The Cat Minidress of ABBA

One of my favorite things about these dresses is how often they show up in ABBA performance videos, which I happen to know because I will stay up for hours watching them. Also, there is a detachable portion that, when added, makes it a long dress with a cat's tail wrapped around it, and their names are embroidered on the back. I am crying right now because I can't find the video where they rip the bottom off and cast it aside.

Falling Leaves

Pattern: Embossed Leaves Socks, Interweave Knits Winter 2005
Yarn: Mystery wool
Adaptations: I left out one repeat on each leg due to a fear of running out of yarn, but I needn't have worried.

After making the green ones (Spring leaves) I wanted to make some hat resembled Autumn leaves. Luckily I had this sock yarn in two colors.



Lace detail



I love the heel and gusset!



Off to their new life with my mom.

Not the best episode, but that charm bracelet really spoke to me

I found some style inspiration in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Season 3 Episode 10: The Diplomatic Corpse) because when you spend your time watching shows where all of the actors are already dead, you think it's a good idea to dress like it's 1957.



Shirtdresses will never go out of style.



Those glasses! And the pearls are perfect.



Charm bracelet, gloves, bangs, looking wistful.



Cute shoes, boxy purse, pop the collar, and seal the deal with a cardigan. Don't even put your arms through it! You can never have too many cardigans. At least I keep saying that because I have dozens of them.

Turning garbage into dinner

It's broth day! I keep vegetable scraps that are too nice to compost in a freezer bag. When I have a gallon, I cover the whole mess with water, and boil until the water looks like broth.


This is a pretty good representation of what usually goes in the veggie broth- Can you spot onion trimmings and skins, broccoli stalks, green bean trimmings, parsley stems, carrot peels, celery leaves and heart, tomato skin, zucchini and yellow squash blossom ends? Also good are garlic cloves, bay leaves from other soup, potato peels, and little servings of leftovers.

After straining the broth, I compost the veggies. I like to split the broth into several jugs, like from juice or V-8, and freeze the whole bottles, keeping one in the fridge for using right away. The only problem is you have so much you can barely use it before it's time to make some more.

Put a Button on it!

I got this top and after washing but before wearing there was a big ol' hole in it.





I went from "Why can't I have anything nice?" to "Put a patch on it!" pretty quickly.




I stabilized the knit fabric with trusty sulky (tear away after!).



Trying different button combos on flowers drawn with washable marker.




The finished cover-up- the hole was under the yellow button.

Happy Father's Day

By request, "Elvis" cupcakes (banana cake with peanut butter frosting) from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Witness the extent of my cake decorating skills- piling high with frosting.

Before and After in the garden

Female blossom



Lemon squash



Little baby peppers


Emerald Giant Peppers



First little Dib Daub cucumber

All from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Next year: plant everything earlier, like months earlier. I was sitting around this year, waiting for the last frost that never was. Now I'm fondling fetal cucumbers while everyone else is drowning in them. Oh to have enough food to share, or preserve, or even to make a decent meal with.

Bloomers

These bloomers are pretty cute and I believe flattering, despite my inability to take a flattering picture while wearing them. I decided not to purchase anything new for this project to justify my fabric hoarding, so they are 100% linen and cocoa colored, like I imagine Martha Washington wore. Colonial sexy! Extra retro!

Free Pattern here. And although my epitaph will be "Free patterns aren't worth the money they're worth", I gambled and won on this one.

Potato Harvest

About 2 lb of Red LaSoda potatoes, grown from about 2 lb of seed potatoes. Here's too breaking even, and trying again next year!

The secret to home-made hummus

Once, I was buying pre-made hummus at the store, and a lady came up to me, saying "Don't buy that, it's so easy to make your own!" And I was all like, "You don't know me!" I felt personally insulted she couldn't tell that I was totally DIY, and simply chose not to make my own hummus anymore because it never turned out very well. Too chunky, too dry, and no manner of added oil or liquid could make it right. I shamefully bought my hummus and resumed trying every so often to make some that was any good.

I have since discovered the secret- skin the beans! This time I cooked my own overnight in the crockpot so they were super-soft, and then popped each little chickpea out of it's skin before processing it, adding olive oil, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and some bean water to moisten. The result- smooth, creamy, delicious. It took me about half an hour to skin 3 cups of beans.

Around the garden

I had this ladder sitting around (picked up from the street on bulky trash day) and found myself in need of support for some beans that seemed to be growing about a foot a day. Done!




I swear I only planted basil seeds from one seed packet in this planter. Somehow I have three different varieties of basil (including purple) and a cucumber, seen here making a break for it off of the deck.




Cucumber tendrils.

Another year or so later

While this blog has been gathering dust and cobwebs, I have had a move, a baby, a career change, and a drastic drop in craftiness. I have decided to start things up again (again) to share a magical food combo, which will also maybe get the ball rolling here.

Pesto and Pineapple- Truly a perfect combination of salty, savory and sweet, originally dreamed up as a pizza topping but since expanded to chocolate and now kebabs. More of an idea than a recipe, this one.

Pesto and Pineapple Kebabs

* Fresh Pineapple Chunks
* Marinated firm Tofu (I like to marinate in a soy sauce blend for color)
* Red Pepper slices
* Onion slices
* Prepared basil pesto (ours was frozen from last year's bonkers basil surplus)

Alternate food on skewers, and place on a medium-hot grill. Spread pesto over kebabs- it will drip through and catch on fire, which I think is necessary for flavorful vegetarian grilling. Grill until the first side is slightly charred and repeat on the other side.

Let's try this again

Simplicity 2597

Picture taken after removing all the cat hair but before washing off the chalk marks.

True Love

When my husband had a rip in his pants, he drove past a Wal-Mart to come to my work so I could sew them up for him. I wouldn't have it any other way. Repair done standing up with pants still on so he would not be pantsless in my office.

Mason-Dixon Knitting

Baby Genius Burp Cloth


Ball Band Dish Cloth

Dishcloths are already my favorite thing to knit, but I really got on a roll with these slip stitch patterns from Mason-Dixon knitting using cream and white. The yarn is little hard to tell apart while knitting in the dark, but I think the finished result is subtle and lovely. Please know that due to having giant cones of white and cream kitchen cotton on hand I have made way more than these two.

Self-striping socks

For the first time I actually tried to match a pair of self-striping socks. The first pair took a few false starts to get the second sock just right, so for the next pair I made a note of where in the skein I started my cast on. It worked like a charm on the first try.

Gigantic Fava Beans

From left to right: A quarter, a dried bean, a bean soaked overnight.

I'm hoping once they are cooked they will be the size of slices of bread and I can pick them up with both hands and eat them.

Seven Pounds of Grapes

After being mashed and fermenting for one week.

More Free Fruit

Seven pounds of Scuppernong grapes before being turned into booze.

Knitting Pin-Up

Found in this book and now permanently posted in my craft area.