Newly Created

I just made a pin cushion! I've been tossing around the idea for a while. I thought maybe I'd make them Martha-style, because heaven knows I can never throw out a good mason jar. I really wanted a pin cushion that was attached to some sort of container for storage. I stumbled upon these wooden boxes, and this is the result. After many attempts at using different fabrics for the cushion that failed because the edges just ended up too puckered and uneven, I remembered my stash of felt. Woohoo! No seams to turn inside-out! I just love how crisp the lines created by felt are and I was compelled to use the circle to my advantage. I'll be posting this in the shop soon, so you can see more images there.

Yesterday I got my driver's license renewed and had to get a new photo. I must say that I am impressed with the DMV - I was in and out of there in no time; but the ever-present bureaucracy never ceases to amaze me. When I my number was called, I went to my assigned counter and sat in one of the two chairs there. The lovely DMV man motioned me to sit in the other (left most) chair. I obeyed and filled out all of the pertinent information (do I need to change my voter registration, am I an organ donor, etc.) I signed some piece of paper and then started fluffing my hair for my photo. I noticed the (still lovely) DMV man motioning to me again. I looked at him, uncertain. "Sit in the OTHER chair," he said. Ha! So I had to sit in the LEFT chair to fill out my information, but then move 12 inches to the right to sit in the OTHER chair for my photo. As I changed chairs, I tried to exchange a laugh with him about this, but he was not amused. I said "Come on, that's kinda funny..." at which point he answered an incoming call on his cell phone, told me that I could smile if I wanted, and snapped the photo. I didn't bother him with a retake. I'm wondering if the expedited license update process is, at least in part, due to this clever two-chair system they have goin' on...

And lastly, I sang at our school's annual talent show last night. I'm doing the normal kicking-myself-in-the-rear for mistakes I made that I'm sure no one else heard, but are still driving me crazy. Crafting is helping to take my mind off the instant replay:) I sang Isn't It Romantic and Lullabye [sic] with a small group, a beautiful little Appalachian folksy tune called Long Time Traveler as a trio, Case of You (Joni Mitchell) and Nothing In This World Can Stop Me Worryin' Bout That Girl (The Kinks) with my friend, Larry, on guitar. Afterword we got a pint at a local bar and saw a former student of ours who is now of legal drink age. Oof.

Why Sophie is The Best

Sophie just turned 8; here is her birthday present. We made a recipe box for her because of her recent and amazing adventures in the kitchen. While preparing a batch of banana bread, Sophie realized (too late) that the yogurt she was using was bad. She had to throw the batter away, but was left with some melted butter that she hadn't mixed in yet. Since she still really wanted to finish a cake, she decided to just make a recipe up. She added flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and soda, lots of cinnamon and maybe a little vanilla. Her mom was skeptical that it would hold together since there were no eggs involved. With hopes not too very high that an actual cake would come out, Sophie popped the concoction into the oven and when it was done: cake! It was REALLY GOOD cake! Kind of like a spice cake...Sophie thought it was like a carrot cake without the carrots. Did I mention that Sophie just turned 8? Crafty little girl.

So we got an unfinished wood box and had to cut a piece of thin wood for the top and inside lid because we could only find a box that had this silly mesh center on the lid. For what? Making a hermit crab cage or something?? Ever since Amy's post on Enid Collins purses, I've enjoyed staining these unfinished wood boxes (I use regular craft paint mixed with the goo they sell that makes it the consistency of a stain) and then painted and gemstoned the thing up (the top of the lid has the gemstones). The cards were goccoed and I borrowed the beautiful alliteration of Sarah's on that one.

As we were goccoing the cards, Andrew mentioned that it was such a cool craft tool. We had a little impromptu moment of silence for the imminent demise of gocco. But wait! Check out savegocco.com! Is help on the way?

OK, I've Created Something Odd...

Something about buckeye seeds makes me a little loopy. I think it's the sound they make when they clunk together. Or maybe it's the fact that they're really smooth except for one slightly grainy patch. They come packaged in an evil little prickly thing so they also have a little attitude; maybe that's my favorite part. I few years ago, a fellow biology teacher plunked a few on my desk as a little gift. Ever since then, I've wanted to make things with them, and here's the result: an odd little necklace complete with a squishy felted bead. This is the first one, a second is coming...they'll both be in the shop.

I am working on a great gocco project as a gift for a dear soon-to-be 8-year-old and I'm just loving it. I'll blog about it post-giving. I've been a little crafting rut and having a deadline (read: birth date) is very, very good for me. It's made me motor and not get wrapped up in the "I can't make it look as good as I want it to, so why even bother starting" loop that I'm so fond of. Sheesh. I also owe much thanks to Laurel, my etsy crafting bud who keeps my rear in gear (yes, I just made that rhyme up JUST NOW!).

I'm off to post to my etsy shop, and then to open my mail from mystical creation yarns and Superbuzzy. Just try to visit Superbuzzy without getting any of their twill tape. Go on. I dare you.

Happy Birthday

...to my man. He chose a vanilla cake with raspberry filling and chocolate frosting. I added a little amaretto into the chocolate for an extra surprise. I'm not sure how I feel about the vanilla cake...if you have the opportunity to have even more chocolate, I don't know why you wouldn't take it, but whatever, it's not my birthday;) Chocolate or not, it's another opportunity to use one of my favorite garage sale finds of all time: a vintage cake tray and lid for $1.

Birthdays abound right now. I have to work on a project for Sophie who turns 8 on Wednesday and more hearts for my feeling-slightly-better friend. My birthday is right around the corner which means I have to get a present for my mom, not because I like to thank her for birthing me, but because we have the same birthday (but thanks for birthing me too, mom!) I have one of those weird families where everyone is born on the same day (my first cousin shares our birthday, too) and it all comes just a little too close to Christmas for my DIY sensibilities. Despite all of the presents I should be working on, I am currently trying to find a way to alter my plethora of pull-over hoodies into zip front. I've found lots of tutorials and rather than just insert a zipper, I've now ratcheted up the difficulty level to include altering them to fit better. I am currently in the crafting stage called "paralyzed with fear" but as my colleague put it: "it's just a zipper." And a hem, and sleeves that need to be taken in, and a pocket that needs to be relocated and a hood that needs to be re-sized...

The Perks of the Job

A local radio station camped out to raise money for hunger (Philabundance…check it out, a great organization) and a local high school won a competition to collect the most food for the hungry. This local high school was not the (wee) one that I teach at, but a ginormous school that my friend is an assistant principle at. Long story short, the school won a free concert with these guys and my friend got me passes (AND I didn’t even have to chaperone!)

One of the reasons why I love OK Go is because of their choreography. I choreograph the middle and upper school musicals at school and I thought I was pretty creative incorporating a trampoline into one song and a razor scooter into another. But treadmills?! I am not worthy. I was hoping to see some signature moves tonight, but alas, it was all singing and no dancing. But they are so incredibly creative that it didn’t matter. One of my favorite parts was that they came out into the audience and did an acoustic set on a platform set up in the middle of the crowd. They threw out some hand-held spotlights to some kids so that they could be seen. It was really cool and intimate and would have been an amazing first concert as a teenager.

And the best part(s)? It was free, we sat in the adult-only balcony where we could enjoy some adult-only beverages, AND it was nice to be at the Electric Factory when it wasn’t filled with wall to wall people. Hello, I am That Person who no longer likes to stand for concerts and appreciates when they are over before 10pm. Nice to meet you.

The Power of a Heart

I have a friend and colleague who is very sick. She has been out of school since we returned from winter break and her illness has been a mystery. She is currently in the hospital for the second time and I have been at a loss for what to do for her. She does not feel like reading much and although she is a knitting friend of mine, I know that she also doesn't have the focus to sit and knit. I've brought her homemade chicken stock and written cards and have generally been feeling inadequate in the support arena. But then I came across this pattern for a heart-shaped sachet knit out of mitred squares. I had never knit mitered squares and knitting with size 2 needles freaked me out a bit (nope, never made socks...), but I knew this was it. I was going to knit my friend these hearts until she got better.

I have now completed my first sachet and am on my second, but let's just say there was a big learning curve. I misread the pattern, I didn't understand the pattern, I saw things in the pattern which, on second reading, were not actually there. Much frogging and reknitting occurred. Through my frustration, the perfect nature of this project suddenly was clear. I couldn't really visualize how this thing I was knitting was supposed to materialize before me, just as my friend was on a long journey with no clear purpose or endpoint.

But how about this: Yesterday we found out that there is a current prognosis for her illness and it is treatable, and today I finished my first heart. I'm making a second (and probably a few will become Valentines for others) because as far as I'm concerned, this little heart worked some miracles.

The Shrug That Stole My Sanity…

…or how to make knitting-for-pleasure more annoying than your day job in 20 simple steps.

1. See pattern for shrug in Interweave Knits. Instantly fall in love with the idea of knitting a shrug because it will be “simple” and not require as much knitting and piecing as a sweater.

2. While visiting LYS in search of suitable substitute yarn for Interweave’s $800-a-ball used for shrug, fall in love with Cascade Pastanza no. 028 (teal). Be happy about this because of your extensive use of Cascade 220 and feel secure in the knowledge that this yarn will be a pleasure to knit up. Know at that moment that shrug MUST be knit in no. 028, no matter how difficult it may be to determine correct gauge.

3. Purchase all of the yarn that the shop has in 028 (3 balls.)

4. Sit yarn aside and go crazy making holiday gifts.

5. January! Make tea, pop in a Netflix, and sit back to start knitting shrug. Realize that Cascade Pastanza is not 220 yards of yarn (like Cascade…um…220) and convince boyfriend to join you on a rainy day excursion to LYS, praying that they have miraculously found three more balls of your yarn in the appropriate dye lot.

6. Search you LYS for more 028. Ask for help, pull other colors of yarn out of shelves hoping that some 028 fell down in the back.

7. Purchase 3 balls of Cascade Pastanza in 072. When boyfriend “helpfully” inquires about whether this will be enough yarn, stare fixedly at him and mutter “oh yes….it WILL be enough.”

8. Prepare to knit shrug. It is VERY important that at this point you do not check the web for shrug pattern errata.

9. Knit shrug with new 10.5 buddha needles that you have been dying to play with. When your cast on stitches barely fit on said needles, knit with them anyway because the buddhas are just so FUN. Continue knitting with short needles even after you have doubled stitch number after increasing for sleeves and now have to force stitches down on the right hand needle in order to complete each row.

10. Finish about ¾ of the back of shrug. Realize that you do not have enough teal yarn (even though you knit the ribbed hem in brown to save teal.) Really really really think that you’ve only used 2 of the 3 balls of teal yarn and rip house apart looking for the missing ball.

11. Decide to use brown yarn to add a stripe through the middle of the back, thus saving more teal. Measure carefully a number of times to determine how much of the back to frog, how big to make the stripe.

12. Frog. Knit stripe. Go back to knitting in straight teal…approaching the end of the back. Run out of teal yarn.

13. Measure back and realize that it is currently (in its unfinished state) 13 inches. Stare for a long while at pattern which says that back should be 10” finished. Consider just having a very big, baggy back to the shrug but realize that you don’t have enough teal yarn anyway.

14. Re-convince yourself that you are missing a ball of teal yarn and search house. Finally deduce that the shrug ATE the extra ball of teal yarn while you weren’t looking.

15. Reassess where you will need to put the stripe, frog 10” of knitting and start again. Finish knitting back and start on ribbed cuff. Misread pattern and convince yourself that you have screwed up the length at the very beginning of the shrug. Check web for listed errata.

16. Learn that what you had misread was actually correct (because you, um, misread it) but that there is a different part of the pattern that was incorrect. The mistake would have had you increasing stitches on BOTH sides of the sweater in the (what else) beginning of the shrug.

17. Freak out. Employ patient boyfriend to hold knitting in various positions so that you can decide if one side is actually longer than the other. Do not listen to his opinion that the shrug is, in fact, OK. He doesn’t even know what the hell a shrug is, anyway.

18. Accuse boyfriend of pulling one side of shrug too taut so that you can not get a correct measurement. Decide to sew seams together anyway because you are so flipping tired of knitting this shrug.

19. Realize that measurements were correct, you had luckily misread the misprinted portion of the pattern so all is fine. Prepare to finish piece by knitting sleeve cuffs.

20. Decide to forgo the girly lace cuffs for a slightly flared, ribbed design and settle in to make this final part of the shrug up because a slightly flared rib cuff will just be so much EASIER than a lace cuff…