In which I talk about food

I was thinking about food a lot yesterday. Mostly it involved me wanting to bake everything in the universe. I still do. But I have decided to try and limit myself, because otherwise I end up with enough sugary things laying around my house to feed a small country.

But really, can you blame me after discovering Bakerella's website. I mean really, balls of cake on sticks covered in chocolate. So I've decided to give it a try with some pumpkin cake, cream cheese frosting and orange colored white chocolate and then I'm going to decorate them like pumpkins. I'm very excited about this.

I also want to make more Marshmallows. They are so tasty. Nothing like the kind you get in bags from the grocery store. My favorite marshmallow recipe is here. I've tried a few and think this is my favorite because she has done the math to split the recipe in half. She also has included a couple of great ideas for changing the flavor. Besides adding a puree or candy to the mix I replace part of the vanilla extract with some of the concentrated candy flavorings. My most recent experiment was with about 1/2 a vial of the orange flavoring. I added 2 tsp of vanilla extract and 1 tsp of orange zest. Then I dipped them in chocolate. ZOMG! good! You might wonder what to do with these pillows of awesome. Well, I just eat them straight or they would taste delicious in a cup of hot chocolate (especially with my next plan of replacing sugar in the marshmallows with crushed candy canes, peppermint cocoa, yum!).

I also have the ingredients sitting out for chocolate chip cookies. And I've been wanting to do some chocolate molds of pumpkins. I got a cute new mold on sale from AC Moore.

Another way I was thinking about food was I learned about the 3/50 project (I know, I am very behind the times). It is kind of an interesting idea. In a month, spend 50 dollars (total) at 3 local places. And then I sat down and thought about 3 local businesses that would suck if they dissapeared. Two of those are resturants. More food.

Java Joint. OMG! What would I do without them? They are kind enough to allow 10 or so crazy crafters take up there entire back room once a week. They have great coffee and drinks. Their food is amazing. I eat things there that I hate otherwise. Tomato soup, the olives and tomatoes on their greek pizza. I even love their vegitarian alternatives such as their veggie burgers. Nom. And the desserts, well, I can't really talk about those without getting drool on the keyboard. So good. And to be honest, if I spend my minimum amount there each week (usually about 10-12 dollars on dinner, drink and dessert) I have nearly hit my $50 mark.

Zach and I have recently discovered a relatively new resturant, Rib Station. The ribs are amazing, smokey meat popsicles. The turkey is moist and smokey and delicious. The banana pudding is superb. Their portions are huge and the price is great. You can get a 1/2 rack of ribs plus a side for about $9. Desserts are $1! I got a turkey sandwich last time and it was huge. My brain did not process the actual size of a 5 inch bun. Huge. So even with it being so reasonable priced, I think I've hit the $50 mark.

And then of course you add in the Yarn and More and I am well over. Although I haven't been in a while. I need to start saving for Christmas presents so I won't be spending much on me for a while.

And so this should be post number 198. Getting close to 200. I wonder what my giveaway will be. But no seriously if you know, could you send me a hint. That would be super. Now I am off to make some cake balls. Yay!

Best Weekend Ever!

I have been quite slow in getting this up. Kept forgetting my camera to add pictures. Let's just say last week didn't live up to the weekend preceeding it. Anyway!

So our plans to travel to Athens to see Julia Mae were delayed for a week. I blame Zach and him bringing home the illness. I decided it would be a great opportunity to go to Charleston and pick up some stuff for my swap package. Mmmmm...chocolate. So I decide to go on Thursday and Dana decides to go with me. Yay for company.

We leave for Charleston and decide to head to Kanawha City Yarn Company first since they close earlier. She has moved the shop one street over. And oh my goodness....was that the best idea ever. The store is so much bigger and brighter and the yarn...I got to see many yarns I hadn't previously had the pleasure of touching before. I bought some Mini Mochi yarn in a lovely purple green colorway. Dana got some Mini Mochi as well and some Malabrigo sock. Oh the softness. She was also able to find the correct color yarn for a vest she needs to make. She had to order it, so that means another road trip at some point. Woot! So amazing yarn FTW!

Well, we lucked out because the store was having an Open House Tailgate Party (same day as the WVU/Marshall game). There was food and a bunch of people sitting around knitting. So we sat down to join them. So nice and so friendly and such yummy food. There was this date/walnut/cream cheese/sugar on a ritz cracker dessert thing that was so good. I need to do some internet scouring for that recipe. Found it! Excellent day to go to the yarn store.

After that we decided to try and find Holl's Chocolates. There is one way out of the way, which I had been to. And another one that appeared to be right off the interstate. We went with that one. So easy to find and lots of parking. It was in the middle of Capitol Street Market. So I got some chocolate for me and my swap partner. Dana was able to find some ingredients for a meal she had been having trouble finding in Huntington. And best of all...I found some sparkling apple cider from WV Fruit and Berry. It is what we had in lieu of champagne at our wedding (held on college property, we are normally drinkers). Since we ordered several cases for the wedding, we had been able to have extra and had shared a bottle on our anniversary. But we had run out and didn't have one for this year. So I saved our anniversary. Yay! And we managed not to get lost getting back onto the interstate. Oh and I got a Honeycrisp apple from the market. So tasty. Possibly my favorite apple. Very very descriptive name.

After we made it back to Huntington, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to Gabes. I found a striped shirt and jacket I could turn into my vest for my Halloween costume. Very cheap.

Then we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to Borders to meet Jenn's posse to go to the corn maze. It was a lot of fun. Even if it was super muddy and just a little bit too long. We had bundled up because it was cold and drizzly out. Unfortunately trying to keep your balance and running around in mud is a pretty good workout. It is very hard to figure out what to do with a very long Gryffindor scarf when you are too hot. It made a sexy belt. You can see the dirty jeans below. My tennis shoes are still in the plastic bags that I had wrapped around them to keep from getting mud in the cars.

My dog is adorable!

Awwwww

So when it starts getting dry around here, Heidi gets very sensitive skin on her back, towards her tail. We have an anti-itch spray we use, and we make sure to keep the area cleaned and use gentle soap. But she tends to take matters into her own hands. There is video, but I can't figure out how to post it and to be honest, I am laughing like an idiot in the background.

Dangit!

I swear I miss it every year. October 7th was my 2 year blog anniversary. It is interesting to look back at some of those past entries. And this post will make number 195. I think post number 100 coincided pretty closely with my 1 year anniversary. Interesting. In the spirit of Haley, I think I might do a contest as well. Since I've completely missed the anniversary, I might try for post number 200. That way I'm not completely copying Haley and it will give me time to figure out a plan. Our Blog anniversarys are really close together (which is funny because we hadn't met at that point) and reading her post got me to thinking about how similar our lists are:

• I didn't know how to knit (or spin or felt)
• I had just picked up crocheting after forever not doing it and loom knitting as something new because I had burnt myself out on scrapbooking
• I had a black cat named Ashes and a roommate named Steven
• I had no idea how to keep a blog or what I would even talk about that would be interesting.
• I started this to keep track of my projects (which for all I knew might suck until I figured it all out again) and assumed that the only people who would ever read it would be my mom and MIL. As I've mentioned before, I use Google Analytics because I like to see how many people read my stuff and how they find my blog (I know I'm a nerd). I noticed yesterday that my pattern blog had a huge spike on October 7th. Almost 90 people. Considering I average about 10 on that blog, I was intrigued to say the least. I was linked from http://www.whipup.net/. There are some awesome patterns and tutorials they have gathered. I was so excited they included my pattern in Halloween roundup. And who would have known 2 years ago I would be a pattern writer with patterns published somewhere other than my self-indulgent blog. And with other people actually making them. Considering I didn't know how to knit, writing knitting patterns seemed a little out of my league.
• I have commitment issues, I've also discussed this. So I'm shocked I've kept not only with this blog, but with this hobby. Granted it is constantly evolving with the addition of loom knitting, regular knitting, felting and spinning to my fiber skills over the years, so I'm less likely to get bored. It also helps that pretty much my entire social life revolves around fiber. And some of my best friends have been made because of this blog. I started this blog and really got back into the fiber arts and found Ravelry. Through Ravelry I found my girls. I don't know what I would do without them.

So it is kind of fun to see where she's been and I've been. So stick with me, at least until I get to post 200. There might be something in it for you.

What you can accomplish

while you are laid up on the couch. Neither Zach or I moved much this past weekend. We were both hit with some sort of flu-like illness. But it made for a lot of crafting time.


I finished my first Christmas project of the season. Stephen don't look here. Tracey, make sure he doesn't look.


I finished my fingerless mitts from the yarn I spun. One is just a touch shorter than the other and the thickness of my yarn is noticably smaller in the second one. So they aren't quite perfect. But they are warm and squishy.

And a few other small items that those with delicate sensibilities and my swap partner shouldn't look at. Unless they like body parts and to have surprises spoiled. I just need to find some lip balm for this (Not suitable for work). This is safe to look at unless you are my swap partner. This view is safe for all non-swap partners but this side is a bit more risque.

And someone at work was wearing this amazing shawl and I apologize if no one else gets a Christmas present because I am so enamored with this project. It is going to take a while because I have to write the pattern myself with just the notes and pictures I took while she kindly let me borrow it to take said notes and pictures.

Oh and I even added two new patterns over in the sidebar over there. Got the patterns and PDF's up for my Fleecy Felt loom knit slippers and my Round and Round Toe-Up crocheted sock. Enjoy!

Is it fall?

Zach was mocking me the other day when I got all excited that Dairy Queen had pumpkin pie blizzards. I decreed that it was therefore fall. He pointed out that yes it was October so it was fall. I feel that the return of fall is determined by food. It begins with the return of the Starbucks pumpkin spice latte. Then Cold Stone Creamery had pumpkin ice cream again. Then apple cider came back to the grocery stores and therefore Java Joint has hot apple cider again. The clincher was the pumpkin pie blizzard. So it is officially Fall. Yay!

Look I finished something. It is a cross stitched patch for my Halloween costume. Yay! I hate back stitching. But it has gotten me infatuated with cross stitch again. I want to make all sorts of subversive cross stitches. The contrast of a pretty flowery border with a completely foul and depraved message is pretty hilarious. I've been looking through this flickr group for inspiration.
The new Interweave Crochet magazine is out and I am very, very infatuated. I pretty much want to make everything in this issue. So I cast on for the socks. With this yarn.

I also have plans to make some fingerless mitts. I am in love with this yarn. I want a pair of elbow length mitts for work that do that long color fade. So I decided I would dye some fiber, make some batts to spin to make the yarn for them. Yeah, I make complicated plans. The fiber is dry now. But I managed to turn my hands bright pink. Very impressive. Yeah so that didn't work. I made the batts and spun up one of them. Loved the batt. I wanted to make a fingering weight single and well the batt didn't cooperate. Ended up very lumpy and bumpy. So I Navajo plied it to maintain the colors. I ended up with a worsted weight. One batt gave me about 100 yards. I am currently debating my choices. I don't really want heavier weight fingerless mitts. So I can spin up the other batt and try a lot harder to make it even and fingering weight and should end up with about 300 yards. Or I can do the same with the second batt as with the first and have 200 yards of worsted weight. I think I am leaning towards trying for another fingering weight. And to be honest, if it still doesn't cooperate, I can just Navajo ply to match. Although I wanted to speed up the color changes if I go for the single again so it won't quite match the first. But the yarn is super smooshy and lovely even if it isn't what I want.
Now, I have finished other things, but a lot of them are presents for birthdays/Christmas. So I can't really show them off. Well except for this one. It is a present for Dana and she really shouldn't look. :) Imagine it in this yarn. I so hope she likes it.

I'm an Aunt!

I would like to wish a warm welcome to Julia Mae who entered the world today. I can't wait to meet you and make lots of girly outfits. Yay!

Since many requested, I thought I would oblige with some pictures. I love this pictures. She looks like she is smiling/smirking. And am I alone in thinking how much she looks like Lauren's dad in this picture?

And then of course, because this is the way my brain is wired, I got to this picture and saw the hat first. So cute. But I really shouldn't be looking at more baby stuff to knit when I haven't even finished what I've started.