Shrugging

Miss Girl's shrug is a total success.  It fits her to a tee, and she loves it.   She's already requested a white one, and is debating color options for the one after that.  I may have to teach her how to knit her own.  For the next shrug, I think I'll do a bit narrower sleeve, increasing the width of the shrug for good shoulder coverage.  Miss Girl is one of those people who run cold, so a shrug is a perfect thing for her, winter or summer.  And it's a great accessory for allowing the horse design on her tee to show.  Horses are her favorite animal ever. 

 

 

 

Kitchen Meme

Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, underline the ones you have but use less often, italicize the ones you have and don’t use,
strike through the ones you have had but got rid of.

I've had a blog all this time and have never done a meme.  Wow.  Oversight.  Must correct.

I wonder how many pasta machines*,
breadmakers,juicers, blenders,
deep fat fryersegg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes,
cheese boards, cheese kniveselectric woks, salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, martini glasses, tea strainers,
bamboo steamerspizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, crock pots,
pressure cookersslow cookers, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves,
ice cream makersfondue sets,
healthy-grillshome smokers, tempura sets, waffle makers,  tortilla presses*, electric whisks, cherry stoners, candy thermometers, food processors

bacon presses, bacon slicers, mouli mills, cake testers, pestle-and-mortars, and sets of kebab skewers languish dustily at the back of the nation’s cupboards.

* Denotes stuff I make by hand.  Really, if you don't have your hands in some things, you have not made them.

I'm so depressed

I've been knitting along on the mermaid colored Liesl that won the 'finish me first' UFO competition, and the more I knit, the less sure I am that this thing actually fits. .  This isn't good. 

The sleeves seem as if they'd be very tight if the sweater was worn over a shirt that had sleeves.  Solution: redo the sleeves to add a pattern repeat in the section of bound off stitches.  (Can't fudge with the live stitches held on waste yarn.) 

And that worked out perfectly. 

It's complete!  It turned out really well, if I do say so myself - and clearly, I do.
The additional pattern repeat makes all the difference.  The pattern shows people wearing the sweater over camis and summer frocks, but I wanted to be able to wear it over whatever I wanted to wear it over.   And now, I can. 

Oh - Julie - you're so right about waste yarn.  It's a horrible name.  They could say 'scrap yarn.'  They SHOULD say scrap yarn.  Let's lobby!

Previously...

Previously on  Cozy's blog, there was voting for which project she should do. Liesl took the lead.  I tried it on.  It was good.   The only thing better would be to actually complete it.

To get things properly stowed, I gathered them up the other projects and put them into project bags.  

The multi-mini-skein projects went into baskets.

So now  the decks are somewhat cleared. 

It's time to complete the sweater so that one might (gasp) WEAR it.

 

What shall I finish next?

Do you have project monogamy issues?  If you don't, may as well find a new blog to read today, as my topic du jour will be incomprehensible to you.  I do commend you for your maturity and dedication - but if you have the fortitude to start one thing and completely compete it before you start a new thing, then we may have  dialogue issues.  Because I can't do that.  At all.

If you're like me and have an attention span shorter than that of the average May fly, read on.  (I have no data about the attention span of a May fly, but as they only live a day or so, it can't be all that impressive.)  I have a lot of items that are in varing stages of doneness and they need to be completed.  But which to do first? It's a big decision.  And you need to help me.

In no particular order - we have:

1. My 'Psycho-deli' shawl.  It's very organic, growing from the bottom point up from sock yarn scraps.  All the stringers you see hanging off will eventually be woven in, as I am no longer a huge fan of fringe. 

 

2. A little shawlette/scarf made with 2 of my hand-dyed yarns.  The pattern name is 'High Speed Knitting,' which I'm sure it is for people who actually finish the item before starting 12 more projects.  

 

 3.  A lovely Liesl, made with a wool/bamboo blend yarn.  I stalled out on this after completeing one sleeve, just to see how they went.
They go good.  So why am I not knitting the heck outta this?  I do not know.

4.  A linen stitch cowl made of sock yarn scraps.  This has been hanging around since March.  It's fun.  I like the idea of it.  I need to finish it.

5.  A cute little super simple wrap called 'Just Knit It'.  Which literally is pretty much what you do.  It's garter stitch.  I am further along on it than this photo  indicates, but not THAT much further.  It's a light fingering weight yarn I dyed my own self.

Comment to cast a vote.  There are no prizes other than the warm glow of knowing you've helped me along the road to decision making.  (Yeah, bummer, I know.) 

I Just Learned...

...that funny little arrow dealie on all the Amazon packages is supposed to be a smile.
Okay.  I'll smile back.  See?  Good-o.

...that you can knit some really, really cool things with very, very little yarn.  Wee-neesy hearts that take around 4 feet of yarn per each to knit  too cute.  And yes, I do mean four feet. 

And then, if you make a little length of
i-cord, you can sew the i-cord into a circle, and then you can sew the heart onto the circle, and voila - you have a cute little heart bracelet for small girls who like green. 

Or whatever color.  It doesn't take much yarn or much time. 

...that I really like cool-looking fun  projects that don't take much time.

 
 And if you knit a little herd of the little hearts, you can make a tiny headband for a baby. 

That's a lot of results for 8 yards of yarn.  And yes, this time, I do mean yards.
6 hearts at 4 feet each equals 24 feet.  So divide that by 3, and you get 8 yards.  Right?  Seems good.  I learned a long time ago that math isn't my best thing.

But I am really cute.  That helps.

Squirrels and other hoarders

Squirrels are apparently very resourceful little guys.  I've never seen one eat fruit before.  This little fellow found a rock hard windfall pear at the base of the tree and apparently it was calling his name.  He picked up up horizontally, as if it was corn on the cob, and munched his way around it very efficiently. 

About 50 feet away from him is a pecan tree that is absolutely loaded, but apparently this is your new squirrel, the type that eats a more balanced diet that includes fresh fruit. 

Whatever.  I just hope he doesn't bury a bunch of pears for future reference.  For one thing, I don't need a pear forest. And if he remembers where he's buried them, he'll likely be sadly disappointed with what remains when he digs it up.


I've been hoarding all the little snips and snaps of sock yarn, like a dutifiul little squirrel, and now it's time to Do Something With Them.   Projects  so far range from small to large and several points in between.  Here we have garter stitch woolbling garnished with orphan buttons. 

 

More bracelets are in the works, garter stitched like the ones up there, and also some with i-cord and buttons.

We have the many-colored mitts of  scrap yarny splendor.

My current project is a herd of tiny hearts that will become a little circlet for Bebe to wear.  There'll be photos of those soon.

The biggest project of all is a mini-skein shawl.  Because I don't want to be a silly squirrel, hoarding all the goodies and then forgetting where I stowed them.  I want to knit them. 

Events Update

It appears that I have posting fail.  My goal was twice a week.  I didn't even manage once a week.  How can this be?  I have so very much to say, and I'm so sure that people want to read it.  I'm going to have to come up with a twice a week fixed schedule that will be doable.  At the moment, I'm thinking about posting on the days the garbage dudes come.  There's a certain symetry to that. However, I'm not totally committed to it. I'll let you know.

Meanwhile, big things have happened here.  For one, we had a baby! 

She is quite splendid in very respect, of course, from her soft downy little head to her very nomable toes. 

The mania of cast-on

It's possible that I AM going to have to look at set days for posting if I'm going to stick to the twice a week goal.  Time goes too fast!  But not yet.  For now, I will remain with my personal fave - randomness. 

I really enjoyed the Ravellenic Games, especially the Cast-on event.  Now that's some fun, especially for the easily distracted.  You cast on,  knit 33% of an item...and set it aside and cast on a new thing.  I basically went until I began running out of needle options.  I got a total (I think) of 24 medals in the 'games' (ha!  more than Mr. Phelps, AND I did not have to get wet!), although not all were in the Cast-on Trap Shoot.  Fortunately.  I now have a LOT of WIPS to complete!  I did some smaller projects, such as the leftover sock yarn mitts, and some larger ones, like the (hand dyed by moi) garter stitch scarf. 

 And we got to see that the Baby Bowl indeed works beautifully.  DD wanted one for use as a photo prop, and it turned out to be really cute.  This is not our upcoming Bebe, but rather a quite handsome model, posing quite contentedly in the cocoon.  Look how precious the tiny backlit toes are! 

Being Crafty

After determining that the quite awesomely pink micro-suede fabric I had stashed was indeed washer/dryer safe, I made two little blankies for Bebe.  One is DD's chosen focus fabric, the white and  black damask with Minky, and the other is the suede with Minky.   Pinky Minky.

I made myself a very cool shawl - the Afternoon Tea pattern from a recent Knitty - using stash yarn.  I called my version of this shawl 'Green Tea' and I like it quite a lot. 

And I dyed some yarn, aiming more for kettledyes that I can use in shawls.  Because I've discovered the zenlike wonders of garterstitch shawls.  Purling seems to be unhappy making for the carpals, so garter stitch is quite pleasing. Meditative, too.  And relaxing.

Additionally, I discovered the Yarn Blossom.  I love Yarn Blossoms. I'm not 100% sure I can break up that pairing to skein the orangey-canteloupey yarn.

Did an overdye of a yarn that had been dyed in short color sequences.  I like how this one came out - nice, subtle color changes and lots of gentle but deep shades.

It reminds me of the lilies that were in bloom last week, those crazy ones that have leaves only in the spring, and then in late summer or early fall send up a stalk with multiple blooms and nary a leaf in sight.

And this one that I call Aztec.  You know the lore - the golden treasures and all that.  These colors make me happy.  I want to make a shawlette using this yarn.  I haven't selected a pattern yet.  Getting there is half the fun, of course. 

 

Random Knitting

Knitters who have blogs usually talk about their knitting.  I have not been keeping this fine tradtion going.  Not that I'm not knitting.  Just that I tend not to blog about it.
So I shall.  Here we have a wee shrug for the upcoming Bebe.  It seems big for a newborn size, but seriously, she isn't going to be wearing it for a couple of months, so it should all be good.

Then, after a huge time off, I dyed some stuff, and it's all for ME.  Yes.  Selfish.  Ask me if I care. 

And if you are on Ravelry, you can get fine virtual medals featuring a cute Boston face.  I think I have about a dozen so far.  I've not been keeping track, but I have a lot of them, and I haven't had to eat anything from Subway.

(I made a promise to myself that I'd post at least twice a week for the remainder of this year.  We'll see how it goes.  But I want you to be aware that I promised nothing regarding the literary merit of any post, nor the quality.) 

So long in the making...

At long last, these mitts are completed.  They've been in the works since 2010.  Seriously.  For fingerless gloves.  I made one and stalled out.  So finally, I present to you, A Pair of Mitts.

Please applaude.

Spider Woman

In Navajo lore, Spider Woman weaves marvelous designs.  In lore, of course, it references the fabulous blankets Najavo weavers produce. 

In our case, she's a real spider.  She's know as a Garden Spider.  They are really territorial.   This one - or her ancestors - have been weaving in this area for several years.  It's nicely sheltered from the wind and it's excellent hunting territory, clearly.  I didn't see anything noteworthy in her pantry this morning, but it's early yet.  She might snag herself a cricket today.  She's always got a smatering of gnats, mosquitos, flies and other small-sized pests, but occasionally, she'll get industrious and go after big game.  Once, she caught a wasp.  Impressive!  She's gotten several crickets, but no grasshoppers.  Not sure why not.  Maybe they aren't as tasty.  They look as if they'd be kind of  tough and dry.  No plans to sample any to find out, but they have that leathery look that doesn't bode well.

 

I'm not sure what the life span of these spiders is, but our girl here has been busy  weaving for the past month, and I assume it's the same spider.  As the fall approaches, she'll produce a large, football shaped egg sac that she'll hide from spider preditors, and come spring, one of her daughters will probably continue the legacy in much the same location. 

I like the zigzaggy bit.  A lot.

Good Foundations

In umpty years of quilting, I've never tried a foundation pieced quilt before, and now, voila - I have.  Wowser - addictive, and accurate.  Foundation piecing - where have you been all  my life.  (FP says nothing, which really, when all is considered, is for the best.)

The name of this block is "Square in a Square".  It's also known as "Economy,"
although I have no idea as to the back story for that.  It's not the most frugal use of fabric I've ever encountered.  Maybe because when all is said and done, it's a basically a 9-Patch block. 

 You sew the fabrics directly to the foundation paper.  The placement numbers tell you which fabrics go on first.  Start in the center and work out - pretty logical, you have to say it.
When you have sewed all 9 fabric units into place, here's what you've got.

 And then it's time to start peeling off the foundation paper.  This can be fun.  Look, Mommy!  I made shapes!  See!

 And when the paper is removed, there you have it.  A completed and very accurate quilt block.  And I should add that this is the wrong side.  The pretty side is the up side.  The interesting side is the down side.  See?  Of course you do.

 Lots and lots of them!  I'm thinking 80 of these six-inch babies will make a pleasant little quilt.  40 with a light-dark-light combination, and 40 with a dark-light-dark configuration. 

This is the self-proclaimed 'easiest' of the blocks in the book I used. I foundation pieced with Alex Anderson.  She says a child could sew this block.  Me personally?  Whatever...but I do not wish to meet this child.  Of course, 'child' is a relative term.  Does she mean an actual child? A third grader, perhaps?  Or a younger adolescent?  I can see a careful, patient 12-year-old stitching a few of them.   If you know any careful, patient 12-year-olds, we can experiment. 

I can't say that I know any actual, Real Life children who would enjoy patiently, carefully stitching their way through enough blocks to produce even a placemat, but I know several who would love to pick the foundation paper off the back all 80 of these blocks.  (Which brings up an interesting thought: why am I not asking them to do this?  Hummm....)

So, when this little quilt fellow here grows up, when the blocks are stitched into rows, and the rows joined to form the top, and sandwiching and quilting occurs, it will be in the general neighborhood of  48 by 60 inches, plus whatever borders I've opted to use.  Overall, a lap or a nap quilt.  For me.  Because by the time I've completed it, I will be tired.

100th Project Slides By

I just realized today, as I posted Project # 104 on Ravelry that I had slid right past the epic 100 project mark.  Not only did it go past uncelebrated - I didn't even notice it.  Did not notice I was getting  into the upper 90s.  Did not notice when I was at 99.  Did not notice until now.  104.  Wow.
Of course, this is not by any means all of the projects I have made since I first began crafting, back in the Paleozoic Era.  (Those sabertooth tiger tooth needles were really awkward to manipulate, but not as awkward as getting them in the first place.)


Actually, it was posting a photo of one of my very earliest - and here-to-fore unhearalded knitting projects that brought me into contact with the fact that I'd crossed the 100th Project Rubicon without batting a lash.

That project was a bag knit from batik fabric - and that is it right there.  (Imagine an arrow, pointing right.)
The 'yarn' is made by cutting 5 yards of batik fabric into continuous 3/4 inch strips.   That was some fun.  The knitting of it is easy. It's just knit in the round and seamed on the bottom.  I added a lining, of course, and crocheted the handle rather than doing an I-cord.  It was a time when I did not know how to deal with - or even find, for that matter - DPNs.
It's kind of faded.  It's been in use for 6 years, and I'm just now doing its fashion shoot.  It was far more colorful originally.

 

Tea

 

It's teatime.  Something herbal and soothing that won't make my brain too
frisky.  Frisky brain is often overrated. 
Calm is good, too. 

The  tags on Yogi brand teabags have little sayings on them, and each box of tea has how-tos for a yoga stretch.  It's good.  Sip the tea.  Do the stretches.  Ponder the sayings...

... and voila...

Wait.  There has been no voila.  I am exactly the same as I had been previously.

Oh dear.

evoL, actually

Oh, my heck.

Question:  Who works for hours on a batik fabric bag and fails to notice that she has sewn the incorrect sides of said batik fabric together until very much time has passed?

Who does this?

Answer: Me.

Yes, it is true.  evoL is in the air.

Le sigh.

For those of you who don't sew, you have to keep in mind that a good batik fabric is 'nice' on both sides. Unlike standard fabric printing methods that result in a 'right' and a 'wrong' side.  Which means, in my own defense, that when you are working with high quality batiks, you really don't get lots of 'tells' to immediately alert you to little oversights.  Such as the fact that you've got right/wrong issues.  Until much later, when uoy ezilaer emosgniht si ffo.  Such as the fact that your lovely new batik bag says 'evol'. 

Le sigh.

 

The Olden Days

Been thinking about the old postcards, and how perhaps sending a postcard was the 1910 equivalent of sending a text.

Postcards were a good way to communicate.  Postcards were plentiful - although it did cost a penny to mail them, and a penny was real money in 1910.  But mail was delievered twice a day, and if you wanted to get a quick message to your friend, postcards were the ticket.

They couldn't text because they didn't have cell phones.  They did have phones - or  perhaps it's more accurate to say there was telephone service available.  But a phone in every home was not a given in 1910.  I  dare say some people were waiting for phone service to become one of those fads that reach a certain point in popularity and then just fade from existance.  (Eight-track cassettes. Cassettes.  BetaMax VCRs.  VCRs.)

That's kind of the way a lot of people looked at the internet when it first cropped up out of the primal soup, born of those early computers that were the size of the average garage, and which slowly ground out long skinny cards with holes punched in them.  Printed on each card was the cheery message, "Do not bend, fold, spindle or mutilate."   (If you remember this personally, you are as old as a rock, but hey - rocks are good.  They had their day, too.)

And all this brings us to the really big question: How on earth did people get along back then, when were were no cell phones.  Or refrigerators.  Or microwaves. 

They got along just fine.  Here's why: all the stuff we take for granted today had not been invented.  It didn't exist.  They did not know it would exist.  They couldn't have it...sing with me now...because it did not exist.  Consequently, they got along swell.

People back then were amazed by the new inventions of their era.  They were happy with the new inventions of their era.  The new inventions of their era were bold and modern and much superior to the new inventions of earlier eras. 

Huh.  That sounds kind of familiar. 

I guess I'll go text somebody. 

Pinterst 1, Cozy 0

I have been attempting to dive into Pinterest, but apparently my ability to follow directions is nil.  So far, I have done...well, nothing at all.  My computer has told me a few rude things about my brain.  This has not helped. 

I have the page...I just can't seem to pin stuff to it. 

le sigh

I've gotten really intriqued by this form of architecture known as Earthship houses, which are both incredibly ecologically sound and insanely adorable.

I want to make me a page with info and sites about the outfit and the homes. I can't convince my laptop to let me pin stuff. 

I'd also like to make an Alan Rickman page, because I think the world would be improved if there were more Alan Rickman fan pages.

He seems to be extremely intellegent, very well spoken, very self-effacing and he keeps his personal life well away from the tabloids.   And he looks a bit like Mr. Cozy.  Really.  Would I joke about something like that?  Would I lie to you?  (Don't answer that.)

And I'd like to show off some of these uber cute antique postcards.  They knew how to do schmaltz in 1910.  Big time.

One of the thing that tickles me is reading the messages.  The front of the card is a gushy, flowery declaration of undying love and the message reads,  "Louisa's digestion is not improving."  I suppose they were the equivalent of text messages - just impart the news and get on with business.  Even if  the picture on the front of the card looks as if flipping it to the message space should reveal a proposal of marriage.

If text messages were something that could be preserved and saved for prosperity, DH and I would have zillions that read, "Where r u?"  We spend a lot of time texting in Walmart and Target.  Good deal we don't have to send postcards. 

Next-gen Crafty

Because I've been working with a collection of 1930s reproduction quilting fabrics, I've been thinking about the way quilters build history one tiny stitch at a time. The quilts my grandmother and great-grandmother made speak to the eras they lived through - times of prosperity and times when 'making do' became a national motto.  But whether the times were lean or filled with plenty, they quilted.

They were creative on so many levels.  They stitched together scraps into textile art.  Beauty was born of resourcefulness.  Utility quilts made simply for the luxury of warmth were embroidered with stitch-encyclopedia profusion.  The mother passed her craft and her scraps to her daughter...who did likewise, and now we are six generations, mother to daughter, where imagination is passed as an inheritance. 

And yet, for reasons I haven't really looked at all that closely, until just very recently, I hadn't connected myself with the senior ranks.  Possibly because they are all gone. Possibly because I haven't grown up yet and have no immediate plans to do that.
But.  It now occurs to me that I am the quilting grammie.  The one who makes the 'blankies' that get cuddled and snuggled and worn through until the batting shows. 

C'est moi.  Wow.

In some crazy miracle of genetics, the Crafty Gene continues to be not just passed along but expanded as it goes. The Girls of Clan Cozy work with fiber, but they don't just quilt. They sew, knit and crochet. They write, paint and work with photography. They dance.  They play music.  So to commemorate, today's gratuitous cute features next-gen Cozy, the Grandgirls. It's in-gene-uity in action. The Force is with us!

And they like hats.  Is there a Hat Gene?

New Breeds

We've had some chat on my Rav group about new blends of yarn.  This is all based on a strangely worded sign, but you know, that's often how ideas happen.  There is a sequence of events and when the sequencing ceases, things are different. Think about dog breeds for a moment.  Consider the Schnoodle.  There you have it. 

First on the agenda: a blend of Merino and Alpaca.  Say there had been Something Funny Going On out at the farm. Somewhere there are now some little Merpacas or Paca-rinos running around, bleating and spitting and generally looking absolutely adorable. 

(How do you know who should get top billing in breed crosses??? Naughty Aplaca + Fence-Jumping Merinos = ??? I like Merpacas, personally.) (Can these animals actually cross polinate? Not sure I want to know.)

If you combined cattle with Cashmere, you'd have a Cashcow.  The male offspring of a  llama and a sheep would be a Ramallama.  A Corridale sheep plus a llama would be a dale-llama  (Don't say 'dale,' as in Chip 'n Dale.  Say Dah-le.  Now say llama.  If you aren't getting it, you must go meditate.  Preferably in Tibet.  Get it now?) 

Como se llama is one of a handful of things I know how to say in Spanish.  Means, how is your llama?

Angorafobia is the fear of rabbit fur.

TWSS.





 

In Which Organized Knitting is Discussed

Completely gratuitous photo of adorable children with fake moustaches.

I have come to the conclusion that the personalized Sock of the Month kit thing is an excellent idea for others, but not for me.  Because clearly, I do not do Organization.

Early on, I removed three of the original 18 sock skeins to knit as scarves or shawls.  I took one to make fingerless gloves.  I actually did knit 3 complete pairs of socks from that selection.  However, I knit more from other random yarns I met during the course of the year.  Most of the original Kit yarns are still in the Space Bag. 

To review the Yarns of 2011, I can safely say that I used a great deal of yarn and had a huge amount of fun doing so.  Things were knitted.  In fact, some things were even crocheted.   However.  Virtually none of them came from the designated Sock Kit Thingie.

The conclusion?  My organizational skills are...different.

This year, the plan is to knit as the spirit moves me, but with an eye towards using stash.  This has a good chance for success, as Stash is There.  When inspriation hits at 11 p.m., Stash is available.  It's like a 24-hour Walmart, except the yarn is better and I don't have to get dressed and put on makeup to go to it.  This could be a plan that suceeds. 

I also have more requests for hats this year than I have requests for socks.  Hats are better for instant gratification. 

And now...to actually go knit something.

The Essence of Blogging

It has occured to me that if one has a blog, it might be...I dunno...bloggier, perhaps...if one actually blogged.  More frequently than sometime last August. 

However, whatever my thoughts on the matter, it's quite apparent that an abandonment of blog occured.  Why?  Not for lack of things to say.  I always have things to say.   More than are sensible to say.  Always.  (Not in a Snapesian way, though.)

(Oh, come on...'After all this time?' asks the Headmaster.  And the reply:  'Always.'  But you knew that.  It's Snape 101.)

So, after putting the trappings of Christmas away, I resolved to get after this bloggy business and go forth and blog stuff.   And the Christmas stuff IS put away. So that's a win.

In doing all this shifting about of things in the house, I discovered the Space Bag containing my own personalized Year of Sock Knitting.  Lovely.  I started with yarn for 18 pairs of socks...and as of today,  I have made a grand total of  3 completed pairs.  This is great, but they were not made from the yarn I selected for my sock club project.   Clearly I have had Sock Club Failure.

So now I have to decide if I want to have do-overs this year, or just admit that I don't enjoy structure quite that much and call it a day.  Whatcha think?  Keep truckin' or try something different?

And break time is over, and so concludes this entry!  Happy New Year, my little ones!  May all good things be yours!