Hey blog! I have a hat to show you:

That is Thorpe, made with the pretty dark red yarn I bought in Toronto & some leftovers from the vest I made ages ago. The knitting was very quick and only took a day or so once I got past the initial increases (the hat is knit top-down, something I hadn't done before). I didn't know how to do the crocheted edging, though, so today I went over to my beloved Aunt Andrea's house thinking she'd show me how. Instead she just did it for me while I ate all her crackers, cheese, and nuts, and drank hot buttered rum. What a relaxing way to finish a project! :) I may or may not add some braided straps to the earflaps, but for now I kind of like it the way it is (and, since I left that yarn at Aunt Andrea's, I don't have much of a choice for the moment). I am planning to block it a bit so the flaps no longer curl out, though. The pattern was a bit difficult at first because it starts with so few stitches, but in the end I found myself absolutely loving it. It has lots of potential, too -- there are some very creative interpretations on Ravelry, of course! I have no doubt I'll be making more of these.

Have you seen the new Knitty yet? It's so inspiring! I'm making these socks as soon as I can. I also, of course, loved the knitted wire earrings. I tried knitting with wire probably a year and a half ago or so and absolutely hated it but these are so lovely that I tried to push that memory from my mind & ran out today to buy wire and earring hooks. Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly), knitting with wire has not gotten any more comfortable or fun since the last time I tried it. My first attempt at an earring was very ugly and I still feel like I'm about to go crosseyed and my fingertips hurt. Plus the wire is a mess of tangles & kinks. Bleh. I might get the hang of it yet but I kind of doubt it. Tips would be appreciated!

Finally, remember the cookie contest I was going to enter? I spent all of last week experimenting in the kitchen until I came up with a decent recipe for pumpkin snickerdoodles. It still had a few kinks I could've worked out to make it absolutely perfect, but the cookies were definitely tasty & creative and I thought I'd have no problem winning. So I went to sign up last Thursday, only to be told I'd missed the sign-up deadline. I must've looked distraught, because the men who told me that started making phone calls & trying to find a way around the deadline for me. While they were doing that, though, it occurred to me that I might want to make sure the prize really was a decent sum of money, like I thought. It definitely was not -- it was a $15 gift card to some crappy chocolate store! I like gift cards and I like chocolate, but the chance to win that honestly didn't seem worth the extra drive up to campus, so I didn't enter after all. Oh, well -- at least I came up with a cool recipe. I will definitely post it here once I've perfected it a bit more.

Everything about the pumpkin I cooked & pureed today was beautiful, even the stem:


This was probably the most productive Sunday I've ever had. I was actually out of bed & working on papers by 8 this morning. I kept that up for a bit, spent a happy hour knitting on my hat & listening to the radio, went to the grocery store, and then was switching between kitchen and computer for the rest of the day. My upcoming trip to Toronto means I wanted to prepare some good bus snacks and also that I really needed to use up leftovers.

For the bus I toasted pumpkin seeds and made these wholesome banana chocolate breakfast bars. They came out beautifully! If you have a sweet tooth like I do you might want to add just a bit of honey, especially if your bananas aren't yet in that super-sweet super-ripe state. I also think walnuts would've been wonderful, and I'm toying with lots of other ways to modify that recipe in the future. If any of them are great of course I'll let you know.

In the leftover using-up department, I reheated some of last night's crunchy cornmeal and topped it with garlicky sauteed spinach, which was absolutely the perfect thing. Now I'm getting hungry again so it might be time to pick at some other leftovers...

Mmm!

Today I made honey-peanut butter cookies:

The flavor is very different from regular peanut butter cookies, but still good. I think my own reaction was mirrored by my friend Linda, who looked kind of puzzled at the first bite, took another, said "it's pretty good," and then, as she finished the cookie, exclaimed "I LOVE IT!" It takes a moment to get over the fact that they don't taste the way you expect them to, but once you adjust to that you can just appreciate them for their own unique deliciousness. I'll be appreciating them for a long time to come, actually, because those four in the picture are the only ones I made today. The rest of the dough is still in the fridge.

Oddly enough, you can see a scan of the recipe from the cookbook itself here -- hopefully that link will work for everyone. I'm dying to try the almond butter version but it'll probably have to wait a bit. Honey is expensive!

What did I ever do to you, kitchen?

I have finished my first project since AUGUST! Ugh, I never want to go that long again! It is the star stitch cowl, last seen here a zillion years ago, and you will see pictures of it tomorrow. (With this Daylight Savings Time thing the sun is going down far too early for me to get good pictures of anything.)

I can show you a new picture of my Chevalier mittens, though! I never photographed them too well when I first finished them, so I tried to remedy that the other day:


There will probably be even more photos of them in the future, since I am a little obsessed with like them quite a bit.

Right now I have Apple Cake in the oven, in cupcake form. It smells great & I'll let you know how it tastes tomorrow. I have to say that the baking experience wasn't particularly fun. Today just was Not My Day in the kitchen, I guess. Highlights included large quantities of baking soda on the floor, accidentally cutting my thumbnail (thank goodness it was only the nail!), large quantities of flour on the floor, and, best of all, large quantities of flour in my eye. Uncomfortable! I hope these cupcakes are worth it -- from the current smell of things they just might be.

Tasty Pumpkin Muffins!

I made the best muffins tonight! I might try to perfect the recipe later but here it is for now (it's basically a variation on the aforementioned pear bread recipe):

Pumpkin Muffins!

• 3 cups flour (I used half whole wheat & half all-purpose)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
• generous pinch of allspice
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• splash vanilla extract

Mix together the flour, baking soda & power, salt, and spices in a large bowl. In another bowl combine the butter, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and vanilla. Stir until well combined, then add to the flour mixture, stirring just until batter is evenly moist. Fold in the nuts.

Pour batter into prepared muffin tins and bake at 350º for about 25-35 minutes, until muffins are brown & crisp on the top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

(For the sugar this time I used a combination of Sucanat, brown, and white sugar because we were running out of white sugar. Then, of course, I discovered a whole new bag of it in the back of the pantry. Still, I'd like to try these with only Sucanat someday, I think it might work well (and be better for you). Also my pumpkin puree didn't come to quite two cups, but it was close. I'd also like to try substituting grated apples &/or pears for part of the pumpkin sometime.)

Go make these now & serve them with some good apple cider. They're the most perfect autumn muffins I've had so far.

Sad news + cookie #8.

Sorry for my absence of late. I haven't been doing nearly enough knitting or baking, but I have an excuse: after over 2 and a half years together, Brian & I broke up last week. Yeah. That's about enough to kill anyone's inspiration for a little while, don't you think? Well, perhaps you would actually think that knitting & baking would bring me lots of comfort during such a time but instead I've been going for the most mindless activities possible: reading guilty pleasure blogs, playing solitaire on my computer, whining endlessly to my friends on the phone, and taking as many hot baths as I can. I'm starting to feel a little better, but obviously it'll take me some time to get over this. Never doubt anyone who tells you long-distance relationships are insanely difficult! It was mainly the distance, I think, that did us in, and I'm hoping we might be able to give it another try in the future, some time when we're actually living in the same state, but...hey, this is already more than I wanted to say about it on a public blog, so I'll leave it at that.

If you do go through a break-up, I probably won't be the only one to recommend chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate as a coping strategy. In fact, if I really like you, I'll probably make you a bunch of these phenomenal cookies:

Recipe: Chewy Brownie Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
Modifications: I think I halved it, but other than that I didn't change much.
Review: PERFECTION. Chocolatey, peanut buttery perfection. If the whole point of this project weren't to try lots of different recipes, and if I didn't have a desire to be at least slightly healthy, I would just make these every few weeks for the rest of my life.

Hopefully next time I'll have some knitting content. I am deeply ashamed that I've been staring at that gorgeous yarn for almost two weeks without knitting it, but as soon as I can get some teeny tiny sock needles I'll be all over it, I promise! I also ordered some stuff from HandPaintedYarn.com, so you know I'll be showing that off when it arrives. And I'm still working on the little iPod cozy, but it's my knitting-in-public project and I haven't done that for a while. The Cloud Bolero is still happening, too, it's just at a standstill for the moment.

At least Spring is almost here, right? I'm excited to see the snow melting, FINALLY. A belated Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it!

Culinary Adventures.

Knitting has been going very sloooooowly lately, intentionally. I just don't want to finish my scarf so I'm dragging it out. You all did give me some good ideas on what to do next, though, so thank you! I'm starting to think that maybe I'm being a little silly to insist on something springy next, considering that there are still several inches of snow on the ground & we're supposed to get more today. So I might cast on for some mittens soon, because it looks like I'd certainly have time to use them.

While I haven't been knitting, I've been baking & cooking! That's something I really missed doing in Montana, so you bet I've been taking advantage of kitchen access since getting home. I've made two batches of cookies so far.

Cookie #6: Oatmeal Gingersnaps
Recipe: I found this on a friend's blog that isn't publicly accessible and then I modified it a bit, so here's my version:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
Pinch allspice
Additional sugar

Cream butter sugar together in large mixing bowl. Beat in egg and molasses. Combine the dry ingredients and gradually add them to the creamed mixture. Roll into 1-inch balls, then roll balls in additional sugar. Place about 2" apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until set.

* The original recipe called for ground cloves, which I didn't have, but I do think they'd be a nice addition.

Review: You need to make these NOW! Everyone who tasted one loved them. My mom even sent me a text message that said "Cookies stupendous! Magnificent! Freaking good!" They were soft and chewy and gingery and molasses-y and just perfect. They reminded me of the fantastic molasses cookies my friend's extremely talented grandpa makes, and that's saying a lot. The ginger flavor is very strong, by the way, so if you don't consider that a good thing you might want to reduce the amount of ground ginger. Also these keep really well and stay perfectly soft in an airtight container. So, yes, stop reading this and go make some! You won't regret it.

Cookie #7: Black Forest Cookies
Recipe: Black Forest Cookies

Modifications: None made intentionally, but I have a bad habit of skimping on add-ins, and also of not measuring them, so I think I didn't add quite enough walnuts or cranberries to these.

Review: This is a soft, fluffy chocolate cookie filled with walnuts, sweetened dried cranberries, and chocolate chips. The flavors work together beautifully, but the base chocolate cookie is just kinda "meh." Using dark instead of milk chocolate might've improved that, and perhaps I'll try that next time. Also, make sure to use lots of dried fruit & nuts in these, because the cookies that are heavy on those are the really tasty ones.

* * *
Of course I've been making some things aside from cookies, too! Last weekend I made scones for the first time. Dried Cherry Chocolate Chip Scones, to be specific. I skipped the orange peel & almond extract and just used milk with a dash of vinegar for the buttermilk. Having never made scones before, I was nervous about how they'd come out, but they were absolutely delicious! I gave most of them to my mom to take to a potluck at her work, but I saved a bit of dough in the fridge and the next morning had fresh, hot scones for breakfast. Mmm!

I promise I haven't been entirely focused on unhealthy baked goods, though! I made homemade Lara-type bars just the other day and loved them. Have any of you had Lara bars? They're great! Despite my best attempts to eat homemade everything, I tend to make food that isn't really portable, and so before long days at school I usually find myself checking out nutrition bars and the like at the grocery store. Most of them are full of the kind of unpronounceable ingredients that scare me right off, but Lara bars are refreshing in that they only have a handful of ingredients, and all of them are things you've heard of and feel comfortable eating. For the most part, they're just pureed dates with some nuts, spices, or dried fruit mixed in. And did I mention that, on top of all of this, they actually taste really really good? So of course I had to try making a couple on my own! Mine were sloppier than the packaged ones, but otherwise good, and I'll definitely be trying to improvise some cool flavor combinations in the future.

Also, yesterday I made my first tofu scramble. Heidi Swanson at 101cookbooks.com had intrigued me with the idea a couple weeks ago, and once I tried a bite of Brian's curry tofu scramble at the delicious Missoula breakfast joint Food For Thought, I was sold on the concept. Admittedly, I've never really eaten scrambled eggs (yes, seriously), so I don't know how/if a tofu scramble compares to that, I just know that I liked it! I kinda sorta followed the Heidi Swanson recipe but I wanted a spicier version, so I used lots of cayenne pepper, cumin, & turmeric. Then, because we had some, I topped it with crumbled vegetarian "bacon." It was really quick, tasty, satisfying meal, and I'm looking forward to experimenting with the recipe some more. Unfortunately I can't give you anyone else's review of it, because as I was packaging up the leftovers for Mom to take to work, I spilled them all over the floor! Talk about disappointing.

Anyway, I'm sure you were all pretty thoroughly bored with this, so I promise the next post will have some more knitting content and, if we're lucky, maybe some pretty yarn pictures, since Knit A Round is having their winter sale this weekend!

Twin Calorimetries & Cookie #5.

Hi everyone! Sorry for being so quiet lately. It's been an insanely busy week. I was battling a sinus infection, helping out at my aunt's flower shop, and doing lots of school work. Now I'm feeling better, done with the flower shop until Mother's Day, and wishing I could spend the weekend kicking back & relaxing with some good knitting. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. I have midterms next week & therefore tons of reading/studying/writing/etc. to do, plus I'm leaving for Montana Thursday (yay!) so there are things I want to get out of the way before then. Blah.

I've barely knit at all since completing that hat, though I did take a trip to an LYS just the other day, in search of yarn for a nice neck-warmer. I left with a nice big skein of Araucania Nature Wool. It's very pretty but it's also much thinner than I'd realized at the time, almost more of a heavy DK than a light worsted, and I'd wanted a heavy worsted. Oops. So I don't know what I'm going to do about that. I did find a pattern I liked written for 2 strands of DK held together, so I might use that. I might also just go buy different yarn over the weekend, we'll see.

The cardigan is moving slowly. Well, really it's not moving at all, because I STILL haven't started the second sleeve. I don't know why, but I always convince myself that picking up stitches is some horrible ordeal that I just don't want to deal with yet. In reality it's an easy & quick thing to do, but I put it off anyway. I promise I'm starting that sleeve tonight, though!

I can finally show you the two Calorimetries I made last week, though, since my friend Kenna received hers the other day & seems to like it! :) Here's a picture of her wearing it:


I was so happy when she sent me that! It just feels really good to see something you made being used by the recipient. I'm sure you all know what I mean. Here are some other shots I took of it before sending it off:


The orange was my favorite color in there and I'm thrilled that I had a button that worked with it so well. Also this yarn makes me want to take back every mean thing I've ever said about multi-colored yarns because it's so damn beautiful, especially with this pattern!

As you know, as soon as I finished that one for Kenna I cast on this one for myself:


The lighting is all weird/cool because I took these as the evening sunlight was streaming in through my favorite window. I've been wearing it nearly every day & loving how warm it keeps my ears.

For both of these I cast on 96 stitches & only did 5 repeats of row 5. To get 2 out of just one skein, I had to cheat a little on mine & knit to 8 stitches past the marker on a couple of the last rows. I was nervous about that but it worked out fine.
***
I really need to finally blog Cookie #5, since it's been at least a week since I made it!

Recipe: Chai Snickerdoodles

Modifications: I don't think I made any other than halving the recipe because having that many cookies around didn't seem particularly wise.

Review: I was so excited when I saw this recipe! I love snickerdoodles & I love chai, so combining the two seemed brilliant. Basically it's a traditional snickerdoodle recipe, but instead of rolling the dough in a simple cinnamon-sugar mixture, you add cardamom, ginger, & allspice, too! I love those spices & had fun mixing them up & making the cookies, but the end result tasted almost exactly like a basic snickerdoodle to me. I'm not complaining, since there is nothing bad at all about a basic snickerdoodle, but I was mildly disappointed that the chai flavor wasn't very pronounced. There's a good chance I'll try these again & just use much more cardamom, ginger, & allspice -- if I do, I'll let you know how it goes!

Right now I've got a loaf of this in the oven and if it tastes half as good as it looks & smells right now I'll be in heaven. I keep making breads & not blogging them! Basically that oatmeal bread I gushed about a couple weeks ago is on its way to becoming a weekly staple. Everyone likes it and the few scraps that are left over at the end of the week become the most delicious croutons the world has ever known. I also tried making English muffins for the first time a while back, following this recipe. I was amazed by how good they were for a first attempt, but they still weren't perfect. They were bland and I also didn't roll the dough out thin enough at all. My family still liked them but I hope to do better next time. If nothing else it was satisfying to know that I made them out of a few simple ingredients while the ones from the store have an ingredient list that's about two inches long and filled with unpronounceable words.

Ok, that's all for now, have a great weekend everyone!

Cookie #4 + a great package.

First of all, I made cookie #4 for the year a couple nights ago. I'm a big fan of anything that involves a combination of spiciness & chocolate, so as soon as I came across a recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate Butter Cookies, there was no turning back!

Recipe: Mexican Hot Chocolate Butter Cookies (last one on the page)

Modifications: Though there is no yield amount given in the recipe (one of the many flaws in its writing), it looked like it would be a lot so I cut just about everything in half. I skipped the espresso beans because (a) we didn't have any and (b) I'm not that big on coffee flavoring, though it can be nice. Instead of rolling the log of dough in crushed nuts, I sprinkled some on top just before baking. That was my step-dad's idea and I think they were more aesthetically appealing that way.

Finally, I used regular old sugar instead of Sucanat. I'm sure Sucanat is a little better for you, but it also comes from sugarcane. I'm 99% sure there are no sugarcane plantations in Michigan (or in the Midwest at all, for that matter), so that means sugarcane products aren't getting to me without lots & lots of fossil fuels. Add to that the fact that regular white sugar is one of the only local products I can buy in a huge supermarket and, well, I'm opting for the white sugar, at least for right now.

Review: The recipe itself is kinda terribly written, to the point where it doesn't even tell you how long you need to bake the cookies! Luckily that did not stop them from being delicious. My step-dad, who ordinarily does not eat much and definitely does not gush about what he does eat, wolfed down several of these and was singing their praises for the rest of the night! The cookies were crispier than I usually like, but the texture suited them well. Also, cinnamon and chocolate is the world's greatest combination and I hope there's a damn good reason it doesn't show up in baked goods more often. From here on out, I'll be mixing the two whenever I can. I have to admit, though, that the spiciness I was seeking wasn't really there at all -- next time, more cayenne!

***
The best part about yesterday was finding a huge envelope addressed to me. It was my first ever package from Finland! You may remember that I had the awesome luck of winning a Hasbu's birthday blog contest. Here are my great prizes:


There's yarn, of course! Two skeins of Sandnes Garn Fritidsgarn, dark green 100% wool. I'd never heard of it before getting this package but people on Ravelry have done beautiful work with it. I think I want to try a felted pattern, since it seems so well-suited to that. Right now I'm leaning toward mittens, since I've been wanting to make myself a pair...

In the package I also found some crushed caramel-coated almonds to bake with and 2 bars of unbelievably good Finnish chocolate. I'm so touched that Hasbu thought of my baking and I'm looking forward to using those almonds in something! And the chocolate, oh god! I'm usually a dark chocolate kind of girl, but apparently the Finns know what they're doing with milk chocolate, because it is flavorful & creamy & perfect. Kiittää te Hasbu!! (An internet translator told me that that's "thank you" in Finnish -- I hope it's right!)

Baking! Breads & Cookie #3.

I made my 3rd batch of cookies for the year just the other night. There are unfortunately no pictures because they've somehow all disappeared since then. You'll just have to trust me that they were pretty in addition to being tasty. I was craving my old favorite, the ever unpopular oatmeal raisin. Yes, that's really one of my favorite cookies ever. What can I say? Oats and raisins are two of the greatest things on earth as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, I almost went with the recipe I usually use, but something compelled me to flip through the meager Dessert section in my New Laurel's Kitchen cookbook. Lo & behold, a slightly more nutritious version of oatmeal raisin cookies! If you're going to make 50 cookies in a year you should probably try to make some of them that aren't 100% terrible for you, right? Right.

Recipe: Oatmeal School Cookies from The New Laurel's Kitchen.

Modifications: Tragically, I only had like 2 walnuts left in my cupboard (probably because I can't stop snacking on them), so I obviously didn't get to use the full amount. Also I left out wheat germ because I didn't have any because I can never find the damn stuff at the store. (I've honestly seen it once in my life, at Target, of all places.)

Review: HEAVENLY!! One bite & I knew this recipe had replaced my old stand-by. Despite being somewhat healthier, these are definitely not any less delicious than your usual oatmeal raisin cookies. Fresh out of the oven they're especially amazing, but I have to admit they didn't keep well. That's ok, though, because they will be eaten before anyone will ever have to worry about keeping them.
***
So, remember earlier when I said that I am a tremendous failure as a bread baker? No? That's ok, just trust that I said it, because up until last weekend it was true. It might still be true, actually, but there have been TWO recent instances of me making delicious bread! The first was last weekend, when I finally tried out the No-Knead Bread recipe I'd been eying for ages. The New York Times article about the recipe features a claim that it can be mastered by a four-year-old, though Mark Bittman himself revises that to an ambitious 8-year-old. I am older than both of those ages combined and at least a little ambitious with the baking, so I felt up to the task.

I mixed the dough up on a Saturday afternoon and then let it rest for a whole night, trying to contain my urge to constantly peel back the foggy plastic wrap & see what it was doing. After 18 hours of that I got to shape it & let it rise for forever before finally baking it. The patience was definitely the most difficult part of the whole equation but it was worth it because the product was my first decent loaf of non-bread-machine yeasted bread EVER! Admittedly, the crust was too tough & thick in many places, but it was still delicious, especially toasted. I'll probably play around with the recipe some more and hopefully master it someday. It's really amazing what you can do with just a few ingredients & a lot of time. For the record, I used a mixture of whole wheat and bread flours on that attempt.

Yesterday I made really good bread AGAIN! The bread machine was involved but I did some parts by hand & baked it in the oven, so it's still sort of an accomplishment. (For the record, I have nothing against the bread machine & it's actually one of the coolest things I own. But when you let it do all the work for you it's somehow less satisfying, plus the bread is never as crusty as I would like it to be.) The recipe was for oatmeal bread and it came off my bread flour bag. I used half whole wheat flour again, substituted water for the milk & olive oil for the butter, and left out the raisins because I wanted a simple toasting/sandwich bread. What I got was actually the best bread EVER! It toasts beautifully and would be perfect for grilled cheese but is also nice with just some jam or cheese or even on its own. The crust is the perfect thickness, just a little crunchy. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that this bread has been a component of all 3 meals I have eaten today, it is really that good. My family even likes it, too, so I just might have to get into the habit of making it regularly.

Cookie #2 & lots else.

Last night I finally got around to making cookie #2 of my 50 for the year. The delicious cookies my step-mom had brought over for my birthday were officially a week old, so it was time to throw out the remaining couple of them (couple of pieces of them, I should say -- believe me, they were too good for anything but a few odd chunks & crumbs to be left uneaten) and make a new batch. Coincidentally, I also happened upon a recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Cookies! You can guess what happened next.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Cup Cookies from Six One Seven.

Modifications: None were made intentionally, though I did have slightly less than 20 mini Reese's cups because there were only 20 in my package and...well, could you look at 20 mini Reese's cups without eating at least one of them? Yeah, that's what I thought. Also, I had to sprinkle a lot of water into the dough as I was trying to form it because it was much too dry and crumbly.

Review: It's hard to go wrong with Reese's cups! Still, I think I'd change a few things about this. Like I said, the dough was very crumbly & really difficult to form without adding lots of water. In my opinion, the resulting cookie is a little too crunchy. It's nice dipped in milk but I'd prefer something chewier and softer and will probably aim for that next time. Finally, if you're going to make these be sure to take them out of the oven when they're barely beginning to look done! I took mine out when I thought they still looked somewhat underdone and the bottoms taste a little burnt even though they're a very light brown. Strange but true. Despite my minor complaints, though, these make for a very satisfying cookie! I'll probably make them again, though like I said I might try changing up the recipe to make them a bit softer.

***
You might remember Marj kindly listing me at her blog just the other day, on her list of "10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland." Now it's time for my list, though making it only 10 is a HUGE challenge! I'll try to stick only to crafty blogs to make it a bit easier on myself (though not too easy, because I have a whopping 46 blog subscriptions in my "crafty" folder on Google Reader). Here we go!

1. Yarn Harlot: Ok, this was an obvious one, but how could I not include her? If you've ever read her blog or one of her books, you'll know what I mean. She's roughly the funniest woman on the planet and I love seeing her creations.


2. Diane's Yarn Addiction: Diane may be slightly less well-known but I get excited whenever her blog's updated, too. :) She knits with me on our Tuesday Knit Nights (the ones I haven't been to in much too long!) and I'm amazed at all the great stuff she's constantly turning out.


3. Colorjoy!: I only found Lynn's blog a month or two ago but it's a particularly good one. Her knitting is very impressive but I mainly enjoy the thoughtfulness of her entries. The experience of reading her blog is really enhanced by the fact that she responds to blog comments with personal emails, giving you a chance to continue the conversation & interact in a way I really appreciate and haven't seen other bloggers do.


4. Peachcake Knits & Eats Gluten Free: I found Alex's blog a few months back because of her adorable patterns for cute little knitted fruits and quickly got hooked on following her posts. She's a very creative person and her baking, knitting, sewing, and other endeavors never fail to impress & inspire me. (The quilt she's working on right now is particularly awesome.)


5. My Knitting Island: Svetlana is amazing! I don't even understand how she does the things she does, churning out complicated sweaters & even dresses by the minute, often without a pattern. Go look, you won't regret it!


6. Hasbu's Hideaway: I only found Hasbu a few days ago, through Marj, but I loved looking through her blog & at her projects on Ravelry. I'm particularly enamored of her tweed skirt, which might be one of the most perfect knit skirts I've ever seen.


7. How About Orange?: This blogger doesn't knit, as far as I know, but she's a great designer who posts all kinds of cool & useful things, from printable greeting card templates to amazing cupcake recipes. I've found lots of good stuff through her posts.


8. Short & Crafty Sista: I love Sonya!! She's from Knit Night, too, and she's wonderful. You might want to check out her pink ribbon illusion scarf pattern, it's really cool.


9. Gluten-Free Girl: Ok, this one isn't crafty at all, but it won't get out of my head until I include it here. Shauna is probably the best blogger I've ever read, period. My interest in gluten-free eating/living is basically non-existent but I devour her posts nonetheless. Her enthusiasm about food and life is absolutely contagious, and if you can read through any of her very sweet entries about falling and staying in love with The Chef without crying...well, then you are not me. I'm getting her book as soon as I can, but for now she's honestly the best writer I've ever read online.


10. Knizzle fo Shizzle: Last but not least, Marj is amazing! I promise I'm not only listing her because she listed me, but because this list would be incomplete without her blog on it. Not only does the title crack me up every time, but her posts are often downright hilarious and her knitting extraordinary. Beyond all that, she's a really fun person to knit with, has helped me out kindly on some of my projects, and will probably be one of the main reasons for my eventual conversion to "the dark side," a.k.a. sock knitting.

Wow, that took ages! Sorry this is getting so long, but I had to say something about each of your wonderful blogs. Also don't feel left out if your name isn't on here -- it was tough to narrow down, but if I've ever so much as left you a comment you can safely assume I think your blog's the bee's knees. (And Aunt Andrea SOMEONE would surely be on this list if she would only ever update...)

***
In other news, I'm making lots of progress on my cardigan! That first sleeve took me something like 2 weeks, but they were distracted weeks where I wasn't even knitting on it regularly. I finished that sleeve Friday night & promised myself I'd pick up the pace. So far I'm sticking to that, and as of last night I'm halfway through the back. I'm hoping to make some more progress on it today and I'll definitely be sharing pictures soon. One thing that's helping a lot is the fact that I'm taking my first-ever online course this semester. It wasn't really my first choice, but a bunch of classes that I really wanted were canceled or full, I was somewhat curious about how online classes even work, and it would save me quite a bit of gas money & commuting time, so I went ahead & did it. So far it's not bad and the truly great thing is that I can knit while I listen to lectures!! I have to pause occasionally to take notes, of course, but it's the perfect thing for a miles-of-stockinette project like this cardigan. The lecture keeps me from getting too bored with the knitting, the knitting keeps me from getting too bored with the lecture, and by the time the hour's up I've learned something interesting and made knitting progress. Not bad!

This post has already reached novel length and there's more I could say, but I'll leave you with one last happy bit of news: I won a blog contest!! It was the first time ever and I absolutely cannot wait to find out what the prize will be! The contest was over at Hasbu's and you should stop by today and wish her a happy birthday.

Oh, blog, how I neglect you!

Ok, so far my resolution to post more in 2008 might not be going so hot. Luckily there's plenty of time to rectify that!

First of all, thanks to all my Ravelry friends for the birthday messages! My 21st was lots of fun. I celebrated with my family, my boyfriend, & 2 of my closest friends at Xochimilco, a favorite Detroit Mexican restaurant. That picture on the left is of me there, about to take my first legal sips of delicious sangria!

This picture was also taken at Xochimilco:



Back in the day they used to have bulletin boards to display photos of customers' babies. They're still there, and that unbelievably cute one in the center of this, wearing the bonnet? That's yours truly, nearly 21 years ago! My family has been going to that restaurant since long before I was even dreamed of and I don't think we'll stop any time soon.

I have been getting some knitting done, but not much. I worked on Dashing (no, it's still not done, though we're in the home stretch!) in the Secretary of State office last week, waiting to renew my driver's license. I should knit in public more often! Sometimes I feel awkward about it but it's funny how happy it makes the people around you and how much they want to talk to you about it. It made the wait tolerable, anyway, which is saying a lot, as you know if you've ever had to sit on the floor of an unbelievably crowded office for a truly ridiculous amount of time.

The cardigan is slowly coming along, too. With any luck, I'll finish the first sleeve before much longer. Here it is this morning:



I made the seed stitch cuff a little shorter than recommended. I'm in love with the idea of an extra-long sleeve for extra warmth, but also very afraid I'll run out of yarn, so I'm cutting corners where I can. I love this yarn (Ironstone Harmony) and the broken needle has been scotch-taped and is holding together decently. It's not a bad project to work on, but it's a lot of stockinette and therefore a bit boring. I've been trying to work on it while watching TV, but thanks to the writers' strike (or, really, thanks to the networks' greed!) all the TV I've been watching lately is Planet Earth on DVD. If you've ever seen that show, you know that it's not one you can really knit during. It's so spectacular visually that I wind up throwing my needles aside & getting totally absorbed within the first few minutes. I'd highly recommend it, but not if you've got knitting you need to do!

There are a few other reasons for my slow knitting progress of late, and the main one is that I can't seem to stop reading. I've always been a big reader but I go through phases with it, as I do with most things. The last few months saw a brief lull, but in the last few weeks I've just been devouring books. Currently I'm in love with Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, which is about her family's year of eating locally & raising the majority of their own food. I may review it here when I'm done, since this blog is at least sort of about food as well as knitting. If nothing else, I'll be trying some of the recipes! This book has convinced me that I need to try all kinds of crazy things, including cheese-making. :)

On the baking front, no new cookies to report just yet. My step-mom gave me a huge platter of cookies & brownies on my birthday, so I'm waiting for those to disappear before I make any more. I did make banana bread the other night, though, and that was delicious. I'm a big banana bread fan and let me tell you, this recipe cannot be beat! It's really good with both chocolate chips and walnuts, though I haven't made it that way in a while. Next time!

I did get some cool food-related birthday presents, too. A friend's mom put together an awesome gift basket of obscure ingredients + a book called 100 Great Breads, so I have some interesting experiments ahead of me!

That's all for now and hopefully it won't take me another week to post again.

50 Cookies in 2008: #1, Chocolate Chip!

Some of you might remember that my plan for 2008 involved trying every cookie recipe on the 50 Best Cookie Recipes on the Internet list. I've decided to modify that slightly: this year I'm going to make at least 50 different kinds of cookies to blog about here, but the recipes can come from wherever. A lot of them will still be from that list, but thinking over it today I realized that there are definitely a handful of recipes on there that don't appeal to me, and, more importantly, lots elsewhere that really do.

I think this idea will be an interesting challenge for me not because of the number of cookies (I'd be very surprised if I baked cookies fewer than 50 times in '07), but because of the variety. As anyone who knows me can probably attest, I like to stick to things I know I like. Nearly every time I bake I'm just repeating a recipe I've done before. There's nothing wrong with that, but with all the other ones out there I don't want to miss out! Also, it will be interesting to see how this works out with one of my many other goals for the year, which is, of course, to eat healthier. :)

I decided to kick off the baking year with a classic: chocolate chip cookies. What could be more simple or more perfect?

Recipe: Absolutely the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies (from the 50 Best Cookie Recipes list)

Modifications: The recipe calls for butter-flavored shortening but I definitely did not listen to them on that one and went for good old-fashioned butter-flavored butter. I have this aversion to shortening that I can't quite explain -- something about it just grosses me out severely. I thought it maybe resulted from not exactly knowing what it is, so I looked it up but the Wikipedia entry definitely didn't make it sound any more appealing...plus I didn't have any, so butter it was.

Review: The only thing I didn't like about this was the way the cookies spread out during baking, but that very well may not have happened had I used shortening as was recommended, so maybe the recipe isn't even to blame. Other than that, I really can't complain: they were quick and easy to make and the flavor & texture are perfect. My little brother said they were "great," which is pretty high praise coming from a 13-year-old boy. Also, the recipe says it yields 24 but I made many more than that even though about half of them were on the large side. I can see myself using this one again, though next time I'll be sure to stir in some chopped walnuts & other delicious add-ins.

So, not a bad start to the project! Any cookie recipes you think I should try while I'm at it? Please share your favorites -- I'm especially interested in making a good chunk of these vegan and I would definitely consider gluten-free recipes, too, since I know so many people who are allergic.

Also, my 21st birthday is coming up! I'm having a party Saturday and am tempted to bake something really extravagant for it, plus I could use any & all good party food recipes (salads, appetizers, etc.), so please suggest away! Also if you live nearby & want to come to the party, just email me for details. :)

Almost Christmas!

Oh look, again it's been a while! I can't say I've been knitting much, even with Christmas so close. The penguin is almost done, and my brother's hat was done but it seemed too small so I ripped back to before the decreases and haven't really don't anything on it since...

I'm not feeling too stressed, though. I realized that I won't be exchanging gifts with a number of my friends until a few days after the actual holiday, anyway. I'm not going to give my boyfriend his fingerless gloves until after the new year, since he's going away the day after Christmas and not getting back until then, so that gives me plenty of time to finish them. (This is really good because I haven't even started on the second one! Mainly it's because he's been around me lots of the time, and also because I was using those same needles on some secret presents for a few days there.)

So not a lot of knitting in this post, but I definitely have a recipe recommendation: Cream Cheese Chocolate Cupcakes! I made these last week and they were almost seemed too easy in light of how delicious they were. I gave most of them to my friend Jacob & his family and they were a big hit.

I don't know if I'll post again before (or on) the actual day, but in case I don't here's a big MERRY CHRISTMAS to those of you who celebrate it!!

Gifts & Food.

Yikes, again it's been a while since I posted! I have to admit I didn't knit a whole ton this week - first I had finals, then some of my friends came home from school for break, plus there was a snowstorm. So I had hanging out & sledding that needed to get done! But Brian's gift is halfway finished, at least:

The thumb is a little funky (I haaaate doing thumbs!) but I'm overall pretty pleased. I am slightly nervous that they'll be too small for him, but we'll see...

Today I started & finished one ridiculously cute little gift, but it has to stay a secret until after the holidays!

A few days ago I finished my brother's hat, but it seemed too small so I ended up ripping back to before the decreases & picking up again there. I haven't worked on it in a while because ribbing = tedious.

I have been baking a little and cooking a lot, though. Last week my grandma gave me a copy of The New Laurel's Kitchen: A Handbook for Vegetarian Cookery and Nutrition. I am obsessed with this cookbook, guys. I don't even really know why -- so far the recipes aren't really that great, but something about the awesome hippie vibe of the book just puts me in a good mood every time I look at it. And the use of the word "Cookery" in the title! Seriously, what a great word. From it I've made Cranberry Squash (not bad) and "Everybody's Muffins," the very name of which makes me laugh. Those had a good flavor (in a super-healthy whole wheat kind of way) but definitely didn't rise enough & were therefore much too dense. I am a failure as a bread baker, dudes. Nothing that needs to rise ever rises under my watch, no matter what I do or how high my hopes of delicious, rewarding homemade bread are (very high, for the record). I also suck at kneading. One day I will accept these facts and just move next door to a lovely bakery or something, but for now I will probably keep trying...

I also ate brussels sprouts for the first time in my whole life last week! Yeah, my parents had such bad childhood memories of being forced to eat them that they never even tried making me do it. In fact, they're the only food all the tough "I'll eat anything" manly men in my family say they can't stand. But this recipe looked really appealing, so I bought some & gave it a shot. I was nervous about it but they were actually delicious! For the record, I used a bit of pecorino romano (purchased on accident when I'd been looking for parmesan, ugh!) & a lot of mozzarella. Parmesan would've been better but they were still tasty & I'll definitely be using that recipe again soon.

On the less healthy side, I made oatmeal chocolate chip peanut butter cookies last week. They were excellent, if I do say so myself! Or half of them were, anyway. The other half went in the cookie jar right after I tossed some stale mint Milanos. They became infused with the flavor of mint in a way that can only be described as revolting, and so half the cookies were wasted. Lesson learned!

And now I'm thinking that, even though it's late, I probably need to whip up a batch of these because don't they look heavenly? Yes, yes they do!