Super Hip Knotted Headband for Fall

I'm really into hats and all kinds of headgear, especially for Fall and Winter. But I can't justify spending money on new hats every year because my old ones are still perfectly fine and keep me warm. I've actually never been a huge headband person because it just seems like a waste. You're losing all your body heat through the top of your head! You've gotta lock that shit down. But a couple weeks ago I was walking to work and really, really wished I had something to cover my ears with as they were freezing but the rest of my head felt pretty comfortable. And that's where the headband comes in. I finally understand.
I think I mostly had a bias against them because in my childhood I always wore them like a regular hair band by bringing it down below my chin and then lifting it back up and pushing all my hair back with it. For some reason, up until about a month ago, I believed this was still the only way you could possibly wear one. Obviously I was wrong, and now I am the proud owner and creator of this little beauty.
I've mostly seen this style on ladies way cooler than me. They've probably moved on by now but I just finally have my cool knotted headband and I'm gonna wear the hell out of it. Or at least on those few days out of the year that you don't need a whole hat but you do need something.
Anyways, I found the pattern here. It is extremely easy and I finished it basically in an afternoon while watching Bridesmaids. The best. I highly recommend making this because all you'll have to buy is 1 skein of yarn. The one I bought was about $3 and I still have almost the entire skein. So essentially this cost me less than a dollar. Mmhmm.

Pad Thai for Poor People who like Thai food

Hey everybody. Haven't posted a single thing in almost two months. Great job on my part. Whatever guys, crafting in the summer kind of sucks. It's just too hot. So get over it.
So, I decided that since I'm terrible I should at least post for you one of the most impressive meals I can make. And I can't make many impressive meals. In fact, pad Thai is the only one. But seriously guys, it is delicious and surprisingly cheap to make. It's actually our go to meal if we have no food in the house (which is often).
So, you are going to need:

• 1/2 package medium rice noodles
• 1/3 cup half full of ketchup, half full of Sriracha Chili Sauce (the stuff that makes everything taste good)
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/2 cup water
• A pile of sugar (I've never actually measured it. I just measure it to taste. But you will need a lot of it so that the Sriracha doesn't burn your face off. I actually recently found the perfect amount by accidentally spilling a shit ton of sugar in there so...try that.)
• 1 egg
• Some kind of vegetables, I usually have onions and green peppers around so I just use those but if you're not poor you could also use some green onions and bean sprouts. 
• Your choice of chicken, shrimp or tofu
• Crushed peanuts (optional but fantastic)

This makes about 3-4 servings by the way so adjust as you need.

Step 1: Put the noodles in a big bowl and pour super hot water over them. Set aside to soften.

Step 2: Cook your chicken/shrimp/tofu in a bit of oil in your wok. (A deep pan will work too)

Step 3: Add your chopped vegetables to wok and let cook a few minutes.

Step 4: Scramble egg and add to wok. Should be mostly cooked when you add sauce.

Step 5: Mix together ketchup/sriracha, fish sauce, lime juice, water and sugar in a small bowl. Add to wok and allow to heat for a few minutes. It will be very watery but it will all soak into the noodles.

Step 6: Remove the now softened noodles from the water and add to the wok. Now basically just keep cooking it all until the noodles are soft. If you run out of sauce but the noodles are still hard just keep adding water. Keep an eye on this as the noodles will quickly burn.

Step 7: Sprinkle your crushed peanuts on top and some cilantro or lime slices as a garnish if you're really trying to impress somebody. Enjoy!

And there you have it a tasty, seemingly fancy meal that is actually super cheap. I don't have a picture of mine for you because I just devoured it and then thought about posting this recipe but here's a picture of some pad Thai that looks way nicer than mine anyway. Yours won't look this good.

Cat Bagging

This is what I call a cat bag. It's a bag for cats.

My cat, Nikki, loves bags. She can't get enough of them. So I decided I would make a little sack for her and stuff it with plastic bags so she would still get that satisfying crinkly noise while safely playing with something that won't suffocate her. I'm pretty thoughtful.
I used 2 old t-shirts for this and basically just used the entire body of each shirt. One shirt became the lining and the other became the outer layer of the bag. Before stitching it all together, I put 3 of the crinkliest bags I could find in between the 2 layers.
And so a cat bag was born. Nikki seems to like it though she has yet to actually go into the bag. This is probably just because I keep holding it open and trying to force her face into it. Possibly not the most pleasant experience. Whatever.

So far she has mostly been sliding across the floor on it, attacking it and sleeping on it. I'm sure she'll come around.

This whole cupcake thing has really gone too far.

This is gross. Cupcakes baked in eggshells? No one wants this.
I was already annoyed that everyone seems to think they can become a baker now because they've watched Cupcake Wars a few times but this is too much. Just stop.

No more weird, gross cupcakes. No more.

Red Velvet Cookies

"Oh my god." - Mary McDonald immediately after biting into one of these delicious little creations.

Yes, that is a Red Velvet cookie sandwich with cream cheese icing in the middle. Too good to be true. But it is true! It's right here! I'm eating one as I type this!
These really are just incredibly delicious. The cookies are quite cake-y giving it more of a whoopie pie feel. Which is obviously great.
I used this recipe from The Velveteen Baker, a young lady who bakes nothing but several variations on red velvet. Some might call it God's work. I would. I made it all from scratch except for the icing. I went the Duncan Hines route with that 'cause I'm a G.D. lazy S.O.B.
I don't know what it is about red velvet that makes it so delicious since it is just chocolate cake died red. But something in that dye just makes it taste a million times better. Some people fear so much dye in their food and I dislike these people. This beautiful cake will not hurt you, at the worst it will turn your poop red (and that's just kind of fun, right?).
So, here you go, one last look before they're gone. I'm eating all of these tonight.

Homemade Iced Tea Without Ice (Not Recommended)

Let me first say, that you should really confirm that you have ice before you start making iced tea. However, I did not follow this first step so it took me a good hour and a half to get pretty cold tea. Which was moderately refreshing. Seriously, go check your ice tray right now. If it's not full, fill it. I don't care if you plan on making anything with ice anytime soon. Just fill it.You will love yourself later when it's 37 degrees outside and your neighbours who control the A/C just see no need to turn it on. Why turn it on? I'd rather sit on my couch naked and just sweat it out. Way more comfortable.
So anyways, I'm pretty fancy and I have a Teaopia Tea Master and a bunch of fancy loose leaf teas. I decided that the Mate Citrus Buzz sounded lovely and refreshing so I brewed up a pot of that using twice as much tea as I normally would and I also added a couple tablespoons of sugar in while it was brewing so it would dissolve better.
This is when I thought, "Oh yeah, ice." Great job, Mary. Looked in the freezer and out of 3 ice trays I had 4 ice cubes. Fantastic. I should also mention that I was making two glasses of iced tea. One for myself and one for my boyfriend, Steve. 2 cubes each. Which is what we use to just cool down our tea when we're drinking it hot. This is going really well. So I put those cubes in the glasses and then put those glasses in the freezer to chill them.

I wish.

The tea finished brewing and I foolishly poured it into the chilled glasses thinking that oughta cool it right down. Nope. Not even a little bit. The boiling tea blew through those ice cubes and chilled glasses before I was even done pouring it in there. So, I put those glasses of tea in the freezer and then proceeded to check them every 5 minutes for the next hour. I then stuck a freezie in each of them, left them for another 10 minutes, filled up my ice trays in this time, and then just gave up and drank it. It was pretty cold but...it was also 37 degrees outside.
Moral: Always fill your ice trays. Always.

A Gift for Chub Chub

So, tonight I was home, doing nothing and decided that my cats, Nikki and Chub Chub (Jack), needed a new toy and then I knitted up this little gem.

I did this in about an hour and a half while watching RuPaul's Drag Race (fantastic television).It was quite simple really. I cast on 20 stitches using 3 mm needles and then just knit until I had a square (which ended up being 37 rows). I'm planning on making another, smaller one more for Nikki because this one is the size of her head. However, Chub Chub is giant so it is just perfect for him. Anyways, back to the explanation; I took the square I had knitted and folded it into a triangle and stitched up one of the sides. So you have kind of a cone shape and then I just stuffed it with some fabric scraps and stitched up the rest of it. And the tail is actually just the excess yarn left at the end.
And I stitched on some eyes and a nose and, there you go, cats. You're welcome.

They both look really unimpressed in these pictures but, for the record, they were playing up a storm with this bad boy about 2 minutes later.