Autumnal Recipes

Aside from knitting, I have another great love... cooking and baking. I know that they are two different skills, but for me, cooking and baking go hand-in-hand. I cannot do one with the other.

We've had some perfect fall days here in northeastern Ohio: crisp, chilly, breezy, and a little gray. These are perfect days for trying new recipes. Here are half a dozen recipes I've tried this season and had great success with in the kitchen (aka the family loved them as much as me).

Enjoy!

Almost Famous Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Giant Ginger Cookies

Ultimate Pumpkin Waffles

Maple Oatmeal Scones

Vermont Cheddar Soup

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Knitting for a Boy

So I'm having a baby boy in March. And believe me when I say there is no doubt that this little nudger is a boy (he made it quite clear in the ultrasound). For roughly 5 months I've been quite good about not getting wrapped up in potential baby knitting projects. Well, now I can't help myself. I've gone Ravelry-queue-crazy.

And this is what I've come up with so far... (brace yourself, it's hefty)

Kangaroo Vest

Boat Sweater

Beach Baby

Auto Vest

Asa

Stormy

Henry's Sweater

 
Cardinal Hoodie

Annabel Babe Cardigan

Raglan Cardigan

Aran Pullover

 Master Charles Sweater

Tate Family Tunic

And that list didn't even touch on hats, mittens, socks or toys!

WIP

I'm happy to announce my current WIP (work-in-progress).

And here he is....

This little nudger is expected to make his arrival in early-to-mid March.

Just thought you'd like to know!

Oh. My. Yarn-ness!

Two years ago, I had the pleasure of traveling with a friend (sans kiddies and hubbies!) to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (totally worth any quantity of traveling if you've got the free time).  I bought three lovely yarns on that trip:

 A big hank of Peruvian Tweed

2 skeins of Still River Mill's Yakaboo

and this beauty....

... Brooks Farm Yarn's Riata, which is a whopping 8 ounces and 375 yards of worsted weight yarn made of mohair, silk and fine wool. Oh. My. Yarn-ness. I wish you could all reach into the picture and feel the wonderfulness of this hank.

 I cannot tell you how many times I pulled this baby out of my stash to pet the soft fibers and ponder all the things I could make with it. I even wound it last fall to make this cowl:

I don't know why, but for some bizarre reason I thought the color variegation would look beautiful in this pattern-- not the case, AT ALL.

So this week, I finally pulled out the Riata monster ball and cast on to make some leg warmers for myself. I used a pattern from Joelle Hoverson's wonderful book, Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I have made many many items from this book, so I knew it would be a sure thing.

 The Super Easy Leg Warmers live up to their name. They are, indeed, super easy. They are, however, super long.

So instead of knitting the suggested 26 inches (cause who needs 26 inches of leg warmers?) I knit them to a more reasonable 17 inches - leaving me with 158 yards of yarn to play with.

These super simple leg warmers are so incredibly cozy, I wouldn't be surprised if they could be seen on my legs every day this winter!

Owl Pumpkin

A month or two ago, I was watching a DVD  from Martha Stewart on Halloween to get some fun ideas for the holiday. I came across how to carve a pumpkin into different animal shapes, including an owl. I'm not sure how I managed this, but I was able to convince my husband into helping me make this owl our Halloween pumpkin this year.


Here he is, carving away... against his will.... but not complaining:)

And here is our pumpkin! Ain't he cute!?

Chloe

Meet Chloe- the third toy to be knitted from Susan B. Anderson's delightful book, Spud and Chloe at the Farm.

She was knit with Knit Picks' Comfy Worsted in Serrano and Ivory. Her dress and hair-tie were made with left-over stash yarn, Blue Sky Alpaca's Organic Cotton.

As with the rest of Susan's patterns, Chloe is simple to knit thanks to her extremely clear directions on construction. Aside from knitting this doll in different yarn (the book suggests Spud and Chloe's Sweater), the only alteration I made was to the size of her eyes. I feel they are a little large on the toy in the book compared to the sweet illustrations of Chloe throughout.  So I simply made them a little smaller.

Chloe is much cuter in person, I swear. I really need to take photography lessons and get a sweet camera. This little piece of technology I'm using just doesn't do knitting justice.

Well, 3 down ( Little Lamb, Brown Cow and Chloe), at least 2 to go (Barn Cat and Spud) and let's not forget the accessories (the Barn and Buckets- Emma keeps asking for these tiny toys).

Oh, Christmas Tree!

I know it is only October, but I am one of those nut-jobs who thinks about Christmas in July... well, to be honest... I think about it all year really.

This year, I'd like to add to my handknit holiday decorating. The first year my husband and I were married (2005), I made us both Christmas stockings.

The next year in 2006, I made a little knitted ball ornament like these...

The year after that, I made this pom-pom garland.

In 2009, we were blessed with our daughter, so naturally she had to have a stocking too!

And here we are, 2011, and I'm getting the handknit-holiday-decorating-itch. Here is what I'm thinking about doing this year. I'd like to make a few felted little trees. But the question is, which one do I choose? Here are my options.

I found this pattern in the Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines book.

And this one is from the fabulous Purl Soho's blog, the Purl Bee.

And these layered little guys are from the most recent Interweave Knits' Holiday Gifts issue.



Which one do you think I should make this season?

Halloween Crafting

Just a little Halloween crafting... with really really really old construction paper and a toddler.




Here is the end result:

(It's from Martha Stewart's website called Halloween Hang-ups.)

Do-Over

I have a beautiful child. No really, she is so so beautiful. And I'm not biased at all!! She is tall, has big blue eyes and is super smart and sweet. The child can do no wrong...

Ha.

Ha..

Ha...

Unfortunately, my little girl has one set-back. She has an enormous head. It's off the charts large. It doesn't look enormous in pictures or when you are in a room with her, but that doesn't change the fact that there is a big noggin resting on that neck.

Anyway, and I really do have a point, I made my daughter a crew-neck pullover this week using a pattern from the talented Jane Richmond. If you have never heard of her, I encourage you to read her blog and most definitely look over her patterns. They are fresh, current, simple and spectacular at the same time. If you have been toying with the idea of making one of her patterns, go for it! You will not be disappointed, I promise.

I made her Classic Raglan Pullover using Dream in Color's Classy yarn in the energetic colorway Punky Fushcia. Such a perky color for a growing kid. This squishy worsted weight yarn is a superwash merino wool with a generous 250 yards in each hank. I chose to make it in size 4, which according to the measurements given for chest and length, would ideally allow Emma to wear this now through next fall.

Knowing what I know about my daughter's head, I was careful to try on the garment (since it is a top down raglan) several times along the way to make sure it would fit. The last time she tried it on was right before I added the collar (the last step before blocking).

After blocking, I excitedly rushed the finished sweater to her and tried to put it on. Ugh. I could not get that sweater over her head, no matter how hard I stretched that collar ( and I did cast off loosely). Bummer. So after all that, I had to rip back the collar and reknit it in the size 6 collar instructions.

And now...

It fits!!!!!!

And she likes it too!!!! Bonus:)