Frugal Finds and Fixes: Crocheting, Bread Machine, and More

There has been a lot of crafting going on at the Treehouse.  Dollygirl made a pipecleaner-and-bead version of the heroine of Frozen (she's now working on the sister), did some beading with beads that have been sitting around for probably a decade,  and crocheted a few more dolly things that I've lost track of.  Dollygirl also won a t-shirt in a photo contest.

I keep coming across neat little patterns, some of which take only bits and pieces.  I crocheted some bookmarks with red, white and green worsted-weight yarn, and decorated them with Mini Wishing Star motifs.  I am trying out this double-sole slipper pattern on the Red Heart site (I did have to buy a ball of SuperSaver for that).  I like the little flower decorations that are supposed to trim the slippers; if you don't want slippers you could just make the flowers and sew them on something else.  I also like Planet June's Mini Wreath Ornament, which would be a terrific small project for young or new crocheters, and which could use up scraps of green yarn.

Dollygirl sent me the link to this crocheted doll hat pattern, so I made one with leftover multicoloured SuperSaver.

On the food end, I tried Budget101's Garlic Bread Mix for our (yard-saled) bread machine.  It flattened out at the top, which may mean there was a bit too much liquid, but the rest of the loaf was fine.  I cut it in square chunks, rather than trying for thin slices, and we had it with a spaghetti dinner.  It's a good make-ahead, less-messy alternative to toasting things with garlic butter.  Budget101 also gives directions for converting bread machine recipes to no-bread-machine recipes.

I wanted to make some Christmas cookies, but most of our usual recipes call for a lot of butter, and we're very short on that right now.  So I made a bowlful of brownie batter (using oil) and baked it as round cookies, with crushed candy canes sprinkled on top, and powdered-sugar glaze swirled on afterwards.  The candy could have been added after baking, sprinkled on top of the glaze, but it's good baked on as well.