Pledging Beanies

Last week, through an email chat with my good friend and loom knitting buddy, I decided to make a pledge to make as many beanies as I can from now (Dec 1, 2010) till the end of January (Jan 31, 2011) for donation to headhuggers.

Headhuggers is a project started by Sue Thompson, who accepts donated handmade beanies and caps (sewn, crocheted and knitted), and distributes them to hospitals and oncology offices, etc to patients who may have lost their hair due to chemo or any other reason.  The beanies and caps will help keep their heads warms because of all the suffering they already go thru, a cold head shouldn't be one of them.

Last year, I teamed up with a friend who wanted to learn how to loom knit and we managed to finish 5 to send to Headhuggers.  Sue was super nice to send a letter to me, thanking me for the caps, and explaining to me where they were being sent to.  Our caps ended up helping out a burn center in San Francisco.  It felt awesome to be able to help them out.  So, this year, another friend and I are going to team up to make more beanies.  With the winter months upon us, I'm sure the beanies will be much needed.

So, I thought I'd make a pledge to you all that I will make a total of 10+ beanies for the next two months for headhuggers.  I figure that this way, I can't back down.  It's official and failing is just not an option. ;)  Plus, I get to help more people which is a reward in itself.

I'll try to keep you up to date on the beanies that I make. The picture above are some beanies made in the past.  I forgot to take a picture of the ones we donated. D'oh!

If you're interested in donating handmade beanies, check out the headhuggers site: http://www.headhuggers.org/  You'll find info on the project as well as a lot of cool patterns.

Happy Loom Knitting, Crocheting, Knitting, or Sewing. :)

No Knead Baguettes, Part Two

Note: This is a two part series.  Go here to see Part One of the series.

So, now that you've had your dough mixed and it's been in the fridge for a day, you can make your bread.

Again, this recipe came from the book: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

No Knead Baguettes, Part One

Note:  Since there is so much info in here, I'm splitting this post into two.  Part 1 will be setting up the bin dough.  Part 2 will be baking the baguette. 

We found this recipe from a book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking.  First off, awesome book.  This recipe is a mix of a few basic ingredients that gets stored in a bin until you want bread.  Bread is ready in about 1.5 hours.

DIY Christmas Ideas

It's that time of year again... where we start trying to think of good christmas gifts to give the special people in our lives.  Here are some Do It Yourself Christmas ideas that may make a special gift and maybe save you some money in the process.