Would you look at that f-ing snow?

I could've sworn I saw the snowplow go by a few hours ago...

Fortunately, with my Lent resolution to only work on finishing projects that I've already started (don't ask how many things I started on Pancake Tuesday...), a little enforced crafting time was not a bad thing.  I've already knocked a nice grey/black/white striped scarf off my Ravelry list (and into my Etsy shop, in all likelyhood), and I've really been going to town on my 'Ravelympics' (Ravelry Olympics) project.

I'm kind of keeping the Ravelympics project under wraps for a bit, because it was based in a comic idea and I don't want to spoil the comic - I plan on unveiling it when that particular strip goes live. I'm really enjoying it, though.  I'm more of a knitter than a crocheter, so it's a nice change of pace and a little bit of a challenge to myself, which was the point of the Ravelympics.  It's also nice to have a deadline to keep myself on target, or I think I would have already set it aside once I started to embroider the little accessory bits.

I've also got a few half-finished plushies I need to get finished up as well - besides wanting to put some up on Etsy, I also really want to submit something to Stuffed.  There's a couple of pincushions that just need to be stuffed and sewn shut, too. And two rooms I've started painting. And one room I'm in the middle of plastering the walls. And then there's the fabric that I just pinned to the moulding around the window for a bit until I had time to sew it into proper curtains...

Meanwhile, I've already got a list of five project ideas to start in on come Easter...better get back to clearing out some of this crafting backlog!

Vanilla-Rum Frosting

This round of cupcakes was not as pretty as they could have been - I was using up the last of a bag of 'natural' (read - 'no anti-caking agent') powdered sugar, and as it turns out, I don't actually own a flour sifter.  So, the icing's a bit lumpy, but still extremely tasty!



After the last batch, I had several requests for the icing recipe, so I made careful notes this time.

Vanilla-Rum Frosting:
Enough for 2 dozen cupcakes iced with a spatula, or one dozen piped.

1/2 lb powdered sugar
1 stick softened butter
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon spiced rum
food coloring (keep in mind that the icing will start off slightly yellow from the butter when choosing a color)

(I was amused to see that the alcohol content on the rum was actually less than that of the vanilla extract, but I suppose you could use rum flavoring if it's an issue for you)

Microwave the bowl of powdered sugar for 30 seconds. It sounds kind of weird, but since the frosting itself isn't cooked, microwaving the sugar on its own will get rid of that weird metallic taste the corn starch in the powdered sugar sometimes has. Add all other ingredients and mix well.  If the icing seems a bit too stiff, add milk in small amounts until it reaches the right consistency.

 

I like to let the icing rest in the fridge for a bit if I'm going to be piping it, as my hands are very warm and otherwise I can only do about 3-4 cupcakes at a time before I melt the icing too much to get any real definition.

Domestic Pursuits

Got a domestic little bee in my bonnet today, and started off the day with a round of cupcakes:

 

These turned out better than the last batch I made - those were tasty, but closer to the consistency of pound cake than I really like my cupcakes.  The cake recipe I found for these guys was nice and simple, with a bit more leavening to them.  Also, there was no separating of eggs involved.  It's not that I mind separating eggs, I just prefer being able to use the pasteurized eggs so I can lick the bowl afterwards with impunity.

Also, I think this may be the best batch of icing I have ever made.  Normally, my quick icing has a bit of a metallic taste to it, but I learned today that the metallic taste comes from the cornstarch they add to powdered sugar, and can be eliminated by heat.  All I had to do was zap the powdered sugar in the microwave for 30 seconds, and voilá! Granted, being vanilla-rum flavored didn't hurt the icing's placement on the all-time awesome icing chart, but still...

Meanwhile, I was doing a bit of organizing while the cupcakes were baking/cooling, and found this stuffed in one of my boxes:

Not in the best of shape, but the ink stain is only on the cover (and doesn't hide the original $2 price tag from Venture, of all places...does Venture even still exist?).  Being copyright 1976, all the examples look like they were done in worsted-weight yarn on burlap, but it's still a good book.  Handily enough, February is National Embroidery Month, so I thought I'd take the opportunity of stumbling across this to learn a new stitch.

Presenting: the Palestrina knot: 

As you can see, it took me a few to get the hang of it, but it makes a nice, textural line that almost looks like a row of joined French knots.  I could definitely see using this as an outline for something that needed a touch of emphasis, or as a simple border. I do have two fresh teatowels in need of embellishment, after all...

The cake is a lie!

I've been meaning to switch over to using more cloth towels in the kitchen, but I didn't want just plain white towels, so I broke out the embroidery box and got to stitching. It's all backstitch, except for the edging of the cake, which is done in about three rows of French knots.  I will never fear French knots again after this project.

The original intent had been to make the cake slice a bit more detailed, but I hadn't really thought ahead, and made the design much larger than it really needed to be (takes up about a third of the towel). Also, this towel, while lovely and soft, was a bit looser of a weave than I usually embroider on.  It's the first thing I've ever embroidered that's meant for actual use rather than being decorative, so I'm a bit worried about how it's going to hold up.  All the ends have been well sewn in and reinforced with Fray-Check, so I've done all I can, I think.  I just need to give it a good preliminary wash to get rid of my pencil marks, and it's good to go.

Next time I do a towel, I know two things to do differently, though.

1) Dig up my disappearing ink embroidery marker

2) Much smaller design - it's just an embellishment, not a display piece.

Odds and Ends

I found a great tutorial on making a light tent for photography, and thought it might be worth a try to improve my product photos on Etsy.  Took me a while to find the right box, but once I had all the materials gathered, it was only an afternoon's work to get it all put together, and I'm quite pleased with the results - especially as I had a few things to show off.

First off, I've been eying up these vintage buttons for some time now, and I finally took the opportunity to treat myself: I love the deep blue, and the little flower shape.  They're not very big, maybe 3/4 inch wide (about 17mm), but I'm picturing them on a nice fine-gauge cardigan, something kind of mori girl-looking.

I also finally managed to get everything together to make a pair of earrings I'd had planned out ever since I first saw the beadcaps.

They were very simple and fast to make - I took eight matching bead caps, spaced them out on head pins with two small beads that matched the metal in between each one, and put them on ear wires.  I'd originally thought about getting all fancy and chaining them together on wire for a bit more movement, but I think if I'd done that, they might have been too jingly. (which is fun if you're just wearing them for a little while, but eight hours at work might have been a bit much.)

I've also had a lot of things lately that have just turned up while cleaning, such as these gloves. They fit me just nicely, and look very film-noir.  I kind of want a nice 1940s-silhouette dress and one of those hats with the black netting veil to wear with them.  No idea *where* I'd wear them, but if I could get the whole outfit together, I think I might have to organize something myself.
No idea where they came from, or how old they might be.  I vaguely remember my mom tucking them in one of the many boxes of my stuff that have been trickling over from her storage areas, but beyond that, their history is as mysterious as the backstory I'm already writing for the character whose costume they're going to be part of.

Minor setbacks ahoy!

Though I've been trying to get ahead on some of my projects, it seems like there's a few that have actually gone backwards the last few days.

The sample gloves I'm knitting hit a bit of a snag when I went to do my decreases after the three inches of ribbing on size 3 (3.25 mm, for the metric) needles, and discovered that I already had the right number of stitches on the needles. Or rather, the very, very wrong number.  I'd somehow skipped ahead in the pattern and cast on the number of stitches I was supposed to have *after* my decreases.  So, that all got ripped out and will be started over if I have time tomorrow. I'm just glad I didn't do the same thing on the other glove.

The other setback has been the sock pattern I'm working on.  Everything was going great, and the sample sock fit me just nicely. Then I did the math, took a few measurements to double-check my estimates for sizing, and realized that there's a reason I can wear those awesome pointy stiletto boots...and, possibly, why I seem to fall over a lot. My feet were at least an inch and a half smaller around than anyone else's, but I'd been using my foot measurement as the large end of the womens' sizing.  Math has been adjusted, knitting has been frogged, yarn has been rewound, and the sock-knitting shall begin anew.

A White Freaking Christmas

So...this is my mom's neighbor's mailbox...

We got just a little snow for Christmas.  Fortunately, we'd thought to bring overnight bags and the cat with us, so we've just been having something of a Christmas sleepover party.  I felt bad about having to call out from work because of the weather, but when I saw the mail truck start up the hill, then give up and turn around I felt a bit less wussy.

3 Kind of Sad Things I Would Like for Christmas

At the risk of sounding like a grownup, there are actually a few depressingly useful things on my Christmas list this year:

1. A decent hairbrush
     - I used to have a really nice, actual boar bristle brush.  It worked great, and I've never been able to find another one I've liked quite as much. I need something with bristles rather than the plastic spiky things that just static up my hair.

2. Pumpkin moisturizer
     - I don't even know if they make this stuff anymore (it may have been seasonal), but they used to carry it at Beauty Brands. I really loved it, it smelled incredibly tasty, and it actually felt like it was moisturizing instead of sitting in a greasy film on the surface of my skin.

3. New valve stem caps with pressure indicators
     - I have no idea what happened to mine.  I think they got left at the garage last time I had the car serviced.  I've bought the regular caps in the meantime, but I really like being able to tell at a glance if I need to actually check my tire pressure or if I'm just parked in a dip in the parking lot.

It's not like they're even really hard-to-find items, it just seems like I never really go anyplace that sells them, and they're not really essentials, so I'd feel silly making a special trip just to buy them

My house is the crappiest parfait ever.

As I soldier on towards the eventual goal of getting my bathroom painted, I am astonished how a house less than 40 years old can have this many layers of stuff.  And I mean LAYERS.

When we bought it, the house had been sitting empty for a while, so at the very least I expected some redecorating just in the name of freshening things up.  The main bathroom, though...everyone's first reaction on seeing the bathroom was along the lines of 'oh, that's too bad...'.  At some point, a previous owner took textured wallpaper, tore it into random pieces, and layered it all over the bathroom walls.  Over a previous wallpapering job.  Textured wallpaper...in chunks...random...overlapping... I do not know what thought process led up to this, but it must have been done fairly soon before we bought the house, as the first time we turned on the hot water in that room, half of the wallpaper bits peeled off, and the other half became an integral part of the drywall.  Two years on, and I'm just now getting enough of it off to get that room painted like a (relatively) sane person lives here.

In various other rooms of the house, we discovered that wallpaper borders had been put on top of other wallpaper borders, with layers of paint intervening. Then there's the kitchen...

The cat kept getting stuck to the kitchen floor, because when the dishwasher was running, it heated the floor enough to make the adhesive vinyl tiles sticky and loose.  Out of curiosity, I popped one up and discovered that instead of being stuck down to the sub-flooring, there was a solid cream-colored vinyl floor underneath (which was great, because the rust-colored tiles didn't really go with the kitchen anyway).  So, my mom and I peeled up all the tiles and scrubbed off the adhesive as best we could (tip for those of you trying this at home: Pine-Sol is fricking made of awesome.  It's like the anti-duct tape.).  While doing this, we took up the threshold strips at each doorway and the floor heat vent, and discovered....drum roll please...ANOTHER LAYER OF FLOORING. I'd been wondering why the carpet transitional strip seemed to go up from the carpet to the hard flooring. We don't know if the first layer is salvageable yet, so I want to to wait to take up the cream-colored stuff just in case we have to end up putting in a new floor from scratch, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there was yet another floor under that.

The crowning moment of WTF, however, was when we had the original wood shake roof replaced with composite roofing.  Correction - what we thought was the original roof.  Someone, rather than replacing or fixing the original wood shake roof, put another entire wood shake roof over the top of it.  To quote Family Guy: "Pie? Drunk? The?"

On the bright side, at this rate, once I finally get everything cleaned up, my house should be several square feet larger than when we bought it.
------------------
Now playing: They Might Be Giants - Kiss Me, Son of God
via FoxyTunes

Simple Lace Headband/Sash

Needed a little something extra for my 'Knitting Fairy' costume, and I found about half a skein of Berroco Lumina left over from a crocheted headband I'd made for a friend, so I whipped up a quick lacy headband for myself. With more yarn, you could easily keep knitting to make a sash/hipbelt, but for this particular project, I was constricted by both supplies and time.

Yarn: Berroco Lumina (Berroco Sox Metallic or Louisa Harding Jasmine would work nicely as well - thin, smooth, and sparkly is the key here)
Needles size 5 (3.75 mm)

Setup:
Cast on 16
Knit two rows

Row 1: slip one as if to knit, (yarn over, knit 2 together) until 1 stitch remains, knit one.
Row 2: slip one as if to purl, knit to end.

Repeat these two rows until desired length. Knit two rows, and bind off.
Note: The finished piece will be a parallelogram, not a rectangle, so don't worry if your knitting seems to be leaning to one side as you work (it's supposed to).


----------------
Now playing: Avenue Q Original Broadway Cast - Schadenfreude
via FoxyTunes

I don't know why this works, it just does...

Hit the writer's block hard enough to knock the wind out of myself again, so I present once more my top ten most listened to songs.

Listed by total play count:

10. Ocean of Lust - DeVotchKa
9. Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode
8. At My Window Sad and Lonely - Billy Bragg & Wilco
7. Anthem for the Already Defeated - Rock Plaza Central
6. Corrupt - Depeche Mode
5. Energy - The Apples in Stereo
4. A Pain That I'm Used To - Depeche Mode
3. Never Let Me Down Again - Depeche Mode
2. I Can't Decide - Scissor Sisters
1. John the Revelator - Depeche Mode

Listed by average plays per day (oh yes, I got it set up properly...):

10. Hotel Song - Regina Spektor
9. Precious - Depeche Mode
8. Energy - The Apples in Stereo
7. California Stars - Billy Bragg & Wilco
6. Never Let Me Down Again - Depeche Mode
5. Black Mission Goggles - Man Man
4. John the Revelator - Depeche Mode
3. A Pain That I'm Used To - Depeche Mode
2. Song of Our So-Called Friend - Okkervil River
1. I Can't Decide - Scissor Sisters (seriously - an average of 1.9 plays per day, not counting listening in the car?)

I like being able now to look at my songs organized by plays per day. There's not really all that much difference in terms of artists, but I think it's fun to be able to take a look at my listening habits on a shorter term basis than the total play count provides.

Okay, enough math/analysis - back to language skills!

----------------
Now playing: Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky
via FoxyTunes

Fall Cleaning

I've never quite understood the point of 'spring' cleaning. I mean, spring rolls around and you want to go out and do stuff (in theory). You're not really going to be inside that much for a while (again, in theory).

Fall, on the other hand...it starts getting cooler, and you sort of look around and go "I'm going to be in here a while - better clear some of this crap out of the way." There's also that whole keeping the creepy-crawlies from trying to get into the house for warmth as the weather gets colder to keep in mind. Not to mention holidays coming up that require other people to actually have to see the inside of your house (you can't get most of them to agree to blindfolds - I've tried).

Best Cooking Accident Ever!

I had some leftover rice from making chicken fried rice for dinner, so I thought I'd whip up a little rice pudding as an evening snack. I had just dumped in a couple of big spoonfuls of ginger and was reaching for the cloves, when I saw, sitting on the shelf proud as you please....the jar of ginger...

I looked at the jar on the counter, and realized that I'd actually just added garlic powder to my rice pudding. A less extemporaneous cook might have just muttered a few swear words and dumped the whole thing. However, all I'd added so far was rice and milk, so I thought I'd just try making a savory rice pudding. Ended up with a VERY tasty cheesy tomato risotto-like substance that will make a marvelous lunch tomorrow (the mouth is still in the mood for something a bit sweet to go with all this tea, will just have to make do with toast and jam...) Thus, I present:

Cheesy Tomato Rice Thingy

2 cups rice
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons powdered garlic
1 chicken-tomato bouillon cube
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
handful of shredded cheese (let's call it a 1/4 cup)
black pepper to taste

cook until pudding-like consistency and cheese is thoroughly melted.
----------------
Now playing: DeVotchKa - Queen Of The Surface Streets
via FoxyTunes

Quite a bit of knitting, indeed.

So, I'm finally getting some of my older projects finished (mostly because I've got great ideas for new stuff and I'm too cheap to just buy more needles). Right now, I've got a kitty pi that's all done but the felting running through the washing machine. I'm a little nervous, honestly - I haven't felted anything in this machine before, and the damned cat bed took me so long, I'd really hate for anything to go wrong at this late stage. I suppose it didn't take that long in terms of continuous knitting, it got set aside for about a year, year and a half, but still... I did the math, and there's over 600 yards of yarn in this thing, not counting the eyelash yarn worked in at the top edge. Pre-felted pic for the sake of posterity (34 inches in diameter):



Also, since the **SECRET SWATCH** turned out so nicely, I got the needles today to start working a few more kinks out of the design. I'd love to have a prototype done soon, maybe get the pattern out by Christmas, but I really need to finish the other two in-progress patterns before I start in on it. After all, it's much easier to teach a class on a project you have a pattern for, hm?

Got the yarn to start in on some of the Christmas knitting today, too. Very excited about it, but (of course) I have to finish up another project to free up the needles I need. Although...it was just something for myself, so I could always just throw it on a stitch holder for a while...

----------------
Now playing: Moxy Früvous - King of Spain
via FoxyTunes

Swatching up a storm...

I was going to be all good and not start any new projects until I got a few things finished, but then I realized that if I want to actually get a baby blanket to my cousin in Australia before she's due, I probably want to have it done and mailed by Thanksgiving. I decided to go with the Op Art Blanket from Knitty in a nice washable cotton - good to wrap up in, but not too hot for Western Australia. So, did a few swatches until I got the gauge I needed since the yarn I'm using isn't the same weight as the pattern calls for (though more color-fast, from what I hear):


And then we got in some shiny new yarn, and I had a flash of inspiration. I'm really excited about this swatch:
What's it a swatch for, you ask? That...is a secret!
(also, I may have been watching too much Slayers lately....)

And, just to round things off, I present Friday and Saturday's cup art (the sandwich shop was closed yesterday and today for the holiday :( )"



















Relatively happy with Gir, but with the giant Octopus I drew the smouldering city first, then decided what was attacking, so he's not quite as integrated into the picture as I'd like.
----------------
Now playing: Depeche Mode - Blue Dress
via FoxyTunes

More doom on a cup!

Went with something of an unintentional Smurf theme today:

It started off as just a cat stalking something in grass, then I thought that the cat sort of looked like Azrael, and decided that the subjects of today's doom would be a few hapless Smurfs - perhaps a branch village of political dissidents, striking out on their own against the patriarchy of the main village, and about to discover that there was, in fact, safety in numbers.

Now all I can think of is that scene from Snatch:

"The hare has to outrun the dogs."
"So what if it doesn't?"
"Well, the big rabbit gets f*cked. "
"Proper f*cked?

Only with Smurfs and cats...
----------------
Now playing: DeVotchKa - Head Honcho
via FoxyTunes

Reorganization, and the unluckiest city ever built on styrofoam.

So I'd been planning on entering a local knitting contest, all gung-ho to show off a lace entrelac pattern idea I've been kicking around for a bit, but after realizing that
A) I'd have to buy tickets to the festival to get in to even submit my piece and
B) that the prize was just a gift certificate to go buy yarn someplace I DON'T get an employee discount, I decided that my time was better spent taking on some custom orders I've had nibbles on (who would pay me in something a little more useful like **cash**).

One of the jobs in particular sounds like fun - a big project, but pretty mindless pattern-wise. I just have to get a decent estimate together of how much yarn it's going to take, so I've been doing some gauge swatches and math. Thus, I present to you: the teeniest gauge swatch ever!
Ten stitches to the inch, awwww yeah. Probably won't end up going with this needle size in the end, but it was fun to swatch.

Also, I've been getting a bit bored with just writing my name on my cup every day at work, so the last few days I've been getting a little creative with the Sharpies.

Friday's cup:



And today's:











I like to imagine that this is all happening to the same, extremely unlucky, city. My lunch is well seasoned imagining their tiny cries of 'What the hell? Again?'. (it would seem the population of my tiny imaginary city is surprisingly jaded....)

----------------
Now playing: Scissor Sisters - I Can't Decide
via FoxyTunes

Catching up on things.

I was kind of operating on silent running for a while, as there were some birthday and swap projects I was working on that I needed to keep quiet until the big reveal. My two favorites out of the batch:

OCTONINJA!!!


Made this little guy for my friend's birthday - she likes squid/octopi, her boyfriend likes ninjas, so I figured it was something she could proudly display anywhere in the house. He's made mostly out of black denim, with a square of Amy Butler's Full Moon Dots for around the eyes.












And from the swap, PAMCAKE APRON!



I was discussing how awesome this came out with a co-worker, and she suggested a tutorial. There is a small problem with this, however, as you soon shall see:
Step One: Draw 'lil Hellboy on apron
Step Two: Color in drawing with acrylics mixed with fabric medium.
Step Three: Heat set.

Yeah....

Latest kick has been embroidery - got two projects going there, bunch of knitting projects, both for myself and as samples, knitting contest I'm gearing up for, soldered pieces I'm working on as a commissioned job, the new fabrics the store just got in are inspiring me to do some more sewing, and I found an awesome plushie contest I want to enter...

What's that? Sleep? Never heard of it.

----------------
Now playing: The Apples In Stereo - Energy
via FoxyTunes

5 Impossible Things I Would Like For My Birthday.

My birthday is coming up soon, and as usual, I can never decide what I'd like. I'm terrible about talking people out of buying me awesome stuff because I get all 'reasonable' and ask for something I need instead of something I want. So, in that vein, just in case anyone I know has suddenly developed magical wish-granting powers and has been holding out on me, there are five completely impossible (well, not IMPOSSIBLE, but very very unlikely and improbable) things I would love to see for my birthday:

1. Through some odd, previously unnoticed surveying error, it would turn out that my house is not actually part of the subdivision, and thus, not subject to the homeowners' association rules (or dues)

2. A trip to Paris to go to the Depeche Mode concert there the weekend of my birthday.

3. A lifetime supply of beer. Good beer. If someone tried to give me a lifetime supply of Bud Light or Coors, I think I'd punch them. (I say as though this is somehow more likely than anything else on this list)

4. My computer upgraded to the point that it might be in danger of being classified as a sentient being.

5. A way to get to my laundry room without having to go through the garage.

That last one seems a little out of place, I'll admit, but it really really bugs me, and I just can't figure out a way to do it without inventing a teleporter or losing a closet.

----------------
Now playing: DeVotchKa - Ocean Of Lust
via FoxyTunes

Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.

Went out roller skating for a friend's birthday Sunday night, and realized three very important things that I should have thought of earlier:

1. I cannot skate on regular roller skates, only on rollerblades.

This was quickly remedied, as the rink had rollerblades available at no extra charge as long as you left your shoes with them. Of course, the rental rollerblades were missing a wheel and had gum in one (prompting me to announce to my friends "and for my next trick, I shall order a piece of cherry pie with a pit in it!").

2. I have mostly skated on pavement, not wood.

Wood is a lot smoother. And faster.

3. I have mostly skated on hockey skates, leading to two sub-points:

a. Hockey rollerblades lace up, they don't have those weird bindings that always seem to work loose because I don't really know how to adjust them properly.

b. I used to skate WITH SAFETY PADS ON!!!!!

As I sit here on a heating pad, covered in Dragon Balm, I realise point 3(b) is really the one I should have remembered...

----------------
Now playing: Duke Chapel Choir - 08 - Lacrymosa - Mozart Requiem
via FoxyTunes