Knitting swap loot and a view from the soapbox

Recently I participated in a knitting swap based on the upcoming Eclipse movie. It's theme? Team Edward vs. Team Jacob. Since I know how the story ends, I sided with the romantic winner, the very Mr. Cullen. This is what my swap partner sent me.



My partner is Martha of Green Mountain Knitting Bags fame. I've yearned for one of her bags nigh on...ever since I've seen them many moons ago. Now I have one. In blue. And I now have blue Ella Rae Lace Merino. And blue curly wool to make more thrummed mitts whenever I feel like it. Sense a favorite color theme? The necklace in the photo, by Jenifer Smith, is supposed to be a choker made to look like a bite mark. Alas, my neck's girth makes this subtle bit ot bling into a better bracelet, so that's how I've been wearing it.

In exchange, I sent Martha a shawl in wolfish colors, since she is on Jacob's side.



It's the Multnomah Shawl pattern, and the yarn is off a cone--one of two cones--from Spun Fibers Inc. Rocky Road is the yarn name, and London Town is the colorway. I have over 15,000 yards of this yarn. Yeah.



See? Lots and lots of it to be had.



The shawl pin came from The Shawl Pin Store, thank you very much Google. The mother of pearl circle, cut off-center, is reminiscent to me of an eclipse. So, cute, huh? See what I did there?

I also did these stitch markers to play on the theme.



You might not believe it from seeing these pictures, but I'm not hyperventilating to see the Eclipse movie. I'm fond of the "saga" and all, but I can definately wait until the fervor dies down to see the flick. I'm thinking that part of the reason for my indifference, after noticing all the Twilight merchandising that's been peddled in the last couple years, is based on burnout. I mean, people...werewolf pack tattoo PACKING TAPE? What? Did Bella use this stuff when she was moving out of Charlie's house?

I'll nip this rant in the bud right here. Suffice it to say, I like the story but can do without the peripheral drama the movie has stirred up. I will add, however, that I love the handmade stuff based on the books. I'm DIY biased, of course. Buying it by hand may be faster, but making it by hand is usually more entertaining...and proof via hard work that one is sincerely nuts about something.

Linked up to:
--  Just Something I Whipped Up Mondays

From The Year of the Blanket...

In 2009, I knitted six blankets (well, the Lizard Ridge was mostly done, I just finished it this year). I also knitted as many pairs of socks, but they didn't take nearly as much yarn as the blankets.

New techniques I tried this year:

• Tunisian Crochet on a big scale (a big, fat failure)
  
• thrummed mittens (a big, fluffy success)
  
• knitting cables without a cable needle (link is to a video)
  
• kntting strung beads
  
• CROCHET
  
• blocking lace
  
• (my most awesome and scary accomplishment) writing a pattern for my Off Road Socks as well as a square shawl still being tested. I never in a million years thought I'd DESIGN knitwear.
  

After doing the math, I figure I burned through 15,791.6 yards of yarn in 2009. Some of this yardage did not come from stash I had on hand at the beginning of the year. So, as far as living up to my 2009 Yarn Consumption Plan (I can buy one yard of yarn for every two yards I use from stash), I was a failure. I kept to the plan for several months...until sometime in the summer, I think, but then I began to BUY. So, yay for me that I lasted as long as I did.

...to The Year of the Sweater

According to the patterns I have waiting in my Ravelry queue, it looks like 2010 will be the Year of the Sweater. I've got a lot of sock patterns in the queue, too. THOMY may even get something this time around the sun.

I don't have noble pledges to knit only from stash in 2010, but I do plan to keep an account of what I buy and use. I've got a ledger book for that purpose. I'm in the process of recording ALL the yarn in my stash, whether or not it's labeled, so I can have a full idea what there is to work with. The yardage count is staggering. In one lace weight yarn alone, I have almost 23-thousand yards. Yep, I sure do.

I don't have resolutions for any other area of my life, either. Not that I'm aimless concerning the coming year; I have a few goals, just not the kind I want to blog about yet. Maybe after the fact.

So to you and yours, please have a safe, happy, and productive new year.

The first Christmas party of 2009

Yesterday we homebodies gathered ourselves together and traveled to Kansas City to visit family. I can't remember if this is the third or fourth year my husband's brother and sister-in-law have hosted a Christmas Open House, but this one was just as fun as in years past.

Their concept of a Christmas get-together focuses mostly on the together part. Instead of exchanging gifts, we sit at their dining room table and swap ideas on such weighty issues as whether someone's gingerbread house should have pretzel sticks or M&Ms for roofing material. How do you tie a knot that will stay in elastic cord? Sculpey beads the size of acorns have to go into the toaster oven by themselves so the smaller beads won't char into dust.

It's kinda like how I remember girl scout day camp, but without the risk of bee stings and heat rash. And not every activity is mandatory. Both THOMY and I made Sculpey clay beads, though we didn't string them onto anything.



Instead, I fashioned two button bracelets.



I did this mostly for the love of the buttons rather than to be fashionable because, as you who know me personally are aware, I don't put on the ritz much, even button ritz. Anyway, I basically did the same things as in this button bracelet tutorial. I gave myself more elastic cord, however, to allow for all the millimeters taken up by weaving it in and out of the buttons. And I used a crimp bead to secure the knot at the end.

THOMY was the only one between us two who made a gingerbread (graham cracker) house. He made a house of God.



He also read The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry when everyone was tired of their own creativity.

I did have a small haul to take home--all my prizes from Family Bingo. In Family Bingo, the cards are rows and columns of family members' faces. Interesting facts (and sometimes embarrassing ones) are gathered about each member pictured. The caller reads the facts aloud, one by one, and everyone guesses aloud who that fact resembles. Cover the faces correctly guessed until there is a bingo. My favorite prize in my pile is the pot holder either my niece or nephew wove on their loom. (They couldn't ever agree who made it.)

All in all, a very fun day. This is the first year in two or three that I'm glad it's now Christmas time.

My first shawl

My first lace shawl.



Spring Things by Susan Lawrence. This shawl began its life in cashmere yarn, lace weight. I now know lace weight yarn is, if not of the devil, then a spawn of his minions. I do not like it, Sam I am. My stubby fingers don't get along with it. So the yarn I used instead is Knit Picks Palette, a fingering weight wool yarn (one step higher and thicker than lace yarn). The colorway is Rainforest Heather.

I wet blocked it (stretched it into its proper shape after washing it) using my lace blocking wires, T-pins, and interlocking foam tiles. I left it to dry in my sewing grotto in which the floor paint is flaking up like mad and is a horror to behold. So don't look at it directly or you may turn to stone. Just saying.



This shawl will be donated to a pancreatic cancer research fundraiser, a silent auction and bbq dinner to be held in November. I will be posting more information about this event in the near future because I'm in charge of setting up its blog. There will be lots of handmade items there to bid on and lots of ribs to enjoy. And music. There will be a band, but I can't recall their name just now. Tune in later.

For now, enjoy the remaining pics.


Beading!


Those little bumps in the knitting are called "nupps." Rhymes with "pups." Their difficulty persuaded me to try the beading, and it was muuuuuch easier.

2008 DIY Retrospective

I had no idea sitting on one's tush could get so much done.




1. NM needle case--closed, 2. New Moon Swap stitch markers, 3. Cherries Pendant, 4. Scissor Fobs, 5. Walls of Volterra bag, 6. Almost Amish Puzzle, 7. THOMY'S hat, 8. Fall 2008 Chatelaines, 9. October notecards, 10. PIF stitch markers for Denise, 11. Water drop stitch markers, 12. Fire on the Waves Throw, 13. Tunisian Simple Stitch Scarf, 14. Ravelympics Clapotis closeup, 15. Wavy Scarf, 16. Tunisian Trivets, 17. Bottoms Up Bottle Cozy, 18. Dad's House, 19. Helmet Liner , 20. Lizard Ridge Blocks DONE, 21. Lightning Lace Jacet, 22. Cattycorner Tunisian Washcloth back, 23. Too Much Work for Dishes, 24. Primordial Fish 2, 25. Leftovers Felted Pincushion, 26. Washcloths, 27. French Market Bag, 28. RPM socks, closeup, 29. Inside the Box Bag, 30. Christine & Albert 2, 31. CD Coasters 1, 32. Tray Slippers Felted, 33. Cobblestone sans Man in it, 34. Medallion Mitts, 35. Fuzzy Feet Soy Wool Stripes, 36. Hot/Cold Therapy Bags

The Pink Ribbon Socks, among some foodstuffs, didn't make the cut in the mosaic above because the mosaic maker doesn't create a 4 X 10 photo grid. So here's their picture, below. It's the first time a pair of my knitted, unfelted socks fit me. I was just the working model, though; they're not for my feet.

May they give you cheer, Tana.



And may all of you have a safe, productive, and blessed year ahead.

Peppernuts and other addictions

Because several people have asked for his recipe, I am divulging it here. But, be warned, THOMY's Grandma's peppernuts take three days, quite a bit of space, and at least one great big bowl to complete. You have to really want them. But they're soooooo worth it.


Grandma Lawrenz's Peppernuts
(the big recipe)

3/4 pound butter
3 C sugar
1.5 C sweet cream (half & half)
1.5 C white syrup (light corn syrup)
2 tsp. anise extract

In a very large bowl, cream the butter until fluffy. Then add the sugar, half & half, syrup, and anise extract.

12 C all-purpose flour
2 T baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. black pepper
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 tsp. mace
3/4 tsp. allspice
3/4 tsp cloves
(all the spices are ground spices)

Sift the 12 cups of flour into another large bowl. Stir in the baking powder, salt, and remaining spices.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, a cup or so at a time until the flour is mixed in. The dough will be quite difficult to stir at the end. Cover the dough in the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight.

The next day, roll handfuls of the dough into long "worms" about the width of your pan and to the diameter of a penny. Lay them on wax paper in pans to freeze. After they're frozen, slice them up and bake on buttered pans at 350-375 degrees F for sixteen minutes. (THOMY has discovered that 360 F works best for our oven.)

Yields gobs and gobs. THOMY uses his great big bowl to store the peppernuts temporarily after he takes them out of the oven. Keep them in airtight containers afterwards or in pretty bowls around the house so people can't avoid them but...must...have...more.

_______________

New Moon Swap

I promised pictures of the felted bag and other swap goodies that I sent my partner.


The Walls of Volterra bag, based on the Felted Slip Stitch bag by Michele Bernstein.

A verrry easy bag. It looks like a more complex colorwork technique but it's not. I also made stitch markers and a needle case for my swap partner.





(The bracelet to the left of the needle case is a wrist abacus/row counter. It's a variation of a few tutorials I've seen on the 'net, but I can't remember where I saw them right now.)


The tutorial for the needle case is on Multicrafty.

_______________

Beads can be just as addictive as peppernuts (though they'll break your teeth more easily). I made a cherries necklace pendant for my small quilting group's Christmas gift exchange.



And I haven't forgotten about my Almost Amish Puzzle Blogaversary guess-a-thon. The winner is Liz in Chicago. Congrats, Liz! The scissors fob and stitch markers in the photo below will be mailed to you this week. The scissors fob with the red leaf is for my longsuffering Pay-It-Forward recipient.



If I don't post again before Christmas, then I hope everyone will have a safe and merry one this year.

Closing Day...NOT...and chatelaine content at the end of the post

The weirdness started Monday night when THOMY and I had our final "walk through" Dad's place. The next day the buyer was going to have his final "walk through", and the day after that (today, now), would be Closing Day.

The weirdness, as I call it, is this creeping sadness. I know why it's here: my dad's house is going out of our lives. It's a final stage of good-bye. It's a milestone in grief. Blah, blah, blah. I didn't expect it, though. I'd been so focused on the process, saying along the way, since July, "Finally! The house is done...now a buyer has been found...the house passed FHA inspection, the buyer wasn't laughed out of the loan office during this hellish financial time. (I'm emphasizing to keep the rhythm here.)

"Oh, thank God, the closing day has been set."

Only...no.

We walk into the title office today, a very responsible ten minutes early, to be told the closing day has been postponed.

And, do you know, I had had one of those fleeting thoughts not twenty minutes earlier that our agent was trying to get ahold of us to tell us about some calamity that would yank the bittersweet rug out from under us...just like she had been trying to do for the last ten minutes before we walked through that door. I had this thought because we had left THOMY's phone home on the charger, and his phone number is the one our agent uses to get ahold of us. It isn't often that my great, subconcious love for irony gets realized. But, there we were, standing dumbstruck for a couple seconds in the title office before we could come-to and begin asking strained but responsible questions.

Something financial didn't come through in a timely manner for the buyer. But it *will* come through, we have been assured. He still wants the house. We just have to wait until sometime before 2pm on Monday to close on it.

Kinda sounds like a time frame the cable guy uses.

So, we wait until then. I hate this feeling of being dangled, but that's how it is. I'm just still terribly thrilled there's a buyer at all.

In the meantime, I'm going to relax from the frenzy of listing more stuff in my Etsy shop. New chatelaines, this time.

I made this

Remember I said I have the patience of a five year old? Well, maybe I've matured recently. Maybe now I'm ten.

Stitch Markers

I finally sent one of my two Pay It Forward gifts. For the knitter, no-snag stitch markers. Pictured are two of the six markers I made.




And then thank-you markers for my Fire on the Waves test knitters.



Hopefully, all recipients have received their packages in the mail, so it's safe to unveil these now.


Notecards

More recently, six sets of A2 notecards and one set of mini notecards have found their way into my Etsy shop. Below are four of the six. I got to fold, glue, stamp, and use tools that heat up. Oo-RA.




Reclaiming Yarn

Instead of creating something here, I deconstructed it. What was once a thrift store wool sweater...



is now over 1700 yards of lace weight wool in my stash...



wound around the PVC niddy noddy THOMY made for me.



Yes, here is something I didn't make. THOMY also made the niddy noddy able to fold flat so I can store it. And I'm sorry I didn't take a picture with the yarn on it so you can see how it works, in case you're going "What the-- is a 'niddy noddy'?". Here's a video of one Goody Colonial Housewife using the device. (Hers isn't made of PVC.)


Annnnd that's what I've been doing since I finished the blanket. It's all helping me ignore the mud slinging we call our Presidential Campaign.

Raw Materials

I hauled home this



from the quilt show vendors last week. I thought the overdyed wool would make good châtelaine material.

This weekend, I brushed the dust off my beading tray and made the necklace portions of a few of them.



Only two of the necklaces are for the wool purchased last week. The other two are for felt I had already. There's more beading to do; the end products will be posted here in the fullness of time.

I consider this one step closer to picking up a quilting needle again.

ETA: Oh, the roller in the first picture? It's a seam presser. Handmade by Westenskow & Sons.

2007 Retrospective

I'm not above being a copycat. I saw this mosaic idea on don'tcallmebecky's blog, and she saw it on oiyi's blog. My mosaic is not as extensive, bless it. But here are my creations for the year.

2007 Creations
Originally uploaded by jennamay

Handcrafters' Holiday Meme, part deux

But, before that, a few words from our idle hands:

The first word, stitchmarkers. (I'm making it a compound word today, though I know better.)



I was messing around in my bead stash yesterday and came up with my first ever stitch markers. They're prettier than twist ties, but not as elegant as some you'll find on etsy.

The next word, Fetching.



These are mine, for typing in the middle of the night in the cold office/spare bedroom. First time I've knit on DPNs. First time I've knit cables. The cable needle dropped to the front was easier than dropped to the back. I'd make these mitts again if both had the dropped front cables.

Now, back to our meme.

Traditions

* What is your favorite family holiday tradition?
Well, honestly, when I was growing up my favorite holiday was Memorial Day because my parents and grandmother would take a couple days and drive around eastern Kansas to visit cemeteries you can get to only via country roads. And my dad drove a smidge too fast, so that part at least was thrilling.

As for Christmas, I miss the great, sprawling gathering at this same grandmother's house. (I know 'sprawling gathering' sounds oxymoronish, but that's what it was.) My mom came from a large family, and the farmhouse was always overflowing on Christmas Day. The kids didn't have their own table; they had their own *room*. It was a potluck dinner, and my mom usually made deviled eggs and Knox Blocks. And, oh! All the other desserts. Mmmm.

* Have you started any new traditions with your family that you didn’t practice growing up?
The baking is new to us. But due to deaths and illnesses in the family this year, my husband and I have foregone this new habit. Even thinking about it is too much work. We felt accomplished just to get the small tree decorated this year. I haven't done any shopping, except for the supplies to make the few gifts we're giving this year.

* What do you love most about the holiday season?
The opportunity to stay home and create things, without the duty of yard work hanging over my head.

* What do you like least about the holiday season?
Traffic: rude divers, no place to park when I finally try to venture out. I do not live in a town with great public transportation.

* Anyone close to your heart that you’ll be missing this year?
My father. He always came over for Christmas Dinner. It'll be just the two of us this year.

* What is your favorite holiday food?
Deviled Eggs. Or home-popped cranberry sauce. You know what I mean about popping cranberries if you've ever made the sauce from scratch.

* Do you have a great recipe to share?
My husband's birthday cake this year: Cocoa Mint Cake with Cocoa Peppermint Icing (also known a Mint Fiasco Frosting. See photo below.)



So not Martha Stewart. It's a good thing nonetheless. Here are the recipes...

Cake
2/3 cup butter
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar (I used 1 cup sugar and 2/3 cup Xylitol)
3 eggs
2 cups flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups milk
1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy

Cream butter, sugar and eggs until fluffy, and beat vigorously 3 mintues (high speed of mixer). In another bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; add alternately with milk to the creamed mixture. Bleand in crushed candy. Pour batter into 2 greased and floured 9-inch cake pans. Bake at 350-degrees F for 35 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans.


Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 2/3 cups (1 pound) confectioner's sugar
7 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Melt butter in a saucepan; add the cocoa and heat 1 minute or until smooth, stirring constantly. Alternately add sugar and milk, beathing to spreading consistency*. Blend in vanilla and peppermint extracts. Yield: About 2 1/4 cups, or enough for a 9-inch layer cake.

*Okay, this is where I messed up. "Spreading consistency" is what you get when the icing is finally cooled. It looks too runny while it's still hot. I learned this the hard way. I kept adding powdered sugar (about a half pound more than recommended) until it looked spreadable while it was still on the burner. So, when it cooled, it became majorly clumpy. Moral of the story: Trust the recipes. And don't drag "majorly" out of its '80s mothballs; you'll sound like you should have tall bangs.

In case I don't post again until the middle of next week, Merry Christmas.

Etsy Bitsy Blogaversary

My blog is a year old today. I had this long and drawn out entry started (just started, mind you) about what blogging has meant to me, what blogging about creativity has and could mean, what is art anyway, blah blah blah BLAH BLAH.

Obviously, I didn't post that one. It had an uncomfortable amount of sarcasm, too many unanswered questions, and that vague but definite feeling like I didn't know what the heck it was I was talking about.



1. Orange Plaid Chatelaine, 2. Golden Sage Chatelaine, 3. Yellow Petals and Pearls Chatelaine, 4. White Blush Chatelaine

So, instead of all that, I am going to share with you a new-to-this-blog craft I have been doing for a few years now. I make chatelaines. That's the fancy term for them. I have also called them Spool and Scissors Necklaces. I sold a few dozen at a regional quilt shop until recently when my father's death kind of kept me from doing a lot of things I used to do. Just today I opened an Etsy shop with the last four chatelaines I made before he passed away.

I'd like to make more, but only if all four of these darlings are sold before a four month period. The link to my Etsy shop is here or in the right hand column under My Email & Parallel Worlds. If you'd like a chatelaine in a color not represented in my Etsy shop, please let me know. Email me here or convo me through Etsy to let me know what color scheme you'd like.

If you've been reading my meanderings for a while now, thanks for sticking with me. If you're new around here...well, I feel for you. I've lived in this mind a long time and am still puzzled by it.