Finished Objects

So, I've finished a few things, and promised pictures.  Here's one thing I finished:

How do you like that?  Not the Princess, the dress. :) It turned out really well, and just barely soon enough.  She's almost too big for it now, which is sad.  She may be able to wear it through the summer, and then we'll have to put it away.  Here's something else I made:

This banana pudding is a recipe from Bakerella, and it's easy.  I mean, seriously easy.  Like, in 20 minutes, you're done making it.  You wait 20 minutes or so for it to set up in the fridge, and you dig in.  Make it right before dinner, and by the time you're ready for dessert, it's ready for you.  I've made this 3 times by request from Hubby.  How do you like that?

Here's my latest adventure:

I have ventured into the world of sewing!  I made the Sash with Beaded Fringe from Amy Butler.  The trickiest part was the beaded fringe (go figure).  I couldn't get my zipper foot to work with it (the beads kept getting caught) so I just hand-stitched the ends.  It wasn't too bad really.  Easy pattern and a fast sew.  Here is one more shot for you:

I really like the way it turned out.  And unless I point out the problems with it, you'd never know.  So, I'm not going to.  I'm going to take a lesson from Deborah at Whipstitch, and just say "thank you" if someone complements me on it.  Oh, and one more picture, because I'm a slacker with pictures, and I have to add in this shot of Little Man:

Where does the time go?

I finished the Cardigan...almost (still). I bought snaps to put on behind the buttons, but my sewing skilz just ain't happenin'. I started on my own personal Clapotis. I know, I'm about 3 years behind the rest of the world...go figure. Also, for a while, although I'd like a few things from each issue of Knitty, this issue to me is the best in a long time. Almost all of the patterns I would LOVE to knit (the only 2 being the little girl things, because I don't have a little girl). Everything else is FABULOUS!

In the realm of baking, I am going to attempt new Heath Bars either tonight or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow, because I am flippin' exhausted today. Fortunately, since I made a double batch of the toffee, there's plenty to go around. I have 9 other recipes to choose from, and 3 of them call for granulated sugar, which I think was the problem in the first batch. I will conquer the Heath bars!

I have decided how to clean out my closet. First, there's the whole idea of only keeping what fits you...just about everything in my closet fits, so that's not going to get rid of much. The next thought I had (although it might be a natural conclusion for some, it took me a little while to figure this one out...I'm a little slow on the upswing some days) was to clean out everything I didn't like the color or pattern of. This will include a lot of the items hanging up there. I was keeping most of them because they fit...not because I liked them. This led to an overabundant closet and a small worn selection. We're going to fix that. I'm on a girly kick, so pinks, purples, reds, some blues and greens, will stay. The rest is getting packed up and shipped out (probably to the Goodwill store just down the road from my house). I really hate to give it all away, but in order to make room to receive more, I need to clean out what I have. I might even find a few items at the Goodwill to purchase; I haven't looked yet, so I don't know what they have.

Saturday is picture day! We're taking pictures of Little Man again, so I'm all excited! I just have to iron his shirt and pants, and figure out what outfit #2 will be.

Just a Punk in the Street*

Ok, today is a little different post. First of all, I did finish the Classic Cardigan, but haven't put on the buttons yet. I did get the buttons yesterday from here, but realized they were too BIG for the buttonholes. After careful consideration and some whining, I figured out that I need to rework the buttonhole band as the button band, and then attach the buttons to the outside and use snaps to actually close the cardi. Smart, huh? It'll be easier than 2-way buttons (a button on the outside and a reverse button on the other, with the hole on the inside-or at least that's what I call it). In any case, that's to be re-knit (I will take pictures before I rip out the buttonhole band, though, I PROMISE!!!!). I finished half of SSKP#2 last night, and started the other half. Pictures to follow soon.

Last night, I decided to attempt the toffee again. This time, I had a LOT more success. Here's how I did it WITHOUT a candy thermometer (although I'm sure it would have been much easier with one).

Step 1a: Please, I beg you, be sure to grease a sheet pan BEFORE you get started. It's hard enough to pay close attention to the candy as it cooks, without the added distraction of trying to grease a pan. This is an incredibly important step...because if you don't, the candy will stick and it won't break properly, and disaster will ensue. (Well, only for your toffee).

See the butter on there? Very important.

Step 1: gather your ingredients...I doubled the recipe, so I had 3 and a half sticks of butter, 2 cups of sugar, and 4 tablespoons of water in a large pot. Turn the stove on medium high (on mine, it worked better on around 5-6 than 7...of course I just have one of those weird dials that gives numbers, and not words to gauge your heat).

Nice and melty...butter, sugar, how can you go wrong?!

Step 2: Get the butter/sugar/water mixture nice and hot, where it starts to melt together and bubble.

Here it is all melted.

And now it's all bubbly...

Step 3: Cook and stir (ALWAYS stir it...it keeps the bubbles IN the pot...very important...this cup runneth over is NOT a happy cup) until it turns brown.

We're getting there...

Brown and bubbly...brown and bubbly...

Step 4: Once it gets toffee colored (go figure), add in the 2 teaspoons of vanilla and dash of salt. Of course, any GOOD cook would add only 1 teaspoon...but I added more. 'Cause I'm just like that...a punk.

Step 5: Stir well, and pour onto the prepared pan.

And let it cool. Once it's cool (mine took about 2-2 and a half hours before it hardened), it's time for some fun! It's smash-time!

See all the yummy crunchy toffee goodness just begging to be eaten?! It's a yummy treat. Now, this weekend, I'll be attempting to make the Starbucks "Health Bars", patent pending. :) I also have another wondiferous recipe that I'll share hopefully either later today or tomorrow. The good news, it's simple and fairly quick. The bad news, it's TOTALLY addictive (my husband requests it often...a little too often for my own personal tastes, but I'll indulge him while it's still cool enough to turn on the oven, and then he'll have to wait until after summer to enjoy it again).

Much love!

This week with insanity

It's been a crazy week, and I keep getting crazy ideas. I finished the Classic Cardigan, with the exception of buttons...pictures coming soon (hopefully after buttons are sewn on). There's Super Secret Knitting Project #1 (SSKP#1) that is done, with the exception of sewing in the ends, and SSKP#2 is well underway. I treated myself to more yarn (according to my nutritionist I should reward myself with NON-FOOD items, and yarn is in that category - a mouthful of angora just isn't pleasant) and added some for my birthday as well (yay me!). I did make it to Knit Night this week, and had a really good time.

I also saw this post and decided to try to recreate the Starbucks pastry formerly known as "Heath Bars" (we also called them "Health Bars" because what's healthier than chocolate and toffee in a cookie bar?). I started with trying to make toffee last night...and burned it. Yep, the house was filled with smoke and smelt of burnt sugar. It was not happy. Fortunately, all that I lost was a little time (very little) and some butter and sugar. It was worse than the misfortune with the 7-up cake, but completely inedible. I think the times were off in comparison to the recipe. It said to cook it for 10 minutes, and I did. I didn't use a candy thermometer, which is my fault...but I don't have one. I'm attempting it again tonight, mainly because I'm trying to do the toffee before the rain gets here (tomorrow). Humidity always reeks havoc with candy, so I'm trying to avoid that.

Soooo close

I went Thursday night, in the pouring rain, to find buttons. I found none. Friday, I went searching for buttons online, and found some. I have yet to order them, but will probably tonight. Here's a picture of the (almost) finished cardigan:

This weekend, I also made these:

You can find the recipe here. I also made these:

The recipe is here. I highly recommend any of the recipes from the site that you find. I haven't tried all of them, but I have tried a few, and all of them turn out fantastic. This roll looks a little over done, but it tastes fine. I baked the rest of them about 5 minutes less, and they looked better and were a little less golden on top. I've tried the lasagna, rolls, cinnamon rolls, a version of the chicken spaghetti, and all of it has turned out fantastic. I get great complements from all the recipes. Go check out The Pioneer Woman (her main site) too. It's fun to read about life on a ranch, and her many crazy adventures, being a middle child and all.

I finally moved my sewing machine upstairs, but I couldn't find the cord! No electricity = no sewing on the machine. I did however, seam this together:

I also washed and dried some fabric, and will hopefully be able to post pictures of that later. Tonight is a major working night...I have a Finance Committee meeting tonight, and that means I won't be getting home until late. Tomorrow is Knit Night, and I'm going to that as well. I haven't been in about a month, and I need a break. It's so nice to get out every once in a while and be with adults but not have to work, or grocery shopping, or doing something involving children. Sometimes you just need an escape. I definitely need an escape this week.

Stalling

I'm stalling on some projects. I decided to read instead last night. I picked up a couple of books from the library, and have been a little more interested in reading than in knitting. I tried to make a 7-up cake this weekend, and it overflowed. I think the main reason was the recipe wasn't complete, and I assumed. Assumptions are not good things. The recipe called for "flour"...not specifying the type. Since there was no leavening agent (salt and baking powder), I thought it meant self-rising flour. I double checked on a version this morning, and it should have been all purpose. Oh well...the result was edible, just not pretty. I'm glad I put a baking sheet under the bundt pan to catch the overflow...otherwise, the oven would have been a disaster. I think I'll reattempt the cake later.

Lazy weekend...

Well, in respects to knitting, it was lazy. In every other conceivable way, it was far from it. Friday, I went home, took care of my little man and my big one, and dove into baking. I made 2 kinds of cookies: molasses and chocolate. I then cleaned up (a little). Saturday morning, I was up at 5:30 and fed Little Man, finished cleaning the kitchen, started working on lasagna for lunch, ran to the store (I realized we didn't have what I thought we did, and then we didn't have enough of what I was going to substitute to use it either, so a trip was a necessity). When I got back, I finished the lasagna, then moved on to breakfast. Realize, by this time, it was 9 a.m. when I sat down to eat breakfast. By 10, we were all out the door to go shopping. We dropped off our angel at my parents' house, then cruised on over to finish Christmas shopping, or so we hoped. We got through Wal-Mart and Target and Books-A-Million and were starving, since it was after 3. We finally made it home, I baked the lasagna and some garlic bread, made salads, and my parents joined us for dinner. It was tasty, that's for sure. We finally got to sit down around 7, and by 8:30, all were in bed. Sunday didn't prove any easier...I was up around 6, cooked green beans for lunch at a friends' house, fixed breakfast for myself and Little Man, then got ready for church. Since church is about an hour away, it just takes some time. When I got home yesterday, I attempted to take a nap, but Little Man was having none of it. So, we all got up, and ate dinner, played, and I started folding clothes. I also baked another batch of cookies (shortbread this time) and iced the chocolate ones. I still have a minimum of 2 loads to fold, and more cleaning to do. The front bathroom is getting an overhaul with cleaning, and the tree still needs to be decorated. I have my plan for Friday through Monday, and it actually does give me plenty of time to get everything done and still be able to prop my feet up for a few minutes. I might even get some knitting done then.

Baking, baking, cleaning and baking

That's what my weekend looks like. I'm going to attempt baking several items this weekend, and then cleaning (in detail) at least one room (the front bathroom). I figure if I can detail clean it this weekend, then next weekend I can give it a quick swipe and I'm done. I have lots of work ahead of me...no sitting on my keister this weekend! We have to finish decorating the tree, cleaning the house, Christmas shopping, and wrapping presents. We started doing some of it last night, and tonight will be a long one. I'm going to try to get 2 kinds of cookies done for work on Monday, and then I'm going to clean like I've never cleaned before. There's also some organization that will need to occur (the front closet is a mess and we need to pack more stuff in it). Hopefully it won't take too long. I'm thinking while one batch of cookies are baking (the shortbread takes 70-85 minutes) I can scrub the bathroom. The closet will be a simpler task. I'm looking forward to the holidays. I'm not sure how much knitting I'll get done. I'm thinking about making my hubby drive on Saturday for all the errands we have to do, and I can have some knitting time in the car. I'm almost a quarter of the way through with the Christmas knitting. That's not bad. If I can do a little more before I'm off, I might have a day when I can focus on just knitting before Christmas actually arrives. It's a good thing I have a backup present in case this doesn't work out!

Too much coffee

I stopped by Starbucks this morning, and had them brew me a French pot of Verona, my favorite coffee. I don't usually have caffeine in that large of an amount, so I've been kind of bouncing off the walls this morning. Before I knew it, it was noon. I had to re-do an entry THREE TIMES this morning because my fingers and brain weren't in sync. That's just ridiculous. Lesson learned - no Starbucks during close for me.

I have major ambitions this weekend. I have cookies to bake, diapers to wash, and knitting to finish. I hope to finish the body of Sheldon #2 and the cable swatch for the sweater soon-to-be-started for myself. I also saw something this morning at Starbucks that made me want to copy it, and see if I could re-create it, instead of spending $5 for it (I know...it's only $5, but hey, $5 is $5). I saw this cute folk-art type bird knitted (and there was one that was sewn as well) with glasses and it was utterly cute. I hate that I didn't have a camera with me; otherwise I'd have taken a picture and post it for you. It was blue, and the glasses were brown, with eyes in it (in true Muppet style), and I think the legs were brown as well. We'll see if I can re-create it.