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eat cake

I wasn’t sure what this book was all about except that it had a lot of cake recipes. I’m not a big fan of cake. I’m more of a pie person, myself. So I didn’t go into it thinking I would like it too much. Boy was I wrong!




Eat Cake really isn’t about cake at all, except for the fact that it’s all about cake. Does that make sense? It’s about figuring out your dreams; a true “do what you love and the money will follow” kind of book. It just so happens that Ruth loves cake. In addition to main story, I also loved the side story of Ruth’s parents. They cracked me up!

I think I might try some of the cake recipes after all. The Oatmeal Stout Cake sounds awesome, as do the carrot and sweet potato cakes. I’d also like to try the Lemon Curd. Hmmm… maybe I’m not as much of a pie person as I thought!

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big bad parent blanket

I was updating my ravelry projects last night and realized I never blogged about one of my biggest projects: my parents’ afghan! It’s a pattern from Stitch ‘N Bitch called the Big Bad Baby Blanket, except mine is twice as big.

mom and dad blanket

This was another project that took a long time to complete, but not as long as M’s blanket! I’ve decided that any future blankets have to be knit in pieces and seamed up at the end. Once I get half way through them, they are just too big to take to knitting group, the car, the coffee shop, etc. When my knitting isn’t portable, it winds up in a bag in the closet.

mom and dad blanket

I used Mission Falls wool and loved how it knit up. It’s very soft and washed great. I got unlucky with knots, though, but I guess if you go through 32 balls of yarn, you’re bound to encounter some knots, right?

mom and dad blanket

I’ve been squirreling away skeins of Manos del Uruguay wool for a blanket for me. I’m not ready to start another blanket yet, but I’m considering Mitered Squares or Lizard Ridge. Any other suggestions for me?

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retro photo: picking dandelions

This weekend I accidentally figured out how to download photos from my phone. I say accidentally because I was having trouble with my camera cable and while checking “connected devices” I saw my phone.

dandelion

I don’t have a very fancy phone, so the photos aren’t that great. They remind me that spring is on the way, though. I’m pretty sure I took these last April while T was away at Driver Education School.

dandelion

Oh, and about the camera cable. I wasn’t plugging it in properly. Doh! All is well.

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bella’s blanket. finally!

There are lots of reasons why this blanket took so long to complete. When I was pregnant, most of the time I was too tired to knit. Plus, my wrists hurt from wearing sea bands to help with the nausea. Then, when M was born, well, you know how it can be with a newborn.

bella's blanket

The blanket got tucked away in the closet for awhile. I had terrible bouts of startitis. My projects were scattered all over the place. I knit a lot of socks. I knit a hat and mittens for M. I knit squares for charity blankets. I knit an afghan for my parents. I discovered sewing.

bella's blanket

Then I found the coolest fabric. It was the perfect colors for the back of the blanket and M loves monkeys—especially Curious George. I ordered it instantly and made a commitment to finishing the blanket. No other knitting would come first.

bella's blanket

It’s much bigger than I had originally planned, but M is a lot bigger now. What was once a baby blanket is now a toddler blanket. Maybe I thought that by not finishing this blanket I could keep M from growing up so fast. I’m glad I got it finished before she went to college. That would have required a lot more yarn.

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my kind of snow day

Today was sunny and warm. There used to be a time in my life where 34 degrees was cold. Nebraska has changed that.

All M has been asking to do the past few days is to go outside and play snowballs. She got this from watching Charlie Brown Christmas almost every day for the past month. Remember the scene? All the kids are throwing snowballs trying to knock a tin can off the fence and then Linus uses his blanket to nail it. M thinks this is very cool.

We’ve had a good deal of melting and the snow is really wet. Perfect for making snowballs! We threw them into the snow, at each other and on the ground. We squished them with our feet. We used a cup to make snow bricks and snow castles. We picked tiny icicles off of the car. And most importantly, we made our first snowman. (Snowperson? Snowcreature?)

snowman

M insisted we make him a snowdog.

snow dog

He has an icicle for a tail and sadly has no ears. The snowman seemed happy to have the company, though. Especially since shortly after I was able to convince M to come inside for some hot cocoa. 34 degrees is warm, but not that warm!

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a healthier amish friendship bread recipe

mini loaves

A few months ago, a friend gave me some Amish Friendship Bread starter with this recipe. I made a few loaves for us, then I kept the next batch of starter and made a bunch of loaves as Christmas presents for friends. I really like this bread and have been storing the extra starter in the freezer so I can make more. Now it’s becoming an every day snack instead of a treat, so I had to adjust the recipe to make it a little bit healthier. The result is definitely not as sinful as the original, but it’s still pretty darn tasty!

1 cup amish friendship bread starter
3/4 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp (kosher) salt
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup chopped craisins
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Spray 2 medium loaf pans or 4 mini loaf pans with light olive oil.
• Combine ingredients.
• Pour the batter evenly into the pans.
• Bake for 45-60 minutes until wooden toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool for 5 minutes and turn onto a backing rack to finish cooling.

What I changed: Swapped real eggs with egg substitute to cut out some cholesterol. Swapped oil for pumpkin puree (pumpkin is a super food!) Used skim milk and swapped 1 cup of white flour for whole wheat. Skipped the instant pudding. My original recipe had you dust the greased pan with sugar. Skipped that step, as well. I also ignored the “Don’t use anything metal” warning in the recipe and threw all of these ingredients in my big blender. It really speeds up the whole process, plus it’s easy to pour and clean up.

Some other starter tips: If you are using a ziploc bag, it’s ok to let the air out after a few days to avoid a starter explosion. (Yes, this really happened to a friend of mine!) It’s not the end of the world if you can’t mix ingredients or bake on the exact day. I’ve kept starter in the refrigerator after day 10 for a few weeks and it turned out fine. I’ve even put it in the freezer for future use. As long as it doesn’t turn weird colors, it will be fine. And speaking of the freezer, the bread freezes very well. I usually make the mini loaves and freeze the extra ones as soon as they have cooled.

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handmade holidays

I’ve been trying to write this post for awhile and figured I’d better get it up before Valentine’s Day! I took the Handmade Pledge last year and have to say that all of my birthday/baby/holiday gifts were handmade. I’ve been posting them throughout the year and here’s the final gifts of the holiday season.

holiday gifts

Sweater Scarves from my own pattern.

holiday gifts

Coasters from Joelle Hoverson’s sewing book. Bar towel from my own pattern.

holiday gifts

Zipper pouches from 24 Hour Sewing Projects.

holiday gifts

Mason Dixon Warshrags.

I also made lots of loaves of friendship bread (with mini chocolate chips and chopped craisins. YUM!) and tree ornaments.

holiday gifts

Tiny stockings from Joelle Hoverson’s knitting book.

holiday gifts

Tiny stars from Shh, I’m counting!

I plan on posting a tutorial for the sweater scarves. I also have fiddled with the friendship bread recipe (when do I not fiddle with a recipe?) trying to make it a bit healthier for every day snacking. I’ll try and post that, too. Right now I’m working on baby gifts. They’ll be revealed soon!

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we’ve joined the children’s museum!

I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile. Last week we purchased a membership to the museum and the zoo. We met up with Lisa, Elsa, Christy and Eva for an afternoon of fun. I can see us going a lot. We were there for two hours and didn’t even explore half of the cool stuff. M had an awesome time.

jungle bus

jungle boat

lunar lander

big chair

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felted wool sweater coffee sleeves

I think I have officially made use of all of the sweater parts I recycle into felted wool accessories. Here’s my latest, made from the leftover cuffs of my sweater sleeve scarves. More photos in my shop. I have a few more I’ll be posting over the next few days. These were fun, small projects to do after finishing up M’s blanket. I also have one more project idea up my sleeve (ha, ha) that uses the neck ribbing of the sweater. Stay tuned!

felted coffee sleeves