be that much of a hassle to sew down, and I'm also pleased with the way it looks. Overall, hurray! Laptop and case will be traveling out west to Alaska at the end of this week, on a trip with my parents, so it will definitely be getting some love :)Also, early morning sewing does not make for hand-friendly sewing. My thumbs and index fingers are so sore from pushing the needle through all the layers of fabric and foam!

Weekend shenanigans

2009-08-05T11:24:00.004-04:00

Highlights of the weekend: (i) almost almost done the laptop cover! It's just missing the side panels now. Another zipper sewing gone smoothly, phew! (ii) new heels! these 3.5 inch babies were on sale for $10! (yes, I am that cheap, and yes, I love them to bits) (iii) So this is what the sweater looks like right now - the way the collar stretches, I don't think I'll end up putting a button, and probably leave it looking like that. I may cast off again so that the V's don't show up on the right side though. Still sitting on the fence on that one. (iv) I went to visit my boyfriend, who apparently has a couple of groundhogs camping out under his deck. Having grown up pretty close to the city, I'd never seen one up close - don't you just want to snuggle with them? I love how they tuck their hands under them when they eat - absolutely adorable!

I hope to finish the laptop cover sometime this week and start the sleeves of the sweater. exciting!

Distractions

2009-08-02T23:31:00.006-04:00

The laptop cover is coming along pretty well - it should be done in a week or so. I'll post some pictures after I finish sewing the zipper down. Surprisingly, I haven't accidentally poked myself too many times yet. hurray! I think it would be closer to completion, but I've been distracting myself with some more baking...lemon poppyseed loaf :this is the first time I've tried this recipe and ohhh I am going to be making it again and again and again. it is phenomenal. I would have taken a picture of the whole loaf but I didn't remember to until I had already downed a slice. oops. I substituted applesauce and corn oil for the butter and halved the sugar in the cake and the syrup. still delicious, I kid not!
I recently bought a pencil skirt and loooove the structure of it. Now I want to make myself a tulip skirt out of some ikea Cecilia fabric:
I've been scouring the web for ideas of what I want it to look like and potential patterns I can modify. This one from urban outfitters is preeetty close to what I want I think: Only maybe not so short. I've decided I won't start the skirt until I finish the laptop cover, since it would automatically mean it would be a permanent half finished cover. I figure the extra time will let me do some more googling and decide if I really want to do it. I'll likely be using this tutorial, but who knows! actually, I just looked at the picture of the skirt I bought and realized it's pretty much the same as the UO skirt. only longer and without the bottom hem. and with some more folds. hmm....

also, patterns I've looked at keep calling for at least 1.5-2.5 yards of fabric, but I've only got about 3/4 yard and its still enough to wrap around me 1.5 times? Am I forgetting about a giant fabric eating section???

Apricots and pins

2009-07-29T16:37:00.003-04:00

These past two days, I've discovered two new loves. I went over to the farmer's market yesterday, and bought a big basket of apricots that are just ripe enough. You know how fruits with pits are just so much better when the fruit separates from the pit so you can eat it without having to battle to get all the fruit? yeah. they're all like that. mmmmmm.I'm taking a break from the grey sweater because the yarn is ruining my hands and making them super dry :( but that means the laptop cover is getting some love! I've never really done a large scale sewing project, so I've never found the need to use pins. But oh, my, god, I don't think I'll ever do anything without pinning it first. Pinning it allowed me to make sure that i) yes, the cover does still fit the laptop, ii) it doesn't look half bad and more importantly, iii) now that I've seen what it'll look like, I actually want to work on it! It's like I have my own magic 8 ball. Just gotta be careful I don't accidentally poke myself...

Rain, rain and more rain

2009-07-27T21:35:00.005-04:00

The weather here has been pretty much rainy for the past week and things aren't looking much better. So I did the next best thing and baked chocolate chip cookies!I didn't have much butter at home, so I used this recipe - and put in some applesauce. I accidentally dropped the egg yolk in, so I decided to just leave it in the mix. I have a sneaking suspicion it made have made the cookies a little dense (they're kind of cakey), so maybe next time I'll follow the recipe and leave it out. I also halfed the sugar and put in an extra spoon of cocoa. The other issue I always have with cookies is that they don't flatten out as they bake - am I supposed to flatten them before putting them in the oven? Aren't cookies supposed to flatten themselves out as they bake? I was just dropping heaping teaspoon sized balls onto the sheet. Hmm.

The shawl sweater is getting together... I've reknit the collar three times cause I haven't gotten the shape I want, so it's pretty much looked like this since yesterday:
hopefully with some more knitting tonight it'll shape up!

Stocking up for winter

2009-07-23T16:37:00.004-04:00

I love these socks! they stay pretty well on my feet and since I don't usually wear coloured socks, they are a nice change :)
We've had a relatively cool summer here, cool enough that I've been overcome with the desire to knit big winter sweaters! This sweater is going to be a pullover, probably shawl collared. Some of the cables are from a knitting magazine from the 80s, but it'll mostly be a make-up-as-i-go sweater. the yarn is some grey acrylic (kind of hard to knit with, but warm) leftover from a starsky sweater. I love knitting big cables cause of the way they pop out of the fabric. and 5mm needles certainly helps it go along faster ;)

plants, birds and something colourful

2009-07-16T23:09:00.009-04:00

I planted little tomato plants from my cousin at the beginning of the summer and they've just started flowering this week - I've never planted them before, so hopefully this means we'll get tomatoes soon? There are zebra, orange, red, roma etc. varieties - can't wait for lots of tomatoes!
The other day, while I was watering them, I heard a lot of angry squawking - when I looked up, I found one of the culprits:It was with another of its kind and they were circling with some territorial blue jays that have nested in a backyard tree. But my favourite part was the cardinal in the tree behind it (click on the pic and see if you can find him!) that was just chilling while all the other birds just duked it out. amazing. After that bout, I hadn't seen/heard the bluejays (which sound terrible, if you've ever heard them) for a week or so, until today, when I found three of them hanging out in the pear tree! Although I try to dislike them because they're so vicious and can be unneccesarily cruel to other (smaller) birds, their colours are just so freaking gorgeous! I'm a sucker for pretty things, its true.

Dear blue jay, will you love me?

And speaking of pretty things... I found some multicolour koigu in a drawer the other day... and then using the ravelry search with the yardage limit, I found this flats socks pattern. They have been finished (because they are just that easy and fun to knit) and will be photographed in better light. How can I ever knit with non-multicoloured koigu ever again???

Slowly but surely...

2009-07-12T11:08:00.005-04:00

When I first cut the pieces for the laptop cover, I did it thinking that it would be the easiest way to sew it together... sadly, that does not seem to be the case. Oh well, the pieces are cut and since I would much rather struggle through than cut and rip and resew, it will just be a slower process.

I sewed a small bumble bee with the flowers - unfortunately most who have seen it haven't really recognized it to be one, so I've included a closeup to make my case. True, on second glance it is proportionally way off from the flowers, but I maintain that bugs up close are simply not as cute as smaller, more discreet bugs. Decide for yourselves:Anyway, the way I cut the pieces... I cut a big rectangle for the big face, bottom edge and other big face, and then decided I would figure out the side and the top+zipper later. I've come to realize that it would've made much more sense to cut two big faces and a skinny strip to wrap the sides and bottom edge instead. maybe if I ever decide to do this again...

I'm also starting to worry that it will start being used and just fall apart because of the foam filler (which is actually 0.5" upholstery foam). hopefully everything will just miraculously work out???
to be continued...

box bag!

2009-07-09T16:43:00.005-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was convinced I had to make a box bag and that if I didn't make it immediately, well, there wasn't really any other choice. Since it was well into the evening, I didn't have time to go out and get fabrics or zippers, so I went scrap hunting in my house. Things I found: a 6.5" zipper, flowery fabric leftover from a pair of pants my grandma had hemmed, a sheet of bounty for interfacing and a solid green fabric.
I should mention that I don't own a sewing machine, so all the sewing I do is by hand, which is really the way I prefer, since machines kind of intimidate me. I was convinced the bag wouldn't really be that much shorter than the original from the tutorial, until it occurred to me that the zipper bends down on both sides. oops. Never mind, a small box bag was better than no box bag. To adjust for the size difference, I simply scaled down the rectangle, although if I were to do it again, I'd probably make the handle a little shorter. Part way through, I managed to get myself thoroughly confused by the size of the squares I should make for the corners, resulting in multiple pen lines on each corner on the inside of the bag. I ended up ignoring the pen lines and approximating each corner. After all, its pretty floppy so approximately box-shaped was okay with me. After sewing all night in front of criminal minds, I finished it! I looove it. Especially since the colourful fabric meant I could use yellow thread without feeling overly flashy. Obviously, its way too small to be used to hold knitting projects, but since I like to carry hand sanitizer, cream, lip balm, hair ties, bobby pins and a bazillion other little things, it makes a fantastic pouch that I can toss from purse to purse without having to worry about forgetting something.
And the best part? Because there's a sheet of bounty sandwiched between the fabrics, it makes my bags smell good too!

argh

2009-07-08T16:43:00.005-04:00

Wow. I've had a really frustrating day, mostly related plans for a long weekend not working out and silly things that still manage to get me all riled up. Goodbye, July 8, 2009. I hope tomorrow will be better.

a wool sweater for summer

2009-07-06T14:19:00.001-04:00

Pattern: Drops jacket
Yarn: 6 balls of long discontinued orange Patons All Wool DK, dyed with grape Koolaid, knit on 4.5mm
Finished: June 26, 2009. the size of the needles really made this one fly - I finished it in about a week!
Modifications: largely inspired by this one, I eyeballed to make it work for DK weight yarn. The buttons are from the 70s? 80s? probably replacement buttons for a store bought sweater, and I didn't really like the way the two panels flare with only the two buttons holding it closed (silly, i know, considering its supposed to flare), so i sewed a smaller button a little lower down that buttons inwards. magic!

I love it! I think it fits really well and I've even worn it out on a cooler day. this is my first bottom up raglan - it always amazes me how the shaping around the shoulders just works itself out and i think it makes this sweater more casual than the original, which will increase the likelihood i wear it. now if only I could lose the grape smell...

peonies

2009-07-05T14:25:00.001-04:00

The laptop cover is slowly coming together, thanks to a combination of procrastination and boredom. The flowers are embroidered and based on two flowers from our garden this year. The cotton is some super cheap cotton i picked up at fabricland, and the whole thing could use some ironing. Thinking about the colour of thread i want to use to put the whole thing together now - maybe a teal to contrast everything? I'm excited to see how this will turn out! This is a first time embroidery project and I'm totally hooked.