Not So Good

Why, hello there, blog world. Been missing you something awful but bad things have been afoot here. Very sick people are inhabiting our house right now, in the form of small toddlers and one very beleaguered Mama. It is not a good sickness, full of green snot endlessly running out of everyone's noses and head splitting pain that just will not let up.

Ack, I curse myself for the thought I had last week when I mentally rejoiced in my children's hardy nature. So, Murphy, now you have invaded my mind, eh?

Add to that my crafting mojo starting to wane and my sadness over a returned lens, and well, we have little to blog about now, don't we? Except maybe this poor me post.

I piled up the Christmas gifts I have been hard at work on since August and the pile seems so dismally small.

I love them all, but handknit bits do not take up the same amount of space a ride on fire engine and a flat screen TV might, you know? It just looks like so little for so much work. I am sure they will be received well, but dang, where is the WOW! factor.

And though the house is decorated and the stockings hung on the wall with care (because there are eight or so) I am lamenting a busted oven that my brother has been working on and sinking money into (thanks Alon) and it still won't give me cookies. I need some cookies, people.

Well, sorry for the Debbie Downer day, I promise to be up and running in normal Amiee mode once my head had returned from the Land of Tiny Cranial Pounding Elves and I get a few decent shots with the 50 mm that I do so love, just not as much as I once did.

Here is a cute series of our trip to a huge bounce house place before the sickness hit the home, the boys first experience in the Land of GIANT Jumpers. I was scared on the slide, Owen wanted to do it himself, Tim burned his elbow bad, and Mason screamed the whole time.






I did get these done and in the mail through the haze of sick headedness.

Hope I included the actual cards in those hand addressed envelopes. I love Costco, 50 cards for 16 dollars. My kinda store. I will try to post the finished card at some point. A huge thanks to my lovely ladies that sent me corrected pictures sans strap, you made my week last week when I was riding high already. Now, can ya'll send me some cookies and I will feel much better.

Hoping for happier times so we can go and visit the train next door, our newest after dark tradition.

Recipe Round up : Thanksgiving

Some recipes I tried over our weekend away, thought I would share.

Sweet Potato oven fries with garlic and cinnamon : Super easy, heat oven to 425, just cut peeled sweet potatoes into fry size bits., toss with a light oil (I used grape seed) and mix a teaspoon or two of garlic salt with cinnamon in your palm. Sprinkle the mix over the fries and toss to coat. Spread fries on a sheet and bake in oven for 25-3o minutes until tender. Mine did not get crisp, but were delicious nonetheless. The cinnamon is seasonal and delicious, make sure you use garlic salt/powder as fresh garlic would burn in the high temperature of the oven and taste bitter.

Cranberry salad dressing : I took the leftover fresh cranberry sauce and heated it gently in the microwave, once warmed I stirred in a tablespoon or two of balsamic vinegar and some grape seed oil and sprinkled in a little pumpkin pie spice. We used it to dress our lamb but it also tasted great on the salad. Good way to use up that ran sauce. And speaking of cran sauce…here is a doozy I have made for years..found it a long time ago and people seem to really enjoy it when I bring it around

Cranberry special saucee : Peel and dice fresh ginger (about the size of your thumb), finely dice one clove garlic, finely dice one jalapeno,. Zest one large lemon, then peel and chop the fruit. Add all ingredients to a saucepan and gently heat until all items are warm, lemon has macerated and it looks a little mushy. Add one bag fresh cranberries and 1 ½ cup sugar. Let sugar let down and cook until berries pop. Let cool and serve with your turkey . Or can it and give to your friends that love spicy sweetness.


Easy pumpkin muffins/bread : This requires the Trader Joe’s baking mix and a can of pumpkin puree. First I blended 1 cup pumpkin, ½ c sugar, ¼ cup oil, 2 eggs, pumpkin pie spice (notice a trend here with the holiday spice use) and 2 shredded carrots. I sifted two cups of the mix into the wet ingredients (but I am sure flour with a tsp of baking soda and powder would work) and stirred batter until moist. No muffin pans but I had a cake round. I do think these would be great as mini muffins. I baked it for 25 minutes at 350 degrees (until the stick came out clean) and let cool. You can add some cranberries to the batter but I won’t do that again due to the faces the boys made when they encountered the bittersweet taste.

And that finished my week of recap Cabin related posts. It was a great getaway with some quality family time. This week I have been busily finishing gifts, starting things I should really leave until post-holiday, trying to finish holiday decorating (I keep getting distracted by the insane toddlers running around the place) and anticipating a wonderful December that feels like it is half over already.

On that note, signing off to knit (and sew) (and clean) (and, and, and...it really is holiday season, huh?)

Oh, here is the set of photos of the Thanksgiving trip, taken with the 24mm. I felt so sad bringing it back. Hoping Santa (well, likely Uncle Sam) is kind this year and that we find a way to finagle it...I really fell in love with that lens.

Christmas T_Shirt Tutorial

While up at the Cabin I spotted a sign for pictures with Santa. They had set up a really nice little tableau for kids to sit with Santa for a photo and get this, they were charging a whopping 5 dollars for the opportunity. My original plan was to take them back to the Santa we met last year at the local large cool shopping plaza, but for a single picture they charge around 18, so we decided to see how it went here.

The only problem was I had no ‘holiday’ outfit for them and you know how I really hate not having something homemade for the boys. We had to put the boys down for nap and our plan was to see the Big Man in the afternoon. Back at the ranch I had a few things that I was working on for holiday ornaments.

Some simple felt, floss and sequins were all lined up to become puffy homemade ornaments. Then I realized I had two plain white shirts in their stuff, and wah-la! We had a quick and easy Christmas shirt.


Here is what I did:
- First cut some green felt with pinking shears into a nice little tree shape. Then sew a sequin with a pretty shiny bead at the center all about the tree to make it truly festive.

- Take your t-shirt and place the front in an embroidery hoop and pin the little tree in the center (you could use stabilizer to set it but I had none on hand and the straight pins worked fine).

- Use cheery red floss (three strands) and a running stitch to sew the felt to the shirt. I started at the bottom right, worked up and made a three wrap French knot at the top. Important : leave the bottom open.

- Gather some yarn or tiny fabric scraps and stuff the tree to create a bit of a puffy effect. Finish by sewing the bottom closed.

- Add a brown fabric trunk if you like, I did not have any brown to work with so I left our little tree(s) trunk less.

Holiday shirt Ta-da!


So fast and quite fun. Too bad the babies did not have much fun while wearing them. This year Santa was a very scary man indeed and we had a bit of a struggle getting them to stay in a one foot vicinity. After bribing with a tiny candy cane, we got a few good shots including the one I posted a few days ago. Here are a few more.


Notice the considerable distance from Santa? Any closer elicited screaming. And Santa loved them so much and just wanted to hold them. Oh, well, next year.

And yes, they got candy cane all over the pristine white shirt and Mama will be working with some oxiclean to get out the stains.

I do not think this shirt will survive a washer, let’s face it, the shirt did not even survive the pictures. But it is super fun. Try it if you like. Take some holiday photos and let me know how it goes!


Happy Holiday crafting, friends. I say, let us take Christmas from consumer corporate to heartfelt and handmade.

The Knits are Marching On

I really fell hard for this sweater when I first spotted it in the Ravelry world.

I have missed the mark so many times with knitted sweaters, forgetting to take into account that I have some pretty curvy curves or that 100% baby alpaca will never be worn in Southern California, even when knitted on size 3 needles. I love knitting them, but apparently cannot quite figure out the wearing of them.

Then I knit the February Lady Sweater and my confidence in knitting for self ramped up a bit. I love that sweater and it has seen heavy use in the last few weeks and is still very beloved, despite the tendency of the Venezia to pill. Still, so pretty. If you have not joined the fanatic devotees yet check out Gleek's with mandarin collar. Sexy and restrained. Awesome.

So, I felt optimistic about trying Shalom (rav). Sure, it was with stash yarn in a completely different gauge with a different needle size and the yarn was kinda' fuzzy. I have had this yarn (10 balls) since a Tahoe trip years ago, the first when we were actually monied enough to stay in a condo for a night and ride the lifts all day (with mountain bikes, not snowboards, we were not that monied, people) (Still aren't). I found the yarn in a little shop and spent a few minutes fondling it and not knowing at all what to do with it. There was a test knit cardi in the shop, very staid, not my style, but the yarn made me happy. So I bought it and it sat for a very long time.


I am happy to say I do not regret the purchase,

or my modifications, or knitting it because wearing it has been awesome. It is perfect alone, with a long sleeve, or layered under a down jacket. It is just about my most favorit-est knit ever ever.

I cannot believe the ease of the pattern, designed to adapt to different gauges, easy to wear and really easy to knit. You need the basics: knowledge of increases, of knit/purl, of knitting thru the back loop. And you need this sweater.

It came together in 7 or so days. It has been worn about the same amount so far. I am plotting how I an justify knitting another. It is that good people.


And lest you think I have abandoned the Christmas gifting plan...this little number just came off the needles.

It is an improvised design with more stash yarn (this knitting from stash feels awesome). It is loved but I find knitting fair isle with more than two colors a bit tedious due to the yarn tangling issues. And I really have to work in my end of round issues, eek. Still loved though. Check.


Now how many more gifts need knitting? I am almost afraid to look at the board. Good luck in all of your handmade endeavors. The countdown has begun.