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Inspired by the monthly desktop backgrounds over at Smashing Magazine. Here’s your very own Davin Made original, for free and right on your screen.
Happy May! Click to download.
Monthly Archives: April 2012
Quick Baguettes
The lace was a flop. Like, ugh, I don’t even want to talk about it. So here’s some bread!
See how I distracted you there, did it work?
Yesterday, I got home from the grocery store and realized we forgot to get mozzarella, so pizza was out. After a minute of mourning for my dinner, I decided I still wanted something yeasty, but it needed to be quick. I still needed to eat dinner soon. So after a minute of searching I settled on the Baguette by the Sisters Cafe.
For a very speedy bread, it’s very good. There is only one, 30 minute rise, which meant that I could satisfy my home baked bread craving fast. The texture is more like white sandwich bread than french though, the crumb is very fine and doesn’t have the nice big holes I would generally expect in a baguette. It also has more of a sandwich bread taste. I suspect this is due to the short rise, there wasn’t enough time for the yest to produce the lovely bubbles in the bread or the complex flavor we associate with a baguette. Also, a real french baguette is often a two day affair, starting with either a preferment, either a biga or a poolish and including multiple rises to help ferment the yeast.
Still, I didn’t have that kind of time so this was an excellent alternative.
Another fairly speedy baguette recipe I’d like to try
Steamy Kitchen’s How to Make the Perfect Loaf of French Bread
tonight – I knit
I’ve come up with my first lace pattern.
me, a glass of wine, and this crazy dog are about to find out how well I did.
FO – Eliina Shawl
Another back shot, because, well, I’m not photogenic.
This is the Eliina Shawl, and while the pattern is wonderful, the real show stopper is the yarn. It’s Creatively Dyed Yarn – Calypso that I bought at Rhinebeck a couple of years ago. I had spent all day waiting to buy something special and for some totally unknown reason it called to me. Or depending on your oppinion, screamed at me. This is not a subtle yarn color. But that’s why I love Creatively Dyed Yarn, they go where most yarn colors don’t dare. Their booth stood out of the crowd like a crazy orange shawl in the middle of the woods.
The great thing about the yarn though, is that it actually is a lot more complex than your average crazy orange. There are a lot of yellow and brown tones that make it feel more like an autumn leaf and less like a traffic cone.
FO – Folded
Last week I suckered a couple of my friends into a photo shoot of our finished knitting so that I could finally update my Ravelry notebook without having to make use of my self timer and awkward poses where I’m hopefully mostly in the shot without any of my laundry showing.
A good, if awkward time was had by all.
The pattern is Folded by Veera Välimäki, I didn’t like the pleats in the front so I pulled them around to the back. I looove this sweater. I used 2 skeins of Malabrigo sock and I had 1 gram left over at the end! It curled up a bunch so I added a hem to the bottom which helps keep weigh it down and keep it from riding up.
Here’s my ravelry project page
Toilet paper roll owl
A super cute way to
a) wrap a very small present
b) learn to tie a tie
c) entertain small children (not that I had any around)
Inspired by toilet paper roll owls for a rainy day
Bunny Mac
Happy Day after Easter everyone! My Easter was wonderful, and I got to try to decorate Ukranian Eggs, but they were, umm, not super blog worthy (I need some real practice for next year!)
Boyfriend’s parents gave us an awesome Easter basket, that included some bunny shaped pasta, so dinner tonight was mac and cheese. Here is my current working go-to recipe. I think it could still be tweaked, but I put in some really sharp cheddar, so delicious!
| Stove-top mac and cheese
serves 4-6 Ingredients 16 ounces of pasta
Instructions
|
Old Becomes new again!
I finished this scarf forever ago, but I don’t think I ever properly blocked it, so I always felt it was sort of meh about it. It’s cute and I made it with Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm Cormo Worsted, so it’s great that it’s local. The yarn is squishy and wonderful and super sunny. But man, what a difference blocking makes.
Pattern: Andrea’s Shawl
Yarn: Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm Cormo
Mods: I used a heavier yarn than called for
Verdict: Awesome
I want to live in Ann Perkins’s house
Screenshot: Parks and Rec
I am a huge parks and rec fan and from the first time I saw Ann Perkins’s house I knew it was the home for me (that and the house from Up). It’s so homey and bright and I wouldn’t even mind the Andy in the background (this is from a really old episode). I particularly love the round pillows, so cozy. I want to recreate them in colors that would work with my big purple couch. It’s girly without being too sweet and I think they did a great job of making the set look like someone could actually live there. I’d move in right away! What TV home would you want to live in?
