gluten-fail

I am having a bit of an existential crisis over here, and I was hoping for your input.  It would appear that I can no longer bake with gluten.

 Last week, DH asked me to make some brownies for his class, who had impressively earned enough 'brownie points' to get the brownies.  I turned to one of my favorite standby recipes from the old days (gluten filled).  It's been years since I made brownies with gluten.  And between now and then, I have lost the ability to work with it, apparently.  These brownies were a disaster; they wouldn't solidify and finally I burned the bottom to a hard rock trying to get them to form into the deep delicious brownies I had baked before.  Brownie fail.

And this is not the only crisis I have faced!  Only last month I tried to make Carrie's amazing looking carbomb cupcakes, and they imploded.  Carbomb fail.

I've lost my gluten intuition, the guiding force of baking without failure.  Should I just let the gluten go?

summer knitting

i found the secret...


instead of trying to knit winter sweaters this summer, i have switched to stitches that favor the swelter: light yarn, mesh patterns, airy skeins and bright colors. it has been wonderfully inspiring to knit within the season. good thing i have a future mother and sister in law who live at the beach! for them i can knit in these wonderful ways, such as the to-be-beach-bag shown here, and my first ever lace pattern shall (more to come soon!) now i am looking forward to fall, but i will still miss my summer knitting.

serious blocking

here is a sneak peak at my most recent knitting endeavor- a lap blanket for ben's parents! we are visiting them in peurto rico oh so soon, and i am looking forward to this project being completed.



a note for all you out there looking to knit a throw and wondering how best to block: splurge on the pins. when you visit your local craft store and look through the numerous options and boxes of pins, you may be tempted, as i was, to say; "9 bucks for pins with heads?? no way!" and go with the more utilitarian flat headed pins. this was not the correct choice. my fingers are very unhappy after all the pin pushing it took to stretch this blanket out (246 !!!). go for the round headed pins, maybe with some pretty colors. your fingers will thank you.

failed felting

putting my foot where my face should be....


My first feat with felting has been a fantastic failure. I was trying to make Knitty's FuzzyFeet, crafting the giant slippers and looking forward to adding them to my laundry for months to come to mold them craftily into warm and fuzzy feet sized slippers. But alas, it was not to be. I finished the first foot, which was big enough to make a delightful hat:


I then picked up my next skien of yarn to start the second sock, and quite clearly, on the front of the label, it says "Machine Washable." That, my friends, translates to "Will not shrink in the wash," aka "Will not felt." Nothing to do now but take them apart and start over, this time foot sized. Farewell felting, may we meet again someday under better curcumstances...