Etsy!

I finally got my Etsy shop set up:

http://InTheRedwoods.etsy.com

And there's stuff in it! It's a start at least, just testing the waters. I did read somewhere that it takes an average of 6 months for the first sale. Plus I have no feedback yet, so I'm sure it'll be slow starting.

Christmas, Lemon Curd, and Beads

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I finished all my gifts but three. Two of them I gave anyway, with an IOU to finish. One was my dad's fingerless gloves, and I'm glad I did, because they weren't going to fit right if I had finished without him trying them on. Then my husband's gift I didn't finish and didn't show him yet. I ran into some modifications needed, and I realized that it'd be best if he waited to see it. Pictures of everything will be for the next post.

I always associate lemon curd with Christmas. I had tried making some lime curd from this recipe, and I think it turned out well. But it wasn't until yesterday I finally got around to making the lemon curd. The dozen or so lemons I picked from my mom's place had been staring at me every time I passed the kitchen.

There's something extremely satisfying about enjoying lemon curd on homemade bread. I haven't made bread in awhile, and this turned out a little dense, but not bad. I didn't realize that I was running out of white flour, so it turned out to be about 1/2 whole wheat, instead of the 1/4 I was going for.

I decorated my office cube a little bit. I always put up this bit of greenery with wooden beads, and this year I added tiny stockings with my team members' initials on them. I tried to keep them well-stocked with chocolate goodness.

A friend had a Christmas open house, and I made her these little wine tags. I had fun picking out the charms to match the seed beads. I realized after I got home that the red was a bigger bead, but I think it looks alright. I want to try making more of these someday.

Speaking of beads, a friend has inspired me with her jewelry-making. I have been really enjoying browsing through Fire Mountain Gems, and I've placed two orders with them so far. I just realized that their quantity discounts don't apply only to a single item, but are accumulated. That's dangerous to know :) For inspiration, check out their gallery. Wow.

Gift Update

Here's a quick update on the Christmas gifts. I know this would be much more interesting with pictures, but you'll have to wait :) And of course some items are more involved than others.

Finished: 2

In progress: 5
90%
95%
10%
5%
5% - started last night :)

And two more left to start, possibly 3 more still. Some of those I don't mind too much if they're given in January.

I also get distracted with non-Christmas gifts, one of which I'll be finishing and showing off this coming weekend. I'm also doing a general holiday thing, which I prepped this weekend and hope to get out next week sometime.

If I make everything again next year, I think I'll start in April...

Green for Groceries

First off, I've finished TWO Christmas presents, and I have one more at about 75%. Woohoo!

Secondly, here are two fantastic sewing ideas:

A simple, yet pretty-looking market bag. I've been searching for the perfect re-usable grocery bag to make. I've tried crochet- too thick and bulky to carry many at a time, and I've tried the fabric version cut out from a pattern of the original plastic ones, and that worked alright, but didn't pack nicely. I think I'll try this basic idea. And it's reversible!

Next, from the same site we have the reusable produce bags. These I'm very excited about. We've been using so much plastic since we've been eating more fruits and vegetables. And now I know what to do with the leftover 50+ yards of tulle from our wedding, even after I make a petticoat or two. Not to mention the spools of ribbon! My favorite projects are things I already have ingredients for :)

I'm wondering how either of these might work as gifts... too practical? Anyone have suggestions/thoughts? As a receiver I would be ecstatic, and the author talks about giving them away often. Maybe I'll try a couple for myself and see how well I like them.

Thanksgiving 2008

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! =)

The other day I decided to try maple brown sugar snickerdoodles. They turned out alright, but I learned something valuable. I knew our oven ran a little hot, but when the smoke detectors (all of them) went off on these puppies, I decided to actually check the temp with an oven thermometer. At each setting I tried, it was at least 60 degrees hot. Wow! Good to know.

I love my tiered baking sheets.

They weren't to bad, just a little too crispy. A couple days wrapped in plastic definitely improved that though. A co-worker said they were good dipped in coffee. I think the dough was also a little dry, since they didn't absorb the brown sugar like the picture on the recipe.

Then I finished a couple more pumpkins which I promised my mom I'd make for her.

What do you make with crocheted pumpkins? Crocheted pumpkin pie, of course! My mom got a kick out of that as well. I also brought her a real pumpkin pie, made from the recipe on the can, but with less sugar and more spices. It went over well.

I took Wednesday off work so I could finish getting the house ready and start cooking. I made a pumpkin pie, an apple pie with a lattice top, and a berry blend pie. I thought the berry turned out well, especially since I just improvised. I used a bag of frozen blackberries, a bag of mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries), and added the basics for a pie: sugar, spices and flour.

On to the turkey! I was very excited to use our new roasting pan for the first time. I'm glad I learned about the oven temp ahead of time.

It's easy, right? Just turn it on and set a timer!

Actually I'm just testing the height to make sure I can cook stuffing and rolls on the top shelf. Look at my clean oven! (except for the berry pie, which folded on its foil pan on the way out, but I saved it... Then I put more stoneware pie plates on my shopping / ceramics list)

Here's myself manning the stove, and my friend V helping me make cornbread chestnut stuffing. We made a small batch of wheat-free cornbread, since she's allergic to gluten. The stuffing turned out very well, and got a positive response. I'll be making that again for sure.

Next year I want to try the turkey in a brine. What I did was put some roasted garlic and a bunch of herbs in butter a few days ago, and sliced it up to slide under the skin of the turkey. Then we had the requisite canned jelly cranberry sauce along with a hot cranberry and orange sauce, homemade rolls, the stuffings, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, and of course the gravies (regular and wheat-free).

This morning I tried Alton Brown's recipe for sweet potato waffles, using some leftovers from yesterday. I thought they were tasty, if a little too sweet, but they got a "meh" from my husband, which is not too bad, considering he actually ate them :) I want to try something similar, but using regular potatoes and cutting out some sugar.

So far today I've also finished my first complete Christmas present, which is exciting. While everyone else is out there shopping, I'll be sitting at home crocheting my presents.

Scarf and Fingerless Mittens

I made these for my friend M, who's birthday was last week. The fingerless gloves were the original project, and then I decided I had enough for a scarf. Well, I had enough to start a scarf, so I went back to the shop for some more. Could have been dangerous, but I was in a hurry, so I only walked out with the two skeins I came in for!

The pattern is taken from here with some modifications. The black I did normally with the single crochet and bobbles, and the purple I did in a half double crochet to make sure it didn't get lost, but didn't add too much height.

It's funny that when I just looked at the pattern to give the link I see they have since added a version 2, with ...wait for it... black and purple!

It's totally different than these, and I like it also.

The black is half llama and half wool, and the purple is baby alpaca. The purple is a little bit softer than the black, but I like them both together. The people at the yarn shop liked my scarf pattern (a simple sc-dc with a huge hook), and they were surprised that I was putting two slightly different weighted yarns together. It works for me anyway. What, rules?

(yes, yes, I know, gauge is important...)

Here's M modeling her present. She liked them :) Incidentally, her cake was black and purple as well, and we didn't plan that.

Yarn and Motorcycles

I've re-worked part of a project twice now, and I'm realizing that the llama-wool does not like to be pulled out. Ouch. I think it also doesn't help that it's single-ply, but I think it'll look ok, as it was only a couple of rows. It reminds me that I was glad I learned on acrylic. The other day I was hanging out with a friend who was learning to knit with some wool, and she mentioned that a friend of hers saw her starting with acrylic, told her no-no-no, and gave her the wool instead.

When I was learning to crochet, I liked to try different things, rip it out, and try again. Acrylic can take that kind of abuse.

It's like getting your first motorcycle. Better to start with a 12-year-old EX500 that you can learn on, and open up to see how it works, pull all the farings off to paint them with chalkboard paint if you happen to feel like it :) Then when you're done with that, go get the brand new Yamaha Fz6.

Yarn, motorcycles- maybe that's a stretch... but it make sense to me.

Re-working this wool is reminding me also that I'm not a fan of felting, which seems to be approaching the craze stage of popularity. I like felt, and cool things you can do with it. I think the main reason I don't like felting is because you see a lot of it done with knitting, and knitting is still tedius to me. Why spend all that time knitting if you won't see your work? I know I'm probably stepping on toes of die-hard felters, but that's ok.

However, I do like these coasters, and I think that's a great use of felting. Still, I look at those and think "crochet" not knitting, but that's just me.

I'll try to post the changes I'm making to this pattern, as I'm really happy with how it's turning out. No pictures yet, as it's a gift, but it should be done and delivered in about a week.