March 2012

Another chocolate cake! This one was made for my supervisor’s birthday at work. Similar to the Cupcake birthday one with flowers, only this one is made to look like its sitting in a basket. Used the basket weave technique I had just learned in course two of the Wilton classes.

This is a two layer 8 inch chocolate cake with chocolate chips inside the batter. The cake is covered in buttercream with a basket weave design. She said that learned while doing the basket weave that it is important to keep constant pressure while piping. After making this cake she has switched to a tip 47 to help with even spacing and better control over the design. She covered the cake with pink and purple button flowers and leaves made out of fondant.  Great job, Kimberly!

Kimberly lives in the upstate region of South Carolina.  Her email is:  moat456@yahoo.com

I loved, loved, loved the idea!

 Perhaps you’re wondering why. In one word: traffic. While there’s several things I dislike about EBay, they generate the largest audience for vintage clothing.  Hands down.  While I love Etsy’s lower prices and ease of use, I’ve recieved more hits in 5 days on a single EBay auction than I have on all my Etsy listings combined… over the course of 3 months! Small businesses need heavy traffic in order to operate. Otherwise sales stagnate and the business becomes a hobby. In the past year this is exactly what happened to me on Etsy. So back to EBay it is.

 With no further adieu, here are some treasures currently for sale on EBay:

 I know, right? Metallic teal green patent leather vintage heels from (I’m guessing) the 1940s. Possibly 30s or 50s though. Super rare color that’s perfect for spring. Approx. size 7 1/2 – 8 US. Listed at $9.99 w/ no reserve here. Auction ends this Sunday.

Va-va-voom! 50s inspired 80s vintage Lanvin dress. Strapless w/ asymmetrical peplum and wiggle skirting. Red silk + black velvet. Current bid is only $31.00 here. No reserve. Auction ends this Sunday.

LOVE!!!! Indian made 80s rayon chiffon slouch ‘trophy’ jacket. Loaded with aurora borealis sequins, purple glass beads, and faux pearls. 20s art deco/flapper inspired look. Current bid is only $16.50 here. No reserve. Auction ends this Sunday.

Luxuriate, 70s style. This bohemian beauty reminds me of Thea Porter. I love the elegant, free flowing silhouette + opulent Indian paisley print. Great color scheme too! Made of rayon. $9.99 opening bid w/ no reserve here. Auction ends next Thursday.

Red hot. Ultra glam 50s party dress w/ couture like cut, full skirt, and tons of rhinestones. 10x better in person. Viva Las Vegas, prom, maybe your wedding? All worthy causes for this baby. $9.99 opening bid with no reserve here. Auction ends next Thursday.

Several ‘buy it now’ store listings are available too:

These crazy 70s platforms came from the estate of country star Skeeter Davis. The certificate of authenticity is long gone, but I purchased them from a very reputable dealer and take her word for it. Size 7 – 7 1/2 US. Grab ‘em here.

Jackie O behind closed doors? The only 60s vinyl pillbox hat I’ve ever seen. Perfect for a bad bad girl. Available here.

1950s full circle skirt w/ cording detail for texture. Lovely spring floral print. Up for adoption here.

The bold and the beautiful. 70s raspberry + bubblegum pink felt floppy hat. Fun stuff. Buy it here.

Prices are negotiable on most store listings. If you need a better price, please don’t hesitate to ask. Serious and reasonable counter offers will be accepted : ).

I go out of town for business this weekend, but will try to add more listings on Sunday night. There’s a ton of great stuff on the way including vintage sewing patterns, fabric, sunglasses, jewelry, boots, and of course clothes. Plus the most amazing vintage cape I’ve ever found. Stay tuned!

xoxo

In addition, I have also had a cold since New Years— yes new years… like 6 weeks.  It comes and goes, but overall I haven’t felt physically well to do much of anything that involves brain power…. definitely fuzzy brain!

So, I picked up some clearance yarn at A.C. Moore- this happens to be Lion Brand, Martha Stewart… and I believe it is this Extra Soft blend in Gray Pearl.

And I made this:

A basket weave scarf!

And, I made this fuzzy video for you (after I found out there are about 500,000,000 other youtube videos showing the same thing!) so you can see how I did it. I don’t get real basic, so you will have to have a working knowledge of crochet to understand.

For your foundation row, you will chain a multiple of 4 plus 4. For example, I chained 20 plus 4… so 24. Then in the 4th chain from hook, run a row of double crochet. Turn. Chain 3.

Anyway- not the best video… like I said- fuzzy brain.

Another thing I love about the basket weave stitch is that it lays flat. It has been my experience, and maybe it’s because I am not a real crochet-er, that other stitches can get kinda curly-. This one doesn’t curl up when it’s around my neck.

I promise I will get back into sewing. I have a lot of ideas floating in my head. I would really love to get into the last Project Run & Play at-home contest for the next 2 weeks. The theme is my “signature look”. Since I’m really new at “designing” clothing… I am completely lost as to what I would do for a signature look- keeping in mind this is children’s clothing. I’m not sure I even want to commit to a “signature look” at this point in my sewing career. So, I seriously have to think and get busy if I want to be part of it!

I finally just learned how to knit hats on straight needles. Still can’t for the life of me use the round needles to make anything! General rule for knitting hats is you want around 70 stitches on 5mm needles to begin with. Otherwise simply measure your head and knit to match that length. If you’re unsure if it will fit simply slide you work of your needles and see if it works! Note do not do that though if you don’t know how to put your work back onto the knitting needles!

For the hat on the left in the image in this case I suggest about 78 stitches on 5mm needles. Otherwise just make sure if you start with knit that you end with purl stitches so that when you close up the hat and the two ends meet up they are opposite. So you cast on and then do *4 knit stitches, 4 purl stitches* for 4 rows and then do the reverse for the next 4 rows doing *4 purl stitches, 4 knit stitches* continuing to switch every 4 rows. This in the end creates an effect where there appear to be a lot of boxes. Now you continue to do this till your hat measure around 7.5 inches in length. You’re now going to go across the row either doing *knit 2 together, knit 2 more together, purl 2 together, purl 2 more together*, or the reverse of that being *purl 2 together, purl 2 more together, knit 2 together, knit 2 more together*, depending on where in the pattern you are. For those of you who don’t understand the terminology of knitting 2 together this means you simply slide your needle under 2 stitches, and knit them as though they are one. So now the effect is your boxes of 4 are now 2 in width (but still 4 in length). You’re now going to knit 3 rows as normal, however, remembering it’s now either *knit 2, purl 2* or *purl 2, knit 2*. Now after that you are going to yet again knit 2 stitches together for the entire row (I say only knits as at this point you can ignore alternating knits and purls if you like as it’s your last row). Now cut of a piece of string about an arms length long. Thread a needle and one by one take all the stitches off your knitting needle, threading the yarn through. Now pull that yarn and gather the top of your hat. From here simply stitch the two sides together.

As for the second hat this is ribbing. What it involves is simply *knit 2, purl 2* for the entire pattern. Make sure you are using the sizing as above and if you begin with knit, your row should finish with purl. From here knit about 7.5 inches in length. Then after you have 7.5 inches knitting *Knit 2 stitches together, Purl 2 stitches together* (see above pattern if you need a knit 2 together, purl 2 together, explanation). So now your pattern is *knit 1, purl 1*. Continue this for 3 rows. Now knit 2 stitches repeating this all the way across the row. And the finishing for this will be the same as in the above pattern in that you will now cut of a piece of string about an arms length long. Thread a needle and one by one take all the stitches off your knitting needle, threading the yarn through. Now pull that yarn and gather the top of your hat. From here simply knit the two sides together.

If you’re confused or unclear on anything just ask away in the comment, I will do my best to clarify! You are also always welcome to email me at RSjewelrydesgins@gmail.com.

Built on a steep slope, this private garden that backs on to a deciduous North London wood, has a brick path zigzagging down to the woodland below.

granite setts

old Tom, half man, half plant.

Old Tom in semi retirement shade.

woodland raised bed.

Looking for different versions of Chocolate Cherry Cola Cake, I found several. The Coca-Cola Company had a version similar to Betty Crocker. Basically what it came down to  was how lazy I felt. Being lazy and wanting to use my time off wisely I opted on using the Betty Crocker version even though I like making cake from scratch.

Chocolate Cherry Cola Cake with Buttercream Icing

Chocolate Cherry Cola Cake Recipe:

Recipe can be found at BettyCrocker.com

Ingredients;

• 1/4 cup maraschino cherry juice
• 3/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries
• 1 box devil’s food cake mix
• 1 cup cherry cola carbonated beverage
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line and flour two 8-inch round cake pans..
2. In a large bowl, beat cake mix, cola beverage, oil, eggs and 1/4 cherry juice with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Then on medium speed for 2 minutes, scrapping bowl occasionally.
3. Stir in chopped cherries.
4. Pour into pan.
5. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

The original recipe calls for more cherries than I had on hand, so I had to make it work.

Cherry Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1 package vanilla instant pudding
• 1-1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 maraschino cherry juice

Directions:

1. Beat pudding mix with milk and cherry juice.
2. Whisk mixture for two minutes.
3. Let it set for 5 to 10 minutes.

This will take longer to set because of the cherry juice and you might also need to whisk it longer to thicken it.

Buttercream and Royal Icing

Vanilla Buttercream Icing:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shortening or butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 tbsp water
• 1 lb confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1. Cream the shortening/butter, vanilla and water until fluffy.
2. Add confectioners’ sugar and mix on medium speed until all ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together.
3. Makes about 2-1/2 cups

The cake is covered in buttercream. The basket weave on the sides of the cake are also done in buttercream. You need about 2 recipes of buttercream to cover the cake and make the basket weave.

Royal Icing:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. confectioner’s sugar
• 3 tablespoons of meringue powder
• 5 tablespoons of warm water

Directions:

1. Beat all ingredients until the icing forms peaks. 7 – 10 minutes on low speed with a heavy duty mixer, 10 – 12 minutes on high speed with a hand mixer.
2. Make sure all materials are grease free. This will affect the texture and hold of the icing.
3. Makes about 3 cups.

The flowers are made with royal icing. They did not need a full recipe of icing, maybe a half recipe. The recipe above is full batch.

The Basketweave cowl is new to the line but was actually one of my very first knit designs that i made two years ago, and still wear today. I have a caramel colour basketweave cowl which i love, it has an elegance that goes with everything. The two i have posted on Etsy (click here!!) currently are the Basketweave Cowl in Vanilla and Earth Brown. There’s also a limited amount at Bamboo Ballroom. Im really into neutrals right now, and i love both these colours, made from 100 percent high quality wool. 

The Pattern

Cast on a multiple of 8 stitches, plus 5 (i.e. I use 37 stitches for a wash cloth with no border)

Row 1: knit

Row 2: k5, *p3, k5, repeat from * to end

Row 3: p5, *k3, p5 to end

Row 4: repeat row 2

Row 5: knit

Row 6: k1, p3, *k5, p3 to last stitch, k1

Row 7: p1, k3, *p5, k3 to last stitch, k1

Row 8: repeat row 6

Repeat rows 1 through 8 for desired length

Photo by Dannon Basaldua.

Photo by Dannon Basaldua.

To give you a sense of how long a project like this would take, the first day is spent removing tangled brush, the chain link, and cutting the posts.  Then the boys hang the proposed fence line and measure and mark where the posts will go.  And depending on how hard the ground is, dig all of the post holes.  It is rainy right now so the ground is pretty soft, which is fortunate for the crew.  It might be miserable, but the work is going quickly.  Says the gal writing the blog post in a warm house.

Before.

Demo: brush, chain link, and fence posts.

Cut fence posts will be covered.

Marking the posts.

Digging post holes with the auger.

All of this can be completed in about one day, barring any surprises.  Like a finicky auger or unexpected irrigation lines.  Believe me, there are more often surprises than not, but we’ve come across the gamut of them so we can deal with them pretty quickly.  The rest of the week I’ll be updating each day’s work so you can get an idea about what to expect if you are interested in the same kind of project.  Go to Facebook to see more photos of this project.  Be sure and “like” us while you’re there!

This client lives in Denton and we will be getting our fence materials from Texas Fence Supply in Irving, TX.

Let us know if you have any fence questions!

Angelica at OES

In our last class, we bring in an iced cake, and decorate it.  We did the basket weave around the sides of the cake, and picked a border for the top and bottom.  I chose the e-motion border for the bottom, and the reverse shells for the top.  There is a LOT of icing on this cake!  We had to pile up more icing on top of the cake so the flowers would sit up, and we could position them at an angle.  I wanted a lot of green leaves to add to the color, so I went a little crazy with the green…but very satisfied how it turned out.  Even though these flowers ARE edible, I’ll have to pass on crunching into them. 

Step One: Cut the longest piece of paper you can find into approximately one-inch strips – then tape 3 or 4 pieces together to make them even longer. OR, you could buy paper strips from a craft store to make the task a little easier.

Step Two: Fold the strips in half and line up the ends. Cut the ends so that it makes the paper easier to work with.

Step Three: Line up the ends so that they’re a little off – one half is about 3 inches longer than the other. Crease the fold so that you don’t loose this ratio.

Step Four: Create a basket weave bottom by sliding the two loose ends of each strip into the folded end of another strip.

Step Five: The last strip of the basket weave will have to be pushed through an existing weave like a stitch.

Step Six: Fold the top-right strip behind and to the right to form a triangle.

Step Seven: Now fold that same piece forward and down to form a pyramid.

Step Eight: Now fold this strip forward and to the left to get back to a pyramid. You will have to feed this strip through the top of your basket weave. If you pick it up and bend the triangle backwards a little bit when you do it it makes it a little easier to feed it through.

Step Nine: Repeat this step for the remaining 3 strips coming out on the right side of the star – then flip the project over and do the same thing 4 more times on the back. Then fold the left over strip straight up in the air from where it comes out of the weave.

Step Ten: This is where I had to add another strip of paper to keep going. Set your star on it’s side so that it is standing up. Take the strip on the right (the one that I added paper to in this photo). Hold the tip of this strip with your thumb on top and index finger on the bottom and rotate the strip counter-clockwise. Keep the top part with your thumb on top always.

Step Eleven: Slide that underneath the strip to the left (make sure to keep the original top still facing up)

Step Twelve: Pull the loop tight to make a point (I tucked the ends of my strips into the triangle point so that the 3d point would stay tight, but if it’s easier you can just cut your ends off).

Step Thirteen: Repeat on the remaining 3 strips sticking out on this side. Turn the star over and repeat on all 4 strips on that side.

You’re all finished! One tip is that if the tape from where you joined the paper together is showing on a particular fold, undo that last step and move the tape back some so that it is hidden.

Merry Christmas!

Now that it’s getting cold I need something to keep my neck warm while I’m cycling. Normally I love a nice long scarf but that is very impractical on a bike and would almost certainly get caught up in my wheels and lead to disaster! So, I decided to make myself a cowl instead.

I’ve been loving the Drops Alpaca so I decided to try out some other Drops wool. I went  for the Drops Alaska. It was nice and reasonably priced and it was lovely and soft and a pleasure to work with. I loved the colour too!

I decided to make the pattern up  which could have gone horribly wrong but it turned out really well. When I first started knitting my Mum gave me a little book with lots of stitch patterns in it and looking through reminded me of a cushion cover I knitted in a basket weave pattern so I was inspired to give that stitch another go.

I’ve put the pattern below incase any  one wants to give it a go.

Materials
7mm circular needle
2 balls of Drops Alaska

Pattern
Cast on 14o stitches. (I used a long tale cast on for a nice loose edge and because I think it looks pretty).
Join to work in the round
R1: knit all stitches
R2: [K5, P5) repeat 14 times
R3- R6:  repeat R2
R7 [P5, K5] repeat 14 times
R8-R711: repeat R6
Repeat R2-11 three more times so that you have 8 squares in total.
R82: knit all stitches
cast off loosely
Block out then admire your pretty cowl!

For the first time in a few years I decided to stay in tonight because a) I’m getting up early to play frisbee on the beach with my dad and sister, as is holiday tradition and b) I felt like poop and didn’t want to be surrounded by little tipplers two nights in a row.  Black Out Tuesday and the band Leadfoot at Keegan’s Pub last night was a good old time and, judging by the amount of Killian’s Irish Red I drank, all the fun I need for a few days. Leadfoot rocked the socks off of everyone last night and I can’t wait to see them play again. This sums up the night pretty well……

SO, what am I doing on this Thanksgiving Eve? Catching up with homework and crocheting. Yaaay!

I am obsessed with CraftGawker. And when I say obsessed I mean I wake up every morning and while I’m trying to shake off the sleepies I pull up the app on my phone and fulfill my daily dose of gawking. There just isn’t enough free time for all of the cute ideas I come across… So when I strolled upon the image of an adorable boy wearing an adorable crocheted cardigan I couldn’t help but open up the link. Low and behold it took me to what is now my favorite blog by the cutest couple in the world, Katie and Reuben at House of Humble. Reuben had crocheted a cardigan using the basket weave stitch and I knew I had to do something with it.

About a month ago I was wandering the yarn aisle at Michael’s craft store and came across this lovely yarn (the label ripped off after I got it home and I can’t remember what brand it is…) and have been saving it for the perfect project. It’s unbelievably soft and fuzzy. And the color is a pretty plum purple.. one of my favorites =)

I went on YouTube and found a simple video by mikeyssmail that teaches you step by step how to do the basket weave.  Needless to say I’m going to use this snazzy plum yarn to make myself a cozy headband for the cold weather creeping in on us! It shall be my little side project while I’m banging out all the things I’m making for everyone else. Pictures will follow =D

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Gobble till you wobble!

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!: I finished my headband =)

Surprisingly I finished it a lot faster than I thought I would. I am in love with this basket weave stitch and will be using it again, for sure! The headband turned out more than fantastic and will be keeping my ears warm throughout the frigid Chicago winter.. Wanna seeeee??

It’s a very simple pattern and I think you should try it out and make beautiful things for yourself =) Happy crocheting!

It's actually not bad for my first scarf and does look nice. Plus, it will go well with my winter coat.

The first pattern I designed was a scarf (yes, I may have been knitting for under a year, but I have designed a pattern already). It’s just a simple scarf with a cable running down the middle with a nice stockinette and garter stitch along the edges for my mom for a holiday gift.

First pattern I designed and my second scarf. It looks great and the colorway was awesome for this pattern.

Scarves are great for gift giving. I decided that since I was making a scarf as a gift for my mom, it’d be cool to do the same for the rest of the family. Dad’s is a basket weave in a gray and black variegated yarn from Knit Picks (like the colorway for Mom’s scarf, this one is also discontinued). My sister’s is bright pink in a raspberry stitch. Both came out great and I’m really happy with them.

All of the scarves I've made laid out together.

A close up of the scarves together. (I left mine out because I'm not sure where I put it away for the summer, haha)

So am I done with scarves for a while? Nope. A work friend got some great yarn from Knit Picks for me to make a scarf for her. The colorway is called Nevermore in their Wool of the Andes Swish Tonals in worsted weight. The scarf is a pattern I created called “Dueling Cables” that has two cables running down the center twisting in opposite directions with stockinette edges along both sides. I can’t wait to get started on it

This colorway will look awesome in the pattern and is definitely a good fit for Emily (who I'm making the scarf for)

Here’s a Trademe order of a Lalaloopsy doll cake.

The girl loves orange cakes, so I managed to make a 12″ x 8″ orange cake with orange buttercream filling and icing.

Unfortunately I made this cake in a hurry and by the time it’s done it was night time, and as it’s too big to fit in my normal cake boxes, I needed to wrap this up gently with glad wrap and didn’t manage to take a day-light photo (which I’ve now stuck to as natural-lighting makes the photo look sooo much better!)

These photos will have to do… (the side of the cake was actually basket-weaving, but the lighting wasn’t very good)

Here’s the feedback:

Absolutely fantastic cake, You did an amazing job, thank you. Highly recommend to all  

Today I am stuck in  the house post “Irene”,  happy that we really didn’t sustain any damage. I am going to work on a couple of motifs from my new 150 Knit & Crochet Motifs book looking for inspiration. See you tomorrow with our yarn of the day.

Knit/Crochet Hybrid Hat

Frankenmittens

Kids Cowl/Neck Warmer

Enjoy!

89th Inter-Tribal Indian Parade

Gallup, New Mexico

Evangeline Chavez 2010

See more of my photos on the  official website for the Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial , under photography, guest photographer Evangeline Chavez

Apache Warrior Dancer, Aztec Dancers, Kiowa Dancers, Eagle Dancers, Native Sky Hoop Dancers, Taos Dancers, Zuni Olla Maidens Dancers, Zuni Dancers, Navajo Code Talker.

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