Made: Finished Scarves!

Well, here’s not just one, but two finished scarves that I promised pictures of-
I finished the guy-scarf, and I even made one for my mom.

My mother’s scarf has a bit of a story behind it. I bought the yarn in a small mom-and-pop store in Takamatsu, Japan, trying to find something to buy to support their business. The yarn was gorgeous and reminded me of my mother right away- but I could only afford two skeins. (No credit cards in Japan-land) I was sure I could do something with it. That was nearly 3 years ago! I finally busted it out and got to work, but as I was working, I realized this was going to be one short scarf! So I made a double-knit at the end, basically making a tube where the first end could pass through it and secure without needing to be long and knotted. Does that make sense? ^_^

Life!

Life, life, life!
It’s amazing how easy we’ve got it in the modern world. So easy that when things start to tumble a bit, our whole lives kind of fall apart and we can’t keep ourselves together long enough to realize that, in all reality, this is nothing!

As many of you know, I moved from Colorado to Japan, from Japan to Colorado, did a road trip of the US, and wound up in DC, the only city I felt comfortable living in. (I later found out this was due to no building being taller than the Washington Monument.) But the truth is- I don’t live in DC. I’m not living the hip green city life I thought I’d be living. I’m in Maryland, skirting the edge of it all, driving in circles between work, friends, and home. And the work- well- let’s just say I had better work when I was 14 than this job. I enjoy being a waitress- I just don’t enjoy the people I have to serve. How mean man can be! This, in conjunction with other piled-on troubles, just got to be too much.

Some time in October my car was hit while parked on the side of the road- and the culprit tried to drive away. He didn’t get far on account of his tire falling off, so the police got his car, even though he ran for it! How could someone do this? How indecent does a man have to be to run from his own folly? I found out at work that a great many people there had done similar things- hit and runs, and they felt no remorse. What a world we live in!

So I’ve been walking for a month and a half; to and fro. My place is a bit out of the way, and it makes for long days and many activities cut short, but it did make my time feel more precious somehow, and it did force me to focus. On top of it all, I felt like I was finally getting much needed exercise, not polluting the skies with my emissions, and I wasn’t having an anxiety attack over East coast traffic or impending costs of automotive maintenance. There were other worries- rain, snow, ice, and wind, and how to carry all those things I always thought I needed before! Life got simpler. Not easier. Just simpler. And I honestly kind of liked it.

My mother, on the other hand, was feeling all my released anxiety over on her side of the Mississippi. Her child alone in DC without a car? Heaven forfend! So she came out to visit and we went car shopping- and I eventually purchased my first car. (not counting the 81 Corolla bought for me in high school, or the Avalon I just totaled that was my mother’s) So now I have a car. A 2002 Honda Accord. And all the anxiety is back. Worse- the financial anxiety of paying off this car is something akin to suffocation.
The good news is- I can get away. I can drive for miles and hide from the city. I can go to Ikea and pretend I live in a trendy little city apartment like in my dreams. And in reality- I don’t have to drive my car. When the weather is nice, I can still walk. So all is not grey.

And Monday I start a new job. It’s a slow start- a volunteer position at the Smithsonian, which I have been told will transform into a full-fledged federal position as soon as they figure out where to put me.
The urban apartment life is looking closer and closer. Here’s hoping.

So perhaps this drama coming to an end, I can get back to crafting. Wouldn’t that be nice!
I hope you all are enjoying the hints of winter, and small whisper of Christmas- and the impending warmth of Thanksgiving.

Blue Containers

(I meant to post this weeks ago, but alas, life got in the way, more on that later!)

When I was little, and went shopping with my mother, she used to always look at the kitchen stores with the windows full of bright, enameled-coated Le Crueset pots. I remember her pausing and sighing wistfully, telling me how much she loved them, and how well they must cook things, and how someday she wanted one in her blue and white kitchen. For the record, my mother’s blue and white kitchen doesn’t actually exist. She has always wanted one- with a Dutch influence I think she picked up living in Europe- and she’s gotten as far as to have many things in her kitchen BE blue and white, as well as having inherited a set of blue and white decorative plates (called Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plates) from my Great Grandfather Marshall which are hung over the top of the cabinets. My favorite is the mermaid:

but having a very eclectic lifestyle has led to having more than just blue and white- somewhat defeating the purpose. On top of that, one day several years ago, now, in an effort to get her to remodel her kitchen, I devised a plan to sabotage her cabinets in order to force her hand. While she and my father were away for the weekend, I painted every one of her cabinets a different color- all in muted Santa-Fe colors- all in a very rusted antiqued look- all very messily done. I have to admit the finished product was pretty cool. Too cool. She still hasn’t remodled the kitchen.

Anyway- her dream for a blue kitchen, and her fawning of the blue enamel-coated Le Creuset pots made them eternally nostalgic. While my mother finally received her pot, and eventually an additional two, I found that I had caught the bug, and was wanting one as well. I knew, however, that it wasn’t really a logical thing to own until one was making dinner often, and could get full use out of it, so I resigned myself to wait until marriage.

or…. today. ^_^ I was walking around Goodwill today looking for a container for things under my sink- and also some grey material for a shark costume for my niece, when I came across a 6 quart cobalt blue stockpot! Whoa! At first I thought it must be a fake- it didn’t weigh nearly enough to be a Le Creuset- and how could one just be sitting here in a Goodwill on the East coast where everything is ridiculously overpriced and totally raked over by everyone… too good to be true. Well, I get home and look it up, and it’s real! It’s not cast-iron, which is why it’s not heavy, but if they made a pot that size in cast-iron, I don’t think anyone could reasonably lift it! So I’m very happy with my $3.50 steel, enamel-coated, cobalt blue Le Creuset stockpot. Hee!

In other news- my sister sent me a beautiful, old, blue tin full of home-made hot-chocolate! I will post that recipe next along with the story behind it.

Made: Custom Vintage Skirt

My good friend in Madison, Wisconsin sent me an Italian skirt her mother had bought 30 years ago. Her mother wore it, and she wore it, even though they both seemed to despise it’s vivid orange color. So when the poor thing began to degrade, and patching wasn’t going to do it anymore, they sent it to me. I took it apart, made a pattern with the pieces and put a new one together in navy blue. It took me a while- I’ve never done something like this before. I learned a lot! I learned how to put pockets in skirts, and I learned where to find pre-sewn hooks and eyes of doom. ^_^ Yeah for not having to sew each one by hand!
I still have to make another one (one for mother, one for daughter) but the first is at last complete! Huzzah!

p.s. I had to make a prototype of this skirt to see how the pieces went together- I happened to make it in my size. It has a few valuable mistakes sewn into it, but I like it anyway! Whee!

Today My Heart Is…

Crafty… but missing something.
Something important.
Something I wish I could name so as to reclaim.
If you find it, will you let me know?

Making: Scarf Present / Art vs. Craft

My best friend of the male variety asked me to make him a scarf. (He has also asked for pirate coats, hemmed pants, and any other number of things) but when he asked for a scarf I jumped at the opportunity. I have this hang-up with scarves. I make them- but I can’t give them away. Either I feel like the people I’m giving them to won’t like them, and will be annoyed by the cliched “scarf” present. or I feel it’s not good enough- too many errors, etc etc. But this time I decided I would make a nice scarf with nice yarn (not the cheap stuff!) and I would rip out wrong stitches, and he’ll undoubtedly want it, so no problem!
Here’s where I am now:

I’ve really enjoyed the process this time around. Taking my time and not rushing through it is helping, and knowing he’s going to like it is really warming to my heart.
I’m alternating a single crochet stitch that hooks into only one side of the bottom stitch, and a double-stitch that leave more flexibility tot he scarf. The striation is nice- and it’s compounded by the striation of the colors, black and grey.

Here’s something I’d like to discuss about arts and crafts- and the difference there within.
If I was just crocheting this scarf with 12 rows black, 12 rows grey, for the rest of the scarf- it would be a craft. It would also be senseless because you can buy that same scarf at any store for cheaper than buying the yarn. (Without self-satisfaction, of course.) Thinking about this really affects me. It affected me ever since I was weaving curtains one day and my teacher asked me, “Why are you just doing a plain weave? You could go down to the fabric store and buy a plain weave, you know. What makes this different? Why are you spending the time?” So it got me thinking about how to make the things I do personal. That can be tough. With this scarf, for instance, I’m going to gradually decrease the width of the stripes down to 1″ stripes at the other end of the scarf to make it a little artistic. That satiated my desire to make it personal, and I’m such more satisfied.

Do you all ever have this on-going battle within you, making something you’ve seen before versus making something uniquely you?

Made: Lace Motif Jewelry

I love making lace motifs. These little wheels of confusion bring me endless delight. I spent last year making them in pinks and browns to fashion a scarf for my mother. Phew. That took a while.
But now they’ve started piling up again after watching movies with friends and wanting to keep my hands busy. So I started making jewelry with them in an effort to get them off the coffee table. What do you think? Dorky? I like them, but I like most things I make because of the enjoyment of the process- so who knows if they’re actually worthwhile to anyone else.

If you’re interested in making your own lace motifs, you really should look into it! It’s much easier than it seems, and while time intensive, it doesn’t take up much space and you can do it anywhere!
I learned from Japanese books, which are super easy to understand because they’re all diagrams and pictures instead of crochet jargon with numbers and letters. So you don’t need to speak Japanese.
I got my books in Japan (they’re so cheap there!) But you can pick some of them up at this online store in the US: Kinokuniya. I am currently eyeing this one. It’s titled, “Beginning with thick thread lace crocheting.”

Today My Heart Is…

I drew this sitting on a beach in Monterey California.
I was there for the wedding of my best friend, so I was already in the “romantic” mood, but I had also just been to see a long-time, long-distance, best-friend/boyfriend/I-don’t-know-what, so my mind was stuck on relationships and oceans and beaches and happiness.
Wow. I get quite ridiculously non-communicative when I’m flustered.

Made: Canned Spiced Peaches

Ooooo, Yummy!

It wasn’t until I left home and attended other families’ holiday dinners that I discovered Spiced Peaches were not a traditional holiday food. In my home, however, it always graced the table on every special occasion. So now, whenever a holiday comes around and I’m miles away from home, I can’t help but feel a bit glum. I mean… you might as well forget the turkey on Thanksgiving, or the apple pie on the Fourth of July.

This year I got smart.
On my recent trip home, I asked my mom to show me how to can her magnificent spiced peaches. Canning, on its own, is a marvelous process that I can’t even begin to express my satiation with, so I won’t try- I’ll just stick to the spiced peaches. If you’re going to make a batch of these bad boys without canning them, try to do it a month or so in advance, just to get spices all leeched into the pithy peaches. Trust me, its worth the wait.

Ingredients:
1/2 C vinegar
2 C sugar (measure to taste)
1 C water
2 sticks cinnamon break into pieces
1 tsp whole cloves
Peach halves (~2 cans (10))

Directions:
Bring vinegar, sugar, water, and syrup from peaches to a boil till sugar dissolves.
Reduce heat to a simmer.
Heat peaches in syrup in about 5 min.
Let stand for 20 min.
Refrigerate in all liquid and add spices.

Enjoy the yumminess!

Making: Ikea Drawers

I love Ikea.

Even if you don’t like their modern aesthetic, how can you not help but fall materialistically in love with a store that tries to be simple, affordable, and easy to take home?

Having grown up in Colorado, we never had an Ikea. My friend in Minnesota introduced me, and then another friend in California made the habit worse. Now I live down the highway from one and I’ve been there once a month since I arrived in February. It’s an expensive habit. A cheap expensive habit.
One thing I’ve always wanted at Ikea are their Fira box-shelves. I remember the first few times I went, I had my hands full and my bank broken, so I couldn’t really partake of their fun compartments. But the past few visits have led me to barren shelves- sold out! I can see why. Finally, on this last trip to show a first-time-Ikea shopper the ropes, I spied them and pounced. I was so excited to take it home and start putting it together…
…

Wow.
They really leave this sucker in parts for you!
I couldn’t believe all the screwing and nailing that had to be done, and I didn’t even get the one with 9 drawers! Mine had 12 screws and 44 nails, while the 9-drawer version had 76 nails! Whoa!

All this shock made me realize this was not a before I go to bed task, so I had to stop nailing after my first drawer and wait until morning. (best not to wake the neighbors at midnight.) I am still excited to get to it come sunrise, and even more excited to start painting! I was looking around Ikea Hacker and saw all the fun ways people decorate their Fira drawers. What a hoot! I might just modge podge mine with scrapping paper instead of painting- much safer that way.
Will let you you know how it turns out!