Antique 4-H'er -- Various Projects

A little of this, a little of that:

Freezer Paper T-shirts

Maybe the most fun you can have with paint and freezer paper. And a Cricut!

Tommy's 6th Birthday Cake - Superhero Squad!

Once again, just not as I had envisioned; this time it's cake decorating on cold medicine. The red building is a little wonky, but we decided to add a little story to the cake, and claim that The Hulk had given the building a little push. The web is chocolate I piped out onto freezer paper; it was a little warm that day, so I had to support it a little with spaghetti.

Griffin's Cupcakes

I didn't make these, but I thought they were extra cute in the cupcake holder I found at Crate and Barrel. I did make the little sign for the top, and Sharon added the army men. Team effort!

Charging Station

One day, Doug (of Love Bus fame) came into school with a load of stuff on his truck to take to a yard sale. He had a 1950's kitchen table and 4 chairs, which I bought immediately (pictures soon!) He threw in an old bread box and a beat up old side table with no bottom in the drawer. I nailed the table back together then replaced the drawer bottom with a piece of Masonite, cutting a hole in the back to let an electrical cord pass through. I sanded, painted, sanded and painted again, then used a pretty piece of scrapbook paper to line the drawer, velcroed in a power strip and now have a place to keep all of our chargers out of sight. Unfortunately, out of mind, as well; I've left the house 4 times now with my phone still in the drawer!

(It looks a little messy, but it works!)

And here's my breast cancer basket addition for today:

Yes, that is another pink cloth. One for your face, one for your dishes! Keep watching!

Peace

One Year

You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which

you really stop to look fear in the face.

You are able to say to yourself, "I lived through this horror.

I can take the next thing that comes along."

You must do the things you think you cannot do.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

A Knitting Challenge

I started this blog a few years ago when a friend asked me to fix/re-size a hand-knit sweater she had received from her pen pal in Norway. That was a stress-inducing success, thanks to the helpful comments of other knitting bloggers.


Since then, I have fixed all kinds of knitting for lots of knitters. Mostly, that's what I do at Knit Night anymore -- we have our show and tell, I give a little lesson and a pattern, but then it's fix-it time.


I love to tink back and pick up the dropped stitches or make the inadvertently added stitches disappear. Untangling the knits from the purls. Offering the advice I've learned through my own trial and error. And I love hearing a friend's sigh of relief when we get stitches back on the needles, ready to proceed again once the mistake is fixed.


Of course, I'm not always successful -- sometimes there's nothing to be done but rip back. I hate giving that news to a knitter; I try to keep the moment light by recounting the thousands of stitches I ripped out on my Pi Shawl, but I know I have seen tears.


Popular requests at Knit Night are the repair of a beloved piece or recreation of a vintage pattern. Knitters (and non-knitters!) often bring in a piece of work or a faded hand-written pattern and ask if I can fix it or re-create it. That's what happened last Thursday, when my high school friend, Teresa, brought me Christmas stockings her grandmother had knit for Teresa, her siblings and her children. Her grandmother has passed away, but Teresa would like to have a matching stocking for her daughter-in-law. So, because I love both Teresa and a challenge, I am giving it a try. Here are the originals:



In case I'm not around when Teresa adds to her family (and stocking collection) again, I've been writing down everything I'm doing; if I do knit another one for her, I will thank myself then! Luckily, grandma had charted out the Santa; I just worked out the ribbing and name section. I am using worsted weight acrylic yarns (Vanna's Choice and Red Heart) as I could get the right colors and feel, and a bit of angora for the beard that I found at Mass Ave. last week (grandma had specified angora!) I'm no pro at intarsia, but I've gotten through the Santa part ok; my task now is to figure out the heel flap placement. I asked at Mass Ave., and they seemed to think it would be easy: simply join the stocking sides to knit in the round and proceed from there just like a sock. I didn't tell them I'm not much of a sock knitter. But luckily, Linda at Knit Night is, and if I can't get this figured out by the 14th, I know she will be able to.


Since this is a knitting post, here's my first addition to the basket -- a pink circular dishcloth.




Peace.

October - Sharing the Pink

Last year, I did a lot of reading that made me re-think my stand on all things pink. (if you would be even the slightest bit interested, you could read my thoughts on pinking here.)

But I didn't change my stand on all things pink; I do, however, try to be a little more careful about throwing things in my shopping cart just because they are labeled in pink and just because it's October.

I will always love pink. And if a store full of pink products can make just one woman think about her health and take a few minutes to do a self-exam, make a doctor's appointment or schedule a mammogram, then it's worth it, no matter how much (or little) the manufacturers of pink rubber ducks and pink umbrellas and pink-labeled tomato soup give to the cause.

See this basket?

I'm going to put some pink things in it throughout October. If you do something for breast cancer -- do your exam, walk in the Race for the Cure, wear a pink ribbon, anything -- leave a comment, and maybe you'll win the basket. You don't have to be specific; just saying "I did something for breast cancer!" is enough. I'll use a random number generator and pick a winner on November 1. Comment as often as you want throughout the month, and check back, as I plan to post a picture of the basket each time I add something.

I don't have breast cancer, but breast cancer changed my life forever. Love you, mom.

Peace.

The Antique 4-H'er -- Demonstrations and Refreshments

The best parts of any 4-H meeting were the demonstrations, recreation and refreshments -- the 3 final orders of business each month. Recreation could be a wild relay or a quiet pencil game. Refreshments were always better at some houses than others; some moms put on quite a spread -- sloppy joes, chips, pop in bottles -- and others settled for popcorn and kool-aid. But I loved demonstration time most of all. Some kids went all out; my pal, Jill, did an awesome demonstration on giving yourself a manicure. 35 years later, I still think of her every time I file my nails toward the center of each finger. I loved preparing a demonstration; in fact, the summer before my senior year in high school, I won the State Dog demonstration, and got to take a trip to Washington, DC. (But, no big purple rosette ribbon. Do you believe that?)



One of my early years in 4-H, I demonstrated chocolate waffle cookies when the meeting was at our house. I think mom found the recipe in the Farm Journal or Watt Highlights; they were unique and delicious -- perfect demonstration and refreshment material!

I dug out the recipe a few years ago, and made the cookies for "T" week in kindergarten (I must really love these -- it's the 3rd time I've posted about them!) With a dollop of green icing, the cookies sort of resemble turtles. So in true 4-H spirit, I thought I would share the recipe (and also so I don't have to look too far when I need it next year!)

Chocolate Turtle Waffle Cookies

2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups sugar

a pinch of salt

4 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat waffle iron. Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa and salt. Stir in eggs, butter and vanilla until well blended. Drop batter by small spoonfuls onto the four sections of the waffle iron; close and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Remove carefully (I use 2 wooden skewers) and allow to cool on wire rack. Frost with butter icing, a la the 1961 Betty Crocker cookbook ( 1/3 cup soft butter, 3 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk and 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, plus a little green food coloring.) These are really good plain, or with a little powdered sugar sprinkled on them-- like little corrugated brownies!

Next week's treats, the return of the purple pancake. OR, maybe pumpkin pancakes!

Peace.

Okey-dokey,

this is for sister Karen, who checks my blog every day. I love you, and thanks for giving me a figurative kick in the pants.

I have a rotten cold, and don't have anything bright to say, so I'll just post a few pictures.

First, here's the antique 4-H'er's Home Furnishings project for September:

I have wanted to put together a table like this for several years; I store some of my yarn in an old suitcase and love the look, and finally found 3 nice cases to stack together. The feet are just drawer pulls I found at Menard's. A little drilling, a little velcro, and finally, I have the perfect place for my teapot lamp.

When I was in 4-H, we didn't have the cake decorating project; Maggie and Sarah both took the project a couple of years, using styrofoam cakes and royal icing -- it was fun, but messy, and not very delicious.

So, our pal, Fred, came to fix our air conditioning when it went out in July. Because he is our lifelong friend, he wouldn't take any payment, but said I could make his daughter's birthday cake this year. I just love the barter system, especially when I get to make a cake for a sweet girl!

More cakes coming up, as we are planning a triple birthday blowout party for Tommy (who turns 6 today), Paul, who will be 2 on the 27th, and Griffin, who will be 4 on the 26th! We're off to celebrate with the Anderson's at Applebeast tonight.

Peace.

The Antique 4-H'er, Part II -- Foods

Before I tell you what's cooking, I feel it's my duty pass on a small warning about Internet recipes. I wanted to make some of my favorite soft oatmeal cookies for a bake sale this weekend; the best recipe I have found is from America's Test Kitchen. I have loaned Sarah my ATK cookbook, so I went looking on line. I found a recipe that a blogger called the ATK oatmeal cookie, and the recipe seemed right, but the cookies were not the delicious little orbs of oatmealy perfection they usually are. When I get the book back (or buy another copy!) I'm going to check. It could have been me. Either way, consider yourself warned.


I am always on the lookout for a great casserole recipe to make in quantity, freeze and share with others; I think I found my new go-to dish: The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti. I tripled the recipe, but got 4 nice 9x13 dishes for my effort --viola! Dinner for us! I did leave out the green pepper (a very bad experience with cooked green pepper has made me a hater) and added mushrooms, which I sauteed in a little olive oil with the onion for a bit, and used a can of cream of mushroom soup for one of the cream of chicken. Also, I tossed the cheese for the top with breadcrumbs and a little melted butter, because that's just how I roll.


I've always been a cupcake fan, and am trying out recipes from Martha's Cupcake Cookbook. Last week, it was her applesauce cupcakes. In general, I don't love icing, but I could eat the cream cheese/brown sugar icing on these cupcakes without the cupcake, if you know what I mean. With a spoon. All of it.


And, I accidentally developed a recipe, by opening a box of white cake mix that I thought was chocolate. I made cupcakes for the Junior Miss dinner the other week, and had already made a batch of white cupcakes with raspberry cream icing; I didn't need 2 dozen more white cupcakes. So, I added a package of instant chocolate pudding, 1/3 cup cocoa, 3 teaspoons of espresso powder, an extra egg and 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate chips to the white mix. I dusted them with powdered sugar and espresso powder, and they were good. I am calling them Mocha Chocalatta Cupcakes. Ya ya.


My latest decorating extravaganza/failure:

Sometimes (read: all the time lately) my cakes don't turn out anywhere as beautiful as I had them pictured in my head. See that blue blob on the right there? That started out as the base for a rice krispie ferris wheel; I had seen a picture of one, and was sure I could re-create it. I could re-create it, but I couldn't make it stand up. Not even with skewers, chopsticks and a little time in the freezer. Boo. And, although they look like baby booties, those little orange and blue blobs are bumper cars. Could you tell?

Peace, cookers.