Minty Booties

I made these for a co-worker who is expecting her baby boy, like, yesterday already!!

I followed this pattern by Saartje.

I used Koigu and size 2 or 3 needles. I made some silly mistakes.

Indian Feast!

Last night we had our lovely friends Cindy and Xander over and I made (from scratch!) a spread of yummy Indian dishes.

Friends:

I used all nice bowls and glasses and even my serving dishes came out of the china hutch!

Napkin Rings:

Biryani:

The biryani recipe comes from my co-worker, who is from Hyderabad.

Naan and Coriander Chicken:

The meat dish features crushed coriander seeds as well as pureed fresh coriander leaves (cilantro), along with other spices and yogurt. I made fresh naan dough, but ended up shallow-frying in butter because I couldn’t bear heating the oven to 500 degrees on a hot July night. The texture was lovely! Both of these recipes come from the VahChef, Sanjay Thumma, my favorite  chef at YouTube. I’ve made so many of his recipes, and they are always delicious!

Potato Masala with Panch Phoron and Coconut:

This potato masala recipe was inspired by a recipe for garlic mashed potatoes, from Modern Spice by Monica Bhide. All her recipes sound good!

Condiments served alongside:

I also put out hot chili paste and yogurt. The tamarind dip is also from the VahChef.

Afterward, there was fragrant espresso brewed fresh by Cindy and Xander, various teas, and a small dish of fennel seeds. Featuring a new teaset that I got for my birthday last week:

Cindy brought yummy eclairs from the Beau Brummel bakery, which were gobbled up before I remembered to take a photo.

Cindy also opened a little present from me, a new mug that called my name and whispered “for Cindy!” in my ear.

The last shot of the evening was this pic of the Boogedy, pouring his own herbal tea and cream back and forth from pitcher to cup. This happened over and over! He drank 5 mini cups of Sleepytime Tea and still took 45 minutes to get to sleep after the excitement of visitors.

I’ve found that you can control the beautiful place setting all you want, but your kid will invariably smear potato masala all over his face and after you download your photos, you’ll realize he was wearing a dopey tie-dyed shirt and no pants.

Hoorary for friends who appreciate your cooking!

Medusa’s Locks

Two weeks ago I reinjured my back (after throwing it out horribly in December and thinking I was fully recovered). Last weekend, Zach piled of huge stack of laundry on our bed to get it out of the construction zone downstairs. The idea of folding laundry, or even pushing it off the bed to lay down, was excruciating…it hurt just to climb into bed. I burst into tears when my sister Jeaka called to see how I was feeling. She picked me up and took me and the Boogedy to my mom’s to take a nap, then she came back to my house and folded and put away all the clothes.

She deserved a little present.

Mini Medusa tosses her head as if to say “No, I can’t go out tonight, I have to wash my snakes .”

This petite gorgon (mabye 2 inches high) is from Creepy Cute Crochet, a book that Jeaka had checked out from the library, and then loaned me with the intent that I might take a hint! The patterns in the book were super simple, and I learned a few new techniques! I used Koigu, of course. I love that yarn, I would have every color, if I could. And I’d never get sick of it.

Tea Wallets–Condom carriers?

I made a personalized tea wallet for several loyal readers, tea drinkers all. Now that I know all have been received, I can post pictures here.

For Kristin: Marbelized fabric that reminds me of book endpaper. With a super cool tortoise-shell-esque button.

For Maria: The cupcake queen, with a button that has Sprinkles.

For Sonya: A little something bold and retro. The big button should get itself caught on everything in her purse.

For Jen: Why, FISH, of course!! Swimming against the current.

For my mama: Cherries. I always think of my mom when I see cherry fabrics. She used to live in a little town in Florida called Cherry Lake, and I know so many childhood stories that happened to her and her band of sisters there.

I found this amazingly simple pattern by way of Whip Up, from a tutorial by Christy’s Creations. SO EASY and fun.

Blogiversary Presents

In celebration of a grand year of writing and posting and putting up photos, I am sending 4 loyal readers each a little present. Only three presents are shown here, but that’s because 1 friend is local, and she got hers before everybody else. Kristin…don’t spill the beans!!

Once I know they all have their presents, I’ll post pictures of the contents of these little packages!

Early Valentine’s present

So, Zach sent me such a cool early Valentine’s Day present:

Personalized m&ms! But he didn’t want them in those sissy pink and red v-day colors, so I got primaries instead.

And, the m&m company wouldn’t put his preferred sayings on the m’s, citing their policy against threatening or vulgar language.

So I got these instead:

The first is because I always tell him I love him so much that I’d like to cut off his arms and legs and keep him in a box. The second is because he figures I’ll believe it if I see it in writing. The third quantifies our love…at level 7… 7 out of 10… 7 of 7…7 of 100…who knows? And the fourth is what he says every time he gets me a totally cool, but expensive present.

They wouldn’t print “die sara die” or “love of my butt”.

Delaney’s Delight

My friend Jenn approached me last July about knitting a blanket for her little cousin’s birthday in September. A knitted blanket turned out to be prohibitively expensive (and time-intensive), so we agreed on the size/price/general color scheme (bright!) for a pieced quilt instead. Jenn’s taste seemed to lean toward geometrics and liberal use of stripes. She insisted that the quilt be feminine, but not little-girly, so that as Delaney grew, she wouldn’t think of it as her baby quilt.

I enlisted the help of my mom and sister to help with piecing and binding this twin-size beauty, and had it professionally quilted by Sue’s Machine Quilting in Roy, UT. I was so pleased with this quilter’s work and speed!! I highly recommend her if you’re looking to have something quilted. I embroidered the label and appliqued it to the soft flannel back.

By the time we had everything figured out, we had to push our date to xmas, instead, and Jenn says that Delaney sat in the box on xmas morning and really was delighted by the present. I was so pleased, because I know that sometimes little kids can be so non-chalant about blankets, socks, clothes, etc.

Here’s me laying it out at my mom’s apartment:

Fingerless Mittens

I made these super luxury soft fingerless mittens for my friend Jenn in Half Moon Bay for xmas. She got them late, though, after a back injury mid-December seriously slowed down my crafting. She and I have been friends since we worked together at a small cooking school in Los Angeles a few years ago.

Jenn is a kind soul with a no-nonsense attitude. I made her these downy mittens because she seemed like she needed something soft just now.

I used a lovely heathered oatmeal alpaca yarn called Baby Twist, in a stretchy, one-size-fits-all 1×1 rib. By some stroke of luck, she says they match her winter coat perfectly!

The Happy Viking

Here Zach is in all his knitted xmas finery, plotting the next pillage. The hat is already his most complimented item of clothing ever.

The scarf is the Noro stripey fad that I first learned of through the Yarn Harlot. Kristin and I went shopping together, but used different colorways (her Ravelry link). We both made the mistake of reading “supplies: two balls”. She went back for more to match her first balls, but I decided to try a third colorway. It’s an interesting jog where the third ball meets, but I like it.

The hat is my own invention. I used Lamb’s Pride Bulky in dark gray for the beanie. The horns are crocheted from a skinny yarn Sonya gave me (koigu?) and stuffed firmly with fluff. I’m quite proud of the horns, especially that fact that I managed to make them the same size, when I never wrote down the pattern. Kristin and I spent ages cutting out napkins and thinking this thing through to get horns that curved this way! The braids are Cascade 220. The bolts are plastic buttons.

I’m working on writing up a pattern. Leave a comment if you’re interested!

Mid-week present!

When I got home last night, I found green padded mailer on the table from Maria! Maria and I worked together several years ago at ImagiKnit in San Francisco. She’s quirky. She’s fun. She’s a good cook. She read my post about how I’m always carrying my knitting around in the paper sack the yarn came in. She sent me this gorgeous reversible bag that she made!

It’s already holding my current project, which I’m afraid you just can’t see right now because it’s nearly x-mas, and the recipient of this knittery might just read this post! Ok, a little peek. This photo has better color, by the way:

Thank you Maria!!

Also, she sent me some scraps of some fat quarters she’s in love with. I’ll be finding some coordinating fabrics in my mondo-stash and sending her a little gifty right back.