Stash Busting Project 2013 : March

I have been busting this month! It is my first month in the Stash Buster Project 2013 and I did my best to get all of this yarn I have transformed into a project.
But only one project has been finished. Boo.

I miscalculated the time I had left for my March projects! I thought I had a few days left to finish a project for the Project but I saw Linda's blogpost for the March review popping up on my Reading list yesterday.

O dear.
I had to weave in about 50 ends at that time. Now I "only" have about 30 left.....

But!

I have busted almost 700 grams of my stash if I count my big project finished!

The first project that was finished and made from yarn of the Stash was my Moss Lace Shawl. Two balls of 50 grams of sockyarn went into this shawl.

Almost finished:

My "Not so Pinwheel" Vest that I made according to the pattern by Amy at Laughingwillow.
As you can see, I still need to weave in a few ends! It is also lying a bit weird, but I think it is awesome! This is the biggest clothing item I ever made.

Things lying on the floor of yarn are kitty magnets as you can see. I love love love the stripes!

 

And finally, I am making a new design and chose some yarn sitting in my stash. Hopefully it wil not be too long before I can show you what it is!

This Month I have busted 689 grams in total. I used 589 grams for the vest and 100 grams for the shawl. Not bad I think. Next month(s) I will try to take out a few projects out of hibernation and finish them.

Here are the stats:

 

And now, I leave you and wish you all:

 Have a great Easter Weekend and Holidays!

The Light and Life is returning.

Spring is finally around the corner (and hopefully the temperatures will rise the coming weeks, I am done with the cold!)!

See you soon

Happy Things #11

Third time is a charm, right?

This is my third attempt at stippling/meandering/free motion quilting and I am very very pleased! Loops in only three or four places.

Am I ready?

Am I ready to take on the baby blanket that is impatiently waiting to be stippled?

I want to start so BADLY!

I know now I have to move the sandwich slooooooooooooooowly.

I also know to not give to much pressure on the pedal.

So, what do you think? Should I just start the adventure?

Lactosefree Cooking: Cinnabun Cinnamon Rolls!

Did you see my message about these Cinnabun Cinnamon Rolls? Did you also read that I thought they were absolutely divine?

I was not joking! They are extremely yummy.

With the help of a few lactosefree ingredients I was able to make them. To be honest with you, I did not make it absolutely lactosefree (I used goat milk instead of buttermilk), so if you are really really lactose intolerant, use soy or rice based milk.

Here it is, exactly how I have done it (this recipe is based on these Cinnabun Cinnamon Rolls and these Raspberry Swirl Rolls )

Lactose free (or reduced) Cinnabun Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnabun Cinnamon Rolls dough
180 ml warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast
100 grams granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
60 ml goat milk/soy milk
1 egg
80 ml vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)
500-550 grams of all purpose flour

Filling
113 grams of plant based butter, softened
275 grams light brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Glazing
95 gram confectioners sugar
3 tbs plant based butter, melted
1.5 tbs Soya Cuisine or Bio Avena Cuisine (see pic)

Topping
Soya Creamy

I give a quote with a few adjustments for this recipe:

Making the Dough- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, pour in water, yeast and 1 tablespoon of the granulated sugar. Stir and proof 5 minutes. Once mixture looks bubbly and frothy, pour in remaining sugar and salt. Stir on low for 15-20 seconds. In a small bowl, measure buttermilk  goat milk, oil and egg. Whisk ingredients together until egg is incorporated to other two ingredients. Pour contents into the water and yeast mixture. Stir another 20 seconds in the mixer. Pour 250 grams of flour into mixer and stir on low until incorporated. Sprinkle flour in by 30 grams increments until dough cleans the sides and bottom of the bowl. Dough should be sticky but not sticky enough to stick to your hands when touched. Once it has reached this stage, turn mixer on and knead for 5 minutes. Remove dough from bowl, grease and replace back into same mixing bowl {since it's practically clean anyways.} Cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel. Rise 1-2 hours or until dough has doubled in size.

Filling and Cutting Rolls- In a medium size bowl, stir brown sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch together until combined. Set aside. Punch down dough. Flour a large clean table liberally with flour. Lightly flour dough as well. Roll dough out to be a 20x30 rectangle {or as close to that as possible} while moving dough around to ensure it's not sticking to your work surface. If it's a little short or uneven, feel free to cut off the edges to even it all out. {FYI-I cut off some dough on one side and filled in a spot that needed more dough on the other side to make a more even rectangle.} Spread softened margarine plant based butter over dough, being sure to go right to the edges leaving a 1-inch strip untouched on one of the longer sides of dough. Dump brown sugar mixture onto the middle of the dough and spread with your hands, creating an even layer over top of the margarine, still leaving that 1-inch strip of dough untouched. If you have any filling that falls off the sides of the dough, use a bench scraper to replace. Lightly press the sugar mixture into the margarine using a rolling pin. Roll the dough up into a tight log, finishing with the plain dough on the bottom to seal the entire thing together. Cut off the uneven ends to even out the log. Score log every 2 inches and then slice your rolls using those marks. Place into parchment paper lined, margarine greased pans. 12 into a 9x13, 3 remaining into a loaf pan, or 8x8 with the small ends. Cover pans with plastic wrap and dish towels. Let rolls rise another 1-2 hours or until they are touching and have risen almost double. My rolls always spread out more than up, so just be aware that they will most likely spread out more than up. Bake in a preheated 350 degree 175 degrees Celsius for 17 minutes, or until tops start to brown. Watch them carefully!!

Now onto the glazing:

Melt the butter into a small pan. Add the confectioners sugar and the soy/rice cuisine cream to the butter and stir well. Pour warm over the cinnabun cinnamon rolls when they are fresh out of the oven and let cool a bit.

Finally, wisk the Soya Creamy to a fluffy consistency (you need to be able to hold the bowl upside down without the cream falling out) and serve next to or on top of the Cinnabun Cinnamon Rolls!

Bon Appetit!

Designer Woes, Baker's Thrills and Fighting the Flu

The title says it all!

I was/am down with some kind of flu. Last week Little Man was sick, and now its my turn. And Little Ladies turn. Blegh.

I got some throatache on Sunday and started to feel cold and sore. Not good. So I stayed home from work yesterday.

Yesterday evening Little Lady started to throw up, felt warm, threw up in the middle of the night and this morning again. It is a cuddle day today.

So that is why it has been a bit quiet over here!

Although we were a bit out of routine and a bit messy, I could not help myself admiring the sky outside and take a few pics this morning.

I love stripey and flakey clouds, and the sun was already shining. So much better than the grey weather of past week, although it is still bitterly cold.

Last weekend Big Man and I were really working as a team so the house is quite clean and in order (sort of) and I finally could get some things done.

Such as working on the Moss Lace pattern....

You know, I could not have foreseen that patterns could be this difficult. In wording and in getting it all across to other people. So Moss Lace has been revisited again and hopefully it is all well now. It left me feeling a bit down, but Big Man cheered me up and said: "See it as a learning process". And yes, it teached me quite a few lessons.

 I also felt the urge to bake! It has been a while since I baked and I really wanted to try Cinnamon Rolls. I found this recipe to be the easiest and I combined it with the glazing of the Raspberry Swirl rolls. As always I did some tweaking of both recipes to make it lactosefree so I will try to make a recipe blog post tonight or tomorrow. They were absolutely divine....

Monday was a cuddly day because of the Flu bugs and today is a bit of the same. Little Lady and I nested on the couch, warm under the quilts.

I had a bit of crocheting done, had a bit of lunch (Little Lady is napping), typed two blogpost and right now I am going to take on some paper, glue and scissors to make a festive platter for Little Man's big Spring Breakfast at school. They all have to make a nice festive breakfast for a fellow student (read: their mommy/daddy has to make it :) ) and are going to eat it tomorrow morning at school. I am still working on it!

See you soon! And hopefully with a more yarn inspired blog post!

Happy Things #10

I wasn't fast enough with pointing and shooting with my camera, but here is the first real proof of Animal Spring!

I saw them this weekend flying through the garden and suddenly, they checked out the bird house....

A Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus).

So exciting!

Last year we followed the love story of Mr. and Mrs. Black Tit: first checking out the site, rummaging around the bird house, making themselves comfortable and finally, when the peeping sounds became louder, caring for and feeding their youngsters.

This year it seems there is a bit of a battle between Mr. and Mrs. Black Tit and Mr. and Mrs. Blue Tit since it seems they are checking the house daily. Mr. and Mrs. Blue Tit seem to be very please with the place as I have seen them the most.

This is really exciting.

Are we going to get small Tits again this year?

Books 'n hooks 'n threads!

 

Last week I showed you the cover of "The Gentle Art of Stitching" by Jane Brocket and since then I flipped through it a few times. What a lovely book. I just love how she writes, very down to earth, and I really like all the colours used for the projects. I am particularly in love with a quilt in this book and the embroidery lessons.
 

The same day I got home after my appointment with the company doctor, a surprise package had arrived! My sister send me these two little booklets, available at Bruna (a dutch stationary/little book store). Really really cute books aimed at the knitter/crochert-on-the-go. The crochet booklet has some lovely amigurumi in it and the knitting edition has some cute sock patterns!

Yesterday I managed to install the free hand embroidery foot on my sewing machine. It is a tricky looking thing, and at first I really had not clue how to install it. Some time ago I asked a demonstration at the local yarn/fabric/sewing machine store and the owner showed me. I tried hard to remember how it went and I got it inserted quite quickly.

But then I made some 5" by 8" sandwiches and tried stippling.

Not as easy as it all sounded! Above picture shows the front and it looks quite okay...

The back however...

O dear. All those loops!

Take 2...

It's a little bit better but I have to practice practice practice.... Some Google-fu told me that I am probably moving the sandwich to quick with my hands, so next time I will slow down!

 

The past few days I have been picking up a stashbusting project. It is finally getting along somewhat quicker. I have noticed that I am totally in love with my Tulip Etimo crochet hooks. My Clover Soft Touch hooks are being neglected at the moment. The head and shaft part of the Tulip Etimo hooks is so much smoother than those of the Clover and I find them really comfortable to work with. I love them!

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Happy Things #9

 

When the clock strikes 12 (or 12.02 to be exact) it is officially Spring! Today, Little Lady and I did some grocery shopping and I thought is was time to pick up some Easter branches.

She was very happy to rearrange them and hang all the little eggs in it.

I love Easter branches!

Let all the festivities begin, the Sun is coming back!

A Little Sick Boy

We have a little Sick Boy in the house. He has been such a hero this Winter season, only having minor colds. But right now he is really sick. Maybe the flu.

He is hanging on the couch with watery eyes and a fever. I feel so sorry for him!

Luckily, Big Man is working from home today so I am finishing up this post, make some sandwiches and go to work.

I really hope he will be his normal self tomorrow. It is so quiet without his normal constant babbling!