Pumpkin Cake and Projects

Most of us like pumpkin. :)  I Love Pumpkin pie and Pumpkin cakes and Pumpkin cookies. I have a lot of recipes for making them from scratch too. BUT, sometimes you need one in a hurry.  I found a recipe, that is quick! It uses just a yellow cake mix and a 15 oz can of pumpkin.  While I was mixing it, I thought that it might be a little bland. In checking out, on the internet, what others did I saw that some used a spice cake mix instead of a yellow cake mix. It was too late for that.  :) What's a baker to do? I took out my cookbook and added the spices that I would usually add to my pumpkin pie.  AND I added extra cinnamon for good measure.

Pumpkin Cake
1 Yellow cake mix(the 2 layer size box, Duncan Hines, Pillsbury).
1 15 oz can of pumpkin.
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
1/8 tsp nutmeg.
1/2 tsp ginger.
1/8 tsp ground cloves.
Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and beat until smooth.
Pour into greased 9x13 inch pan, level out. Bake 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Glaze for topping
1 1/2 cups powdered(confectioners) sugar
3 Tbsp Apple Cider
1/2 tsp cinnamon
When cake comes from oven, you can cool for 5 minutes and turn out onto a plate, BUT, I don't have a plate for a 9x13 cake. So, I left it in the pan. Pricked holes all over and poured the glaze onto it. The holes enabled the glaze to drip into the cake.  You don't have to do that step. You can wait for the cake to cool and pour the glaze over the unpricked cake.

If you are a lover of cream cheese frosting, you could also frost it and omit the glaze.


I have launched a new pattern!!!!
This pattern is named Nicole(after one of our granddaughters) and is in the etsy shop and on Ravelry.

This pattern gives you the choice of using fingering/sock weight yarn or worsted weight yarn. You can have a ruffly type lace edging or flat edging.

The shawl starts at the top back neck and you work to the bottom edge.



This blue/lavender shawl, is made with fingering weight yarn from Harrisville Yarns.

The plum and gray one is also fingering weight wool yarn, purchased at JoAnn's. The lace on this one is the "ruffled" one, which helps the shawl to curve nicely around your neck.

This rose pink shawl is knit with Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride worsted(superwash).

The light pink shawl was knit by my friend Liz.  She does a lot of test knitting and editing for me and is so faithful to always help!!!! Thanks, Liz! Liz used a DK weight yarn and followed the directions for the fingering weight yarn.

You know, I don't always knit. It seems like that, but I don't. Once in a while, you can also find me doing traditional rug hooking and even sewing. Years ago, I drew this picture of the Montauk Point Lighthouse, which is out on the eastern end of Long Island, and then I used my hand spun yarns, to hook it. The picture resides on the wall in my hall bathroom, where we have decorated with lighthouses.



Dying Self-striping yarns

If you are a knitter and have worked with the self-striping yarns, or you have been the recipient of a project that was made with self-striping yarns, you have probably been totally amazed and wondered, "How in the world did they dye this yarn?"

I wonder how they figured it out, too.  :)  It is totally amazing to me. Here is a youtube video on it.  My friend, Liz, sent the link to me and I thought I would share it with you.

The video is in German and even though I don't understand German, I did enjoy the video. Hope you do too!

A Bunch of Hugs

On Wednesdays, I attend a meeting with a great group of women. We are all hand spinners and knitters. Some of us also crochet and some also weave. Meaning, we all love yarn in all forms and fashions!  :)

Once in a while, when one of us needs a special hug, we are able to do something about that.  Today we were able to give Marlene, a beautiful shawl. It was hand knit by Kate, using our hand spun yarns.  I think at least 10 of us contributed yarns to this shawl.

Kate used a pattern from Jane Thornley, named Color Streams. It was a great pattern for putting together a lot of different yarns.



I think that Kate did such a good job, that I wanted to show the shawl to you.



Pool fun and Yarn Shop Video

A couple of weeks ago, I had fun in the pool with our younger daughter and her 9 month old son.  :) 



Then I thought, since this little video is going around, you might like to see this shop in Maplewood, NJ.  A fun time can be had at knitting and crochet groups.  We do have fun at the spinning group on Wednesdays and the craft group on Thursdays.

Ravellenic Knitting

My first Olympic knitting project was this Citron Shawl. I had entered it in the Works in Progress Wrestling event.  :)  I had started it a year ago, but quickly put it away, not sure if I liked the colors.

I took it out at the start of the Olympics and it is now finished.  I have to admit, that when done and blocked, I love the colors!  Who would've thought.

This spring I had purchased some cotton sock monkey brown yarn and sock monkey red yarn at Hobby Lobby.  I wanted to make something with it, so I found this tiny sock monkey pattern.  I had entered this little guy in the Toy Toss competition. 

 My third project was cup cozies.  I actually planned to make one, from the left over yarn above, but had plenty of yarn to make 2! Actually, I still have yarn, but it is in the stash with the other cotton yarns that I have. The cozies were entered in the Homestuff Hammerthrow competition.

I have one more project to go.  It is a stuffed teddy bear. It is started, but not near finishing.  I have 3 days to go.  Not sure if I will cross the finish line with this one, but I am going to try.

Kitchen Curtains, plus

When we moved into our house in the woods, I knew I was going to have "fun" with supplying window treatments for it.  For one, I really didn't want to take away the view of the woods, but then, I did want a bit of privacy.  Of course, those who have been here would say, "Privacy from what? The squirrels."  :)

The previous owner of this house, had remodeled the kitchen and dining room. He took out the wall between the two rooms, making one huge kitchen.  He also, put in three fairly large kitchen windows.  The view out those windows is great, but the western setting sun can be blinding when cooking dinner. 

We went for years with nothing at the windows.  I measured the windows and figured out how much fabric I would need for curtains.  Bought some fabric, didn't like it when I got it home.  Did that twice..........

Bought the curtain rods, LOVED them and The UPS Store guy put them up.  Then they sat empty. and empty. and empty. and empty, for what seemed like a year, maybe more....

FINALLY,  I had a brilliant idea! I have loved Early American, Folk Art, Antiques and now Shabby Chic decorating.  The idea for the windows incorporates those decorating styles and was embroidered dresser scarves! (Do you remember those?)

So, Rebekah and I went off to Canton(flea market), and voila! here are my curtains. :)  None are the same, but tried to make sure that each one had blue in them. 

There are three windows, so I took two pics. The center window is in each picture.

Another project that I have been working on, is a baby gift.  The UPS Store guy's cousin has had her first baby.  So, I thought that it would be fun to send something hand made for the baby to her.

I designed the shrug and hat. The flower came out of the flower book by Leslie Stanfield, that I mentioned in the previous blog entry.

Since I don't have a baby at my house, I have brought out one of my favorite baby dolls, that I used to play with, to model for us. 

Projects

I have three wonderful sisters-in-law.  Right now, one of them, Donna, is receiving chemo and fighting back hard to recover.

So, I decided that I need to make some soft and fun hats and a shawl. The shawl, even though it is a hot summer in the northeastern US, is helping in the air conditioning of the hospital.

I found the pattern for the hat below from LionBrand.com, it is a free download.  The pattern calls for fun fur yarn and another yarn to be held with it as you knit.  I used a purple worsted weight cotton.

The pattern for the flower is from the book 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet, by Lesley Stanfield. It is the Zinnia pattern.



 This crocheted green hat is a pattern that I found on Ravelry.  It is named, Ridge Hat with Brim,and written by Kool Stitch. The great flower on this hat is included in the directions for the hat.

This shawl is a variation of my pattern, that is named Terrific Shoulder shawl. I made the shawl longer than the pattern says to, and added a great edging to the bottom of the shawl.  Sorry that I don't have a picture on the mannequin, or a person.  :/ I forgot to do that.  I was so excited when I finished it and how the striping of the yarn worked, that I didn't think about an "up" picture.  The yarn that I used is Lion Brands Impressions, a bulky weight easy care acrylic. 

So, in the studio, I am working on a couple of new patterns, but also, trying to finish up UFO's (unfinished objects). 

I don't know about you, but with knitting, my mind can have it done tomorrow, but reality is that my hands don't work that fast.  :)  I have made a list, checked it twice and am going to finish the 20+ projects.  I will let you see them as I finish, I want the UFO's either finished or ripped out.