Christmas Crafting

Wow, it's about time we dust off the cobwebs around here and get back to it. Let's start off with a little holiday craft project I made while back in Wisconsin.

I saw these little crystal snowflakes on Martha Stewart and wanted to give it a try. They're so easy! My mom had sparkly pipe cleaners and borax stored away, so away we went.



First you make your shape out of the pipe cleaner, and hang it on a wire. Meanwhile, add your borax solution to hot hot hot water, and stir to dissolve in a jar.



Place the pipe cleaner shape into the jar and wait...



and wait...



and ta-da!



Crystal snowflake! You can make whatever you want of course, and use different color pipe cleaners, change the amount of time you leave the ornament in the solution for, or add food coloring. Mom was working on hearts for Valentine's day before I left. How cool!

Thanksgiving Weekend

*sunset in San Simeon*

I took some time off for the Thanksgiving holiday so Boyfriend and I could take a road trip up to San Fran. We had a great trip visiting some of Boyfriend's family, and spending some time on our own in the city. Here are some quick highlights (at least the ones I got some pictures of).



Snoozin' elephant seals near San Simeon



Boyfriend at the beach in Carmel, CA on Thanksgiving day



Views from our hotel room at the Westin Market Street in San Fran


(this picture was spruced up by the Camera Plus app for iPhone)



Anthropologie had the BEST holiday display!



Boyfriend's aunt cooked up "a little bit" of food for us to bring with us on the road. Yum. I think this is going to feed us for the whole month of December.

I hope you all had the happiest of Thanksgivings!

Simple Things

Yet another shawl! These can be so addicting to make, especially when you don't have to think too much about the pattern. This was the perfect project for a busy month, when I just wanted a non-thinking project.



This was made from just over two skeins of Knit One Crochet Too Handpainted Ambrosia, which is a silk, cashmere and alpaca blend. I bought this yarn on sale at the cutest little yarn store near my grandparents house in Urbana, Illinois. Klose Knit is a cozy little store, and has some fun yarn-bombing right outside.



This is the Simple Things shawl, found on Ravelry.



It's always a bit silly taking pictures of yourself :)

Time to Share

Hi friends - I took a little bit of an unintentional hiatus there, but things have been a bit busy. Let's get to it!

I have a few FOs (Finished Objects) to share with you, so we'll have to play a bit of catch up. First up are a pair of socks I made for myself.



This is the Clandestine Sock pattern, available for free on Knitty. You'll remember I had a bit of a rough start with this pattern, but I noticed about a third of the way through the first sock, and got myself back on track. I love this sunny yellow with this pattern - I think it really shines. I got the yarn in the sale bin at Knit Culture Studio - it's Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock. This was a little bit of a putzy pattern to follow, but luckily I have small feet so I had a little bit less knitting to do.



Fall has finally hit LA, and I'm enjoying the rainy, cloudy days we've had this week. I got a fun fall-themed package in the mail today, complete with red leaves specially plucked off a tree in Door County just for me.



Included in my package were three Halloween wash clothes she knit up just for me. Thanks Mom!

Third Times a Charm

We finally did it! Yesterday Sherry and I baked macarons yesterday, and they turned out beautifully.



We filled them with lemon curd and nutella, and kept half in the natural almond flour color, and made the other half a rosey pink color.



I've learned from past baking mistakes and I think I actually have this mastered.

Ughck!

A weekend's worth of work


Tragically ended like this:



Time to read the pattern correctly and start again.

I won!

On Saturday, my friend Lauren and I wandered over to Knit Culture Studio for their customer appreciation event. I'm so glad I did! We got a copy of Debbie Bliss' Fall issue, and put our names into a raffle. While shopping around, they called my name for a sweet little prize of the Easy Baby Knits book, accompanied by three skeins of Sublime baby cotton in a poppy color. I'm not sure what I'm going to whip up with this yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out!



A few finished knits are right around the corner. Stay tuned.