I actually finished a knitting project!

I had started making a baby sweater a week or so before Lucas was born. I had planned to make it a larger size (6-12 months), so that he could wear it next winter. It seemed huge on him when I got the base of it done a few weeks ago. Apparently some time in the last month he became huge. It fits him perfectly now. I had to rush to finish it before he outgrew it. 

The buttons I found in a cute little button shop in Paris. I wanted a simple pattern so they would stand out and be cute.

The pattern is Flax from Tin Can Knits. The pattern as written is a pullover sweater. I tried to find a pattern for a plain worsted weight cardigan, but strangely I couldn't find one. It only took a little bit of math to make the Flax into a cardigan. 

Unfortunately the weather is not cooperating this week. Not overly useful to have a new sweater on a week that will be 90F! (I need to live somewhere cooler...)

Book Review: Road Food

Since I am planning two road trips this summer, and I'm anticipating many stops along the way, I thought this book would be great to plan a great food filled trip. I don't think this will end up working in that way.

This book has over 1000 restaurants, but it seems that most of them are not where I am planning on going. Which will be 5-6 different states, so it isn't like it's a small trip. With a name like Road Food, I would have expected that going on a typical road trip to be able to use this book to find great food. There is a lot more representation of the Midwest and East Coast. Also certain cities seem to have more options than others.

I live in a very food centered place, and there very few selections from where I live. None of which I have heard of. There is no shortage of destination worthy places near me.

I will probably throw this book in the car when we go just in case we happen to get hungry near a suggested place. But, sadly I won't have an exciting list of food places to visit.

Jellyfish Lamp

I have been looking all over (and by this I mean mostly online) for a cute lamp for baby's room.  Our basic theme is ocean. Everything I found was either absurdly expensive for something I'd use only a few years, or really ugly. You'd think there would be a market for inexpensive but cute nursery lamps... 

I had to go to Ikea for some other items and I was hoping they would have something cute. For kids they mostly have toys and beds. The section seems smaller than it used to be. I didn't find anything. I figured I would at least take a look at the lamp section on the Marketplace floor. This is a long chairless walk, but I found one bench right in front of this lamp. It is not a very pretty lamp, but the lampshade is made of fabric. I thought it looked vaguely like the top of a jellyfish. Since I had a bench I spent a while thinking about how I could make it into a jellyfish. I decided it was possible. 

Being divers, it was important that the jellyfish lamp be as accurate as possible. I did some research online about various species of jellyfish. The closest match was a Box Jellyfish. These are the kind in Australia that will kill you if they touch your skin. 

My first attempt at this lamp is not shown, but has resulted in my never wanting to use that type of fabric again. My second attempt I like better anyway. The fabric is leftover from my Dickens Fair costume, but worked surprisingly well.

Finally a hat!

During my birthday month two years ago I was at a yarn store and saw this super soft and fuzzy white yarn. I realized how silly it was to not have a homemade Santa hat, since I love making hats and have a Santa hat for Christmas time. 

I made one last Christmas and Steven really liked it, so this year I made one that fit his head. 

Book Review Time!

I really need to do more things so that I can blog about more things. I did read this book at. So, at least it is something.

This book is a young adult magical world type book. It takes place in an alternate Victorian England, where magic exists. The story is about a girl who is prophesied to be the one to defeat the monsters attacking her world.

Overall I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and a fun story. Mostly what I enjoyed was the fact that it was a story with magic in it.

Despite liking it I wouldn't say I really recommend it. I didn't really like any of the characters. Some of them I couldn't really remember who they were for the book. They seemed like just a name that kept popping up.

Although the book was set in Victorian England, there was very little that made it feel that way. In the beginning there was mention of fires being used for heating, so you know it was without technology. Later there was a carriage mentioned a few times. Nothing really stood out at specifically England or specifically that time period. They threw in meeting the queen at the end, but that really didn't do much.

This book seems like it was written to be a movie. A lot of the things I think it was lacking could be filled out with visuals you'd find in a movie. Maybe that was the intent? I don't know.

German Baking - Book Review

I am not German. I come from a family that loves baking, but pretty much everything in this book is new to me. On that note I found this book to be very disappointing. There are very few pictures, and very few of the pictures are of the finished baked goods. There are pictures of Germany and of food prep, but those don't inspire me to want to make a recipe. As an example the Glazed Hazelnut Torte recipe has two pictures, one of a bicycle and one of a graffiti style art wall. Why would I want to see those pictures right then? It makes no sense.

Other than the very disappointing visual aspect of the book, the recipes look well written with good detailed instruction. I am doubtful that I will ever make anything from this book given how uninspiring the formatting is.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Book Review: Natural Color

I have been interested in learning natural dying for a while. Hand dyed yarn has become very popular, it can make a solid color more interesting too look at because of the slight color variations. I have been wanting to try to create my own color combination yarn, or try dying already knitted things.

This book has many color options for natural dying. They are arranged along with project ideas for many things you can dye. At the back of the book is a handy chart of all the colors you can make and how different methods can change the color.

I am very excited to start my first project.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.