Still Knitting

After finishing the two scarfs with the Celtic pattern for Christmas presents I am back to knitting washcloths. I tried a new pattern and after some problems it is going quite easy now. The problem was that the pattern is written for the US knitting technique, I use a completely different one. Once I realized that I found a much simpler way of doing "yarn forward". :) Here is what they look like:

Christmas Cards 2007

Today I made 33 Christmas cards. :) The only materials I bought for them this year was the blue fabric with the Holy Family print and some plain cards and envelopes when they were 50% off. I had a bit of a problem with the craft glue, the stick did not stick so I had to re-glue a batch of cards, the liquid glue oozed, that's why there are extra stars on some of my cards.

Back to Sewing

I joined Apron Swap and this is what I made for my partner. I have never sewn an apron before and I hope she likes it and forgives the imperfections. The pattern is from The Paisley Pincushion and it was quite easy to follow. I am going to make one for myself too.

Sunrise

Monday

I am happy to report that my first ever sourdough bread turned out very well. I followed the instructions on this site and the result is very tasty.


I am beginning to ask myself why I have all these cookbooks when I mostly turn to the internet for recipes and inspiration these days. ;) Anyway, if I would have known that baking bread is really that easy I would have done it much sooner. My newly replenished sourdough starter is happily bubbling away, waiting to be turned into more yummy bread next week - I am going to try whole wheat flour this time.
I made a milk jug cover out of a doily by sewing some beads to the edge. It is much prettier than the cheesecloth I usually put over whatever I have fermenting at the moment.

Today I will start my gingerbeer plant and - hopefully - taste my new ginger ale, I changed the recipe a bit and I am curious to see how that turned out.
My roses are still blooming and every so often I cut one and put it in a vase on the mantle, they smell heavenly.

Handmade Gifts

Dawn over at By Sun and Candlelight is hosting the "Loveliness of Handmade Gifts" this week and since I just love handmade gifts I have to participate. :) I love giving and receiving handmade gifts whether they are practical or just fun. One of my goals for 2007 was to give handmade gifts as much as possible (some people are hard to make things for) and I think I did good so far. Here are some of the gifts I am making for Christmas, I can't tell whom they are for because most of the recipients might be reading this.
So, here we go.
One of my knitted dishcloths and the little tin will be filled with homemade ginger cookies (the recipient likes ginger):

A knitted washcloth and handmade soap:

Knitted scarves - the black one has the same pattern as the white one it just does not show up in the picture:

This is going to be a key-hole scarf for a friend, not quite finished yet ;):


I also bought a bunch of make-your-own-photo-calendars and plan to add pictures of Miss Kitty:


And this is the fabric I will be using for my Christmas cards this year:

Kitchen Experiments and a Baking Mishap

I have been playing around in the kitchen recently, trying new things. I made homemade cream cheese and I am very pleased with the result. I used store bought yogurt because I have not yet dared to try making my own. I followed Melanie's instructions and got a very nice and creamy cream cheese - move over Philadelphia! ;)


My other experiment turned out well too. I made homemade Ginger Ale following the instructions on this site. It is a bit too sweet for my taste but it can be watered down. My next batch I make with less sugar. I am also going to start a Ginger Beer Plant.


I also had a little mishap when baking Del's birthday cake. The recipe calls for 1 1/3 cups of water and just as I poured the last of the water into the batter I realized that I had measured out 2 1/3 cups of water. Oops! I did not want to waste all the ingredients that were already in the bowl so I just mixed it all well and poured it into a large pan and baked it. I expected it to turn out a bit pudding-like but it ended up as a moist and slightly springy cake.

Halloween

We had quite a few trick-or-treaters and almost ran out of candy. My luminaries worked out well, I used brown paper lunch bags from the dollar store and leftover sand from a repair project, instead of votive candles I used tea lights because I still have a big bag of them.

And this is poor Miss Kitty on the other side of the French doors wondering what she did to be locked out of the living room (she forgave us ;) ).