Christmas Knitting Update

I hate that I can’t share my christmas knitting because I don’t want my recipients to see the gifts and thus can’t share pics!  Yesterday I realized that it’s less than two months till christmas (sorry knitters who are freaking out just realizing the same thing to0 thanks to me).  The good news is that my christmas knitting is started.  The bad news is that it’s going very slowly!    I’m turning a bit selfish and simultaneously knitting things for myself because I feel it’s been so long since I actually knit something for myself.  I might be launching into a mad rush come December to finish everything. Oy.

Traveling Thursdays: Bath

Today’s “Traveling Thursday” takes us to the lovely city of Bath, England. Bath is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world! It’s totally worth a day’s trip away from London. The architecture is just beautiful and the Roman Baths are not to be missed. Enjoy the slideshow below!

 

(I apologize because some of the pictures come out blurry in the slideshow, but I still wanted to share them.)

WIP: A Slouchy Hat Romance

I don’t like to wear hats.  Despite what everyone tells me, I just don’t think I look good in most hats.  But I live in NYC and there are winter days when it’s just too cold to be walking about without a hat.  Oh yeah,  and like all women (especially girls with curly hair) I also have bad hair days when all I can do is wear a hat.  Anyway, the only type of hat  I will wear anytime (except for summer) is of the slouchy variety! So naturally I’m only really interested in knitting slouchy hats.

This one is knitting up quite nicely and it is extremely easy to make.

The part I used to be most afraid of, before I started knitting hats, was this part: switching to double pointed needles. Eventually when knitting a hat with circulars needles, you will have to switch to double pointed needles and they look down right scary! Not just two but four needles at a time (fourth needle not pictured)? But then I threw myself into making socks and I knit my first pair with 5 double pointed needles and I realized it wasn’t that bad.

Pattern:

Moss Cable Stitch Beret Pattern

I highly recommend this pattern as a first hat project or first cabling project. If you’ve never done cables or a hat, have some patience and still go for it.

Homemade Apple Sauce For Those Cool Fall/Early Winter Days!

Apple Sauce is the easiest snack to make!  I love it so much that I often wonder why I keep buying store bought apple sauce.  They just don’t taste the same at all!  Below is my favorite apple sauce recipe.  It’s super easy, the hard part is peeling and cutting the apples!

Ingredients (4 servings):

• 4 apples – peeled, cored and chopped
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions: I usually double the ingredients to make more.  Once your apples are peeled, cored and chopped, just combine them in a pot with the water, sugar, and ground cinnamon.  Let simmer for 15-20 mins and then when apples are soft mash them with a potato masher.  I like to add a bit of extra water and then drain some of the liquid to drink as “apple tea”!  To make this recipe healthier skip or cut down on the sugar.  I don’t like to make my apple sauce too sweet but if it seems a bit sour I just add some more sugar once I’ve mashed it and while it’s still hot.  You can refrigerate this for a bit over a week or freeze for up to one month!

Ps. the apple sauce in the picture above was made with 3 big apples and about 6 or 7 smaller ones.  I just doubled the ingredients in the recipe above.

Recipe from allrecipes.com

Heart It

A list of what’s on my mind this week:

• Work clothes can be so uninspiring so I took to polyvore to create something not so boring that could help me find inspiration.  And this is what I created! I have somewhat similar dress, boots, and, trench.

• Apples, apples, apples.  I better like them because I have tons of them.  I went apple picking this past weekend and now I have tons of apples, apple cider donuts, apple everything!
• Slouchy hats! I don’t like hats, but slouchy hats I love and the season is finally turning cool enough to wear them.  (I’m not really in a rush for the cold to get here but cant wait to wear a certain hat I am working on)
• Homemade applesauce! How can people eat store bought apple sauce? Oh wait… I do unless I have tons of apples and don’t know what to do with them.  I am a bit lazy to be peeling and dicing apples, but there’s nothing like home made apple sauce.  I will share the ridiculously easy recipe tomorrow.  Really, I only make things that aren’t complicated and that kids would love.
• Cascade Venezia yarn: I am making a scarf for myself as I feel the need to make more things for myself and I just love this yarn.  It’s so deliciously soft I cant stop touching the scarf as I knit it.

Beautiful Trinkets

I got these beautiful things a while ago and cant figure out what to use them for! They’re pretty so I just look at them but I have to wait for the right (hopefully non-ugly) inspiration.  Aren’t they just cute?!

Less Traveling More Knitting

This week, I decided to write another post about knitting, rather than the usual “Traveling Thursday” post because, well, I wanted to share more knitting projects! Here is a scarf I made last year and positively love! It’s a simple one by one (k1, p1) rib. I knit it with Swish Bulky yarn in colors Marlin and Heather from Knitpicks. I really enjoyed knitting with Swish Bulky. I did two rows in each color and knit with two balls of yarn at the same time (just picking up the color I wanted when I needed to, and leaving the other by the side). I would definitely knit with Swish Bulky again, I found it soft, not scratchy at all, and super warm! In fact, it’s so warm I can’t wear it until it really gets cold.

WIP: Completed Purple Montana Scarf for Dad

I finally finished this one as well! I gave it to my dad on his birthday on Monday and he was very happy. I was concerned he wouldn’t like it, but he will wear anything as long as its not frilly or pink! I am so excited to be able to work on other projects now.

Hooray for A Special Gift!

Here’s a birthday gift I really love and forgot to blog about and wanted to share. I just love to get gifts that come wrapped in pretty paper and pretty boxes. I love keeping organized even if sometimes I give up on agendas, but I just love this canvas and leather trim pocket organizer by Kate Spade. The only thing is it came set for 2011 and with no 2010 inserts, so can’t really use it until then.

I heart It

Things I’m loving this week:

• This set I created on Polyvore because I love to wear my dresses all year round except when it’s just too cold!





• Getting to wear all my boots and jackets again.
• Thinking of all sorts of hats and scarves I “need” to make for myself: better get that Christmas knitting going first.
• Birthday Cake and Flan: Happy Birthday to my Stepfather!!!!!!