Strawberry Picking!!

Does this mean summer is really here?

freaky strawberry

I hope so!  I went strawberry picking today since the fields opened earlier in the week.  I think it's true...perhaps summer really is here.  The strawberries say so, and I'd like to believe them.

I love eating fresh strawberries and making ice-cream with them.

Strawberry Ice-cream Recipe (adapted from the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream & Dessert Book):
1 pint fresh strawberries (sliced, hulled)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 C sugar

--- sweet cream base #1 (no eggs)
2 C whipping cream (I use soy cream)
3/4 C sugar
2/3 C half & half (I use soy milk)

Mash the strawberries, lemon juice, 1/3 C sugar, refrigerate, cover for 1 hr.
Then mix with sweet cream base until blended/pureed. Pour into ice-cream maker.  Let ice-cream maker do it's thing.  Enjoy!

As an alternative to the egg-less sweet cream base, you can also use this one with eggs:
--- sweet cream base #2 (with eggs)
2 eggs
3/4 C sugar
2 C heavy or whipping cream (I use soy cream)
1 C milk (I use soy milk)
prep this sweet cream base by beating the eggs until fluffy, slowly adding sugar, then the cream and milk.  You can cook this base at 160° F (71° C) stirring constantly if you want to prevent any chance of salmonella.  Let it cool completely in the fridge before adding the other ingredients and putting it into the ice-cream maker.


What do you like to make with fresh strawberries?

World Knit in Public Day

This weekend, a friend and I did a fiber-upcycling awareness demo at a nearby LUSH store.  LUSH is a really environmentally friendly hand-made cosmetics franchise originally from the UK.  They have stores all over the world now, and focus on reducing packaging as much as possible.  The manager at the local LUSH approached us and asked if we knew anyone who worked with "plarn".

Knowing World Knit-in-Public was coming up and all that, I agreed with the manager that it would be great to combine recycling and fiber fun.  What is "plarn" you ask?  Plarn is literally plastic yarn.  It is easily made from loops made when plastic bags are cut across horizontally.  Dunno what to do with all those extra plastic bags that one collects from here and there?  I had a stash under the kitchen counter, and I raided it.  If you'd like to do the same, check out this handy etsy post from 2010 here.

I ended up crocheting a basket and making a ribbon with all the grips and bases of the bags.  I think the ribbon or flower or whatever would make a fine bicycle bow or luggage identifier.  My friend and co-conspirator, Celina, made a lovely lace knitted bottle cozy, and a LUSH employee made a wonderful plarn crocheted purse!  All-in-all I believe the demo was a success.  So many people looked in, took photos, asked questions, and were generally curious about this alternative use for the excess plastic bags in our lives.

Then on Sunday, World-Knit-in-Public we gathered at our local SnB and knit the night away!

Need some inspiration?  Saw this interesting intarsia jumper on the streets of Munich back in May...

Happy Knit in Public Day!

WIP: Blue Quilt Progress

Just a quick note on the blue quilt.  I finished attaching the blue borders to all 20 squares... next up is the free motion quilting!

Rosita Mittens & Hat, Bow Slouch Hat revealed

This month on newsstands or at your local yarn store, you may see this magazine...

Inside, though, there are three of my designs!  I can finally reveal them since they're officially out in the open.
These three designs mark my first official printed-in-a-magazine knitwear designs. I'm super excited about them!

Firstly, there's the Rosita Hat & Mittens set.  The Rosita Hat & Mittens were inspired by the beautiful embroidered motifs on the traditional dresses of the Yucatan.

my inspiration

The mittens are knit in the round from the cuff to the fingers using stranded colorwork. Duplicate stitch is used to embellish the main mitten with flowers to finish the look!

photo property of Knitscene/Harper Point

The hat is made in a simpler way and uses a nice dots and dashes pattern to provide a bit of contrasting color.  The brim also looks nice folded up.

photo property of Knitscene/Harper Point

Here's me modeling the hat two different ways...

The third design in this issue of Knitscene Accessories is the Bow Slouch.  This is an easy pattern with a twist.  The brim is actually folded up and doubled for a nice, snug fit.  It can stay on even when worn at the jauntiest of angles!  This yarn, Accordion, is awesome.  It's so soft and knits up beautifully.  I never thought I'd be a fan of a mohair blend, but here it is folks.  I loved it.  And even made up a second hat for my mom.  Hers has a more modest bow, though.  I only wish I had more of this yarn to make up a third sample for myself!

photo property of Knitscene/Harper Point

And there you have it!  One of my big secrets I've had to keep under wraps since last year!
If you are interested in the magazine, you can find more details here:
http://www.interweavestore.com/knitscene-accessories-2013

Me-Made-May final days!

Here are the last few days of May, and I've been happily wearing me-made stuffs.  I'm kinda bummed this month is nearly over, but I'm so glad I brought out my hand-made goodies.  The weather has been so crazy, I was actually able to wear some of my winter hand-knits!

May 26th, I wore my Mod-Podge jacket.  Little did I know I spent most of the day with the snaps misaligned.  Oh well.

 May 27th, all this hand-made goodness inspired me to finish a pair of jeans!  I had the fabric ready, but was unsure it would be enough to make a full-length pair.  They're tailored and about ankle length.  I think they look rather fetching at ankle length.  I've worn them twice now, and they're quickly becoming a fave.

 May 28th, the second time I wore the jeans, I paired it with one of my favorite cardigans knit in Malabrigo Lace which is super soft and fuzzy.  I had no idea I'd be wearing hand-knits and it's nearly June.  The weather's been crazy.

 May 29th, and I think this may be my final Me-Made-May post.  I have a wedding to attend this weekend in Italy, and I don't know how likely it will be that I can photograph my wardrobe.  So, I did it!  I wore hand-made items 4 days of each week.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but I did get lazy last week.  The cold weather actually helped me pull stuff from my hand-knit collection that I might not have worn.  So, today I pulled out my alpaca shell.  One of my warmest hand-knits and one of the earliest garments I knit.  I love it and it used exactly one giant skein of Alpaca with a Twist yarn.

If I dooo manage to finish the dress in the background I'll post a pic. ;)

Happy Me-Made-May!

ETA: final me-made photo.  'twas too cold to wear the dress-in-progress unfortunately.  But, I did manage to wear my nicely brightly colored loop!  Who would have thought the end of May would be so cold in Italy!

May 31st, me-made-loop/cowl, Bassano del Grappa, Italy