You may be wondering where my creative energies have run off to lately, and  I’m pleased to finally announce part of the answer. Craft Stylish, a new website launched by the lovely people at Taunton Press. I’ve been posting over there, all about crochet, my other crafty love. Sometimes I wonder if anyone who reads this blog knows that I love to crochet, since I rarely post about it, but that’s just because it can be hard to make crochet exciting in a quick post.  I’ve actually found lots to post about at CS, and new cool crochet stuff continues to crop up the more I look for it. So far I’ve been writing lots of how-tos, tips, book reviews and roundups on cool crochet sites , projects, and designers. If you happen to know of anything that might be good for a future post, please feel free to drop me a line any time!

Here’s one of the photos from my Granny Square tutorial– my goal is to take close-up shots and clearly show my hands so you know what’s actually going on. Imagine me with my self timer, gorilla pod, akwardly dangling camera cord and yarn ends everywhere, doing everything half-bent over till my back starts to yell at me. What, you couldn’t tell from the photo? That’s good! I need a staff, I tell you!

Head on over and check out the site– there are lots of original posts on all things crafty, including beading, sewing, and embroidery. You can register and comment, too, and I’m told there’s more to come! What a nice way to pass the Friday.

I almost forgot to post this recipe because the cookies I made this weekend are long, long gone by now. But before we start, let me say thank you again for all of the lovely comments y’all always leave me. I like reading them even though I don’t always respond, and I appreciate them. To those of you who wrote to me asking whether the patterns that had been on the Adorn website will be available anywhere else, I regret to inform you that the publisher has no plans to host them anywhere. Sad. Any further questions should really be directed to customer service, since I am not really equipped to handle them. But thanks for asking– it’s nice to know  we were loved.

Now, on to the cookie! I used a recipe I found here, which is a modified version of the Magnolia Bakery recipe. I further modified it –I used all white sugar, having no brown, and added extra peanut butter and chocolate chips since I didn’t have peanut butter chips. I am sure it is excellent just as is, and I’m going to re-post it here for my (and your) easy reference.

Peanut Butter Cookies
Adapted from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature (I mixed crunchy and smooth)
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (for sprinkling) sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in the peanut butter chips. Place sprinkling sugar on a plate. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls into the sugar, then onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion. Using a fork, lightly indent with a crissscross pattern (I used the back of a palette knife to keep it smooth on top), but do not overly flatten cookies. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies may appear to be underdone, but they are not (Linda’s note: this is true).

Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely. (Very important! Do let them cool on the sheet first or they will fall apart.)

WARNING: The recipe made 32. 26 of them were gone within 2 days (I froze the rest, although next time I’ll freeze the dough so I can bake them fresh). I’m just saying.

Today was such a gorgeous day outside that we had to go for a little drive, and then (after the sad Spurs game) a hike.

Here’s Paul on the trail. Of course I picked the super easy one since I have basically been hibernating all winter, and I was panting nonetheless. It’s the elevation….yes…. I’m still adjusting after nine months, that’s it.  Everything is still all dead around here, but in a few weeks hopefully it will turn spring-like. Of course, they are predicting snow later this week, but I’ll take my 68 degree days when they come.

I wore one of the shirts I made a few months ago that I’ve yet to show off, another Built By Wendy 3964 (first version, which I loooove and wear all of the time, is here). See how I am standing outside in this picture? Very exciting. Anyway, I think i could make a hundred of these shirts and still want to make more. I wear them over long sleeves or under a sweater in the winter, and they are nice and breezy for summer without leaving my arms feeling totally bare (plus they don’t creep up like t-shirts, thank goodness). The pattern is kind of difficult but it gets easier every time, and if you do simple things like leave off the bias-cut ties (and put a seam at the neckline with a button/loop closure instead) you can save yourself some yardage. It’s also a great use for the fabrics that I only have a yard of (just about all of them), when I can find two that go together. These two are from Reprodepot– Alexander Henry’s Chickadee and Moda dots.

I also had a  baking urge this morning– I’ll share the results later this week. Hope it’s lovely where you are.

Edit: Oops, I thought I pressed publish on this when I wrote it Monday, but I guess not! Here you go.

I set myself up with an embroidery project for the plane (I must have been inspired by Floresita), and in case I got bored in New York (yeah right) and wanted to stay home. I almost n-e-v-e-r make time for embroidery, it is truly time consuming, but I’ve had these patterns for a couple of years now and I thought it would be a good change of pace. I used a bird transfer I ordered from Colonial Pattern about and referred to their suggested colors and made it up as I went. I haven’t done a lot of embroidery, but I think it came out pretty well.

The guy next to me on the plane asked me what I did with the things I was making. I said “I’ll use it to dry dishes.” And he was incredulous, “No, really, do you make pillows or what?” At which point I said that I could do that, but I just like to add a little bit of color and art in my life even for mundane uses. I don’t think he followed. I guess I might turn this into something other than a tea towel, but if it remains a tea towel, that would be fine with me, too.

In other news, I posted some photos from Wave HIll Gardens. I had never heard of Wave Hill but I read about it on someone’s blog while in New York and thought “Hey, that’s here!” so my brother and I made the trek. And it was a trek- make sure you get your directions straight before you go– although wandering around the pretty houses in Riverdale is not a bad way to spend time. I love that my brother lives in NYC, because I don’t think I could have convinced anyone else to go there with me, even though in reality it is not that far away.  One thing that was good about living in Queens was that I could never be the lazy one (it was bad too, trust me), and I went all over in terms of exploring the city. My theory: yes, it may take an hour to get there, but what else am I doing, really? Once my more adventurous friends moved away, it really started to piss me off that no one would ever come to Queens, and that everyone who lived in Astoria was always flocking to Manhattan. Sigh.

(Photos from a paper flower menagerie exhibit by Jun Eun Park in the Sun Room)

So during my 6-day vacation, I hit 4 boroughs (Brooklyn: flea, Queens: Egyptian food, Bronx: Wave Hill, Manhattan: everything else). More photos on Flickr, of course, because I think that’s all I have to say about the trip. See also Kayte’s post about our visit to the Crochet Coral Reef. 

I made it back from New York, and I think I’ve recovered from jet lag. I had a good time, but honestly, I was quite ready to leave.  Something about the sheer  number of people and rushing and dirt and smells made me a little bit insane (which is what happened when I realized it was time to move out last year).  It was good to get away though- I had feared that visiting would make me miss it and re-open wonders of whether leaving was a good decision, but actually it made me feel much better about where I’m at. I’m so happy to live somewhere quieter and slower now, even if it’s not always ideal (ahem, it snowed this morning). Hopefully I’ll post a few photos of some of my NYC field trips this week, but right now I am excited to show off my new shirt/tunic thingy.

I have had the sewing urge for a while now, and I wanted to make something before I dive into a big non-sewing project. I found this fabric in my stash (which I significantly reduced this weekend!) and made up a shirt with Built By Wendy 3835. Things I did differently were: made the sleeves longer with no elastic, lengthened the hem by about 4 inches with a slight flare and added the darts from the dress version of the pattern. The darts make it a tiny bit tricky to get on, but they’re worth adding because otherwise the shirt can be kind of shapeless (as I learned with the first one).  This pattern really is SO simple and quick.  I cut the pattern during the Spurs-Suns playoff game yesterday (did anyone see it? It was intense!) and sewed it up in two half-hour ish sessions last night and this morning. I would definitely make this version again… I’m getting to the point where I have enough sewn tops in my wardrobe that I could wear them all week if I wanted to. Which I do. Yay.

For more Built By Wendy inspiration, check out the flickr pool.

I wasn’t going to post about this on my vacation but wanted to say my piece to divert further e-mails about the subject.

It’s true- the last issue of Adorn was the Winter’ ‘07 issue. Everyone who worked on Adorn put a lot of love into it, but it’s hard to make a magazine and make ends meet, and ultimately, it didn’t work out. If there are magazines you love that you don’t want to see disappear, I have one word of advice: subscribe. Buy every issue. That is really the only way to let the magazine-makers and advertisers know that the audience is out there. 

Thanks so much to everyone who read, subscribed, contributed and spread the word about the magazine. It was really fun to make each issue happen, to seek out new crafters who hadn’t been published before, and to see how readers translated each project into their own inspiration.

If you’d like to buy back issues, you can do so here. If you have a question about your subscription, try the customer service number listed here. We had a good run.

It is good to be back in New York. I never lived in Manhattan (although I worked in Soho), and I forgot how very crowded it is. I don’t miss that aspect. I have been doing a lot of looking, eating, shopping and being. I never took the time to make small talk with anyone when I lived here, but I have been talking to strangers lately and actually, it’s kind of nice. I will try to do more of that in my “real” life– because I have met some interesting people, and plus, you never know. I was always in such a hurry here, it’s so nice not to be in a hurry anymore.

@ the Museum of Modern Art

Wall Cushions at MoMA

Flowers in Fort Greene (on the way to the Brooklyn Flea)

Pretty houses in Fort Greene

I’m here for a few more days, and will hopefully post some more inspiration when I get home. I actually do miss Montana. I saw a few herds of pronghorn and some strange desert winter landscapes on the way to the Billings airport (I turned to Paul and asked if he felt like we were on Mars), and I’m excited about the onset of Spring. I hope.

I have been looking for a new purse for a long time. Since I’m not leaving the house all that much, I don’t need the gigantic one I had whenI lived in NYC (you know, with an umbrella, kleenex, spare book, water bottle,  anything I might need in the span of a day). I’m really picky and there aren’t a lot of cheap local choices, so I have been relying on a clutch I bought at Renegade last summer. But, since I don’t want to accidentally leave it anywhere, either here or there, I got to it and made myself a new little purse. Just big enough for the essentials plus a camera, and it sits right on my shoulder without getting in the way.

I’m happy with my fabric choice but wish I had used interfacing, and that I’d spent the extra buck on a zipper that matched my bias tape. But, I did succeed using stash-only supplies. Both of the fabrics are from Reprodepot- the inside (Heather Ross) I found at Renegade last summer, and the outside is left over from a project that you’ll see in a magazine in the hopefully not too distant future.

Check out the left corner, where I inserted some little plastic rings that are actually for crocheting in place of d-rings. I like how they turned out. I’m happy to have this in time for my NYC adventures. Can you guess how excited I am to get going? Here’s a hint (taken this morning):

Yeah.

I have been working nonstop (or so it feels) because I am trying to get a lot of things done before A) Paul’s parents get here for his show tomorrow and B) I go to NY (three days after they leave). Phew. The idea is to do everything now so I can do absolutely no work while I am there. What a concept!

I did do a little fun sewing this weekend on the who-knows-what-its-for quilt. I outlined all of the rectangles with this tan/khaki cotton. I was going to use some linen-like fabric I had but I didn’t like the way it felt so I used cotton instead. It still needs sashing around the borders, but that may require an extra bit of fabric. I think I would like to freeform quilt this one, and am actually looking forward to the quilting part, because it’s so meditative to just sew. I’ve been doing a lot of crocheting “for work” lately and I miss my sewing.

 I’m getting excited about my trip to New York. On the list:
-Crochet Coral Reef
-Visit to Brooklyn Flea
-Purl Patchwork plus other Soho shopping
-Birthday Bar night (plans forthcoming)
-lots of eating

 And boy am I looking forward to the eating!  Plus maybe the weather will be nice and if not, at least not snowing. I must admit I am getting so sick of the snow here.

It’s snowing outside. A lot. GAH. Can’t a girl catch a break? I don’t actually need to go anywhere, but I thougtht maybe I’d go to the coffeeshop and type instead of sitting at home. Oh well.

I started a little quilt this weekend. I’m not sure who it’s for or how big it will be (although I think it will only consist of the 9 rectangles I made already) but I am liking it. I keep looking at it wistfully because I want to work on it, but I have other things to do. It’s fun to play around with fabrics with no real goal in mind.

In other exciting news, I bought myself a ticket to NYC for mid april. I can’t wait to eat, shop and walk my way through the city again. I’ve really been missing it lately, and it’ll be fun to spend another birthday there. Plus I will get to see this.

Oh, and I added a bunch of earrings to my etsy shop. The photos are a little gray, I’m afraid, but trust me- they are vibrant and pretty in real life. Damn snow.