House hat

Its the time at SOABT, when baseball and football are on tv, its the time to knit something. I found this pattern for the Favorite Knit Hat at SouleMama and I'm sure this will be my Favorite Hat this winter. Its the perfect size and weight to wear indoors this winter to ward off the chill from our drafty windows.

Yes, we wear hats inside the house because Jeff insists that 62 degrees is room temperature.

Making applesauce

making applesauce
Originally uploaded by screwtop

All the magazines I read this summer talked to me with a singular message: buy a patent handbag. Oh wait, those were the fashion mags. The cooking mags told me to can fruits and vegetables, in the event of nuclear winter I suppose.

So I bought a pressure canner yesterday and used up the last of the apples we picked with the Beechnuts and canned my own applesauce.

I'm not a total stranger to this concept. My mother has canned almost everything you can imagine. I usually freeze applesauce and I made my own baby food for BN-1, but canning seemed a little advanced. Once I got into it, and thoroughly read the instructions, it was pretty easy.

Quick note: if you try this yourself, make a LOT more whatever-you-plan-to-can than you think. Four pint jars were all I got out of about 10 lbs of apples.

Apartment Therapy Boston

I noticed that AT:Boston finally launched, so I went to them with a kitchen-decorating question and they posted my query here:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/boston/good-questions/good-questions-display-in-the-high-cabinets-065105
This is very exciting!

Living Room - new curtains

Living Room - new curtains
Originally uploaded by screwtop

The end of my maternity leave is drawing near, so there is a flurry of activity as I try to get something done. Something to point out that I did not just act as a burp cloth for 12 weeks.

I am focusing on the living room now, since I spent most of my time there.

I reused the existing velvet panels from West Elm and added the damask fabric as a border. Its a 6-inch border that goes around the sides and the bottom of the fabric. I also whipped together some throw pillows with the leftover fabric. The Fabric Place is going out of business, so I panicked and bought a ton of the fabric so it would have a good home.

I ordered a new slipcover for the Most Comfortable Sofa in the World, hopefully it will arrive in the next few weeks.