How to Crochet a Basket

Today marks the one week anniversary of my starting to crochet. In that time, I've made this basket, two gifts that I don't want to spoil by posting here yet, and I've started a hat for myself. I like crocheting so much better than knitting .. I can keep track of what I'm doing easier, the instructions seem clearer in patterns, and I'm not constantly dropping stitches. It's almost instant gratification. For this basket, I did have to restart three times to get it to look right, but it was worth it. On one of the gifts I made, I pulled out almost 400 stitches to restart, and it ended up looking great (although it's smaller than it should have been). I guess what I'm saying is that I'm learning as I go. It's fun teaching myself through blogs; there are a lot of good ones out there!

For the basket, I followed this blog's tutorial on how to begin the basket and increase the stitches to make a circle. For her basket, she added a stripe and kept the basket low, but I wanted a taller basket to store my embroidery supplies in. So, if you want to make a basket like mine, once you get done increasing your seventh row to 84 stitches, start the eighth row crocheting with one double stitch per stitch (no more increasing). After two or three rows, you should see the sides of the basket curling up. Total, including the seven rows of the bottom circle, my basket has 22 rows (seven increasing on the bottom plus fifteen normal double stitching). Hope you enjoy making a basket as much as I did! It turned out really cute for a first project.

Zuppa Toscana

This soup is so good that even though the recipe isn't mine, I felt like I had to share it with you anyway. I love Olive Garden unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks. Zuppa Toscana is my favorite soup they have there, and I was overjoyed to find this recipe! I made it last night and it turned out great! Pair it with some greens with balsamic vinaigrette and you'll have a wonderful lunch .. plus leftovers for a few days!

You can find the recipe on Steak n Potatoes Kinda Gurl's website. Mine didn't turn out quite as pretty as hers but it still tastes amazing! The only thing I changed was rather than dicing the potatoes, I thinly sliced them to make the soup more like Olive Garden's. This reduced the simmer time to about fifteen minutes from twenty.

Struggling with Creative Distraction in Business

I’m distracted constantly. At work, at home, everywhere. I can hardly even work on a project without having music or a movie on in the background. I can’t even speak without getting so sidetracked by my thoughts that I forget what’s actually coming out of my mouth (this was a particular problem making presentations in school). Although most of that doesn’t bother me too much, creative distraction has been a struggle for me recently. Especially how it relates to dedication to my small, hobby business. I desperately want to build a small business selling items that I make. However my lack of dedication to a specific project makes it tough to commit to developing one line of items. As soon as I get a project ready to sell (aka clutch purses, fabric flowers, iPhone cases), I immediately lose interest once it’s online to be sold. I no longer care to develop ideas ... I just want to move onto the next thing!

My interests are ever changing, and I don’t know how to find a project to sell that will continue to allow me to explore different creative avenues and keep a cohesive product line. I thought I’d found it with the iPhone cases. I could print whatever I wanted on them, which allowed for some creative freedom, and I sold two within the first two weeks of listing them online so there’s some market for them. But unfortunately I still feel limited by the medium, and since posting them online, have began personal embroidery and crocheting projects. 

I really just need to split my time between my current interests and my business. As much as I’d like to work on the things that interest me the most at the moment, I need to continue being dedicated to my business if I have any hope of being successful. It’s going to be really difficult; especially because I have hardly any discipline when it comes to doing things I don’t want or have to do, and I feel like my time is limited as is. I’ll give it a whirl though! If you see new designs in my shop soon, that means I’m going through with the plan. If not, I’m probably working on something I’ll enjoy myself (and maybe share on here!)!

Do you have a distraction that gets in the way of your goal? How do you deal with it?

Here I Am!

Here's some of what I've been up to since you last saw me:

With the help of my lovely husband, we transformed my hillside garden into beautiful raised beds! It took almost 200 retaining wall stones and three cubic yards of composted soil, but doesn't it look pretty?! Now onto deer control ..

Enjoyed my favorite season (even though I might not look like it here)!

Started making iPhone and iPod cases first for my new phone, then to sell on Etsy. I like the versatility that printing on fabric lends. Check out my Etsy shop here!

I've been going to the Ann Arbor Farmers Market on Saturday mornings. Nothing beats going to Kerrytown and exploring the market and the stores.

Turned 24!

Studied for and took the GRE. Now I have some more free time on my hands and don't feel guilty about spending it not studying. And, no, I didn't embroider this as an ode to my GRE studying days. It's part of a Christmas gift!

Invested some time into making Mario and Luigi costumes for the annual Thanksgiving Turkey Fry!

Easy Whole Wheat Bread in a Bag

I've had my share of bad bread making experiences .. making bread from a popular bread book only to have the end result turn out so salty it was inedible; letting foccacia rise on parchment paper which did not allow it to slide onto the bread stone then deciding to flip it over only to get it all over the inside of the oven .. yikes! This recipe for bread is so easy, I've made it several times without any glitches. I'm still going to work on my artisan bread skills, but for now I'm enjoying making homemade wheat sandwich bread. Here we go!

Sorry for this crummy on-the-fly photo! You get the idea..

Whole Wheat Bread in a Bag
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 packet dry yeast (or little less than 1 tbsp)
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp honey
1 cup warm water
1 cup white bread or all purpose flour

1. Add whole wheat flour, yeast, and salt to a 1-gallon zip close bag. Shake it.
2. Add vegetable oil, honey, and warm water to the bag. Shake, squeeze, pound, etc. for about 10 minutes.
3. Add white flour to the bag. Squish it up for another 10 minutes.
4. Let sit in a warm place covered with a towel  for 1 hour.
5. Spray a bread pan with cooking spray. Add the contents of the bag to the pan and smooth over the top. Cover with a towel and let sit another hour.
6. Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Bake for 35 minutes.

Summer Veggie Pizza

This pizza is perfect for using some of those vegetables at the farmers market .. and for getting in all your veggies for the day! I was a little skeptical when I first tried this recipe a couple weeks ago, but it ended up being so good, I'm craving it for dinner tonight.

Summer Veggie Pizza
Adapted from Cooking Light
Prep time: 35-45 minutes, Servings: 4-2 slice servings

1 package pizza dough mix or pre-made pizza crust
Cooking spray
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 cup sliced onion
1 red bell pepper, sliced
8 oz asparagus, cut into 2" pieces
2 ears of corn, kernels removed
1/2 cup cherry/grape tomatoes, quartered
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella (add more if desired)
Salt
Pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1. Preheat oven according to directions on dough packaging; prepare dough.
2. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add 4 teaspoons olive oil and the garlic. Cook 2 minutes then remove to small dish.
3. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil to the skillet. Add onion and bell pepper. Cook 5 minutes then place in a separate bowl. Mix in the asparagus, corn, and tomatoes with the onion and bell pepper.
4. Roll out dough. Brush the dough with the garlic oil. Top with veggie mixture. Sprinkle on cheese, salt, and pepper. Bake according to dough instructions. After removing from oven, garnish with chopped basil and red pepper flakes.

My Sister's Birthday: Stenciled Tote Using Freezer Paper

I've been gone so long! I'm sorry, so much has been going on recently that I have not made it a priority to share. I'm actively studying for the GRE, which is very consuming both in terms of time and mental capacity :). Other things have been going on, too, that have made it difficult to write. Hopefully I'm back for good after my hiatus! I've still been working on things and documenting, so you should see a whole lot of catching up in the near future.

This project is so neat, I thought it was necessary to be shared with you. My sister's birthday was last weekend. We had a great day: went downtown to the farmer's market, to lunch then did some shopping before going to our mom's for dinner. I really wanted to make her something special because I feel like I've been lacking and last minute for everyone on the gift front this year. My sis has a totally adorable boxer who she loves very much, so I wanted to incorporate her dog into the gift. I've been looking at posts on using freezer paper for stenciling so I thought I'd give it a shot on a handmade tote bag for her gift! I know this technique has been around for ages but it was my first try and it worked perfectly. If you're going to try this, just don't believe anyone who says wax paper will have the same results. I did not have luck with the wax paper sticking to the fabric, so I had to retrace my stencil. See the results below! I hope to have the personalized tote and the patterned tote in my Etsy shop soon.

My inspiration.

One side of the finished tote.

The stencil.

The patterned side of the tote.

Pretty cool, huh? The tote is a soft linen lined with a fun cotton print, but didn't take a picture of that before I gave it to my sister. She loved it! Having her puppy on her tote is a good reminder of what's waiting for her when she gets home. She plans to use the bag to take her laptop to work. If you'd like to learn how to stencil with freezer paper, check out How About Orange's tutorial.