I've finally made my first listing on Etsy! You can check it out here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ProcraftinationInc There will be more to come on Etsy.

I've also given Lizz her secret santa scarf! (pictured on the right). I used variegated yarn with: blue, dark blue, green and yellow on the same ball. It's all done in seed stitch and is twice as long as it looks because she wore it folded and looped. I've recently discovered that I like scarves without fringe sometimes.

Sorry about the dark picture! I'll post the other christmas scarves soon when I can track people down with my camera.

~Back to School

It's the beginning of spring 2012 semester, and all my suities arrived yesterday. To celebrate their arrival, I decided to pull out the baking craft supplies.

To the right, Will is enjoying a cake pop. Ever seen those commercials? Yeah, well I saw a set while I was babysitting and got to borrow it :D

I used a white cake a box mix, because let's face it, it's going to be covered in chocolate even if box mixes do taste different (debatable) and the chocolate is going to make it amazing anyway, and used the recipe with yolks using fresh eggs straight from the coop at home. I sprayed the cake ball pans with non-stick cooking spray and filled the half circles up entirely before I put the lid of the pan on. The baked for 20 minutes, instead of the recommended 25-30 and they were perfect. After they cooled down I melted some chocolate on the stove using a double boiler and dipped the ends of the pop sticks into the chocolate. Once they were coated, I plunged them into the cake balls and put them in the fridge. I wasn't sure of this step and after some experimentation I realized that the pops WILL NOT stick in the cake unless held there by the chocolate. By the way, did I mention I used mint dark chocolate? Best idea ever. After being in the fridge for a while they were cool enough to coat. I melted the rest of the chocolate again in the microwave in about 5-10 sec bursts and swirled the cake on a stick through it. This worked... ok... kind of. Near the end I realized it was easier to smooth the chocolate on the cake using a spoon. If the chocolate got too hard while you were just swirling them around, it was likely for the hardened chocolate holding the sticks on to "let go" and then it was a pain getting the whole thing covered in chocolate and back on the stick -_-

I was going to drizzle some white chocolate over them to make them look really fancy, but when you start baking at 11:30 at night it's not going to happen till the next day. By the next day, we were sick of looking at them and the were gone pretty fast.

I'm sure this set will be used again. Having a couple more people to help decorate will definitely add to the creativity.

Couple things to think about next time:

*Decorate with small candies that the chocolate can hold onto the pops

*Don't let the chocolate on one pop touch another pop while they're in the freezer -_-

*Use different types of cake to make the insides more interesting, marbling?

I've been delivering late christmas scarves, so I'll have pictures of those up soon! Stay warm!!!

~Welcome~

Welcome to Wistah-Craft.

So many people have been asking about what I've made, and since I've abandoned facebook, I figured I'd start something else up to keep everyone in the loop.

Currently, I'm not only a crafter, but a bookseller at a local Annie's Book Stop, and a biology student at Clark University. While that leaves little room for crafting, if I don't pick up my knitting needles or my beads enough, I will go crazy and it will not end well. The picture above is a blanket that I made during the first half of the fall 2011 semester, 26" X 36.5" with a boarder in seed stitch and the blocks in the middle are stockinette and reverse stockinette stitch. I got the pattern from STITCH AND BITCH by Debbie Stoller. No idea how many hours this took, but it was a long time. I've developed the ability to knit and watch tv/ listen to lectures/ have discussions at the same time. Sometimes I even think that I pay better attention if my hands have something to do.

My favorite crafts are knitting, beading, sewing, quilting, ceramics, weaving, and pretty much any other craft I can learn. I learned how to knit from my grandmother when I was around 4 or 5. Not sure of the exact age, but it was around then when my other grandmother handed me cross-stitch fabric. While I extremely dislike cross-stitch now, knitting is still a big part of my life. The drawer full of yarn in my dorm proves that point a little too well.

Thanks for checking out my blog! Hopefully I can keep it going and post lots of pictures!