Baking Day

I decided to bake bread today. Since I don't have a car and I have all the ingredients for a pasta dinner....except for some crispy bread.

I found a wonderful-sounding recipe in "The Italian Country Table" for a Sage and Mushroom Focaccia. The sage is still bountiful in my garden, but the dough takes a day or two to rise. I may start that for tomorrow, we'll see.

Today I found this Simple Crusty Bread recipe that was published in "The New York Times." I'll have to rescue my baking stone from the gas grill. We had a wind storm after hurricane Ike that cause a power-outage just when I was about to bake off a bunch of pizzas for guests. My husband did a wonderful job of rescuing the situation and helped me bake them in the gas grill. They were delicious, but the baking stone is a bit charred.

I also came upon this recipe for Pane Rustica (Italian Peasant Bread) which is a modified version of the recipe above. It looks easy and delicious.

In any event, I'll try the crusty bread and see how it goes. After that, I'll be finishing up some scarves, hats and fingerless gloves keeping busy busy busy!

Fun with Felting

As if I don't have enough to keep me busy this time of year, I decided to gather some supplies and try my hand at felting. So many people have asked why I don't spin my own yarn. I'm sure it is fun, but I wouldn't have time to knit and crochet the designs that I love to make. So, for me to buy carded wool and roving, was a bit shocking. There it was all gathered together and me without a clue as to what exactly to do. I've read several blogs and watched a few videos on feltmaking, specifically on how to make a scarf.
Tip #1 don't try it outside on a breezy day. I started laying out my fibers on the batting and the wind blew them all over the place. So, I went to the basement. This is a messy wet project and it didn't matter if I got the basement wet.
Tip #2 use a sturdy work surface. I used a fold-up craft table and it was rocking all over the place!
It ended up being a little too thick and wide for a scarf, but a wonderful fabric nonetheless. The picture doesn't pick up the gold sparkle throughout. I am thinking that, with a sturdy lining and shoulder strap, it could be made into a fabulous bag.
Tip #3 keep trying. It was fun and I'll definitely try again. I also have a silk scarf that I want to try felting the fibers onto. I want to dye it first. I also have some yarn to dye...but I've never dyed before. Yet another thing to try.
So, that's what I've been working on, along with more shrugs, sweaters, hats, and fingerless gloves for upcoming shows. Busy time of year!

Take a Little Time to Unwind

Today is a much-needed rest day for me. I frantically tagged and tallied all my items to set up at the Tour of Homes Christmas Walk. I still have a few works-in-progress that I didn't complete on time, but since it's a 2 1/2 week show, I can take them in later on this weekend. Today...I get to do whatever I want!
I think I'll bake some cookies. I created a fabulous cookie treasury on Etsy the other day. It's about to expire, but here are a few of my favorite treats. These rub-ons from Yaelfran are so cool. I will be adorning my coffee mug with some of these soon I hope.

There are lots of sweet treats available on Etsy. Check out the selection by cakeboxcookies. You can't rush fall with these beauties!

As for me, I think I'll make some soft pumpkin cookies. Pleasing my picky son with anything besides chocolate chip has always been a challenge. He loves pumpkin pie and I'm sure he'll eat pumpkin cookies, as long as there's no nuts in them.

Get in the holiday baking spirit by checking out 12 Days of Christmas Cookies at Nestle's VeryBestBaking.com. Sign up now to receive Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies Newsletter at FoodNetwork.com. Happy baking!

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

I do...that's who!
Any chance I get to pick up a cool button, I grab it. I made lots of button scarves last year and intend on making lots more. Some buttons will wait until the perfectly matching yarn or fabric appears. It's great having a wide selection of big buttons to choose from.
Here are two new scarflettes that I'll be adding to my Etsy shop. The blue/green yarn is called Lagoon. It reminds me of the Loch Ness monster, so I added a picot edge and a celtic-style carved bone button. For the soft, creamy homespun, I added these faux bois toggle buttons.

I also finished this wrap over the weekend. It is knit from handspun merino wool in a wonderfully soft Terra Cotta. The buttons are 3" in diameter, handcarved from Argentina. I knew I had to create something special to use those spectacular buttons!
Be on the lookout for more button designs in the LazyTcrochet Boutique!

Spooky

I'm not much of a story-teller, with words anyway. I do love taking pictures and often-times people might wonder "why is she taking a picture of that?" Here's why. If I hadn't grabbed my camera and went out in my pj's on this cold, dark morning, I wouldn't have captured this spooky sky.This one is from last year. The kids were outside playing with the camera. They caught this picture of their breath on a cold night.

For a fun time, visit the M&M's Dark Chocolate website to play "50 Dark Movies, Hidden in a Painting." My kids cheat every year, but it is fun! Google the answers if you want to cheat too.

Front page Exposure!

Etsy -- Your place to buy and sell all things handmade_1223822139085, originally uploaded by storybeader.

Thanks so much to storybeader for sending me this screen shot of the front page! I am so grateful that my Mobius Wrap sold today. It is amazing also that I came home to 10 convos and over 40 new people that have favorited my shop! Thanks to sarawearsskirts for choosing my item for the team article in The Storque. That is the list that made the front page today.
Hooray for good vibes, great friends, and a great place to do business!

Autumn Leaf Festival

We went to Homecoming at Clarion University of Pennsylvania's Autumn Leaf Festival. My college roommate now lives in Clarion with her family and we got to tour her beautiful house! She runs an antique shop with her Mom and Dad. It is located in a renovated fraternity house, so at homecoming it gets lots of visitors commenting how beautiful the house is now. Here's a picture of Jennifer and me in front of the Fulmer House. (That's me in the shades.)

The parade is one of the largest I've ever been to. The floats are sometimes quite extravagant. Here are a few favorites...

And Franco Harris was on an Obama float! The crowd was cheering the former Steeler. I heard that Lynn Swann (another former Steeler) was on a McPalin float, but I must have missed it.

We took the kids on a quick tour of campus and the book store. Some gyros, cheesecake on a stick, and typical fair food topped off the day.