Peace the Knit Out

Vampire Knits!

2010-09-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

Today is the release date of Vampire Knits! Genevieve Miller, all the beautiful designers, and I, have been planning and waiting for this day for almost 2 years! I can't believe it's today! I recieved my book in the mail about a week ago, and it is gorgeous! The styling is so beautiful and the vampire "tid-bites" are so interesting, it just came out so beautifully and I couldn't be prouder!

My designs in the book are:

Be Still My Beating Heart Capelet

Sitio Stockings

Sidhe Shrug

And here's the Ravelry link for Vampire Knits. I'm so happy with my designs and I can't wait to see the projects made with them! I also love every single other pattern in the book! I want to make everything! I think I want to start with Cirilia Rose's Lore Hoodie, which is featured on the cover of the book.

I am also planning an event at Kamille's yarn shop in West Jordan, Utah, so if you happen to live in the Salt Lake area, you should stop by! Go to the facebook page for more info :)

I hope you all love the book, I recommend it to vampire and non-vampire fans alike :)

Sunflowers

2010-08-31T17:39:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the last day of August, I want to share my sunflower that just bloomed a couple days ago! I grew this sunflower plant from a seed, I'm so proud :)

It also reminds me of my very favorite Van Gogh painting

I'm also excited that tomorrow is September, I have been so looking forward to Fall!

Goodbye Summer!

Winner!

2010-08-30T20:10:00.000-07:00

I didn't forget about my blog or my giveaway, I swear! I feel like I have just been on a bit of a mental summer break, and I have noticed that about a lot of blogs that I read, posts have slowed down in the summer. This giveaway was my way to celebrate that fall is about to start! I chose a winner by writing down all the names of my entrants, with more than one if you entered more than once :) and I put them all in a bowl and chose one at random, and the winner is...

Congratulations Rilana! I sent you an e-mail!

I'm excited to send my giveaway prizes to Rilana, because I have been a reader of her blog for a while now!

This giveaway was so fun! I can't wait to do another one! Thanks to everyone who entered, my first giveaway was a success!

Tea Table

2010-08-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it really been over a week since my last post? I have been wanting to keep my Pink Giveaway as the first post to give everyone a chance to see it, and by the way, I'm so excited that I'm getting entries! I must confess I was worried I wouldn't get any :)
I want to show you guys the pretty little tea table I got from an antique store! I saw it in a booth that was made for me, light oceany blue paint and everything else was black and white, just like my room! I saw the little table, but it was a bit expensive, it was still there the next time I came back, and I got it, and I'm so glad! It matches perfectly with my room, and I'll keep it forever. Here are pictures!

What else have I been doing?
I've been mostly working on another design and reading.

That's it for today! Make sure you get your entries in for my Pink Giveaway!

Pink Giveaway!

2010-08-02T15:02:00.000-07:00

I am seriously so excited about this! I have been collecting things for a giveaway for a while, but I just can't wait anymore! So, here it is! The

Pink Giveaway!

There are so many cute items in this giveaway including:

Sweets to the Sweet by Susan Branch, a cute little book with tons of sweet dessert recipes! If you've never heard of Susan Branch, you have to check out her adorable books!
Hello Kitty items like a shower puff, pencils, notepads, bubble gum, band-aids, stickers, and a necklace and earrings set!
Pink sewing supplies including pins, a wrist snap on pin cushion, and a measuring tape
A cute ice cream tic-tac-toe game and ice cream magnets!
A sprinkling of pink nail polishes and lip glosses!

I will also add some cute pink candy and probably a few more things and wrap it all in a cute gift basket!

There are 3 ways to enter:

1. Follow my blog! Comment on this post telling me you're following me, give me your e-mail, and tell me what your favorite season is!

2. Blog about it with a link to this post, you're welcome to use the image above, and comment on this post with a link to your blog!

3. Tweet it with a link to this post, and comment on this post with a link to your twitter!

Since I don't have too many followers yet, I will keep this giveaway open until August 29th, and I will announce a winner on August 30th!
I also will be happy to ship internationally, so go ahead and enter even if you don't live in the U.S.!

Good Luck!

Still looking for test knitters!

2010-07-29T21:59:00.000-07:00

I'm still looking for test knitters for the Clara Sweater in size medium (bust measurement 34-38 inches) and size large (bust measurement 39-44 inches) this sweater would look great with some positive ease so if you're normally a size small, try the medium, or if you're a medium, try the large! If you would like to give it a try, send me a message on Ravelry or e-mail me at shamupops@gmail.com!

Here's a picture of the keyhole back of the sweater

And here's a closeup of the button I used, it's a cute little cluster of crystals, I think it goes well with the 1920's inspiration for the sweater.

I hope I can get 1 or 2 test knitters for the sizes medium and large, the sooner I get test knitters, the sooner I can put it up for sale!

I'm still working on getting the official photos, these are just snapshots. I also have another sweater in the works that I will need testers for soon!

I also have a big surprise for all my readers on monday! I'm so excited about it!

Thanks everyone!

Help my sister win a photo shoot with Liam Gallagher!

2010-07-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

My sister entered a contest to win a photo shoot with Liam Gallagher for his clothing line, Pretty Green. To help her win, go to Facebook, "Like" Pretty Green and then "Like" her photo. Thank you so much!

Clara Sweater

2010-07-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

I just finished the sample for my latest design, the Clara Sweater!

The Clara Sweater is inspired by the Art Deco architecture and bold fashion of the 1920's.

It is a cap sleeve slightly cropped sweater with a scoop neckline and exaggerated keyhole back. The lace pattern has eyelet columns on the cap sleeves and yoke of the sweater and an eyelet diamond pattern on the lower body of the sweater. The sweater is knit in one piece and the cap sleeves are created by raglan shaping. It looks perfect knit with Knit Picks Stroll Sock Yarn in Basalt Heather.

I'm currently looking for test knitters, if you're interested, post your e-mail in the comments or message me at AshleyEFay@gmail.com, or on Ravelry

London

2010-07-15T23:07:00.000-07:00

So, if you read my last post, you'll know that in April, my family took a vacation, we went to London for 4 days, then Malaga for 5 days, and back to London for 5 more days, or so we thought, about 2 days before we were supposed to leave, a volcano errupted in Iceland, and the ash cloud travelled down and covered most of the UK and other parts of Europe, apparently volcanic ash is bad news for planes. I thought we would be fine because our flight wasn't for 2 days, but every day on the news, they would announce that all flights to and from the UK are cancelled until the next day, so 2 days came and went, and we had no way to get home. After our first flight got cancelled, they rescheduled us for the next day, but that day came and went, still no flights, so they put us on a flight for a week later. I know being stuck in London doesn't sound like the worst thing, but it got a little scary not knowing when we would be able to go home, if it would be a week, a few weeks, maybe more. People were sleeping in the airport because they had no place to go. It was really strange.

So about 4 days before our next scheduled flight, airlines started doing test flights, because they were losing hundreds of millions of dollars, and they were getting tired of it, and stranded passengers weren't so happy either, so the test flights happened, and the planes were fine, but they still had to wait for approval to be able to begin flights again. The next day, still no flights, but the day after that, they started letting a few planes go, so we took that opportunity to call our airline and get the first available flight, which turned out to be in a few hours, so we gathered our luggage as quickly as possible and finally got flighy home, a week after we planned on coming home, it was certainly an adventure, but I still had a great time :]

The siblings at Broad Street mall in Reading

Cute pictures of the family on the tube

Me in Hyde Park

Me and sister in phone booths near Carnaby Street, touristy picture :]

the siblings in front of the Victoria monument outside Buckingham Palace

The girls in front of Buckingham palace

Siblings on the cute little scooters at the gelato stand in Westfield mall in London

My cute mom at the Victoria and Albert Museum

Brother, me, and sister in front of the British Museum

Me in front of Harrod's! My favorite place in London!

I have been to the UK a few times, I have had some amazing opportunities to travel, and I think this was my favorite trip, I loved it.

If you read this entire long post, thank you!

Have a lovely day!

Malaga

2010-07-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you about my trip to Malaga, Spain. In my next post I'll tell you about London. In April, my family and I went to London for 4 days, then Spain for 5 days and back to London for 5 days.

We got an amazing opportunity to stay at the 5-Star Hotel Torrequebrada

Photo from their website

Malaga was so beautiful, the beach was amazing. The beach was right outside the hotel doors, we would go out there and spend hours just watching the waves and eating delicious local fruit. Or we would walk around and find the best restaurants, they had delicious mediterranean food.

The whole family, minus dad, who was taking the picture

Me, my sister, and my mom

I even got to go sightseeing in Malaga city with a cute boy from Germany that I met there

This is us in front of the bullfighting ring, where they still have bullfights, sadly.

Here's the view from the top of the castle in Malaga.

sisters

We all had such a wonderful time, I think that Spain was one of my family's favorite vacations ever. We were definitely sad to leave, but we got to go to London again, so we were excited about that, but Malaga turned out to be the calm part of the trip, before our big adventure, which I'll tell you about tomorrow.

Thanks for reading! Have a lovely day!

Alpacas and Lavender

2010-07-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

Today was my dad's birthday, and we went to a lavender farm and an alpaca farm! The alpaca farm was having it's annual farm day where they let people visit their alpacas and they also have yarn and roving for sale. I don't normally buy yarn impulsively, I usually buy it when I have a project in mind, but the yarn was so soft and gorgeous, I just had to get some. I got 4.7 ounces of this worsted/heavy worsted black and grey twist:

4.8 ounces (total) of this gorgeous medium rose grey fingering weight, which will make a beautiful pair of socks:

And 8 ounces, about 450 yards, of super amazingly soft baby alpaca. It's from their cute little copper brown baby alpaca named Penny Candy!

And this is the best part, I got to hang out with Penny Candy! Here we are:

It was really cool to see the alpaca that my yarn came from, I let her know I appreciate the beautiful fiber I got from her :)

We also picked lavender, which was so fun and so pretty smelling

So it was a very fun day! I hope you are all having a great weekend!

Etsy Shop

2010-07-09T17:04:00.000-07:00

I did a small update on my Etsy shop today.

I made a white pillow with 3 fabric roses attached:

And I listed 2 pairs of my pointe shoes

So just a small update on my Etsy and on this blog today, but I'm glad I have been a little more motivated than I have in the past week :)

Have a lovely day!

Mail Call!

2010-07-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

So I got 2 interesting bits of mail today! Number 1:

A Boye Needlemaster! This was a surprise gift from my Grandma and Aunt, they heard about my accident and they sent me this! I was so excited, it definitely made me feel better!

The second was 2 packages of teeny-tiny clothespins!

I got them because I saw them on a display in a store and I thought they would be perfect for my mini sock advent calendar! I am making 25 mini socks to hang on a clothesline with my little mini clothespins and I think they will make a cute advent calendar christmas decoration!

Unfortunately I haven't felt up to much crafting in the past few days, I did make some baby bloomers to go with the cherry dress, here they are in progress:

Other than that, I have been working on my latest sweater design! It's nearly done, I can't wait to show you pictures because it's exactly what I pictured in my head!

Thanks for reading!

accident :(

2010-07-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posting this weekend, but on Saturday I was in a car accident. I wasn't driving, I was with a friend, and no one was seriously hurt, but I did have to get my spine x-rayed yesterday and I found out I have bruising all over my spine. I also have a scrape and bruise on my collar bone from the seat belt and a painful bruise on my knee. For the past couple days I have been in pain and trying to rest, so, needless to say, I haven't been very productive with any knitting or sewing projects this weekend. Anyway, just so this post isn't too much of a downer, I was having photos taken of me right before the accident, here are a couple of my favorites: (P.S., I'm wearing the shorts I made in the last couple photos!)

I hope to have more crafts to show in the next few days as I recover! Have a lovely day!

Mini Cherries Dress

2010-07-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

My sister owns a cherry print dress by Collectif, I don't think they have it on the website, she got her dress from a store called Rocket Rebellion in our town. She wore it when we went to a family reunion and my aunt mentioned that she thought it would make a cute baby dress, her baby is about to turn one, so I got inspired to try to recreate a tiny baby version of the dress. Here's my sister in her dress:

And here's the baby dress:

I was really happy that I found this cherry print fabric because the cherries are really little, so it looks like not only the dress has shrunk to baby size, but also the fabric, and I think the dainty print will be more suitable for a baby than some of the larger prints I was looking at.

I think my aunt will be pretty happy, because this dress is going to be a total surprise! I haven't told her that I'm making it.

Have a lovely day!

High waist shorts

2010-06-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are some photos of me wearing the linen high waist shorts that I made :)

They look cute with the cropped shirts that I have been buying.

I also got this shirt today that I think looks cute with it:

I'm glad I found this shirt, I was planning on making one, and I think it will go with my Audrey Hepburn pants when I make them.

I didn't use a pattern on these. I don't usually use patterns because I am imagining something specific in my head, and I can't normally find a pattern that's exactly what I want, so I just buy a little extra fabric for trial and error :) I do the same thing with knitting, if I use a pattern, I almost always modify it in some way. Are any of you the same way?

Have a lovely day!

Sewing storage boxes

2010-06-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I bought some boxes to hold some of my sewing and knitting supplies, everything was getting a little spread out.

I love the map print, maps and globes as decorations are my favorite.

Anyway, not much to share today, just my little boxes, and I have collected a few more things for my giveaway, I will post about it soon!

Miss Indie

2010-06-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

Miss Indie is having a super cute Hello Kitty giveaway on her blog!

How fun is it that it's Hello Kitty themed? There are lots of ways to enter, so make sure you get your entries in!

By the way, I have started collecting items for my first giveaway! I don't know when it's going to happen just yet, but it's going to be cute!

Paper bag shorts

2010-06-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

I love the high waist shorts with a cropped shirt look, it looks so vintage and pretty, ever since I saw Sabrina, I wanted to look like this:

Or at least have that outfit :]

It just looks like summer to me

Unfortunately, not too many stores sell high-waisted shorts, and if they do, they're not as high as I would like, so I made my own! They are linen paper bag style shorts

I will take a picture wearing them, I promise, but by the time I was finished, it was too dark outside to take pictures. I didn't use a pattern because I couldn't find one, but they came out really cute and they fit great! I'm so excited to wear these all summer, they will go with anything!

My Garden!

2010-06-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show you what I'm growing in my garden!

There are tomatoes, corn, carrots, peppers, zucchini, onions, parsley, basil, honeydew, and raspberries. I'm really excited, this is my first ever garden!

There are already 2 red cherry tomatoes and 2 green peppers growing!

There are also strawberries growing!

And I planted another few things the other day, so they haven't grown yet :]

The bigger one is rosemary, and the smaller ones are sunflowers, forget-me-nots, parsley, cucumber, and lemon basil.

I'm excited to have my own fresh ingredients for cooking!

Have any of you planted gardens this year?

Also, I have seen some bloggers replying to comments on their blog page, which I think is a good idea, because I always want to reply, but I don't know if the commenter will ever read them! So, to Julie, I had no idea hairpin lace could be so beautiful until I saw those links you posted! I really want to try out those gorgeous patterns! P.S., I love your blog and your knits are beautiful! Plus you're so darn cute! I think the same thing about Anna! Love your blog and knits too! Same with the cuteness :] Thanks for commenting on my new pattern! And yes, I love reading your sister's blog too! And it was kind of funny, she posted a comment here and said I should read your blog! It really is a small blog world!

I seriously love getting comments, thanks to everyone who takes the time to comment on my little blog!

Sorry!

2010-06-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days! I was at a family reunion for the past few days, and I didn't get a chance to get online!

I want to thank everyone who posted kind comments about my new pattern!

A lot of bloggers have been posting about honesty, and in the spirit of that, I want to say that I really love getting comments on my blog, especially nice ones, expecially from knitters that I look up to and from bloggers that I regularly read!

So, when I was gone, I went to the craft store and I found a hairpin lace kit! I had never heard of it until I saw it in a vintage 1950's pattern book, and I tried looking at my local stores, but I just figured that no one really used this technique anymore, but I found it! Here's what it looks like:

I know it doesn't look like much now, but you make lots of strips and then you connect them, and it looks awesome when they're all connected, here's a picture from my 50's pattern book:

Also, in the same spirit of honesty, I worry a lot about what I'm going to post here, I have lots of things to post about, but I never know which one to post about first, and if I should combine things into a post. Anyway, I'm learning as I go, and I'm having lots of fun doing it!

Thanks for reading!

Newport Beach Pullover!

2010-06-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

My newest design, the Newport Beach Pullover is now for sale on http://www.knitpicks.com/! Here's the Ravelry link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/newport-beach-pullover

The Newport Beach Pullover is an off-the-shoulder sweater knit in one piece with no seaming. The relaxed gauge creates a light and drapey fabric. This sweater reminds me of my hometown in southern California. It’s the perfect sweater to wear on a chilly day at the beach.

I have other pictures to upload, but I'm about to leave to go to California, like, right now :] and the picture uploader isn't working right.

Anyways, I'm really excited about it, and it's only $1.99 with Knitpicks Independent Designer program!

Have a nice day!

Aprons and blankets

2010-06-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Just a quick little post today :] I finished the apron! It's made of cupcake print fabric. I want to take better pictures, but here's one, I didn't have any makeup on, so I got just the apron in the picture :]

It's a large picture so you can see the print

I had a little bit of an issue with the pockets, but I fixed it, and I think it came out great!

Here's a better view of what the pockets look like

I also got some new fabric to make more aprons!

My sister picked out this fabric, I bought some christmas fabric, I know it's early, but I really liked the prints :]

I'm leaving for a family reunion tomorrow, and I made a couple flannel blankets for my aunt who is about to have a baby boy!

I love making flannel blankets, I get cute prints and use the decorative stitches on my sewing machine, it has all kinds of cute embroidery stitches like flowers and bunnies. I used trucks and little criss cross stitches for these blankets.

By the way, I have news for tomorrows post! I can't wait!

Have a lovely day!

Apron, scarf, and queue

2010-06-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

Right now I am finishing a really cute apron, here's a little peek:

It's this pattern, view A (main picture) and it's a reprinted vintage patterns, I love those, but, as you know from my last post, I love real vintage patterns even more, there's just something about finding a pattern for a dress and thinking about how maybe someone bought the pattern to make a dress for a special occasion. Anyway, I will take pictures in it when the apron's finished! This will be my first apron! I really want to make more, it will be a fun way to use holiday and other printed fabrics!

I also found my dad's scarf, I made it for him, and he lost it, like right away, so I never got to take pictures of it, I want to take more, but I was so excited about finding it that I snapped a couple, here's one:

I really loved the way this scarf came out, too bad I found it right when summer is about to start :]

I was also looking through all my knitting books and magazines, and I was looking at all the patterns I really want to make, I bought the magazines and books specifically for the patterns, and I haven't made them yet.

Of course, I think all knitter's "to do" lists grow much faster than we can keep up with :] I have never really used my queue on Ravelry, I mostly just save things to my favorites, but in the last couple of days I have been updating my queue, and putting it in order of priority, and I'm excited to start, I feel like my projects haven't had much direction. I think it's because for the past year I have been doing a lot of designing and not a lot of projects for myself. Well, now I think I want to work on some things for me :]

Well, that's it for today! Have a nice day!

Vintage sewing finds

2010-06-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

I learned to knit about 2 1/2 years ago, and since then, I have been knitting most of the time, and I haven't been sewing as much, but lately I have been trying to sew a lot more. I love vintage patterns and I have quite a collection now. I wanted to show you a couple of vintage sewing items that I found at an antique store last week. First, this adorable sewing basket!

It has pictures of sewing supplies on the top and on the inside are holes for thread to go through. It also has handles that are threaded through the top and attached to the inside, so you pull the top open, and pull the handles to close it. I love it! I also got a couple new vintage patterns

I have also been going through my sewing stash, and I found this pattern that I want to make as soon as possible!

I love the skinny, slightly cropped style, and I've always wanted pants like Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face

I think the pattern is a similar style. I have also watched seasons 1-3 of Mad Men, Mad Men - Season One and I can't wait for the 4th, so that probably explains some of my recent inspiration :]

I love Betty.

Also, I made this granola yesterday, it is so amazing.

So todays post had lots of pictures, and went off topic at the end :] Have a nice day!

My sister's birthday!

2010-06-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

It's was my sister's 16th birthday yesterday!

She's on the left, I'm in the middle and my other sister is on the right, this is from our trip to London and Malaga last month (that's another post for another day) I can't believe she's 16!

For her birthday we did a little shopping and saw The Last Song, we all loved the book:

The Last Song

We loved the movie too. We also got cupcakes from Sweet Tooth Fairy, they seriously have the best cupcakes! They are NieNie's favorites too :]

That's it for today! Thanks for reading!

Design previews!

2010-06-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm swatching for a new sweater design that I'm really excited about! Here's a sneak peek:

It's for the Knit Picks independent design program, if you haven't checked it out yet, it's amazing! All the designs are by independent designers, and they only cost $1.99! I have another sweater that will be available for sale on the 17th! Here's a peek:

I'm super excited about it! I will post more pictures and the link when it comes out on Thursday!

I'm also very excited that 3 of my designs will be in the book Vampire Knits: Projects to Keep You Knitting from Twilight to Dawn. A bunch of beautiful designers and I collaberated with the author, Genevieve Miller (Rav link). I can't wait until I can share some pictures with you! The book will be released September 14th, and it's available for presale!

We also have a website, http://www.vampireknits.com/, where you can see the cover and get more information!

So that is all the latest news with my designs! Thanks for reading!

Susannahbean's Birthday Giveaway!

2010-06-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

Susannahbean (one of my favorite blogs to read) is hosting a giveaway for her birthday! She is giving away some super cute items! There are 3 ways to enter and it ends on June 16th, so make sure to get your entries in!

Seriously guys, I can't wait until I have enough followers to be able to host a giveaway here!

Chair makeover and cute pillows!

2010-06-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

My mom is amazing at finding cute vintage and thrift store finds and giving them makeovers. She found this cute wicker table and chair set for me. I loved them because Summer Roberts from The O.C. had the same set in her bedroom :] (Who else is a fan of the show?) Anyway, we both decided that the chair needed a makeover, it had a not-so-cute 90's flower pattern cushion and pillow. So I bought 2 yards of really cute fabric and 2 pillows from Ikea and I covered the pillows and the cushion with the fabric! I used bright green piping on the cushion and yellow piping on the pillows. (Click on the photos to make them larger) Here's the before:

And here's the after:

It's so cute and cozy now! Here's a close up of the fabric:

Lots of birds and leaves and flowers and colors! It will work for any season! The funny thing is, about a week before I did this, I was about to give the chair and table away, I liked them, but I didn't know if I would ever make new pillows for them. I'm so glad I didn't give them away, because I love them now!

Twisted Diamonds Throw

2010-06-08T16:30:00.001-07:00

Just thought I would share my most recent knitting FO, the Twisted Diamonds Throw from the Moda Dea Home Collection 1 booklet. Technically, I finished it on Feb 28th, but I just took more pictures of it. I finished it for the ravelympics, so it was definitely difficult to finish in that amount of time, but it came out so pretty!

More details are on my Ravelry.

Have a nice day!

New Background!

2010-06-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

Do you like my new background? I love it! It's from Shabby Blogs. They have so many cute backgrounds and buttons and other things to decorate blogs, I couldn't believe it when I read that everything was free! I think my blog looks quite pretty now :]

Candied Pears

2010-06-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

I would have posted yesterday, but I didn't have access to a computer at all! I swear, things to post about are piling up! Today I thought I would share my new favorite dessert, Candied Ginger Pears from The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone.

I hope I get better at this food photography thing. My recipe is adapted, since I haven't used ginger yet when I've made it, and I cook the almonds in maple syrup instead of brown rice syrup. I'm not even sure I'm supposed to post adapted recipes from books :]
Candied Pears
1/4 cup finely ground almonds (I normally just chop mine finely, but you can put them in the food processor)
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 pear, halved and core scooped out
1/2 cup apple juice
1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp cold apple juice to help dissolve
Extra tbsp maple syrup, optional
Place pear halves in a small saucepan and add apple juice and bring to a boil, reduce heat and boil for 8-10 minutes until pears are soft. While pears are cooking, heat a dry skillet over medium heat, add the almonds and toast, stirring frequently, for 3-5 minutes until fragrant and golden brown. Add the maple syrup, stir, and cook until the mixture thickens, set aside. Remove pears from apple juice and place on a plate. Add cornstarch mixture to apple juice in saucepan and whisk constantly over medium-high heat fir 3-5 minutes until mixture thickens, remove from heat. Fill hollows in pear halves with almond mixture. Top with apple juice sauce and more maple syrup if desired.

This is seriously my favorite dessert. I definitely recommend The Kind Diet, I would have bought it just for the recipes! And this dessert is even from the "Superhero" section, so it's super healthy, but it's such a treat!

Let me know if you try it! Have a nice day!

2 in a row!

2010-06-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited about this blog now! I think when I first tried blogging, I just didn't feel like I had enough to share, but I have so much going on right now! I am slowly but surely stocking up my etsy shop, I have so many wonderful things that haven't been listed yet, but I have listed this flower print fabric hair rose:

It has a rubber band attached to the back so you can use it on your ponytail, bun, braid, etc! Here's the link to the listing: Floral Fabric Hair Rose and I have so much more coming soon!

I also took the SAT's today. This was my first time taking the test, even though I'm 21. I wanted to be able to apply to colleges, especially study abroad! I think the test went pretty well, about 1/4 of the math looked very unfamiliar, but there was nothing I could do about that, I haven't taken a math class in about 4 years!

I'm very optomistic about things right now, I think maybe it's the summer that makes anything feel possible. What are your goals? I want to hear them, short term or long term :]

New Beginning

2010-06-04T17:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I would give my blog another shot. I have been really motivated lately! This blog will now be a place to share my knitting pattern designs, knitting projects, crafts, cooking, and whatever else I do from day to day.
My biggest news lately is that 3 of my knit patterns will be in a book! Vampire Knits will be released September 14th!

I have lots of things to share with you, and here's the first of many: my aunt had four pillows with lighthouses on them, and her dog chewed the corners, so she gave them to me to see what I could do for them. I sewed new backs on the pillows with new piping, and here's the result:

I think they came out great! Well, I'm looking forward to posting here often! Thanks for reading!

Apple Butter

2009-10-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

When I made this apple butter, about a week ago, I had plans to take lots of pictures and do a tutorial, but, I've never made it before, so I had some trial and error, and I didn't take pictures of every step :] The apple butter came out completely delicious and I will share with you what I did, with all of the 3 pictures I ended up taking :]
Begin by cutting your 2 1/2 pounds (I used about 14 medium) tarte cooking apples. Cut them into quarters without peeling or coring them, I read that the core contains a lot of the natural pectin from the apple, and the peel has a lot of flavor, plus, I'm lazy and just figured I could pick out the peels later, even though I don't have a mesh strainer, it will be easy to get the cores and peels out right? ...
Put your apples in a pot along with about 1 cup of liquid to boil it in, I used apple cider, but you can use apple juice or water. I also added some apple cider vinegar, which is optional, I was chicken and added only 1/8 of a cup, but it smelled so good I added another 1/8 :]
Boil the apples for about 20 minutes, or until soft. Speaking of which...

This was about the point where I started panicking because the apples were so soft that they were falling out of their peels, so there was no way I could just take out the peels and cores, I was so naive at the beginning of this :]
You'll also notice one red apple that I used because I ran out of green, but I didn't realize red apples take much longer to cook than green apples, so I had to throw it out :]

Anyways, after the apples cooked, I took my plastic strainer, which is all I had, and used a wooden spoon to press all the apple sauce out.
Then I added 1/2 cup sugar for every one cup of apple sauce, I had 2 cups, so I used 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of regular sugar.
Next I added spices, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp cloves. I stirred it all together and put it in a glass baking dish in a 300 degree oven for about 3 hours, stirring every so often.
After I took it out of the oven, I put it through the food processor to make it super smooth, and then I canned it, I filled 2 pint jars, and about 1/2 of a 3rd jar, which I just kept in the fridge. The other jars I processed in boiling water for about 10 minutes.
Apple butter is so good, it just tastes like fall, I put it on toast all the time, and biscuits. Let me know if you try this!

Little Ballerina

2009-01-13T23:02:00.000-08:00

So the other day, I found a cute little Ballerina Music Box at Target, for only three dollars! And it plays Swan Lake music, which is my favorite ballet! The only thing was, she was missing her little tutu. But what kind of a crafty girl would I be if I couldn't remedy that situation? So I used the tiniest amount of pink tulle, white ribbon, and a needle and thread to give her a performance-worthy tutu.