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Archive for May, 2007

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This break in crafting brought to you by Devils in the Sugar Shop

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

Timothy Schaffert is a great american writer.  The language of his books take me back to the eccentric townsfolk of my small hometown in rural Nebraska.  Two years ago, I played some songs at his hometown sigining for his previous book, The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God.  Since then Timothy has continued to work as director of the Omaha Litfest, and soon, the Nebraska Summer Writers’ Conference.

I’m in the middle of reading his newest book, Devils in the Sugar Shop. Devils in the Sugar Shop

I’ve spent some time in Omaha, and this book seems to reference all of the little jewels of the city, while still speaking in a slightly hipper version of the rural the language of my youth.  The book follows a group of business-minded, yet creatively driven women as they hide from some, and reveal to others, the interconnectedness present that makes even urban areas very small towns.

This book is not short on drama either, complete with a stalker and one of the women sells “marital aids” via Tupperware parties for the new millenium.
I should really wait until I am done reading the book to write a review, AND, I should really be reading the book right now.  Nevertheless, I’m suggesting you pick it up and read it.

Posted in englishy | Comments Off

Coozie Instructable

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

I’ve got my next instructable up!



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Now you can make one for yourself. Just in time for summer cookout season!

Posted in embroidery, felted coozie, felting, instructable, recycle | 1 Comment »

memorial day weekend a little early.

Friday, May 25th, 2007

Sorry for not posting so much. I’m having a crafting crisis. I start on a project, and then screw it up to the point beyond fixing. Example:



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The gauge is supposed to be 6 st and 11 rows on a 4×4 inch square. It was at the start, but somehow, I’ve been knitting tighter, and managed to increase the gauge to 10 st and 14 rows on a 4×4 inch square. This is beyond frogging and fixing. I may just start over.

We have a big wedding this weekend, so that will take my mind off of it.

Posted in knitting | Comments Off

Finished Object – quick recycled plastic bag.

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

For this bag, I made shorter handles than the bag from _Craftivity_. I found with the other bag that the crochet allows for the handles to stretch quite a bit. This bag is really fun and easy to make. Cutting the bags is the most time-consuming part.

Doorway shot:



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I tried to keep the colors together. Detail shot:


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Posted in crochet, recycle | Comments Off

vegetables of our labor

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

Last night Tyrone cooked an awesome dinner consisting an unusual blend of foods: Peanut Butter (no sugar/salt, just ground peanuts all buttery), rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, lime juice, garlic, red pepper, spinach, sauteed mushrooms, shrimp and onions. I’m pretty sure it was based on this Tofu with Peanut Ginger sauce recipe. Try it! I couldn’t stop eating it. The spinach acts like noodles delivering the sauce.

Today, we’re going to harvest a few of our radishes!



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In other news, the nasturtiums are up!



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Makes me excited to try this Nasturtium Salad

Posted in gardening | Comments Off

starting a brand new bag

Monday, May 21st, 2007

Started this bag this weekend:



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Using a size J hook, as I have four of those and no size K’s. I tend to crochet loose anyway, so all will be well. I worked on this at the horse races on Saturday. Tyrone and I biked 6.5 miles from home to bet on the Preakness. I didn’t fare as well as the Kentucky Derby, but Tyrone was hitting his bets all night.

Friday night was Ruth’s bachelorette party. We made her a sash, and a “cootie-catcher” bar selector. At the weirdest bar on the list, Christo’s, they had “live karaoke with a drum machine. Ruth really got into that.



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Little did we know, that during one of our anthemic performances, the groom was walking by saying, “with those sounds, why would I ever want to go into that bar?”* or something like that.

Posted in crochet, double-takes, recycle | Comments Off

a quick one: skirt edition

Thursday, May 17th, 2007

This skirt was made from a recycled pair of khaki pants. I was collecting a bunch from some guys at work when they went up a size. The idea was to make a really cool industrial quilt, but the skirt idea couldn’t wait.

In 2004, I bought a skirt from Urban Outfitters that was basically a piece of fabric with some cool red velcro. This project was based on that.

1. Cut out around the inner leg seams and around the zipper/pockets/waistline of the khaki pants. This will yield 2 large pieces of khaki material. The pants I used were 34×36, so they were a little long.

3. I sewed the two pieces of material together on the waistline end to make a super long strip of fabric.

2. I traced the shape of the skirt I already had onto the fabric. This is the tricky part, but maybe I’ll take a picture of the skirt layout later to demonstrate this. The skirt, when flat, sort of curves up instead of being just a flat rectangle.

3. Pin the raw edges over at the waistline at 1/4 – 1/2 inch. Sew into place.

4. I had a few triangle pieces left over, so I made two darts. I usually prefer to do things in odd numbers, but two darts made it fit better, and gave the skirt a fun flare.

5. After sewing the darts into place, I hemmed the bottom of the skirt.

6. After “trying on” the skirt, I determined the best placement for the velcro.

7. Placed and ironed velcro into place.

TA-DA:



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Sorry that the accordion obstructs the waistline, I’ll have a better picture later. It is a good picture of the dart detail. I was playing a tune accompanying my husband and my sister as they made up a song about “dramatic cat people”, or something like that.

Posted in recycle, sewing | Comments Off

victory garden 07

Wednesday, May 16th, 2007

Started knitting something on Monday night, put the turtleneck on hold. This project uses bulky yarn and big needles, and I’m going to jump back to it as soon as I get this blog entry in.

Now for the “excuse my crafting, this is what I have really been working on lately post”.

Last spring I decided that since we are at war, Americans should be conserving materials to help the war effort. One way to do this is to grow your own food. It really reduces the amount of fossil fuels devoted to transporting your food, and allows you use the compost from your plant-mass garbage. Some may argue that I am being less American by not purchasing food and supporting our GDP in a time of war, but I don’t listen to those people.

So into being sprung the VICTORY GARDEN 06, inspired from the WWII era victory gardens. It was for the most part, a failure. We had some herbs, but nothing else came up besides weeds.

This year, things are really taking off:


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My mother brought down the chives on the end. Yes, that’s a plastic bucket. It has got a gaping hole on one side, so it isn’t useful for much else. We’ve got herbs and beets planted on the end, too. We are going to have way to many potatoes. They are great to grow, as they come up faster than any of the weeds in our yard, and love to be covered with more and more dirt.

This is the little planter I tried to crochet together with twine. As you can see, most of the side is BRICK:



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Here’s the lettuce. My mother says we should start picking some of it.


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Got the snap peas in late.


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Planter radishes and onions. The radishes are about ready!


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Here are the green beans. Planted a second round this weekend.


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Ty and my summertime favorite: PORCH MINT! It grows under our deck, and we use it so often that it isn’t a pest.


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We’re still tempering the tomato plant with the outdoors. It really can’t take the wind too well yet, even with a cage.

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bite me ascot opening day

Tuesday, May 15th, 2007

Before I actually ever went to the horse races, I thought it would be closer to the Kentucky Derby or all of the crazy outfits from My Fair Lady, and that the minute I went, the habit would be formed and all of my money would be spent on gambling and crazy hats.

Lucky for me, at State Fair Park opening day, they provide free hats to the first 100 or so people:



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Our friend Jack Jackson ventured out too. The only thing we won was a great deal on tacos and a couple of $2 show bets.

We were surprised to see how many people showed up for opening day. It was the most crowded I’d ever seen it in the grandstands. Between races, kids would play soccer with empty beer glasses. There were a set of triplets that were really good, and almost slide-tackled each other on the cement!



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Tyrone took it upon himself to set up a race for these kids before we left. He asked them all to form a line and run to another tar line where I was at. It was fun for all of us, but in retrospect, I’m sure some parents watching think we’re the creepiest people in the world now.

Posted in gambling | Comments Off

let’s go ride a bike

Monday, May 14th, 2007

Not much crafting got done this weekend.  On Friday, opening day of racing at State Fair Park was fun, but yeilded no exciting wins.

On Saturday, got a bunch of weeding done.  Tyrone decided we should go on a bike ride.  We got lunch on the bikes, and then biked all the way out to Eagle, NE.  It is approx 12 miles away from our house.  On the way back, we stopped off in Walton to see some friends, got some mexican food with them, as well as a ride back.  I am still feeling it today.

Tyrone wants to bike to Wagontrain Lake and back this summer.  That’s 12 miles away on county road with hils.  The Mopac trail to Walton and Eagle is an old rail line, so it was relatively flat.  If we did it, it would probably have to be early in the morning.

Posted in conservation, fun | Comments Off

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