My First Stitch Fix

Well, here's a post I never expected to show up on this blog (because I'm fashion challenged most of the time).  All the Stitch Fix referral links in my Facebook feed finally got my attention a few weeks ago.  I did some research and discovered it was an online personal stylist service.  The idea is that for a $20 "styling fee" you receive five clothing/accessory items based on a style profile you fill out on the Stitch Fix site.  You then try on all the items at home where you're free to mix and match with other pieces already in your closet.  You decide what to keep and what to send back.  Your $20 styling fee is applied to any items you decide to purchase and if you keep the whole box you receive a 25% discount.  If you keep nothing, you lose the $20 styling fee.  My wardrobe is severely lacking, so I decided a potential loss of $20 if I liked nothing was worth it to sign up and try out this service.

I scheduled my first fix and immediately started working on my "style" Pinterest board to share with my stylist as Stitch Fix suggests.  The box finally arrived yesterday (a day late... thanks, Fedex) and I'm happy to say I'm quite pleased with Stitch Fix's initial offering:

Read on to see more about the items in my fix(and see more of my "beautiful" cell phone photography)...

Low Carb Gummy/Jelly Candy

Last week a random memory from my childhood popped into my head:  gummy/jelly candy hearts that my Grandma used to have around Valentine's Day.  I decided to browse Pinterest for a low carb substitute and found this zero carb gummy candy recipe.  Here is the end product:

The grocery store only had cherry and orange flavored Jello in a .6 oz packet, so I essentially doubled the recipe and everything came out fine.  I also chose to use only a 1/4 cup of water for maximum gumminess and was pleased with the outcome.  Jeff thinks the flavor of the gummies is too strong, so I encouraged him to play with the recipe to see if he could fit it to his taste... more on that to come.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Crocheted Double Layer Braided Cowl

After I finished up the rainbow unicorn last weekend, I started on this double layer braided cowl pattern by CrochetDreamz that is getting a lot of attention on Ravelry.  I was really excited about it since the main picture looked pretty neat.  It wasn't too difficult to work up until I accidentally put the two braids together backwards and had to cut everything apart and redo it. D'oh.

After it was done, I tried the cowl on in the bathroom mirror and was immediately disappointed.  It doesn't hang right no matter what I do.  I suspect this is because it's a project that needs to be crocheted loosely and me crocheting loosely is the equivalent of everyone else in the world crocheting normally.  On top of that, I'm not sure what possessed me to want to make a cowl since I'm not even sure if I like cowls.  It seems every time I make something that isn't an amigurumi, it turns out poorly (remember these hats?).  I think I've learned my lesson and will stick to what I'm fairly good at... making things that can be stuffed. :)