Look what I finally finished

Just in time too! The little ones these are intended for are set to arrive within the next week.

Once I did one sleeve the others were easier to do. I learned that I really need to pay better attention to the edges when knitting something that's going to be seamed. The buttons sewing isn't 100% perfect, my technique needs work, but for my first major seaming/button sewing attempt I'd say it's pretty good. I bought the buttons at Churchmouse Yarn on Bainbridge Island in December and I really like the way they look with the yarn colors.

 

The Madelinetosh sock yarn softens up a lot after washing and now it's really squishable and soft. I can only hope one of the twins has longer arms than the other one because the sleeves on the green sweater are shorter than the blue-ish one. Oops. All in all I'm still really happy with the way these turned out and hopefully the recipients will enjoy them too.

I also made bunny hats for them in Madelinetosh DK, the green color is Creme de Menthe and the ivory color is Milk. So sweet! I can't wait to see these topping little baby heads.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Nutty Chocolately Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

This is the part where I show you a lovely picture of my bundt cake. Which I would love to do except my bundt cake got stuck in the bundt pan. So instead of that lovely picture I have this to show you. 

I'm pretty sure this is my fault. I kind of took liberty with the amount of filling, which I believe caused the problem because I buttered and floured the pan really well. 

Luckily, the cake still eats. It's really, really good too. I kind of love the orange/pecan/chocolate/cinnamon flavors. However, next time I'll stick to the recipe amounts for the filling.

Thanks to Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort for this week's selection!

Alpaca and angora

This past weekend my friend Kenan and I drove (will she drove, I rode) to nearby Oxford, Mississippi for a fiber festival.

There were promisesof real, live alpaca and we just couldn't pass up that opportunity. The festival itself was pretty small but there were two alpaca, not as friendly as the ones we met in Colorado, and angora rabbits. 

 

The rabbits were pretty much the cuter things ever. They're bigger than my cats and look like giant balls of fluff, we almost could find the eyes on one of them. I wanted to take one home with me, although Doug seems to have a strict policy on animals other than cats living at our current house. 

 

After wandering around the festival we walked around the square stopping at Amelia, a tiny but completely adorable shop. She had items from several Etsy artists as well as other things I hadn't seen before. I bought a Shanna Murray decal, which I had been coveting for awhile but never ordered, a printed tea towel and a coffee mug. 

 

Down the street was Bottletree Bakery they were serving lunch but were decidedly low on pastries. We each got something sweet and wandered back down the street to have lunch at Boure. After lunch we stopped at Square Books and then later had coffee at High Point (which used to be in Memphis before it went out of business here). 

Before we left town we went to Knit 1 Oxford, Oxford's only yarn store. The staff was super nice and they seemed to have an adequate amount of basics. K and I couldn't stop petting the Cascade Baby Alpaca yarn. It is so flipping soft that despite my promise to buy any yarn I bought one luscious little skein of Chunky Baby Alpaca. Very soon it will become a neckwarmer/cowl - even thought I don't need another one.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Lemon Poppyseed Muffins (and Midnight Crackles)

Sooo behind in posting. 

First off, TWD from January 3rd was Midnight Crackles. I liked this but the dough turned to a rock after chilling. I had to leave it out for hours before I could attempt to form it for baking.

They tasted good but my hands/wrists/forearms were killing me after making them. Recipe is here on the TWD blog.

Secondly, this week's TWD chosen by Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness. I had made these before but previously left off the glaze but this time I went for it. I also used Meyer lemons instead of plain ones.

I really liked this little muffins, but they tasted (to me at least) better on Day 1 than Day 2. Thanks for this week's selection Betsy!

Should have but didn't

Things I should have done this weekend:
- Seam baby sweaters
- Clean the bathroom
- Re-organize the pantry

Instead this past weekend I:
- Drank a lot of chai tea

 - Wore comfy socks
- Ate dim sum

- Knit part of my new flip-top mittens (pattern from Ysolda here)

- Made muffins
- Bought new lamps (via Target)

- Watched too much ID and CI television

Maybe next weekend....

Long time no see

Why yes I am still alive. Unfortunately, my energies have been focused elsewhere. I can't believe I haven't even written a blog post in the new year. Shame on me. I have been knitting up a storm on some tiny things I'll show you soon. I've also been procrastinating on finishing those adorable baby sweaters for my Seattle friends. The actual knitting part is done, the seaming and sewing is what remains. I honestly did start working on one sleeve last weekend but the selvedge edge is so messy its hard to find the right stitches to sew up. I should have slipped the first stitch of every row to make for a neater edge. I have created a self-imposed deadline of having these in the mail by January 31st.

This is my last week of 'freedom', classes at UofM start back today but my classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays this semester so I don't go back until Monday. I'm taking an English class, Macroeconomics and an Algebra class (barf). No morning classes this semester thank goodness, I'm just on campus from 5:30-8:30PM on Mondays and Wednesdays. The work isn't terrible it's just going to class and having to be around people I'd like to strangle. Each semester puts me closer to the end though, so yay for that. 

I haven't been baking as much but decided last night to make something together for Doug's game group that gets together on Thursday nights. I thumbed through my collection of baking cookbooks and found a recipe for Butterscotch Cashew bars from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book. The bars are made with a shortbread base with a butterscotch caramel on top and then sprinkled with whole, salted cashews. (which by the way I completely forgot how delicious cashews are, OMG).

They were really easy to make and totally addictive once you started eating them. Hope the guys like them!