The results are in – my four entries earned four blue ribbons! That comes to $16 and a four-pound bag of sugar in prizes. Sweet!
With the 4th of July, the Red River Valley Fair, the downtown street fair and the Hjemkomst Viking Festival all in the last few weeks I have been busier than usual lately. I also attended my grandmother’s 80th birthday party and my sister’s baby shower during those weeks and spent at least two days in the lake out at the cabin. Not much knitting got done, and I am a-OK with that. It’s too hot for knitting, anyways.
Participating in the fair was a very positive experience. I highly suggest everyone give it a try sometime. The exhibition building had lots more room in it for entries! I think I’ll try to perfect my bread-making technique for next year, and I’m trying to convince my husband to exhibit some of his art.
My entries are ready for the Red River Valley Fair! I haven’t done fair entries for ten years. I wonder if I still have the ribbon-winning skill I once had?
I picked four simple entries. I figured it’s best to do something simple well than something overly extravagant.
1. April Red Robin amigurumi.
2. Pretty In Purple beret.
3. May Flowers socks.
4. Thumbs Up Thumbprint Cookies – these are completely free of the eight most common food allergens plus gluten. If I had been able to confirm if my jam was sulfate-free I could say they were free of that, too, but I couldn’t get confirmation. Jam usually has sulfates in it.
So if you’re at the Red River Valley Fair and taking a gander at the needle crafts or cookies you might see my entries. Good luck to everyone else who is entering their handiwork to the fair! Let’s bring home some ribbons!
It’s Christmas! I’ve been busy lately so it’s nice to say I am officially on vacation now.
Last week we had our Christmas party at work. We have a big potluck on our floor. I made shortbread and tartlets and then a little salad. The shortbread cookies were delicious but I didn’t get the red and green colors quite right. They turned out pink and mint-green.
The tartlets were a failure. The shells were pretty, but the chocolate filling was bland (tasted like a melted Hershey bar) and the butterscotch filling was disgusting. So I just tossed those out.
They looked pretty, though.
The salad I made turned out delicious. Grape tomatoes, mozzarella pearls, four fresh basil leaves chopped, drizzled with olive oil and some salt and pepper. Personally, I would have liked even more basil, but I didn’t want to overdo it. I am so much better at cooking than I am at baking.
We also have a White Elephant gift exchange at the office party. None of that thoughtful, lovely secret Santa gift-exchange stuff for us! You strive for the cheapest tackiest gift you can find. I made this:
I think it was well received by the lucky person who grabbed it from under the tree.
After the party it was time for me to start my vacation. Pablo and I drove to my hometown to visit my family and celebrate the holiday. The last time I had chatted with my mom she told me about this yarn store she had just discovered in town. I was so excited to go check it out.
Oh. My. Goodness. New favorite yarn store! Silver Creek Cabin (link in my sidebar) is amazing. It probably has more yarn than all of the yarn stores in Fargo combined. I made a modest purchase, but I know I’ll be back next time I’m in town.
Regia Silk by Schachenmayr nomotta
Super Chunky by Misti Alpaca
I’ll use the Regia Silk to make some lacy black silk socks. The Super Chunky was turned into a cowl only a few short hours later. My sister wanted to work on a scarf and I thought that sounded like fun, but I didn’t want to commit to a whole scarf. So, just a cowl.
I’ve always felt like Misti Alpaca products are one of those rare indulgence things. It’s really pricey, so I’ve never considered it for any project I’ve worked on. It is gorgeous, though.
No pattern. I just cast 12 stitches on size 11 needles and worked it in seed stitch (k1, p1 on RS; p1, k1 on WS) until all the yarn was used up. Then I dug through mom’s buttons and found two I liked.
Now we’re back home again, resting for a moment until the next party. We brought home a gift for our cat (from my mom) and I had fun making a video of it.
Hornbacher’s sells tubs of sprinkles. They cost the same as the little tubes of sprinkles. Why would you ever buy a tube when you can buy a whole TUB of sprinkles?
Clearly, I am not adult enough to handle sprinkles responsibly.
Chocolate cake, vanilla icing, a tub of sprinkles.
Chocolate mini-cupcakes, buttercream frosting, a tub of sprinkles.
I didn’t make these the same day. The cake was awhile ago when both my husband and I had a mad chocolate craving. The mini-cupcakes were made for a party we’re going to this weekend. Any excuse to use SPRINKLES!!
This morning my alarm went off and my body just wasn’t having it. I had a terrible night’s sleep and basically felt like crap. I didn’t want to go to work if I was coming down with something, lest I risk making it worse or getting my co-workers sick so I called in a sick day and stayed tucked in bed.
A day in bed can get old fast, but luckily I had my knitting and old Stargate episodes to keep me entertained. I was able to finish Pablo’s neckwarmer and watch Jack O’Neill save the world for the 9,345,254th time.
Now Pablo can join me and Kim as arctic ninjas.
By about 7pm I was feeling quite a bit better and was tired of being in bed so Pablo and I made cookies. I got a book called Cookies For Everyone for Christmas and wanted to try another recipe from it (I know, Christmas was only three weeks ago and I’ve already made four batches of cookies). We made the “Oh-So-Delicious Sandwich Cookies” – basically Oreos.
Aren’t they cute?
And they’re very delicious, too. Om nom nom nom…
Yes, I wear a red and black polka-dot apron when I cook. I’m very messy in the kitchen.
