Things I made this weekend

In an effort to de-stress from the last few weeks of work I did a lot of cooking and making-of-things this weekend. Friday night I made homemade Mac & Cheese, with Munster, Havarti & Sharp White Cheddar. It was sooo good, I don't even want to think about how many calories it had.

Yesterday, I started work on my napkins, aka 'my first sewing project'. My mother came over Thursday to show me how to work the thing and I picked out a supposedly 'easy' project from this month's Martha mag. I'm sure it's easy for someone who can cut straight lines. I washed my fabric and ironed it (per mom's instructions) then began the tedious task of pinning rickrack all around the edges of the napkin square. I pinned some of it too close to the edge of the fabric so as I sewed it on some of the sewing missed some of the rickrack. So maybe the first napkin is the learning one and the second one will be better? I hope. I've already started pinning the rickrack on napkin #2.

In an effort to try to pretend it's fall since the 89-degree weather is anything but fall-like, I bought some ornamental cabbage, pansies and violas to plant for the front porch. Who knew cabbage could be so pretty? The one in the planter is called "Osaka Pink" and as it grows it will get pinker in the center of the head.

Also, in an effort to bring on fall, I got out my Halloween decorations. Usually I find cartoon characters as holiday displays irritating but I love Peanuts. So I have two of the Halloween displays. Watching "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is one of my favorite things about the holidays. It's something I've watched consistently since I was a child. I think it's just comforting that it's something that doesn't change from year to year. You can always count on seeing poor Charlie Brown getting rocks in his candy bag.

Today I rounded out my weekend of making things with making chocolate chip cookies (with some Heath Bar chips added) We now have cookies for days. I should have halved the recipe because I ended up being a slave to the oven for two hours, waiting on cookies to bake, cool and repeat. But they're delicious, if not a little bit crispy.

In the midst of all my making of things, I found time to become engrossed in a teen drama on "The N" network. When I was little we didn't have cable so we watched a whole lot of PBS. One of the shows on PBS in the mid-'80's was Degrassi Junior High about Canadian teenagers in high school. Well years later the creators started another show "Degrassi: the Next Generation". I started watching it Friday night while the husband was away and I'm ashamed to admit I'm now hooked. Who doesn't love a good teen drama?

Homemade

Lately I've developed a desire to be super-crafty. I've always been somewhat crafty (as is my mother, maybe it's genetic?) but in the last few months I've become obsessed with "homemade". I've been knitting but I also wanted to learn how to sew, so I bought a refurbished Brother from Ebay. Of course the only thing I've managed to do is to get it threaded. Every time I try to sew it eats the fabric and thread. My mother is coming over Thursday to hopefully show me how to use the thing. I've already bought some fabric and a book. I have dreams of making throw pillows, curtains and skirts...

In my search of wonderful homemade goodies the husband and I drove to Chicago last weekend to go to the Renegade Craft Fair. It was pretty awesome, I'm an Etsy-addict so this only fed my addiction. I managed not to buy everything I wanted but I did come away with hand-dyed yarn, some birdie barrettes, two tiny hand-stamped pillows, some Sublime Stitching transfers and a signature Renegade tote.

Reasons I am Grouchy Today

1. I have to work tomorrow (Saturday) from 8:15AM until Noon handing out cards to people who don’t want them. Fun.
2. Office Depot copy chick won’t have my posters ready until 5PM, this is a problem because the office closes at 3PM so this means my posters can’t go up until Monday.
3. Tomorrow is going to be H.E.L.L. I have to work until noon, then we’re driving to Covington for Heritage Day then driving back home to hang out with our friends tomorrow night – at our house – which I have to clean – tonight. *sob*
4. I have a lot of zits sprouting up.
5. It’s really hot outside.
6. It’s really hot outside and it’s September 21.
7. I have to go to Target after work for SOS pads, sponges, bottled water and cat food. For some reason the Target in my ‘hood is always overrun with people at 3:00 in the afternoon of Friday. Why?

Finished socks and new scarves

I finally finished the baby socks I have been working on since May. The problem with the baby socks was that I got busy and the first sock was done in June but I knit it too loose and instead of fitting a 3-6 month old infant it was big enough for a 3 year old. So I ripped it out and started all over again. I kept putting it down and doing other things and then in the middle of August we took a little trip to the Florida Panhandle and I was able to finish one of the sock and halfway finish the other. Once we got home I again put it aside for awhile until this past weekend when I made myself finish them before I'd let myself start another project. Sadly the person they were initially intended for has already had said baby and so I'll just save these for someone else.

My next project is Wendy Bernard's "Flickering Flame" lace scarf, knit with the fantasically beautiful Koigu. This is my first attempt at a lace project so I hope I don't screw it up too bad. It's still about 9 million degrees here but I need to start my making my Christmas knit-gift list. There are still a few people that didn't get scarves last year so I'd like to make a few of those, plus I'd love to make some socks but that's a little iffy.

Just in case I get around to those socks I bought more of the coveted Koigu (don't even ask how much it cost, I'm embarrassed to admit how much I spent at the LYS on Saturday)

The husband and I have been talking about taking a trip to Toronto in October and I have to admit one of the main reasons I suggested Toronto was so I could go to Lettuce Knit. I'm starting to plan vacations around yarn stores.....