Clever things that I made

Something neat that I "made:"

I use the quotes because my creative contribution to this project included getting the needle-nose pliers out of the toolbox in the closet and using them to pry apart little figure eight connectors. These are some fun stitch markers that I've had in mind for a while. The purple charms came pre-made, and cost $1.47 for a pack of 4 at Hobby Lobby. The turtle was more expensive at $1.79, the figure eight connectors were 99 cents for a packet of 60, and the clasps were $2.94 for a packet of 10. So, I paid $8.66 total, or about 96 cents each, for 9 stitch markers. I like the clasps, because they're easy to clip on to the yarn or the needle. The ones I bought easily clip on up to a size 7 needle, but they make them in different sizes. And maybe someday I'll make my own charms instead of cheating!

I haven't seen the show "Firefly" or the movie "Serenity." In fact, I just had to go look up which is which. But when my friend Amanda needed a Jayne Cobb hat, I was up to the challenge, and here is the result:

She. loved it. I think it's a really cute hat, but the colors are ghastly. I might be up for making one again, just not in those colors. My favorite part is the pom pom, the first one I've ever made. Yay me! The pattern for this hat can be found here. The yarn is Lion Wool - I had the orange, and it was about $10 total for the yellow and red, but I ended up just paying for it all myself (instead of having her pay me back for the yarn) because I didn't even use half of a skein of each color. It was a really quick knit - after I got the gauge figured out, it took me about 3 days to get it done.

Last weekend, I made a very, very yummy carrot cake. It turned out really well, and the day after I made it, as I sat staring at my yellow thumbnails (caused by grating carrots into three cups of usable goo), it occurred to me that this might make some pretty yarn. I was further inspired by a) this article, conveniently e-mailed to me the day before I made the cake; and b) the story in one of the Little House on the Prairie books where Laura and Ma dye their freshly-churned butter with finely grated carrots to make the butter (and the table) prettier. (Incidentally, I spent a lot of time with my cheese grater and appreciate the effort that Pa put into making theirs - he put a bunch of nail holes at an angle in the top of a tin can. Brilliant.) Up until this point, I've only had a passing desire to ever dye my own yarn. A Google search came up with one person who had attempted to dye yarn with carrots, in a blog entry with little to no details about the process. On that far off day when I get ambitious, this is what I will attempt.

New Book

I have before me a copy of "Knitted Animals" by Anne-Dorthe Grigaff. The book itself is very small, and I definitely wouldn't have paid $30 for it based on its size. (Oops, I guess I kind of judged a book by its cover.) The animals are really adorable, though. The patterns are very simple, geared toward kids around 7-8 years old. Most of them are just one or two knitted squares folded and sewn together in clever ways. I appreciate that the author isn't tied to one brand of yarn, or really any brand of yarn at all. For example, to make the mother duck and ducklings, you only need "Duck-colored yarn." The most specific she gets is to say a type of yarn, like angora or mohair. She does get rather specific when giving instructions for finishing the animal, which I think a lot of books pass over. The two patterns that I can't wait to try are Peter the Hedgehog, (because really, how many hedgehog patterns have you ever seen?) and the Growly Bear with Big Heavy Paws. So, an adorable book, and if you can find a cheaper copy, all the better. (BTW, this is an import from Denmark, which might explain the price.)

**Edit** Something that could be important, but might not - while the author is very flexible about what yarn you can use, she (with a few exceptions) fails to mention how much yarn you should use. It looks like one 100g ball should be more than enough for most of the projects, but it's still something to keep in mind.

I'm on Ravelry

My username is SusieHomewrecker. Nothing you haven't seen yet, it's just organized a little better.

Update

A couple of FO's!:

The Dalek for my brother-in-law. He really liked it, and it has already seen lots of action pointing its laser gun a everything.

And the cute little monkey! The hat was way too small, so I didn't take the time to sew it on. I think he looks a little more "Planet of the Apes" than he was supposed to. The zills are great, though.

On the needles now - earmuffs from Katamari Damacy, for ValleyCon. I don't see them getting me free alcohol like my Spaceballs t-shirt, but they'll be cute (I can't find a picture of the t-shirt, but it has Dark Helmet's head and it says "Evil Will Always Triumph Because Good is Dumb"). Plus, ValleyCon is at the end of October this year, so it's a good time of year for earmuffs.

I've also been scouring the web/Barnes and Noble for knee socks and/or thigh highs. I like to wear long jean skirts to work, but my legs get so cold. Already. In August. I can't wait for how cold they're going to be in January! I've found several patterns, but none that really jump out at me. So far the two I like the best are the Quidditch Socks from Charmed Knits and the (men's) Kilt Hose from Folk Socks. I'm going to Salt Lake City this weekend (coincidentally to the yarn shop owned by the author of Folk Socks) and I have high hopes for finding *something.*

Boy, have we got yarn!

I realized recently that my attention span is very short, so buying a whole bunch of yarn in one color to make a sweater is a waste of money because I will never finish it. So, I bought this. I now feel a little bit of alarm when I start to make something in case I don't have enough of one color. But really, if I was making something and did need another ball, I would get bored with the project before it got to that point, so this was a solid investment. My first project is the Monkey from Toy Knits. I've got the legs, feet, and belly done so far. It's one of those little organ grinder monkeys, so obviously I have to modify the pattern so it's an evil flying monkey. Ms. Bliss included in her book a pattern for an angel bunny complete with wings, which I take to be a sign that she wanted this unholy union to happen. I've also thrown around the idea of acquiring some zills (which would of course be full-sized cymbals for the monkey), but then I would feel obligated to take belly dancing again, so I'll have to think about that.

My boss' wife is having a baby soon, like in September, which means I need to get off my butt and make something. They have two kids already, and I don't think they were planning on having any more, so all of their baby stuff is long gone. I want to make this bottle warmer, but I can see how it might be a little creepy to some people, like perhaps a baby. I don't know the woman very well, so maybe I should just go with a fuzzy bunny. If I do make the bottle warmer, it's most likely not going to be a lion and it's most definitely not going to be white. Maybe a cuddly brown monkey? No wings, I promise ...... I'll save stuff like that for my hypothetical children.

Piggy!!

The piglet is done!


I think he's looking for truffles in the camera lens.

Taking Care of Business

This has been my most productive weekend like, ever. I accomplished quite a bit yesterday, and I have a whole nother day! Perhaps I'll be able to carve out a couple of minutes today to learn some spelling and grammar.

A short list of what I got done:

1. I organized my yarn stash into spiffy little baskets (no small feat)

2. I got caught up to where I had been before I had to rip out part of the Dalek

3. I made 85% (!) of a piglet from Toy Knits

4. I made a caramel toffee crunch cheesecake

5. I made caramel sauce for the cheesecake from scratch!! I was so proud of this, because I've heard that it's hard to make caramel. It's not, and it turned out perfect - way better than just melting a bunch of those little caramel candies, and less messy.

6. I downloaded about a gazillion mods for The Sims 2 (Including a Sim house that looks like a giant toilet. You would not believe how much time some people have on their hands.)

7. Um, I guess that's about it

Here's the cheesecake:

It got a little dark on the top (this is a common theme in things that I bake, in case you haven't noticed) and there is quite the fault line in the middle of it. The cake itself tasted pretty good, not burnt at all, but a little dry for a cheesecake. The recipe called for you to put the cake in a roasting pan half-filled with hot water while you were baking it. I don't have a roasting pan. I couldn't find anything anywhere to tell me why I should do this. So I didn't do it. That may be why it was dry, I don't know. Also, my oven cooks hotter than it's supposed to - most cheesecake recipes call for you to bake the cake for over an hour, but I can't go more than 45 minutes or it turns out to be a giant, slightly edible paperweight. I did try out a tip from my Sister-in-Law the Caterer - she bakes the cheesecake for slightly less than the time specified in the recipe, and then turns the oven off and leaves the cheesecake in the oven for an hour. However, since I baked this one a little too long anyway, I don't think that it helped in this case. Oh, well, there's always next time.

On today's agenda:
Finish the piggy
The new Vogue Knitting magazine!