A Year in Review

We are nearly two weeks into the New Year and I've decided it is high time to finally make my first post. Before I get into 2013, I think I'll do a belated look back on 2012. We started our year off here with a new addition, little Annabelle Pepper.

Well, she's not so little anymore!
That's her little big sister Basil- 5 years old! 

Then in July, Minneapolis had its first annual Vegfest which informed people about animal cruelty and had vegan food vendors and even some awesome try-me options! I had already been vegetarian for 5 years and, after opening my eyes to the evils of the egg and dairy industries, I decided to finally go vegan. It's been a really easy and great transition after I armed myself with knowledge and a few excellent cook books. The most difficult thing to me is family coming to terms with it, although I don't really see why it is such a big deal to them that I choose to live cruelty free. BJ and I spent all of Thanksgiving day cooking up a vegan feast and we got positive reviews for the mashed potatoes and caramel apple pie we made from scratch!

 Finally, I taught myself how to crochet using Youtube videos as a guide. It became something of an obsession. As a result, most everyone got a crocheted something for Christmas! My very first crochet project was a Vikings helmet hat with horns and detachable beard for my nephews. I made it from a mash-up of different Youtube videos starting with Beauty from Trashes with an added bobble stitch on the rim of the hat. Unfortunately, I didn't get as great of reviews from them as I'd hoped, but the adults thought they were cool! I wouldn't recommend this detailed of a project to start with if you've never crocheted before, but once I get an idea that I want to make something, I run with it! I made a cupcake hat for my niece and a matching one for her American Girl. My mom and sister got headbands and I made BJ's grandparents scarves. There was a Studio Ghibli film festival here, so I whipped up a Totoro hat from the same pattern as the Vikings hat for myself with soot sprites from this amigurumi ball video. The ears are based on this video. For my BFF Toph, I cross stitched a word of warning from him to anyone who crosses him. B and I also went to a vegan cookie exchange and made a veganized verison of Martha Stewart's Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies. For the holiday, we made peanut butter cups and Ritz peanut butter cookies with Baker's baking chocolate- they turned out rather tasty. Here's a collage of most of my projects for the year. Most things I haven't mentioned you can find for sale in my shop. 

Happy New Year!