Crafty

I have been planning and crafting for a sale in a few weeks.  This is the first craft show I have participated in since I consigned some hand crafts to an art center's Christmas market many, many years ago.

I have been sewing and crocheting, making jewelry and planning my displays and hoping it all goes well and that I sell some things.  Wallets for holding tea bags, credit cards, business cards, little acorns made of cloth and stuffed into real acorn caps and my own invention, crocheted lip gloss cozies!

I also lucked into some lovely stoneware pedestal Coffee mugs.  I plan to fill each one with a tea bag or two, a packet of instant gourmet coffee and a few chocolates or cookies, then wrap them in cellophane and tie with a bow.  I thought children might like to buy an inexpensive gift for their mom or their teacher.

Here is a random sampling of a few of my craft items.  I'm pretty sure the picture is self explanatory.

As I said this is my first craft sale in years and years.  Wish me luck.

Quotable quotes; in the category Oh I Think We Can Safely Say I'm More Than A Bit Compulsive!

"You want to be a bit compulsive in your art or craft or whatever you do ."  Steve Martin

Taters

A while ago I blogged about my garden and specifically about potatoes.

I harvested my potatoes yesterday.  Not a bad return for a crop that required little more than cutting up some potatoes and tossing them into a tub full of dirt.

I figured since the greenery had long since died away the potatoes (if there were any) were ready to harvest.  I dug in with my hands and felt around.  Sure enough, there were some round lumpy bits in there.  A few were chunks of bark from some compost but most were potatoes.

I got spuds as small as large peas and a few of quite a respectable size.  I heard freshly dug potatoes are delicious.  Since we were having pot roast for supper I scrubbed a few of the smaller specimens and cut them in half (if larger than bite size) and tossed them into the pot with the simmering gravy.  I can't say as they were the best I've ever had but who doesn't love taters?  Not me!

I'm hoping I missed a few and will go tater digging again in a few days to see.

This may be the beginning of a beautiful relationship . . . with my potatoes.

Quotable quotes; in the category  Pooh To You!  What About The Ladies?

"What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow."  A. A. Milne

The Mad Doctor?

I'm still working on the first of the Golf Club Covers for a Chemist.  I have finished the part that goes over the club and am now working on the cuff that fits around the - - - stem?  handle?  whatever the thing is called that the head of the club it attached to.  The part the golfer holds onto as he swings the club and yells "FORE"!

I am about ready to start working in the white stripe and I'm putting it off because I hope to avoid a jog in the stripe. I found some sites that offer instructions to avoid the jog and I am using this one as my guide.  I guess I'm just afraid to jump in and get wet but if I dip my toe in I might find the water is fine so then I'll have to commit.  Isn't procrastination a wonderful thing?

In the meantime I researched my knitting books for charts for initials.  I did not find just exactly what I was looking for so I decided to chart my own.  I like the style of the letters and I think even the chart looks good.  I'll include the chart with my knitting directions when they're finished.

Quotable quotes; in the category Oh Lord, Why Do I Do This?

"The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course."  Billy Graham

There’s Chemistry!

My niece has no qualms about asking me to knit for her.  I love to do it.  I love to knit, I have a huge stash of yarn (most or all bought either on sale or on deep discount clearance) and I love to give handmade things to loved ones.  She has asked for hats, scarves and most recently a headband/ear warmer, which is well in progress.  She sent a photo of one she found on line and I researched and found a pattern with a similar stitch.  It has wood buttons.  I asked the Big Guy to cut me a few slices from a fat twig and plan to bore holes in them to make custom buttons. 

I have pestered her for ideas to make something for her boyfriend/partner/possible future spouse.  He does not want a scarf, does not wear ties or hats and does not play Frisbee so a flying disk is out.  Finally she said golf club covers might be a good idea.  I researched patterns and found shapes I liked.  Then I started to get ideas.  He is a PhD student at Northwestern University.  I found a link to their official Pantone shade of purple (Pantone is a color coding system printers & designers use to ensure the proper shades of color are achieved).  Since the Big Guy is a printer.  I asked if I could borrow his Pantone sample book.  We took it to the craft shop to match the yarns.  I struck gold when I found the store brand was nearly a perfect match for the “official” Northwestern Wildcats Purple.  I purchased a skein of purple and one of white.

Driver Cover In Progress

Then I got the brainstorm of the century – boyfriend is a chemical engineer (I relish teasing him about being an engineer while completely ignoring the chemistry aspect of his studies).  I can’t tell who enjoys the teasing more, him or me - - - yes I can - - - last time I was with niece & boyfriend they both remarked that I wasn’t teasing him nearly enough.  I confessed that I was having a few personal issues and was off my game – but by the end of the evening I was back in good form and he was reassured I liked him enough to tease him unmercifully.

I got the idea to knit the covers in purple, with white stripes on the cuff to denote the Driver, the 3 wood and the 5 wood – and the brainstorm to stitch the atomic symbols from the periodic table rather than the numeral on the head of the cover.  It will be a private joke and hopefully he plays golf with non-chemists who will wonder why his covers bear the initials H, B and Li instead of 1, 3 and 5.  I am beyond thrilled and very, very proud of myself for this flash of genius, if I say so myself!

Since my yarn and needles are not the same as those specified in the patterns I have found I decided instead to knit the covers from the top down (which allows the knitter to establish & measure gauge as they go rather than having to create a gauge swatch in advance.  I cast on the approximate number of stitches (thinking this might be the middle size) and began to knit.  I soon discovered my gauge was such that this test piece would easily accommodate the driver (the largest club) and went from there.  I decided to make notes of my stitch count as I went along and turn the experiment into a pattern for my Ravelry page.  This post contains my initial efforts.  I'll post updates as the covers progress and will publish the pattern in when it's done.

Happy knitting and may you have a Bogey . . . or an Eagle . . . or even a hole in one!  I think I just had my personal best!

Quotable quotes; in the category If My Golf Score And My Bowling Score Were Reversed I'd be Great At Both!

"It took me seventeen years to get three thousand  hits in baseball.  I did it in one afternoon on the golf course."  Hank Aaron

Early Harvest

I haven't posted much about my garden, mainly because once it gets hot I tend to stay inside and let the weeds grow.  Which they have.

A couple weeks ago I did pick several cherry tomatoes from a volunteer tomato vine that grew on its own.  The two tomatoes I bought at the garden store and planted did nothing, by the way.  The volunteers were deliciously sweet & juicy.  There are a few more out there waiting to be picked and enjoyed right there in the garden.

I also picked an apple off our tree.  It's about 2 inches in diameter with a golden skin and a rosy blush.  And a myriad of brown worm holes around the stem.  The apple trees were planted many years ago and if there ever were apples they were always destroyed by squirrels or fell to the ground before they were ripe.  I stopped wasting the effort to spray them for bugs long ago but for some reason there are apples this year.  I couldn't resist picking two, eating one and photographing the other.  Not sure of the variety but it's pretty, no?

The potato came out of the plastic tub which I planted with many potatoes from the kitchen that had sprouted eyes.  Rather than throw them away I planted them and kept adding soil as the leaves grew higher.  This technique is supposed to increase yield.  A few weeks ago when I dug in the earth I found nothing but then I dug again and found this little specimen, about an inch in diameter.  I've heard freshly dug potatoes are delicious and cannot wait to find a few more and add them to my supper menu.

So here we have the first fruits of the garden.  Hopefully there will be more.

Quotable quotes; in the category I Could Have Told Him!  It Was The Squirrel!

"Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why."  William Hazlitt  English Writer & Painter

It's My Bag!

A while ago I posted about making my own paper gift bags.  See how I did it here.

While I made the previous bags from brown kraft paper, today I made a bag using wrapping paper.  When I unrolled the pink check paper to cut it to size, I discovered the reverse side was blue check.  I decided to use that as a design element.

I wrapped the paper around an appropriate sized box, glued it together, folded in the bottom to make it square and glued that (a little invisible tape helped).  I folded the top over twice to the outside to make the blue border (would have been easier had I folded it before gluing into a bag shape) and glued it down, leaving a space open for the handle.  Don't forget to remove the box!  It's only there to help shape the bag.

I cut a strip of paper the length of the handle and three times the width.  I folded it over on one side, with the pink check visible, then folded the other side in reverse to expose the blue check.  I tucked the ends into the opening in the top fold, glued it down and my bag was done!

To make the gift card I cut a piece of the paper about 2 inches square and folded an origami crane.  Cranes are said to bring luck and are often given as gifts to newly married couples and newborn babies.  Since this bag would hold a gift for a new baby I thought the crane was appropriate.  Learn how to fold an origami crane here.

I wrapped a bit of the blue check paper around a gift card and glued the crane to it.  There was just enough room to write on, and I tied it to the bag handle with a bit of pink ribbon.

I'm very happy with the way the bag turned out.  Here is what is inside the bag, tucked into the  pink tissue paper.  I blogged about making this bib & booties here.

Quotable quotes; in the category It Really Didn't Take That Long!

"The life so short, the crafts so long to learn."  Geoffrey Chaucer

Baby Baby!

Boss has been having grandchildren this year.  His daughter gave birth to her first son, the first grandson in the family, in April.  Later this summer his son's wife will give birth to a daughter - their first and the 3d granddaughter in the family.

I, of course, wanted to give a gift for the new babies.  Something simple and nice and preferably handmade.  A few years ago at a previous job, several of my coworkers had babies just a few weeks apart.  I decided on washcloths, hand knit in baby colors, and presented with a bottle of baby soap.  They seemed to be very popular.  One mom declared it too pretty to be a washcloth and used it as a doily on baby's crib-side table.  Here is a link to the blog post I wrote about the washcloth pattern I made up and used.

This time, I had been blessed with a huge quantity of beautiful quilt fabrics.  I decided to make bibs for the babies and made matching booties as well.  For the grandson I decided on a rather subdued, if not masculine, fabric and chose plaids and solids in gray (I had already been knitting the gray booties and wanted the bib to complement the color).  They came out very well.  This is my favorite bootie pattern because, although the original called for angora yarn, I use regular worsted weight and the booties resemble duck feet . . . at least to me.

For the granddaughter I chose fabrics in yellow flower prints (mostly because the yarn I had on hand for the booties was also yellow.  Clever, non?)  I suffered over these booties.  Try as I might, and I tried three different but similar patterns, I could NOT get the stitches to line up properly to make that darling lacy & rounded toe.  I finally decided to be the boss of the pattern, forcing each round of stitches to line up where I knew they should and adjusting to make sure the lacy part was evenly spaced across the toe.  I succeeded and if I do say it myself, the booties are darling.


I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed making & giving them.

Quotable quotes; in the category I Guess That's Why We're Here!

"A baby is God's opinion that life should go on."  Carl Sandburg

Furoshiki!

I finished making this over the holiday weekend.  It's a patchwork furoshiki, or as the blogger where I found it called it, a quilted furoshiki.  Technically it's not quilted but I think it is lovely (hers more than mine).  Here is a link to her instructions.

A furoshiki is a piece of cloth used to tie up and carry packages, bentos, gifts or just about anything.  They can be made from silks or cottons and can be very plain and utilitarian or very lovely and luxurious.  Even a cotton bandana or silk scarf can be used.

I bought my first bento box many, many years ago after The Man and I dined at a Japanese restaurant.  Bento Box was on the menu - a lovely box divided into small sections, each holding a few bites of a variety of dishes - shrimp tempura, chicken teriyaki, pickles, rice, salad.  I bought The Man the bento box as a gift (he is impossible to buy for).  It was not the same as the bento box he was served, which looked like this.

His was the type more often used to carry a lunch to work or school and looked more like this.  The box has two tiers, which nest when empty.  When packed with goodies they stack one atop the other.  I also bought a length of silk fabric in colors to complement the box and made him a furoshiki (actually just by hemming the silk square).  The box and the furoshiki are put away somewhere but if and when I ever find it I'll use it to carry my own bento lunch, unless Mr. wants me to make one for him.

I enjoyed making this patchwork furoshiki and am working on another.  I found another link that used a similar technique with some variations so that's the version I am working on now.  Find the instructions at this link.

Once you have finished your furoshiki (or if you prefer, found a bandana or scarf you like) find an appropriate bento box.  This can be anything from a beautiful store bought box, a fun Hello Kitty box, a Tupperware box, a 50 cent Glad or Ziploc box intended for leftovers or even a Cool Whip container.  Pack your lunch in the box and tie it up in your fuorshiki.  Add a pair of chopsticks and you're all set!

Quotable quotes; in the category That's Why The Furoshiki Is Totally Reversible!

"The reverse side also has a reverse side."  Japanese Proverb.

Garden Slow Down

I haven't posted about gardening recently because I have not been doing much gardening mostly because there's not a lot to do.  My bed/boxes are pretty well planted out and the seeds are beginning to sprout.  Now I'll be "succession" planting - adding a few beans to the bean plot each week to ensure a continuous crop.

Mr. has been clearing off the patio which has been buried under layers of twigs, vines, trash and leaves due to having the house stripped of climbing vines and tuck-pointed last fall.  It will be nice to have the patio visible and hopefully usable again.



This is NOT the view from our yard.

We bought a swing/glider like this one a couple years ago.  Maybe this year we can put it together and have it out in the yard for shady sitting.  It may be replacing a cedar bench we bought several years ago which is now showing its age, and another "park" bench we scrounged that is unwilling to be rehabilitated.  Unless I can find appropriate cedar slats and hardware, and time to repair them, they may be reduced to firewood, something I don't like to think about.

I have been weeding, trying to develop the habit of pulling a few weeds every day or every time I go into the yard.  Sort of like piling things that go upstairs near the stairway in hopes I'll remember to bring them upstairs next time I go.  I have been checking the beds each evening when I get home from work, and each morning on the way to work, both to check on the sprouting progress and to give them a drink of water.  So far so good.

I still have a few things to plant out - roses, clematis, tomatoes and herbs.  Hopefully those will go into the ground this weekend.  When the beds/planters start to look like something besides pots of earth I'll take more pictures and post them.  Until then, happy gardening.

Quotable quotes; in the category  Yay!  Less Work For Me!  I Mean . . . Hey, Wait!

"God made rain so gardeners could get the housework done."  Author Unknown

Nice Hat!

I love this hat.  I made it last year.  I like to wear a hat in summer to keep the sun off my head and neck, partly to prevent sunburn but also cuz dang it, hats are cute!  And this hat is really nice.  I'm proud of the job I did.  It turned out very well.

Hats like this become popular every now and then.  In the 1970s we wore hats like this, usually hand made and often with a flower pin or some other decoration attached to the upturned brim.  My friend wore one when we went to Europe on a choir tour.  I had one a few years before that I made in high school.  Lots of my friends had hats like this they either bought or made themselves.

I had some problems making this hat.  I found the pattern at this popular web site.  There were some missing links in the instructions, mostly with how to put the pattern pieces together.  They print out on separate sheets of paper, part of the pattern on each one, and it's a bit challenging to get the pieces all lined up and taped together so you can cut out a cohesive pattern template.  If you decide to make this hat be sure to read all the comments (there are many) as they contain valuable information about how to put the pattern together and how to make the hat.  Also, be sure to test-fit the pattern to your head before cutting your fabric as the pattern seems to run pretty large.

You can also buy a commercial hat pattern (look in the craft or accessories section of the pattern catalog) or find other patterns on line.  Search for floppy hat, sun hat, free pattern, and just keep looking until you find the one you like best.  Some sites show you how to draft your own pattern, others provide a pattern for you, sometimes for free.  Here's a google search to get you started.

I recommend using a fairly heavy interfacing in the brim.  I used a very light interfacing and eventually took the hat apart, inserted a stiffer interfacing and sewed the hat back together - not a pleasant adventure - but in fact the hat came out better than before.  You may also wish to use a light interfacing in the crown.  I did not but I'm pretty sure the hat would benefit from it.

I also sewed rows of top stitching around the perimeter of the hat brim.  This gives a quilted look and also ensured the interfacing stays put - something to consider even if you are using iron on interfacing (which I did not).  The iron on adhesive can wear away after repeated washings and the interfacing might shift.  Or not.  It's really up to you and how long you plan to wear the hat and how often you may wash it.  I plan to wear mine forever.  That's how much I like it!

Quotable quotes; in the category Home Is Where I Hang My Brain

"He can't think without his hat."  Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

Angry!

I'm getting really angry at the squirrels.  They have made a regular habit of invading my finch feeders (I wouldn't begrudge them a little bird seed but they don't eat the black thistle seed - just spill it all over the ground so the finches can't have it) and sometimes pulling the feeders off the tree, smashing them and breaking the hangers.  They're like the slobs who go to a buffet, slop around in all the food but don't take any, leaving it a disgusting mess so nobody coming after them wants to eat it either.

They have routinely beheaded my tulips, year after year, even digging up and eating the bulbs.  Indeed, this is the first year I ever had tulips in the front yard, where I planted them some years ago.  They bloomed today.  Let's see how long these three can go before being squirrel-ated (they have already destroyed the potted tulips the Man brought me at Easter, and eaten the buds off every other tulip that managed to get close to blooming).

They have been digging in my potted pansies, most often just after I tucked a few nasturtium seeds into the soil.  And those seeds are expensive!  They molested the planter box I seeded with lettuces and mesclun.  And just yesterday, the climbed into a planter I thought was fairly impenetrable and dug around, uprooting the beans just on the verge of sprouting and apparently taking nips out of the shallots (also expensive) which are now dying instead of growing.

Like I said, I would not begrudge them a little something - but why do they have to leave waste and wreak havoc?  They truly are the bullies of the garden.  Somebody outta squeal on them.

Quotable quotes; in the category I Guess This Is About The Nicest Thing I Can Think Of Regarding Squirrels!

"I squirrel away sealed greeting cards that people give me so I can open them later when I'm having a bad day."  Emily Procter, Actress (CSI Miami)

Garden All Over

My garden does not stop at the beds or boxes in the yard.  It extends onto my front porch.  These boxes have been there for years, alternately trying to support an herb garden or lettuce bed and one year, the neighbor's cat.  I inserted plastic forks and knives in an attempt to keep him from cat-napping in the planter, which apparently is ideally situated for sunny snoozing.

Yesterday I planted two of these boxes with various lettuces.  Lettuce is a cool weather crop and in Chicago we will likely have cool days interspersed with occasional days in the 80s (bleah).  So maybe I'll get a little lettuce.  And if not, I'll get some sun and exercise planting and tending.

I have yet to plant more herbs in my larger pots and planters - dill, basil, parsley, oregano, the list goes on.

I am not sure why I was bit so hard by the gardening bug this year.  It's been several years since I did much more than plant out a few pots of pansies and pop a few herbs into the ground.  Something is different.  I hope it means I am moving into a more motivated time of my life.  I have a lot to do and the years are passing.

Quotable quotes; in the category That's No Reason Not To Go There!

"There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden.  There's no evidence for it, but you can't prove that there aren't any, so shouldn't we be agnostic with respect to fairies?"  Richard Dawkins

Gardening for Free

I had a plastic box like this.  It contained computer discs which we recycled but I did not know how to recycle the box.  I thought of lining it with fabric to turn it into a purse but I knew I would never do it and would never carry the purse if I did.

Yesterday, I took the box apart and cut it up into strips.  Most of the box was usable.  I cut each strip in half with a point on one end, and wrote the names of my "crops" on the other end.  Then I stuck the pointed end into my garden planters.

I have a bad habit of not labeling things which leads to a freezer full of mystery meat or a garden full of "is this a weed or a plant".  I am hoping the plant markers will alleviate the latter.  I am also hoping I got the right markers into each planter.

You can make similar markers from just about anything - popsicle sticks, paint stirrers, plastic strips cut from milk or juice bottles, even stones painted or marked with the name of the plant.  Here is a link to some great ideas for do-it-yourself garden markers.  I like mine best.  They were free.

Quotable quotes; in the category Yes, And I Get It!

"A garden always has a point."  Elizabeth Hoyt, author of The Raven Prince

In The Garden

Well I took some photos of the "garden" this morning.  Here are views of my "beds" (actually tubs and planters) and of my strawberry plants, just emerging.  I also took a shot of the potatoes but it was too blurry so I'll try again next time.  Anyway, they look pretty much as the strawberries do.

The rectangle planters and pots are planted with Swiss Chard, Chinese Broccoli, Spinach, Radishes, and Bok Choy.  The blue tub holds the potatoes and the dark planter in front has Snow Peas and Beans and Shallots.

The wooden tub is planted with strawberries.  I had some growing but they succumbed to last year's drought when Mr. neglected to keep that tub watered - he didn't know anything was planted there.  However, a few of the strawberries had escaped and volunteered to populate the patio so I am hopeful to have a small crop later this year.  I usually only get a few berries so any amount will be considered a "crop".  And it's fun to pick and eat a strawberry right in your own backyard.

Quotable quotes; in the category Today Is The First Day Of The Rest Of My Life!

"Garden as though you will live forever."  William Kent

Come To The Garden

Last year we prepared a bed for planting - one that had been ignored for a few years.  I used the suggestions in this book which suggested laying down layers of newspaper, weed barrier cloth and mulch and watering well.  We weighted down the mulch (leaves) with an old garden trellis to help keep them from blowing away.  Worked pretty well.  I have not yet removed the mulch and weed cloth (book says newspaper can stay) but will check soon.

In the meantime I spent some time with Mr. dragging large planting tubs out of the garage and planting potatoes, strawberries, peas & beans and shallots.  I like planting in tubs.  It seems to mean smaller crops for me but less weeding as well.

So maybe this summer I will focus my blog on the garden and post pictures and updates of the progress.  Might be fun, interesting and good discipline if I can keep it up.

So far I noticed the potatoes (which I planted a week ago) just beginning to poke up through the soil, the strawberries ditto.  More later.

Quotable quotes; in the category I Guess I've Got Everything I Need, Then!

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."  Marcus Tullius Cicero

Tote That . . . Bag?

I have a darling red and white tote bag that was a "thank you" gift from a charity - the one with a black & white panda logo.  This bag was the perfect size for a lunch tote and I have used it for lo these many years.  I was so sad to see it wearing out that I contacted the organization to see if any more were available.  Alas, they have discontinued this long time favorite and I cannot get another.

So I decided to make one of my own, using the measurements from the existing bag.  I decided to make it a little more generous in size.  Unfortunately I am not a good judge of how much is enough and my tote came out too big for what I had in mind.  It came out beautifully and I was very happy with it - but it was too big and the handles too wide.  I decided to make another.

Again, adding what I thought was just a little in length and width, the new version came out a little too big as well.  I used more generous seams and hems to shave off a bit more and decided it was close enough.  It's still a very nice bag.  It will hold as much as my previous lunch tote and a bit more - say if I have to bring a large bag of potato chips or a 2 liter bottle of soda to keep in the fridge at work - the sandwich and cole slaw won't get displaced and there is room for everybody.  I call it a good days work - or couple days since that's about how long it took to finish in my spare time.

Everybody into the pool!

Quotable Quotes in the category They Should Put This On A T-Shirt!

"My other bags are Prada . . ."  As seen on a commercial tote bag online.

It's A First

This post is a little overdue.  I guess I wrote it but never published it to my blog.  Probably I was too busy to upload the pictures to go with it.  So I am posting it now.  With Pictures!  PS this blog post was probably from early November as that is the publish date of my pattern.

Wow!  I just published my very first pattern ever.  I published it on Ravelry, the knitters & crocheters social media place.

It's a pattern for a wash cloth.  For some reason people love to knit and crochet wash cloths.  Or dish cloths.  I prefer to call them wash cloths (and use them as wash cloths).  Somehow dish cloths get grungy and grody in ways that wash cloths never do.  Better yet, call it a face cloth.  There, now it's genteel and refined.

I called it the My Pi wash cloth because I based it on Elizabeth Zimmermann's Pi method of increasing in a round, flat knitted piece.  By doubling the number of stitches, the number of rows between the increase rows also increases exponentially.  This lets the circle grow but still lay flat (knitting or crocheting around and around without increasing the number of stitches causes the piece to cup up). 

I like knitting pieces in the round because stockinette is my favorite stitch and knitting in the round requires only knitting, no purling (I and many other knitters do not like to purl.  Don't know why, it just is.  Or is not).

I made a few of these wash cloths for friends at work who were expecting babies.  I wrapped each one up with a bottle of baby wash and they made nice gifts.  They could also be given with a fancy bar of soap to a friend or as a hostess gift.

I am excited to have published my very first pattern, and to have 38 users add it to their "favorites" in its first hour on the site.  (Update - as of this date the number of favorites is well over 400)!!