baby hat in a night

 

i had one night to make a baby present. my friend ikaika was having a first year birthday for his son, ka'uhane here on o'ahu and i found out the day before. good thing babies are small. i recalled my friend sandra saying she had a crochet baby hat pattern that she was able to make last minute - two in one night, maybe even - for a baby party recently, so i asked her to send it to me - thanks sandra!

i love the pattern, those little ear flap/tie things are super fun, though i didn't exactly stick to the pattern. i'm not good on checking gauge, and the crochet hooks i was borrowing from grandma ho were all sized in japanese, so i have no idea what size hook i was using. plus i really don't have a clear reference for how big a one-year-old's head would be, so the sizing is all an approximation. i added the little lines in the middle by crocheting into just the back loop of each stitch - something i had accidentally taught myself to do all the time, and my guatemalan host mother helped me figure out why all my crocheting looked ridged like that.
i got the idea for the variegated outline from the photos sandra sent me of her hat - that's my favorite part. so i used some extra yarn i have from the owl sweater i'm *still* working on for myself, and picked up a little hank of variegated yarn to accent.

i didn't have a baby head to model the hat on, so this stuffed dog had to stand in.
now upon meeting ka'uhane i have no idea of the hat will actually fit, he's a big boy. but it was a fun late night project to give me an excuse to get caught up on season 5 of lost.

holiday obsession: cranberries

this year's holiday theme for me has been cranberries. from cooking to crafting to fashion, i'm obsessed with the little buggers and their delightful color.
it started with cranberry relish. well, truth be told it started with a sale on cranberries at the korean market. but then that led to my favorite holiday dish - one that always has people asking for the recipe, so i'll give it to you now. it's the easiest dish to prepare for a big payoff in taste and compliments.

CRANBERRY RELISH
2 cups washed raw cranberries
2 peeled and cored apples (tart kind)
1 large, whole (as in peel and everything) seedless orange, cut into sections
1/3 to 1/2 jalepeno (veined and seeded), chopped fine
1/4 (or more to taste) cup sugar

fill a bowl with cold water and your cranberries - if you're buying a bag you'll have a little left over once you use two cups. wash them around and pick out any soft or wrinkled ones. then you're basically going to add all the fruit chunks above into a food processor - this is way better if you have one of those old school meat grinders and then you can feed everything through that and when you crank it the cranberries make a really satisfying popping sound. if you're using the food processor method you can pulse them until they're chopped into smaller chunks, but you want to be careful not to overblend, otherwise it'll just be mushy - you want the fruits to still maintain their structure. i find it works best for my little cuisinart to do it in batches. when you've chopped up all the fruit you sprinkle the sugar on and mix it around, then let it sit at room temperature for 45 minutes so the sugar melts (this makes a big difference), and then you can keep in in the fridge after that. we started adding jalepeno last year and i love the way it opens up the flavors with a little kick without being noticibly hot.
so there was that.
and then we still had a couple bags of cranberries, so i decided to freeze them. while i was considering what to do with frozen cranberries i made about 5 batches of these viennese crescent (aka russian tea cake, aka mexican wedding) cookies. i use pecans because walnuts make my tongue swell up, but if you can handle walnuts they're a cheaper alternative. this recipe comes from my mom:

CRESCENT COOKIES
½ pound butter
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup ground nuts (walnuts, pecans, etc)
1 teaspoon vanilla
powdered sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Cream the butter, then add the granulated sugar, flour, nuts and vanilla and mix thoroughly.  Shape with your fingers into delicate crescents, about 2 inches long and ½ inch wide and thick.  Roll them in the confectioners’ sugar and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for about 30 minutes, until just faintly browned.  Cool, then roll in more confectioners’ sugar before serving.


one thing i noticed in my many iterations of this recipe over the course of the week before christmas (we consumed a lot of butter and nuts!) was that i really prefer sweet cream butter in this recipe over unsalted. in fact, i added a sprinkle of salt in with the powdered sugar in that batch to compensate for the lack of saltiness.

these cookies are crazy good. i recommend making them for a party so that you don't just eat them all week and then make more when you run out. ahem.
just to satisfy my cranberry craving, i served the cookies with a little cranberry centerpiece and a few springs of thyme for holiday cheer.
we also discovered that frozen cranberries are a nice compliment to a glass of champagne - and if you muddle them up a bit they turn your toasting glass a nice shade of pink.

and finally, on christmas i had a craving for truffles, and - you guessed it - cranberries. so i followed this basic recipe for bittersweet chocholate ganache truffles, and then added chopped frozen cranberries to the ganache and rolled them around in cocoa powder and nibs with a little salt. they're spectacular. a little on the goey side because i think the cranberries added too much liquid to the mixture, but they hold their shape and the bittersweet chocolate and tartness of the berries goes really nicely together.

to top it off, i've been eyeing this sleaveless turtleneck sweater for a while that i'd gotten from someone and had in the "might be useful for future craft project" bin - and its cranberry color spoke to me recently. i had seen this tutorial on turning old sweaters into a shrug (or "caplet" as they call it), and i'm really into drapey shawls and shrugs these days, so i tried it out with the cranberry sweater.
you basically turn the sweater sideways, pick out the side seams so it opens on the top and bottom, and then cut off the top (and bottom, depending on the sweater) and sew those together. it worked like a charm. i had to pick up the stitches on the top when i cut off from the sleaves and neck portion of the sweater because it's such a chunky knit, but then I stiched it together, and also stitched the bottom of the sweater (where it's ribbed) together and then gathered it for a little flair. i'm really excited about this shrug right now. hannah and i got our nails done the other day and i later realized i'd chosen a sparkle cranberry color, so going out tonight for new years eve is going to continue the theme: cranberry and cocktail dress, here i come!

hats around the bend

we just got home from oklahoma and it feels like many things are coming full circle. for one, it just occurred to me that this blog is almost a year old. as i was knitting up a new hat for nasra, whose head has outgrown last year's knitted cap, i started thinking about how i was knitting that hat in oklahoma last year, and how it was one of the first posts that appeared on the blog.


i followed this pattern for the hat this time. it's a very simple pattern, but made all the difference in terms of taking out the guesswork in decreasing. i was looking for a project to keep me busy on the plane and use up some of the odds and ends of various yarns i have kicking around the house. i used no. 8 double pointed needles, since that's what i had on hand. as the pattern says, this hat is very stretchy and should accommodate nasra's baby head growth for a while. i can even fit my own head in there, though it doesn't quite look right.


baby's head goes in there.

end-of-springtime sweater renewal

it feels like we're in the final throws of spring here in the bay area, and if you're like me you're itching to wear some summer clothes just to encourage the season along. but i'm learning that it's advisable - no matter how anxious you are for summer - to at least bring along a sweater or two to combat the ever-changing bay climate.
i've got a lot of sweaters, but honestly i've either worn them till i'm sick of them throughout the winter, or they have holes in them, and/or don't actually fit me anymore.
so in the spirit of march mending month, and always in the spirit of conserving resources in this economy (the above and below posters are courtesy of the u.k.'s wartime "make do and mend" campaign) i've collected some options for sprucing up your sweater wardrobe.


option 1: fix a snag


i'll admit that when i snag a sweater my usual response involves cursing rolling the loose end into a ball, tugging at the edges of the sweater, and praying it stays put. i can't say this technique has ever actually worked long-term, so i'm glad to provide you with a super easy tutorial on what you're really supposed to do when you snag your sweater.

option 2: mend a hole

if you've got a more substantial hole (rather than just a loose thread bit from the snag) you can easily mend it - knits are generally really forgiving; i've done many a sloppy i'm-on-the-train-to-work-and-i'm-determined-to-mend-this-hole type of mending jobs on sweaters and you really can't tell at all. so even if you don't consider yourself a seamster/seamstress i think this is a repair you can handle. here's a little video tutorial:

How to Sew a Hole -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

option 3: embellish over a hole


i like this idea of embellishing over a sweater hole because it both makes the item wearable again as well as adds a brand-new appeal. i still recommend mending your hole first before adding embellishments. plus this option will cover up any weirdness you may have created while mending that hole.

option 4: crochet a patch


i had to include this hole patching idea because i think it's so interesting. you're basically crocheting into the perimeter of the sweater hole - this method is for big holes - and crocheting a spiral into the middle. i like it.

option 5: let's be honest, you're never going to wear that again.


part of spring cleaning is a realistic assessment of what you're hanging onto despite knowing that you'll never really wear it. i've got several sweaters that fit into that category but i'm just unwilling to toss them. i just think it's a pity to get rid of something as potentially useful as a sweater.
i'm willing to be reasonable enough to admit that it's no longer useful as a sweater, so here are a couple projects you can make out of old sweaters:

recycled sweater animals


yes, this project is brought to you by martha stewart (don't judge me). aren't they cute? the pattern looks super easy; i love the idea of upcycling a well-loved sweater into a stuffed animal, and i'm always looking for gift ideas for friends' babies.
you'll need to felt a wool sweater to start off with for this project, and martha doesn't explain that part in her online pattern, so here's a tutorial on machine felting - basically you're just washing the sweater in hot water until the fibers mat together.

recycle that yarn!


i recently needed to buy enough yarn to knit a sweater - more on that in a minute - and i realized
a) that's a lot of yarn, and
b) it costs a ton of money
so now i'm looking at those sweaters in the back of my drawer in a whole new way. inthe way a hungry wolf looks at a wooly sheep, i suppose.
it is, in fact, possible to recycle old sweaters into reusable yarn - and they tell you the best way to go about it at craft leftovers.if you're not a knitter, but like to take things apart you can always give your plunder to a knitting friend - one thing about knitters, we can't seem to turn down free yarn.

option 6: make your own

i found this sweater pattern online and fell in love - i really like owls. so in typical fashion i got really excited and bought the yarn (ugh) and started knitting - and then my enthusiasm ran over a speedbump and i haven't picked it up since. the speedbump was gauge. testing gauge is recommended for anything you're knitting that has a pattern, to make sure what you're making is similar in size to what the person to created the pattern was making. gauge is created by the particular combination of the weight of yarn you're using, the size or your needles, and how tension you use while you're knitting. i've never really understood how gauge works in a pattern, and i have very little patience for knitting something that is not actually the sweater i'm so anxious to be making, so i rarely test my gauge. i did test the gauge on this one, and instead of knitting up a nice square, i made a long skinny rectangle. but then i didn't really know what to do about my gauge being off, so i just proceeded to try making the sweater and seeing how it turned out. it turned out small. really small.


so now it's sitting on the needles waiting for me to figure out what to do.

nasra's hat

here's an update of one satisfied hat wearer


this is the hat i made while in oklahoma this summer. good thing i made the size up for nasra, her head's filling it out nicely now. thanks for the photo, justin. she's beautiful.

oklahoma goodies

sipping saturday morning coffee today inspired me to feature my favorite recent find: the oil rig coffee mugs. we found these treasures at a thrift store on our recent trip to oklahoma. i love them, partly for the irony of cherishing this symbolic image of our impending doom, and partly for the aesthetic accuracy of comparing oil to the type of coffee I insist on brewing, no matter how many guests can't drink it.
here they are making appearances next to the ongoing dragonfly quilt project and the other baby-related craft i finished in oklahoma: knit baby hat. this is baby hat number 3 for our friend justin's new baby, nasra. the first two i completed with grandma ho's help while in hawai'i - one crocheted and one knit, but i was trying to figure out how to decrease without a pattern on the knit hat and it turned out with a few extraneous angles, so this is my redo attempt, a few sizes bigger so she can grow into it.