Ravelry MiniMart Goods (and more cake pops!)

I recently purchased some goodies from the Ravelry store, and thought I'd celebrate with another round of cake pops! There would be more here, but I took a bunch* over to my sister who just had her baby a couple weeks ago. Congratulations Jenn & Lance on their new baby, Elinor (all 9+ lbs of her!!!)

I was lucky enough to snag a tote (all sold out for now,) as well as a Bob sticker, pins and a plant fiber t-shirt. I had the "HELLO my name is..." button, as well as the two smaller ones, from the Beta round last year. I should've gotten an organic veggie bag, too - but I convinced myself I didn't need both bags, and now it's sold out... :(

They printed another round, but I think I managed to miss that, too! Ravelers are a ravenous bunch! Even though I tried to check the stock every day, it wasn't announced, so except for the fact that some people were posting how happy they were to get one, I would've never known they were ever back in stock! How bout them apples?

* Actually, the cake pops do last that long so long as you get them completely covered with candy melt so the cake & frosting on the inside doesn't go stale. Moisture loss seems to be the real enemy to these luscious treats! I only have 3 left as of today! Hehe.

WIP Wednesday - Flutterby Scarf

I can't wait until I get to the end ruffles! So feminine and lovely, I think.

I'd been looking for a pattern to make a scarf out of one skein of Malabrigo lace for kind of a while, when I recently stumbled across Miriam L. Felton's Flutter Scarf. Easy, and yet still an interesting project, I'm really liking the way this is working up. I'm just over halfway on the first half, so about 25% done in total (less in the picture.) The colorway is Brisa, a playful mix of lilac, pink and grey in variegated shades. I couldn't help but immediately buy it, even though I had no idea what I'd make with it. (That's not entirely true, I had a hunch it'd be a scarf. At 470 yds per skein, Malabrigo Lace is enough for a 60" scarf (approximately!)

The cast on row is provisional, (a heavier weight bamboo) and will be removed later. I picked it because it wouldn't "grab" the wool stitches I'll be ripping it out of. We'll see how well that works... hehehe.

My first fabric design - ever!

Wowsers! That was FAST! My first Spoonflower swatch arrived today! They warned it might take a while, so I wasn't expecting it so soon! I whipped it up the very first night I got the invite. (Actually, I worked up two designs... but couldn't get the repeats right on my other one.) It's a crappy picture, but I just have to share how cool this is!!!

Concept and reality - right next to each other!

I had to adjust the lighting on the fabric (right,) it wasn't reading quite right next to the laptop screen. It's also un-ironed here, I just couldn't wait to share it!!! I think it's so satisfying to design something, and have it show up at my door a week later. I can't put into words how good it felt, so great big THANKS! go out to the folks who run Spoonflower. You guys are awesome, and I can't wait to see what's coming next!

Hooray for ME!

I was so excited when Bakerella asked if she could include my Martha Stewart themed cake pops! Little did I know, just how many other people were having so much fun with them! All sorts of cupcake pops, from all over the country... seriously, if you love sweets like I do you should click over and watch her video composite (immediately!) I'm at 1:57 into it. Thanks for including me, Bakerella!

Another awesome surprise recently was my invite to Spoonflower finally came! AND - I already have my first fabric swatch on it's way! They have a video on their blog, too... and I was sooo stoked to see my fabric in it! Check it out! I designed this pattern! (I cut the repeats, too - so if it's not tiling properly I'll only have one person to blame! Me!!!)

Cardstock Calender

There was really no reason I put this project off for so long. (It's Patricia's template, available over at A Little Hut.) I bought it back last year, just before January, and only got about half-way through it before I put it down and let it languish. It wasn't hard, but I let it get buried under a few other things on my craft table, and didn't think about it again for a while.

Now that it's June, I thought to myself that it might be really nice if I actually finished it, and was able to enjoy it on my wall*! So, I finished the last bunch of cuts, punched holes at the tops of each page, and got to work on a hanger to mount it on the wall. I used a plain old dry cleaner hanger (which is weird, cuz I haven't gotten anything dry cleaned in recent memory!)

The only thing left to decide was what fabric or paper to use behind each month's "window." Of course that was easier said than done, but I narrowed it down to 4 fabric scraps - one in aqua wool gabardine, one in teal silk charmeuse, one in silver silk dupioni and one in purple minky. I really liked another blogger's version of this calender, although for the life of me I can't seem to dig up the link. She used a piece of orange wool felt the same size as the calender page, and I thought it was so simple and bold. I wish I could figure out where I saw it...

*I actually finished this last month, but didn't get the pictures taken and uploaded to Flickr until today. What can I say, I'm a lazy blogger!

FO - Bernadette Rose Scarf

Knowing that Mother's Day was coming up, I picked up one gorgeous skein of Handmaiden's Lady Godiva yarn in Rose Garden (for my MIL.) I didn't know what I was going to make with that one skein though, and it can be really difficult to figure that out sometimes… especially when it's a gift for someone else!

So, I used Ravelry's experimental pattern search to find this lovely pattern - the Bernadette Scarf (see it here on Ravelry.) It's worsted weight, requires only one skein of yarn and even better, carries a traveling diamond pattern.* The pattern calls for beads, but with the variegated yarn I didn't think it needed them, (plus I was too lazy to thread and work with 35+ beads on each half.) The yarn called for size 6 needles to get 20 sts per inch, but I'm kind of a tight knitter, so I went up to size 7's (the pattern's recommended needle size.)

At first, I was concerned about my new way of doing SSK's; traditionally you'd slip 2 stitches knit-wise onto the right needle, one at a time, and then knit through the back legs of these two stitches together - forming a left leaning decrease. I however, have been knitting two stitches together through the back legs (effectively slipping two stitches purl-wise while I'm forming the next stitch.) I just learned this was "wrong" and am trying to get used to the new & improved ssk. Apparently, it mirrors the k2tog (most common right leaning decrease) better, and lays flatter when you slip one knit-wise, the next purl-wise and then knit them together through the back legs. All I know is that my ssk's look much neater, which is just fine by me. What did self-taught knitters do before Ravelry???



This scarf worked up super fast, I had the first half done in less than 2 days, although I left the yarn intact, instead of breaking it. I knit the second half from the outside strand, so I could lengthen both halves if I had enough yarn leftover. Nobody likes running out of yarn! I did end up with enough to lengthen both halves by 3 vertical repeats, and I'm glad I did. It's a fairly skinny scarf, and definitely needs to wrap around the neck at least once, (I think!)

I used a 3 needle bind off to join the two halves, and even though it left a seam, I was able to match the color pools (sort of,) and it finished really fast. It did need a good blocking, and of course that took me literally days to get around to... hehehe. The finished size after blocking was 3 3/4" wide by 76" long, and if I did it over again, I'd stretch it to 4" wide and hope that kept the length in check a bit better. The length really grew when I blocked it.

(*I also used a diamond pattern in another belated Mother's Day surprise, but I'm trying not to spoil it yet!)

If you're going to knit a Bernadette Scarf, please note I found these two errors -

Right side chart row 30 - first two stitches say knit, should be purl
Right side text row 7 - should be p2, k10, k2tog, yo, k7, p2 (p2, k11, yo, ssk, k6, p2 as written)

FO - A Pair of Pachyderms, aka The E. Le Fante's

I'd like to introduce you to some new friends I made recently, Emma and Edmund La Fante. They're simply the sweetest friends anyone could have, and they never forget to bring their host a gift! They're the life of the social scene, both sparkling conversationalists. Themed parties are the current trend; although Edmund prefers more low key get-togethers, but always dresses up when his wife asks sweetly! Since it's her husband's favorite, Emma doesn't mind camping (too much!) and she's got quite the sweet tooth for s'mores. They both love taking long walks in the park under a full moon; *they're such a romantic pair!* Edmund loves picking up fresh flowers for Emma, and she adores him for his spontaneity.

I made these for my sister's baby shower, from Susan Anderson's pattern. I used Red Heart's Soft yarn in grey for Edmund and Lion Brand's Cotton Ease in berry for Emma; each was trimmed in contrast with the main color of it's opposite. I really like the pink I chose, it's a nice rosey pink and it goes very nicely with the grey.

This was my first successful DPN project… the legs worked up super fast, but I'll admit the bodies were more challenging. For whatever reason, I found it easier to knit two together than to knit into the front and back; so I ordered some new DPN's from Knit Picks. The new needles helped immensely. I used Eunny Jang's lighter circular beginning*, which worked out great. I didn't have to go back and thread the first bunch of stitches with a tapestry needle to close the bottom up, just give the tail end a good tug! Easy peasy!

I only wish the seaming was as easy, I procrastinated it until the last minute. It's not actually hard, but probably my least favorite part of knitting - so I try and avoid it as much as I can. At least I didn't have to weave in all of the ends, most of them were knotted off and then drawn through the bodies or heads of the elephants.

See Emma and Edmund on Ravelry! (Will only work for Ravelry members, but it's free!)

*It's at the end of the post, just scroll down until you see Lighter Circular Beginning.

More Cake Pops!

After weeks of worth, I must say I'm glad to have my sister's shower over with. I enjoyed working on it, but to be completely truthful, I should've given myself 3 days to prep and I only planned for 2. Two batches of chex mix, 2 1/2 dozen cake pops rolled, lollipopped, dipped, decorated and packaged, a store bought sheet cake (thank god!) and 2 dozen peach roses - it's all over. I even managed to not take pictures of my sister's present - a pair of pachyderms that also happened to be my first DPN project. Hopefully I'll be able to snap some pictures at her house of them!

Anyhoo, after it was all over, I had another 3 dozen cake pops to decorate for myself (as a bit of a reward.) Of course, I had to use my favorite combo of Tiffany blue and white for a few of them. I tried to do bows, but my candy melt was a bit too hot, and poured too messy to distinguish a nice bow from, oh well. I did also manage to decorate a few to match the ones I made for the shower* (although I'll admit I got lazy at 12:30AM the morning of the shower, and used only blue to decorate all of the 4 colors... instead of the awesome-color-coordination going on here.) You know, it's the blog world - of course I'm going to try and make it nicer. Don't we all? Now I'm paranoid it's just me!

*I used candy melts to match the colors in these Martha Stewart bags we used for the favors. Call it the perfectionist in me! Hehehehe.

Orchid Candy Cupcakes...

(... and more cake pops! Hahaha!)



Lately, I've been totally obsessed with desserts… although I'm mostly Norwegian, and my Mom always told me my sweet tooth came from "that side" of my family. (Hehehe, you must also understand that I'm a pretty picky eater, and have always preferred sweets over savory dishes.) Anyhoo, I know I was just bitching about how hard those cake pops were to make, but I let my husband have the last one, and then snap! I made another batch - just like that! Actually, the second batch was much easier, I knew what not to do this time around.

I've only made these cake pops in half batches (that is, I bake the cake and split it in two, and only use half the frosting to make a more manageable batch size for me.) Part of the reason for that is I really like the springy cake texture, and you sort of lose that in the pops. No biggie - I just make both! LOL So, this time I made cupcakes and frosted them with the leftover cream cheese frosting. Thinking them a smidge on the plain side, I decided to make some candy melt flowers to top them; and boy did they turn out nice! (Alice or Grace,) they're actually not chocolate but this fabulous sugar based candy coating that molds like a dream.

I used candy molds in the shapes of orchids and plumeria and purple candy melts to make these, and my new favorite tool - the candy melt squeeze bottle. You can melt chocolate or candy melts right inside it, either in the microwave - or a hot bowl of water*! (Heather Bailey's dubbed this the March of Tools and I couldn't help but share my newest find!) I tried to make the centers darker purple, and the outer petals lighter; but the effect turned out much more subtle than I'd hoped. It's okay, I think they're just lovely anyway! I was so happy to find the perfect color yarn leftover in my stash to tie these up. So pretty.



It's been hard not to get too distracted making sweet treats, I'm in the middle of moving my craft room from an upper bedroom to my dining room; and it's hard and not always as creatively satisfying as trying my hand at a new craft. Just keep painting, just keep painting... Grin.



*The fact that I could still decorate the first batch of cake pops, even though my microwave up and died on me - right in the middle of making them pretty - totally sold me.

Belated Second Blogiversary!

I can't believe I missed it! As of March 3rd, I've been blogging for two years now. I can hardly believe it! Last year was a much slower year, blog-wise than I'd planned. But, I'm hoping to make up for it this year and I've got a few big things planned. Stay tuned for more sweets this week, more knitting soon and a big contest in a couple months! Don't miss it, there's going to be tons of prizes!

And, a great big shout of Good Luck! to a very good blog buddy of mine, she just quit her job and will be crafting full time very soon! I don't know if it's public yet or not, so I won't name her - but you know who you are, lady! You rock!

I can has cake pops!

I tried Bakerella's cake pop recipe this week, as a test for my sister's upcoming baby shower. They turned out quite lovely, although were much more labor & time intensive than I'd originally thought. Not that they are that hard, but doing anything 50+ times is bound to be frustrating, if it's your first time! So, I decided they weren't right for the shower, but I had to post about them anyway!



If you want to try these for yourself, I have a few tips. The candy melts need a few minutes to set up, so after you've melted them - don't start dipping right away. Also, you'll need to keep these in the fridge or freezer, and only take out a few at a time to dip & dry. Once they warm up, they'll fall right through the lollipop sticks! Use a piece of styrofoam to stick the pops in to let them dry, although you'll need to keep them turning for a minute or so; otherwise you could end up with candy melting down your sticks! Any other questions? I'd be happy to answer them, this was a fun test!

FO - Malabrigo Montego Bay

I actually finished this a while ago, but wanted to wait to post about it since it was a surprise birthday gift for my MIL Robin. When I found the yarn for this, I knew I had to make her something out of it; the color was just perfect. It's Malabrigo Lace weight in Pink Frost, a lovely blend of dusty roses - lighter and darker shades without any of them being too bright or saturated - just the right tones.



I wanted my first foray with laceweight yarn to be fairly easy, so I decided to use Amy Singer's Montego Bay Scarf pattern with a few modifications. I increased the number of cast on stitches to 67, and used size 3 needles, although I switched a few rows in from regular Addi's to the lace ones. Thank goodness I did, they made the whole project so much more enjoyable and quick to finish. The right needles for the project make all of the difference, I tell you what!



The pattern itself was very simple, although towards the end I managed to need to rip back and add a forgotten yarn over about once a day for week! I think I was just trying to finish it too quickly… originally it was going to be her Mother's day gift, but I gave myself so much time that I had it done early enough for her birthday - yeay! Now I have to figure out what else I'm going to make!

If you haven't had a chance to touch this yarn (the Malabrigo laceweight,) you're seriously missing out! It is the softest wool I've ever laid my hands on, and I tend to be pretty picky about scratchy things on bare skin (wrists or neck, people! I know you guys have gutter-minds! LOL) The yarn, going back, has that wonderful sproingey-ness that makes you want to cuddle with it; lofty but not heavy, and substantial without feeling thick at all. Just right. Can you tell how much I like it when that happens?!?!? Hehehe.

Anyhoo, the scarf came up to 6.5"w by 54"l unblocked, from one skein. I was tempted for about a minute to block it, but the recipient lives in downtown Chicago; so I didn't think the lacey holes from all of the yarn-overs needed to get any bigger. It'll stretch if she needs it to, though - the pattern is awesomely stretchy. All in all, a very satisfying project - I hope it gets a lot of wear!

WIP - Vanilla Clementine Shawlette

When I saw that Octopus Knits had used just under 2 skeins of Bristol Yarn's Buckingham for her Clementine Shawlette, I knew immediately I wanted to make one for myself. Then I spent about 2 weeks trying to figure out what else I could make with my 2 skeins of Buckingham. Hehehe. Okaaaay, I'll admit it… I was scared about the graft at the end, to join 2 pieces at the center back. The pattern calls for Kitchener stitch, and I've never done it before. But with all this fearless knitting going around, I couldn't help but have the thought that if I never try it, I'll never learn how it's done (or maybe more specifically, not done. Ha! Plus, my good friend Karrie swapped me for some of her awesome Kitchener stitch markers!)

So, I set out to wind up my yarn into center pull balls so I could use one ball for each half, working them simultaneously. And then, my ball winder ate my yarn! It got caught in the gears, and I didn't realize it right away, winding more into the gears with each turn. Ugh. I managed to get it off of the gears by winding backwards, but it stained enough yarn black-ish, that I'll almost certainly cut it out and splice back together. Oy.

Considering I would've otherwise not have any splices, since it's knit in 2 pieces and then joined, I'm a little pissed. But, I guess that's what I get for not paying attention to a yarn I've not wound before (80% baby alpaca, 20% silk;) the one time I tried to wind 100% silk, it jumped off the winder like it was possessed!!! Hahaha! Paying more attention, i.e. my full attention, I was able to rewind the first ball and get through the second without any more mishaps - thank goodness!

I'm on row 37 of chart B here.

This is my first time knitting from a chart instead of written directions, and I'm pleased that it doesn't seem nearly as complicated as it looks. I guess it's easy to get intimidated when you're looking at the whole chart, but you don't work all of those stitches at once - just one little one at a time! I'm excited that it's not so difficult, because I've been trying to work up the nerve to start a purple Hanami stole. It's so delicate, and I really like the asymmetrical ends; it's a lovely wrap, and I really want to make one for myself.

And a teeny rant... what the frak happened to January? Hahaha! I bought Patricia's calender back at the end of December, and still haven't finished it yet! (That's not to say it's hard, I'm just super picky about my cuts not being clean enough, and I haven't yet decided if I want to use paper or fabric scraps for the empty spaces! Ack, the choices!

A new year, a new leaf... and chocolates, mmmm!

Last year, I spent a large amount of time making myself feel bad about all of the things I wasn't doing to improve my blog and store. I set super high expectations for myself, and I didn't reach them… no surprise, but still disheartening, nonetheless. I wanted to get so many things done, and then winter set in.

Chicago winter always gets me, because it goes from a regular amount of sunlight during a day, to practically none. Plus, there's always the grey to look forward to. The particular shade that settles around the suburbs where I live, is the most depressing thing I think I've ever laid eyes on. It permeates my brain, and inevitably ends up leaving me in a funk. Last year I tried to focus on tutorials to get past it, but I was always self conscious about the photos that went with them. Something about the lack of natural light during this time of year… it just drives me nuts.

And feeling nuts isn't very conducive to writing a blog. But the most interesting part is, that even though I wasn't writing for my blog for the last couple months, that's all I could think about. So it seems only right that I come back to it now, because I have a new strategy to go with my new outlook.

Last year was all about constraining myself. Setting goals, and then beating myself up for not reaching them, all the while setting myself back further on all of my other goals and aspirations. I've learned that even though I need to work on discipline, I also need to cut myself some slack. Even though I'm a perfectionist, I'm not perfect; and I need to just own that. Perfect is a goal I aspire to - with the knowledge that it's unobtainable. It should be fuel for motivation, not procrastination.

So I'm calling this one the year of water, because I want to go with the flow of things, and not take every last little thing so seriously. That's pretty much my new outlook and strategy, with a big emphasis on going with what works for me, and not obsessing over what doesn't.

It may seem simplistic, but I think it's easy to lose the most simple of things like perspective in this world we live in. It charges us to be consummate consumers, and I will never be one. I love to create, I love unique - I've always had the perspective that if we were all the same, what a boring world! Even if it were full of Brangelinas… if they were all that gorgeous, what would gorgeous mean then? If all the flowers were roses, what significance would a rose have then? What would colors be without the full spectrum to enjoy? How about chocolates?

Heehehehehe. These are amazing, I can barely believe I kept my greedy fingers off them long enough to snap this photo! They came from Candinas Chocolatier, google them, they're incredible!!!

In 2008, Crafty Ginger will be my take on crafting a personal and unique home and wardrobe (of course accessories, too!) with haute couture finishing. I'm not sure if I've ever admitted it here, (partly because I think it makes me sound vain,) but part of my loathing of mass-market items is how much they cost versus how cheaply they're made; and how inexpensively I can recreate something even while I'm being meticulous about the finishing and details. My version is better, in just about every way (see, I knew it made me sound vain!) But that's why I make things, because I can make them better for me; and I want to write more tutorials, and get better at sharing how you can make them better for you.

That's why I started blogging, to share crafts and inspiration; and I'm sad I lost touch with that for a time because I was so focused on my store. But I'm excited to regain focus and perspective, and I’m really hoping for a great 2008! A lot of other bloggers are excited for their next crafty adventures, and I'm super excited for them, too!

I've lost my blogging mojo...

…do you know where I left it? Heh. I wish I did, it's been such a long time since I felt good about my blog, although there's nothing particularly wrong with taking a little break. I guess I've just been avoiding the inevitable; I posted last month that I was feeling re-invigorated about my store, when in all reality I was just trying to convince myself of that. It wasn't true, and I feel pretty terrible admitting it. I was obssessing over all of the success I see in the crafty world these days, and psyching myself up to try and put myself in the midst of that competition; when in all reality it's sort of the last thing I want to do right now.

What I really want to do is close up my Etsy store and regroup. I've never found the kind of success I really wanted there, and I just don't have the energy to try and keep up with the pack. Etsy's an interesting place, because you can get swallowed up so easily. 17,000 pages of jewelry?!?!! That's freaking nuts, especially to try and manage while I'm feeling so conflicted these days. I knew the listings for my tree branch earrings weren't perfect, but I'd hoped that I'd sell at least one pair to someone, somewhere. Ugh, and don't even get me started on the tsumami kanzashi flowers.

Add to that, this time of year is absolutely impossible to photograph anything, because the sun sets at 4PM. It still bugs me, the terrible quality of photos I posted last year with the tree branch earrings tutorial. And my birthday falls on the day after the winter solstice, so it's the day after the day with the least amount of light all year… lucky me, eh? Plus, I'm stressing about Christmas stuff, which always happens on my birthday, which always sucks. I hate that my birthday is 3 days before Christmas, it ends up sucking a lot of the fun out of a day that should be fun-filled.

I wish I had something good to finish this post with. Some small, but healing truth to comfort my soul… but I don't. I'm just so tired of feeling this way, and I wonder when or whether I'll ever feel good about it again. (I hate spilling all of this here, I'd rather share the happier parts of my life. I just don't know how else to satiate the part of my brain that needs to get this out… my husband is a good sounding board, but I don't ever feel comfortable dumping it all on him. Oy!)