Howling at the Moon

 My youngest daughter has Teacher Appreciation Day this week. Both her teachers have a dog and after overhearing her classmates about soap and shower lotions, she realized she had to come up with something else and got a great idea: mom making the dogs of her teachers with a crochet hook! Six days before the event would take place. She must have thought mom hadn't anything else to do (but really: I guess that's what kids think). I would have to crochet every free minute around coffee and lunch dates and a couple of working days to get the dogs ready on time.  I loved the fact that my daughter thought about presents for her teachers at all and even had a plan for what to give them, though, so I wanted at least give it a try. Working far past midnight the night before Teachers Appreciation Day, the dogs were finished just in time. No matter what the teachers will think about the dogs, my daughter's face when she saw the dogs was totally worth all the effort! One of ...

Stash Buster 12  My oldest daughter had a request again: a crocheted bikini that she found on TikTok. I had all the colors she wanted in my yarn stash, so I could start right away. I only had to change the colors on the edges, because I just hadn't enough of the lila, but I don't think it looks odd.  This is the result.      Pattern: Malibu Bikini by Deborah O'Leary Yarn: various colors by Katia and Panturo   ~*~   My Terra Madre Top was featured by Creative Jewish Mom and Oombawka Design !  My painted plant pots were featured by Elsa R Blog !  

 My husband loves haricots verts (which is sort of a chic name for skinny green beans), so we eat them every so often. I always buy them in jars, so I have lots of jars and am always on the look out for nice DIY projects to use them.  Last week several really great tutorials about glass jars looking like structured ceramic pots came along in my Pinterest feed. The best thing was you only need two ingredients: baking powder and acrylic paint, items I have plenty of in my house. I started right away and love the result! And... roses from my own garden! What you need acrylic paint in a color you like 2 tbsp baking powder  glass jars   What to do Mix paint and baking powder 1:1 Clean the jars to degrease them Apply the first layer and let dry completely Apply another layer, let dry  Repeat until the jars are completely covered That's it!     ~*~   My summer necklaces were featured by The Answer is Chocolate !

 Crocheting clothes for myself isn't something that I often do. I don't know, I don't really like how crocheted tops turn out most of the time. But lately I see great looking crochet patterns for tops come along, so great looking that I want to make them for myself.  The first one I made is this top by Isa Catepillán for Purl Soho, named the Terra Madre Top. Really love this top! The pattern asks for silk yarn, but I used cotton yarn. Pattern: Terra Madre Top by Isa Catepillán for Purl Soho Yarn: Paris Rust by Drops Design ~*~ Marcia Alpaca was featured by Creative Jewish Mom !

 A colleague asked me to make an alpaca as a gift for her nephew. I used the Pica Pau pattern that I used many times before. One of my favorites. Pattern: Marcia Alpaca from Animal Friends of Pica Pau by Yan Schenkel Yarn: various colors by Katia   ~*~   Robin the Unicorn was featured by Creative Jewish Mom and Oombawka Design !      

  Since a week or so we finally have some really sunny days in a row instead of just one and then rain again for a week, so I could finally take out my summer wardrobe. Now that I can wear clothes that show more neck and cleavage, I like to wear a necklace with them. I couldn't find much to my like, though, so I made some things myself.   Suede Stars Choker   Pink with Rose Quartz   turqoise fine ~*~ The Zucchini Cake that I made last week was featured by Simply Sweet Home , Our Mini Family ,  A Pinch of Joy and All Things Kitchen !

    Just something I made on request for a friend's four year old daughter, who absolutely loves unicorns!   Pattern: Robin Unicorn from the book Animal Friends of Pica Pau by Yan Schenkel Yarn: various colors by Ricorumi   ~*~   My Granny Go Round Jumper from Iron Lamb was featured by Creative Jewish Mom and Oombawka Design !

  In the supermarket where I do my shopping you can purchase 'fresh boxes', boxes that include fresh vegetables and most other required ingredients for a complete meal for four persons. Our favorite is Thai Green Curry. That particular box contains various vegetables, among which zucchini. My kids hate zucchini, so I leave that one out. But what I hate is to throw good food away, so I was on the look out for something else to make with zucchini and I tried Zucchini Cake. Not bad, I think. Not bad at all, so here's my recipe.   What you need 120ml sunflower oil  175grams white caster sugar bit of salt 2 eggs 200grams of grated zucchini 200grams flour tbsp baking powder 75grams nuts (pecans are great, but you can choose whatever you like) 2 tbsp full fat yoghurt 125grams icing sugar What to do Preheat oven at 175 degrees Celsius Mix the oil, sugar and salt  Add the eggs and mix again Add zucchini, flour and baking powder and mix again Stir in the nuts Bake the cake fo...