So many hobbies!

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

A few days ago, I got the following fortune from a fortune cookie:  "Only the educated are free."  I think it's brilliant.  Think about it.

And another UFO bites the dust

 

Skein #2 of the 1 ply Cormo/silk and 1 ply Polwarth/angora.  It was one of the UFOs I wanted to finish before the end of the year.  After dyed, it will become my new hooded scarf.  Mmmm, warm.

Here's an updated shot of UFO #3.  Sorry it's so dark, I didn't feel like going downstairs to my light tent.  Anyway, I turned the heels over the weekend and and started up the leg.  I'm doing tiny 2 stitch cables and I learned how to cable without a needle today.  I love Youtube!  A plain 2x2 rib makes a comfortable leg so I hope adding the cables doesn't make it too tight.  I will be seriously ticked off if I have to rip both socks back to the heels.

Happy Thanksgiving people!
 

Tools

There's something to be said for using beautiful tools.  Sure, you can buy your tools and art supplies from K-Mart but they'll be cheaply made and of poor quality.  You'll probably find them to be inadequate and frustrating.  I grew up using cheap, plastic dry measuring cups with the handles broken off and had the measurement worn off.  They worked, sure, but the experience was definitely uninspiring.  When I moved into my own place, I bought myself nice stainless steel measuring cups and every time I use them, it's pure pleasure.

Dan Essig and a friend made the tools in the above picture.  I came home with this:

I plan on having some very happy moments using this chisel.  I'll be sure to let you know what I make.
 
 

Coptic Book with Wooden Cover - part 2

I'm not feeling too well so I'm mostly going to post pictures.  Apparently, my gall bladder is on the fritz.  Go figure.

The window is covered by a piece of mica tacked down with teeny tiny brass nails less than an 1/8 of an inch long.  I tried out agates, arrowheads, shells and beach stones but couldn't decide on what to put behind the window.  Then I got the idea to knit up a tiny swatch from my handspun.  It's only an inch by about 1.25 inches.  I used size 2 needles.  The book itself is 3.5" x 5".

 

The mica on the inside is tied on the front of the book.

 

This is Donna's book.  She did a beautiful job.

Coptic Book with Wooden Cover - part 1

I love taking classes.  I've been binding books off and on for about 20 years and just this year started taking classes at Hollander's in Ann Arbor, MI.  I'm so fortunate to have a resource so close to where I live.  This weekend's class (see title above) was taught by Daniel Essig, a nationally known book artist.  I highly recommend wandering around his site and seeing his books and sculpture.  His books are clever and fun.  Windows, arches and doors just beg to be opened and looked into and Dan's books are treasures to be explored.  He's also a great teacher with a dry, hilarious sense of humor.

The covers of our books were mahogany wood that were beveled, distressed, painted, sanded and waxed.  The outside edges of the front and back covers were rounded then gouged, poked and nicked to give a weathered, used look.  Then 3-5 layers of milk paint were built up.  After the final layer of paint has dried, dust masks were donned and 220 sandpaper was used to sand down to expose the various layers of paint.  The final treatment was to rub Kiwi shoe polish into the covers.  Dan had shoe polish ranging from clear to black. 

 

Since I actually remembered to bring my camera, I took full advantage and got shots of my favorite covers.  The first one is mine.  Natually, I prefer everyone else's over mine.

 

 
 
 
 

  

Can you see why I loved everyone else's covers over mine?  I'm amazed at how beautifully they turned out.  I'll have more pictures from the class on Tuesday.

One UFO down...

 

Five more to go.  I'm on a roll!

I'm a little obsessed

 

This is all I've been doing.  Now that the end's in sight, I can't seem to put them down.  I'm in the middle of a long rib and there'll be a short rib and then the bind off.  Between knitting on breaks at work and Knit Night tomorrow, I think I'll have these puppies done by bedtime.  Although, I have a lot of yarn left so I might make them even taller.  Depends on my mood and if my finger holds out.  These Harmony Wood needles are very pointy and my index finger is rather sore.  Still, I'm pretty much sold on these needles and I don't think I'll use anything else.  Anyway, I love how the broken rib is knitting up.  It's fun to see the pattern forming, which is the point, really.  That's why I switched from a regular 2x2 rib in the first place:  2x2 was boring.

The end is near

 

On the socks, anyway.  These are my Vineyard socks (my colorway) and finally, after about 9 months, I finished the heels on these guys and started up the leg.  I got bored doing a 2x2 rib and decided to try a broken rib instead.  I like the look.  This is pretty much what I did all weekend.

These two are finally ready for the heels but they'll have to wait until the Vineyard socks are done.  I don't know if I mentioned it, but I joined Joy in the New Year over at Tallgrass Prairie Studio.  It's an Along to finish off UFOs.  I've got the link in my side bar and I'd like very much to add a button but I can't for the life of me figure out how to add the button.  Typepad's directions are completely useless.  If anyone knows the magic trick, please share!

I found the recipe for the gingerbread cake.  You can find it here.
 

Ginger, glorious ginger!

I know this may not look like much, but this, my friends, is a freshly baked gingerbread cake, with both ground and candied ginger.  Oh.  My.  Have you experienced that joy that is ginger?  If it's got ginger in it, I like it: Indian food, Chinese food, gingerbread, gingersnaps, ginger ale.  The original recipe for the cake comes from Cooking LIght magazine and called for blueberries in the cake and blueberry sauce on top.  Didn't like it with the blueberries so I leave them out and put whipped cream on top.  It's driving me nuts that I can't cut into it but this is our dessert Friday night when I hang out with the girls.  Now I just need the cake to cool so I can put it away and go to bed.  (Oh, and that's my new stove.)

Happy weekend people!
 

New colorways

The first of my new colorways, this one is Chocolate Hearts. 

This one is called Grasshopper.  I'm still tweaking it.  The next batch, the brown will be darker and there'll be more green.  

My latest attempt at kettle dyeing which, again, failed to work the way I wanted.  The dye hit too fast which I think means the acidity was too high.   Next time, less white vinegar.  I'm looking for a 14-16 quart pot as my dyeing pot.  And next time, I'll try with something other than Superwash Merino.  Since the scales that allow wool to felt are removed or coated in Superwash, the fibers have nothing to grab onto and tend to drift apart which makes it hard for the dye to move around in the dye pot.  

Last Saturday I rediscovered that if you spend 3 or 4 hours waiting for car repairs, you can get quite a bit of knitting done (the bonus is I now have heat which is fairly important with winter coming).  I've got about 10 rounds to go on my Socks that Rock socks and I start the heels.  Sadly, I have more car repairs to wait for this weekend so more progress will be made (the seal is bad around my windshield - I'm tired of scraping frost on the INSIDE of my car). 

Oh, I remembered two additions to my UFO list: two single socks that have been waiting for a couple of years for their mates to be knitted:

The sock on the right demonstrates why I don't like knitting socks cuff-down.  I was afraid of running out of yarn so I didn't make the leg as long as I would have liked (I ended up with extra yarn) and the toe looks retarded and needs to be ripped back so I can reknit it properly and Kitchner it closed.  The sock on the left was the first thing I knitted with my handspun (I think).  Clearly I suffer greatly from SSS (Second Sock Syndrome) which is why I'll be knitting both socks at once from now on.