Happy Halloween!!

SupaStah!

We got our first bit of frost last night. Nothing too severe, but it made for a chilly morning. I think today is going to be a good day to stay inside and crochet, so if Geof will let me, I think that's just what I'll do. My appetite for crafting, especially with yarn, becomes somewhat insatiable this time of year. After months of no FOs I've already made 2 ghosts (sewing), a plant hanger (crochet,pics to come), and I'm almost half way finished with with a chair cushion for Geof's kiddie chair. Plus, I have ideas swirling around my head to fast I feel dizzy...in a good way. One idea that I have to for making a star-shaped tree topper. I haven't decided yet if I want to crochet one or build one from wire or whatnot. Has anyone seen a nice pattern for a crocheted tree-topping star? I searched around a little this morning and didn't find much of anything. I'm looking for something that isn't too fancy or frilly just simple. I think I may have better luck if I build something from wire. I'm thinking something two dimensional? According to the countdown thingy up there, I still have 56 days to come up with something.

Pics courtesy of corbis.

Foodie Friday

It's pumpkin season and baking season and putting the two together leaves me weak in the knees...in a good way. Several weeks ago I was looking through my cookbooks and ran across a recipe for Pumpkin-Spice Bars. I finally tried it out on Monday and as soon as I tasted it knew I had to share it for my first Foodie Friday in...months. This stuff is addictive! My only semi-complaint is that it is a bit too sweet. If you'd rather not go into a diabetic coma I would suggest adding less sugar. When I try a new recipe I usually follow the instructions to the T then see where to go from there to make adjustments. This time I omitted the raisins and nuts because I didn't want anything to get between me and my pumpkin! So, here is the recipe as it is written. Enjoy!

Pumpkin-Spice Bars

Bars
4 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 can (15oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)*
2 cups all-purpose flour**
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup raisins, if desired

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 package (3oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, if desired

1. Heat oven to 350^oF. Lightly grease bottom and sides of 15x10x1-inch pan with shortening.
2. In large bowl, beat eggs, granulated sugar, oil and pumpkin until smooth. Stir in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ginger and cloves, Stir in raisins. Spread in pan.
3. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours.
4. In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla with electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Gradually beat powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, on low speed until smooth and spreadable. Frost bars. Sprinkle with walnuts. For bars cut into 7 rows by 7 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

* Check labels carefully when buying canned pumpkin. Two types are available: plain pumpkin, which is unsweetened and without spices, and pumpkin pie mix, which contains sugar and spices

**If using self-rising flour, omit baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Ghost's Anatomy

We are in the midst of my favorite time of year. I love to peruse the isles of stores searching for holiday decorating ideas. Most of the time what I see is over-priced and not very well made although the idea has great potential. That's how I came up with my ghosts. WalMart had some neat Halloween creatures made for hanging; witches, ghosts, ghouls, etc. I don't remember exactly what they looked like now, I saw them several weeks ago, but the seed had been planted for an idea on how to make my own...and so, I did!

I used two kinds of fabric I bought at WalMart for $1/yard. They both remind me of material for a prom or wedding dress. Also used were 2 buttons for the eyes, a wire hanger to hold up the arms and of course for hanging, and some batting to give the head some shape. The fabric is fairly sturdy to hold up to the outdoors, but also fairly lightweight so they'll be "floaty". The ghosts measure about 37" long and 18" wide from hand to hand. It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned but I'm pleased with the outcome.

I ♥ Ravelry

I could spend hours over at Ravelry. For anyone out there still on the waiting list...be patient, it's totally worth it!

I've been going through and adding all of my FOs to my projects list. Last night I remembered, out of nowhere, this sweater that I had made for Geof about 2 years ago. So, this morning Geof and I had a little photo shoot. I was more excited about it than he was and ended up getting is cooperation after offering to pay him $1. Ha! Kids are silly. At any rate here are the pics and the specs for said sweater...

PICS (clickable of course)



SPECS

Yarn: Lion Brand Pound of Love, I have no idea exactly how much yarn was used or the colorway...this sweater was completed 2 years ago! By the way does anyone else giggle when saying "pound of love" or am I the only immature one?

Hook: G & H

Pattern: Peppermint Twist Cardigan featured in Crochet World February 2005

Fearless Frakenstein Pirate

Geof's mind is made up and he has decided to be a "Fearless Frankenstein Pirate". That's my boy! We got everything we needed for his costume yesterday and the grand total $4 and change. From the local thrift store we got a slightly too big...uh...I'm not down with the clothing terminology for the males so I'll give my best guess and call it a suit jacket/sport coat/dressy thingy and we also got a pair of black polyester pants. On a side note I also found an I hook there for 10 cents. From the local Dollar Tree we found a Frankenstein mask, pirate hat and sword. I wonder how many Fearless Frankenstein Pirates we'll run into?

It's Official...I'm Cool!

A few weeks ago now my waiting paid off and I was finally invited to join Ravelry . I haven't had much time to play with it, but I like it so far. This morning I spent a couple hours adding projects and taking hook and needle inventory. I didn't realize I had more than one hook in a few sizes. I really like that I can make lists of all my crochet and knitting supplies as well as books. It's a great way to keep track of things all in one place. I haven't done much searching for people over there, I did add Deneen as a friend though so that's a start. If you haven't signed up for the waiting list go do it now! I signed up sometime in August I think, so the wait wasn't as long as I had anticipated and so far I think it was well worth the wait. Go click the damn button already!



In other completely off subject news, I was just wondering if the little boxes that pop up whenever you mouseover a link on my blog here ever annoy you? Are they helpful? Do you despise them and limit your time here because of them? Just curious.

Hello Autumn

Geof has finally decided on a Halloween costume. For the longest time he said he wanted to be Lightning McQueen from the Cars movie. I looked into buying a costume, but found that the cheast one was almost $40! I decided then to just make one myself but had been dreading it. Yesterday Geof decided to be a "fearless Frankenstein" instead. Yes! That will be much easier to make. The wheels are already turning in my head!

That's about as much as I've done creatively the past few weeks. Nathaniel is off the road now and working out of Charlotte as a trainer. He's home every weekend but with just the one car there's been a lot of travel back and forth. We've had the new car for about 2 months now and have already put 3,000+ miles on it. All that driving has put a serious dent in my crafting time. In between I've also been on the job hunt and that is going a lot slower than I expected. The tomato crop has been pretty slack this year so I haven't even been able to can anything. So any kitchen crafting has been nonexistent as well. Hopefully with the holidays coming up I'll have more to share. This is my favorite time of year and my creative juices start to flow with the coming of the cool Autumn air. Stay tuned...