The big snowstorm turned into freezing rain, then slush, and now plain o'l rain. It's a slushy Christmas, but it's Christmas nonetheless. The weather kept us indoors, and I finally had time to play with my new 8 dent rigid heddle, my new shuttle, and my backstrap loom.
I don't keep a lot of yarn on hand. I tend to buy it only with a project in mind. I don't have a complete skein of anything (except some old Red Heart and Homespun), so I scrounged some Sugar and Cream cotton and warped the loom. I had just enough for about 30". It was fun and a little frustrating, too. Then, I found some slubby cotton I had tucked into a basket, and used that light green for the weft.
I have trouble with pulling the weft too tight, but other than the occassional bumpy edge, I'm very pleased with this little mat, just right for the snow globe. Using the rigid heddle is great fun, and I'm getting closer toward a balanced weave. Next, I would like to do a longer project with the 10 dent heddle, so when the stores open back up, I'll probably be there scouting out some sport or worsted weight yarn for a scarf.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Things are fine.
In Texas right now. Galveston Island to be exact, at the moment actually. Spending some time with my father.
Can't really find a decent internet connection anywhere.
And I hate the fact that Houston doesn't want you to walk anywhere.
The only thing I can think about right now is the fact that I was peer pressured (by Ben J.) into eating dog food. Trying it, tasting it. Not feasting on it.
It didn't really taste like anything. Just bad and bland.
Dogs should have more flavorful food, I think.
Here's a shot from the photo shoot we had for my winter 2009 look book:
Haven't really been having any QT (quality time) with it since I got here.
Be good!
x
c
Happy blogiversary to me! It's been three years since I first looped yarn around a knitting loom peg and discovered I liked it and wanted to blog about it. There have been lulls in knitting, and I've ventured into other fiber arts, but I still like my little blog and will continue to write about my successes and failures.
Speaking of other fiber arts, I received part of my Christmas present yesterday, all items chosen for backstrap-looming fun and ordered from The Woolery just a few days ago:
~ 8 dent Beka 10" rigid heddle
~ 10 dent Beka 10" rigid heddle
~ Three shuttles: a Kromski (also acts as a beater with its sloped edges), a Beka, and a Beka belt shuttle (with a beater on one edge)
I did make my own rigid heddle out of popsicle sticks (the bottom photo), but after a bit of experimenting, I realize it's meant for weft-faced projects with strong warping thread, like jute. The rough edges will fray any other type of warp. I was using alpaca here and it didn't do very well. My finer Beka heddles can be used for balanced weaving--hopefully! I'm very excited about the shuttles, too, since I've been using a piece of cardboard with my projects so far.
Please note that in the post below, I added Laverne Waddington's new blog on backstrap weaving. Hooray!
Thank you test knitters, for your help!
Start: January 25, 2009
Finish: June 5, 2009
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Heavyweight, 100% superwash merino; 350 yd/ 320 m per 7 oz / 198 g skein; color: ‘Brick’
Needles: 3.25 mm - 80 cm KnitPro Nickel
Pattern: SAVIANO - Winter Knitty
I have failed to blog about a new stash enhancement that happen some time ago in the Socktopus closing down sale:
Firstly some Sheepaints in Tiger Eye. I love the colours of Sheepaints but considering that the base is a fairly cheap nylon and wool blend I am quite off put by the prices. So this was a great chance to pick up some Sheepaints and a more reasonable cost in this great caramel brown colour:
Apologies for the terrible pun!
Yesterday my sister came over and we did some Christmas cooking together. We made Stollen (more of that when I post about the Fresh from the Oven challenge on the 28th!) and Almond Roca.
A found this recipe for Almond Roca online a while ago and bookmarked it. Then a while later my sister mentioned that Mum loves Almond Roca but almost never gets to eat it because it is an American sweet you can't buy over here. So I plotted with my sister to make Mum some for Christmas.
We made two batches from the above recipe, one covered in Milk Chocolate:
and one covered in Dark Chocolate:
This was a really simple recipe but I have two comments on the roca we made. Firstly we didn't let the second batch cook for long enough. It set fine but it didn't have as good a roasted-almond flavour as the first batch we did. However in the first batch we got the chocolate top slightly wrong. The recipe says to put the chocolate on the top of the hot caramel and let the caramel melt the chocolate to create the topping. The first time we plonked the shards of cut chocolate on top and although it softened it didn't lose shape enough. You really do need to smooth the chocolate out with a palette knife and we didn't do that in the beginning.
Naturally we sprinkled it with edible glitter for a truly festive look.
Here is one set of it broken into chunks and boxed up:
Initially we were worried we wouldn't have enough for the 4 gift boxes we were making for various friends and family. However we got this quite wrong and J and I will be eating Roca and giving it away to people at work for quite some time. Double the above recipe gave us almost a whole biscuit tin's worth of Roca! And given how sweet it is, that is an awful lot.
When I tried a chunk to test it I nearly fell over as the flavour was precisely the same as a Dime Bar. Dime Bars are lovely British chocolate bars with a hard caramel centre. This was almost exactly like a dime bar except for the fact it has flaked almonds in it! J has asked that we make it again to recreate a classic ice cream experience from our student days G&Ds Dime Bar Crunch Ice Cream and I think that this is an excellent idea!
Nostalgic moments since Andrea G. said she's coming to visit in January:
Andrea and I (as NAZIRECTIONS) playing in Portland at Reed College.
In retrospect, it really was just drunken noise.
Later that same night I remember falling on my face (not because I was drunk) because I jumped from the top of a staircase (because I was drunk) and waking up with a fat lip. I deserved it.
In other news, last night Ben and I were interviewed (videotaped) and photographed by these young local filmmakers wanting to talk to young designers (I think---it all happened so fast). There were all these cameras positioned around me and people looking at me while I worked. It wasn't unpleasant, just unusual.
Anyway, one of the questions they asked me was if I had any advice for someone just starting out (as if I'm not).
Well, first of all, I had all my words together and basically said that you need to have a plan and goals in mind. And that you need to stay focused and keep good records. You need to know where your money is going! OKAY.
And then I finished it off by messing up my words...
Instead of saying "you need to hang in there", I said: "You need to stick it in."
I guess I was trying to say, "You need to stick with it."
I don't know. But it keeps playing over and over in my head.
I'm not really embarrassed. I just keep thinking how dumb I was. Dumb!
In OTHER news, we shoot our look books on Sunday, which is cool.
We're both really (very) busy with getting samples ready for this AND getting holiday orders out. I leave for Texas on December 16th. So, the last day to order anything from Cubist Literature until 2010 is December 13th!
SELF PORTRAIT THURSDAY!
12.10.09
2. Paying others to do my laundry.
3. Waking up alone.
4. Wearing several pairs of thermal underwear, none of them my size.
5. "Creepshow" and "Heavenly Creatures".
...speechless...
....Gets the Perwoll-treatment now - blocking (dressing) later today.
