Pie-eyed

A few weeks back I made the most delicious apple pie. I'm very new to pie making but I got some pie pans for Christmas and wanted to give them a try. The last apple pie I made was in a cheesecake pan to give you an idea of what I was working with. Just a note that while a cheesecake pan gives lots of room for a super deep dish apple pie don't expect to ever be able to get a slice out of the thing.


I made a simple butter crust, trying my best to keep everything involved as cold as possible. I used granny smith apples tossed in a quick sugar/flour/cinnamon mixture. I did some snowflake cutouts from the top crust and threw on a sanding of sugar to try and class it up a little. It's definitely my best looking pie to date and it was pretty damn tasty, too, if I do say so.

I made a pecan pie for Chris at the same time. Unfortunately, it was not a very photogenic pie so you'll just have to take my word that it existed. It made up for it's generally homeliness by tasting awesome. Everytime I make a pecan pie I'm shocked at the sheer simplicity of it. There's maybe five ingredients tossed in a mixer and sprinkled with crushed pecans (preferred in our household over whole pecans).

Pies may not be the quickest treat to whip up but I'm looking forward to making my next one.

Giant Octopus

It's a bird!


It's a plane!


It's a GIANT OCTOPUS!!


I finished this belated Christmas gift for my Mom last month but have been forgetting to post about it. This is the most ambitious toy that I've ever taken on and I have to admit that from about the halfway point to the end I felt like throwing in the towel. It's loosely based on the pattern by Hansigurumi only much, much bigger. I had to improvise most of the head shaping and there were many times during the making of it that I would look at it, realize that the shaping wasn't going where I'd hoped, tear back a couple of rows and start over. Man, does that start to suck after a while. As much of a headache as it may have been to make, I'm super proud of how it turned out. It's very, very cute. And while this will remain the one and only giant octopus I may try to make a few tiny octopi following Hansigurumi's pattern.

Just for scale here's a photo of the giant octopus attacking me upon competion.

Terrible Photo of a Work In Progress

I'm nearly done with making this little Nautilus toy for Chris but I was super lazy about taking some in progress photos of it last night. It's based on a pattern from knitty.com that I've had on my queue on Ravelry for at least a year. I'm trying to make an effort to use up a lot of my stash yarn before embarking on bigger Christmas projects that will involve yarn buying.

After this I'd like to try my hand at knitting another pair of socks. I got some lovely skeins of sock yarn for Christmas and if I can get the hang of it I might make some cute pairs of socks for Christmas gifts this year. I love the Yarn Harlot's plan on her blog and in the awesome page a day calendar that I got for Christmas to set up 12 Ziploc bags at the beginning of the year, each with a sock pattern and a paired yarn. Grab a bag at random and knit one pair per month and by the end of the year you have 12 nice new socks for Christmas/Birthdays/yourself. But before I can jump into my own sock of the month club I need to, you know, learn how to knit socks well.

I also have a plan for some cute little mittens to make for my little etsy shop. I'm going to do a practice run with some cheap red heart yarn that I have way too much of before I go out and get something nice and soft.

Finally, and really most importantly, tomorrow is Puppy Bowl!! Since I'm totally not into sports and actually couldn't remember who was playing against the Saints in the Super Bowl tomorrow I'm going to turn my attention to the only sports event that I watch all year. And I'm most excited by this little puppy here.


Someone somewhere bred a chihuahua with a pug and I'm not sure if that person is a genius or madman. Sometimes I look at this puppy and think it's freaking adorable and sometimes it looks like some mad scientist glued the head of a pug onto a little chihuahua body and created an appalling abomination. Right now I'm leaning toward totally adorable. Chris voted for abomination. Either way I will be oohing and aahing as this and many other puppies chase around toys for several hours tomorrow. I'm weird, I know, but it'll make good TV for knitting.

Christmas Knitting Pt.2

I finished blocking the Hemlock Blanket. I think it's totally awesome. I can't believe that i was able to make something that looks so intricate and pretty. I might have to make a few more of these for next Christmas. Maybe I'll even take some time and make one for myself.

Fingerless Gloves (In Progress)

I'm nearly finished with a pair of fingerless gloves that I'm knitting up as a Christmas present. The yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease and the pattern is called Susie's Reading Mitts and I'm really happy with it. They're very simple and chic which was what I was going for.

I'm debating whether or not to make a full set with a hat and scarf or just to make one or the other to go with it. I've still got a month to finish the Christmas knitting so I've got some time to work it out.

As far as Christmas knitting goes, I've finished the Hemlock Blanket and I just need to block it this weekend. After the gloves and hat and/or scarf I'm hoping to make three Monkeys from the pattern in Amigurumi World by Ana Paula Rimoli for my nephew. I think that it's all doable by Christmas but check in with me on 12/20 to see if I bit off more than I can chew.