Knitting Needle Case

Pattern: None

Fabric: 100% cotton in seafoam, light green and multiple stripes
Notions: Sulky 100% Rayon thread (colour #1508 "Putty"), quilt batting 100% cotton, fray check

Completed: 13 Sept 2013
Time: 8 hrs

Center seam and lower binding sewn into place 

Comments: The majority of the time required to make this was spent in the planning and laying out the fabric to confirm that I had enough matching fabric and whether the I could fit all of my small knitting needles adequately.  These needles consisted of two types, a set of 4-5 double pointed and circular needles.  The US size ranges from 0 to 13 (2.0 - 9.0 mm) for the circular needles and US size 2 to 15 (2.75 - 10.0 mm) for the double pointed needles.

I wanted the case to be flexible so any thought of using cardboard was eliminated in favor of quilting the pieces and creating pouches or pockets.  There was 1/4 yard of the the striped and sea foam green fabric each and rather than cut uncertainly, both pieces were centered about the batting, with the latter being cut just smaller than the fabric.  Starting from roughly the center, a straight seam was sewn to quilt the fabric and batting together.  Sadly I forgot that thicker "fabric" requires a longer stitch length resulting in the only bit of puckering in the project.  With the fabric being set in place, the bottom edge was trimmed and the light green fabric was sewn in as make-shift bias tape; this allowed the pockets to be formed with a nice, finished edge.

Now for the fun part: placement!  The striped fabric is the exterior and subsequently the pocket flap, which will aid in the alignment and sewing of straight seams.  Given the length of the needles, the height of the pocket required some fiddling until a height of 5" (12.6 cm) appeared to secure the needles and leave the sizing information visible.  From this point, it was a matter of choosing needle set placement, marking with a pin and then sewing to form the pocket.  It is recommended that one start from the center and work out to the ends, sewing at most 2 pockets at a time, in order that fit and easy work well.  I ended up with 15 pockets of various sizes, none of which were measured.

Fitting the pockets

The center seam puckering

General size of pockets and stripes

The last steps were simply trimming the raw edges and sewing on the make-shift bias tape, first along the remaining long edge then on the two shorter sides, fray checking the corners.  The top area above the needles will act as a cover for the exposed portion of the needles.  A blue sash secures the filled and rolled bundle nicely.

All the lovely needles fit!!
Not endorsed by Boye or Clover/Takumi

Thus, behold the power of remnants!!

More Than Just Confetti

Kraft's Confetti Fudge Bites Variations

The prime ingredients for the flavor of this recipe are white chocolate and vanilla instant pudding, which suggests that the taste of the fudge can be altered with different flavors of instant pudding.  So let's have a go mixing it up!

Here are the substitute instant pudding flavors:
Hershey's White Chocolate
Cheesecake
Coconut Cream
French Vanilla
Horchata (unique flavors of rice, vanilla and a touch of cinnamon)

Method
As I have yet to win the lottery and rather than waste ingredients if things do not taste well, I made up the recipe with all the ingredients except the instant pudding.  The joke is on me though as I only realized after double boiling the unsalted butter and "white chocolate" that the chocolate was actually vanilla chips. Proceeded with the recipe any way.

Separate bowl used for mixing in the pudding.
Not endorsed by Jell-O, Hershey's, Horchata or Great Value.

The fudge was then equally divided into six parts using Wilton Jumbo batter scoop with a little over 0.5 oz (1 tablespoon) of each instant pudding flavors added to those parts.  The sixth flavor is vanilla to compare with the "original" recipe taste.  I also forgot to buy more powdered sugar so my fudge bits only have 2.5 cups instead of the called for 3 cups.  To keep the six flavors separate, I lined a 9 mini-bread loaf pan sheet with foil and molded the foil to the "loaves."  Initially thinking that the Jumbo scoop would not be enough to fill the "loaf", the first couple of flavors were slightly over filled whilst the last two "loaves" were under filled.


The Palate
Before handing out squares to any one, I tried little nibbles of each one - which was more than enough for some of the flavors!  Having mixed up the white chocolate bits with vanilla but also having the white chocolate pudding flavor made me think that this taste was similar to the original recipe.  And indeed, it did taste like white chocolate, though for this flavor I would loose the sprinkles and substitute them with Oreo crumbs.  Truly all the fudge bites could have done without the sprinkles as the recipe is quite too sugar for my adult taste buds, so much so that the overly spicy beef I made for dinner tasted swell after all the nibbles!

The vanilla flavor tasted like slightly less rich frosting whilst the french vanilla was exactly like frosting.  The coconut creme could not be not be tasted no matter how many times I tired.  The cheesecake was delicious in the first third of the taste but then became much too sugary and rich in the last two-thirds of the bite.  Sadly the Horchata flavor did not fair so well either.  The Horchata had a more mellow taste than the other flavors but had a graininess to the consistancy that could not be outweighed by the warmth from the cinnamon.

Recommendations
If this is what is being given to children, it is no wonder that Americans have such a short attention spans with rising rates of diabetes.  It is much too rich for my tastes to make again, let alone distribute to others, especially the young, but perhaps you will have better luck.

Stalled Retro

Pattern: Butterick 6239

Fabric: Mini white dots on forest green background Polyester Silky

Notions: None...requires a 16" zipper, shoulder pads and stay tape but have not got that far

Incomplete

Time: 6+ hrs

Comments: This is a Retro 1942 pattern which does NOT do well with this type of fabric.  And seeing what other people have done, it would appear that this pattern looks smashing on gals with a bosom.

The trouble can be seen in the photographs!

Side

Back

Front

The zipper belongs on the left side, with pins holding it in place for the photos but no shoulder pads.  The polyester has no hold for the front tucks, making it rather baggy around the chest area, especially with A-cups.  The picture below illustrates the difficulty of working on a sewing machine without a walking foot pressure foot  -  the seams do not line up!

Upclose side view with front to the right

 The top two folds on both sides are being held up with pins as one could not see the folds otherwise.

 

All in all, I do not wish to continue with this pattern and this fabric; the dots are just too much for my eye.  I might finish this project if the top and bottom were switched up with a white to match.

Been out on sick leave!

A broken and impacted wisdom tooth can be a real pain in the mandibular ramus!  Sorry, skeletal anthropology used to be my profession.  Nevertheless a tooth ache can really take away the enjoyment of cooking and sewing. ...Be posting soon.

Leave you with this tantalizing view of...

Song Seung Hun!!!