And a picture of Carol’s shelf:
I can’t help but notice there is no space allocated for my beer supplies.
Studio plans
Posted onI made measurements (on actual graph paper) of Carol’s future studio room in the workshop today. I handed her the paper and asked her to fill in the blanks. Here are the results:
The sad face in the corner is my space.
Tangled Vista
Posted on
Tangled
Posted onI have a new crafty/arty thing. Oh yes I do. Zentangles.
Lard
Posted onI felt an urge to try making lard recently, so I picked up some pork fat from Bright Farm and gave it a whirl. They suggested using a crockpot to render it rather than a stove, and it worked pretty well.
The packages of fat.
Chopped up and in the crockpot.
After a few hours.
After about 12 hours or so, it looked like the solid bits were brown enough.
About 5 pounds of fat turned into 2 quarts of lard…
…and a bag of crunchy bits. Although I think I’d fry them before using to make them crispy again.
After cooling overnight.
I put one jar in the fridge, and one in the freezer. Today I made biscuits with some, and they are definitely flakier than in the past. The pork taste was only a bit noticeable, and then only if nothing was on the biscuit.
I wonder if there is a lard category at the fair.
That was easy
Posted onI put the finishing touches on another Fair item this afternoon. That brings me up to a total of 20. Out of 193. Hmm… It’s true that 100 of those are items I can’t do right now: garden produce, canned goods, baked goods, cut flowers and other plant stuff. Still, that leaves 73 craft/art items I really should try and finish in … oh …. the next three months. I am awesome! I can do it!
103 | Needlework | Crocheting | Doily: Completed
Doilies have always impressed me what with the teenyness and the tinyness. When I saw them on the Fair list, I almost wept. Surely I wouldn’t be able to make one. This seems to be a common thread in my Fair adventure. Fear of a project…thinking it will be too tough to do…then POOF. It’s done. Admittedly, I chose what seemed the simplest of the free patterns I could find (Spider Web Doily by Coats & Clark) and there are a couple of mistakes, but still. I crocheted a doily!
The blocking was physically painful, and I think I have a blister on my right index finger from pushing all those pins in. I ran out of energy, patience, pain tolerance, and pins (almost) towards the end and probably didn’t pin as much as I should have. I am okay with that.
102 | Needlework | Crocheting | Afghan: In progress
I think I’m about half done with this item, and it seems small, and very triangular. I love it anyhow, like I love my kid even when her nose is a glob of crusty snot and she’s coughing on my breakfast. Well, maybe even more than that. The yarn is really soft.
104 | Needlework | Crocheting | Infant’s Set: Started
I began this item while I was still near my Mom and her crocheting wisdom. I finished two rows on the dress, and pulled one row back out again. It’s probably more technically challenging than the doily. It definitely is way bigger and more tedious.
Hanging in there
Posted onDon’t mistake my lack of posting for lack of interest in or work on my Fair items. I’m still plugging away. I was sick for a week and a half, and the kid was sick for a few days, and that really put a crimp in my…well, in pretty much everything. I still managed to complete three items since I last posted.
105 | Needlework | Crocheting | Table Linens: Completed
The first item is kinda freaky, but I am very happy with it. It is the first crocheted item I’ve made probably ever. If you can’t tell, it’s a place mat. The pattern is based on Scotty’s Place dish mat pattern. I needed an extremely simple pattern to get started with crochet, and this fit the bill. It took me forever to get through the first few rows, and then I got the hang of it. Special thanks to my Mom, who gave me several crochet lessons.
108 | Needlework | Knitting | Infant’s Set: Completed
I spent way too much money on the yarn for this item because I was caught up in the school’s Local Gifts program. I got a sticker every time I bought something from participating local stores. I NEEDED a sticker from the local yarn store, so I spent way too much on Really Expensive Yarn for this item. I didn’t have enough Really Expensive Yarn to do the hat, so I bought some Really Inexpensive Yarn. To tie the pieces together, I did a little embroidery on the sweater and shoes using the Really Inexpensive Yarn. The patterns are from Baby Knits for Beginners by Debbie Bliss. I learned quite a few things with these pieces. The neatest one…weighing yarn! I read a trick on Yarn Harlot. When you are working on a pair of something (baby shoes in this case), and you finish one and don’t know if you’ll have enough yarn for the second, weigh the finished piece and weigh the yarn you have…and presto, you’ll know! One of these shoes weighed about 11 grams, and I had 14 grams of yarn left for the second. Yay! I also practiced several methods for stitching knitted pieces together. Oh! And I made a sweater!! It’s my first sweater ever. It is super simple and super small, but it is a sweater! This still needs to be blocked, but since it’s getting shoved in a box for a few months, I’ll wait for a while to do that.
119 | Needlework | Embroidery | Needlepoint: Completed
Hands down my favorite project I’ve made for the Fair so far, this pin cushion. While most of the projects I’ve made are destined to be gifts, no one is getting this pin cushion but me. I really, really like it. (The picture doesn’t do it justice. All these photos are a bit blurry.) The needlepoint part has been done for a while, but I avoided finishing it because just thinking about making a cord and tassel scared me. Turns out, it’s pretty easy to do both. The pattern is from Medieval Needlepoint: Twenty-Four Easy-To-Make Projects for the Home by Debby Robinson. (I love the library.)
102 | Needlework | Crocheting | Afghan: Started
My next item is underway. It’s a crocheted afghan using a Lion Brand pattern where the afghan is created on a diagonal. I am crocheting a triangle right now, and supposedly it will end up as a rectangle. I have my doubts, but I keep working while I chant my Fair mantra, “I don’t have to win, I just have to enter.” Is there a rule somewhere that says an afghan can’t be a giant diamond?
Fair semantics
Posted onWhat exactly is an “infant’s set” in the context of being something I have to knit for the fair? It makes me think of an entire outfit: dress, booties, hat. But what about boys who aren’t dressed in dresses. How about a sweater, booties, hat? Or would that need some sort of pants, too? What about a more summery dress that you wouldn’t want to wear a knitted hat with? And how big is an infant? Would that only be a size 0-3 months? Could it go up to 6 months. 9? Related, how big is a child’s sweater? Is a baby sweater a child sweater? And what is a sweater anyhow? Can it have short sleeves? Is a bolero a sweater?
Who knew this fair stuff would be so complicated.
I started 119 | Needlework | Embroidery | Needlepoint. I am making a really cool pin cushion based on a medieval design. Needlepoint kicks cross-stitch’s bootie.
I also plan to cast on tonight for something that will either be a knitted child’s sweater or part of an infant’s set. I am leaning towards the latter because I think I’d like to make a cool sweater for Anya.
I can show you anything on my belly belly belly screen
Posted onThings I’ve Learned in My Fair Quest – Months 1 and 2:
- Wing it.
- Read (and follow) the directions.
- As much as you want to cut the darned infernal ties off the baby bib you are cross-stitching, resist. It’s possible they may be needed at some point.
- Joann’s has better stitchy stuff than Michael’s.
- I cannot resist sparkly paper that is on sale even if I already have lots of sparkly paper and even if sparkly paper doesn’t really have anything to do with Fair stuff.
- Plastic mesh canvas crafts don’t have to look like the ugly kleenex box covers you remember from your youth.
- Just because you finish the cross-stitching doesn’t mean the item is done. You absolutely may not mark it off your list until you sew on the back and add the hanger.
- Apple jelly requires patience. And a thermometer.
- Canning apples in Virginia is more difficult than in Michigan.
- Apple leather should be on the Fair list. I’ll make it even if it isn’t.
- Chik-fil-A beverage carriers make great craft caddies.
- Don’t casually toss your stitching floss into your great craft caddy unless you like to either (1) keep buying new floss or (b) spend precious Fair crafting time unraveling tangles your kid’s hair would be scared of.
- Stitching floss is really cheap. At least the cheap kind.
No huge projects completed so far, but I have done several smaller ones. I’ve also been busy working on the bags of apples that have been living in our dining room for far too long. I made 10 or so quarts of canned apples, a ton of apple leather, and a batch of dried apple rings. The leather seems to be the winner. So, in case you’ve been eagerly hitting “refresh” on this blog to see what work I’ve done for the Fair…wait no more.
113 | Needlework | Cross-Stitch | Christmas Item: Completed
141 | Craft | Handicraft | Plastic Canvas Item: Completed
112 | Needlework | Cross-Stitch | Baby Item: Completed
64 | Food | Jelly | Misc. Jelly (Apple): Completed (No picture. Jelly is shy.)
Moving right along
Posted onLast night I finished the dread number 114. I am relieved. I am lighter and free and full of joy and song and dance. Or that could be the candy corn.
This is a piece called “Dragonfly Duo” by Dimensions Crafts. It’s a kit I got 50% off at AC Moore. I think the 50% I didn’t get had my sanity in it. I think it should be renamed, “Damned Dragonflies Bleepity Bleep Bleep.” I sent my suggestion to the manufactures, but I haven’t heard back from them yet.
Being the sadistic crafter I am, I started on my next project this afternoon: 113 | Needlework | Cross-Stitch | Christmas Item. For this piece I am using a pattern I found online called “Shades of Christmas,” from Crossing Montana. I chose this pattern because (1) it was free, (2) it only had 3 colors in it, and (3) it is small. Do you remember Unhelpful Store Lady from a month ago when I went to the local craft store to find cross-stitch supplies? I said, “Hey, I’m a cross-stitch newbie and I want to make this –show lady pattern–. Could you help me get what I need?” And Unhelpful Store Lady grumbled and led me directly to the 32 count Aida cloth and never once said, “This is not really for newbies,” or “You need magnifying glasses to stitch on this,” or “Whatever you do, do not try and stitch on this when you are in a car being driven by your crazy-driver husband going along wavy, windy, hilly roads with your whining pre-schooler in the backseat.” Not one word about any of that.
Strangely, once I had the magnifying glasses and a chair on solid ground and peace and quiet and a bowl of candy corn, this piece became not only much easier but actually pleasant. I think I can dig 32 count Aida. It’s more like real fabric, and the finished product doesn’t look like it is stitched on a piece of graph paper. And I definitely can dig the simple, small, three-color pattern that lacks half stitches, back stitches, and the insidious french knot.