Easiest-Ever Nutella Mousse

Happy World Nutella Day Everyone!

For those unaware, Nutella is a super-delicious chocolate hazelnut spread.  World Nutella Day was started in 2007 by Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso

and has grown to be a huge event in the past few years. I'm excited to participate this year! 

In celebration I'm sharing my really easy, really tasty recipie for mousse.  It only has three ingredients, and doesn't require any boiling, whipping... etc, etc.  It took me longer to type this post out than it takes to make it - no lie! 

The full recipe is after the jump, and if you want to participate today, just follow the directions here!

February TUSAL Update

Ha, I'm such a spaz! I took the picture for this post yesterday, intending to post it, but then I got wrapped up in homework. (Insert a collective sigh.)  For those of you that have been wondering what I've been up to, it's pretty much that.  I have made little progress on anything, but that's the subject of another post entirely.  This post is about ORTs.

January has seen a lot of little scraps. The small, bright bits are scraps from the baby hats I've been working on.  They're so rewarding, they're the perfect stress knit - only an hour, so I don't feel guilty for squeezing one in here or there.   And some have pom poms, which is yarn scraps galore!

I also have some threads from my quilting/sewing binge.  Sadly, I haven't picked up the quilting since, but I'm due to do some cutting today after I finish a quiz, go to a student summit, cook dinner, clean Lotus's cage, write the rough draft of my term paper... URG. I'm going to stop now.

How To: Lacey Tea Towel

I feel kind of guilty tagging this as a "tutorial" because it was so quick and easy! My dad gave me some tea towels (because well, you really can't have too many tea towels) and I decided to give it a bit of girly flair.  I was inspired by towels that I saw at W's mom's house, and I thought "Wow, how easy would that be to make...!?"  Plus, it can cover up tears, stains, or scorch marks when you leave your tea towel under your electric kettle and nearly set the fire alarm off and have to run the towel outside and wave it around in the snow...

Oh, is that just me? Anyway, all you need is a towel, some lace (I bought a spool of lace for about a dollar at Wal*mart ages ago: no idea why.) and needle and thread or a sewing machine. 

Sew the lace in rows into the towel.  For best results, pin the rows a little less apart than the width of your lace.

I wish I had some ribbon to finish this off! I think it would also look good mixing different types of lace, or maybe just add a lace edging along the very edge?  So many possibilities! And I still have a whole spool of lace left! I wish I more tea towels.

Giving in to Temptation!

Today I woke up. I worked for two hours.  Then, I researched stuff so boring that it's not even fun to blog about.  Then I wrote a paper.  Then I went to class.  Then, more research and homework.  Then, class again.  Then dinner.

When W left to shoot his two-quarter, I told myself I would get a head start on the weekend's homework (Why do teachers like to make assignments due on the weekend? Do they think we don't have anything better to do?)... and as I sat down at my desk, my knees bumped against a box. 

It was the Singer Simple that I got for Christmas.  Why hadn't I opened it yet?  Oh, right, school.

I figured I had done a good job today. I should treat myself.

I unboxed the machine, ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the automatic threader, sewed some scraps of fabric, sewed up some seams I needed to mend, sewed up a little tutorial for tomorrow... and then...

Well, then I ran out of things to sew.  My eye lingered on my bag of quilting stuff. I HAD SAID that I wanted to cut all the pieces first, then sew, but did I really?

No, not at all.

So, there's four squares and the center of a flower done! I'm proud that I managed to line up the diamond pretty well, and proud that I remembered to iron (almost) all the seams flat, but I'm a little disappointed at the fabric choice.

You can't even see my seams! Hopefully it'll look more like a flower when the side petals are on!

But anyway, that was my evening - see you tomorrow for a sweet, quick tutorial.

P.S. - If you think I'm some sort of quilting prodigy, here's my four squares before I sewed them. Hopefully I'll get better at this whole "cutting pieces the same size" thing.

One Down, One to Go!

Last night I finished 50% of W's socks. I'm pretty proud to have finished one so quickly, especially with all the other WIPs I have going on right now. (So... Many...)

Anyway, for posterity, I feel like I should write down what I did.  I don't feel like anyone else will want to know my particular manly sock formula, but I need to know it, to make the second sock!

So, here's the knit code:

72 Stitches. Work in a 3x3 rib for 11 rounds.  Work half a round, then start heel flap over 50% of the stitches.  Heel flap is 23 rows long, with a slipped stitch edge. Heel is a half kercheif heel with 7 stitches in the middle.  Pick up 15 stitches from either side of the heel flap. Decrease 7 times on each side for the gusset. Should be back to 72 stitches. Work 12 cm, then decrease four stitches every other round until there are 26 stitches. Kitchner off.

Free Pattern: Slouchy Ridges Hat

It is finished! It, being me. I'm finished compiling data from my awesome testers, sifting through photos of my sorry mug, tweaking pixels on the PDF... and now, I present my first pattern of 2011.

Pattern Name: Slouchy Ridges Hat

Difficulty: Easy

Yardage: 200 yards

Techniques: Knitting in the round, Working stripes (if you want a multicolored hat), and another technique explained in the pattern.

My goal this year is to publish 11 patterns. The ones I self-publish will be free all year long, and on January first of 2012 they'll go up for sale, so download this one while you can!

What I like about this hat is that it's stockinette stitch in the round, making it a good zone-out project, but every so often there's the pick-up round, where you have to pay attention.  It's hard to find knitting projects that have that duality.

Anyway, I hope you like it, too! You can download your own free copy here: download now

Dumb Moves!

So, I mentioned in my last post that I'm making my brother a Jaques Cousteau hat. Here's a picture of what I have so far.

Notice anything off?

The hat pattern calls for a K3 P2 rib.

My hat? It's worked in a K3 P3 rib.  I have no idea why! How could I miss something so obvious!?

Anyway, I'm thinking of just rolling with it. I want to finish the hat before I go home next Friday, because then I can give it to him. 

But let me tell you, it was so hard to resist the urge to just tear it all out! 4 inches in, I think I just need to deal with it, haha!