Apple Pie

Here goes my first attempt at making apple pie and making any kind of pastry crust all by myself.

There are a plethora of pie crust recipes out there. I think many pie crust recipes I've come across use shortening, and swear it's a secret ingredient to make the flakiest crust. Well, I never have shortening on hand, and I'm not sure whether I really want to go try buying it so I made my crust using all butter. 

I followed this pie crust by smitten kitchen. She has her own opinions on ingredients and supplies and methods, and I found them rather entertaining and informative to read. As a novice baker, I think she provided thorough and easy instructions to follow :D (and that's saying a lot because I tend to get very confused on even the simplist of instructions. You don't realize what you take for granted when you already know how to do things and are writing instructions down. Some people, namely me, really need every little thing described and explained.)

Pie Crust:
 **makes enough crust for a double crust pie (or 2 single crust pies)
-2 sticks (1 cup) of butter (KEEP COLD) (dice into 1/2 inch cubes)
-2 ½ cups AP flour + extra for dusting
-1 tsp salt
-1 tblsp sugar
~3/4 cup ice cold water   (I ended up using ~ 1/2 cup + 3 tblsp water)

I didn't have a pastry blender, so I mixed the flour and butter together using a fork until it was about pea-sized. At first I thought I messed up and added too much flour because the butter wasn't incorporating like the pictures from Smitten Kitchen, but as I kept mashing the butter into the flour, the more it looked right; it just took a lot longer than I thought it would, so be patient if you're also using a fork. Let's just say this experience definitely persuaded me to get a pastry blender for future baking endeavors (even if I don't bake that often); I think it will be worth the money. We'll just put pastry blender on my Christmas wishlist, and maybe I'll treat myself during the holidays. 

Following Smitten Kitchen's instructions, I added 1/2 cup of ice cold water to my flour+butter mix and mixed with my spatula. I then added water 1 tblsp at a time, and ended up adding 3 tblsp. However, I will say that I think 3 tblsp was too much in my case and my dough ended up being super sticky and wet. I ended up dusting the outside with some flour to make it a little drier, but the rest of the dough is still pretty wet. Just be aware and keep checking the dough with your fingers to see if it sticks before adding more water. How much water you need may depend on the humidity of the day, and just a bunch of other factors. Split the dough in half, wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour (they say preferably 2 + hours)

Apple Pie Filling:
So, I mostly used a combination of recipes as a guideline, mainly smitten kitchen's. (I didn't use this crust because it required shortening and vodka). This is what I used:

-5 apples (2 smaller Lady Pink apples, 3 larger Fuji apples) peeled and sliced
-2 Tbsp lemon juice
-1/4 +1/8 cup white sugar (I thought that most of the recipes used sooo much sugar, so I decided to cut the amount of sugar back a lot, especially since I thought my apples were pretty sweet.
-2 tsp AP flour
-1/4 tbsp salt
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 tsp nutmeg
-1/4 tsp allspice
-1 egg beaten lightly

After I peeled and sliced my apples, I mixed them with the 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Then I mixed the flour, salt, sugar, spices together in a separate bowl and added it to the apples. Toss and mix these well. I put this mixture in the fridge while I waited for my dough to chill.

Rolled out the dough via these instructions. I placed one half of my crust in my pie plate (the bottom crust) and refrigerated the dough in the plate as I rolled out and cut the other half of my crust dough into strips for my lattice. 

Baked my pie at 425 F for ~ 20 min and then at 375 for another 30 min.

Successful baking adventure all by myself! As a baking novice, I'm quite pleased with myself. It actually came out pretty well (some of my bottom crust stuck to the plate, but I guess i didn't butter my pie plate well enough in those areas. Personally, I thought that it was still on the sweet side, so I might actually cut down the sugar even more next time. Personal preference though, I think my mom said that sweetness wise she thought it was okay.  

Who knew, this wasn't enough pie to go around! I have been portioning out pieces for family and friends and there isn't much left. I'll have to make another one sometime!

Easy Cute Crochet Bunny Applique

This was super easy to make up and really quick! I made up 3 of them pretty fast.

I found the pattern here! 

I learned how to make a magic circle here. (Yes, I'm basically going to link everything because I haven't created anything for myself.)

Half double crochets aren't too bad either, check it out here. 

My three bunnies :D They vary in size depending on what yarn and what size hook you use XD I ended up using the size G hook for the yellow and light greenish one, and I think size G hook for the dark teal/blue ish one. The dark teal/blue bunny was made using the Caron Simply soft yarn. I unfortunately can't tell you what brands the other two were, but I really like the yellow one.

They are currently just sitting on my desk as I haven't figured out what to do with them, but as the title suggests, you can probably add them to whatever you want like a hat or bag or pillow or something xD I may consider making a bunch more and making a garland one day. I made a pom garland for my boyfriend, and I'll post that up later.

Knit Leg Warmers - First knit project

It's been a while, but I guess I finally made something that I feel is worth blogging/finally feel like blogging.

This took me a while because I'm super slow and kept putting the piece down, but I knit some leg warmers.

(please ignore the random patch on the right leg. I ran out of yarn)

I found this pattern for the legwarmers, but I had to change it up a bit since I didn't have double pointed needles. Basically, I knitted a rectangle (well more like a trapezoid but shh), and then sewed a side together to made it a tube shape.

I wanted to make them longer than the pattern and have go past up my knee, and so I thought I should try the large size version and cast on 64 stitches on the needles. Well, let's just say, it is kind of on the large side; it might fit better if I wear these over jeans or something, but I also made the second warmer based off the medium size so I don't know how that will go. Yay for inconsistencies. (Can you tell, I'm really good at gauging sizes and whatnot -sarcasm-.) But nonetheless, I now have one large and one medium sized leg warmer. 

This was my first knitting project, so it was really slow and rough, but I really liked the yarn I used (which, I cannot tell you what it is because I lost the sheet that said what brand it was). I used US size 8 needles.

So, I followed the pattern and knit2, purl 2 for each row to make a ~3 in. rib.

The main difference was working the body. I was confused about this because the pattern said to just knit all around, but to me it looked like the stockinette stitch where you alternate knitting and purling rows. I contacted the person who made the pattern and asked. She told me that since she used the double pointed needles, she just had to knit each round for the stitch to look like that.

Since I just used regular needles, I alternated knitting and purling rows and decreased on the knit rows. I continued to knit and purl and decreased up until I had 48 stitches like the pattern, and then proceeded to knit and purl until I thought the length was long enough and over my knees. Then I binded off the needles and sewed the long side together to form the tube shape. (I completely forgot to take a picture before I sewed it together both times).

This whole process probably would have been a lot easier with the double pointed needles, but for a first knitting attempt, I guess it wasn't too shabby. It does look a little bit derpy and my projects never look as nice as the pictures that make me want to make it, but I have a working pair of leg warmers. Granted they are a bit big for one leg, but it will do. One of these days I hope to make another pair, and maybe try double pointed needles so it'll look better. Mine kind of have a line where I sewed the piece together, and it kind of has awkward spots especially where I sewed the decreased rows I think, but this may also just be my bad sewing job.

As of right now, I honestly can't say if I like sewing or crocheting better, but now I can do a tiny bit of both :]

Urban Jungle Slouch Beanie

I posted the pattern I made it from and pictures on tumblr and it seemed to be very popular.
I got the original pattern from one of favorite tumblrs allaboutami.tumblr.com. (I should follow more crochet craft tumblrs haha).
I used Caron Simply Soft in a tan-ish color and a size H hook.

You start by making a ribbed band. I chained 10 or so, and then single crocheted in the front loop only. I continued the rows until the band wrapped around my head and then I sewed the ends together so it became a band.

And then you start puff stitching in every other single crochet space. (In the picture you'll see every space, but trust me, I've started and restarted this many times, and puff stitching every space is insane, and you will use up way too much yarn. So unless you want a very dense and stiff hat, every other sc is good.) 

I kept going in the round until I felt like it was long enough. My problem is that I hate counting and measuring so I just wing everything, and that's probably why I have many problems sometimes. I should really keep track of rows, stitches, and length better, but anyways, see the original pattern on allaboutami's tumblr for more specific instructions.

You sew the top together by stitching across one end to another to make like a star shape, and you're done!

After finally finishing my first one, my boyfriend also wanted one so I made him one too.

Hi

There are so many different modes for blog postings and whatnot, and although I do have tumblr, I decided I'd start a blog here too for more specific posts like maybe recipe attempts, baking attempts, crochet projects, etc; more craftsy things. By no means do I call myself an expert or want to pretend to do so. I'm just an interested follower trying to test out new and interesting things that I find for fun. So, here it goes. I don't know how much I'll end up posting here, but here goes nothing.