Grandma's Birthday Lounge Pants

My grandma's birthday is on Monday and the family is getting together to celebrate. That forced me to think of something that I could make her. I decided to make a pair of lounge pants. I hope they fit. Grrrr. No one answered the phone when I was trying to call. Fingers crossed.

"Put a bird on it!" Beat you to it.

Mission accomplished!

Guess what? Last night I finished my sweater. Just in time to wear it out to the Stube to show it off to my friends. Here is a quick picture that I took just before heading out. I promise more pictures to come.

I am literally tying up the loose ends now. I am dusting off my shoulders for sure.

Lazy Waffle Sunday

The absence of writing on this blog is due to the fact that I have been working like a mad woman to finish the dang sweater before it gets too warm for me to wear it. Well mission almost accomplished. To ward off the great depressive mood that I was getting in because the Huskies lost today eliminating them from the NCAA Tourney (thanks for throwing it all away in the last 15 seconds guys) I went to work seaming up the sides of the sweater.

But before I get to that I want to share with you my waffles that I made today. Jenny's mom and dad gave me a waffle iron that they no longer had a use. I have been wanting an iron like this for quite a while because it reminds me of hiking in Norway. When I would go walking or hiking in the woods you would occasionally run into cabins selling treats. One of these treats were waffles that were heart shaped and covered in whipping cream and fruit. This is before I knew I couldn't have dairy and when I didn't mind overlooking my gluten intolerance to fit in and eat something tasty. I found this recipe that is gluten free and vegan.

Ingredients:

• One large banana, mashed
• 1 3/4 cups soymilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 2 cups gluten free flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup pecans

Directions:

1. Mix the wet stuff with hand mixer
2. Add in the four, baking powder and salt. Stir until mixed but still lumpy
3. Add pecans
4. Grease up waffle iron, heat that baby up, and add 1/2 - 3/4 cups of the batter onto the iron and let it do its magic until it stops steaming (about 5 minutes)
5. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD RE-GREASE THE IRON BEFORE MAKING ANOTHER WAFFLE OR IT IS A HUGE MESS (Not like that happened or anything)
6. Enjoy the goodness and happiness that is life.

Now back to the sweater... where was I? Oh yeah, I finished seaming up the sides. I still need to finish blocking the collar. It seems that I made the collar a bit too long but I can fix that when I am sewing it on.

Catface photobombed me. Psh.

Yep, lazy Sunday indeed. Not quite ready for the work week but looks like I will be doing some reading on the bus these days.

Day 18 Trials and Tribulations

For the love of God. That is all.

Okay not really. Today is the 18th day of working on my sweater project and boy it was quite a day. First I figure out while I am working on what I believed was the left front panel on the sweater to discover that I was shaping the collar of the sweater backwards. In the best terms this causes the horses to face the wrong way. To fix this problem I would have had to rip out about 6 inches of hard work so I decided to live with my mistake. It is handmade and unique.

I am dealing with it.

Today I finished my second piece to the sweater: the right panel!

No that is not a snake! That is the finished front panel. Yeah it looks a bit goofy because it is curling in. To remedy this I used a process called blocking. It is where you get your piece of knitting wet and then shape it into the form you want. For me it was getting it not to turn in and to lay flat. So that is what I did.

Much better. While I was at it I decided to block the back. This was a terrible idea of my self-esteem. It caused me to realize how enormous this jacket is. I can lay down on it and have ample room. What does that mean? Well I bet you anything this jacket will wrap around me twice. Thanksgiving sweater anyone?

Guh. Sadly, I don't think blocking can make something smaller. What can I do? Try to felt it? This is what happens when you have a wool sweater, you throw it in the washer and dryer and it comes out small. First this wool I am using is a superwash which means it is machine washable. Eff. Secondly, if I did that and messed it up completely I would be super sad too.

Minor bumps in the road. I am going to keep on working this project as I have and hope for the best. Maybe it won't look terrible belted. Maybe I can channel my inner grandma and come up with a way to fix it. I am too tired right now to think about it.

Here is a picture of my cat.

Day 12 Progress, Sweater Name, Sweets and a new blog idea?

Heyo! Twelfth day of working on my sweater jacket and I have finished the back! This is the biggest piece of the whole thing. Not bad I must say. I have the right and left lapels and the collar left... still a bit of work but I am hopeful that I will finish. One thing I have noticed is that it is very long. I guess that was the point but I am short. I think that I could have gotten away with only two repeats of the horse pattern but you know what, I am not changing it and I will wear it either way. Hopefully it won't make me look like a child.

This weekend I was talking to Jenny about how much I had done on this project and we inadvertently came up with a name for it. I was telling her I was just about at the part that I was making another round of horses. I am not sure how it came up but I believe that Jenny exclaimed, "Bands of Horses!" Giggles. So there we have it. We are champions of the puns.

Speaking of Jenny, I made some cookies last night that she wouldn't be able to eat (wow great transition). I found this recipe at a blog called Tofugazi called Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows. It appears that the recipe was reblogged from another site. So freaking good. I replaced traditional Tyanne-hate-filled flour with gluten free flour. It was like a peanut butter cup on crack. Sorry that you were the butt of my joke earlier, Jenny. Poking fun at a nut allergy is no joking matter. I have done some research and it appears that ThingsThatJennyCanEatAndTyanneCannot.blogspot.com is still available so you can rub it in my face. (I am assuming that Jenny reads this. If not, totally not offended.)