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made from a pattern by rose langlitz in tasty crochet: a pantry full of patterns for 33 tasty treats

PetitPlat

images by PetitPlat

someone needs to pick me up off the floor. i remember seeing PetitPlat's work on etsy a long time ago but i recently rediscovered her work when i saw a photo of a teeny cheese platter on must have cute. i definitely remember her fruity earrings, and the unbelievably realistic salmon, but oh my gosh i do not remember her baked goods! how are these not real?! to give you an idea of how tiny these masterpieces are, one of those bread baskets measures about one inch. PetitPlat, you truly are an artist and miniaturist extraordinaire.

lahbokkie

it's not a good sign when the weather report uses words such as "frigid" and "arctic". thankfully, i grew up in a chicago suburb so i'm pretty used to it but even i need warming up once in awhile. and the perfect snack for cold, windy days is lahbokkie! dukbokkie is a dish made of rice cakes swimming in a hot and spicy, slightly sweet sauce. when you top it off with ramen noodles, it's called lahbokkie. in korean, ramen is pronounced more like "lahmyun". so when you mix dubokkie with lahmyun, you get lahbokkie. still with me? i like to add onion and carrots to mine and some people like to put in fish cakes too. but no matter what you toss in, lahbokkie will definitely warm you up! i wanted to post a recipe here but i didn't really measure anything. maybe next time :P

an ami family

2010 was a year of changes for RT's family. his youngest sister went off to college and his dad moved to another country for a new job. with another sister on a naval base and us in boston, his family is all scattered for the first time. so for christmas, i crocheted his family :) using saplanet's pattern as a starting point, i personalized each one with little accessories and their favorite colors. the idea is that their amis would stay together at home so that their family will always be together even when they're apart.

i stitched a tiny circuit board for RT since he's an engineer. sometimes i really crack myself up.

featured

my fruit stand set was featured in a beautiful treasury! thank you shellyka for including me :)

why i make amigurumis

panda keychain for my mommy

i started crocheting a few years ago when i was unemployed and getting depressed because i felt like a waste space. i decided it was time to pick up a new hobby and my friends were all obsessed with knitting and crocheting so i thought i'd join along. i began crocheting baby blankets to be sent overseas to orphanages and to reservations where over 25% of the population was homeless and another 59% live in substandard housing. suddenly i felt useful. then my sister introduced me to amigurumis. amis were a lot more interesting and fun to make than half double crocheted blankets. but every once in awhile i would wonder, "should i be spending so much time making these? they don't serve a real purpose and i could be making something more useful". these past few months have reminded me why i make amigurumis. because they make people happy. nothing gives me the warm and fuzzies more than to get a message from a friend who i recently made an ami for saying that they had been feeling blue but their new little friend had brightened their day, made them smile, made them laugh. what a wonderful thing, knowing that you've made someone happy. and that is why i make amigurumis.

p.s. i still crochet baby blankets but now that my non-profit of choice has closed up shop, i have to decide where to donate my blankets. i would appreciate any suggestions!

wedding dresses by decade

as soon as i told my sister that i was engaged, one of the first things she did was get me a subscription to martha stewart weddings. how awesome is my sister? martha stewart weddings is one of my all time favorite magazines and by far the best wedding magazine on the market. i usually gloss over the dresses but this time they had a feature on weddings dresses inspired by each decade. i'm a fan of anything historical and this feature is so unique, i love it! if i could pull it off, i would LOVE to wear the victorian inspired dress. it's so feminine and romantic without being fussy, and different from what brides wear today.

images - martha stewart weddings

you can view the full gallery on the martha stewart wedding website here. my second favorite, the 80's dress. simply because it's so wonderfully 80's. all she's missing is pink neon plastic earrings, and an acid wash denim jacket.

resolutions for 2011

i'm a little late with my resolutions because this year, i really wanted to put some thought into them. i'm hoping that if i take my time and choose them carefully, i'll take them more seriously and hopefully will be able to come back to them at the end of the year and feel that i've accomplished something. as a daily reminder, i printed and put my resolutions up on my wall above my desk.

1. be more positive/happy/kind - it's no secret that i'm kind of a grumpy person. lots of things make me angry (don't get me started about people at the airport) it's not something i enjoy and it's something that didn't develop until i went to college. i want to be more optimistic because the world definitely doesn't need another angry person but it could use more happy, positive people.

2. live life without a plan and be okay with it - the other day, a friend of mine said, "you make it sound like there's supposed to be a plan. there is no plan". i feel like i need to accept that i can't plan out every detail and just enjoy whatever gets thrown at me.

3. be craftier, become a better sewer - simple enough. i spend so much time staring at and hoarding inspiration that i find online but so little time actually using that inspiration.

4. spend less time online - i know a lot of people are resolving to be more connected this year but i want to go the other way. i want to peel myself away from my laptop and i want to write more letters, read more books, converse with people in person, and make things.

5. learn photoshop - i bought that darn photoshop for dummies book and i still haven't cracked it open. 

6. be more open to challenges - i like to live my life quietly. and i'm terrified of failure. all that equals a slight dislike of challenges. but how can a person really grow if they're constantly running away from challenges?

a cactus

i had some beautiful succulents and they all died. well, except for one scraggly, scrappy, bean stalk looking one. i've seen a lot of crochet cacti on flickr and thought it would be a good idea since it's hard to kill a yarn plant. the beautiful thing about crocheting cacti is that i have no desire to write down a pattern or count my rows. cacti come in all different shapes and sizes so you can't go wrong! and there are so many different ways to make them unique like adding a flower, using knobbly yarn, or adding needles.

tetris blocks

i remember playing tetris on our old (but at the time, super fancy) nintendo. we played so obsessively that my sister and cousin had nightmares of being chased by tetris blocks. i saw this tutorial over on craftster awhile ago and put it in my "to make pile". it kind of got lost in there until recently. they're so easy to make and it's a great project to work on while watching tv. i found it to be very soothing.

to orlando we go

i hope everyone had a happy, beautiful holidays! my christmas was unbelievably amazing and definitely more than i deserved. we spent the holidays in orlando at disney world and universal! visiting disney world during christmas has been a dream of mine for awhile and of course i nearly lost my mind when i saw hogwarts and hogsmeade. the only downside to the trip was the crowds. i would never recommend visiting orlando between christmas and new years. definitely go earlier in december when the crowds aren't as rough but you can still enjoy all of the holiday fun.

clockwise from top left: magical indeed; chip and dale; hi mickey!; couldn't stop laughing over these caramel apples

clockwise from top left: can never remember what's in the golf ball; window in china; exhibit on japanese spirits and their influence in pop culture, love; chef remy stopping by our table

clockwise from top left: hogwarts!; a window display for scrivenshafts ; beauxbaton students; pumpkin juice

i can't believe it's already 2011. so much to look forward to. it's going to be a wonderful year.