Love

How can you describe what a parent feels when he/she looks at her little one's face?

All these creative attempts that just burst out sometimes owe more than a little to her.

Sweet crochet }{ tutorial

It's been a while since I've shown any crochet or knitting and lately I've been working with it again. I'm getting some things done for the baby girl arriving soon. But what I want to share today is a request from N.

She saw the book "Yummy Crochet" by Kristen Rask and asked me to make her a doughnut. No problem, easy and quick. But then she wanted a cherry on top and a candle. Hmmm. I decided to try and come up with my own.

Here it is: a rough pattern for a small crochet cherry (not quite a proper tutorial, oops).

sc = single crochet
st = stitch

*make a sloppy slip knot and chain two (or magic ring)
round 1: 6sc in first stitch (or 6sc in magic ring)
round 2: 1sc in each st then flip it inside out (so that the tail can go inside the berry)
If you want a bigger cherry, keep repeating that: 1sc in each st until you're happy with the size. It will be long though. For a rounder one, there's a different pattern. I'll share that another day.
round 3: 1sc, skip 1st (you'll have 3 stitches)
round 4: chain 3 and tie it off. Alternatively, you can chain one and tie it off leaving a tail as the cherry's stem

She liked it so much that now she's asking for a cupcake and then cookies. Such a sweet crochet tooth...

What food would you like to see as crochet?

Strawberry Season

I won't try to give excuses for not being more regular with blog posting. I trust you'll believe me that it's just hard right now. Too much going on, on the verge of many changes.

But I just had to share this! 

We went to a farm to pick strawberries last weekend. Although we didn't pick as much as last year, we ended up doing a lot more with them. And look at all this delicious bounty we ended up with:

Ok, you don't think I'll leave you without some links to the recipes, do you? Nah, I wouldn't do that.

The jam is new for us, and I'm so glad we found it. I'd say it's like strawberry lemonade jam, but that maybe because I used a bit more lemons than the recipe called for. Oh and no need for pectin.

In the back you see some fresh strawberry lemonade. To die for. I used a regular blender and a strainer to get it a bit thinner.

Finally, there's that greek yogurt strawberry banana bread. Yum.

Have you started enjoying some summer fruit harvests? Do share! 

Pillow case dress rejection

I took a little bit of time off from writing the article to make a new summer dress for N. It's been so hot here and the child only wants to wear dresses.

Pillow case dresses are easy and quick, so I went with that style. I used some fabric I already had at home and added some pink ribbon for the shoulder tie, some white lace at the bottom, and a small pocket. I was done pretty quickly.

But... She refuses to wear it. She told me I can keep it until her little sister gets bigger. *tears* Her reason?   It's not long enough, she wants very long dresses...

Moral of the story - before taking the time to make clothes for a little one, make sure she likes the style or at least figure out what her *must haves* are. Maybe next time...