Meet Nellie Nester

This was the handmade item for my Warm Ewe Up swap on Ravelry. It took so long to make, I had to send it separately from the last package.

I completed Nellie weekend before last and didn't post her pic because I wanted Mo to get a chance to see her first. Turns out, the timing was perfect. Check out Mo's post on her own blog.

Mo's photos are much better than mine, but you can get a peek into my apartment in mine. That's my favorite piano there in the background. If you look really closely on the right-hand side in the background, you can see my penguin bathrobe draped over my balance ball. As a housekeeper, I make a lousy photographer. (Or is it as a photographer, I make a lousy housekeeper?)

Mo collects nesting chickens and what better gift for a winter swap than a cozy?

Warm Ewe Up Final Reveal

I am happy finally to have some time to devote to the ol' blog.  This public thank-you is long overdue.

My poor swap partner had quite a challenge in me because I have so much stuff, I have no business participating in a swap.  Yarn has become my screen monster that threatens to eat our home.  So when someone says, "What do you need?  What colors do you want?  What kind of yarn," yada yada yada, I put my hands up in a defensive gesture and scream "Noooooooooooooo!"

In spite of all that, she uncannily chose absolutely perfect gifts for me!  I'm not going to build up the suspense here because I am so excited about these fingerless gloves, I simply can't put off mentioning them:

She designed and knit them up herself and every detail was a thoughtful gesture for Yours Truly.  She tells the story of their creation better on her own blog, where I am proud that my gloves share space with Pavarotti.

I am positive she has ESP.  I was eyeing sock monkey patterns at the lys while she was choosing these pattern book to send me.  All of them are perfect for me and thoughtfully take into consideration my taste and the type of projects I do.

She is a very good photographer, too, and sent me a photo taken in her home, upstate New York, near where my own DH was born and raised.  I love it up there, and her photo captured the autumn leaves that I recall so well from the only time I ever visited there.  (A portion of the photo is barely visible under my fingers above.)

The little lamb has already found a home with the Baby in the Seafoam Booties.  The two are very good and fast friends now.

Now I have officially sworn off swaps until I have finished all my UFOs and made a dent in the yarn that threatens to push us out of house and home.

Woot! Loot!

I apologize for my infrequent blogging these days. Demands on my time and all. I won't bore you with the details.

Crocheting time has become dear, as well. I am very far behind on promised projects, including the prize for the brooch contest, but I hope to have that completed by the end of next weekend.

Meanwhile, I received this fantastic package from my Falling for Ewe secret swap pal. Dear, dear, Pal. You and I have far more in common than you may have realized. I cannot wait to "meet" you for real and exchange private emails.

Just opening the outer package gave me a lift. Just look at all the pretty packages!

Inside was the most luscious, soft, heavenly yarn imaginable. And the color! I wish the photo could do it justice. It's a bit on the watermelon side of true red, and looking at it just makes me sigh. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but I'm looking for scarf and hat patterns right now that will suit it. I would love feeling this yarn caressing my face in the San Francisco fog.

I am afraid I have given my spoiler a bit of a hard time because I mentioned that I don't really need any more yarn. Add to that the fact that I can't have scents and shouldn't eat sweets and it's kind of hard to spoil me, isn't it?

Well, she manages quite well, I must say. These Dove sugar-free chocolates are fabulous! My candy jar at work was in need of replenishing, judging by the "innocent" comments of passersby who have been looking in there. I shared a few of the sweets with the jar, but most of them are stashed in a drawer where only I can sneak them out!

I love the sage green cotton thread. I have so many projects in mind requiring cotton thread, I don't know which all I'll choose for this thread ultimately, but I'm definitely going to be making glass cozies and beaded evening bags and sachets for a start!

Speaking of which, this book -- which came from my spoiler's personal stash, by the way -- is actually a book I once checked out of the library! I love most of the patterns in it and it's especially wonderful because it has cat toys in it! My cats were gifted by a previous spoiler with knitted cat toy mice and they have abandoned all their other toys for those three mice. One of them goes hunting every night at around 3:00 a.m. and carries those mice around the apartment, dropping them and yowling about her conquest. (Luckily, DH and I are relatively sound sleepers.) I had always hoped to have crochet patterns of cat toys.

But there are more patterns in there I love -- and plenty for cotton thread, like sachets and purses and wash cloths. It will definitely get use.

Spoiler, thank you so much! I'll get a proper thank you in the mail this week.

Warm You Up Winter Swap Blog Question #4

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day this year?

Valentine's Day is a sore subject around this place.

See, DH and I sort of eloped on Valentine's Day.  Or at least we decided to elope on Valentine's Day but by the time we got ourselves to Las Vegas and got the requisite marriage license and found an open chapel, we were actually married on February 15th.

We had a wedding all planned for June and we went ahead with it anyway, for the family's sake, but it was our little secret that we were already married.

We have friends who were married in three different ceremonies and we actually planned on having three ourselves because it sounded like fun, but it took so long to get our respective households combined and somewhat organized (in fact, that project isn't completed to my satisfaction even today....), we never did do the third one in San Francisco.

DH is not very creative when it comes to holidays. He gives cards. Only cards. From all I can fathom, that's all his family ever did for any occasion was give cards. He is quite pleased with himself when he hands me a card, and I have given up on trying to augment his ways to include even poorly thought out gifts.

All that aside, our first year, I didn't get a blessed thing on Valentine's Day.  Then on the 15th, I got an anniversary card.  I wasn't happy.

Carefully, I tried to explain to DH that just because our anniversary was on the 15th, that did not exempt him from his Valentine's Day obligations.

Not only that, but the February wedding was not my favorite occasion to remember.  The chapel minister was a dirty minded man who made a comment about what DH must have been thinking simply because he offered me the wrong finger to put the ring on.  (I mean, some people count the thumb so when you tell them "your third finger," they just might get it mixed up, right?)

Anyway, between my mixed feelings about celebrating the anniversary in the first place and its proximity to Valentine's Day, DH just can't get it right, poor guy.  Not his fault.

So I try not to think about Valentine's Day at all.  DH and I are going to a seminar on how to survive a recession, not a bad way to strengthen a marriage, eh?

If I happen to get a card or a flower for either occasion, that'll be a bonus.

An Act of Swapper Love

Today I got my first package from my swap partner in the Warm Ewe Up Winter Swap:

• Look past the yummy yarns (Burgundy cotton and Tofutsies in a lovely lavendar ombre).
• Look past the portable crochet pattern booklets (with the adorable ducky and dinosaur baby toys inside that only I know about....  Wait a minute.  I just told you about them.  Well, only I have seen them.)
• Look past the pretty notes...
• Look past the bottle of natural, unscented Eucalan no rinse, delicate wash laundry concentrate (which I've never seen before and which I can't wait to try!)
• Look past the Dove chocolates -- Yes!  I said look past Dove Chocolates!  Me!  MOI!  I SAID THAT! (Yeah, I don't believe it either.)

See that card at the top of the photo?  The one with the picture of the knitwitch with her sweet cat riding a knitting needle to the stars?

That is a loving work of art from my swap partner.  What a warm and loving letter she sent to me -- a virtual stranger!

And get this line she wrote about the laundry concentrate:  "Please forgive the dented bottle.  I fell down the stairs this morning on my way out to work and dropped the bag."

Wow.  The mind boggles.

First of all, I do hope she's okay.  Those soft tissue injuries can sneak up on you later.

But get this.  She's told me -- her secret pal -- that she fell down the stairs.  She has given up her rights to post on Ravelry about her injuries and thus garner sympathy from all of us loving knitters and crocheters or else risk outing herself to me.

Now that's an Act of Love.

Warm Ewe Up Question #2

If you could only knit or crochet with one brand of yarn for the rest of the year, what would it be and why?

If I could only crochet with one brand of yarn for the rest of the year, it would be the brand that I have the most of in my stash, whatever that is. I suspect it's cotton, either Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co. or Lion Brand.

In fact, Lion Brand would be a good choice because then if I used up all the cotton I have in that brand, I would have a wide range of fibres to choose from when I had to buy yarn.

But then, choosing Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Company is kind of a cheat because it would include Peaches & Creme and crochet thread, so I'd have a broader choice of projects to make.

The reason I would rather choose the one that I have the most of is because I'm a bit -- well, let's say thrifty, and I could kill two proverbial birds with one proverbial stone: I could reduce my stash considerably and I would be forced to focus, so I would catch up on all the gifts I had planned with that yarn.

Not exactly what you were thinking when you asked the question, eh, moderator?

Vote on a Brooch

I promised you in the post Ravelry Swap on a Budget Great Reveal that I would show you the brooch I had bought to go along with the shawl that Beth of Needle Bling fame knit me.

Not only did I buy a handmade brooch that matched the shawl perfectly, but I also found that I had two others in my brooch stash that also matched.

(My coworker Maria, who was there when I opened the package, wants me to tell you that I wear this shawl at work practically every single day.)  I alternate brooches on it depending on what I'm wearing or what mood I'm in.

So, vote for your favorite brooch and win a prize!

Here's how.

Vote by leaving a comment with your Ravelry ID or an email address or website, a way to contact you in other words.  (It's not a contest, really.  More like a drawing.  I'll put all the names in a hat or a shoe or a bucket and draw one.)

First prize is something crocheted by me.  (Don't get too excited.  It'll probably be a cotton wash cloth or a soap saver or something equally banal.)  First place winner can choose from something I've already made (which isn't much) or negotiate for a particular item in a particular color, as long as you are willing to allow time for me to make it.

Second prize is Kool-Aid dyed alpaca yarn from Needle Bling.  100% sport weight alpaca yarn from Frog Tree Yarn. Two 50-gram skeins, approximately 260 yards.  (Photo courtesy of Needle Bling.)

Third prize will be a $10 gift certificate from Needle Bling.

Refer your friends to this contest and get an extra entry for you and for them.  They just have to mention in the contest that they were referred and by whom.

Here are the choices:

Brooch #1:

This is the handmade brooch I bought the weekend before I got the shawl.  It has a jade backing behind white filligree with a bird in the center.  I'm not sure what the white is or how it is made.  And since your vote doesn't affect the contest, I don't mind telling you that this is my favorite.

Brooch #2:

This is a brooch I found on eBay. It just caught my fancy. It is a faux Victorian brooch with a cameo center. The bright green doesn't go quite as well with the shawl, but I still like it.

Brooch #3:

 

This brooch was a little lagniappe that someone on eBay sent me when I purchased some clothing from her store.  I love it.

There you have it.  Vote by the end of January and I'll announce the winner on February 2nd.

 

Why Did I Learn To Crochet?

OK, in all fairness to the Warm Ewe Up Winter Swap moderator, I'll answer the question that she meant to ask me.

I was born to crochet.  It is my destiny.

Seriously.

My maternal grandmother crocheted.  She was a 4'8" spitfire of Irish heritage and she was left-handed.  In fact, she had several (I'm thinking maybe 8? but I can't recall how many) siblings, and they were all left-handed.

Sadly for her, both her children -- my mother and my aunt -- were right-handed.  They longed to crochet like their mom but they couldn't quite learn from a left-hander.

When I was born and showed a preference for the left hand, there was much rejoicing because now Gramma (she was still just Gramma then.  Later she would be known as "Little Gramma" by her great-grandchildren to distinguish her from their grandmothers) would have someone she could teach to crochet.

I learned to make a chain when I was 4 or 5.  I would have gone on merrily making chains until Kingdom Come but for a pivotal and rather traumatic moment in my tender childhood.

One day a lady came to our house to do business with my mother.  I am not quite certain what the business was -- my mother was an Avon lady at the time and probably it had something to do with that -- but for some reason, it was important that manners and protocol prevail that day.

The woman sat in a chair in the living room and waited for my mother, who went off somewhere else in the house to fetch something for her.  While she waited, the lady pulled out of her handbag two needles and began knitting something.  I was fascinated and nosy, of course.  I asked her questions about what she was doing and she answered sweetly.  We were having a delightful conversation when my mother re-entered the room just in time to hear me tell the lady, "I crochet."

"Do you?" she crooned.  "What do you crochet?"

"Oh, chains," I answered proudly.

The two women dispatched their business and the lady left.  My mother had no sooner closed the door on her than she whirled around and berated me soundly.  "Don't tell people you crochet!  All you can do is make chains!  That's not real crocheting!  If you tell people you crochet, then they expect that you can actually make something."

Looking back from an adult perspective, I realized that that lady and what she thought about me and my mother was of Very Great Importance to my mom or she wouldn't have been so harsh with me.  But at the time, I was devastated that I'd made an awful faux pas (even though I wouldn't have understood the term if someone had told me then that I'd made a faux pas.)

As soon as Gramma visited again, I went to her and demanded that she show me something else.  Something more than a chain.  Something like what she was doing.

Thus I learned my first stitch.  And my second.  And lo and behold, a Granny Square!

Every year someone gave my grandmother a gift subscription to Workbasket.  She kept them in a trunk in her living room and used the trunk as a footstool.  She let me read them and I taught myself how to read a pattern and began making Barbie clothes and toilet paper covers, the usual Workbasket variety of FOs.  My grandmother was envious of my "talent" because, she said, she didn't know how to read a pattern.  I guess the person who gave her the Workbasket never knew that because she kept getting them every year.  By the time I was grown up, they filled the entire trunk.  I'd grab a few of them every time I visited her but by the time I was in college, I had no time for crocheting.  I didn't pick it up again until recent years.

But nowadays, every time I make an FO that I'm proud of and I post a picture of it on Ravelry or on this blog, I think, "See Mom, I really can crochet!"

Ravelry Swap on a Budget Great Reveal

I got my package yesterday and my spoiler was no less than Beth Bowles of Needle Bling fame!

She started out by wrapping almost everything in this gorgeous rose patterned tissue paper. Very pretty.

And what goodies were inside! Of course, you can see the wasabi cashews have been almost all eaten up in the photo and I can't for the life of me find that square of Ghiradelli chocolate....

Those are Pilot gel pens on the left, my favorites. And those two gorgeous chunks of chocolate in the center? Those are bars of SOAP! What a guilt-free way to indulge myself. There is a luxurious wooden crochet hook that I can't wait to try. And handmade stitch markers from her shop.  I'm drinking some of that moroccan mint tea right now.

The thread and navy cotton yarn she included only add to that "stalked" feeling -- the one that makes you feel loved and not eery -- and that skein of variegated blue-greens? That's soy yarn that she dyed especially for me!

I never really thought I had a "favorite" color but seeing myself through Beth's eyes has made me realize that I really do. In fact, when I got to the yarny goodness, my coworker gasped and said, "Look! It matches what you're wearing! Put it on!" So I put on the shawl (sorry, it doesn't show up very well in my photo. Hopefully Beth will have it in her projects section) and felt so taken care of! It's perfect for me. And, no, Beth, I'm not going to add fringe with that extra skein of yarn you send. I love it just the way it is. In fact, my coworker said, "You should put a pretty pin right *there*" and emphasized it by showing me how to close it, and suddenly I realized that I had bought the exact *perfect* pin for this shawl at a craft show over the weekend.

This was one loving swapper! I am very, very pleased. And warm.

Thank you, Beth!  Give my love to the ferrets!

Warm Ewe Up Winter Yarn Swap Questionnaire

Do you knit or crochet, or both? How long have you been at the craft?

• Crochet. I learned when I was 5 or 6 and I am now over a half-century old, but there are decades-long gaps when I haven't been "at the craft," so I don't know how to answer. But I can do most anything I want to do with it. Most.

Do you spin?

• Not that way you mean when you ask.

What yarns/fibers are your favorites?

•  Soft ones like alpaca and cotton and soy.
• Colorful crochet threads (no. 10 or 20).

 What yarns/fibers do you not like?

•  Mohair. Too hard to crochet with it.

What yarns/fibers would you like to try but haven’t?

• Hmmm. Surprise me.

 What are your favorite colors? Colors that you don’t like?

•  Almost any color appearing in nature.
• earth tones
• heathery blues and greens and greys
• jewel tones
• coral and peach
• not maroon
• not so much the black and white.

What are your favorite types of projects to knit/crochet?

• Anything for babies or children.
• Anything gift-y for friends that they really appreciate, such as:
• hats
• scarves
• market bags
• Amigurumi
• threadwork like beaded bags or
• snowflake ornaments.

 What are you currently working on?

• I'm finish up a christening outfit that should be done next week.
• Then I've got an alpaca throw for a wedding gift
• I must get started on and some stuffed toys for gifts: a monkey and a bear and a set of penguin bowling pins.

What is your favorite FO? (Please post a picture if you have one.)

• I'd still have to go with the beaded bridal purse. See my blog entry on it entitled "What Is It About Weddings?" 

Are there any techniques that you want to learn?

Eventually, but I have plenty to work on before then.

• Hairpin lace
• broomstick lace
• Bruges lace
• Irish crochet
• And I intend to learn to felt without a washing machine, like with a little washboard or felting washboard that I've seen at my lys.

Do you have a yarn winder and/or swift?

• Nope. Don't want one either.

How do you store your needles/hooks?

• I have rolls that serve the purpose, one of them made by someone in an earlier swap which I will keep forever.

 Do you collect anything?

• Egg cups. (I own only one but I would like it to turn into a collection.)
• I have a collection of comb-bound grass roots type of cookbooks, like from church bazaars, but that is sort of accidental. See my blog post about it.

Do you like sweets?

•  Oh, dear. That's Pandora's box for this borderline diabetic! Sugar free chocolates for me or the occasional bite of dark chocolate for me.

What are your favorite scents?

• Allergic. Can tolerate some natural scents, but not vanilla -- it's usually not really natural when you get it in candles and the like.

 Are you having a birthday during this swap?

• Nope.

Do you have any online wish lists? (Amazon, Loopy Ewe, etc.) Please include a link for your pal.

• Also see my earlier questionnaire for these swaps, August 12, 2008, Question 20.

What is your living situation (Are you married? Do you have kids, pets, or both?)

• Living situation:  chaotic
• Married.
• Pet kids (two cats)
• Grown, married daughter lives 700 miles away

Are you allergic to anything?

• Wool, most likely, but I kind of ignore that.
• Molds, so don't send any bleu or Gorgonzola cheese or penicillin.

Is there anything else that you would like your pal to know?

• This is probably not a welcome admission, but I really don't need anything at all. (Well, actually, I don't own a pair of fingerless gloves which I understand are good for typing.) I have more yarn than I can make into something in the next three years.  I join the swaps because I like giving. I guess if you want to send me something handmade, if you send something suitable for giving to my favorite charities, that would be welcome.  Just be sure to tell me that you're giving it to me for that purpose. For instance, lilybugs or Children and Family Services.

Breaking Virtual Silence At Last!

Falling for Ewe Question of the Week #7

Question:  What foods do you like to bake this time of year? Are there any that are traditional to you?


Answer:   For holiday gifts, I often make an old family recipe for Scottish shortbread.  In fact I made it recently for a swap -- not this one (sorry, spoilee).  I put the finished shortbread on a red plate and cover it with plastic and add a plaid bow and Voila!  Instant gift.  Well, I guess it's not instant if it takes an hour or two to make, right?  Whatever.
 
At home, I love comfort foods at this time of year.  One that comes to mind I learned from a TV cook who has gone on to the Great Kitchen of the Beyond.  It was called cranberry toast and consists of buttered toasted bread (we use rye or whole wheat) with canned whole cranberry sauce spread on it, topped with sharp Cheddar cheese and broiled until it's bubbly and brown on top.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  Now I want to go to the grocery store and buy the ingredients and make it for dinner.
 
I guess that last one doesn't count as baking, but I cheated.  At least I use my oven for it.
 
Update on Me:
 
In other news, I have a job!
 
I started on Wednesday and I love it there -- except for the part about zero tolerance on personal computing.  I'll try not to let the blog suffer.
 
Latest Creation:
 
Snowflake ornaments.
 

Until next week...

Question of the Week #5

This is the Question of the Week #5 in the Falling for Ewe Swap on Ravelry.

Do you like football?

What is your favorite team?

What happened to Questions 1 through 4? you might ask.  I think I answered one or two in the blog somewhere but I can't remember where I put it.  But I didn't like the others or they didn't seem to apply to me so I didn't answer them.

This one doesn't apply much either, but it's a good opportunity to tell one of those anecdotes I'm so fond of.

My dad was a practical joker.  One of his proudest accomplishments was making his youngest sister ditzy. He did it by answering innocent questions with false information.

"Brother, what is the roller derby?"

"Well, Sister Dear, you know what the Kentucky Derby is?"

"Yes.  That's when the horses run around the track."

"Right you are, Little Sister.  Well, the Roller Derby is the same thing, except in the Roller Derby, they put roller skates on the horses."

Years later, my aunt's husband would call my dad to laugh about some of the things she fell for.  They would roar with laughter over it.

When Aunt Betty was all growed up, the ditzy making fell to me.

The most frustrating thing about this ditzy making was its sleeper nature.  Since one didn't know she had the wrong answer, one would not hesitate to pipe up and use her knowledge in front of others whose reaction would range from uncomfortable silence to out-and-out guffaws.

Remember the hollow-J goose-necked smoke sifter?  (See Another Yarn Contest: My Black Hills Summer Vacation, archives July 3, 2008).  I was set up to fall for that joke where all basic education starts:  at home.

To this day I cringe to think that someday I might come forth with some perfectly reasonable explanation for something and face blank stares and titters.

So my answer to the Question of the Week is this:

No, I don't like football TYVM!

So, I don't have a favorite team.

But my favorite player is the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Someday I'll tell you a story about that one.  As soon as I quit blushing over it.

Black & White

This thank-you post has been a long time coming. Apologies to Kim.
It all started when DH, who is originally from upstate New York, took me to see where he grew up. There, he introduced me to the most wonderful confection -- (Ambrosia, Food of the Gods, Bliss on the Tongue) -- that I had ever tasted.
The locals call them Moon Pies but somewhere I got the name "Black & Whites." I'm not sure if this was DH's name for them or whether I made it up on the spot. Basically, they are sugar cookies iced half with white icing and half with chocolate icing. I guess they must look like moons to some. Anyway, I had never seen them in my 45 years of U.S. travels (at the time). My relatives Back East know that if they want to make me happy, they must send these to me by FedEx. But it's been a long time since my relatives wanted to make me happy, I guess.
Anyway, when Kim became my partner in the Summer of Yarn Love Swap, early on I asked her if she'd send me one after the swap was over. So, true to her word -- three months later and long after I'd forgotten I'd even asked -- I got a package from Kim with two -- count 'em!!! -- black 'n whites.
This only goes to illustrate why I have a blood sugar problem.
I opened the package in the car outside the post office. When I saw there were two, I was so impressed at Kim's thoughtfulness of including both DH and me.
But then I noticed that they weren't the same. One of them had a sugar cookie base and the other had a chocolate cookie base.
Which one should I eat? Did I really care whether DH got one? I mean, he'd had enough of these in his childhood, right?
Traditionally in these swaps, people take pictures of what they get. Here's mine. Taken before I'd even started the car for home:

Falling For Ewe Swap Question No. 3

What meals or foods mean ‘Fall’ to you?

Not exactly a meal or a food, but where we went to get food in the fall back in my hometown:  Eckert's.

Best apple butter on the planet!

I Knew It!

The Summer of Yarn Love Swap Final Reveal

I figure as long as I am on borrowed time at my job that I should catch up on blog posts.

The final reveal for the Summer of Yarn Love Swap at Ravelry was kind of like the end of the world:  except that it ended with a whimper and a bang.  My spoiler Pamela (of Pamela on the Farm fame) and I had gotten to know each other quite well in emails and I was pretty certain I knew who she was, so the reveal wasn't all that surprising.  It seemed more like a mint on my pillow after full day of heavenly languor on the sun deck over Caribbean waters.  (This is the "whimper" part.)

In the last box she sent, Pamela included a letter that linked each item with her and her family and tied us together with our common threads -- and there are so many of those, it is uncanny.  I don't think she even realizes how linked we have become.

I don't think everything that she sent is visible in the photo above.  She sent playing cards and a car air freshener to represent both Ohio and the inevitable "life in the car" that moms like her lead.

There was lots of sock yarn for my baby projects (she knew I wanted to try making the Berroco design Celestine crochet dodecahedron).  (In fact, I have already started one this week):

What Pamela didn't know (at least on a conscious level) was that right before this package arrived, I had decided to try my hand at crocheted socks.  So not all of this yarn will become dodecahedra.

That book in the foreground?  Another one of the Amazing Pamela's Mind Meld products.  One of the questions on the questionnaire for the swap was, "Do you collect anything?"  At the time I said no, but when I saw this comb-bound recipe book from the Ohio State Fair, I realized that -- albeit not on purpose -- I actually do collect something.  Behold!  My grassroots comb-bound recipe book collection:

Clockwise from the far left:

• Best of the Fair previously seen;
• a Greek cookbook from a Greek festival I attended in Oakland when DH and I were first married;
• my grandmother's church's cookbook (Grace Lutheran in Northern Illinois); and
• last but not least, my childhood church (State Street Methodist in East St. Louis, Illinois) cookbook circa 1961. I distinctly recall my mother and the ladies in her church Methodist Women's circle collecting the recipes inside. They even wrote to then First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and received "her favorite" recipe for tomato aspic. That recipe, along with a cover letter from her personal secretary proudly grace the first pages of the cookbook.

See that little bag resting on top of the Best of the Fair cookbook in the earlier photo?  I really suspect that Pamela made what was in that bag and that it's a recipe that's in that cookbook, but she neglected to mention it in her letter, so we'll forever be in mystery.  (Unless she decides to comment on this blog post, that is.)  Anyway, it was a yummy treat that sent my blood sugar soaring and would have caused great damage had not my Dear Husband been nearby because after I'd tasted it and it became obvious that it was Not Long for this World, he thoughtfully disappeared the rest of it.  (He liked it a lot, too!)

Now, I would have been perfectly content with all of this, but then I saw the homemade item!  (This is the "bang" part.)

This bag is perfect in so, so, so many ways.  First off, it's entrelac.  I mean, I can't even knit and purl anymore, so just the thought of attempting colorwork this complicated boggles the mind.  Second, it's a bit of Ohio culture.  It's called a buckeye bag.  I wish I could go to Ohio and pick buckeyes and carry them in it!  But I'll have to settle for carrying crochet projects when I go to very special events.  Thirdly, although the photograph doesn't do them justice, the colors are just beautiful.  And fourthly, she felted it!  This is another craft skill I haven't done yet.  I am in absolute awe of Pamela's skills.

I have Pamelaonthefarm to thank for making the summer of 2008 delightfully memorable!

A Teapot Story

This is a story of my three teapots.  I am getting a little ahead of the Tea Swap over at the Odd Ducks of Ravelry.  I figure someone someday is going to come looking at this blog and want to have this information.

The Teapot of Parties Past

This is the teapot of parties past.  When I originally conceived the idea for this blog post, it was to be entitled My Three Teapots.  Composing the post in my head made me want to use one of my teapots, so I pulled this teapot down from the cupboard and brewed me some Genmaicha.  I love me some Genmaicha of a weekend.  It's very soothing and the little "popcorn" (rice, actually) kernels are fun.

As a helpful note, Genmaicha is best when it's made in a mug or a restaurant.  By which I mean, if you're going to serve your Genmaicha from a teapot, go to a restaurant.  If you brew it in a teapot at home, then you are left with cleaning all the brown rice and green tea leaves out of the pot and that can be awkward.  One could accidentally break the lid of her teapot while cleaning up after a pot of Genmaicha.  And then one would have a late teapot.  (And by that I mean late in the way that Precious Ramotswe uses the word when she is referring to her father or the way that John Cleese uses late when he is referring to a recently purchased parrot.)

For what it is worth (very little unless you're planning on making a coffin for my late teapot), and as you can see by the ruler in front of it on the table, this teapot is 3.5" high and 8.5" from handle to spout.

This teapot has now been reassigned as the future home of an ivy cutting that is growing roots in a vase on the kitchen windowsill.

The Teapot of Parties Present

This teapot belonged to my late mother, may she rest in peace.  (And I am using late in the same sense as Precious's father and Cleese's parrot again.)  This teapot is 6.5" from handle to spout and 4" high.  It is much smaller than the other teapot, but it is an ideal size for the amount of tea I drink.  This teapot will never contain Genmaicha.  In fact, this teapot will never contain tea leaves unless they are contained in tea bags.  (For the purists among you who protest about making the perfect pot of tea, let me remind you how few late mothers' teapots a person can own in a lifetime.)

The Teapot of Parties to Come

This teapot was featured in my blog back in 2005 in a post entitled Jungle Fever.  I had high hopes for it, but it has only been used one time.  It has been another one of those "too good to use for everyday" items that is about to become an everyday item unless I get a teapot to replace my late teapot cum flowerpot.  I still have all the matching plates and I am awaiting an occasion to use it/them.  It measures 10" from stem to stern and is 6" high.

When all is said and done, I think I'll stick to mugs.

Autumn Question No. 1: What is your favorite thing about Autumn?

Here is where I risk alienating my vast readership and perhaps getting myself committed.  But swap requirements being what they are, do I have a choice?  The mod says answer the question, we answer the question.

"One thing I miss from Back East," people say in California, "is the seasons." But the first September I lived in Los Angeles, California, I opened the window and distinctly felt fall arrive.  The leaves didn't change colors, the temperature was still hot as blue blazes, the sun was still burning brightly, but there was something in the air -- something I couldn't quite name -- that told me autumn had arrived.  I could breathe it in, even in this state without the seasons.

Back in my childhood lo these many years, there was this -- for lack of a better word -- feeling that would engulf me at rare, unpredictable moments.

It was partly physical -- my skin would tingle, my head would flush from my scalp down, and gradually this feeling would swell as it pervaded my chest, my arms, my heart.

(No, it wasn't a heart attack!  You guys snickering in the back there can go now.)

As it moved through my body, it became more of a spiritual sensation.  I would feel part of something grander -- a family, a community, a nation, a people -- until joy would pervade my whole being.

Like I said, it was rare.  It was unpredictable.  There was never anything I could pinpoint that triggered it, no sudden heart-stopping moment, nothing anyone said.

However, it usually happened in the autumn as I was entering my house -- not on a special holiday or anything, just opening in the back door and feeling the warmth of the kitchen begin to escape as I walked in.  I would have just come home from school, spotting my favorite trees at the end of the street turning to gold and red, following the driveway to the garage stairs and the kitchen door.

I never knew when it would happen until an instant before it did, and feeling it come on was akin to hearing reindeer hooves clicking on the roof Christmas Eve.  "Oh, goody!" I'd think.  "It's happening again!"

Then it would engulf me and I'd feel so damn grateful that I was alive, that my mother was cooking dinner, that I had a warm home and a family to come home to, that the piano was there for me to practice, that my cat was there for me to pet, my books for me to read, my television to watch, and our table for me to set.

Don't get me wrong -- my childhood was nothing to write home to the Waltons about.  In fact, on a scale of dysfunctional families, mine probably ranked at least a 7.5 out of 10.  So there was no real tangible reason for this feeling to be there, really.

It hasn't happened since I left home for college.  (In fact, truth be told, it was probably earlier than that when it stopped happening.  The dysfunction in the end won out.)

But I never forgot it.  I hold it as knowledge in my heart that happiness and true contentment exist in this world, and I never let go the hope that the feeling will grow into constancy in my life.

What Is It About Weddings?

I am a sucker for weddings. It's not that I want to go to the wedding so much -- although I do like to attend them. I want to be part of creating the wedding.

So when I recently got a swap partner in the Ravelry Swap on a Budget Swap who said she was getting married in November, I had to jump in with my two (or more) cents. I stalked her all over the Internet and contacted her friends and family until I found out what her colors were and then I started to crochet a bridal purse.

I hadn't worked with thread in over 25 years, and even then I had only made one project, a pillow for my grandmother.  This one turned out to be quite a challenge, but once the first side was finished, I'd gotten into the rhythm of it.

It took about 40 hours total.  In fact, I had to take some vacation time to finish it on time to send.

I am so happy she was pleased with it and she really does plan on using it at her wedding.

The final product:

So now not only do I have another FO to be proud of, I have a new-found passion for working with crochet thread.  Today, mock Irish crochet.  Tomorrow Bruges lace!

Falling for Ewe Swap Questionnaire

The Summer of Yarn Love swap on Ravelry was so much fun, we're doing it again this fall. You can find my questionnaire for that swap on this blog as well.

1. Do you knit or crochet? How long have you been at your craft?

I crochet. I used to knit about 40 years ago but haven’t been very competent at picking it up again. My crocheting has been random in my half-century of living. I started at age 5 and kept it up through college, then dropped it for 25-30 years. Started up again this year when I quit smoking. Something about keeping my fingers busy and spending my pocket change on yarn instead of cigarettes is working.

2. Do you spin? What type of spinning do you do?

No, I don't spin. But I am becoming intrigued at the idea. Maybe in a few years when I retire….

3. Are there any other crafts that you participate in?

I have created wedding bouquets. I have decorated cakes. I have done needlepoint in the distant past. I have also upholstered small furniture, done batik, embroidered and can sew. I don’t have room for much more than crochet in my apartment nowadays, but I am pondering taking up macramé. You name it, I’ll try it!

4. Are there any types/brands of yarn that you are dying to work with but haven’t gotten a chance?

Well, if I haven’t worked with them, then I don’t know, do I? I keep hearing about Noro and Malabrigo and Sea Silk but I have no idea why they are desirable. Since swapping, I have ventured into soy and bamboo blends and those are working out nicely. There are some shiny satiny yarns that look interesting for hats.  (Maybe that's Sea Silk?)

5. What are your favorite types of projects to knit/crochet?

Baby clothes, hats, bags, new things untried as yet.

6. What are your favorite yarns/fibers?

Soft ones. Pretty ones. I love heathery, rich colors. I have a lot of odd skeins of Debbie Bliss in a variety of greens and fibers. I would like to somehow pull all those together into cohesive projects, maybe by adding additional skeins in coordinating colors for each fiber combination, enough so I could get a hat or scarf out of it. See my stash.

7. What are your LEAST favorite yarns/fibers?

Wool-linen blends. Scratchy wool and scratchy acrylic. Don’t care much for black and white. Also don’t care much for Red Heart-type variegated yarns.

8. What are you currently working on? Anything you plan to start this autumn?

What I am working on right now is a secret. (See next question.)

This autumn I will be making a Tunisian crochet throw in lavender llama and a pillbox hat made from embroidery floss (see my projects on Ravelry).

I also have a huge long list of presents to finish by the end of the year holidays, things like

• a snitch and crocheted flipflops for DD
• a crocheted Yoda for DSIL
• some zombie dolls for an 18-year-old friend
• some fish-shaped sacks for little boys’ marbles
• some stuffed animals for some toddler friends (a monkey and a teddy bear)
• a set of penguin bowling pins

not to mention the Odd Ducks group swaps on Ravelry where there are some pretty interesting projects aborning.

9. What is your favorite FO? (Please, post a picture if you would like.)

It is my handmade item for the Swap on a Budget swap on Ravelry that is due on August 24, 2008 to arrive in my spoilee’s hands. Once she has it in her hands, I will post a picture on my Ravelry project board, so look for it at the end of August. It is my proudest accomplishment to date.

10. What is your oldest UFO?

Just recently I happened upon an old project bag containing a vest that I had started with some hand-dyed chenille yarn. I think I was on Round 2 when I put it away and forgot about it. That would have been about four or five years ago, I think. I can’t remember for sure.

11. Are there any knitting/crochet techniques that you would like to learn?

Oh, yes! I’d like to learn to knit again but I’m afraid I’ll have to do it the way you teach children, with huge knitting needles and chunky yarn. I have the chunky yarn. I’d need the huge needles. If there’s a pattern that uses both and creates a child’s or baby’s cap that I could give to charity, so much the better, because the chunky yarn I have is earmarked for charity.

I’d like to learn every crochet technique there is, including:

• Painted Crochet
• Filet and Beaded Filet
• Irish lace (I mean really, not the imitation kind I did for my Swap on a Budget project.)
• Hairpin lace and broomstick lace – I did this long ago using a real broomstick. I don’t own a hairpin lace contraption that’s needed to do the hairpin lace.
• I’d like to learn to tat. I have tatting shuttles but don’t know how to use them.
• Bruges lace

12. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

Not yet. Don’t knit yet.  I have been known to crochet a sock or footie now and then and I love self-striping sock yarn for toy projects like the dodecahedron.  I wear between a 7.5 and 8.5 shoe (39 European).

13. Do you have a yarn winder and/or a swift?

Nope. Don’t have room for a swift, but a small yarn winder might be nice.

14. Where/how to you keep you needles/hooks?

I have a rollup case for my regular sized hooks but I need another one for the tiny steel hooks. They’re in an old wooden box that has a faulty catch and they keep getting spilled all over the place.

My knitting needles – what few I have – are at the bottom of a drawer and at the bottom of a plastic bin in my closet.

15. Do you collect anything?

Dust and practical penguins, jellyfish and lady bugs– no stuffed animals or knickknacks, please. Per my self-imposed household rules, it must serve a purpose or I can’t keep it. (Jewelry serves a purpose. So do stitch markers.)

16. What is your favorite type of music? Are you MP3 ready?

I love almost all music, with a few exceptions.  I am a classical pianist, so love that genre and instrument.  Also love harps and Celtic music, in fact, any ethnic folk music.  I'm not a huge hard rock fan, but I love the classic music from my generation's youth (fifties, sixties, seventies).  I like a lot of indie bands I've heard, believe it or not, techno and otherwise.  And jazz.  I have even been known to move my body to a little rap now and then -- as long as the lyrics aren't completely offensive to women and parents.

I am MP3 ready times two. I have an ipod and I have a Juke cell phone that triples as an MP3 player but I’ve never used it more than a phone and a camera.

17. Do you like sweets? What are your favorites?

I can’t have sugar because I am borderline diabetic. I love the following sugar-free treats, though: Russell Stover chocolates, especially the “turtles”; Whitman’s chocolate-covered almonds; Baskin-Robbins hard candies. Also love macadamia nuts, cashews and any low-carb snack such as jerky.

18. What is your living situation like? Any pets? Children?

Very small, cramped apartment for DH and me. Grown, married daughter far away. Two late middle aged fur daughters (cats) living at home.

19. Are you allergic to anything?

Cats – yes, I know. I refuse to kowtow to that allergy! Penicillin. Supposedly wool, but I’m thinking that was just a prejudice my mother had because it’s scratchy. I do find it scratchy, though. And perfumes. This one I do kowtow to. Unscented candles and truly natural oils/fragrances, please.

20. Do you have an online wish list (Amazon, Etsy, Loopy Ewe, etc.)? Please include links for your swap pal.

Etsy

Amazon

DaWanda

21. Are you having a birthday during this swap?

Nope. May 16 if you're taking notes.

22. What is your Ravelry ID?

MyOwnIgloo (aka MOI)