Thoughts and buttons

I reviewed 50 Heirloom Buttons to Make: A gallery of decorative fabric, needle-lace, crochet, and ribbon and braid closures you can create, my review was probably the last one posted if you want to take a look. I really liked it but it took a long time for me to get all the way through it because I read it in fits and starts. This is one I really recommend the Kindle version. The images are probably much better in the paper version, but it's out of print and costs 75 dollars, the Kindle version is only 9.99.

The book inspires me to crochet frog closures for shawls and such, so I'm working on a frog now to use in another project and see how I like it.

My favorite uncle can't have sugar, and so every year for my b-day I come up with a recipe for him. This year I'm going to make him sugar free whoopie pies. I'm planning on a chocolate coffee cake with an orange filling. While I was thinking of ways to do the filling, I realized for kiddie pies, you could use unsweetened drink mix for flavor and color. Need to try it at some point and see how it turns out.

Book review - Whoopie Pies!

Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell is just a wonderful collection of recipes of the cake and filling combinations.  The photos are fantastic and the art is just darling, which make it a very nice gift for friends who bake. Whoopie pies are becoming increasingly trendy. If you've never had one, the basic whoopie pie is a sandwich made of soft moist cake like cookies and a marshmallow fluff filling.
In the introduction they talk about some of the history of the whoopie pie and offer a few pages of combination suggestions like a Death By Chocolate which has chocolate cakes, filling, glaze and is decorated with more chocolate or more exotically, Whoopie Satay which combines peanut butter and chocolate flavors with a bit of curry.
It's also a great book for your own collection. There are several cake recipes, starting with the traditional chocolate and then going into many others including some vegan and gluten free cakes and non-traditional flavors such as pistachio-cardamom which bring these sweet treats up from being a guilty pleasure to something you could serve at dinner parties.
The fillings start with the traditional marshmallow fluff then the sky is the limit. There are buttercreams, cream cheese, ganache in many flavors and styles, there is a maple-bacon filling even for people who love sweet/salty combinations.
Definitely a book I'll use often. I think my family will be perfectly happy with stacks of whoopie pies instead of cakes for their birthdays. Since there is so much mix and match possible in here, I can tailor them to individual tastes simply by changing the filling, seasoning a filling or adding favorite fruits. So Dad can have his basic chocolate on chocolate on chocolate, my daughter can have something with a bit of spice and my son can have lots of fresh fruit.
You can get this book directly from the publisher, Chronicle Books or from by clicking here from Amazon, Whoopie Pies (Cookery).The Amazon link is an affiliate link and helps pay some of the costs of maintaining this site.

A quick tip, since my oven still isn't fixed (but he promises it will be soon), you can make the cakes using a sandwich maker. They turn out a bit bigger than the usual size, and triangles instead of round, but using a sandwich maker means if you have the cake batter covered in your fridge you make them to order, just a couple at a time. Since I didn't have the ingredients for the fillings on hand, I just filled these with ice cream and they were a hit.

Crochet Starflake Tawashi with patterns

I wasn't really sure what else to call these. They aren't really stars and they aren't snowflakes. So I'm going with starflakes.
Wikipedia page about tawashi.
I love my acrylic tawashi, they work very well for cleaning my coffee cups and coffee pot without using any dish detergent. I use cheap acrylic yarn from thrift stores. These two were made with some Wintuk yarn that's fairly rough.
I've had people say the first in the round pattern they crocheted was my Quick and Easy Washcloth, which makes a lovely gift with soap but is a little too open for using as a tawashi. So I designed these two with dishes in mind. Instead of using slip stitches to join the chain 3s to the starting dcs, I used ch 1, dc in 3rd stitch of the ch 3 because that way instead of having to slip stitch back through the dcs, you are starting right at the top of a loop.

Using worsted weight acrylic yarn and a size F hook

Ch 1 or magic ring
Round 1: ch 1(does not count as first sc), 6 sc in ring or first ch, if ring, tighten. Sl st to join
Round 2: ch 1(does not count as first sc), 2 sc in each stitch around, sl st to join (12 sts)
Round 3: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc in same stitch, 2 dc in next stitch, *ch 3, 2 dc in next stitch, 2 dc in next st,* repeat ** around, ch 1, dc in top chain of first ch 3. (6 ch 3 spaces)
Round 4: ch 3 (counts as first dc), 2 dc in same loop, *3 dc in next loop, ch 3, 3 dc in same loop* repeat ** around until you get back to the first space. 3 dc in first space, ch 1, 1 dc in top ch of first ch 3 (6 ch 3 loops and 6 spaces)
Round 5: Ch 3 (counts as first dc) 2 dc in same space, ch 1, sc in next space, ch 1, *3 dc in next ch 3 loop, ch 3, 3 dc in same loop, ch 1, sc in next space, ch 1*, repeat ** around, in first space, 3 dc, ch 3, sl st in top ch of first ch 3
Round 6: ch 1 (does not count as first sc), sc in same stitch, sc in next 3 sts, skip st, sc in next 4 sts, sc in ch 3 loop, *ch 3, sc in same loop, sc in next 4 sts, skip st, sc in next 4 stitches, sc in loop*, repeat ** around, when you're in the last ch 3 loop, ch 3, sl st to join. Break off and weave in ends.

Ch 1 or magic ring

Round 1: ch 1(does not count as first sc), 6 sc in ring or first ch, if ring, tighten. Sl st to join

Round 2: ch 1(does not count as first sc), 2 sc in each stitch around, sl st to join (12 sts)

Round 3: ch 3 (counts as first hdc and ch 1), *hdc in next st, ch 1*, repeat ** around, sl st in second ch of ch 3 to join (12 ch 1 spaces)

Round 4: ch 1 (does not count as first sc), *2 sc in space, 3 sc in next sp*, repeat ** around, sl st to join. (30 stitches)

Round 5: ch 1 (does not count as first sc), sc in same st, sc in next 2 sts, *ch 3, skip 2 sts, sc in next 3 sts*, repeat ** around, ch 1, dc in first st to join. (6 ch 3 loops)

Round 6: Ch 4 (counts as first dc and ch 1), dc in same loop, ch 1, skip st, sc in next st (middle of the 3 sc on the previous round), *ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1 in ch 3 loop, skip st, sc in next st*, repeat ** around, ch 1, dc in first loop, ch 1, dc in same loop, ch 1, sl st in 3rd ch on first ch 4 to join.

Round 7:ch 1 (does not count as first sc), sc in same st, sc in next 4 sts, skip st, *sc in next 4 sts, sc in loop, ch 3, sc in same loop, sc in next 4 sts*,  repeat ** around, sc in next 4 sts, sc in loop, ch 3, sc in loop, sl st to join, break off, weave in ends.

Because they are hexagons, they should work for patchwork crochet as well.

Faux Wood Ankh Box

Well, I finished Rick Riordan's Red Pyramid. You can read my review here if you're interested. I decided to do at least 2 more Egyptian inspired boxes. This is the first one using one of my favorite templates. It's the slanted sides box that I've used in the past for stained glass effects.

This time I was trying for a faux wood effect inlaid with lapis lazuli and malachite.

I hope you enjoy it. Click on the images for the full sized 100 ppi files to print and assemble. This box really does need to be pre-folded before gluing or taping it together, but it makes a fairly generous sized box that's just really one of my favorites.