'Tis the season: gingerbread men and 3-D paper stars

A little round up of some baking and crafting from this week/weekend.  Despite the 3 or four inches of fresh snow that fell overnight, I took this morning to finish up procuring and wrapping presents for the family.  Zoe makes an excellent backdrop, and her patience was rewarded with an hour or so hike on some trails across from the nearby elementary school.

wrapping paper courtesy of old seven days papers.
just another way to cut down on waste during the
holidays, doubling as a great fire starter!

Christmas Cards, 2012 edition

Another Sunday crafternoon.  It's snowing outside, "White Christmas" is on TV, and the holidays are just around the corner.

What to do with paint chip strips that have been laying around? Make Christmas cards, of course!

some paint strips

November Sky Blanket Square

I had to play catch up with the November square; my grad research project wrapped up at the end of November/beginning of December so "free" time was at a premium.  

november

October Sky Blanket Square

October's square.  Lots of gray at the end of the month; we were lucky that Sandy skirted us, just rain and wind for several days. Thinking of those who were in the affected (and devastated) areas.

october

September Sky Blanket Square

on top of the world
in the southern hemisphere

September was a super busy month; just over a week into the month (and three weeks into school), a majority of the kids all shipped out to Chile for alpine camp and Italy for nordic camp. 

I hopped on the plane to Chile and spent two weeks at Valle Nevado with the 'piney's, proctoring study hall, getting the kids to go to bed at a reasonable hour, and playing nurse to the sick and injured (watching someone get stitches - not all that fun). 

August Sky Blanket Square

Had to do a little catching up on the August square as I missed a few days of knitting.  That's what Saturday and Sunday mornings are for!

 

august

Nutella Cookies

Nutella is one of my favorite food products.  I tend to consume it straight from the jar on a spoon.  It's a heavenly hazelnut pick-me-up.  And now I've found a recipe for Nutella Cookies, courtesy of Pinterest.

Cranberry & Cream Striped Raglan

The yarn I used for this sweater, Nature Spun by Brown Sheep, has been in my stash for several years now.  And by "several" years I mean that I bought it to make a different sweater that I started knitting during a weekend of house-sitting the winter after I graduated college . . . in 2003.  I guess it just needed to be aged, like any good wine or cheese.

The first incarnation of the sweater was also striped, but, like the first incarnation of most of the sweaters I make for myself it did not survive.  The yarn was packed up and stored for several years, traveled to the island where it sat for several more years, and nearly became a different sweater, until I finally came up with an idea a couple of years ago. 

I knew I wanted a fitted, striped sweater with a side-split collar, and I knew that I wanted to make a top-down (or bottom-up) raglan.  This style would require the least amount of finishing and seaming, which I abhor.  So I drew something up.

July Sky Blanket Square

July square complete:

June Sky Blanket Square

The six-month mark in this project/endeavor passed nearly a month ago, and if I hadn't just arrived in Boston for the second summer session for my grad program I would have posted the June update. . . so here it is now:

june!

May Sky Blanket Square

Another month gone by, another sky blanket square:

five down, seven to go

The end of May also brought the end of the school year.  The seniors graduated on June 2 (with a spectacular entrance via tractor & wagon, and heartfelt speeches by each graduate) and today (Monday) is my first official day of summer break. 

A stitch in time: Chaco quick-fix

I love my Chacos.  I bought them when I moved to Durango back in 2004.  They've been on multiple river trips and tidepooling excursions, southwest desert and mountain hikes, northeast rambles and coastal island scrambles.  I just about live in them from mid-spring through late fall. 

floating the san jaun, june '06

April Sky Blanket Square

Not much crafting in the month of April aside from sky blanket square.  Grad school is nearly over, and teaching winds up at the end of this month.  Hopefully I'll find some more time throughout the summer to fit some crafting in!

april showers bring may flowers

March Sky Blanket Square

Took a little break from grading and grad work to snap some pictures of the march square and preceeding months. Hard to believe that 2012 is one-quarter over already.



march

Make Something Monday: (almost) No-sew Braided T-shirt Collar

finished braid, with rouching effect!

I came across this fairly simple idea for updating/fancifying a t-shirt: creating a braid around the neck opening using the fabric of the shirt itself. Her inspiration came from a picture she'd seen on pinterest of a Banana Republic shirt with two rows of "braid" around the front of the collar.

G came over on Monday night with Odin to hang out so we decided this might be a low-key craft to do, and it seems to be follow our current theme of t-shirts.

Make Something Monday: T-shirt produce bags

. . . and other updates.

A while ago, my sister and I had decided to establish a weekly crafting routine on Monday nights (my last class ends by 5, and I have the evening free from dorm-parenting duties). This weekly crafting idea comes from my friend Nicole from ME, who has been holding "Too Cute Tuesdays" off and on over the past several years. She started after she moved off the island, so I never got to be a part of them. She and her crew have made a lot of cool things over the years that I keep meaning to try my hand at (the Fabric To Go boxes I made last spring came from a craft she had posted about). Winter being winter (and colds, and lack of planning) has kept us from actually starting up. Last night (yes, Tuesday), however, we decided to get the show on the road.

old t-shirts, mostly from G

Last week I'd stumbled across a t-shirt repurposing project: turn old t-shirts into produce (or other) bags with a seam or two and some snips through the fabric to give it some extra stretch. One take on the project is here, another take is here. We mostly followed the former example.

2012 Knitting challenge

I've decided to take on a knitting challenge for 2012. Inspired by a fb share from a grad school classmate, I'm knitting at least two rows per day on what eventually become a blanket.

At thirty stitches per row, two rows per day, and three hundred and sixty-five days in the year, it's going to be a lot of stitches (21900, to be exact. Oh! It's a leap-year, so that would be 21960).

Calendar Craft



paper source wall art calendar

I have  a growing collection of calendars from past years that I've kept for the photography or artwork. I've had intentions of "doing something" with them - frame the photos, perhaps - although I've yet to make that happen. Not for lack of ideas or time, but perhaps motivation.

Enter the Paper Source Wall Art Calendar.  The genius folk over at Paper Source sell a calendar that not only has gorgeous, colorful silk screen images, but the back side of the each month is a template for making the artwork into one of a number of projects: gift box, gift box pillow, note cards, book mark, file folder. The pages are sturdy cardstock so will hold up well to being handled. Now there's no excuse NOT to do something with the pages right away - the instructions are right on the pages! I love built-in motivation! 

Year of the Pie: In Review

Well, I didn't quite make it through the entire Pie compendium. But given the busy second half of the year I've had, I'm fairly pleased with twelve new pies in the course of eight months of 2011 - seems pretty good to me!

To review: