Yarn Along - Pumpkins? Pumpkins!!!

Salutations! Obviously one of my favorite things is reading, but I'm also very fond of knitting. Ginny over at Small Things hosts a lovely little weekly link-up where we showcase what we're working on and what we're reading. Once you're done here, head on over and see what everyone else is up to!

I know I should really be working on my Pont Neuf sweater because I said I would be done with the increases by the end of this past weekend. I promise I'll spend almost all of this coming weekend on it (I have to - my "deadline" is on Tuesday. Yikes!) 

Instead of working on my Pont Neuf, I made... PUMPKINS! Yes, I have been making a small army of adorable little crochet pumpkins for the last week and they are so much fun to make! I'm making them in a variety of colors and I've been playing with sizes by changing hook size and the number of pattern repeats. I have discovered, though, that using too large a hook means the fabric isn't dense enough and some of the poly-fill stuffing shows in the larger ones. I plan to try making a couple of really big ones with more stitches and by changing the pattern a bit. Basically I'm going to be gifting these away to just about everyone. 

 Not all of them have stems yet. Some of them don't even have stuffing...

Also, the bones of the pattern (which I've been toying with a great deal in the last week) offer up a lot of possibilities. For instance... Imagine stacking 3 of these on top of each other, and working them up in white. Do you see snowmen? Cuz I see snowmen!

Reading:
I spent most of my weekend cat sitting for dear Karen, which meant sitting on her couch with a cat on either side of me, crocheting pumpkins and listening to The Secret History. And oh my, how the plot has thickened!!! Murder, intrigue, ancient Greek rituals and secret plans of escape and that's not even the half of it! There were a few moments when I woke up Snow and Popeye (the cats) because I actually yelled a few "OH MY GOSH"'s at certain parts involving extreme revelation. I'm glad to be getting back into it, too, because it's a nice way to occupy my mind while I'm making pumpkins. Did I mention I'm making an army of pumpkins? 


That's it for me today. You can also find notes and detailed specs on this project on my Ravelry Page. For more of what I'm reading, find me on Goodreads.What have you been reading and knitting lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!
Love,

Willow






*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in the post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with express permission. See the About Page for details.*

Pinteresting, Vol. 10

Happy Friday and welcome to Pinteresting! The part of the show where I roundup my favorite pins from this week and share them with the world. I pin recipes, decorating ideas, religious stuff, teaching thoughts, funny stuff from Tumblr, kids' activities, crafting ideas, knitting/crochet patterns, and cute cat pictures.

1)

Knitted Tree Ornaments

Are these not unspeakably cute??? The link from the pin links to a place where you can buy a kit, but you can also download the free pattern if you want to make your own and bedazzle 'em yourself. I'm gonna keep pinning Christmas stuff until Epiphany, y'all. Christmas is gooooood stuff. :)

2)

Command Hook Hack

Ah, the adhesive hook, a renter's best friend. I've struggled with our trash bags in the kitchen trash can for a while now and tried every type and manner of taping I could think of and eventually just gave up and now just let it slip and endure the frustration. With this handy hack, though, perhaps others don't have to! Upon reflection, this hack won't work because my kitchen bin puts the liner inside an inner tube of trash can, which sounds weird but it's what I've got to work with. If I ever get a more traditional/standard bin like a normal person I'll definitely switch to this hack.

 

3)

cat-lover's sweater

 I need this in a big, bad way. It's everything I want in winter apparel: it's comfy, neutral colored, features a cute kitty, and has a sassy saying on it which will ensure my singleness! For more on my forays into the world of romance (HA) visit this post. 

4)

Haley's Blog Post

 I adore Haley Stewart at Carrots for Michaelmas. This post is one of many reasons why. I've got quite a bit of housework to get done before I can really enjoy Christmas (if you had my mother breathing down your neck, you would, too) and it's become rather a begrudging mountain of "I don't wanna." But, with a slight change of attitude and some small happy-making touches, housework isn't such a hassle. I would know, because I employed some of these things last night and got a whole slew of tidying done between 7:30 and 9pm. I even vacuumed! The whole house! 

5)

Revlon ColorBurst matte balm in Sultry

We don't do a whole lot of makeup talk here at Infinite, but every once-in-a-while I pin stuff and really like it and go to Walgreen's and buy it and end up really really liking it. This is kind of the reverse of that process. (Though I did pin another makeup-y thing that I then went out and purchased here.) I got this matte balm about 2 weeks ago and I can't stop wearing it. It comes out as a darker berry color on me instead of this pretty pink but I love it. The rich berry color isn't too dark but still feels on point for winter (whatever that means).

 

6) 

Black-and-White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

 *hem hem* THESE COOKIES. These cookies are your reward for making it to the end of this post because Sweet Jesus are they good. I made them last year as gifts for my office friends and neighbors and you bet your bum I'm making them again this year. They were a hit, they taste fantastic, and while they were baking my whole house smelled like Christmas. If you don't like mint or chocolate they are not for you (and I'm not for you, I mean really, what's not to love!?) but they're awesome. The recipe was posted at House Unseen by the lovely Dwija last year around this time, but because I needed the recipe for this weekend, I went digging through her archives to find it and pin it. The pin links to her post from last December. She got it from one of her daughters' books.


That's it for this week's edition of Pinteresting! I always enjoy curating my favorite, most recent pins. If you're not currently on Pinterest, make sure you take a moment to say goodbye to your loved ones before you log on, because there's no going back! You can follow me on Pinterest (any or all of my boards, find your cup of tea) HERE. Happy weekend!

love,

Willow

 

**Author's Note: None of the images in this post are my property. I have borrowed them from Pinterest and made my best effort to ensure that the Pinterest pages linked to link to an original source. If you see your work here and want it taken down please see my About page and contact me. Thank you for not suing.**

Pinteresting, Vol. 9

Happy Friday and welcome to Pinteresting! The part of the show where I roundup my favorite pins from this week and share them with the world. I pin recipes, decorating ideas, religious stuff, teaching thoughts, funny stuff from Tumblr, kids' activities, crafting ideas, knitting/crochet patterns, and cute cat pictures.

1) 

Chicken, Spinach & Artichoke Pasta Bake

All I can say about this recipe is YUM. This has everything I love and want in a comfort food casserole for the cold, winter days we're entering: chicken, spinach, pasta and artichokes! I very rarely cook with artichokes and I definitely want to start doing so. This recipe also seems so versatile that you could add mushrooms and asparagus if you don't happen to have a jar of artichoke hearts handy.

 

2) 

Kitty Sticky Notes

Okay these are too stinkin' cute! They're kitties! But they're post-it flags! And they're indie-made! ALSO they are currently 30% off according to the selling site so off you pop - $2.77 isn't bad for novelty cute stuff like this. (Seriously, I'm gonna go buy some as soon as I hit "Publish.")

 

3) 

Cleaning Schedule

So I live alone, now, and don't have someone (albeit half-assedly) sweeping the kitchen and dusting and vacuuming most days (seriously, it was a half-assed job at best but it was still something) so now I get to do it all myself. Which means it will be done right the first time so it won't have to be done every single day. I like this set-up because it has you doing basic maintenance every day instead of the Saturday and Sunday deep-clean-while-you-have-the-chance silliness I usually end up doing. Basically I need to print this out and hang it in my kitchen.

 

4) 

Party Hats!

So this actually links to an article about throwing a swanky New Year's Eve party on a budget, which is cool, but party hats!!!! They're so cute and little and I've loved this idea for quite sometime but now it's in easy step-by-step format for us! I'm totally making a Christmasy one for our confirmation class Advent Caroling Party in 2 weeks.

 

5)

Prayer to Purify Your Home

On a completely different note, I feel this is a very important pin. If you remember from this post, my childhood home is haunted. Our favorite priest is visiting us from his village parish in Kenya for a short while, so hopefully he will perform a proper blessing of the house before he returns, but just in case. Also, I live alone now, and there's been a lot of negative energy in that house for the last 4 years so I'm keeping a printout of this handy because after the events of last month, I'm a little paranoid.

 

6) 

This adorable Tea House

Fair warning, the source site is (I believe) in Czech or something similar. My Eastern European language skills are very poor, but my best inference is that it's Czech. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
But this little tea house is so cute!!! Sure, we can't read the directions correctly, but I imagine you could use pieces from a birdhouse kit (or 3) and use a jigsaw to cute out some of the shapes and add hinges of sorts to the roofs and then glue it all together. Right? Too much work? Maybe this is a good idea for an advanced shop class final project. For my birthday. Just a thought...

7) *Bonus* 

Knitted Plush Hearts

These are so cute! I've been thinking about knitting some things like this for a while out of some of my scrappy leftovers I have from all of my Christmas knitting, and these might be the ticket. Can you imagine an adorable little garland of these things for Valentine's Day??? It's a free pattern download so off you go, get your copy.

That's it for this week's edition of Pinteresting! I always enjoy curating my favorite, most recent pins. If you're not currently on Pinterest, make sure you take a moment to say goodbye to your loved ones before you log on, because there's no going back! You can follow me on Pinterest (any or all of my boards, find your cup of tea) HERE. Happy weekend!

love,

Willow

 

**Author's Note: None of the images in this post are my property. I have borrowed them from Pinterest and made my best effort to ensure that the Pinterest pages linked to link to an original source. If you see your work here and want it taken down please see my About page and contact me. Thank you for not suing.**

Pinteresting, Vol. 8

Happy Friday and welcome to Pinteresting! The part of the show where I roundup my favorite pins from this week and share them with the world. I pin recipes, decorating ideas, religious stuff, teaching thoughts, funny stuff from Tumblr, kids' activities, crafting ideas, knitting/crochet patterns, and cute cat pictures.

1) 

This Awesome Blog Post

One of my favorite bloggers is Haley Stewart at Carrots for Michaelmas and she wrote this guest post over at Kitchen Stewardship all about Advent and how observing Advent can actually help us prevent holiday burnout. The idea is that spending the weeks leading up to Christmas in a quieter state of mind makes the actual season of Christmas (traditionally, from Dec. 25 - Jan. 6) much more enjoyable. Now, I love Christmas, I love the whole season, and I'm not usually sick of Christmas carols until sometime in February, but I also really love the slow-down of Advent. The time of prayer and anticipation, of holding out the real celebrations until it's actually, you know... Christmas.

Which leads me to: HOLY MOSES PEOPLE THERE ARE ONLY 5 WEEKS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!! I am SO EXCITED.

2)

Pie Crust Cookies

I have been looking for something just like this for quite some time. These little cookies are store-bought pie crusts cut out to size, spread with jam (she used apple butter - yum!) and a cookie cutter used to cute out the little hole in the tops. They're so cute and look absolutely delicious - perfect for a more interesting cookie exchange party, if that's your holiday occasion du jour. 

3)

Up inspired tattoos

I'm not a huge fan of couple's tattoos. I love tattoos, of course, but matchy-matchy couple's tats? Not so much. Enter these inky arms inspired by Pixar's Up. Oh my cuteness! Not a bad way to go, if you absolutely have to have a couple's tattoo. 

4) 

 These salt dough ornament ideas

 

It won't let me make the graphic bigger without making it so huge that it's bigger than the entire post, so I apologize. To see it at a decent size, click the link below the image. But if you think back to an earlier Pinteresting post (HERE), I showed you a cool idea for cinnamon dough ornaments. But the cool thing about salt dough is that you can paint it. My niece and nephew are spending the entire week of Thanksgiving with us (Friday to Friday - whoa) so this may be on the list of scheduled activities for us to do to keep them busy. Plus, it'll give them a cute souvenir to take home to their mom.

5)

This Post from Better Than Eden

Mary at Better than Eden has some great insights, and she shows them off in this post. I've always loved the story of Jesus cleansing the temple with a whip and going a little crazy, but Mary puts it into such beautiful perspective. Go read it.

6) 

This banner hanging hack
 

This hack is super neat because it's not destructive.  Also, the command hooks are all but completely concealed by the bows. I imagine you could use this for a lot of different occasions, and in a lot of different places. I've pinned a few things that have free downloads for banner lettering, and I might make a few banners for the holidays to hang between my two downstairs bookcases over the TV (or where the TV won't be in a few weeks!). I'll be using this hack for sure, because I'm still a renter.

That's it for this week's edition of Pinteresting! I always enjoy curating my favorite, most recent pins. If you're not currently on Pinterest, make sure you take a moment to say goodbye to your loved ones before you log on, because there's no going back! You can follow me on Pinterest (any or all of my boards, find your cup of tea) HERE. Happy weekend!

love,

Willow

 

**Author's Note: None of the images in this post are my property. I have borrowed them from Pinterest and made my best effort to ensure that the Pinterest pages linked to link to an original source. If you see your work here and want it taken down please see my About page and contact me. Thank you for not suing.**

Pinteresting, Vol.6

Happy Friday and Happy Halloween and welcome to Pinteresting! The part of the show where I roundup my favorite pins from this week and share them with the world. I pin recipes, decorating ideas, religious stuff, teaching thoughts, funny stuff from Tumblr, kids' activities, crafting ideas, knitting/crochet patterns, and cute cat pictures.


1) 

This Christmas Prep List

Now that Hallowtide is upon us, we can finally begin turning our eyes to the holiday season.  This list is for the thing you can do in November (which starts tomorrow, by the way!) to prepare for the holiday crazies. It is far from comprehensive and some of the things on the list are a bit frivolous and silly. I do like the idea of doubling some dinners to freeze, making a gift-giving list, getting a haircut, and giving your house a deep clean. Since my current house mate is planning to move out December 1st, I feel like November will be the month to do some serious deep cleaning while we pack up his stuff.

 2) 

Soul Cakes Recipe

Haley at Carrots for Michaelmas tweaked a more traditional recipe for these gluten free little cakes, traditionally given to people during Hallowtide, especially on the Feast of All Souls, to remember to pray for our dead as well as to recall that death is not the end. You can google All Souls' Day traditions and come up with a plethora of information. I plan to make them but I think I'm going the plenty-of-gluten route because I happen to have regular AP flour on hand. 

3) 

Cauliflower Tater Tots

I love cauliflower. Alton Brown actually did a special episode of Good Eats (probably my favorite foodie show of all time) dedicated to this member of the cabbage family. But even the great Alton did not think to use them in tater tots. I'm really loving all the clever recipes for things that are substituting some of the heavy starchiness of potatoes (as wonderful and delicious and God-given as they are, they're not the healthiest thing in large quantities) with cauliflower. This recipe looks crazy simple and very smart. The only change I'd make is I would probably leave out the bell pepper. I wonder if you could pre-form a bunch of them and put them in the freezer to bake at one's leisure? mmm....

4)

This Tea Set

This tea for two tea set is so lovely. It's functional and extremely beautiful in its simplicity. There's even a tea light holder beneath the pot to keep the bottom warm! I don't know if this could ever replace my precious little white teapot but it really is lovely.

5) 

This Christmas Printable

After J&M's Sweet Sixteen, I've become a teensy bit obsessed with chalkboard art. Granted, I'm not a very good freehand artist (at all), but I feel like I did so much research on it that it would be foolish not to put it to use. I even bought a roll of self-adhesive chalkboard paper from Michael's which I intend to apply to the back wall of the kitchen between the pantry and the fridge. I think putting these kinds of pretty messages up would brighten up the kitchen considerably.

6)  

This ornament

I originally pinned this because I know someone who is really into penguins. But I started thinking about it, and about all the amigurumi patterns I have, and thought, What if we made a bunch of ornament-sized, Christmas themed amigurumi for the holidays??? I doubt I'll have time to dedicate to a project like this in time for this Christmas, but it's a fun idea. It was actually something I thought about doing last year when the gifts for my immediate family were in the form of donations to Heifer International (I was going to knit a bee ornament for my mom because I gifted a hive of bees in her name, a goat for my dad, bunnies for my sisters, and so on.)

 

That's it for this week's edition of Pinteresting! I always enjoy curating my favorite, most recent pins. If you're not currently on Pinterest, make sure you take a moment to say goodbye to your loved ones before you log on, because there's no going back! You can follow me on Pinterest (any or all of my boards, find your cup of tea) HERE.

love,

Willow

 

**Author's Note: None of the images in this post are my property. I have borrowed them from Pinterest and made my best effort to ensure that the Pinterest pages linked to link to an original source. If you see your work here and want it taken down please see my About page and contact me. Thank you for not suing.**

Pinteresting, Vol. 2

Happy Friday, Friends and Pinners alike!

I realize I missed last Friday - I'm sure none of you were devastated. But I'm back with more! Things around here have been very busy (I say "here" meaning my life, not "here" as in the blog), because OH MY GAWD JAC and MARY'S SWEET SIXTEEN IS IN THREE WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even handle the stress I'm internalizing. It's gonna be a blast, though. That is, it will be a blast if any of their crappy little friends R.S.V.P. Why does no one R.S.V.P. or send thank you notes or talk on the phone anymore? What's up with that? ANYWAY. Pinteresting picks this week are below. Have fun!

1)

This Super Simple Scarecrow Costume

These are actually called SugarTats, temporary tattoos that make it look like you've painted your face. There are nose, mouth, eye, and face tats that apply like regular old temp tats and look really cute. However, if I run out of time (or money), a little face paint, a floppy hat, plaid shirt, jeans, and some straw sticking out of sleeves and hair will do. I'm looking for a really easy costume this year (if I dress up at all) because I don't have the time or the energy to go all out on making my longed for Rainbow Brite costume.

2)

Early Years You Won't Regret

Pin links to a post at Amongst Lovely Things and this really beautiful article Sarah wrote about how to make the most of your kids' early years. I don't have kids and I don't homeschool, but if you have little ones in your life, this is a wonderful read. So insightful and important.

3)

These Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments

You may be thinking, "Willow, you crazy cat lady, Christmas is still almost 4 months away!" My response to this is: "Actually, dear reader, Christmas is a mere 14.5 weeks away." You may allow your jaws to drop. Can you imagine how yummy these 2 ingredient (not edible) ornaments would smell on a fresh cut pine tree? How you could make a zillion of them and give them to your friends, neighbors, and stinky relatives? I'm so excited to make these as Advent gifts. Also, because I believe in giving credit where credit is due, please note that the lovely photo I pinned was inspired by THIS post at Katy Elliot.

4)

Spinach Feta Casserole

Seriously this looks so good. I love spinach, I love feta and parmesan cheese, what is not to love about this??? Actually, if I do make this I may substitute the brown rice for quinoa or something because rice isn't my favorite grain but I'm not sure if it would actually work. We'll see. It just looks so good! I'm sure you could also sneak some kale in with the spinach for a super green powerhouse of a meal.

5)

Happypotamus

It's a crochet hippopotamus, get it? This is so stinking adorable. The pattern is for sale on Ravelry and I just can't handle how precious it is with its little ears and the grey in contrast to the white and pink flowers... I love this so much. I'm really anxious for my friend C------- to have kids so I can fill that child's nursery with handicrafted jungle animals like giraffes and elephants and this here happy hippo.

6)

Masquerade Invitations

I mentioned the Masquerade Sweet Sixteen thing, right? And how I'm completely losing my freaking mind over throwing an epic party in less than a month? Yeah. These inspired our cardstock invitations, which I will share in a post in the near future. I'm thinking it might be a 2 post miniseries detailing "how we did it" for less than $300 (our budget is actually $200 but I'm allowing for a few excesses). Ours were not quite as elaborate as these and were handwritten because printing was exorbitant but I still think they came out very pretty. I'll post all about it in a few weeks, once we actually pull it off. :)  If you're interested in my Sweet Sixteen dedicated board on Pinterest, please go here. It's pretty cool how much neat ideas I've found.

7) BONUS

Giraffe Hat Pattern!

Seriously, I'm talking cute safari nursery theme. Always knit (or in this case, crochet) for babies.

That's it for this week's edition of Pinteresting! I always enjoy curating my favorite, most recent pins. If you're not currently on Pinterest, make sure you take a moment to say goodbye to your loved ones before you log on, because there's no going back! You can follow me on Pinterest (any or all of my boards, find your cup of tea) HERE.

love,

Willow

 

Yarn Along - Snowflakes Checked Slouch

Linking up (for the first time!) with Ginny over at Small Things for her weekly Yarn Along. I figure I should start sharing all the knitting I've been doing and there's no time like the present! Head on over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to. 

Last week I started working on Christmas knits! I know it sounds crazy, but there are only 15 weeks until Christmas and I basically stop all Christmas knitting after the first week of December because I'm busy making Christmas decorations and other crafts in preparation for probably my favorite holiday. We'll talk more on Christmas later.

Ravelry Page

ANYway, the only people I really knit things for anymore are my sisters and a couple of my cousins (and babies - always knit for babies). So my sisters and my girl cousin get hand knits this Christmas. I was thinking of my sisters and how much I love the checked slouch I made for my friend R--- and our cousin Charlotte and Snowflakes was born. My youngest sister M loves pretty shades of blue and the blue yarns I chose against the white look kind of like snowflakes. I hope she likes it even though it rarely gets cold enough to warrant a woolen hat this cozy here in SoCal.

In books lately, I'm slogging through The Other Typist. I only say slogging because I keep putting off picking it up. When I do pick it up I can read 3 chapters before bed and be perfectly satisfied. The trouble is, I really don't like the main character/protagonist/narrator. She's just not likeable. I know, main characters don't necessarily need to be likeable, but there's a difference between someone who is believably flawed and unreliable as a narrator and someone who is just plain boring in order to showcase someone far more interesting. I'm not joking when I say that the antagonist is fascinating, but there are quite a few things about this book I would change if I had my way. I'll do a full write up on it when I finish. If I finish. Yikes.

That's it for me today. What have you been knitting and reading lately? Let me know in comments and then head over to Ginny's to see what everyone else is up to!

Love,

Willow


*Author's Note: The Yarn Along button in this post is property of Ginny Sheller and is used with permission. All other images used in this post as well as text are (c)Whitney Miller and may be used only with my express permission. See my About Page for details.*