Happy Birthday Dear Family...

[mightyjesse]

So. My Dad's birthday is tomorrow. I am knitting him a hat. (I just got it on the needles last night.) My sister's birthday is NEXT Thursday. I'll likely just send her $$$ (She's gonna be 22, so cash will be of more value to her than hand knitted goods.) and the Thursday AFTER THAT is my Mom's birthday. I just finished knitting Mom a hand spun, hand knitted sweater out of some rhubarb dyed super-wash merino, based on a picture she sent me...



It's not EXACTLY what the picture looked like, but it's roughly the same style of garment. I hope she likes it... I hope it fits... She never sent me her measurements, so I just knit it to fit myself. Thank goodness knitted goods are stretchy! (She's a little shorter and a little bustier than I am...)

The plan is to finish Dad's hat this weekend and mail the whole pile of gifts to the folks house in time to arrive for the sister's bday with notes saying: "Happy birthday Dad! Sorry it's late!" and "Happy Birthday, Sis! I'm on time for once!" and "Happy Birthday, Mom! It's early, but postage was cheaper this way! Hope it fits!"

:P

Do any of you baking types know what I could get for my OTHER sister who's birthday was 2 weeks ago? She likes to bake fancy cakes.... She's currently qualified to do wedding cakes with the fondant and everything, so it's a little out of my league. I know there's equipment she'd appreciate, but I've no idea what it would be... Or is there a nice book I can get her on uber-advanced cake technique? Suggestions plz?

Comments

[lazygarden.livejournal.com]

For the other sister... depends on how much money you want to spend... Here's a website with some ideas.

[lazygarden.livejournal.com]

or something like a cake leveler

[gwyneth1362.livejournal.com]

Maybe one of the shaped cake pans, like these at Williams Sonoma. http://www.williams-sonoma.com/shop/bakeware/cake-pans-cupcake-pans/index.cfm?cm%5Ftype=lnav

[mightyjesse.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the suggestion! I sent her the bundt cake pan that reminded me of a jet turbine... SEXAY!

I imagine she'll manage to do creative things with it. If not, I'll get it as a bakeware hand-me-down.

[zarhooie.livejournal.com]

I'm 21 and if I got cash instead of a hat/scarf/mittens/shawl/sweater/slippers/whatever, I'd be pissed. Just sayin'.

[mightyjesse.livejournal.com]

Well, my other justification for this gift is that only have ONE sweater of the 10 I've knit because SHE STOLE ALL THE REST. She is very GAWTH, you see, and I tend to knit very off-beat-mostly-black-sweaters for myself... Conveniently for her, we are the same size...

So this year, she gets cash... Maybe she'll get a sweater for Christmas.

[zarhooie.livejournal.com]

Well... ok, I guess if you put it that way, it's forgivable. Understandable, even.

[othelianna.livejournal.com]

...edible gold leaf, maybe? I don't know how much you want to spend, but I know my favorite art store carries it (cause it's also used in illumination), and it's about $50 for a booklet of twenty 3"x3" sheets.

I so wanna make a cake covered in gold leaf. But maybe that's just me. ;)

Cake stuff

[robstout.livejournal.com]

It's hard to give gift ideas when I don't know what she has...

I'd probably go for stuff like:

Silicon baking pans
Silicon oven mits
Baking spice kit from Penzys
"I'm just here for the food vol2, baking" by Alton Brown (Depends on how geeky she is. Alton Brown really gets into the nuts and bolts of recipes, and why stuff does what)
Kitchen scale (Bake by weight, not volume)
cake dolly (for decorating. It's like a lazy susan for cakes)

-Stout