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!

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!

I’m really not knitting for Christmas (although I love reading about what everyone else is up to), but that doesn’t mean I’m not making select gifts. Here’s something I finished for someone I love who could definitely use some crayons.

These dozen discs of marble-y fun are for my little niece, who isn’t really all that little any more. She is still small enough to appreciate their chubby nature, though, as they will be easier for her to grab than normal crayons.

Of course, all of that assumes that I manage to give them away; the color blends are so much fun that I just want to color with them myself! I’ve wanted to make these crayons since last August, when I saw Libby’s post about making some, and I’m sure I’ll be making plenty more in the future!

I mean, really, how fun are those?

In other news, I did get a lot of cleaning done last night, which means that I did not get any knitting done. I’m hoping to rework the final Herringbone Mitten tomorrow night so that I can start wearing them! I’m also planning to adjust the pompom on the first, using this awesome three part tutorial from Alice of kathrynivy.com. You see, the pattern calls for a row of eyelets, through which you thread a crocheted cord that attaches the pompom. The tutorial explains a genius way of looping the cord so that it (and the pom) are easily removable. While I foresee very few situations in which I would not want giant pompoms on my wrists, I’m sure I’ll need to wash the mittens on occasion. Now I don’t have to worry about the effect this will have on the floof!

(okay, and maybe one thing that’s less exciting).

1) I finished a Hedera! I know, it’s only one, and I need two, but it was a fun knit, and I’m looking forward to the next one.

I’m not even going to pretend I wove in the ends; they’re out in case I need a yard more to finish the second (yes, it might get that close). And the picture’s at an odd angle; I promise the sole isn’t that bizarrely large.

2) I’ll go ahead and get the less exciting one out of the way; I started a February Baby Sweater this week, and I love it and the yarn I’m knitting it with (Louet Gems Opal/Sportweight).

But, of course, I won’t have enough yarn to finish. I will eventually rip it out and knit it either with US 3’s instead of 4’s, or with fewer repeats. In addition to hopefully conserving yarn, those changes will result in a newborn sized sweater rather than a six month, which is certainly not a problem when you’re knitting with no intended recipient.

3) Myxertones. It’s a website that lets you upload one of your mp3’s, select a clip, and have it sent to your phone as a ringtone. For free (minus carrier fees for receiving a message, etc., etc.). Of course, this discovery is made all the more awesome now that I can use it (see #4). But I promise, I haven’t wasted that much time trying to figure out which song clips would be appropriate for specific contacts.

4) I got a new phone. It’s kind of weird using a phone that flips open like a laptop, but I find it much easier to use than RAZR/KAZR phones and the Chocolate phones. Am I the only one who can’t get the buttons to work on those? I can’t be.

5) I took one and a half vacation days this week, just for fun. I kept busy, though; I got a facial, I cleaned the fishbowls, I programmed my contacts into my new phone, I went to the museum, I had a delicious lunch at my favorite little cafe, and I went yarn shopping. My friend Jenn got me a delayed-gratification birthday present (Thanks, Jenn!):

The red wool is very lofty and soft; there’s about 2.5 ounces of that one. There are 2 ounces of the greyish/lavender roving, which is much smoother, but not as lofty. Both are wool of undisclosed type, purchased at Grinny Possum Fiber Arts across the river in Indiana. They’ve got a great selection (I saw my first Addi Lace needles in the wild!), and although I’d only been in there once before, the owner (well, at least I think she’s the owner) recognized me. And really, I love any yarn shop where they encourage you to touch anything and everything, even if it’s kind of behind the counter.

6) The Office Season Three on DVD. I got a $5 Amazon credit for ordering the last Harry Potter from them for my daddy, and I so know what I’m using it on. And thanks to the I Knit with The Office group at Ravelry, I’ve totally got the theme song as my cell phone ring right now. (Like the theme song? You can get it yourself here.)

7) The Yarn Cake Portraits group at Flickr. I love everything about yarn cakes: winding them, stacking them, seeing the pretty yarn all orderly, knitting from them. And this group preserves them digitally!

And it could probably go without saying, but Harry Potter. How exciting was all that?! And it’s good on the second reading, too.

I could seriously keep going (it’s been a long time, huh?), but I won’t. I mean, I can’t use up all of my good bloggable thoughts on one post, right? I hope everyone has a great weekend! I’m happy ’cause my roommate will be back tomorrow (she’s been gone a whole week!), and then I’ll have someone to talk to other than myself and the fish.

Hey, there! I took some time out today to get photos ready to post. Here’s a little bit of what I’ve been up to this past week:

First off, did y’all know that I drove through Florence recently? I love the linguistic pride evident in their water tower sign, even if I am confused at it’s precise meaning in this instance.

The next photo is not from Florence, but is from Bernheim Forest, where I went hiking on the fourth. We hiked the trail shown in the photo, and then went out on a canopy overlook thingy, where I took the photo. I had a lot of fun, and it was great spending such a beautiful afternoon with friends! I cracked up, though, when I walked over to the parking lot to catch an errant Frisbee….

The black car is mine, of course, with it’s Iowa Hawkeyes decorative license plate. Next to my car is that of a friend, who has a Penn State plate, and next to his car is that of a stranger, who is apparently an Ohio State fan. How odd is it to see all of these Big Ten plates at a forest in Kentucky?

And when not road tripping and hiking, I actually did knit a little bit. Of course, I don’t have anything to show because I’ve ripped out the progress. I’m glad I’m a process knitter . I’ve been working on a pair of socks for another Knittyboard swap, using this gorgeous Socks That Rock.

This is lovely yarn, and it’s holding up really well to all of the ripping and re-knitting. I started with Cookie A’s Thelonious pattern (which is very nice, but not exactly what I wanted for this pair of socks), and then swatched for Hedera. This is a lovely pattern, and is interesting to knit without being overly complicated. Another plus is that the lace is very stretchy (Thelonious, on the other hand, has less stretch than most socks), and when knit on US 1 (2.25mm) needles, will perfectly fit my pal with just one tiny modification. Woo hoo! Of course, when I get down to the heel flap, I’ll have to do some adjusting; lots of knitters have noted that it’s abnormally long. I can’t wait to pick up the needles and get started! I spent all morning at an emergency VBS costume sewing “party,” though, and my hands are not up to all that knitting right now. Well, maybe I’ll just cast on and do the ribbing before I go to bed…