It’s a Handy Dandy Thing

You’ve all seen towel toppers right? If you do a Google search for images of towel toppers, you’ll know what I mean. They’re kitchen towels, cut in half and a top, either crocheted or sewn (usually), for the purpose of hanging on your oven door’s handle.

Well, on Pinterest, I came across a link for a little item that can turn any kitchen towel into a hanging towel that won’t fall to the floor every time you use it. It doesn’t entail cutting up any of your kitchen towels. It looks like this:

Great idea! Now, I crochet… have done for about as long as I’ve been knitting. I decided I could do this quite simply. But! I really don’t like sewing buttons on to things. For one thing, that means I’d have to hunt for my button bag and ferret through all those buttons to find one that would work. For another thing, it means I’d have to use needle and thread to sew on said button, which takes time.

I decided to modify the design somewhat so that I wouldn’t need to do any searching or sewing. Here’s what I came up with:

As you can see, it has a loop at either end, rather than a button. And how does it work?

All you do is fold it over your oven door’s handle and slide a towel through both of the loops. That towel’s not going anywhere! If I were to make another one, I’d probably use a smaller hook, giving it a little more denseness, but all in all, I really like this little item. No more picking towels up from the floor! Feel free to steal the idea and/or modify it. If you do, though, let me know how it turns out.

---

Yesterday, John and I went to a friend’s home for a Christmas party. We never go empty-handed so I made a batch of hummus and pita bread (which we know they both love!) and John made mulled wine. At almost the last minute, I decided to bake a batch of speculaas. Have you ever had the Dutch Windmill cookies? Well, that is speculaas. In this case, though, the cookies are more like a square.

They’re made with a combination of spices  and are absolutely delicious! I don’t make them often, but they seem to be becoming a Christmas tradition around here. If you’re interested, you can find the recipe for Speculaas, including the recipe for the spice mix, on my cooking blog.

Be careful, though. They’re totally yummy and highly addictive! I’ve already had two this morning and it’s only 9:30.