Happy St. Pattys!

Well, I finally finished Cutting for Stone. It was 600 pages. When I first started it, I wasn't sure I liked it. It seemed so slow. Too descriptive for my taste. But I persevered and I was mightily rewarded. What I enjoyed about the book was its character depth. By the end of the book, I knew these people. I knew their life stories. They were good friends of mine. This book is definitely in my top 10. The problem is what do I read now? Please (please!) comment with your favorite book (for ideas).

(Other books in my top 10: Running with Scissors, Love in the time of the Cholera, Plainsong, The Bean Trees, Sarah's Key, Their Eyes were Watching God, and She's Come Undone.)

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It is Spring. Not officially, not technically, but by default. Last week it snowed, this week it is 70F. Things are starting to sprout.



Time to start the seedlings! (note to self: too much moisture causes fungi. But fungi causes pretty awesome photos.)



And...
A Gilda Knits photo set just wouldn't be the same without a droopy sunflower collage.



Oh wait. Does Charlie have something he'd like to ask?



Oh. Right, Charlie, thanks.

Here's what I got:



Can I get a woot woot for how awesome my little package is? There's some hair pins, barrettes, and pendants. AND! A cute little wallet (for my phone maybe ;)).

My little girl was just as giddy as me.

(and yes, she is a thumb sucker. But so was I.)

My partner was Kindra at The Novice Crafter. THANK YOU, KINDRA!!!!

To see what every one else got, click on the swap link below.



So, lads, grab a pint and have a happy St. Pattys!



xxoo, Gilda

The truth.

The truth hurts:



But even though I know the truth, I still love me some felting, because it is so forgiving. And we all need a little forgiveness, right?

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Last night, I read a hundred pages of Cutting for Stone. I have grown over the years with this book (really just a few weeks, but it's like I've lived a lifetime with the characters.) Every night that I peer into that novel world, I come away with having a new way of articulating what I meant to say, but never had the words. For instance, :

That’s the funny thing about America — the blessed thing. As many people as there are to hold you back, there are angels whose humanity makes up for all the others. I’ve had my share of angels.

It seems we humans never learn. And so we re-learn the lesson every generation and then want to write epistles. We proselytize to our friends and shake them by the shoulders and tell them, “Seize the day! What matters is this moment!” Most of us can’t go back and make restitution. We can’t do a thing about our should haves and could haves.

Life is full of signs. The trick is to know how to read them.

Life, too, is like that. You live it forward, but understand it backward.

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I am participating in a St. Patty's day swap. I can't tell you what I got or what I sent, but I promise I will on St. Patty's day.

Pup love.

My puppy turned 3. Aw, he's 21 in dog years now. I lurve him.

So, I bought him a can of of wet dog food and stuck a candle in it, like a puppy cake.



You'd think my two dogs never ate the way they looked at the bowls of wet dog food.


(kid tried to hold em back for a pic, but they were crazy for the wet dog food.)

That puppy cake was gone in a minizule!



Ha!

But speaking of puppy love, look at my dear son snuggling with Jake, who is almost 9.

(He thinks he's a lap dog!)

(But as you can tell, he's so not!)

Puppy lovin aside, it's my human babies I love best!



xxoo,
G

The good times are not over, baby.

You wonder what I do when I am not knitting and it is this: rocking out, yo!





That's right. This ol' hot mama out on the town...

And then...

This girl said to me, "oh, I wish I was in the time of the Smashing Pumpkins. They were before my time." And I thought we were the same age, so I said, "what! The Smashing Pumpkins were so my time." And then she asked me how old I was and our conversation was over.



The Smashing Pumpkins were rad, but I don't want them to be the indication that my good times are over. Why not REM? They were around so much longer!!!



Anyway, free patterns rock. Guess what! I've had 165 downloads of my baby bear hat. That is so awesome!!

I think this is a going to be a good week.

xxoo,
Gilda

p.s. You know how sometimes you're so appreciative that you can hear ... and feel... the rhythm of music, so you dance all night long (especially after you've had a couple of vodka tonics) and then at the end of the night you say, 'wow, that guy was an amazing guitarist?' Well, that guy in the black is that guitarist. A little dark, a lot unique, but a really cool guy and an amazing musician. Here's a small clip of his band:

Baby Bear Hat Pattern

Do you love baby bears as much as me?

aw, yay.

Would you like a free baby bear hat pattern?

Yes?

Okay, here it is:


(click on the photo and it will take you to the ravelry link.)

Or! Click here to take you to my ravelry page.

Or! Just click on this to just download it now: download now

If you make it, come back and comment with a link to your site/photo.

Have a BEARy good day! (hehe, get it?)

Felting secrets and snow pictures

Hello there. I have been in a felting groove.

I have a secret to tell you about felting. Maybe you already know? Did you know that when you felt your hand knits, you lose more in length than you do width? A general rule is that you lose 30% in length and 10% in width.

One trick to find out exact percentage:

Knit a 5"L x 5"W swatch (Knit loose). Run through the washing machine (fast speed for lots of agitation). Measure again. Most likely, your felted swatch will now be (or be close to) 3.5"L x 4.5W. Try it sometime. Knowing this, you can design without fear of too much shrinkage!

So, Patons wool was on sale and I started knitting and knitting and then testing gauge and felting, and all that jazz, and what I came up with.....felt phone cozies.



I put those ones (and more) in my little shop. Next up: felt nook/kindle cozies and felt purses. I told you; felting groove.

Good thing. Because we just had a snow storm. Brace yourself for some chill inducing photos:


A covered pine tree.


Charlie hurrying back inside.


Bare trees in the backyard.


Snow clinging to the side of the deck rails.


Ice making its home.


Brrr.


A lonesome, heavy sunflower.


Icicle branch.


Dogs looking at me like I am crazy.

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I am still reading Cutting for Stone and will be for some time. The words/message/story is quite profound. Every night, I find a new quote to live by.

"...own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and own the ones you don't...Not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny."
Cutting for Stone

Have a good day!
XXOO, Gilda

date night and coconut ice cream instructions

This weekend, we were supposed to go to our monthly dinner club. The theme was THAI. I love Thai, yes I do. So, I was sad when circumstances had forced us to reschedule (host's kiddies were sick :(). I'd already made my COCONUT ICE CREAM and SWEET STICKY RICE. We already had a babysitter (my brother took the kids for the entire night - woooot!!!). So, we went on a date instead.
First, we saw Wanderlust.

Yes, it is a RAD movie. I happened to have loved it. It was a little vulgar, a lot funny, and not sappy (okay, a little sappy). At the beginning of the movie, I totally wanted to live in a commune. But by the end of the movie, I was happy right where I was. I'd watch that movie again & again.
After the movie, we went to Sopranos, a new Italian restaurant. We had steamed mussels as an appetizer. I had the wood fire pizza for my main course, and my hot husband had the Ahi tuna on risotto. He had a scotch and I had TWO mojitos. When we got home, we watched Rum Diaries, which I thought was boooooooring. Even though Johnny Depp is my boyfriend.

Anyway, that coconut ice cream did not go to waste. And since I took photos through my process of making the amazzzzing coconut ice cream, I thought I'd share. Maybe you can make some coconut icecream, too? (BONUS! You do not need an ice cream maker.)

What you'll need. (not pictured: 4 eggs and 1 cup of sugar)


I didn't have a double boiler, so I used two pots. The pot underneath has boiling water. In the pot on top are the eggs mixed with 1 cup of sugar. Stir constantly for about 10 minutes. (Make sure boiling water is rolling, but not overflowing)


As sugar/egg mixture is cooling down, pour 1 pint of heavy whipping cream into a bowl. (At this point, you can use a mixer, if you prefer.)


Stir frantically!!! The quicker, the thicker.


When the heavy cream is more like a whipped cream, add in 1 can of coconut milk and 1/4 c of flaked coconut. Add in the cooled egg mixture, too, as well as 1tsp of vanilla. Stir everything together, and then pour into a glass container.


Freeze overnight.


Eat it.


And be happy.


Source: http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaidesserts/r/coconuticecream.htm