What is this thing anyway?

I think I've decided to use this more like a journal. Discuss the projects I have going and just put my thoughts down.

I've been thinking about my creative mojo lately. Wondering where it came from. I never used to create like this, I used to search through patterns until I found one I liked then make it. Wow! what a change. Now I think about what I want and find something similar (just so I don't have to reinvent the wheel) and I change it until it is what I want.

I think I can pin point the beginning of the change. I was given a cookbook for Christmas one year by my BFF. It was actually two books in one and I can't remember what the first part of the book is but the second half (I should say section since it don't think it is half) is called the Baker's Bible. It changed my baking. It gave me permission to change the spices, change the amount of sugar, flour, kind of fat. The entire section goes through and the author breaks down different baked goods, comparing and contrasting different changes. Things like 3 eggs will make a richer cake, using cornstarch instead of flour for thickening doesn't take as much cooking. Then they give a basic recipe and make suggestions to make it your own. Add Amaretto to your whipped cream to give it a richer flavor.

Since I embraced that book, I have looked at recipes and patterns in a new way. I'm more willing to make changes, I'm less afraid of failure and in the process I enjoy my creations a lot more. If it is something I've never tried before I'll follow the recipe or pattern the first time. Then I change it and make it my own. For Christmas I found a scarf pattern that I loved. So I made a hat with the same stitch and mittens too. LOVE the results.

Now I'm working on a hooded baby towel, I found a pattern but I don't like the stitch they use, simple, I just use one I like. Kept the pattern because it uses a bind off that I've never tried, and I like the construction that they used. So I'll use their basic instructions (making it bigger cause 20" from point to point is just too small), my stitch and their bind off. I bought a book (e-book actually) of wash cloth patterns, since I don't want to reinvent the wheel and they were exactly what I was wanting to make. Now I'll just make them into burp cloths too.