Gone Fishing

I am on the hunt for the perfect chunky cabled fisherman's sweater.

Qualifications:

-Long

-Thick with voluptuous cables

-Ivory colored. Or off-white.

Glorious wooden buttons are a plus.

Why do I (and all of you!) need a fisherman's sweater?

Well, first off... it is cold! Being in SoCal, I tend to neglect the outwear section of my wardrobe. Then when it finally gets cold, I am lamenting my lack of warm things.

Second, it's nautical! I am big on nautical right now.. more to come on my current obsession in another post at a later time.

Third, I think it transitions into spring pretty well. Imagine a chunky fisherman's sweater paired with an airy light-colored dress. OOOoooooOoOOooo.. spring.. Can't wait!

If you've got $38.00 plus shipping to spend, go buy this one from DearGoldenVintage

Or maybe this one from SimpleThrift on Etsy.

As for me, I'm totally broke till mid-January. I guess I'll have to keep an eye out in the thrift stores until then.

Anchors Away!

I added some nautical flair to a thrifted blue pencil skirt:

What I was doing all October.

...and as she took each new step through the darkness, she could sense the entrance to the cave, the blinding light pouring fourth, and beyond it the world to behold!

Anyways, that's what it feels when you rediscover the wonders of having wireless internet!

For the past few months, I've been hookin' up ol' Betsy the old fashioned way... with a gawddarn ethernet cord.

*segue* ether.. net? What does that even mean? Why do they call it that. "Ether" is such a... ethereal  word. ... ha. haha... *unsegue*



Really, what use is a laptop when you are confined to a desk? Laptops were meant to be wild and free. Go on, Betsy. Thata girl. Hum your little internal fan off into the sunset!

... Yeah. Life is better now. I haven't blogged for a while though. I keep doing these projects and then I think, "Oh, OH! I want to put this on my blog!" And then I decide I am too busy and I should read some homework instead, but I end up not reading the homework at all and....

Well today I thought to myself,

"Hey you, I know you have homework. But really? Aren't you just going to do a good 2/3 of the night procrastinating?"



"Why yes, self. I won't lie, that sounds pretty precise."

"Why don't you just acknowledge and come to terms with your procrastination and do something productive with it?"

"By Jove! That sounds like a great idea!"

So here I sit. (In my big couch chair thanks to the wonders of wireless internet) 



This is officially catch-up blog #1. 

So lets see.

#1)

A big (ongoing) project I did recently was..



Dye my hair!

I bleached it, walked around as a blonde for a bit, then added some color!

I've been super inspired by this girl's flickr page I randomly came across:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/racheljoyagatha/sets/72157617705834538/show/



and now all I want is to be a different color everyday!

 #2)

 Most of October I was working on tons of costumes for my work. We were putting on a carnival event and I decided that it just wouldn't suffice unless everyone was in costume, so here is what I came up with:



The ringmaster!

Ruffled shirt and bowtie/cummerbund: Thrifted

The jacket was thrifted and then altered to be a tailcoat, and the red collar, buttons and cuffs were added. Making regular jackets into tailcoats is a skill I think everyone should use! So I'll post a tute when I get the chance.

Here's another one with his hat:

Farmer's Market

I went to the farmer's market by my new apartment for the first time today.

OH MY GOODNESS.

So much joy.
So much wonderment.
It was a bounty!

Sigh. So happy.

At first I was overwhelmed. There was just so much to see and eat and touch... my senses were on overload.
A sampling of what I got:

OMG new yarn!

My Grandma took me to breakfast today and afterwards bought me some yarn!
It is fabulous.
It's called "Fun" from Ironstone Yarns and we got it at this awesome yarn shop in Encinitas called The Black Sheep.
>VISIT THEM!

All of the yarn is on the expensive side, from 6.00 to 36.00, (maybe more) but it is all so LUSCIOUS and AMAZING and I want to buy it all, pile it in a room and roll in it and knit from dawn till dusk.
*eye twitch*
Yarn obsessions.

What should I make with it?

Let them eat cake!

Hello everyone!

So I've been a little M.I.A. but I've resolved to post at least twice a week.
So if I'm slacking, have at me!
I've got a bit of a backlog of projects I need to take pictures of and post, so I'll get to that ASAP.
In the meantime have a gander at the Dr. Seuss cake I made for my sister's birthday!


Inside was swirled colored vanilla cake, and the filling was strawberry cream cheese.



It took a really long time but it was fun!
And we had that cake's leftovers in our freezer for weeeeks. Sooo much cake..

If you want to try one of your own, I used this video from http://janellscakes.com/
I warn you, this is a labor-intensive endeavor though... I think it took me about 4 hours.
And I cut corners.

..Ha.Haha. Cutting corners. On a cake. Ha.

Adorable Apple Caramel CupPIEcakes.

Friday was a very happy day.
I finished my last final, got into spring break mode, annnnnnnddd...
got tons and tons of veggies for free from our campus food coop!!
They aren't open during spring break, and instead of throwing out, or letting the veggies meet their impending rancid doom,
they gave them to me!!

So fast forward to this afternoon.

I'm looking at about two pounds of organic apples that are going mushy and I realize there is no way I am going to eat these all before they get all brown and spotty.

Solution?

PIE!!!!


I was so excited. It was pie time! But...
oops.
I guess I DON'T have a pie pan?
Hmm.

Never fear! A little thing like not having an actual pie pan wasn't going to stop me from achieving pie-y greatness.

So I scraped together the two things I DID have, a bread pan and a cupcake pan.

After Frankensteining together a few different pie recipes, the result was these:




ZOMG SOOO CUUTE!!!! !(>.<)!

Here are the cuppiecakes with their mama:



The crust is super flakey and delicious and the caramel is the perfect touch.

Make them! I dare you. Every day is special enough for a Apple CupPieCake.

Note: Once again, this recipe is super Frankensteined and I've never posted a recipe before so, I apologize for it being long and not easy to read. I'll work on that.
Also, I'm not exactly sure how many apples to use because I had a billion of the small organic kind, and because my goal was to use them all, I ended up with CupPieCakes, the Pie-in-a-Breadpan, and almost two cups of apple left over for applesauce. I suggest maybe 3-4 large ones. I suggest if your goal is just to make delicious pie and not to use up a plethora of apples before they go rancid, then get more than you think you'll need. You can always make more!


Adorable Caramel Apple CupPieCakes:


(Use vegan versions of ingredients of course.)

Pie Crust

-(from http://www.almostvegan.com/archives/2004/06/pie.html)

2 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
3/4 Cup Vegetable Shortening (like Crisco)
4-5 Tablespoons ice water

1.) In large bowl mix flour and salt. With pastry blender or 2 knives used scissor-fashioned, cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
2.) Sprinkle in ice water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with fork after each addition, until dough is just moist enough to hold together. (the less water you use, the flakier the crust)
3.) Shape dough into 2 disks with your hands, one slightly larger than the other. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Filling

Thinly Sliced Baking Apples. (I used the yellowy-greeny-tinge of red kind)
Cinnamon
Caramel topping: (based on http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=22283.0)

    1/2 cup vegan margarine (the stick kind)
    3 tablespoons flour
    1/2 cup sugar
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    1/3 cup water

In a saucepan, bring "Caramel" topping ingredients to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for five minutes.

Assembling

1. Take out your refrigerated pastry dough. On a floured surface, roll it out as thin as you can. Don't worry too much if it tears.
2. Tear off square pieces of dough approximately 2 inches bigger on each side then the diameter of your cupcake pan holes.
3. Lay the pieces each over the hole and then push gently down so it lines the pan. Cut off any overlap.
4. Take your apple slices and break them into pieces to fit your cupcake pan, fill each hole with apples to the top. Shake some cinnamon on top.
5. Take the caramel sauce, and fill each mini piecake with sauce until it reaches the top.
6. Top the piecakes with pieces of whatever dough you have left over.
7. In an oven preheated to 425 degrees, place your piecakes on the middle shelf and bake for 15 minutes.
And here's where it gets iffy again because I can't remember if I baked them longer then that.
I know it was at least 15 minutes, but it could have been as much as 25.
So check them out at 15 minutes, if the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly and looking like if you leave it in any longer it's going to Pompeii all over the place, it's time to take them out.
8. Let them cool!!
9. To get them out, run a knife in between the pan and the edges of the piecake. If it starts spinning, then it's loose enough. Using two knifes on either side, kind of shimmy the piecake out carefully.
10. Dig in!! No fork required.


I suppose you could make an ACTUAL pie out of this if you have a pan, but that is just not as fun.
:)

DIY Leggings and Knit for Charity!

I was just think about how much I want customized leggings.
Then I happen upon this tutorial!



Also,

Do a little something for someone in need (as well as your karma!) and try knitting for charity.
This organization, Knit-a-Square puts together 8x8 squares knitted by charitable knitters like you from all over the world into blankets for children living in poverty in South Africa.
It's such an easy way to make a difference in a child's life, and as the ladies at Knit-a-Square say;
"A dollar lasts a day, blankets are for life."

Ohio Beanie

I tend to feel selfish knitting for myself in San Diego.
Especially when I get emails from my perhaps-someday-boyfriend in Ohio about the single-digit temperatures..
So to redeem myself, I set to knitting him some warmth.
Picky as I am, I searched a reaally long time for a nice man-hat pattern.
And here is what I came up with.
You can find the pattern here:
http://stephanieknits.blogspot.com/2007/03/keeping-boyfriends-ears-warm-since-2006.html

It is really simple and quick, and it made me happy.

Here you can see the ribbing-disappearing effect:



I knitted with two strands of yarn (one blue, one cream) at the same time.



Unfortunately, I sent it off to my Ohioan boy and he has informed me that it is too small  

But he's going to send it back and I am going to ATTEMPT to lengthen it.

Anyone have any suggestions?
The only way I can think of is to pick up stitches around and just keep knitting the rib pattern...

I'll do my best.
Wish me luck!

Inaugural Wear

Out with the old, in with the new!

Here's the scarf I knitted just for the occasion:



Congrats America!!!

Check out the pattern!!! : http://leethal.coloredlights.net/zine/?p=188

The Two-Dollar Ruffle Scarf!

I have to constantly remind myself how lucky I am to have a thrift store on my college campus.
Ohhh. Yes.

I was rummaging through their sweater collection and picked up this nifty green wool turtleneck sweater.
With Threadbangers's 100th Episode fresh in my mind, I set to work!



Tadaa!!
The Threadbanger tutorial is for a wrap-style scarf, but I switched it up a bit and added some pleats.


Click for my tutorial!