Happy Mother's Day

I received this amazing card for Mother's Day.  It says that I'm awsom, which I find very flattering.  And the hugs and kisses are happy orange and yellow.  And they are in 3-D.  I don't think you can ask for a whole lot more than this.

Hitching Along

Here it is - the marvelous Hitchhiker! I'm about 35% done, based on weight of the remaining yarn, and it is so appealing.  This is one of those patterns that just really does demand you knit more than one.  but after this one, I'm going to step back and make 22 Clouds, using DK, just for a little change of yarn pace.  Funny how often I knit with fingering.

The scarf is displayed on weathered wood in the best of Regretsy fashion.  I always got a kick out of the way they'd offer you a photo of just a hunk of barnwood.  Here you go - photoshop your image on to it.  I should have made use of it.  Gots no barn.

 

(Regretsy is no more.   I suppose there really are only so many creative ways to talk about the same array of peculiar and offensive products/images.  Or call people out for their 'handmade' items purchased in bulk from Oriental Trader.)

 

Next up is a gratuitious yarn shot.  This is one of my last handdyes.  Lace weight merino, with a very mermaidy feel to it.  It looks cool and soothing and refreshing to me.  This is the 3rd up yarn in my 'make something next' cue.  After the Hitchhiker, after 22 Clouds is this.  I'm thinking another Martina Behm pattern, possibly Viajante.

 

And this is it for the moment.  My create-a-blog brain has just fizzed.  Browsers have shut.  Nothing is coming forth.  It happens.  Deal with it.

 



Hitchhiking

After several months of really not knitting much of anything, I've started a new project that really makes me happy.  A Hitchhiker - that clever scarf with teeth.

I'm up to 7 teeth on my new project, using a soft, squishy yarn in shades of blue from medium to quite dark.  The pattern calls for 42 teeth (if you knit and are on Ravelry, you can read up on the significance there) but I am maybe 75 yds below requirement for that.  I should get in excess of average human dentition, but less than 42. 

(Smiles toothy grin.) 

Pictures will be forthcoming by and by. 

Tag-along Scrap Blankie

Over the past few months I've been working on a cool scrap blankie made with all kinds of scraps of yarn, a lot of it contributed by friends.   It's ideal for whatever amount of leftovers you've got because lengths of  yarn are simply tied together, and the tied ends are left to add texture  to the finished product. 

Even a few feet of leftover yarn works.  If you're a crazy yarn scrap hoarder (translation: normal knitter), this makes it possible to use up all those appealing snips and snaps that weren't really long enough to use for much of anything.

And the little tufts are adorable - and they feel good to pet. 

In other news, if you're curious about how I shrank my tummy, check the link over there, AllNewMe.  It's good stuff.

And...Bebe is starting to walk.  Already.  She's growin' up so fast!  And loving those faux animal prints.  You're never too young to have style.

Freeze Dried Pantry Plunder

Ohhh!  Our freeze dried foods are here! 

The containers are color coded - pink for fruit, like the fugi apples, green for veggies, and purple for meats.  It's all so good, and there's virtually no sodium involved in any of it.  Even the chicken is very low per serving.  This pleases me so much. 

(The little mylar bag is mushrooms.  The hubs no likey, so those are miiiiiiiine.  Aaaaaallllll miiiiiine.) 

My Philosophy Mug

Here it is: my take on aging in a nutshell.  Or on a mug.  Mug works better.  Nutshell does not hold enough herbal tea. So if you were thinking this was going to be a deep and weighty discussion of the universe and life and so on, hahahaha to you.  You read my blog.  You surely never expected THAT.  Did you? 

 

Wanna Make Something of It?

Are you one of the lovely souls who have a tendancy to collect oddments that could be used somehow...in some way...even if you can't really think HOW you would use it or WHAT you would make.  But...it COULD be something...surely... 

And...don't throw that out!!!!  It's...STUFF. 

So then.  Is that you?

If so, tell to me what would be good to make with this:

Shown here with its Momma, the lint roller...

From Quilts to Carpal, My Journey Down the Tunnel

 I like to sew.  I always have.  My Gammie taught me to stitch wee little fabric squares into a doll quilt when I was four.  Before that, I dimly recall sewing on preforated cards with yarn. I think at that time, I was 3.  So I was a precocious stitcher of stitches.
As time passed, I discovered quilting and  became

a prodigious stitcher of stitches.  I discovered the charms of hand quilting, and the marvels of the ergonomic rotary cutter and a world of fabrics available to me via the interwebs.  And I stitched and stitched and stitched some more. And discovered how much fun it is to freehand machine quilt using glossy and glittery rayon thread.  And applique...there's an entire world out there for the adding of lovely fabrics upon other lovely fabrics.  Hand-sewn or fused, it's all good.

 And so it went.  There were so many different reproduction fabrics to play with.  The cheerful pastels of the 1930s repros, and the deeper shades of the 1880s repros.  And new patterns to try.  Always, always something new to try.  The clever quilters behind the Aunt Amy book, updating vintage techniques really hooked me in.  The clever way they did the Drunkard's Pathway block was too much fun to resist.  The top and middle quilts at left represent the tip of the iceburg of  those. 

And they had a really awesome twist on the Arabic Lattice block.  That's a king-sized bed quilt there in the reds and blacks...and every block has different red and black fabrics. Over 100 different red and black fabrics.   

Jan Mullen's clever ways of joining fabrics prompted another half dozen or so quilts.

 The 1930s repro fabrics called out for hand quilting.  (Photos are not cooperating - scroll down a bit to view those quilts.)


Below and to the right is a fun take on classic blocks. It's the Snail's Trail Cat Tails.  If you are a true quilt traditionalist, you'll be aware the corner blocks are Birds in the Air.  They have to be in the air, obviously, or they'll be entrees.

  Traditional blocks with an edge, traditional blocks turned on edge...it's all there waiting to be tried.

That leaf quilt above left is a traditional maple leaf block done in every color a leaf could be and  a few they couldn't.  I called this quilt Kudzu because it just kept growing and growing and covering everything in its path.  It's a kingsize and then some, and every single block is different.  There are 256 blocks, and while some fabrics do appear twice, no block contains an identical combo of leaf and background fabric. 

 

Variations on the crazy patch quilt are on the right.  Two of  many.  These are scrap quilts, so all the blocks are all different. 

 

So here you have it.  A tiny handful of my quilts, representing probably less than 5% of the quilts I've made.

 

And now I have Carpal Tunnel.  Go figure.

 

 

Type Drawer

Those large, shallow drawers are amazing to play with.  All those little nitches are perfect for storing all manner of treasures - it's just a matter of deciding which treasures and how best to display them.

So without further ado, let me introduce you to the old, brown typedrawer:

 

This one had been painted a flat brown when I got it.  I decided I'd go with a cream color for the update.

(The creative process: I had leftover cream colored paint.) 

My first thought had been to make it a jewelry holder, but the horizontal dividers are very thin and brittle, so I opted not to try to install hooks.

The way we were...

 One of the clippings tucked into my mom's favorite cookbook is this yummy and easy recipe for candies made with Nestle's Morsels and an array of optional additions - peanuts, coconut, Cheerios, raisins.  Nom.

It's a super fast and simple recipe.  I just made it today, for my sweetie - and also to share with the lovely neighbors who brought us a tray of Christmas goodies when I was too sick to reciprocate. 

The page was torn from a 1955 edition of Seventeen magazine.  I have no idea where my mom acquired this - in 1955, she was not in the age bracket to be a likely reader of Seventeen.  But it's one awesomely delicious recipe.   Boy is it ever.

Except...if you turn the page over, after you've made the candy and eaten...some...or half of it...or whatever...you find a full page ad for the new Playtex girdle.  It gives you that French Look and the Freedom you love.  The small print says that after you've handwashed your lovely girdle, it dries so fast you can watch it. 

Wow.  For those days when you don't have any paint to watch dry, I suppose.  Whatcha doin?  Watchin' my new Playtex French Look girdle that gives me the Freedom I love as it dries.  And eatin' some candy...

 

 

 

The recipe

 

Melt 8 oz of chocolate (or other flavors if you desire) chips in a double boiler.  Add 3 Tablespoons of light Karo and 1 cup of the addition of your choice.  Salted peanuts are good, raisins, coconut, all excellent choices.  If you prefer to add cereal flakes or little oaty-os,  add 1/4 cup of Karo and proceed as directed.  Drop the candy mixture by spoonfuls onto a sheet of waxed paper and chill.  If you've been foresightful enough to first put the wax paper over a cookie sheet, it makes lifting the candy into the fridge a lot easier.  Makes between 24 and 30 candies.  It depends on how anal you are about having the candies look the same size, what additives you've used, and other factors I feel no desire to go into.  Final steps - eat, and then see if you can find one of those girdles anywhere, cuz Spanx won't do what you need after you eat all the candy.