Fruit!

Aprium Cobbler

My yard has 12 fruit trees.
3 cherry trees
1 lemon tree
1 apple tree
1 plum tree
1 aprium tree
4 plum/pluot trees

(does that add up to 12?)

Okay - my yard has 12 trees - 11 are fruit trees.

This past week or so the Aprium tree has been gifting us with a lot of fruit.  I have made use of it the following ways:
Aprium Cobbler
Sugar Free Aprium Jam
Aprium Tarts

Sugar Free Aprium Jam

And the tree isn't done yet.

A month ago, the plum tree was plummeting me with plums.  I made Plum Jam and Plum Wine.  The wine is still a work in progress and will not be completed til December.  So far it looks better than it tastes.  I'm hoping with the addition of stabilizer and sugar and some brandy (it is port which is a fortified wine) it will be good.  Either way some people will get a bottle as a christmas present.

Since the next question is what's the recipe?  I'll post that below:

A promise to myself

After a week of vacation wherein I did practically nothing productive or that *I* actually wanted to do I was driving to work on my ridiculously long commute and thinking.

I do a lot of thinking in my car because I have between 2-3 hours a day there and nobody can interrupt my thoughts except maybe a bad driver or a horrendous accident. 

I made a list of promises to myself of things that *I* want to do.  One of them was to resume this blog and really dig in and do it right.

I can do it!  If you -my one and only follower- have faith in me then so do I!

In order to put some content up - I'll be posting pics of some of my more recent creations and I have a promise to myself to take more pics...

A Sweater Story - Part Two - Conversion is a B*tch!

So my swatch of 4"x4" stockinette stitch measured 21 Rows and 17 Stitches.
The gauge for the pattern calls for 29 Rows and 22 Stitches per 4"x4".

OMG MATH!

What to do?  Search the web for someone who has an online calculator to determine your conversion factor - and voila - here it is:  The Knitting Fiend Conversion Page.

I popped the numbers in and now have my conversion factor - any # in the pattern for stitches is multiplied by .773 and any # in the pattern for rows is multiplied by .724.  I knit loose by a factor of about 25%.  (if this is wrong math geek friends, just let me know - I'll fix it)

Now I must go through the entire pattern and do math to it.  This is where excel is my friend...  Put that calculation into a worksheet and my speed typing should do the trick and I"ll have my converted pattern lickety split.  Well not lickety split, but maybe lickety.  Lickitung - remember that pokemon?  My favorite cause he ate sushi in that videogame.  Mmmm Sushi!

Okay back to Maths...

  So I put that calculation stuff into excel and started calculating the pattern and I discovered a really lucky break for me.  If I knit the pattern in the Large size with my loose ass knitting it will come out in my size - 3x!  Lucky Lucky Lickitung!

This is a crocheted Jigglypuff.

So- my dear friends, I am now ready to print that pattern out and start knitting like a (what pokemon knits?  I don't know  maybe Jigglypuff?)

The Dillema of Creating for My Self and a Sweater Tale Part 1

I have a deep problem.

I cannot seem to actually make something for myself!

I make stuff for my family, my friends, people I don't even know, their children - especially their children.  But when it comes to following through to making something for myself, I have good intentions.  I start - I buy the materials, the pattern and I think through the process.  But when it comes time to actually craft - to get to work - I procrastinate.  I stop doing for myself and go through a manic phase of making something for someone else.

Here is my most recent example.

The Beautiful Red Cardigan I'm Supposed to make for myself.

the super cute cardigan I AM going to make myself

The pattern is from Knitty.  If you are a knitter and paying for patterns, you need to check out Knitty.  It is a close fitting cardigan in red with little bobble flowers that go up the sleeves and one side of the cardigan.  Seriously cute, right?

I bought the yarn - Bamboo Ewe - 55% bamboo, 45% wool TOTALLY ON SALE at Michaels - $2.99 a skein - I bought all that yarn out of the bargain bin!

And then do you know what I did next?

I made an impossibly pink sparkly scarf for a friend and then two little baby hats (same yarn, I still had more) for someone at work who recently had twin girls.

REALLY Sandra?  You had all the stuff ready to go to make yourself a super cute cardigan and you started making impossibly pink scarves and baby hats?  Yes.  Yes, I did.  I confessed this to someone at work yesterday and she gave me the impetus to make this super cute sweater.  For you - and for her.  I am going to chronicle my process and put it on here so you can see what a big pain in the ass it is to knit a sweater!

A Sweater Tale - Part One

a skein of Bamboo Ewe - the color matches the sweater pattern!

The Yarn.  Bamboo Ewe - cute name, eh?  It is a mix of bamboo - who thought they'd make yarn out of bamboo?  But they do.  And Wool.  That's the stuff!  I have a very strong opinion that if you are going to spend literally dozens of hours knitting a sweater it had better be made of the very best materials you can get - because you want that SOB to last FOREVER!  I knit myself a sweater in the late 80's - a lopi cardigan.  The yarn cost a small fortune and my dad helped me pay for it.  I still have that sweater and I wear it when it gets cold.  More on that sweater very soon...

Knitting the Swatch

the swatch I finished this morning for the super cute sweater!

You must, Must, MUST knit a gauge swatch before you knit your sweater.  If you do not, you will suffer, as I did with my Lopi cardigan.  I did not knit a gauge swatch, I just grabbed that yarn and some needles and started knitting the pattern in my size.  What I did not know - being a neophyte knitter at that time - was that people knit differently.  The writer of the pattern I used was a tighter knitter than me.  I am a loose knitter.  Not only that, I am a combination knitter.  (more on that later - seriously the fodder for an entire blog post)  So my sweater turned out HUGE!  I had to buy more yarn because I ran out before I finished!  In retrospect, it was a good thing, because if it had fit, I wouldn't be able to wear it today with the weight I've gained since college!  LOL!  Also I wore it when I was 8 and 9 months pregnant in November and December 1990 and nothing else would fit - and it was frikkin cold!  SO - to reiterate - take the time to knit a swatch.

That is all I've done so far...

Here is what I'll be doing as soon as I publish this post:

Calculating the difference between the swatch I knitter and the gauge on the pattern.  This will involve measurement and mathematics.  So wish me luck!

God Damn Last Minute Costume Sewing

I have had it with God Damn Last Minute Costume requests.

I made all those damn costumes the night before the Ren Faire!

My family is frankly - spoiled when it comes to me making costumes for them.  I ask well in advance of costume required activities - Ren Faire, LARP Conventions, Halloween, etc. - What do you want to wear?  Do you need me to make something?  Etc...  Here is what I hear - "Oh, I'm thinking about it."  or "Oh, I don't know." 

And so I wait...6 weeks in advance turns into 4 weeks in advance - and I ask again.  "Oh I'm still thinking about it."...

I made all that stuff too...

And now its 2 weeks in advance...  I ask again.  "Oh I'm not sure."

And now its 1 week in advance...  I ask again!  "I think I know but I"m not quite sure."

So 2 days before the frikkin event I hear what is desired.  A tunic.  With a greek key design along the outside.  So I say to my Spouse, come over here and I hold up the muslin to him and eyeball the right length.  Then I rip the fabric and he says, "What are you doing?!" 

Megan wears the dress and leather rose crown I made.

I'm making your frikkin costume!  You didn't give me time to buy a pattern or specific fabric!  I have to get this thing made and I still haven't packed for the convention!!!

I think it came out okay...  But the photo of him in it?  Buried in a computer file somewhere...So enjoy these photos of other last minute costumes I pulled square out of my butt!

Sweater for a Ghost

My dear sweet Spouse was watching me crochet something out of yarn that I had spun.  This yarn was teal with black and when it spun it kind of made a candy cane pattern in a distinctly gothic way.  This color combo apparently appealed to him because he said to me, "I would like for you to knit me a sweater out of that yarn. Oh wait, I can't ask you to knit me a sweater...(pause here for explanation)

The Sweater Curse - If you knit your boyfriend a sweater, he will break up with you.  This knitter myth is substantiated by numerous first hand accounts of sweater-related break-ups.  I have shared this myth with my spouse and so he was well aware of this curse.

...Maybe you could knit a sweater for the ghost that lives upstairs...(pause for explanation)

The Ghost that Lives Upstairs - my evil Spouse told me that there is a ghost that lives upstairs and he has seen this ghost sitting on our bed with my head in her lap and she was stroking my hair while I slept.  This revelation was given to me in the middle of the night.  Can you say CREEPY!?!?

So, my Spouse knows I knit two sweaters for my ex.  Maybe he is a little jealous of these labors of love, since I've been married to him now for 10 years and I've never knit him a sweater.  I've made him leather armour, necklaces, scarves, tunics, pants, big floofy ren faire shirts and all kinds of other stuff, but no sweaters.

SO I'm charged with spinning the wool for a sweater big enough for the ghost that lives upstairs to loan to my Spouse.  He wears an extra large sweater and I needed to determine how many pounds of wool roving are required to make a extra large sized pull-over.  After some internet-fu I come to the conclusion that 3 pounds should be sufficient.

Here is where I share with you the financial realities of spinning wool.  It is frikkin expensive!  First you buy the wool and that's about $15-20 a pound.  Then you spend hours on end spinning it.  Charge what you like per hour for your time.  For myself, I charge $20 an hour because I am not a sweatshop worker.  I spent the next month spinning wool in my spare time after spending $75 on wool (with shipping and handling).  SO about 12 hours of spinning at $20 an hour... Then I bought dye in black, blue and red.  That was about $20 for the dye.  So including the cost of my time, the sweater is costing over $300.  And I haven't dyed the wool nor knit the sweater yet!!!


That damn ghost!

Dreams, Rip-Offs and Christmas Presents

Here's a long story with a happy ending.

A couple of years ago, a friend from work invited me to her house to learn to spin on a wheel.  I had expressed an interest in spinning after seeing really cool yarn hand-spun on craftster.  They have a fiber friday board and every week people show off what they've made.

It was a fun afternoon and I laughed a lot as I was really pretty bad at spinning but got the basic hang of it and had some really wonky yarn as a result. 

After this and after my daughter moved out and a spare room appeared in my apartment, I started looking for a spinning wheel of my own.  I am a cheapskate.  And a new decent wheel was going for hundreds of dollars.  SO when I saw one on craigslist for $100, I jumped.  Craigslist is a gamble.  But I've had good experiences buying musical instruments from there so...  I drive to redwood city and go this girl's apartment where they have a decent spinning wheel set up and also this one I"m buying.  She's replacing this one she says.

I'm all hope and ignorance so I hand over my 20's and take this thing home.

It is a piece of shit.  But I keep trying to make it work.  I bring home books on spinning wheels and I discover the following facts about this antique spinning wheel.

Just so you can figure out what I'm talking about...

1 - With a leg broken at the bottom, I can't get the thing to stand up straight.
2 - She didn't even have the drive band set up right.  She had two different bands not one band wound twice.
3 - The wheel was termite eaten or screwed up in some way that there isn't really a decent kind of rim to keep the drive band on the thing.
4 - The hooks on the flyer were gunky and just messed up.
5 - All in all a big waste of my money and I don't dare pass this crap on to some other unsuspecting spinning neophyte.

So of course, I had bought fiber and it was just sitting there in that spare bedroom mocking me.  I tried to make that damn wheel work, but I never got it right.  I don't think the person who sold it to me ever got it to work, I think she just had less ethical backbone than me and passed along the lemon to me.

So when my sweet Spouse asked me what I wanted for Christmas last year, I said I want a spinning wheel.  He's all like - what?  I don't even know how to begin to get you a spinning wheel?  So I sent him a link to the site to buy a Babe Starter wheel.

This is not your great grandmother's spinning wheel.  This wheel is made of PVC pipe and a wheelchair wheel with a big rubber band as the drive band.   It weighs less than 10 pounds and it doesn't take up too much floor space.

It looks weird, but it spins great and I love it.  I've spun a whole lotta yarn on it over the course of a few months and everybody loves the stuff that I make with it.

The only downside to this wheel is that because it is so light, I have to weigh it down to keep it from rocking while I'm treadling.  Currently I put one foot on the frame and treadle with the other.

The bobbins are made of plastic.  I have two sets of 3.  I currently am only good at using the bigger of the two - it spins slower and I like the chunky yarn that results.  I have not tried plying yet.

I listen to my ipod while I spin.  I like to listen to Prince - that music has the right number of beats per second for me to spin to.  So I'm spinning and listening to Raspberry Beret and Little Red Corvette.  It is not the idea of homespun that most people have.  But it works for me!

There is more to this story - so stay tuned to find out more.