Kitchen Kitsch and a Word about Weight

When someone asks me to make something for them specifically, I take that as a huge compliment. It means they trust your work, they like your work, and they're proud to own it or gift it to someone. I have a few friends and relatives who ask me for stuff on a semi-regular basis. My great-aunt, for instance, commissions me to make baby blankets or quilts as gifts. She sends me some money and I put something together. I just finished sewing this for her to give to a relative on her husband's side.

It's a simple 9-patch quilt, and I appliqued the name on the center panel. I'm bundling it off to my aunt today. Hope the baby likes it! :)

My friend Ray Ray usually asks me for kitchen items. Her grandma has always made kitchen scrubbies and hanging towels for the family and Ray Ray was jonesing for a little taste of home. A year or so ago I made the scrubbies with net fabric. Oh. My. Goodness. That really tears up your hands! No more scrubbies (sorry Ray Ray!). The kitchen towels, though, that I can do! I hadn't seen these in AGES! They seem so old-fashioned and kitschy, but since when is that a bad thing?? After much trial and error I came up with a technique for attaching the yarn to the towel and voila! Five hanging towels, using some Vanna's Choice from the stash. 

I'm not very good at combining fabric and yarn. I don't like the inconsistency in the weights, and the fact that you can't easily get a yarn needle through the fabric is troublesome to me. So, I ended up doing embroidery stitch along the front of the towel, and then crocheting into the embroidery stitches, then flipping the towel over to the back and crocheting into the backside of the embroidery stitches as well. I'm sorry, I didn't take pictures of that (rats! Shoulda thought of that!). But the result is a very sturdy, very neat looking towel. Ray Ray will be thrilled!

Project Stats:

Each towel used 15g yarn x 5 towels = 75g

With that, a word about weight. I'm keeping track of the finished weight of each of my projects, and then subtracting that from my original stash weight back in the beginning. This isn't an exact science. I'm not counting the snipped ends after weaving, or any failed attempts (tangled yarn, a small project that didn't turn out exactly how I pictured it in my mind, etc). So, the stash is actually losing weight at a more rapid pace than what the Stash Stats widget shows. Maybe I'll re-set the stash weight every few months to get a more accurate accounting of where my yarn goes...

I'll leave you with this yumminess. I'm training my four month old to nap during the day, which is a tedious process. It keeps you cooped up inside while you watch the clock and put them down at the appropriate times. Today I decided to make these muffins because I had all the ingredients on hand. I know! How often does THAT happen? 

They have whole wheat flour, oat bran, oats, and wheat germ in them, so they're packed with fiber and they're surprisingly moist, thanks to the blueberries and banana and applesauce. Mmmm, a cuppa Joe, a muffin, a napping baby, and my knitting! What could be better?