A Tale of Two Cakes

With Alice’s birthday quickly approaching, I have cakes on the brain. Alice reaps the benefits of a family scattered with two parties – one yesterday here in CT and one next weekend in NJ for my family.

The Healthy Cake

Make fun of me all you want, but I made Alice her very own special (and healthy!) mini birthday cake. Somehow the ingredient list (carrots, apple juice concentrate, wheat germ, whole wheat flour, etc.) and the notable absence of sugar didn’t set off my panic button that I was flirting with baking disaster. It didn’t fully hit me until I tried a bite of one of the extra mini cakes. And promptly spit it out….then rinsed out my mouth. How could I expect Alice to eat this? It was more of a Metamucil substitute than birthday cake!

Unfortunately, I had already started on the grown-up cake – a decadent, fudgy confection laced with coffee – way too rich, caffeinated, and allergen-laden for Alice’s first cake. Plus, I had invested so much time into her cake what with shredding carrots, boiling them in apple juice concentrate, then pureeing the mixture, etc., I was averse to tossing it. I justified feeding her the “cake” (I use this word loosely) because the cream cheese icing (recipe from same website) I made was actually quite tasty. I do have to admit I was a little nervous. If she refused her cake, I would have been bummed there were no 1st birthday cake smash pictures!

It turns out that I don’t know my daughter or my taste buds are off because get this – she actually ate the cake. And showed her appreciation by smashing it in her hair, all over the floor, her shirt, etc. For that, the dog was also appreciative.

While Alice was intrigued by the cake at first – as evidenced by her eyes lighting up and her playing with the icing – she wasn’t quite sure what to do with it… Was this a new toy? It’s on my highchair….should I eat it? Why is everyone looking at me? Daddy stepped in and gave her a lick of icing, which was all it took. Within moments, she dove head first into her cake.And then she proceeded to eat her cake…um, like a dog. Who knew watching your child eat cake like a dog could be the cutest. thing. ever?

I don’t mean to sound so down on the cake, obviously Alice liked it! I think my problem is that despite all the healthy ingredients, I expected a traditional moist and decadent carrot cake. I think the cake would benefit from some unhealthy and baby-unfriendly ingredients like regular flour and walnuts, but then it wouldn’t be a good baby’s first birthday cake, would it?
The real saving grace was the whipped cream cheese icing. Only four ingredients and oh so delicious. I might have eaten the leftovers spread over some graham crackers. Just maybe.

The Unhealthy Cake

Seeing as I went healthy on Alice’s cake, I had to balance things out with a decadent and nutritionally void grown-up cake. Being a die-hard Ina Garten fan, I opted for the Beatty’s Chocolate Cake and Buttercream icing, a recipe I’ve seen her make several times on her show and been itching to try.

I added an extra layer of excitement by using the Wilton Giant Cupcake pan, so I had to closely monitor the oven during baking. I deserve a slap on the wrist because I opened that oven door at least five or six times. And of course, I didn’t take note of the actual finishing time. Because the cupcake top portion is significantly smaller than the bottom, I let the bottom cook for about 10 minutes before filling the top side. I then set the time for another 20 minutes. About 7 toothpicks and 15 to 20 minutes later, I think it was done but that was two days ago and my brain is foggy.
This cake was a total win. The icing (I halved the recipe) was light and creamy. The cake was dense and rich, yet moist.

The only minor change to the recipe was using instant espresso instead of instant coffee; I trust Ina. And you should, too! Go make this cake!

More birthday fun to come!

A Bevy of Baby Knits (in Chronological Order)

What is this? An early Christmas miracle? I think the last time I posted twice in a week was back in 2006. Let's hope the momentum continues!

Okay, let’s go back when back when I started my nearly a year-long hiatus on the blog (before yesterday’s post that is). I had a baby. Like any self-respecting knitter, I made an abundance of baby knits. Most of these knits were created during my two weeks of maternity leave before Alice was born. Some people nest, some people knit. Who’s to judge what’s better?
While I’ve been slow to keep up the blog, I’ve been relatively good about maintaining Ravelry. Good thing, because I don’t think I would even remember what I knitted, let alone the little details.

I started with a few sweaters, because a baby born in November needs lots of sweaters, right? And when a knitter talks about baby sweaters, they’re really just talking about EZ. With that, I made:

A BSJ

She grew out of this in like five minutes. But she looked damn cute for those five minutes! Okay, maybe a couple months. It was the perfect little newborn sweater – trim and close-fitting and just plain adorable. Also gender-neutral for future babes.

Oh so teeny! Just a couple days old!

Ravelry Link
Pattern: BSJ
Yarn: Vesper Sock Yarn in Meteor
Needles: Size 5 Addis
Dates Knitted: September 8, 2008 to September 30, 2008
Mods: No need to mess with perfection.
Comments: A great project for the Non-Superwash Vesper Sock Yarn patiently waiting in my stash.

In her beloved swing. I don't know what we would have done without that thing!

One Fish, Two Fish

Another project in my queue of baby knits well before I saw pink lines or ultrasounds were these little guys:

I mean, what newborn doesn’t need two bigger than life-size knitted fish?
I started the big guy at the end of October, but seemed to forget about him and his little friend. With Alice still refusing to make her entrance, I finished them up.

These are the softest, most adorable, most useless baby knit ever, but I lurve them. She’s too young to really enjoy them, but I know she will grow to love them (har, get it, grow! Sorry J ) I’ve started using them as props in photoshoots as a reference point for Alice’s growth and letting her play with them a bit. By play with, I mean gum and suck.

Ravelry Link
Pattern: Big Fish, Little Fish
Yarn: Blue Sky Dyed Cotton in Lemongrass and Aloe
Needles: Size 8 Addis
Dates Knitted: October 30, 2008 – November 17, 2008

With still no sign of Alice despite her impending her due date, I was worried about starting any big, valiant projects in fear that I would go into labor and not finish in time. I’m not quite sure why this prospect was so unsettling to me, but I stuck to knitting hats those last couple days before she was born. Of course, knitting a baby hat takes no time at all, so I knit a couple.

Sheep Hat

Sweet Little Alice, only 1 day old!

I started with a hat that I had been ogling for awhile. Who doesn’t love sheep? And how clever that the sheep’s wool is purled? Love. Unfortunately, this hat really did fit for only about a week and it was never a great fit. Weighing in close to 9 pounds, she wasn’t the teeniest baby after all. I still made her wear it because it was too stinkin’ cute not to.

Ravelry Link
Pattern: Baby Sheep Hat by Melissa Burt
Days Knit: November 17-18 (my due date!)
Needles: Size 5 and 6
Yarn: All scraps from the stash! Boo-yah!
Mods: I added pink to the color scheme to make it a touch more girly. Who knew pink would become such a staple in my color palette?

On a high from my yarn thriftiness and ingenuity, I pulled some leftover scraps from a few Big Bad Baby Blankets I knitted for some other babies together into this little hat:

Flour Sack Baby Hat

Getting ready to leave the hospital

Ravelry Link
Pattern: My own, made up on the fly.
Needles: Size 7 and 8
Yarn: Blue Sky Organic Cotton in Sand, Nut, and Bone
Days Knit: November 18
So adorable. My all time favorite for her. I might need to make her another for next fall, I loved it so much. Blue Sky Cotton is just delicious and perfect for baby knits.

4 months old



A February Baby Sweater

Despite my purchasing the yarn for this sweater well before she was born, this knit did not make it to the needles until she was a couple months old. That’s fine because it would have been huge on her. In fact, it didn’t start to really fit her until the spring and still fits well, although it’s getting a little short. While I love the sweater and have received tons of compliments on it, I’m always nervous when she wears it. Especially now that she loves pulling on buttons. I think this will be the last buttoned baby sweater I’ll make for her for a little whilet. I weaved the ends in for inches, but I’m still anxiety-ridden the entire time she’s in the sweater. You think that’s bad? What would you think if I told you that one morning after dressing Alice, I decided there was no chance I could send her wearing her peapod sweater as the buttons were starting to loosen up. So, I took the scissors to the sweater and snipped the buttons off. Each and every one. For someone usually laid back, I’m really taking the button thing a little far. I can’t help it.

Ravelry Link
Pattern: February Baby Sweater
Needles: Size 7
Days Knit: February 21, 2009 to March 18, 2009
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy in Blue Lagoon

Digging through all my pictures since Alice was born makes me so nostalgic. And seems appropriate with her 1st birthday next Friday. I know it sounds cliche, but it really goes so fast. My baby is barely a baby anymore! Sniff sniff.

PS - I still have some other projects to catch up on. They’ll be trickling on through…

Why we like owls.

This whole owl trend of the past few years is quite convenient for my family. See, my grandma had a bit of an owl obsession. “Obsession” might even be an understatement. Her avocado fridge was cluttered with owl magnets – felt, ceramic, you name it. Owl figurines jockeyed for space on crowded window sills; cross stitch owl cushions adorned her couches. You get the picture. When she passed away in 2003, I could think of no better way to preserve her memory than by snagging one of her countless sets of owl salt and pepper shakers and a pair of owl mugs for my house.

I always chalked the owls up to a fondness for a 1970s trend that wouldn’t quit. That was until a couple weekends ago when I shared my theory with my mom, who laughed and informed me that the owl was my grandparents’ college mascot. I guess that makes sense, although I can’t image a day where my house would be decorated with a myriad of royal bulldogs.

Even though it’s been awhile since my grandma has gone, she seems to have passed her owl affinity on to us all. When Alice was born, my cousin, Kris, bought Alice a little owl outfit with a note enclosed about my grandma. My sister admitted this past weekend that she always reaches for the owl mugs first when she’s visiting. Whenever we see anything owl-related, we’re inexplicably drawn to it. It helps that owls are everywhere these days.

So while it’s a shame Alice never got to meet her great-grandmother, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy that Alice can help carry on my grandma’s tradition. So, when I saw this hat I knew I had to make it. It didn’t hurt that it’s one of the cutest new knits of the season.

Project Details.
Pattern: Hoot Hat, Spud & Chloe Pattern by Susan B. Anderson
Yarn: Mirasol Miski in Wine held double, Mirasol Sulka in Horseradish + scraps of cascade, lamb’s pride, and berocco ultra alpaca for face.
Needles: I’m pretty sure I used size 10 Addis. Maybe size 9, but I think 10…
Time to knit: 5 seconds. Okay, more like a couple hours.
Comments:

-The real effort with this hat is in the finishing. The extra time spent seaming the hat flap to the main section and the time knitting the face will make or break this hat.

- I didn’t feel like dropping a ton of money on a baby hat for a baby who hates hats, so I went to knitters bargain basement aka my stash. I doubled up the miski to match the gauge of the sulka, but my gauge was still smaller than the pattern yarn. I read a number of people found the hat to be HUGE, so I knit the 6-12 month size for my 11 month old daughter. Even with the smaller gauge, it fits her but won’t for long.

- I would like to line all of my clothing with Mirasol Miski. Or at the very least, buy a bunch of baby llamas just so I can pet them.

And I’m back!

I don’t know how you all feel, but I’m pretty sick of nursing pads monopolizing key space at the top of my blog. There’s really only one way to remedy that.

While the past couple months have produced little (okay, no) blogging around here, I have been crafty in bits and spurts. While I daydream about my sewing machine, it sits idle upstairs in the guest room because I have yet to find a suitable and usable home for it.

Instead, I’ve been knitting in spurts when I have time and the motivation. I hit a dead spot in my want to knit after I finished Clapotis (oops, I don't think the blog even knows about Clapotis!) and it seemed to last and last. For awhile, I didn’t even have a project on the needles. And sadly, I didn’t care. I was waiting for that must-knit project to reignite my knitting, but it never materialized. I started a project or two, but nothing grabbed me.

The beginnings of a Hemlock Ring Blanket aka the destroyer of my knitting. PS - If you think your circular knitting needle is too short for a blanket, it is.

Then we went to the Cape for a week. I brought a couple of projects, with an uneven ration of yarn to project, with the balls of yarn heavily outweighing the project. With me came my Shetland Triangle (or the ten or so rows I knit and a couple balls of yarn), my retro redux shrug (or three balls of Blue Sky Cotton), and my Anastasia Socks (a big cake of STR Rocktober). After sitting on our deck while Alice napped, I fumbled through my book waiting for it to engage me. When it didn’t, I picked up my Shetland Triangle. Within a couple of rows, I was getting back into the swing of things and felt oddly relaxed. The air felt fresh and clean and my shoulders light. Row after row appeared and I sank deeper in my chair. Gone were feelings of obligation to the project at hand and frustration that I forgot to mark my place in the pattern. I felt good and so did knitting.

The Yellow Blob that brought me back

I’m still chugging along on my lace, but I’m okay with taking my time. For once, I feel more of a process knitter than product and it’s a nice change.

Also, look how big she got! And she's even bigger now. This pic is about a month old.

Nursing Pad Tutorial

Thanks for all the lovely messages about Alice! We're getting into a groove around here and I've finally been able to do a little crafting. My sewing machine has finally seen some use and thanks to some sage advice from Elizabeth over at A Mingled Yarn (Thanks, Elizabeth!), I'm finally able to knit while nursing.

Speaking of nursing, after tearing through a couple of boxes of nursing pads I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my own more environmentally-friendly version. I couldn't find an available pattern on the internet, so I thought I would share mine with you. There are probably better ways to construct them, but this worked for me.


Don't they look like ravioli?

What you'll need to make 12 breast pads (6 sets):
1/2 yard cotton flannel* (I used a natural color because I didn't want a wild print peeking through my shirt. You can go crazy with creativity, though)
1/4 yard cotton batting*
scissors
thread

*A note on fabric: I used cotton flannel and cotton batting because I had them around, but you can use whatever you'd like. I'd recommend using natural, breathable, but absorbent fabrics like cotton, hemp or bamboo. Also, feel free to add as many layers as necessary. I didn't want to add any bulk to my new, er, nursing figure, so I kept my pads on the slimmer side.

Step 1: Trace circles onto all fabrics. Trace 2 circles for every pad on flannel, and one for each on cotton batting. I used a 4.5 inch food container as my template. Use whatever you have around... mugs, plates, etc. Your template should be slightly larger (about 1/2 inch) than your finished nursing pad size.



Step 2: Cut out circles.



Step 3. Create pad "sandwiches." Flannel on the top and bottom with batting in the center.



Step 4. Cut out a wedge of fabric to make "pacman" shape. Do not cut wedge all the way to the center, but just before. This will prevent extra pointy nipples!



Step 5. Pin fabric in place.



Step 6. Bring two wedge sides together to make cone shape.



Step 7. Using a wide zig zag stitch, baste cone in place. Don't worry if some of the layers aren't secured by the stitches.


Use your sewing machine's widest zig zag setting.


I started on the outside of the circle and sewed towards the center.



Step 8. Flip cone over and stitch over your basting line. This will ensure all layers are stitched together.

Step 9. Zig Zag Stitch (or serge, if you're lucky enough to have a serger) along circle's perimeter.



Step 10. Use crimping scissors (or regular scissors) to trim egdges. If you serged your edges in Step 9, you can ignore this step.

Step 11: Enjoy dry shirts, while saving the planet (okay, this part might be a stretch, but every little bit counts)!

Alice Jane is Here!

I'm a little late posting this, but it's been an exhausting couple weeks. Alice was born on November 20 at 8:05am and weighed in at 8 lbs. 14 oz. I'm hoping regular (well, what I consider regular) posting to resume soon.

Bird Mobile: Done

The baby has yet to make her appearance (5/6 days till my due date!), so I've been occupying my time finishing up some projects.

When I first saw this mobile, I knew I needed to make it for my baby's nursery. I sewed the birds for this project awhile back, but was a little intimidated starting the actual mobile part. The last time I made a mobile was in 9th grade science and I vaguely recall using elaborate formulas, scales, and maybe even a bunsen burner or two (okay, maybe not the bunsen burner). My group built a gum mobile and I remember, despite our elaborate calculations, still having to chew off bits of the gum to make our mobile balance properly.

Several years later and without fancy formulas or a scale (or the ability to chew off bits of the birds' tails), but with a glut of cobwebs in the portion of my brain dedicated to science, I was nervous. I turned first to my geeky husband for guidance, who I thought would jump at the chance to tackle a physics puzzle with me. At first, he bluntly shot me down. After my desperate pleas that this was in fact a science project and a real opportunity for both fun and personal satisfaction, he couldn't help but jump into the project. Unfortunately, his interest was shortlived and he left me with the advice, "use trial and error." Hmm, thanks, honey. He did saw the sticks for me before completely abandoning the project. I'll take what I can get, I guess.

Again on my own, I developed my own process for execution (this might be common sense for you, but I thought it might be useful for some)...

1) Arrange birds. I had 11 birds and 3+ sticks. I laid out the sticks and the birds until i found an arrangement I liked.

2) Starting from the bottom, sew the birds to the sticks with dark brown thread. Use several tight loops to ensure birds stay propped on stick and do not droop.

3) Determine center balance point by resting the stick on finger (obviously, very technical). Screw in an eyelet screw at the balance point.

4) Attach fishing line to eyelet screw.

5) Attach eyelet screw to bottom of next highest stick (just guesstimate where you think it belongs; you can work out the balance with the placement of the top eyelet screw) and attach fishing line.

Repeat steps 2 through 5 until you have completed all tiers of the mobile. To make minor balance adjustments, you can shift the birds around a bit.

MATERIALS
Fabric: Amy Butler, Midwest Modern leftovers from the Baby's Quilt and Belle scraps from a yet to be blogged quilt

Sticks: J and I went back and forth on this. I wanted to use plain ole sticks from the backyard and even carried home a bunch while on a walk with Miles. J was very against the thought of "dirty, bug-infested" wood hanging over our daughter's crib. I still wanted the appearance of sticks, so I bought painted bamboo pieces from the Big Box Craft Store. Perfect compromise. I still prefer the rustic look of regular sticks, but overall, I'm pleased with the mobile.

Thread

Eyelet Screws (bought in the framing section of Big Box Craft Store)

Fishing Line

Ceiling Hook

Lots more FOs to come, I'm on maternity leave and have been busy!