thanksgiving

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  I had a nice relaxing time, filled with baking, eating, visiting with family, knitting, watching old movies, and decorating for Christmas.

I found a pie crust recipe that I really liked and everyone raved about, so I thought I'd share it here.  Even Joe loved it, and he can be a little snobby when it comes to cooking.  I know vegetable shortening isn't so good for you (and it's kind of gross), but I've found that pie crust just isn't as flaky without using at least a little.

Combination Butter and Shortening Crust:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

6 Tbsp ice water

Blend flour, salt, and sugar in processor.  Add butter and pulse four times.  Add shortening in tablespoon sized chunks, and pulse four more times.  The mixture should resemble course cornmeal, with butter bits no bigger than peas.  Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of ice water over flour mixture.  Pulse a couple of times.  If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready.  If the dough doesn't hold together, keep adding water until the dough just begins to clump together.  Gather dough into a ball and flatten into a disk.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for one hour (can be kept for up to 2 days). Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling.

I found the recipe online here.  Instead of using a food processor, I did everything by hand using a pastry cutter, and it turned out great.

holiday necklaces

 

 

Here are a couple of the necklaces I made for the holiday sale.  I have other colors too!  One of the fun things about sales like this is that you can just mess around and have fun with it.  I'm not going into jewelry-making or anything, but I just wanted to do something different for once.

it's time

 

photos from riflepaperco.com

The Rifle Paper Co. online shop opened yesterday just as I was getting into quite the holiday mood.  Perfect timing.  I purchased my Christmas cards for the year, and I can't wait to get them in the mail.  (I'm not telling which ones I got so that I don't spoil the surprise.)  I know they're going to be beautiful, so beautiful that I'll have to make sure to not get too stingy with them.  I wanted the wrapping paper too (I mean, just how amazing do those gifts look?!), but I had to draw the line somewhere.  Is anyone else starting to feel Christmas-y?

holiday sale

 

I'm so excited to be taking part this year in Lena's fabulous holiday sale.  I love the holidays!  And the designers at the sale are some of my favorites.  But what I'm looking forward to most is that my customers will be able to shop and try on my Wiksten goods for the first time in person instead of just ordering over the internet.  And there's the added bonus that everything I'm selling will be discounted by up to 40%.  Besides offering my usual tops and dresses, I'll be selling my handmade scarves, jewelry, and Christmas ornaments as well.  Stay tuned during the next few weeks for photos of my goods...

steven alan sample sale

 

Lena and I went to the Steven Alan sample sale on Wednesday night and scored some awesome stuff.  The sale was amazing, and I even got some of my Christmas shopping done there.  It's not too late to go!  The sale lasts until Sunday.  But don't forget to save some of your Christmas monies for this fantastic holiday sale.

the magical thrift store

Any visit to see Elly wouldn't be complete without a trip to the magical thrift store.  If you follow Elly's blog, chances are that you know what I'm talking about already.  The magical thrift store is a secret place in Elly's neighborhood that abounds with treasures so dirt cheap that you won't believe your good luck.  Some of it is even free.  I don't know of anywhere else you could score a whole set of Herman Miller dining chairs for fifteen bucks or get the perfect plaid flannel shirt for free.  Just when I was starting to doubt that this fairytale place even existed, Elly let me in on the secret last week and led me there blindfolded (just kidding about the blindfold).  I was on the hunt for dishes, and I ended up buying everything pictured above plus more (minus the cupcake) for four bucks.  Four bucks.  I think the last thing I spent four bucks on was a MetroCard.

I've been searching thrift stores for awhile now, looking for some new dishes.  The patterns on these remind me of the delicate floral trim on Elly's beautiful new dress design.

sublet clothing photo shoot

I met Tara and Inessah of Sublet Clothing soon after I moved to New York, and a few weeks ago we got together for a photo shoot.  What's more fun than getting hair and makeup done and dressing up in beautiful clothing?  I loved every piece I put on, especially the Deborah dress, which is super comfortable and very flattering.  It's perfect for upcoming holiday parties.  The Delilah skirt is also very chic but so comfortable that you could sleep in it.  I kind of hate to model, but I would do about anything for Tara and Inessah because they're good people, and talented and hilarious to boot.  It was such an honor to work with them!  I'm a big fan of everything they stand for--not only their dedication to producing clothing responsibly, but also their passion for supporting the local creative community.

anna wolf

Speaking of marled sweater inspiration....isn't this image from photographer Anna Wolf beautiful?  Joe and I wanted to go apple picking last month, and it just didn't happen.  Seeing this photo gives me such regret!  The other day my friend Dan said, "Are you looking for someone to photograph your Spring collection?  Because I have this friend Anna Wolf, and she'd be great..."  I looked at her website, and WOW!  What a talented photographer.

bff cardigan

I just got back from a last minute trip to Montana to see my best friend.  For the first time ever we started a knitting project together.  We're both making a cardigan but sort of winging the pattern, trying to do something with a custom fit.  It's so cool to see how we both come at the same thing from totally different angles.  I've been kind of into black and white marled sweaters lately (top photo: me trying on cardigan at Madewell, bottom photo: cardigan from J.Crew), so I bought this yarn at Purl Soho in "Penguin".  I'm going for something completely cuddly, soft, and cozy that I can wear over t-shirts.  I already know that I'll never get rid of this cardigan (even if it ends up less than perfect) because it holds such special memories for me.

By the way, when I posted about selling my hand-knitted sweaters on eBay, my mom made her first blog comment ever!  She wanted to buy the sweaters herself to keep them in the family.  How sweet is that?  Unfortunately I had already sold them.

shop update tonight

Just a note about the Wiksten shop update tonight: the Indigo Stripe Dress is only available in size 6 currently.  However, the dress will be for sale in the whole range of sizes within a couple of weeks.  Another important thing to mention is that this dress has a very tailored bodice and is recommended for those with a B-cup bra size and larger only.  Several of these dresses will be for sale in my shop at 9 PM Eastern time tonight.

the knitting archives

 

Over the weekend I finally finished knitting the cabled cardigan vest I've been working on for awhile (top photo).  I had a lot of fun making it because I learned how to knit cables for the first time.  It's slightly too big, but I still like it I think.  When will I ever knit something that fits me?  I know how to fit wovens, but I'm afraid that when it comes to fitting knits I'm a total novice.

After finishing the vest, I dug out the other sweaters I've made over the last year.  It's kind of depressing because they don't fit me and have just been sitting in my drawer for a year, never worn.  So I decided to sell them on Ebay so that someone else can enjoy them.  I've listed them here.  I think both sweaters are really cute--I so wish they fit me!  I think I'm going to try to make the pocket pullover again in the smaller size, and I'm hoping to recoup some of the yarn money I spent on the first one.

playing dress up

 

 

 

I'm having some fun with my fall wardrobe.  What I would wear:

top- on a cold day.  (Wiksten indigo striped dress with Mociun leggings.)
middle- to a holiday party.  (Mociun dress with For Me, For You necklace.)
bottom- working in my studio.  (Dress made by me with Mociun leggings and necklace.)

There will be a Wiksten shop update this week on Wednesday at 9 PM Eastern time.  Stay tuned for more details tomorrow.