We’re back from a week in San Francisco, where we hung out with family, cooked and ate great food, and did a little siteseeing. Selma is studying San Francisco in school, so we took pictures of her in front of landmarks to bring back to her class. Then we had a whirlwind one-day stop in Seattle where we saw friends and visited our favorite West Seattle haunts including the amazing Bakery Nouveau where I had supèrbe chocolate brioche.

Back here in Cordova, it’s a wintery wonderland. There’s lots of snow, and it’s a bit colder than normal, but really beautiful. I’m hoping the skiis James and I got each other for Christmas arrive soon so we can make the most of it. The kids both have skiis and the lake is a nice flat place to ski right outside our door.

I’m only in town for a week and a half, then I head to TNNA (The National Needle Arts Association) trade show. I’ll be working at the Stitch Cooperative booth (#624), and networking a bit. In the meantime, I have to finish up a bunch of editing and crocheting that was set aside during the holidays, so this will be a busy week. (I kept thinking it was Monday all day today, and had to remind myself it was actually Friday!)

Happy New Year, Everyone!

OK, I blame Julie, who commented on Twitter about making peppermint fudge. She got the idea from one of my favorite bloggers, Hannah Kaminski, who is, not only a designer of adorable crocheted amigurumi, she’s also the author of My Sweet Vegan, for which she created delicious recipes and rocked the photography. Oh, and did I mention, she’s still in college?

Anyway, I had not scheduled any time for holiday baking this week even though I knew I really wanted to fit it in. Then, after hearing Julie tweet about the fudge, I read the recipe, and decided it would be a pretty quick treat.

It was! After they cooled, I packed up pieces up to give to friends and neighbors.

Since I was going to be messing up the kitchen anyway, I dug out my chocolate chip macaroon recipe and made a batch of those while the fudge was cooling. They, too, got packed up.

We kept a few of each out to sample, but I plan on making more cookies and treats when we get to San Francisco next week and I’ll have access to all of my favorite baking staples.

Wreath Wrap on Flickr - Photo Sharing

I love this wreath adorning the door at designer Robyn Chachula’s house!

I was helping a friend make the diamonds and shells scarf today when I noticed an error in the beginning of Row 3:

Instead of “Ch 5,” it should read, “Ch 1, sc, ch 4″

Also, Angela was having a little trouble interpreting the end of Row 2, so I re-worded it to be clearer, after the semi-colon, you may substitute, if you wish:

“end with sc, ch 2, dc all in last ch-sp.”

Angela is making the scarf in a variegated silk from Art Yarns, and it looks so pretty.

By the way, I’ve added a button to the individual blog post pages, that creates a print-friendly page. If you click on the title of a post from the main page, you’ll see the print icon at the top of the page.

The Interweave Crochet Winter preview is up, and I have a simple little lace scarf pattern in there. (Does it seem like I was in a scarf rut this spring? Really it was all coincidence that I designed three in a row, I’m not usually a scarf-making person).

The idea behind this scarf was to create a pretty lace pattern that a beginner could easily make to build lace-crocheting skills–with actual laceweight yarn. In this case, a lovely lace merino from Skacel. I’m always worried that photographs show patterns the way I imagine. I was pleasantly surprised. I love how the stitch pattern shows up against the model’s red coat. I’m looking forward to making my own scarf to keep just for me. (someday, when I’m not up to my ears in teddy clothes).

This issue is particularly packed with nice giftable crochet items. It’s a shame it won’t be out in time to make Christmas gifts for this year–but you could get an early start on next year, or make gifts for other occasions. I’m enamored by Marly Bird’s Thrummed Mittens and Lisa Naskren’t butterfly shawl.

Right now, I’m in what I think of as the doldrums of my crochet book–the exciting beginning stages are over–I’ve done the creative work of coming up with the designs and choosing the yarns, sketching, swatching. And while I do enjoy doing the stitching (a lot, actually) the sheer volume I have to do in the small amount of time detracts a little from the excitement of the creative process.

So, my brain starts to wander. I think of all sorts of other things I’d like to be doing creatively. I bought a small needlepoint kit the other day, but I won’t let myself start it. I stare longingly at my spinning wheel, I do knit a couple of rows a night on a sweater for Selma, but it doesn’t count because it’s a Tomten Jacket, and while it’s relaxing and fun, I wouldn’t call it creatively stimulating; it is pretty much mindless garter stitch. So last night I found inspiration in an unlikely place: crochet.

I needed to take a break from teddy bears to do a swatch for a non-bear related project. I had been thinking about it a long time while waiting for yarn and I knew the technique I wanted to try but I hadn’t played with it yet. It’s mosaic crochet–there are a few books about the technique, and I have a small leaflet with some afghan patterns. Essentially, you’re creating geometric two-color patterns, but using chains and spiked stitches only one color is worked per row, so it makes a nice supple fabric. For charts I turned to Barbara Walker’s Mosaic Knitting book. It was the perfect remedy to the crochet doldrums,  I got my brain working again deciphering a new technique and I feel better about leaping back into the book projects–like the amigurumi baseball bat and ball I plan to finish tonight.

Out of this world: British teddy bears strapped to giant weather balloon pictured at edge of space | Mail Online

These little teddies endured -54 degree temperatures and a ride into near-space on a weather balloon, but they survived due to the special clothing created and developed by the elementary students in Britian who sent them there. They made it back safely too due to parachutes! The project was a collaboration between a college science program and a primary school.

I designed this scarf for the new Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders book from Storey Publishing, edited by Judith Durant. The book came out last month and I recently got my copy. I also got the scarf back which is a nice treat–I’ve been wearing it a lot. (Even in the house where we keep the heat at a sometimes chilly 64 degrees). The Blue Sky Alpacas Royal is wonderfully soft, and the scarf is long enough to wrap around your neck a few times. It’s a beginner-friendly scarf as proven by my friend Angela who’s making one as her first crochet project.

Last night when Selma asked to watch some TV I suggested that she might instead want to choose something out of her craft basket and finish it up. She found this punch-needle embroidery project that she had started during a summer class with Dottie at our local yarn store, The Net Loft. I love the colors she chose and the light shooting out from behind the mountain. Selma calls it “Magic Mountain,” and it is a little peak that she can see from her bedroom window. Right now Magic Mountain is completely snow covered.

Speaking of embroidery–Selma and I are excited because The Net Loft just got in some amazing hand-dyed thread from Romania. It comes in little three-strand balls intstead of skeins and you work right off of them–there are several weights some of which would be great for crochet.

If you had asked me a year ago, I never would have guessed that my most-used handmade item would be my tea cozy, but it is! I make a big pot of tea each morning and my cozy keeps it warm for a long time. I’ve finally uploaded the pattern, so you can make one too.

Sombrero Tea Cozy on Flickr.

buy the pattern

Here’s a version my friend Deneen crocheted for her tiny 1-cup tea pot (just a coincidence we used the same colorway?)

A student from my beginning crochet course made the sides longer and uses it for her coffee press. What handmade items do you use every day?