Crafty Resolutions 2013

Another new year and another opportunity to take stock, judge our past 12 months, and resolve to create a new and better life in the coming year.

2012 brought an unexpected job change for me and, along with it, a massive distraction that has kept me from any meaningful crafting for months. My life was upended and the ship hasn't righted itself yet. Things are very out of balance.

I miss being driven to "make". My brain has been so filled with all the new stuff I have to learn (a new industry, new people, new tasks), I've had trouble lighting the creative spark. I need to find a way to bring that back to the forefront - to look forward to what's on my needles or what new craft I can learn.

A very wise friend and mentor told me once that resolutions "set us up for failure and feeling sh**ty about ourselves. The resolutions people make are usually about fixing themselves and their lives, based on “there is something wrong here” or even worse, “there is something wrong with me.”

[Editorial tangent: if you're interested in doing something more productive than just making resolutions, I invite you to visit his blog post entitled "Looking Back, Looking Forward" which is a three-part exercise developed to help you create closure for this year and plan for the next.]

So, I figured it might be a good idea to apply this thinking to my crafting. There are a lot of things I'd like to to with my knitting/sewing/upholstery/etc but I need to be realistic about what I can accomplish, especially considering my current "creative block". With this in mind, here are a few crafty goals for 2013:

There's an app for that.

1. More sewing. Cassandra far surpassed me in the sewing category - from her gorgeous Bernina machines to her amazing foray into quilting. I bought the materials to make an apron and have had my eyes on cool aprons that I've seen in stores. My resolution is to make at least one apron from an original design this year. And maybe start a quilt (although that might be stretching it a bit!)

This can't be too hard, right?

2. Knitting cables. For those of you who have read our blog for a while, you may recognize this resolution from a couple of years ago. Sadly, I STILL (two years later) have not actually knitted cables yet. *facepalm* I cannot begin to express how embarrased I am by this admisssion. So... this year for sure! Maybe something easy, like a cabled hat.

Something like this...

3. Needlepoint. Years ago, a dear friend of mine's grandmother needlepointed new seats for her dining room chairs. I was enamored of the finished product. They were sturdy and beautiful and had the advantage of being exactly what she wanted in her dining room. I'm fascinated with the designs of William Morris and want to do something in that style for my chairs. It's a huge undertaking so my resolution is not to do them all but to find some designs I like and to start one. I'll be learning a new skill so I expect my first to be a bit wonky anyway. :)




The chair that started it all.



4. Finish upholstering stuff. I originally took the upholstery class because I didn't want to pay someone to recover a particular chair. I'm now working on chair number six. Sadly, I thought I was going to have all my upholstery completed by December 2011. Ha!! I took one semester off and I had one project that was a total bear and took an entire semester to finish. However, I have no space for new furniture so my goal is to finish what I've got left by the end of fall semester 2013.



I want a Kenyan Top Bar hive.



5. BEES! I've talked about getting bees for the last three years. I came close last year but waited to long and then it was too late to order the actual insects. I've decided on the type of hive I want so I just need to buy one and get the bees at the right time this spring. Fingers crossed that it actually happens in 2013.

I hope that 2013 brings all of you health, happiness, and success in whatever goal(s) you set for yourself. Just remember, don't make resolutions that make you feel sh**ty about yourself. Set goals that, when you reach them, allow you to celebrate how awesome you are.



Happy New Year, friends.

- Alex

Up in Flames

I'm happy to report that I learned a new kitchen technique this past weekend that supports my cooking resolution. And guess who my teacher was? My husband! I know! All these years he's been living in my house with this dormant knowledge... You could have knocked me over with a feather.

And what is this great new thing I learned, you ask? Roasting bell peppers on the stove top.

Flashback to yesterday morning. I had proclaimed that I was going to make home-made vegetarian chili for dinner. I took to my cookbooks (and the internet) for recipes to cobble together. There was a particular flavor I had in mind... tomato. All ingredients were assembled on the counter and I was rolling up my shirtsleeves to get started. That is when my husband walked up and said "you should roast those peppers first". Huh, wha? Next thing I know, he had the gas burner on the stove on high and a red pepper sitting right in the flame. A Renaissance man!!

My goodness. What a difference! Those peeled peppers were an amazing addition to a chili that was outstanding. I couldn't be happier with this recipe and I thought I would share it with you all today.

My actual chili.

Tomato-y Vegetarian  Chili

2 large yellow onions (diced)

6 cloves of garlic (pressed)

olive oil

3 roasted red (or green) peppers (diced)

1 14.5 can of roasted diced tomatoes

1 46 oz. can of tomato juice

1 cup Texturized Vegetable Protein (TVP) - available at your local health food store or co-op.

4 fresh tomatoes (diced)

1 can kidney beans

2 tbsp Chili powder

Tabasco sauce

Salt and Pepper

Vegetable bullion/broth

1 hour before you are ready to make the chili, put the dried TVP in a bowl and cover with vegetable bullion/broth to rehydrate. Set aside. Roast and peel red peppers. Set aside.

In a heavy-bottomed pan, (I use a dutch oven) heat up ¼ cup of olive oil. Brown the onions and then garlic until they are well carmelized. Add the roasted red peppers and cook until they are heated through. Add the can of roasted diced tomatoes, tomato juice, kidney beans, and the TVP. Add chili powder. Salt, pepper and Tabasco to taste. Simmer for another 20 minutes.

Add diced fresh tomatoes and simmer for another 20 minutes.

I found a youtube video where they show almost the exact pepper-roasting technique we used. Trust me, it's well worth the extra cooking time!

If you are a fan of tomato-y chili, I really hope you try this recipe! Talk to you soon...

–Cassandra

Holy Guacamole!

As I've mentioned before, one of my crafty resolutions this year is to become a better cook. Luckily, this past weekend I had a great opportunity for some learnin'! My cousin-in-laws invited us over for a dinner that included a lesson in guacamole done the right way. And let me tell you, it was exceptional. Would it not have been bad manners, I would have eaten the whole bowl by myself.

My gift to you... the Best. Guacamole. Recipe. Ever. (with photos):

 

4 Cloves of Garlic (diced)

Then ground up (with a few de-seeded jalapenos and a diced yellow onion) using a mortar and pestle. You see, that's the trick right there. The smashing is where the flavor lies. I was gifted (by same cousins) at Christmas my own mortar and pestle. I can't wait to try this myself!

8 ripe avocados, chopped and then mashed in a large bowl (along with some cilantro) using 2 spoons. Onion-garlic-jalapeno mixture gets mashed in too at this point. Then there is the lime... see it in action in photo above! Diced roma tomatoes can be added now if you like them. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Hopefully you have something that looks (and tastes) like this:

See, this is an example of having the right tools for the job. The smashing of certain ingredients in the mortar and pestle really added to the flavor and texture of this guacamole. I have been making it for years by just chopping, but this is so much better! Gracias to my family for turning me on the the beauty of this cool kitchen tool. I can't wait to figure out what else can be made better by using it!

–Cassandra

Reporting From the Couch!

Happy Friday everyone!

Guess what? I haven't touched the needle case project since we last spoke on Monday. I did, however, purchase the remaining elements that I was missing so I am all prepared when I do take a moment to sew this up. I just needed some "couch time" this week after the kids went to bed. With that said, I have made some progress on my new knitting project!

Knitting in Progress

There were many projects in the running for my stash of Blackwater Abbey worsted in Autumn. I will give you a peek at those...

I have always wanted to make the Hemlock Ring blanket by Jared Flood:

Hemlock Ring Blanket by Jared Flood

But then I thought that this stiff wool wasn't soft enough for a lap blanket. So I considered the Perth Wrap:

Perth Wrap by Cari Clement

It is beautiful, and ideally suited for this yarn...but...it is cables. I'm a bit cabled-out after 2 fully cabled sweaters. I shifted gears and went to a little sweater I have had my eye on for a while. The Goodale by Cecily Glowik MacDonald would possibly look really cute in a more rustic yarn like my Blackwater Abbey:

Goodale Sweater by Cecily Glowick MacDonald

 The pattern actually calls for supersoft madelinetosh pashmina. Maybe it wouldn't hang right in something stiff like wool. I second-guessed my renegade yarn notions and decided to abandon that pattern idea. I went back to the idea of a wrap and logged some serious search time in on ravelry.

The winner is the Vineyard Wrap by J.L. Fleckenstein:

Vineyard Wrap by J.L. Fleckenstein

It suits my yarn perfectly and is something I could really use. I am embarrassed to say that I have a nasty fleece throw given to me by a vendor that I use at my desk during the day. It will be replaced by the Vineyard Wrap as soon as I can bind it off!

So far, this project is going well. At first, I had a bit of trouble with the K1B (knit one back) stitch. This was a stitch I hadn't done before and so of course I turned to youtube for some help. There seems to be quite a few variations on this stitch and I had gone down a few incorrect paths before finding the right one. Luckily, the one I needed was the simplest. Once I got my stitches down, I started to cruise. Well, as much as I can cruise on what is essentially a lace pattern. Let's just take a moment to thank the universe for the progress you can make with size 10 needles.

I have also been giving a lot of thought to my 2011 crafty resolutions. I keep coming back to the same thing. Cooking, cooking, and cooking. This is the area that I want to work on. I love to cook, am a decent cook...but I want to be an even better cook. I don't want to be fearful of things that seem complicated. And, I want to expand my vegetarian repertoire. So there you go...we'll see what happens this year!

Have a great weekend!

–Cassandra