Pump It Up! Pump-Kin Up!

21 September 2013

Sorry for the single blog post this week.  It has been a jam-packed and busy week with little time to do my side projects.  As it stands now I am 6 days away from leaving and one week from today I will be in York, England settling in to my new living quarters and exploring the town, albeit extremely jet-lagged.  And even though I am leaving in only a short week I have yet to actually get my bags packed.  They lie there in my closet, taunting me with their emptiness.  For whatever reason I have yet to build the proper motivation for packing, that in addition to a sudden and large influx of freelance writing with quick turnaround times and attempting to see all my friends at least once more and the time just flies away.

Old Castle in York

And then there is the four legs of travel to commence my adventure in York.  Not at all a thrilling time, it should prove to be an interesting post for my next turn at posting. 

But enough about that, let’s talk about something crafty, or really bake-y.  A week or two ago Kellie and I got together to make our signature baked good: Mini Pumpkin Loaves.  They never disappoint and really are not that difficult to make at all.  This is especially true because Kellie and I often have to be resourceful with our ingredients as well as our kitchen equipment.  This time around we had the ingredients as we needed them, but not kitchen equipment we had intended.  Regardless they turned out great.

This doesn't include the softened butter
and also has white sugar, which you don't need

 First off gather the ingredients…

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup water

3 cups brown sugar (we originally had it at a straight half and half with regular sugar and brown sugar, but later we decided that all brown sugar would be better)

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 cup of softened butter

After gathering the ingredients preheat your oven to 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C.  Start by combining, in a large bowl (or pot if you don’t have a large bowl…) the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until it is well blended.  You can do this with a fancy blender, or if you don’t have one of those (like we didn’t) you can simple stir it with a sturdy spoon.  Don’t worry if there are lumps of sugar, all will be well in the end. 

Now if you have the bowls to spare you can mix the dry ingredients together, otherwise you can just add it to the wet mixture in one go (as we did).  So add together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and allspice, either in a bowl or straight into the pumpkin mixture.  Mix as well as you can, again there might be lumps depending on if you use a blender or not.

The greasing and flouring of the loaf pans can either be done before, after or during the mixing of the batter.  You use the softened butter and a paper towel to rub the butter into the crevices and edges of the loaf pans.  It is important that you get it as lubed up as possible.  Then, using a little extra flour you move the pan around until the entire inside is covered in a light dusting of flour.  Dump out or reserve the excess flour and set aside.

In progress

All greased and floured up

Then you must fill the loaf pans, about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full.  Try not to spill any on the edges like I did.

In progress

All filled up

Then throw them in the oven and bake them for about 45-50 minutes.  Inserting a toothpick or butter knife in the center and if it comes out clean you are good to go.  Let them sit a little while in their pans before taking a knife to cut around the outside to dislodge the loaves then turning them out onto some paper towels for further cooling. 

Cool in pans for about 5-10 mins

Cool on paper towels until just warm to the touch

From here you can eat right away or wrap in plastic wrap while still slightly warm to preserve them best.  Optional delight might include spreading butter on them or enjoying with a cup of coffee.  Either way you can’t go wrong eating or sharing (if you can stand to give them away) these little loaves of wonder.

Until next time!

Brittani

The Start of Something New: Crocheting

8 August 2013

A few years back I had nonchalantly picked up a set of knitting needles thinking I was going to sit down and learn how to knit.  The short story is that they were set aside and completely forgotten.  Many years went by and I had pretty much given up on ever having the time or desire to try anything like that again.  Well the whole returning to the States and having time as well as a need to be more resourceful and profitable in other areas I returned to the idea of knitting.  But a new question arose, to knit or to crochet?

I did a lot of extensive research into what each created and how easy or hard they were to learn.  What it came down to as far as I could tell is that the main difference between the two was the needles used.  Crocheting uses a single needle with a hook that is about 6 inches long whereas knitting requires two needles that can range in size from a few inches to a foot or more depending on what you are making. 

Crochet Hook

The reason I decided on crocheting was because it was a smaller single hook, much easier for travelling with and since I am going to going to England in a few months it made more sense.   So the next step was to acquire some other supplies, namely yarn and needles.  A quick pop over to JoAnn and I had a set of three different sized crochet needles, two balls of yard and two little books about stiches.  In total I spend about $17, with a student discount.

Two stitch books, two balls of yarn and a set of three needles

One thing that was difficult for me to initially understand was the different sizes of needles and yarn and how they corresponded with each other.   What I found out was printed on the yarn packing it says what size needle you need to work with it.  

Yarn Packaging

Needle packaging

 I would say that the most common sizes are between 2.25-5.0 mm or B-1 to H-8.  In my set I have a G-6 (4.0mm), H-8 (5.0mm) and J-10 (6.0mm).  In all of my initial attempts at crocheting I am going to use the G-6 (4.0mm) size with the yarn pictured in my supplies.

So, the first thing I need to do is get something started and for my basics I turned to a website: http://www.anniescatalog.com/pages/stitchguide/index.html?cid=3, starting with how to hold the crochet hook and then on to how to tie the slip knot which starts off your crocheting experience.  From there you create a ‘chain’ which is simply a single strand stitch.

My first attempts at making a chain stitch

From there I worked on the very basic stitches of single crochet, double crochet, half double crochet, treble crochet and the slip stitch.  These are all the basics that each come with their own abbreviations that are used in patterns on the internet and in books.  Chain is ‘ch’, single crochet is ‘sc’, double crochet is ‘dc’, half double crochet is ‘hdc’, treble crochet is ‘tr’ and the slip stitch is ‘sl st’. 

Top Left: Double Crochet, Middle Left: Half Double Crochet
Bottom Left: Slip Knot, Middle: Treble Stitch, Right: Single Crochet

What is even more interesting and important to learn, besides just how to create a single strand of a stitch, is how to make that second strand.  That is where knowing how to chain stich is important, that is how to gain height within a stitch to make a double crochet stitch larger than a half double crochet stitch.

Now I have a few basic stitches down I can pretty much start a simple project, like a scarf, choosing one of the simple stitches as the means to create it.  Or at least that is how I think you get started on a scarf.  Haha!  I suppose a little more research is needed.  Well until next time!

Brittani

Endings and Beginnings

 5 August 2013

Amazing how times flies when you are having fun.  These past few years have been a wild ride and now that I am back in the States it feels just like before I went to university.  I am enjoying seeing my family that I haven’t seen in over a year and revealing in the conveniences of American living.  But my wandering feet are about to take over again.

Ruins of a castle in York

Small street in York

My name is Brittani and I have followed the tried and true way of education for my whole life.  I went to school solidly, every year from Pre-School through my Bachelor’s degree without missing a beat.  Throughout my school years I was an Honors Student and for the most part excelled in learning.  But I didn’t always have a plan for what I wanted to do ‘when I grew up’.  As a matter of fact the major I chose to start at Arizona State University with was one that I had chosen randomly from the list.  It also started with an ‘A’ so I didn’t have to mire through too much to make a quick decision.

Anthropology was my haphazardly chosen field of study.  The cultural subsection didn’t really grab my attention in the first semester and so I was starting to doubt my choice.  But then came along the Archaeology class that would change my life.  It was brutally hard but incredibly rewarding.  To this day it is the class that I remember most.  Buried Cities and Lost Tribes, taught by the amazing Dr. Laura Popova. 

Graduation from Arizona State University

So hop, skip and jump to nowadays I am about to embark on a journey to get my Master’s degree in Bioarchaeology at the University of York.  A lot of time and difficulty went into making this decision to attend York instead of Cambridge, but in the end I am more than happy about my choice.

But what has been truly amazing about this past year in Spain has been that it prepared me for this next phase of my life, living aboard without any friends, family or really anyone that I know.  Additionally, spending a year in Spain has opened a lot of doors into my creative side that I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to reach again, let alone make money with it.

In a desperate attempt to stay afloat in a foreign country Kellie and I employed our writing skills through a freelance website called oDesk.  We wandered through a few websites to arrive at this one and for us it has the best fit for what we do.  And now, facing down the real looming black cloud of student loan debt I am expanding my creative skills again in search of sustainable income while studying.

So it's London and not York. St Paul's Cathedral

I have a lot of ideas about several different projects that I want to start and work on.  The biggest one is perhaps learning how to crochet.  I will be investing a small amount of money into the start-up materials but from there I hope to be able to utilize the internet and my cute little books to create wonderful things.  Though a scarf is the obvious first project.

That is a normal fashion choice in Spain.
We are in the gardens of the Alhambra and Kellie
just had to photobomb my picture.

From there I also want to delve deeper into my love of photography and hopefully get something set up for that as well as work on to get the best shots.  Soap making, candle making, weaved bracelets, T-shirt design, cooking , baking…I have a lot of different idea and projects that I want to explore.  Join me as I explore and investigate and maybe you too will have a few new hobbies and projects of your own!

Brittani

Fresh Starts, New Projects

It's a bit strange, coming back to the United States after living and teaching in Spain for a year.  For both of us it's a whole new chapter in our lives.  In fact, this is the first time in three years that we aren't living together.  We've been through a lot together, half our lives.

My name's Kellie, and I have never been able to take the easy road.  I've been a student on and off again ever since leaving high school, but getting a degree just never seemed that important.  After spending a lot of time at dead-end jobs in call centers and financial aid offices, I decided I'd had enough.  It was right about then that Brittani was finishing her bachelor's degree and we both needed a change.  My parents had attended a TEFL course in Spain and after much deliberation we decided to follow in their footsteps.  Not only did we go for the course but we committed to staying and teaching for a year.

In the beginning it was pretty rough.  Being thrown out of our comfort zones allowed us to jump into other pursuits that had always been put off in favor of 'real' work or school.  Namely, writing.  Fast-forward to now.  We've been back in the States for a month.  Writing is going well but I'm itching to do something else.  One of the things I found I missed most while I was away was my sewing machine.  Writing is a wonderful creative outlet and allows me to make a living doing something I love but it doesn't have quite the same reward as creating something tangible.  I've revitalized my Etsy shop and gone fabric shopping.  Freelance writing may pay the bills, but there's no reason my other hobbies can't help!

Forgive the abysmal artwork.

My first project is a full skirted, boat neck dress.  The top will be this gorgeous ivory linen/cotton blend, with the grey floral as the skirt and an underskirt/lining of ivory crepon sheer.  Once the pattern is done and I've made the sample, I'll offer it made-to-measure in my shop.  I'm so excited to get started!

-Kellie

The Beginning

27 July  2013

On our way to Spain, a quick stop over in London

This tale starts over a decade ago, when we first met in junior high, a time of tumult and uncertain identities.  We met through a mutual friend and in those days we were the weirdest of the weird, nicknamed the Pony Club for our obsession with horses.  Eventually we grew out of that particular weirdness and moved on to other things.  In particular, anime and all the things that go with it.

Japanese street fashion really caught our eye in those days, and after beginning to dabble in cosplay we quickly moved on to making skirts and dresses covered in lace and ruffles, entranced by gothic lolita style.  This new fascination also allowed us to explore the idea of creating for others and we made our first attempt to sell our creations, which also included hair accessories and brooches, to others.

It was more successful than we initially thought it would be, but the end of highschool and other dramatic life changes pushed sewing and creating to the background for a while.  Focusing on school and work we didn’t have the time to set aside for personal crafting hobbies.  As the end of university studies for Brittani drew to a close the indecision and uncertainty of life after prompted a look at living abroad.  After hearing good things about the TEFL school in Granada, Spain, the decision was made.  Spend one year abroad, living in a different culture and supporting ourselves by teaching English.  Plus, we would always have the certification to fall back on if our other plans for life fell through.

A bullfight in Ronda, Spain

So we packed our bags and flew off to another country and way of life.  We obtained our TEFL certifications and learned that teaching was, perhaps, not really our cup of tea.  Still, we made it the full year.  It was incredible.  

Fast-forward to present day.

One month in the States and we were at loose ends.  Brittani is getting ready to go to England for graduate school.  Kellie is trying to make a living writing freelance.  More than that, for the first time in our entire friendship we are going to be living across the world from each other.  So the idea of this blog began.  Document our projects- Kellie’s sewing, and Brittani’s quest to crochet.  And also, use the blog as a medium through which to share our friendship, and keep it strong.

-Brittani and Kellie