just a bit

before bed.

I had to take pictures of the muffins from yesterday before they were all gone. DS2 first complained about the 'rocks' on top, but now it seems he can't eat enough! Kids are so funny. They are really tasty though, I have to say. Here's the recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 5 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup organic sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup oil (I used vegetable, but you could use safflower or corn)

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers or use those nifty silicone trays.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes (depending on your oven), until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.


The wool I dyed yesterday is dry. So I took the opportunity of being awake and feeling a bit better to wind it into cakes. I'm calling this colorway "berries in the snow" I think it will make a beautiful shawl for mom. I'm between the clapotis and spunky eclectic's show your colors... guess I better decide since it's on the to do list for a Christmas gift.

I'll take pics of the other goodies I got later (maybe tmrw) since I should try to get *some* sleep tonight.

Happy crafting

socks 2

Well I finished the second pair of socks Saturday evening.

Pattern: Yarn Harlot's Sock Recipe from Knitting Rules
Yarn: Plymouth Sockotta
Color: 6669 Fair Isle
Needles: US2 DPNS

Note to self: when using self patterning fair isle yarn, DO NOT do ribbing... it loses all the effect. At least the toe and the bottom of the foot look good! At least they're comfy and I do like the colors.

I've been putting my stuff into ravelry and looking at other people's which has been sucking up computer time like crazy. That site is completely amazing though. I really do *heart* ravelry

I have a picture of my poncho that I took for ravelry. It's nowhere near finished, but almost halfway. It will eventually be a long rectangle that I'll sew the one end to the opposite side. Clear as mud? Then hopefully pick up stitches around the neck to make a mock turtle. That's my plan at least. Remember, I'm making this one up as I go.

DD and I were home sick today... fever and aches... nothing serious, but enough to put a damper on work. I kept DS2 home from daycare as well. I got a burst of energy at about 12:30 and made banana muffins and dyed up some laceweight wool....then I petered out. Thankfully DH went to collect DS1 from school.

Oh and the mailman has been very good to me of late :-) My love2knit dishcloth exchange package came today. Opening day is the 15th so you'll see it then. Also got some yummy wool that I bought from ebay.

I'll post pics of the wool and muffins tmrw. I'm packing lunches, cleaning up the kitchen and going to bed.

happy crafting

Can you say "procrastination"?

So DD chose the yarn and pattern for her Easter basket. She chose the Y2Knit Spring Basket pattern that was the pattern of the month in March 2005 and Paton's Classic Merino Rosewood. DS1 agreed he like the idea but preferred a basket in red. Of course the amount of red wool I have isn't enough to make a basket, so we dyed some tonight using 3 flavors of Kool Aid: Cherry, Very Berry and Tropical Fruit Punch in a 2/2/1 combination. First, I soaked the hanks in vinegar water, but I think I should have added some Dawn and made the water hot instead of cold. At any rate, in the pot on the stove went the Kool Aid, some vinegar and water. DS1 and DS2 stirred the pot. I put in 2 hanks of VT wool that I bought off eBay in the spring (I bought about 6 pounds I think) It's Aran weight and a bit yellowed from the lanolin and years of age. The ballband tells all. I hope it suits him.



I thought I had set the pot on simmer, but apparently the heat was a tad bit higher. No harm done, fortunately, because I caught it before it had boiled any of the liquid off. We were in the basement watching the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets movie on the Disney Channel, anyway, I sensed the faint aroma of hot wet sheep and flew upstairs to find the pot starting to boil... Needless to say I took it off the heat and checked the water and lo and behold, all the dye had been absorbed, rather evenly too. It's a bit orangier (is that a word?) than the red power ranger (which I'm sure is the color he has in his little 4 YO mind) but I think it will be fine. Now if I can only talk him into an accent color.... around the top and braided into the handle and maybe a little stripe in the middle??? I'll work on that.

Today I was taking some things to a local thrift shop and stopped at a LYS that was new to me. I had no intentions of buying fiber and I didn't (still on that diet), but wanted to have a look see.... I came home with 2 Fiber Trends patterns: the felted adult clogs and the felted birdhouses. Now I'd love to tell the name of the store, but my Dory brain has set in. However. KnitWiz Sew What Happens is calling to me, but I can't guarantee that that is indeed the correct name. Nope Google is my friend and the correct name is Knitwitz and Sew Much More. Anyway, there is lots of nice yarn to fondle... Lorna's Laces, Crystal Palace, Berroco, Mission Falls to name a few as well as some local handspun! It was merely by the grace of God that I left with no fiber in my hands!

Off to the resale shop and of course I had to go in to see if there were any knitting books or whatever. There weren't, nor was there decent yarn.... But I did buy a Musini for school (sans cartridge) for 95¢ which I thought was a steal. I have tons of cartridges here at home with ours, so... it'll work I think very well for the KDG classes...

Well it's now officially Palm Sunday and I'm off to spin some more.

Happy crafting