Tiny Turtle

My Mom loves turtles; She's had one named Speedy (who hibernated and then did not un-hibernate afterward) and currently has one named touche. Way back when, I knitted her a miniature turtle, but more recently I found a crocheted turtle pattern and had to try it.

The head turned out kind of wonky, but I'm still pretty happy with it :)

Twisted Rib Beret

I'm a firm believer that every project has the capability to teach a lesson, and this one sure did! I chose the beret pattern ages ago for my Aunt, because she said she liked berets for working in, and if it was a nice one, she would even wear it out on walks, etc. So I made her one for working in, and then planned on making this one for other occasions.

The pattern instructed to do the four-round pattern repeat eight times, and then start the decrease row. Others who had done the pattern recommended doing a couple more pattern repeats than necessary. However, I got through five repeats, and felt that it was big enough.

Usually, I would ignore my gut instincts and follow the pattern to the T. I've never felt very comfortable with messing with instructions, and generally feel that if it's written down, it's probably right.

However, I went with my gut and started decreasing after the sixth repeat. And, as you can see, the beret is perfect. Obviously it wouldn't have been the end of the world if I had to rip out a few repeats and finish off earlier if I had gone ahead and done the full number of repeats-- but it's nice to know that I have a sense of sizing and shape!

Emily Shawl

So right after I did the Shawlette (and after a break for spinning, working on the Brown Sweater, and job searching) I did another Shawl called the Emily Shawl.

I enjoyed working with the lace yarn, and I think it turned out pretty, but I have to admit that I don't really know how to wear pieces like this. So maybe I'll have to find someone to give it to...

Devil's Food Peanut Butter and Jelly Cup Cakes

Long name, I know, but so very very awesome.

So here's how it went. I knew I wanted to make some kind of dessert to celebrate my boyfriend's last day of finals. I decided to make cupcakes because I just think they're cute-- and I figured if I wanted to I could take them to someone else more easily if they were individual servings.

So I preheated the oven, mixed the cake recipe, poured the cupcakes (I made half as many twice as big-- dubbed them ManCakes) and then realized I did not have a can of frosting.

No problem, I'll make my own.

I don't have powdered sugar.

So I thought, what do I have in my cupboard that acts like frosting already? Of course-- peanut butter. So I asked google, can peanut butter be used as frosting?

And google gave me the idea of peanut butter topped with jelly. Now, that's a good idea, but I had seen in Martha Stewart's Halloween magazine last year where she put jelly inside cupcakes so that they looked like they bled when you bit into them, so I decided it would be much tastier to put the jelly inside the cupcakes, and use the peanut butter as frosting. Which resulted in:

 

So after I finished these, I dug a bag of Reese's Pieces out of the pantry, which gave me another good idea; What if you filled the cupcake cup up half way, and then put a layer of peanut butter baking chips, and then filled the cup up the rest of the way with batter? Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cakes!

Shawlette

I made this pretty little shawlette while I was taking a break from job hunting (which I resume tomorrow). It only took me a day, and it's probably one of the prettiest things I've ever made!

  

The detail is what is really special.

 

I think the reason I've been knitting so much is that it makes me feel adequate-- something job hunting certainly doesn't do.

More new clothes

This is another of the skirts I got from my Mom. I love wearing patterned skirts with solid tops. I mean, I think the look is nice, but other than that I just love patterned skirts. This one is especially cool; those strips aren't printed on the fabric-- they're just zig zag stitching in various tightnesses and widths to create cool stripes. I thought about doing it with my new sewing machine for about five seconds...and then realized I do not have the patience for that! But it would be fun for a little while :)

Thank You Notes

I don't do Thank You notes for everything, but I thought for the graduation party, it was just a logical thing to do. I started out just handwriting the notes on pretty colors:

And while I like that they're colorful, I thought sticking a colored piece of paper in an envelope was a little lame. So I talked to Mom and she came up with a much better idea! First, I arranged some pressed flowers and my thank you note on my scanner:

Then, I put one of Mom's handmade papers as the background:

And the result was a pretty, handmade thank you note that matched the feel and idea of the original party! 

I suppose the hardest thing to get a hold of would be the pressed flowers (I was lucky Mom had some on hand), but really you can buy them at Michaels, along with pretty papers etc. I wonder, would it be possible to do this on a computer if you wanted to? I don't have the skills to go there, but it might be something interesting to look into.