Scrapdash

Ribs N Bids Pancreatic Cancer Research Fundraiser

2009-11-09T15:27:00.000-06:00

As some of you are aware who know me in person, my mother passed away from pancreatic cancer in 1991. Since then, and with no special effort of my own, I have met many family members of pancreatic cancer patients. One such person asked me if I wanted to help out with a fundraiser for research and patient support. Without much idea of what I was getting myself into, I said yes.

So...

On Saturday, November 14, a fundraiser for research and assistance to patients of pancreatic cancer will be held at Plymouth Congregational Church in Wichita, Kansas. The doors will open at 5:30, and award-winning BBQ will be served. From 6-7:30 a silent auction will provide more opportunities to not only support pancreatic cancer research but also to enjoy (and take home!) the handiwork of local artisans.

Below is just a sampling of the items up for bid.

More information and photos of auction items are on the Ribs n Bids blog. For now, here is the poster for the fundraiser:

Tickets can be purchased at the following locations:

Plymouth Congregational Church
202 N Clifton Ave, Wichita, KS‎

Twist Yarn Shop
607 W. Douglas Ave., Wichita, KS

Accent Interiors
511 S Woodlawn Blvd, Wichita, KS

Watermark Books
4701 E Douglas Ave, Wichita, KS‎

Fire on the Waves

2009-10-15T11:26:00.003-05:00

Remember this blanket from last September?

Since you've probably slept since then, you may not. It was based on the water rescue scene in Stephenie Meyer's bookNew Moon, the second book of the Twilight series. Bella Swan had previously taken a header off a cliff just to hear the disembodied voice of her beloved Edward, and Jacob Black--a teen werewolf and Bella's long-suffering friend with a whole muzzle full of unrequited love for our heroine--had just rescued her. For a brief and horrible moment, Bella realizes later that she glimpsed on the waves the firey red hair of her most recent vampiric nemisis, Victoria.

There. That's the background for the inspiration of the blanket. The purpose of the blanket was to be included in a book of Twilight-based knitting patterns. Alas, it's inclusion ain't gonna happen, and neither is book. (Yes, the socks from the last post was meant for this book, too.) So now I get to publish the pattern myself.

Gotta love the ease of vanity publishing.

Here is the .pdf download for Fire on the Waves. It's also listed in the blog's margin under Needle Knitting How To's. If you're on Ravelry, the pattern page with its download is here.

A few specs for the blanket:

Finished Measurements
Approx. 46” x 58”, unblocked

Yarn
Bernat Satin, 100% acrylic, 163 yds (149m) per 100g,
19 skeins of #04111, Denim Mist Heather
(The yarn is held double-stranded. It can be substituted with about 1890 yds of a bulky weight yarn.)

Tools
40” US 11 (8mm) circular needle
Cable Needle
Stitch Markers
Tapestry Needle

Gauge
12 sts/16 rows = 4” stockinette stitch

The pattern has been through the needles of a few test knitters. If you find a problem with it, however, please let me know.

Off Road Socks

2009-10-11T08:57:00.004-05:00

Awhile back, I designed a pair of socks based on the Emmett Cullen character in the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. Why, you may ask. Well, because inspiration, provocation, and opportunity collided serendipitously in my corner of the Bermuda Triangle. My initial hope for publication of this pattern fizzled recently, but my local yarn shop's WONDERFUL proprietor asked to make the pattern her October Sock of the Month. I could tell you how thrilled I am about this, but I'd use up my lifetime supply of exclamation points.

Instead, I'll show you a big picture of the sock and share a link to the pattern.

Off Road Socks (.pdf link)
My Ravelry project page

The yarn I used for the sock pictured above, Maizy, feels great, but the Bittersweet color leeched dye horribly. It stained my fingers as I knit with it. It turned the wash water a shade of rancid grape juice. It inspired a limerick.

There once was a knitter with Maizy
whose yarn color drove quite crazy.
The Bittersweet bruises
on her fingers and toesies
provoked a more colorful phrase, see?

Knitting Hangover

2009-09-10T12:11:00.001-05:00

I woke up with a knitting hangover this morning: I could feel my eyeballs inside their sockets; the gravity of the moon was tugging and squeezing them out of shape. My prefrontal cortex couldn't have been more on fire than if I'd dowsed it with lighter fluid. And both fluorescent and incandescent light has been a spoon scraping under my scalp (oh look! alliteration). I shouldn't even be tempting the pain by typing these letters on a starkly contrasting background, but I'm driven to share.

Of course now that I've remembered to wear my close-up work spectacles, my eyes aren't straining quite as much as they apparently did yesterday when I knitted hour after hour without the proper eye protection. What I was finishing into the wee hours of last night is a scarf for the Red Scarf Project.

Pattern: Asherton
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft, Autumn Red color

I'm not working against a deadline or anything (the Red Scarf folks are accepting scarfs into December). I just wanted to finish the dang thing. I'd been working on it for a month already.

And now it's done! And now I'm going to wear my Ray Bans inside the house for awhile. Until the needles I ordered for my new project show up. Soon, I hope.

I can stop at any time.

My first shawl

2009-09-02T10:42:00.003-05:00

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.

My, how her garden grows

2009-08-11T16:25:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile since I posted, and the garden has been busy.

The plants outgrew their milk jugs, thankfully. Stuffed into the planting box we have miniature bell peppers...

...some are turning yellow.

Yellow is the theme for the garden this year, I guess, because we chose to grow Golden Nugget cherry tomatoes and lemon basil. The lemon basil is trying to flower in the left of the photo below (and it's not yellow, it's just REAL lemony).

And this is what all the waiting is for:

More orange than golden, don't you think?

There's a larger tomato variety growing in the box, too...Stiletz is the name, I believe. They are still green, and there are a modest amount, of which I'll take snaps later (I know, I know, you're palpitating with anticipation!). A fungus of some sort attacked our larger tomato plants, and their production is much slimmer. Overall, though, it's not so bad for a first time garden.

First teenie tomatoes EVER

2009-06-18T16:48:00.001-05:00

Not just this season, but the first I've grown in my whole adult life.

Juliet Hybrid cherry tomatoes. We didn't start this plant by seed; it was a freebie from a local nursery. It was a lot shorter then.

Do birds like cherry tomatoes? I'm praying not.

Garden Progress

2009-06-02T13:41:00.005-05:00

What's that in the table planter?

A healthy crop of milk jugs.

Or

A tomato plant in each one. The milk jug trick may be common knowledge among gardeners, but I learned it from my mom...ages ago, long before I ever cared about sweating over plants in June humidity. She cut the bottoms out of gallon jugs and used them as mini greenhouses while the tomato plants were still small.

I transferred these plants just today, and there's the prediction of a storm tonight, so hopefully these will get a good drink without being battered.

I haven't lost any of my plants yet.

Yet.

An addition to our household

2009-05-26T21:58:00.000-05:00

From the humane society, he came with the name Dipstick.

I called him Archie for a while, but THOMY kept calling him Harry.

So Harold Archibald Dipstick the First, it is. He's three months old and loves to be cuddled. He's probably the first kitten I've had who isn't too busy to stop and be held.

He's doing something

2009-05-17T20:42:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine is collecting baby hats to send to a ten-year-old boy who received a grant from DoSomething.org. His name is Andrew, and he is organizing a project to provide hats to newborns and preemies at Charlotte Medical Center in North Carolina. Heaven knows I have plenty of yarn to fill my friend's request for a hat. And during a road trip Friday, I produced two such items.

The left is a Tubey hat. I reworked the design to fit a tiny, preemie head. At least I hope it'll fit. I don't know much about babies' heads, but a knitter I know who makes lots of preemie hats told me once that if it fits an orange, it'll fit a preemie. I think the Tubey will fit a grapefruit. Or a two-cup Rubbermaid bowl, which is what's holding it up in the picture.

The other hat is a two-by-two rib. Both hats were knit to about seven inches in length and closed by the three-needle bind off method. The spiral tassels on the Tubey were added later.

If you're on Ravelry and want in on the project, go here.

Oh, and the road trip Friday? I went to The Yarn Barn in Lawrence, KS, something of a yarn store mecca, apparently. One of my companions went to test their spinning wheels and came home with one. I can tell you right now that I can't afford to be a hard-core spinner. I bought a drop spindle last fall, and that alone made THOMY's eyebrows struggle to stay even. [Love you, dear!] To be fair, the price of the spindle wasn't objectionable, just, "What? Another hobby and all it's paraphernalia?!"

What I did come home with however...

Lace weight cashmere. 2100 yards per cone, .003 cents per yard. I bought two cones. To heck for a moment with my solitary New Year's Resolution. It's cashmere. It did my cheapskate heart good.

Charity and penny-pinching extravagance in one blog post. That there's what you call ironic.

My Lizard Ridge

2009-05-11T16:01:00.002-05:00

Twenty-one months after I began, I've finished my Lizard Ridge throw.

It consumed twenty-four balls of Noro Kureyon and Plymouth Boku. After I knit all the blocks, I had almost 200 yards of leftover yarn which I spit-spliced together into a great big ball and used to seam together the blocks.

This is a reverse, single crochet stitch, a.k.a. crab stitch. Originally, I had though I'd use some sort of three-needle bind off process to seam the blocks. Don't ask me how I was going to do it, exactly, but it would've involved picking up stitches. Lots and lots of stitches. The crab stitch gave me a visible seam with a lot less hassle.

And because I used a Rail Fence layout (the design on each block is perpendicular to its neighbor) for my rectangular blocks, I stretched the shorter of the two blocks being seamed. This forced the seam to lie to one side and caused a woven look throughout the blocks. Unexpected design feature!

Eleven grams--all that's left over:

This is your brain on yarn.

Some New Things

2009-05-05T15:31:00.005-05:00

We are trying our hand at gardening here at Casa Scrapdash, and we have successfully jumped the first hurdle: sown seeds have sprouted.

Lemon Basil

Bell Peppers, a miniature variety.

We've assembled a planter table in which to grow our small garden. It's the ultimate in raised beds because I will not have to stoop or kneel to tend to the plants. We have seeds for shorter, bushier tomato plants, too, which I've stuck in the super special organic potting soil just today. I know, I know. I'm way late on planting them. Give this newbie a break; I've gotta act like a gardener until the plants believe me.

So far, so good.

Also, I'm trying to knit honest-to-God lace. In a rectangular stole, though, for crying out loud, not a triangular shawl or something 3D like a sweater. I'm not a complete adrenaline junkie*. So far, I've made a swatch of the stitches I'm going to use and the picot cast on edge for the beginning of the stole. I've taken two stitch patterns from A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker--an entirely awesome book--and put them together because, baby, they were made for each other. Maybe, just maybe, if all goes well and I don't hang myself by my lifeline, I'll jot down the pattern to share with generations hereafter.

Another so far, so good...

*I just remembered that I did make lace in 3D last year, in the form of the Lightning Lace Jacket. But that was when I was younger and stupider. It had nothing to do with adrenaline. More like cortisol pumping into the veins.

Garter stitch plus no seams

2009-04-16T14:37:00.002-05:00

...equals one super-easy blanket.

Look Ma, No Seams Blanket
Yarn: Marble Chunky, Adobe color, 3 balls
Needles: US 11 circulars, 40" long

The design is based on an explanation of the technique at the blog Things Soo Likes. The trick is to find a variegated yarn that can make long bands of color. After casting on twenty stitches for the first panel, I knit in garter stitch until it seemed long enough for a sofa throw. I then weighed the remaining ball of yarn to determine how much yarn I'd used, which was about half. So I knew I could knit a 40-stitch panel out of one ball, and that knowledge helped at the very end when I had a throw that was not quite wide enough but I still had one ball left. I cast on 40 stitches for the final panel and had just enough to complete the blanket. Woohoo!

Santa Fe

2009-04-02T16:06:00.003-05:00

This time last week, THOMY and I were hightailing it out of Santa Fe a day early to avoid the snow storms that were predicted to blind us along our entire route home very soon. At 2:30 Friday morning, we rolled into our driveway without one drop or flake having fallen on us. When we woke up about eight hours later, and for most of the weekend, all was ice and gray skies.

In Santa Fe, we stayed in an apartment, in a four-plex building which was once housing for the military in Santa Fe...a verrry old place. Having such a casita within the edges of Old Santa Fe was supposed to be a big advantage since the narrow, confusing streets in this city center discourages driving. THOMY and I were just going to walk everywhere. I love doing that because I'm not so thrilled with driving in any unfamiliar place; it punches all the zen out of a vacation, you know?

So it was supposed to be a bonus. However, I had developed some trouble with my back before we left for Santa Fe, and it only got worse once we were there. I even brought my electric heating pad, which I began to endearingly call my tuffet. By Tuesday morning, though, I was in tears with pain.

I persevered, of course. I was on vacation, dadgumit--the farthest West and the highest up in elevation I'd ever been for a lowlands girl. So I pulled on my big girl panties--no trifling feat--sucked in the air-deficient air, and I loped from block to block. I sat every few hundred feet to calm my lungs, vertebrae, and occasionally my husband before hoisting myself up and doing it some more. Consequently, many of my touristy photos are close ups of things I found around me as I rested.

In my hometown, geese are more of an annoyance than pigeons. So the pigeons of Santa Fe's central Plaza amused me for awhile.

The left one seems to be looking at his neighbor, thinking, "Sheesh, man. Table manners!"

We went to see The Miraculous Staircase in Loretto Chapel. (Visit the website to read the story behind it.) The chapel is no longer a workaday holy place, but quietness remains in the atmosphere there.

Underside of the staircase.

On Museum Hill, I rested in the courtyard between four amazing museums. And this is what I saw near me.

Once again, I have no idea what the name of the plant is. But I like it.

And just to make this entry narrowly related to creativity, I found the most awesome yarn shop in Santa Fe: Miriam's Well, which is also the Santa Fe School of Weaving. Here is her courtyard.

I bought a purse there made by a Guatemalan woman who is named on the label inside. The label isn't in English, but I think the gist is she is part of a creative cooperative through the Methodist denomination. I like the personal weight of carrying around her name along with all the things I need in that bag.

The bag, the yarn, and a small glass vase I brought back from Santa Fe.

If you'd like to see more of my touristy photographs, you're welcome to view my Santa Fe Flickr album.

Gifts

2009-03-19T20:58:00.002-05:00

It's not even my birthday.

A surprise from a talented potter. Cobalt is my favorite color.

Another friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer recently. As someone in her quilting group, I made a few blocks for her comfort quilt.

It's a raw-edge applique quilt. I don't remember the quilt pattern's name, but the loose edges will ravel once the quilt is washed. Each block was quilted before it was sewn into the quilt.

Even the seams between the blocks will be left exposed to ravel up some. My favorite blocks to make were the squares. The circles kept cupping as I sewed them down, even when starched...though not as much. The quilt is a great stash buster, and the cutting and sewing laughs at perfectionism. I like laughing at perfectionism.

Another surprise came to me this week: thank you cards from a third grade class in Kansas.

Have you ever heard of DonorsChoose.org? Please go visit the site if you get the chance. It's "an online charity connecting you to classrooms in need." The donor gets to chose which project proposal to support, in full or in part, and DonorsChoose will purchase and ship the requested supplies to the classroom. It's awesome.

Finally, my next thank-you blanket.

It's based on the "Look Ma - No Seams!" throw on the blog Things Soo Likes. I'm using Marble Chunky yarn and size US 11 needles. I was worried all the garter stitch would drive me batty by now, but I'm holding steady. Progress happens more quickly with fatter needles.

At least something moves quickly when more girth is involved.

What's done is done

2009-03-13T11:13:00.003-05:00

I've finished a few items in the near month since I last posted.

The Felted Windmill Bag

More or less, a failure. It's only a bag because I hammered a few jeans snaps up the sides. Otherwise it's an arm sling for the Jolly Green Giant. My wayward moment with this project was knitting each panel too widely, 40 stitches wide I think. I didn't have enough yarn to make each panel twice a long, so the felting produced this...thing.

Waterfall Throw

A much better result, even though I drifted from the instructions on this one, too. The pattern by Lion Brand yarn calls for a GIANT size US 35 set of needles and to double-strand the Homespun yarn. I tried it but I value the few strand of coherency I have left to me in my middle age. So I went down to a size US 17 set with very pointy tips, used a single strand of yarn, and cast on about twice as many stitches. With this yarn, needles with very pointy tips is key. They keep down the blood pressure. This is a thank-you gift for someone who helped tremendously with the work on my dad's house.

I have a few more items to show, but not enough time to write about them just now. They'll give me the incentive to update this here blog more often!

Eat your heart out

2009-02-18T08:35:00.002-06:00

The refreshments for my small quilting group last night came in three sizes: big guilt, bite-sized guilt, or no guilt (the strawberries).

Most opted for a large guilt with no guilt on the side. It all evens out, I guess.

I found the brownie recipe on Martha Stewart, but I replaced the unsweetened chocolate with Ghirardelli's Intense Dark, Twilight Delight. De-ca-dent.

In the Meantime

2009-02-12T17:34:00.002-06:00

Although I have all the projects I mentioned last week still in the works, I decided to knit a pair of socks for Valentine's Day.

Be Mine from the book 2-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes. As with the last pair of socks I knit, I made both socks in tandem, one per pair of circs and using two separate skeins of Knit Picks Palette, fingering weight yarn in the flagrantly poignant color name Red. (It's actually refreshing to not see strained names such as Flashpoint Red or Hearthside Red on the ball band. If this hue had a more flamboyant name, it'd probably be Prickly Heat Red or Digital Clock Red, something bright, exuberant, and kinda annoying.)

These Be Mine socks ARE mine. No giving these puppies away. I do have to say, however, that while this pair of socks fit me, mostly, I think I'm going to knit socks in a tighter gauge from here on out. The bottom part of the heel on each foot still pooches a little over the backs of my clogs. I'd like the heels to be smoother.

Other than that, though, I HEART my heart socks. And they're wool! Another first for me.

Works in Progress

2009-02-03T12:39:00.002-06:00

We have way too many recipes. Most of the excess comes from recipe magazines we've collected over the years. So, one of this year's projects is to vet the mags and various internet recipes I've printed out. Here's one we're going to keep:

Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies.

Instead of icing them, I dusted them with powedered sugar. I've had the set of miniature cookie cutters for awhile, thanks to a sister-in-law. I won the set during one of her Christmas Open House games. The recipe makes hordes of miniature cookies.

I have several other works in progress going on right now. In my 2009 quest to use yarn in my stash before I buy any, I've got a bag and a blanket crammed into my chair-side knitting trunk.

Windmill Bag

The pattern is for a cotton bag, but I'm using wool yarn. I doubled the width of each panel and lengthened them so I can felt the bag to a normal size. I hope. I'm guessing the math, of course, so I've got nothing but adventure ahead of me.

Waterfall Throw (Ravelry link)

I'm hoping this one will turn out as a decent thank you blanket for someone who helped us tremendously on Dad's house. I have two afghans to make, and the first afghan was a flop. I'm not going to post a picture of it here lest looking at it turns you to stone. It was wonky, and the chenille yarn wormed wildly. It's kinda like cuddling with a shag rug that keeps whispering "Feed me, Seymour."

My last work in progress is a left turn, happy accident from what I had intended for the thrift store sweater. I bought the sweater--along with a boat load of other ones--during Goodwill's annual dollar sale at the end of the year. I was going to unravel the sweater and reclaim the cotton yarn. BUT I didn't notice that the shoulder seams had been serged (cutting the yarn in the process, rendering it useless for winding easily) until I'd already removed the collar. Sooo, I decided to make a bag out of the thing. It's got beautiful cables. Here's what I've done so far.

It's the first time I've used fusible Peltex. It fused to the back of the sweater without a hitch, but the thickness is a little hard on my sewing machine. So, I'm proceeding slowly to reduce the frustration factor.

Now for a confession... I have acquired some new yarn. Before I was allowed to. The first two skeins, however, I am not counting as a 2009 acquisition because it was set aside for me in 2008 as a prize from the yarn shop hop.

Sock yarn!

The next TEN SKEINS (of Wool-Ease Thick and Quick) are meant to replace the befouled blanket I might be too ashamed to give to a house fire victim. So, while I'm making myself count them in my 2009 purchases, I'm not feeling a bit of guilt about having bought them before I used up twice as much yarn from what I already have.

I think that's enough to keep me busy for a while. I'll try to post again before the month is out to let you know how it's going.

And, okay, Melanie... I KNOW I said last night that I was doing only practical stuff lately. I guess, not really. Lord knows I don't need another bag.

How'd we do and what's ahead

2009-01-01T09:00:00.004-06:00

In the interest of fair and objective reporting, here is the 2008 Resolutions list I published last January and how I did on them:

1. Settle on a blogland term of endearment for my husband. (DONE. THOMY: the husband of my youth. I've called him this for years already in cards and notes, even when I could still claim to be youthful.)

2. Knit THOMY a sweater. (DONE)

3. Quilt Lumberjack Butterflies. (NOT EVEN...but I did finish another quilting UFO.)

4. Dad's house: Finish renovations and place it on the market. (DONE and DONE.)

5. At every meal, except on Fridays, have more vegetables/fruit than meat and carbs on the plate. Why not Fridays, too? Cuz. (EVERY DAY TURNED OUT TO BE A FRIDAY...Well, most days anyhow.)

6. And, for crying out loud, finish reading at least 4 books that I've already begun, one per season. (This one is tricky because I can't remember when I began reading a few of the books I completed this year. I read ten books, mostly fiction. Mostly to do with romance...mostly romance for the vampiric, time-traveling, extra terrestrial, or the angelic set. lol. But I did squeeze in a book of poetry and a spin off, historical thriller about a Dickens literary character, Tiny Tim.)

7. Place one handmade thing for sale each month on etsy. (I decided to do a lump make-and-sell during the fall. At least twelve items were added to the shop. And a few even sold!)

8. Make and send my Pay-It-Forward gifts. (DONE)

9. Walk or ride bike each week day, unless I'm sick. (I guess I was sick A LOT. No. I was just on my tush making a kajillion things.)

So, six and half accomplishments out of nine...not so bad.

This year, I'm making only one resolution: For every two yards of yarn I use up from my stash, I am allowed to buy one yard in replacement.

That's it. That's the resolution. Some terminology definitions might be in order, though.

What do I mean by "stash"? The whole sum of yarn I have acquired and NOT USED IN A COMPLETED PROJECT by December 31, 2008. This includes thrift store sweaters I have yet to unravel and recycle. This also includes yarn that has been knitted in a project that isn't done yet.

What do I mean by "use up"? That I knit or crochet it, ideally, into a completed project. But selling, giving, or trading it away count, too. (Trading yardage for something other than someone else's yardage, of course, unless that someone else's yardage is half the yardage of my yardage. Capiche?)

And, "buy"? You know. With money. Or conch shells.

I'm tracking the yardage through the Stash feature in Ravelry. Yay, Ravelry!

And now, for other things I'd like to accomplish this year but will not promise anyone anything:

1. My first vegetable garden. I hate summer. I hate, despise, loathe, recoil from, and otherwise detest heat. Wet heat, especially. I sunburn in April on a cloudy day, for land sakes. My very atoms can't stand anything approaching summer. But...I love home-grown tomatoes. I love them more than I hate summer. So, we're going to try to grow some 'maters this year. Any suggestions for good varieties to grow in containers?

2. Work up to 10,000 steps a day by the end of April.

That should keep me busy, I think.

2008 DIY Retrospective

2008-12-30T13:40:00.004-06:00

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

2008-12-13T11:46:00.005-06:00

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.

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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.

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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.

Blogaversary

2008-11-19T19:20:00.003-06:00

Thanks to Teena in Toronto, I was alerted this evening that today has been my blogaversary. This makes two years!

As a hastily-conceived kind of celebration, I'm going to pose a challenge. Out of all those who provide a correct answer to it in the comments section to this post, I'll draw someone randomly to win a prize. What prize? I don't know. Something handmade, no doubt. Just include in your comment whether you are a quilter or yarn fondler (via crochet or knitting) or whatever else is your favorite creative endeavor. That may influence what I send you. Oh, and you need to be sure I can contact you via email or through your blog if you have one, so please provide that information, too.

Now for the challenge question:

If my Almost Amish Puzzle quilt was an actual puzzle, how many pieces would be in the box?

Take a look at the photo in the previous post to help you. You can either guesstimate or give me a calculated answer, but the answer must be exactly correct to go into the prize pool.

I'll draw the winner this coming Sunday, about noon Central Standard Time.

Best wishes!

With an enemy like this

2008-11-15T14:05:00.002-06:00

First, thank you to those who told me my little mystery plant is a Prayer Plant. I now have a better idea how to get it started in its own pot.

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Onto recent news...

The box from my Ravelry/New Moon swap partner came yesterday.

This is the first knitting swap both my partner and I have participated in. All the participants in the swap are divided into three teams: Pack, Volturi, Coven, which no doubt will mean nothing for those of you who haven't read the books in the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer.

Without explaining ad naseum, I am a member of the Pack (of werewolves...no snickering in the peanut gallery for those of you who know me personally). My swap partner is one of the Volturi...a ruling class of bad, people-hunting vampires. In the books, these two groups are enemies.

In reality, my swap partner had already kindly volunteered to test knit my blanket pattern when we were assigned to each other. So, this is the kind of enemy I like. I especially like an enemy who plies me with Heath bars. And beautiful, cobalt blue stitch markers such as these:

I plan to box up my swap goodies for my partner this week. After she receives them, I'll post a picture of the kit here. (Yay! Something to look forward to.) ;)

And who is in the Coven, you may wonder? Good vamps. They live as families and don't hunt people. They go for big game like bears. Cranky bears are the best.

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Another nemesis of mine is now one of my favorites.

Here is THOMY holding it.

Almost Amish Puzzle

Just a recap about this project, since I haven't mentioned it in awhile. This was a block of the month quilt back in 2002 through a local quilt shop that has since changed ownership once and location twice. As of this summer, three or four of the blocks were still not pieced. But when I won a machine quilting gift certificate through my quilt guild, I was inspired to finish this little beauty with a layout I slapped together all by myself. After it came back from the quilter, I didn't finish the binding until this Tuesday, which was guild meeting day. It has now been shown to my fellow quilters, and it has now been shown to you. I can strike this one off the TODO list and give it to my cat, which is her right as Royal Recliner onto All Things New and Soft.

Mystery Flora Theatre 3000

2008-11-08T11:54:00.002-06:00

Since I have been clued in so faithfully here to the names of growing things, I have two more mystery plants to present.

#1. A house plant.

This specimen grew out of a pot with a variety of plants in it. For some reason, the stem was crushed or just quit drinking, and the leaves began to shrivel. I removed the new growth and cut off the crushed part of the stem. It's been in a glass of water for a few days now and looks like this. But I'd like to promote root growth so I can re-pot the plant. If I knew the kind of plant this is, I could do some care and feeding research.

#2. A volunteer tree.

Through Freecycle, we were allowed to dig up chunks of Periwinkle one summer. I planted them in a big, wooden pot so, as they grew, they'd cascade over the side. Well, they died. In their place sprouted this tree. It's two or three years old, getting bigger while I was too preoccupied to pay it much mind. It's almost four feet tall now.

I'm guessing...elm?