Make Something Monday Week Three and Giveaway Winner

My knitting mojo is back! I have only fully finished one thing this week, but I am well on my way to another finish, and I must say, they're both super cute. I've been wanting to make some Christmas type stuffies for the December fair I sell at every year, but not something so Christmassy that it couldn't just as well be played with every other time of the year. Every time I have tried selling something at the artisan fairs that is pretty much exclusively Christmas, it never sells. So, I've made a bean bag animal that can be a Christmas elf bear, or just be a green and white stripe bear any other time of the year:

For some reason he looks more teal or blueish, but he is a nice green. I will take a better picture for next week when I have a few more done!
I am going to make some red and white stripe one as well as blue and white polar bear.
I am currently working on this cutie:

She's going to have a blue and white snowflake design dress. She's going to be for whomever I get for Secret Santa this year.
Agh, I can not believe I am making posts about Christmas, when Halloween isn't until next week! It's the time frame of a knitter - I live months in advance, I tell you!
What did you make this week?

Linking up to:

Ok, now onto why I am sure you are all actually here, the winners of my three skein giveaway!
Using the random number generator from random.org, I chose a winning comment:

Which is comment:

Congrats, Danielle! Please e-mail me at natalie@nantucketknitter.com or nataliesknits on Ravelry with your mailing address and I will get your yarn to you ASAP.
Thanks everyone for entering, and check back soon as I have another giveaway in the works!

Homeschooling Friday - Week Two

We had an awesome week! I love fall, I love October, and I love Halloween, (plus my birthday was Wednesday) so there was no way it wouldn't be an awesome week. I have decided that Halloween is going to be a major holiday in this house from now on. I am talking Christmas major. Mini Halloween stockings, advent calenders, exchanging gifts, cookies, crafts, the whole shebang. If Magdalena goes back to public school in the future, I may make her stay home the weekend before to make and bake with me and have a big party after school.
We spent the week on Halloween crafts, and learning about the letter B and the number one.
We made bird masks on Monday:

Butterflies on Tuesday:

On Wednesday, there was no way I was going to adhere to a strict diet on my birthday, so we spent the day baking cookies. Chocolate and vanilla Day of the Dead skull cookies, to be precise:

These, seriously, are a can't miss. The cookie above it the absolute best looking one we got, but keep in mind I had a five year old helper. But taste wise, they're amazing, no matter how they look! Recipe here: http://www.nantucketknitter.com/2013/10/day-of-the-dead-cookies.html! (I originally had the recipe in this post, but it deserves it's own post. Seriously.)
We also made these amazingly fun crafts this week:

It's Halloween, and it starts with B, perfect! (I didn't take any step by step pictures with Boo, might be a good thing as the post is long enough without them!) For Boo we followed part of this inchie idea: http://www.thatartistwoman.org/2011/10/halloween-inchies-part-1.html

We followed the ideas here for this one, roughly: http://www.thatartistwoman.org/2012/10/halloween-inchies-2012.html. I cut three inch squares for both projects, because I thought two inches would be too hard to work with, with a five and four year old. (Magdalena's friend Mr. T was here for one of the projects.)
We didn't have everything she used on hand, like bubble wrap and googly eyes, but we made do with what we had. They were such fun projects, I will be doing these for every holiday, and I think for gifts as well.
We painted all of the backgrounds of the little squares first, as well as collaged the center one, then let everything dry whilst we went and ran some errands.

I wouldn't use sand on them next time. It was cool because M loved watching the paint being sucked up by the sand, and it left a nifty effect. But it was way too hard to glue anything on afterwards. Although, I don't have any liquid white glue now, so we were working with glue sticks, and M dumped a ton of sand on them, so that may have had something to do with it.
Once everything was dried, we got to work on the details.

Our structured projects don't normally take so long, or require quite so much work; I think that was good for a change to have an all day project. Plus one that requires such attention to detail, for a five year old.

For the background, I cut a piece of poster board big enough to hold all the mini projects, with an inch or so border between each one and all around. Then, I let Magdalena go wild on it with water colors. I think after so many hours of such structure, it was good to let loose!

I think this one is getting its own frame! We are going to be working on a fall theme of this same project next week, then a Thanksgiving one as well! Seriously, fun, fun, fun. The website, that artist woman, has been a major source of inspiration since I came across it. I will be referring back to it through out the year. Go check it out, you won't be disappointed!

Linking up to:

Maya's Mexican Day of the Dead Cookies

We made these cookies this week, and I was going to put them into the post with Homeschooling Friday, but again, thought it was long enough without the recipe. This way, I can really go in depth with the pictures. :)

From chocolate holidays, by Alice Medrich.

The cookie above was the absolute best looking we got. This is what most of the batch looked like:

After those came out of the oven, I decided just to make them circular layered cookies. They still ended up looking like those above, because I had a five year old helper. But seriously tasty cookies! These instructions are for making the skulls, but you can just roll them circular then layer a chocolate and vanilla cookie, and bake according to these directions.

Vanilla dough:
* 2 C all-purpose flour
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 8 T (1 stick) butter, softened
* 1 C sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
To make vanilla dough, mix flour, baking powder, and salt together with whisk or fork. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. On low speed, add flour mixture until just incorporated. Form dough into a log about 2 inches in diameter. Set aside.

Chocolate dough:
* 1 C all-purpose flour
* 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1/8 tsp salt
* 8 T (1 stick) butter, softened
* 1/2 C packed brown sugar
* 1/2 C granulated sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 tsp vanilla extract

To make chocolate dough:
Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt with a whisk or fork. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy but not fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. On low speed, add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Form dough into a log the same size and length as vanilla log. If the doughs are soft and sticky, put in freezer to harden up.

To shape skulls:
Reshape each log so they're skull shaped, with a thinner and for the chin and jaw and wider end for the cranium. Wrap and refrigerate the chocolate dough.
Form features in the vanilla dough, using the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes for the eyes the entire length of the log. Form nose with a skewer, poking two holes for nostrils. Form mouth with narrow table or butter knife, inserting it and wiggling back and forth. Don't try for perfection! It's the irregularities that make is spooky!

Chill both doughs at least two hours, preferably overnight.

Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut chocolate dough into 1/8 inch slices and place them at least 1 1/2 inches apart on a baking sheet covered with parchment. Cut the vanilla dough into 1/8 inch slices and place one slice on top of each chocolate slice. Bake until pale golden at the edges, around 12 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet halfway through baking, top and bottom and front to back.
Slide parchment paper onto cooling racks, or transfer with metal spatula directly to cooling racks, waiting 1 to 2 minutes for cookies to cool and harden before moving them.

Cool completely before stacking or storing. Cookies keep about one week in an airtight container, if they stay around that long.
ENJOY!

When I see this face, who cares if I didn't get perfection?!

PS - if the Day of the Dead skulls don't work out, you can always just roll and cut the cookies (or give the dough to the kids and let them go wild):

Three Skein Giveaway

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Please see this post for the winner: http://www.nantucketknitter.com/2013/10/make-something-monday-week-3.html

I haven't had one for awhile, so it's time for another giveaway! (Plus my birthday is this Wednesday so I can do what I want, and I want to have a giveaway!)

I am giving away three skeins. The details:
One (1) set of three (3) 100% virgin wool skeins. From top to bottom - Cobalt, Chianti, Magenta
- 200 grams / 3.5 oz / 200 yards (Cobalt and Chianti)
- I am unable to read clearly the grams on the third, but it looks like 140 grams / 3.5 oz / 220 yards (the oz and yards are clear)
- I do not know the brands of these yarns, but they're beautiful!
- Hand wash cold water / Dry Flat
Gotta clear out some of my yarn and hopefully you all will help me do it!

Ok, the usual rules:
All you have to do is leave a comment to enter to win! You can enter up to four times (leaving a separate comment for each entry.):
- One, just leave a comment!
- Two, follow my Blog and leave a comment saying you've done so.
- Like Nantucket Knitter on Facebook and leave a comment saying you've done so. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nantucketknit
- Share this giveaway in some way (Facebook, forum, Ravelry, pinterest, etc), and leave a comment (with a link to where you've shared it) saying you've done so.

I will leave the contest open until October 21st 'round about noon time EST. Please leave some way to contact you in at least one of your comments. E-mail, Ravelry name, whatever. If there isn't a way to contact you I will wait 48 hours after a winner is chosen for you to contact me, at which point a new winner will be chosen. Winner much respond within 48 hours otherwise a new winner will be chosen. Winner will be chosen via the awesome folks at random.org. Contest is open internationally.

Make Something Monday - Week Two

Well, last week I projected I would have a pair of knucks and a couple of stuffed animals. I managed to finish exactly one stuffed animal and one glove. About half of what I'd intended. At least what I made is cute, in my humble opinion.

Mister Fox's ears do look a little wonky in those pictures, but they are pointier and straighter than they look. Haven't been able to make him a tail, because I ran out of yarn. I am pretty sure I have another skein of it, but I've been a little too lazy to look.
The glove is a little big on me, but the person I am giving them to has bigger hands then me, so hopefully they will fit. If not, I will just felt them a little, it's what I did with a pair I made for myself last year and they turned out perfectly.
I haven't been digging working in the round lately. I used to knit everything in the round, even convert patterns to be in the round. It seemed easier for me then and required less finish work. Well, now I am converting everything to be knit flat. I find, though it's more work, it actually is easier (can zone out whilst knitting) and the finished product is better. Just takes a little more time.
I couldn't convert the knuckle mitts to be flat, though. Would take far too much finish work. Thus, there are runs in some spots which never used to be there before and I was dropping stitches like it was going out of style.
I just haven't had the motivation to knit lately. I am in a knitting funk all the way around! I've gone through these phases before and they always pass. I just hope this one passes soon, and I need to have a bunch of things for December!
What did you make this week?

Linking up to:

Baked Apples, Apples, and More Apples

A is for apple! We have been going apple crazy here! We've been learning about the letter A this week, plus what with it being fall and all, we've been baking apples! I decided on a separate post for this, because my last one got so long, and it doesn't really fit into Make Something Monday.

That is a plate filled with happiness. We have, of course, Mini Apple Pies. I have to say something here - these are really the perfect sweet treat, matched only by the other two sweet treats I am about to show you. They have about 350 calories total. When you take into account that A, 100 of that is the apple (plus when I calculated the calories, I put it as one whole large apple, and I don't think you even use half) B, they're a whole apple pie, for cryin' out loud! And C, they're super filling. I've had one as my only meal until 5pm ish, and I was pretty full.
I love to make baked apples too. Seriously, very low calorie, and I think they're zero to one point plus in Weight Watchers, depending on how much brown sugar you use. You don't have to use any at all, but I like the syrup it forms and how it caramelizes. Just as tasty without sugar, I promise you!

Sorry for the not too excellent picture. They don't last around this house too long, so it's hard to get a photo.
I take a large apple and core it, then cut it in half.
Then I like to take a sheet of aluminum foil and spray it with cooking spray. Then sprinkle a little brown sugar on the foil, and nestle the apple half in the brown sugar. Sprinkle a little more brown sugar on (seriously just a little, here's a picture to show you how little I use):

Then I liberally sprinkle on cinnamon, and a little nutmeg, ginger and cloves. I use more cloves than more people like, as I like mine spicy!

Then I wrap and cinch the foil around the apples, which makes for easy clean up.

All bundled up and ready to go into the oven.
Then I pop them into a 425ish degree Fahrenheit oven. (I use the toaster oven to prevent having to heat a large oven to such a high temp.) I start checking them after 20 or 25 minutes, and it will vary wildly how long it takes them to be done, depending on the size of the apples and your particular oven.

Open the bundles, and viola! Easy peasy, fat free, 60 or so calories dessert. Eat with some vanilla yogurt and chopped nuts, yum!
If there happen to be any leftovers (there won't be - I always bake a few extra to use) you can make these:

I took reduced fat crescent roll dough and put a dab of smooshed up baked apple in the center, rolled them up and then rolled them in a brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, ginger, and nutmeg mixture. Then popped them in the oven and cooked according to the package directions.

These have less calories than the pies (although I haven't counted the calories) as they have no butter and a little less sugar, and the crescents have less calories themselves.
You could always just eat the smooshed apples as apple sauce:

ENJOY! :)