Woolly Interlude

… in the Crochet Pattern-a-Day Calendar, that is.

I crocheted this afghan as a gift back in May of 2005, and wrote up the pattern to share on Crochetville. Then I submitted it to the calendar, and now I’ve got a free one. It’s probably the only design I’ll ever have published, so I was hoping you all would celebrate with me!

Have you ever designed something to knit, crochet, or sew? Do you improvise your patterns? Leave a comment, and a link if you’ve got one, about something you’ve created, or even something you wish you had created, and you’ll be entered into a contest to win a set of Megan-designed coasters and a skein of sock yarn from my stash (although you won’t get them until after the holidays). This post will be open for comments until the end of next Thursday, so you’ve got a week to enter.

Also, I don’t know how many of you guys crochet, but I’m going to try to format the pattern nicely and offer it as a free pattern here. If you’re interested, just stop back by soon!

When last we saw the German Stocking, it was 70°F and I had a nasty cold. It is, therefore, apropos that I unearthed the second stocking last night, as today it is again 70°F and I am beginning to feel the effects of a cold.

At this point, I’m nearly done with the ribbing, and then I’ve only got about two inches of stockinette before the twisted stitch cables (and the decreases!) appear. Experience tells me that after the big cable medallion at the top of the calf, the rest of the sock will fly off of the needles, as long as I don’t end up ripping and reknitting a good 11 inches of leg. I’m not off to a great start on that, though, as I’ve already cast on twice. That might not sound time consuming, but I used a tubular cast on for 138 stitches on US 0 (2.0mm) DPNs, so it took about an hour each time. That is a vast improvement over the 4 hours it took for the first sock, but is still nothing to sneeze at. Believe me, I tried.

While these stockings are certainly not going to be hung up to collect Christmas gifts, I would really like to have the pair finished before I head home for the holidays. That leaves me ten days to work two jobs, do a bunch of laundry, welcome my friends’ baby into the world, finish sewing coaster sets, make truffles, and knit a knee sock. Sadly, I actually think that is manageable; supporting my delusion is that it only took about 10 days to knit the first stocking (spread out across a couple of months), and that includes the 4 hour cast on and knitting basically the entirety of the leg and heel flap twice.

Speaking of coasters, these are some of the prototypes I whipped up the first weekend in December.

They’re quick and easy, and it’s a lot of fun to come up with fabric combinations. I’ve been improvising on the piecing, and using a 4.5″ square template to cut down the results. I still need to finish 7 sets on Saturday, and my ever-optimistic nature is saying that scenario is totally reasonable, and will leave me plenty of time to work on my sock. And if I don’t finish all of this, well, feel free to leave unsurprised comments.

I’m not much of a dessert person, but one thing I love any time is a pumpkin bar. When the weather turns cold, I’m even more likely to bake them; in fact, I’ve already baked four or five batches in the last couple of months.

Doesn’t that look scrumptious?! I bake my homemade bars using a recipe I learned in first grade when we studied the Pilgrims (and Thanksgiving, of course), and I thought I’d share it with all of you.

First Grade Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup vegetable oil

What To Do

1. Beat the eggs in a medium bowl
2. Add the pumpkin to the eggs
3. Add the sugar to the egg/pumpkin mixture
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon
5. While beating with mixer, add alternate parts of dry ingredients and oil
6. Bake in a jelly roll pan at 350ºF for 20 minutes
7. Frost with cream cheese frosting when cool (I like this recipe)

They don’t stick around for long!