making stuff...the notalgic edition

This is a blanket I finished a few months ago.

It's not really a pattern I would typically choose.

But my grandma was a knitter and taught me how years and years ago. She knit me countless sweaters and slippers and blankets. This is all I have left though. And, it has a hole in it.

I quit for more than 20 years and had to be re-taught. I wanted to knit something to connect me to my grandma and preserve the last gift she gave to me in some small way.

So, I found the stitch pattern she had used for the blanket, chose a yarn and set to work.

And now, it's done. And even though it was kind of monotonous, I'm glad I did it. Izzy sleeps with it now. And she seems to like it. That's all the validation I need.

making stuff...

So, I haven't had much of a desire to blog lately but I do still want to have this to look back on at some point. I'm sure I'll regain my motivation sooner or later so, in an effort to post *something* I'm going to share some of the stuff I've been making. I'll spread some projects out over the course of a few days in an effort to prove that I am still doing something :)

First up this little halter top for Iz. I seriously love this thing - I think it may be my favorite finished knit ever and it was SO easy that I'm thinking miss Iz needs a few more in every color of the rainbow. You can find the pattern here if you're so inclined to make one yourself - I knit it in the round because I prefer circular needles and am not a fan of seaming.

just seeing if it still works...

Hmmm, I'm thinking the blog may have run it's course.

After the previous post, I had a couple of people ask about the recipes I mentioned that we tried and really enjoyed. I'll try to remember to post about them as I re-make them. Here is one we tried that I made again last week. Super easy, all basic ingredients and it was even found in a weight watchers magazine. I'm not a weight watcher by any means but it was on the cover and I had to grab it.

Pasta. Yes please. Every day if possible.

Sun dried tomatoes? Oh yeah. Double the amount for me :)

And bacon. I could eat bacon at every meal. It is probably the sole reason I could never be a vegetarian...without bacon in the mix, I could easily be a veggies and pasta girl!


Bacon & Sun-Dried Tomato Alfredo Pasta

• 8 ounces uncooked multi-grain penne
• 1 (10 ounce) package refrigerated low fat alfredo sauce (such as Buitoni)
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomato, packed without oil cut into strips
• 10 slices of pre-cooked bacon (I bought regular bacon and cooked it myself though)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (much prettier if you sprinkle on top of your bowl rather than mixing it all in like I did :p)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper

1. cook pasta according to package directions; omitting salt and oil.
2. while pasta cooks, combine alfredo sauce and sun-dried tomatoes in sauce pan. cook over low heat stirring occasionally. 6-8 minutes or until thoroughly heated and tomatoes are juicy and plump.4
3. while sauce cooks, microwave bacon according to package directions. crumble bacon and set aside.
4. combine cooked pasta and alfredo sauce in a large bowl. top with bacon, basil and black pepper.

I bought the magazine for the recipe but I searched around and found it here as well - enjoy!

And, a few other links that I bookmarked just because and the old blog is as a good a place to save them as any!

• we LOVE Oliver Jeffers books and his site is gorgeous
• another book we love and are anxiously awaiting the movie release in the fall...waiting patiently for the movie tie-in site to go live!
• and while we're talking about books - have you ever ordered a blurb book (not one created from your blog) I adore this guys art and am so tempted to get the book. He has an etsy store too :)
• and while we're talking artists - I stumbled on her work somewhere around one of the billion blogs I like to ogle and really love it.
• and this site just makes me laugh :)
  
• has anyone tried this? does it work? I've never bought anything from an infomercial but I am so damn tempted (and, they sell it at Target so I could even pretend that I didn't buy some cheesy infomercial product)
• hehe
  
• I really dig this photo for some reason...aaaaaaand, I think I need to set up a photobooth for Izzy's birthday party (because I don't have a hundred other things to do for the party that are slightly more critical...like cook. and clean.)
• and these photos too...so awesome!
• possible birthday present? so fun!

OH! And one more thing...if you're a hybrid scrapbooker, check out this post for info about a current BHG call.