My Little Corner

Hi Knitters,

No matter how hard I try to keep my tiny little studio space clean and tidy it never lasts long. Piles start forming on the floor, needles are strewn about, yarn and yarn labels are everywhere. And there I sit in my little corner of the world, smack dab in the middle of the mess working away like mad.
A short while ago I bought a pack of three canvas bags at Jo Ann's. I thought it would be fun to take a cheap canvas bag and turn it into a mini-work of art. I have a bunch of stacks of fat quarters that I ordered from here and some other odds and ends of fabric. I get to visit Spool which is right next to Loops in Philadelphia in March. Can't wait!
I made pockets and lined the inside of the bag. This is where my measuring skills leave something to be desired. The lining turned out a bit shorter than the canvas bag. I turned my error into a really cool design feature. I found a piece of coordinating fabric and I folded it in half. I ran stitch lines across and down to create a fun texture. I stitched it on to the top of the lining so it would stick out of the bag. How cute is that?
It looks so cool. I cut the measly original straps and covered and added on some fun fabric straps so I could wear the bag over my shoulder. Before I put in the lining, I sewed a checkerboard pattern with a pink thread on the canvas. Also, I cut out a few squares and stitched them on the thread pattern. The edges will fray with time, which I adore.
I have to have pockets no matter what. I added two good sized pockets in opposite fabrics on each side of the lining. As I was sewing I noticed my studio getting messier and messier. Sewers must have a lot of mess to keep up with. How do they do it?
The bag stands up so nicely. I love the little gap at the sides, it gives it a little character. The canvas forms like an outer shell.I love the mismatch of it all. Always will. The only time I don't mind ironing is when I am sewing.
What is it about canvas? It's so clean and natural and blank.

Stay tuned to see what I whipped up with some adorable kitchen towels...
On a side note, we made our annual marshmallow snowmen for The Collector's class. They are so fun. 3 marshmallows stacked on a sucker stick, dipped in melted white chocolate (the kind of chocolate discs from Vanilla Bean (Madison people) that melt in the microwave).
Mini-chocolate chips for faces and buttons. Fruit roll-ups make the scarves and a Rolo with a Peach Ring adhered with white frosting top it all off.
We wrapped up the treats in cellophane bags with a golden twisty tie.
Someone was very pleased which makes it all worthwhile!

Have a good rest of the week.

best, susie

Winner of Mad Hungry

Hi Knitters,

I randomly selected a winner this morning for the Mad Hungry giveaway. Elissa will need to email (my email is always on the blog sidebar) me to provide her mailing address. If I don't hear from Elissa in a couple of days I will select a new winner. Congratulations, Elissa! I know you are going to love this book. Thanks to all who left a comment and I loved reading about all of your Mad Hungry houses! We are not alone.

Here is the winning comment:

Elissa said...

this book looks fabulous and if i don't win, i for sure will check it out anyway! my boys are still only little and tend to have only spurts of mad hungriness, but i KNOW in a few years we're going to dealing with mad hungry all the time! thanks for the chance to win!

January 15, 2010

I hope you all had a good holiday weekend. It was nice to have that extra day. One exciting thing of note is that Stitchers Crossing in Madison has just received a boatload of Spud & Chloë yarn!!! Madison finally has Spud & Chloë in person!! I get so many questions about where to get Spud & Chloë yarn and products locally and now we have it available. Thank you to Stitchers for bringing in these great yarns. Let's be sure to support their effort!

I worked on Spud & Chloë Outer yarn all weekend long and it is a dream, just look at the photo below. This new color is called Cornsilk and it is a beauty.

Have a good day, Knitters.

best, susie

Aunt Patty Was Here

Edited 1/19/10: The contest for Mad Hungry is now over. Thanks for entering!

Hi Knitters,

As promised I whipped up Aunt Patty's Coffee Cake this morning. The coffee cake recipe is found in Lucinda Scala Quinn's Mad Hungry, Feeding Men & Boys. I am hosting a giveaway for this awesome cookbook right now. I will let the giveaway stay open until Tuesday, January 19th. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post! Keep the entries coming! You will love this book.

In the background you can see some little legs just waiting for the coffee cake to cool. There were three kids waiting for me to turn the pan over so the coffee cake would pop out. They kept asking and asking when it would be ready. Mad Hungriness can even happen right away in the morning! Who knew?
It was perfection! There is a swirl of chocolate filling that runs throughout the cake. I didn't add the instant coffee in the filling because I wasn't sure if the kids would like the coffee flavor. Instead I doubled the cocoa powder to replace the coffee. It worked great.
Next, I whipped up a vanilla glaze to pour over the coffee cake. This isn't in the book but we all love a little glaze on our coffee cake. We're glaze people. The kids absolutely loved it!
My older daughter jokingly asked if I could make this every morning. The kids were all so quiet while they were eating and enjoying their breakfast. That is the best kind of review, right? It was a hit.
Here is the book version and behind is my version. It was so simple to make. I had the batter mixed together in a matter of minutes. The house smells like heaven from the baking. My kids and husband gobbled up the entire coffee cake in one sitting. Do you see why I need this book? We never have leftovers no matter how much I make. My husband made up some crispy bacon on the side. Sweet and salty.

Thank you, Lucinda and Aunt Patty! What a treat to have a warm coffee cake on this sleepy Madison morning. The recipe for Aunt Patty's Coffee Cake is now on my permanent keeper list as something to make again and again. Wonderful. You should give this one a try.
The shades of gray and creamy white make it difficult to photograph but we are in a frosty fantasy land this morning. The world is covered in vanilla glaze. The trees are coated in crystals and the air is misty. It is straight out of a storybook. My husband told me that he was watching the weather and they said the frost is a phenomenon called, frozen fog.
I had never heard of frozen fog before but it is so beautiful. I want to get out for a walk to fully the enjoy the magical quality of the trees this morning.

Have a good Sunday, Knitters. I'll be back soon with a winner of a copy of Mad Hungry in a couple of days. In the meantime, I hope you are finding some time to knit on this long weekend. I have been knitting up a storm. Can't wait to share.

By the way, the Sweetheart Washcloth and the Sweetheart Hat are selling like hot cakes. I can hardly keep up but that is a fun thing to have happen. Thank you!

best, susie

Mad Hungry? Win a copy!

Edited 1/19/10: The contest for Mad Hungry is now over. Thanks for entering!

Hi Knitters,

My publisher, Artisan Books, produces all sorts of beautiful, dreamy books that cover a multitude of topics. Mainly, they publish the most fantastic cookbooks by the world's most acclaimed top chefs. Every once in a while my editor, Trent Duffy, will kindly send me one of their new cookbooks. It is so fun to get a book unexpectedly on your door step. Well, this fall Trent sent me a copy of Mad Hungry, Feeding Men & Boys. I get to see a lot of cookbooks. I buy a lot of cookbooks. This one is IT! I am a family-size huge meal type cooker. This book calls my name loud and clear. Everything about Mad Hungry speaks to me. I absolutely have fallen madly in love, crazy head over heels in love with this book.
This is what happens to books I take a liking to, a post-it note attack. I start placing post-its to mark favorite pages so they stick out at the top of the book. Once I get too many on top, I then move to having the post-its sticking out on the side. The side sticker outers become the top of the list recipes. I have carried Mad Hungry around the house with me everywhere I go. I can't put it down.

The entire feel of the book is enticing. The cover is matte with a linen-y grainy feel, very old-school. The paper inside has a matte finish, the pages open flat and stay open, a wonderful feature. Everything about the book feels so good and warm and welcoming. The photography is delicious and appealing and simple and beautiful. Mikkel Vang showcases the food in a pure and simple light. Plus, I love the photos of Lucinda's husband and boys.

I can't get over how much I love the look and feel of Mad Hungry. It is different and cleverly constructed in the best way possible. Artisan Books and Lucinda Scala Quinn have created a piece of edible art with down-home accessibility. Congratulations.

Lucinda Scala Quinn (her blog is here and it is great!) has quite a resume. She is the Executive Food Director for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, a cohost of PBS's Everyday Food, has a satellite radio show called EatDrink and is married and has three boys. She knows of what she speaks. She is on Martha Stewart, the show, on occasion and I have seen a couple of her segments and she is wonderful to watch. When I first saw the book I wasn't sure what the expression Mad Hungry meant which is funny because I live with a mad hungry family every single day. There has been some discussion in a couple of reviews about the singling out of men and boys as the target for the cooking in the book and how it is stereotypical. But not for me! I totally get the concept of Mad Hungry and I wholeheartedly agree. I live with two hungry, starving boys and my hungry husband who is 6 feet 5 inches tall. All of the men in my life are athletes, constantly on the move and they live to eat. We all love to cook and eat. There isn't a day that goes by where someone doesn't ask me, "What's for dinner?" Usually it is early in the day when I get asked this.

Here is a blurb from Lucinda's introduction that struck home with me (p. XI):

"What's for dinner?" is the most important, most burning question. Food is everything to them and food is nothing until there is none. And, if they're "mad hungry" with no food in sight, life is a living hell." The title, mad hungry, is about that moment when someone can't wait another minute to eat, where control is lost and hunger has completely taken over their being. I get that. Lucinda goes on to say how completely satisfying cooking and feeding the loved ones in our lives is. Food is intertwined with family memories at our house and Lucinda clearly lives that way, too.

To tell you a relevant story, my 16-year-old son is always starving, beyond starving, and it becomes painful for him (and at times, me). Yesterday he drove home (yes, he just got his license) after morning swim practice and before first hour class started. He called ahead and asked me to get 4 slices of wheat toast, slathered in butter and strawberry preserves, ready for him so he could grab it and go. He is "mad hungry" ALL of the time. He came in and downed 2 granola bars, a yogurt, a banana, 2 big glasses of orange juice and the 4 slices of toast. Before he left he gave me a list of foods he needs for his "food locker" at school. Yes, the swimmers each have a designated food locker. He then thanked me and jumped back in the car and drove off to school. That's my life.

Back to the book, Mad Hungry has theories, recommended tools, tips, ideas and mainly fresh, simple, authentic recipes. The recipes use ingredients that you most likely already have in your house. That's my favorite part. It is so doable and real. Mad Hungry is for everyday moms and cooks and for men and women and families. Everyone is included in this family cookbook.

The food chapters cover breakfast, lunch, dinner and down-home desserts (my favorite chapter). The other night I made Lucinda's Chicken Parmesan (the Queen of Chicken returns!) and it was delicious. The recipe even calls for 3 pounds of chicken which is what I make for an average dinner. Most recipes call for 1 pound of chicken and I always have to double or triple recipes. This was all set for someone just like me with a hungry family to feed. I knew this book was meant for me. Lucinda even uses things like canned tomatoes, love that. Don't let the association with Martha Stewart and her complexity scare you away. These are everyday ingredients that you find at any local grocery shop. It's real life stuff.

Here are some things on my list to make:

Golden Granola. I have some nut allergies and I love granola but often nuts are mixed into store-bought versions. I can't wait to make my own toasty sweet granola.
I am a coffee cake kind of girl and when it is laced with chocolate? It's over. I am making Aunt Patty's Coffee Cake this weekend. Can't wait. Yummy hot coffee and Aunt Patty? Here I come this Sunday.
Tomato, avocado and basil? I'm sold. Onions, too? Heaven on earth. Doesn't that look fresh and good? The variety in the book is never-ending and it's all so easy and achievable. Lucinda has done an excellent job.
The dessert chapter is to die for: strawberry rhubarb pie, apple crisp, one-pan busy day chocolate cake (Lucinda gets it!), banana bread (a staple at my house), chocolate pudding, rice pudding (I am a fool for rice pudding), cookies and bars. The gorgeous photo above is for no-bake peanut butter rice krispie bars. Rice Krispies? Always and forever!

What I am most excited to tell you is that you have an opportunity to win a copy of Mad Hungry! I love this book so much that I asked Trent at Artisan if I could host a giveaway for my blog readers and he said yes. I think you all will love this book as much as I do. I want you to have this cookbook!

Leave a comment on this post to win a copy of Mad Hungry. I will randomly pick a winner in a couple of days. Please only enter one time to keep things fair and square. Leave an identifying something or other along with your comment, name, location, link or ravelry name or something. If you are selected you will need to email me to give me your mailing address so please check back to see if you win!

Good luck!!
For a brief change of topic and a quick reminder, last year I designed a couple of Valentine quick knits that make perfect gifts for the season. The first is the Sweetheart Washcloth Pattern which is so fast and simple and fun! Click here to find out more about the Sweetheart Washcloth.

The washcloth along with a lovely bar of soap and a ribbon instantly makes the perfect Valentine gift for moms, grandmas, friends, teachers, babies, kids...

The other quick knit is the Sweetheart Hat pattern. I made this one out of Sugar-n-Cream cotton which you can get for a buck or two at a craft store. Any worsted weight yarn will work. Click here to find out about the Sweetheart Hat pattern.

One last Valentine's Day quick knit is the Heart on a String hat pattern which is FREE on Spud says! I just posted this pattern a couple of days ago and I don't want you to miss out. The Ravelry link for Heart on a String is here.

Okay, have a good weekend, dear friends! I hope you get to knit in between your busy-ness.

best, susie

p.s. Oh my goodness, my publicist Chrissa Yee just emailed me the link for a review of Itty-Bitty Toys and the free pattern release of the Panda and Zebra puppets from the book on CutOut + Keep! Fun! I hope it's a good review, I haven't even read it yet:) Read along with me.

Madison Knitters Guild Rocks!

Hi Knitters,

Oh my goodness! I never knew how much fun the Madison Knitters Guild was until last night. I was the guest speaker for their monthly meeting last night. I have never attended a guild meeting of any sort before so I didn't really know what to expect.
I set up my trunk show for Itty-Bitty Toys. I also brought some projects from Itty-Bitty Nursery and Itty-Bitty Hats. It was fun to pull out some of my older book projects. They still look good!
There were over 300 people in attendance. There wasn't an empty seat in the house. It is interesting because the Madison Guild recently changed their location due to the ever-growing attendance at the meetings. Now they are filling up this venue to the brim! They will have to switch locations again. Impressive!
What a great position for the guild to be in! Too many knitters!
It was fun to see such a large audience enjoying each other and knitting and sharing projects. I just loved the whole thing.
The trunk show tables were packed full and the toys got lots of love! They have been sitting in my suitcase so it was fun to pull them out and plump them up a little. The toys are holding up so well even with the hundreds and hundreds (maybe thousands by the time my tour ends) of hands hugging and touching and squeezing them.
I literally sold boxes and boxes of books! It was so fun! I signed and signed and signed. I couldn't believe the support and enthusiasm of my hometown knitting crowd. Knitting is alive and well in Madison! You are an awesome group of FUN knitters.
It was a treat to see many familiar faces from my past and present. I always love seeing old friends.

I would like to thank the guild for having me. A special thanks goes out to Kay Moffat for being my right hand for the entire night. I grew up with her beautiful daughter, Chris, and she knew my mom really well. It was nice and comforting to have her there. She was incredibly helpful! Thanks, Kay!

Thank you to Kate and Connie. I have never had a better time at an event. The energy was just intoxicating. The audience was really fun and funny and participatory. It was a love fest.
After I spoke there was show and tell. I loved watching the knitters proudly share their newest knit. Above this woman is a brand-new grandma and she made a jingle bell hat for her grandchild.
This is Heidi and she made a sweater for her son. Gorgeous!This woman made her beautiful sweater. It got lots of oohs and aahs.
This is Amy Anderson. She is well-known Madison designer and knitting teacher. Amy makes a lot of hat patterns and she shared a bunch of her newest hat designs. They were lovely!This is my buddy, Sara! She is from Platteville and comments on the blog all of the time. She is fun and positive and it was a treat to see her again. She made some simple child size leg warmers and they were really cute.
This man made a double-knit hat for a friend. The hat is reversible and well-done!
This was my favorite share of the night. This is Beth. She made that fantastically complicated sweater on the table. She was asked when she started the sweater and she said November of 2009. The crowd gasped. One woman yelled out in a funny, joking way, "We don't like you." Everyone laughed. It was so funny. I loved it. Beth also made her looooong stocking hat that sits on her head and wraps around as a scarf! I want one of those so I may have to design something like that. Isn't she cute?

That's that. I felt so good and happy after the meeting. It was an incredible night. Madison is cool and the knitters in Madison are even cooler. It is THE place to be!

best, susie

Madison Knitters Guild (+ a new winner!)

Hi Knitters,

First off, I had to randomly select a new winner for the Color by Kristin book. The new winner left this comment:

~yolanda said...

What a lovely book! I love color. It is indeed the spice of life!


ravelry id-yolandamarie :)

January 03, 2010

Yay, Yolanda!! Please email me (or send through Ravelry) your mailing address. I will pass on your address to Kristin's publisher so they can send you your book. Congrats!

Okay, now on to some more business. On Monday, January 11th, I am the speaker for the Madison Knitters Guild meeting. For all information about the guild and meeting please hop on over here. The doors open at 6pm and I will be there to sign and sell books at that time. At 7pm the meeting starts and I will be talking about Itty-Bitty knitting things and sharing book trunk shows and answering questions about knitting, blogging, my books, how I got started, etc... I am hoping for an interactive meeting!

To make the meeting even more fun and exciting my kind employer and fabulous yarn company gave me some prizes to raffle off at the Monday night MKG meeting:

Raffle prize #1 - (see photo above) My brand new polar bear pattern yet to be released called, Three Brrrr Bears, and enough Spud & Chloë Fine yarn to make the smallest bear. This will come in a Spud & Chloë pattern box and will include the Spud & Chloë zipper pouch!

Raffle prize #2 - My Flap Happy Hat pattern and the Spud & Chloë Sweater yarn to make the hat! This prize will come in the Spud & Chloë pattern box and will include Spud & Chloë zipper pouch!
These are the Spud & Chloë zipper pouches.
This is the beautiful Spud & Chloë pattern box.
Raffle prize #3 - The next raffle prize includes the Blue Sky Alpacas Polka Dot Hat Set Pattern, 3 skeins of the dreamy Suri Merino, enough to knit up the set, and a Pretty Cheep Project Bag!!
Raffle prize #4 - This prize includes the Two Button Hat Set pattern, 2 skeins of the Worsted Hand Dyes, enough to complete the project and a Pretty Cheep Project Bag!

Can you believe the generosity of Blue Sky/Spud & Chloë? I am telling you this company does so much behind the scenes goodness. They are constantly donating to charity projects and helping and providing constant customer service. They do all of this quietly and discreetly which makes me love them even more.

All information about the yarn and patterns and products can be found on the following links:

Spud & Chloë

Blue Sky Alpacas

I will have some other things to raffle off as well. Maybe I'll throw in a couple of books or something like that. I'll see what I have.

Anyhoo, I hope you can come to the meeting. I am very excited about the meeting and have been looking forward to it for a long time.

See you there!
I just had to throw this project into the post because I am so happy about it. I finished this new hat design up this morning. I am calling it, Heart on a String. It is going to be a new free pattern on my other blog, Spud says! As soon as I write up the pattern I will make it available.
Isn't it sweet?
I always see drawings of heart balloons on string and I love them. I decided to make a knitted heart on a string as an homage to the heart balloons often found in children's literature illustrations and elsewhere.

I love Valentine's Day, the colors, the sweethearts and cards and candy. It is a fun time of year. Hopefully this little free hat pattern will make it a fun season for knitting along with showing our love for each other.

I'll let you know as soon as the pattern is available.

best, susie