Baby Presents

Some of the recently finished projects are off in the mail. Our friends in Portland recently had a new baby girl and I also knit some goodies for her big brother.




I'm now working on some socks for Scott, and I can't seem to get them the right size. I've taken the first one out about four times. I've abandoned the toe-up approach, and now just trying the conventional method from the Ann Budd book. They seem to be too big, but I'm not excited about ripping them out again. So they will just be a little large. As a sock amateur (the socks pictured above were my first pair), it may just take some more practice...

The Finisher

Last week I think I earned the title of "the finisher". I finished three projects - Baby Hat for Beta, the Cashmere Scarf and my pink and green gloves. I'm quite pleased with all of them, however the Cashmere Scarf turns out to be a bit of an issue for its recipient. After one day of wear, my husband was covered in white and green fuzz. Covered. I didn't really think about this because it didn't really shed on me while it was being knit, but it seems to be really attrached to Scott's wool coat. I am now looking for potential solutions...
But the other projects are great, and the gloves will keep my hands warm once this global warming-induced indian summer cedes...

Thanksgiving Menu

We've finalized our Thanksgiving menu. There will be six of us here - my and Scott, Scott's mom, my dad & step-mom and my brother. We'll probably have food for twice that many, but that's the point, isn't it?
So, we'll be feasting on the following:
Turkey from our local turkey farm
Oyster Stuffing
Gravy (made from turkey broth and a roux from the pan drippings)
Cranberry sauce - my brother is making this, so not sure of the specifics
Sweet Potato casserole with marshmellows
Wild Rice, Cranberry and Walnut salad
Peas
Green bean recipe from today's NYT
For dessert we'll be enjoying Pumpkin Pie Brulee and Nantucket Cranberry Pie (the Laurie Colwin recipe from Gourmet). Scott also will be making deviled eggs and my brother is supposed to bring cheese as a starter.
Still need to make the shopping list, but this should be fantastic! Gobble Gobble!!!
Tonight we are making Spaghetti and Meatballs - it's simmering right now...

Photo Albums!

I took a fantastic class this weekend at the Center for Book Arts. Fantastic seems to be the word of the moment - I'm using to describe everything lately. It used to be "outstanding" but that left my vocabulary after a lot of mocking a few years ago by a friend. Someone's going to get annoyed with "fantastic" and that'll be banished too... Where did my vast vocabulary go?

Anyway, the class was great. We made three different album constructions - pamplet style, side sewn and accordion. We learned a lot of techniques, and our teacher Barbara was really knowledgeable. She gave us handouts too, which is helpful because otherwise I'll get 3/4 of the way through trying to recreate one of these at home and be totally lost...
One of the outcomes of my class is a shopping list for a trip to Talas. More like a wish list, but a few must haves, like a leather punch, a spring divider (the thing I thought was a spring divider turns out to be a compass) and some cover weight paper.

In the meantime, I've finished the Baby Hat for Beta, but still need to sew in the ends. Here are pictures of the hat and the matching booties. It will remain on the WIP list until all the ends are sewn in though...

These are knit in Koigu KPPPM and KPM. They are super quick patterns that I got from my LYS Pins and Needles, that work great in Baby Cashmerino and Koigu. They make great presents, and a lot faster than sweaters and blankets!

Short Ribs and Scarves

Not much is better for a fall dinner than maple glazed, porter braised short ribs. We made these last night and they were fantastic. The recipe is from the book "All About Braising" by Molly Stevens. Tons of fantastic recipes, and each has a wine suggestion. Unfortunately, because I'm on antibiotics for the never ending ear infection, I couldn't have much of the Barolo that Scott opened. I bet I take this stuff way to literally and probably could have had a glass without any problems.
I've accomplished a lot on one of my current knitting projects, a cashmere scarf for my husband. This is the third scarf I've knit him in the 2 1/2 years that we've been together. The first was a bit of a disaster - alpaca in a wide rib - because it's a) too warm and b) gets all bunched up. The second is worn often (pictured below), and this one is what I'd call a "comissioned piece."

This is a pretty luxurious scarf - I'm using Karabella Boise and at my mother's suggestion knitting a K1 P1 rib on size 8 needles. Its knitting up pretty quickly, which is good because I've put this off for a long time and Scott's been really patient. Here is how far I've gotten so far...

crafty launch

So here we go! I'm launching this blog, much to my husband's dismay, to document some of my crafty projects. I'll also be posting about fabulous food, both that we and I cook and that we eat elsewhere, and our life in the sleepy hamlet of Cranbury, NJ. The main attraction in this "town" is Cranbury Pizza. Yum.
Who is Crafty Caroline? I'm a 30-something, NY born and bred, Jew with WASP-y heritage, who has lived in Texas, North Carolina, Paris and Tokyo who likes to do crafty things like knitting and making handmade books. I enjoy practicing yoga, and in theory I enjoy going to the gym. My husband and I got married in June, after two years together. I am an HR manager for a large company and my husband is a photojournalist. While one might think that this would result in fabulous pictures for my blog, but I've been told that I'm responsible for my own photography ("training ground"). I'm the person who cuts off people's heads in photos, so this could be interesting... my husband apparently does the same thing, but on purpose.
We also have two cats - Max and Frances. Max is a bit needy, and likes to sit right next to me and Frances is pretty independent.
So that's me in a nutshell. Tomorrow I'll start posting some crafty stuff...