String Theory

ice cream sandwiches

I made these to take to over to JareShann's (aka my brother and sister-in-law, Jared and Shannon) house for their exclusive, invite-only Oscars party. Hottest party in town.  I haven't seen any of the Oscar-nominated films this year with the exception of the animated shorts which we got to see the other night.  My vote is for the Japanese film "Possessions". Oh, and we saw "Blue Jasmine" which Cate Blanchett was nominated for. Not my favorite Woody Allen movie ever. 

1. Mix up your favorite chocolate chip coookie dough. Divide dough in half.  Spread each half in a 9x13 disposable aluminum baking tray. Bake. Put cookie bars in freezer until firm.

2. Spread softened ice cream of choice over one of the cookie bars in the tray. Peel the tray off of the second cookie bar and lay cookie bar on top of ice cream. Put whole thing back in freezer for an hour or two to refreeze the ice cream.

3. Peel off remaining tray. Cut into whatever size sandwiches you would like. I chose XXL. I also wrapped my sandwiches in wax paper for transport.

tammy's 2013 wrap up (a few months after the fact)

I started on this list before the new year and then it got lost in the shuffle and I never really finished it. So I'm posting an abreviated list of some of my 2013 favorite things (mostly music) before it's forgotten completely.

 

MUSIC (sorry, I tried to keep it brief, but I listened to a lot of new music this year)

Favorite Albums of 2013 (and one from 1990) in no particular order:

1. Paul Simon, The Rhythm of the Saints

I realize that this album is almost 24 years old, but I've been listening to it non-stop for about two months now. 

2. Lissie, Back To Forever 

I am in love with her voice. Dave thinks she sounds like Stevie Nicks...I don't really hear it, but I dig Stevie Nicks' voice too. This is her newest album, but I suggest starting with her 2009 work and moving on from there.

3. Lorde, Pure Heroine

You can't really get away from this young woman this year. She's EVERYWHERE. It's good trancey/groovy electronic rock with pretty decent songwriting. 

 4. London Grammar, If You Wait

If you enjoy the band, October Project, then I think you'll like these folks. So dreamy.

5. Kings of Leon, Mechanical Bull

Sometimes times you just need some rock n' roll, ya know? (Please watch the link video to the end. All the girls screaming is so funny.)

6. Patty Griffin, American Kid

It's Patty. She can do no wrong in my eyes. She's my favorite of all time. If you haven't discovered her yet, do not read the rest of this post, just go listen to her NOW.

7. Various Artists, Sing Me The Songs: Celebrating The Works Of Kate McGarrigle

Teddy Thompson's cover of Saratoga Summer Song is beautiful.

8. Jars of Clay, Inland

They had sort of fallen off my radar and then I listened to this album and it was like talking with an old friend. They also put out Under the Weather (Live in Sellersville, PA) this year. Recorded at the Sellersville Theater a mile from our house!

 

Tammy's Singles (Favorite Random Songs):

1. Song For Zula- Phosphorescent "I saw love disfigure me into something I am not recognizing..."

2. Jungle- Emma Louise

3. Jennifer- Little Comets

4. I Am- Crowder (just one song this year David Crowder?! I demand more.)

5. All Of My Memories- Kathleen Edwards (covering John Denver)

 

Favorite Miscellany:

1. StageIt- Discovered this "online venue" this year. You pay peanuts and then get to sit in your pajamas and watch a concert on your computer screen. I saw Glen Phillips (acoustic set in his office), Sean and Sara Watkins (acoustic set in Glen Phillips' living room) and the aforementioned Lissie (plugged in with her band on what appeared to be the back porch of a bar). They all had their computers handy and you could make requests and ask questions.

2. Rock and Resole- Paid to have my climbing shoes resoled for the first time. It was well worth it. ~$50 for two toe caps and one half sole and they were as good as new. I'm glad I spent the money to extend the life of my shoes instead of shelling out $150 for a new pair. 

3. Yogurtree- Froyo has finally arrived in Qtown! Hallelujah! My frequent buyer card is almost full.

4. First time to the west coast. I was able to go with Dave on his work trip to Cali this year and even though it involved a lot of solo exploring while he was at work combined with the fact that we had just found out that my sister was sick again, I'm thankful for it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knitting Catch-Up

I have quite a few fo's that I haven't reported, so I thought I'd take care of that and practice some studio photography at the same time. 

A was being adorable while modelling the Ashby shawl. 

This thing is so heavy and warm, it's perfect for this particular neverending winter. Ravelry notes are here.

G seemed to know exactly how she wanted to model the Fox Scarf. (click the link and scroll down for the English version) 

Her posing was so much fun that I forgot to take a close-up shot of the scarf. Nevertheless, it was a cute, quick project, and there are already demands that I make more of them. Here are my Ravelry notes.

I also finished some sweaters for myself, which hasn't happened in quite a few years. This one is made of thick wool for cold, cold weather. I've actually been wearing it around the house lately. (When will winter be over, again?)

I'm a big fan of short-sleeve sweaters because it means I can wear my coat over them without cutting of circulation in my arms. This particular cardigan ended up without sleeves because I didn't have enough yarn to make them. Here are the notes.

And finally, another shawl. The girls like to steal them from me, so we can't have enough of them. Next up (one of these days) will be a purple version. Here are the notes. 

Snow Day Fail

I tried to send the kids out to play this morning since it is warm-ish and snowy, and there's a fun layer of ice across the top of the snow. Unfortunately, this is all that happened outside. 

Lotion Bars

I am a big fan of lotion bars like the ones from Climb On! or Lavishea and I always have one on me in a pocket or bag all winter long. The problem is that $9 for tin of soy wax and shea butter(Lavishea's ingredients) is a huge rip-off. I have plenty of oils sitting around the house these days, and thanks to the internet, I didn't even have to come up with my own lotion bar recipe. Here's what I did:

Gently melt together

• 165 grams  coconut oil
• 165 grams cocoa butter
• 165 grams natural beeswax

After the last of the beeswax has melted, add

• 2 grams grapefruit essential oil

*This was not enough essential oil to add fragrance, unfortunately, so next time I'll have to add more. Grapefruit oil is supposed to be a preservative though, so it probably wasn't a waste to use it anyway.

Immediately pour the warm oils into tins, and put the lids on after the bars are completely cool. This recipe filled 11 2oz tins to the top.

The results:

The lotion feels lovely and smooth and my poor dry fingers are thankful for the moisturizing help. The total cost per homemade bar is...less than $1.00! AND that's even with using higher quality oils than Lavishea puts in its bars. Buying the tins will probably double that price, but even if I didn't thrift containers this is well worth the time. 

1!

That's A Bunny Of A Different Color

Bunny number two is finished, and I was right about felt from Jo-Ann's not being such good quality. I found lots of color options for wool blend felt at this Etsy shop and I'm very happy with the feel and thickness of the National Non-wovens felt. 

Another little bunny dress is on the way for this rabbit too. I wouldn't want her to be naked for too long in this weather.

Heather's 2013 Wrap-Up

Books!

When rounding up this year's books for the photo, I was surprised by how many I don't have in my possession. There were a couple of ebooks and a couple from the library, but a bunch of them are currently at other people's houses. Book traveling make me happy, but I didn't realize how much sojourning was happening with mine!

Here's a list of this year's favorites, in no particular order:

• True Grit by Charles Portis
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

- both of these win the "Most Surprisingly Enjoyable" award.  I started them both thinking I wouldn't really like them (especially The Graveyard Book, which just sounded creepy), but I ended up forcing them both on other people after I finished them.

• Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist
• The Supper Of The Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon

-"Love" and "Love Even More". Both are about food and God and life, and both are beautiful but in different ways. I have become a stalker of both authors since reading these two books, and you should too.

• Kisses From Katie  by Katie Davis
• Love Does by Bob Goff

-Neither of these books are going to win any literary awards, but it's who these authors are that just knocked me down. Without intending to, I read these two at the same time, and they worked together to make me think a lot about how I live my own personal little life and how closed off I often am to the people around me. I think the category name for these should be "Blew Heather's Mind"

 Food!

• Risotto

"Food of the year" for sure. I had no idea what I was missing by thinking this was such a hard dish to make. Rice, stock, wine, and anything else I happen to have; cooked slowly together, piece by piece. Easy peasy. I got the original directions from Bread & Wine.

• Custard

This was also a year of learning about custards. We bought a new ice cream maker at the beginning of the summer. It's the kind with the freezer canister, which means we no longer have to go out for giant bags of ice every time we want ice cream. Throughout the warm season I made frozen custard at least once a week, plus any time we had guests over. 

But the custard didn't end there. When pumpkin season rolled around I set out to perfect a recipe for pumpkin custard for a crowd. In the end, what I was happiest with was a giant crustless pumpkin pie, made with fresh squash, of course.

And since it is New Year's Day today, I just mixed up a big batch of eggnog. I don't know if it is technically custard, but it includes tempered egg yolks, so I'll count it.

 

 Crafts!

• Soap

"Craft of the Year"! My next door neighbor and I decided to learn to make soap this summer using the book Smart Soapmaking by Anne Watson. It makes soapmaking easy, cheap, and more or less foolproof. We had a lot of fun with using different oils and additives and ended up making A LOT of soap.

 

 

• Macro Photography

 I bought some extension tubes for my lenses so that I could try some extreme close-up photography. (Sorry in advance for the spider, it was such a cute, teeny one)

• Knitting

I believe this is the only adult-sized sweater I finished this year, and the first on I've knit for myself in several years. Happily, it turned out great, and I've been wearing it almost daily this fall/winter. Thanks to Jennifer for modeling for me.

here are the Ravelry notes if you are interested. 

•  Sewing

Not a lot of sewing happened this year. It's funny, I thought that moving to a new house and having a whole room set aside as a craft room would mean that I would have space for a sewing table. Turns out that the Drawing Room is a wonderful place for kids to explode with creative freedom, but not such a great place for me to find a clear work space. Those kids can have their fun for now, but in 17 years that room is MINE!

So, hand sewing is it for me right now. I saw a pattern for these bunnies on this blog and thought they were pretty cute. This little girl saw them and wanted one of her very own, so I used cheapo felt we already had and made one up for her right before Christmas. I still think it's cute, but my stitches were sloppy and the felt is very thin, so I'm not sure she'll last for long. Next up is a purple bunny made with some seemingly nicer felt that I found online.

 

And that's about it for 2013. I have no particular goals for crafting in 2014, so we'll see what tomorrow brings!

 

crafty catch-up post

i have a backlog of projects that i never blogged about so this will be sort of a whirlwind tour of the last three or four months of sewing.

1. baby nephew's first birthday hanbok and bokgun. an authentic outfit starts at around $100. ouch. this one cost about $15 for the materials. i can't figure out where i put the patterns that i used so i can't give your their numbers. it was a basic, elastic-waist pants pattern, a button up shirt pattern that i made into a split neck shirt with mandarin collar and a vest pattern that i lengthened. i drafted the bokgun and his belt myself. 

2. birthday pillows for my mom. she likes snow. 

3. giraffe halloween costume for little niece. at first she said she wanted to be cinderella, but then we went to the fabric store and it was all over when she saw the giraffe pattern. cutest giraffe out there. she's not really a princess kind of girl anyway. i made her a matching treat bag too. you can see it hanging on the chair in the background. i used poly fleece and Simplicity #0861.

4. dress to wear to my cousin's wedding at the National Museum of the Marines. i used a poly/cotton polka dot brocade and McCall's 5519 which is the same pattern i used to make my space girl costume a few years back. the pattern is sized for knits, but i put in a 22" invisible zipper up the back so it would be easy to get on and off. i'm really happy with how it turned out and it fit perfectly. the photos from the wedding are all camera phone pics and didn't turn out so well so here's a pic of it on the dress form.

5. knit night caps for a friend's three boys. i used a midweight cotton knit and drafted the pattern myself after looking at some other hats. i made two of the boys similar hats when they were around 5 yrs old and now that they're a little bit older they wanted new ones. i call them "mr. smee" hats. i love it that there are kids out there that want night caps.

6. zippered mickey pouch. we are disney fans here in the opalka home and listen to a podcast called "mousestalgia". they did a secret santa gift exchange through their FB site this year for any listeners that cared to join in. we could all leave our santas hints as to what our disney interests are on the page. i made my lady a zippered mickey pouch with a grommet and wrist strap. i used some of the left over fabric from the above dress, mickey fabric from joann's and this tutorial as a guide. i know she's received it, but she says she's waiting until Christmas day to open her present. hope she likes it!

 

 

 

Girl In A Drum II

I recently came across the picture of girl #3 on the left and thought it would be perfect for recreation with girl #4. Really, what I want is for this to go on record as evidence to be referred to when my kids are grown and tempted to mock me for not being able to tell their baby pictures apart. Also, that drum has been broken for a really long time.