Author Archives: Cabol

Apr 8 2012

Wowsie Daisy!

Posted on by

Amusing things the kid has said lately. Can you figure out what she meant?

1. “Daddy, would you go get my weasel out of the car?”

2. “I got a casket today!”

I pulled out my rotary cutter, iron, and sewing machine a week or two ago to start on the quilted items for the fair. (Should I mention it took me a week to find the iron?) Anya was immediately intrigued by everything. Letting her use the rotary cutter was out of the question, especially after I sliced my finger. But, I remember helping my Mom iron when I was a kid, so that seemed something okay to try. (I was in charge of my Dad’s handkerchiefs!) We do have an ironing board, but it’s buried in the closet behind a few hundred pounds of scrapbook stuff and a dozen shoes (some matched, some not). Who needs an ironing board, really, when you have stone counter tops? I laid out a hand towel with a cloth napkin on top. Worked quite well. After I had the iron heated up, the kid pushed a chair over against the counter and demanded a turn.

She is, I think, a better ironer than I am now that she’s had about as much practice as I’ve had in my entire life. She only ironed in a few wrinkles and nothing got burned (fingers or fabric). Yay! If anyone in the house needs a shirt straightened out, I know who I am asking to do the job.

I also remember my Mom showing me how to use her sewing machine, so if this story ends in a trip to the ER it’s all her fault! (Don’t worry; it doesn’t.) I found some scrap pieces of fabric and talked Anya through all the parts of the machine. Everything was set up and ready to go when we realized Anya and Miss Piggy have something in common (other than being awesome singers). Neither one can reach the pedal. Miss Piggy wears super shoes to reach. Anya ran off and came back with her step stool from the bathroom. Perhaps not as glamorous as 12inch heels, but it worked just the same. She was a bit startled by the zoooooom of the machine, but she got used to it pretty quickly and sewed several scrap pieces together.

That’s my girl!

Apr 8 2012

Quick Fair Update

Posted on by

1 Garden Produce Fresh Fruit Apples: Tree is blooming!
2 Garden Produce Fresh Fruit Misc. Fruit: Raspberries are looking good
6 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Beans, String: Seeds purchased
7 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Beets: Seeds purchased
8 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Broccoli: Seeds purchased
9 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Cabbage: Seeds purchased
10 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Carrots: Seeds purchased and some planted
11 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Gourds: Seeds purchased
12 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Cucumbers: Seeds purchased
14 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Onions: Planted
16 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Potatoes: Planted
17 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Squash, Yellow Summer: Seeds purchased
18 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Squash, Zucchini: Seeds purchased
20 Garden Produce Fresh Veg Misc. Veg: Garlic going strong
80 Horticulture Plants Cactus: Been poking along for a few months
81 Horticulture Plants Foliage House Plant: Spider plant at school is a-okay
82 Horticulture Plants Misc. Potted House Plant: Succulents looking good
84 Horticulture Cut Flowers Dahlia: planted
85 Horticulture Cut Flowers Gladioli: planted
87 Horticulture Cut Flowers Marigold: Seeds purchased
89 Horticulture Cut Flowers Zinnia: Seeds purchased
93 Horticulture Cut Flowers Day Lily: Tons growing outside…will any be blooming in September? I don’t know.
94 Horticulture Cut Flowers Calla Lily: Bulbs purchased
95 Horticulture Cut Flowers Misc. Lily: Tons growing outside…will any be blooming in September? I don’t know.
96 Horticulture Cut Flowers Rose: Several plants outside…will any be blooming in September? I don’t know.

104 | Needlework | Crochet | Infant’s Set: Almost done…just have to finish the hat

139 | Needlework | Quilt | Misc: Mug Rug – In progress

143 | Craft | Handicraft | Misc: Quilled Raspberries – Completed

152 | Craft | Homecraft | Decorative Painting: Completed

Mar 3 2012

Chicken Dinner

Posted on by

We had chicken for dinner last night. So did some of our neighbor creatures. Our chicken came from the fridge, but theirs came from our chicken house. We are now down to one sad and lonely hen.

“Mommy, is the chicken sad?”
Yes, I think so.
“Why? Because she lost her family?”
Yeah.

In other news, I’m still working on Fair stuff. It’s starting to feel like a bit of a burden, though. Sorry, can’t do whatever because I need to work on this whatever for the fair. It mostly doesn’t seem that way, but sometimes it does. “Fair” is, after all, a four-letter word. But, I also love how I am trying new things and learning new crafts and making neat stuff.

184 | Craft | Art | Misc. Art: Completed

For Christmas, Andy gave me a groupon for a bead-making class at the Jacksonville Center. We’ve lived here six years now, and except for a recent birthday party, I’d never set foot in the Jax. Made me a bit sad. The class was held about two weeks ago, and it was taught by a friend and mama of a classmate of the kid. When we turned on the torches, I felt like I was back in chemistry lab. Don’t I look cool and arty?

Hot glass is fun. When I came home, Andy wanted to know if I was going to add bead making to my crafts. Not for now, I said. This is definitely an activity that requires a lot of practice, and it’s also not cheap. Maybe, I said, when the Fair is over I’ll play with it more.

157 | Craft | Holiday Decorations | Christmas: Re-Completed

When I saw this kit on clearance, I made an executive decision. I took the piece I’d previously made for my Christmas decoration and moved it to Metal Art (see below). Then I set to work on this holiday garland. I was rocking and rolling and thought I would finish the piece in one day, but then I discovered I was missing the pink birds. What is it with me and kits and missing pieces? I did as much as I could, and Andy emailed the company, and a week or so later I got the stuff I needed plus an entire new kit for a “PEACE” garland.

177 | Craft | Art | Metal Art / Metal Jewelry: Re-assigned / Completed

The metal stars I made a while ago and was going to use for 157. Now they are 177.

106 | Needlework | Crocheting | Misc. Crocheted Item: Completed

I am starting to believe that free patterns from magazines, display racks at stores, and included with yarn are bogus. There was that teepee trellis I tried to make years ago, and the great afghan disaster, and the latest, a crocheted market bag. The pattern was on the paper wrapped around some cotton yarn I’d bought a while ago. The directions said it was Easy! After trying for several days to figure the pattern out, I tossed it and went searching online. I found this pattern. It took me less time to finish this bag than it did to realize the first bag pattern was junk.

Feb 29 2012

Sweet Baby Cheeses! (Or, How I spent my winter break)

Posted on by

The other day when Andy had to stop the car suddenly, Anya blurted out “Sweet cheeses!” At least that is what I am telling myself she said. Another one of her favorite exclamations? “What the hex!” We are definitely doing a great job making sure our kid has a colorful vocabulary.

Last week, the kid had winter break, so she and I packed our clothes, toothbrushes, legos, dollies, and various crafts and drove to Georgia. We did all the usual things one does when on winter break. We drew monster eggs on the porch and waited for them to hatch. We planted and watered acorns in the flower boxes. We made chalk outlines of each other and then washed them away.

We went to Michael’s four or five times, bought little wooden birdhouses, and did a little painting. Anya’s first birdhouse (of 3, they were only a dollar!) was done up in bright, happy colors. After that, I can only figure that she decided birds were goth or emo or something, so she gleefully mixed all the colors we had into a big gray mess. I have to admit her coverage on those last two houses was impressive. Nary a bit of wood showed through the thunderstorm-colored paint.

I re-started my afghan. Anya was very excited when the afghan was big enough for her. It still seemed too small to me, so I plodded on. I really should have stopped. More on that another day.

We helped Gramma with the afghan she’s been working on for about a year now. It’s Anya’s rainbow blanket! We bought the yarn around Christmas of 2010, and Gramma’s been crocheting squares ever since. I was supposed to help with this project, but my squares weren’t. Christmas of 2011, we figured out we needed more squares, so Gramma bought more yarn and crocheted more and then POOF! Now all that’s left is to sew all the squares together. I’d help ya, Ma, I really would, but, um, I have 150 fair items to finish. Sorry!

The highlight of the trip? Mulch! I love mulch. It’s all smooshy and weed killy. One afternoon my mom noticed the neighbors were having some trees taken down, so she did what she does (talk to people!) and by the end of the day, she had three newly trimmed trees and a giant pile of mulch in her yard. I like to put down mulch. It’s sort of like mowing the lawn or vacuuming. Quick, visible change. Anya wanted to help me out (because I forced her to stay outside). She clambered up the pile and quickly declared herself, “KING OF THE MULCH!”

To wrap up the break, I got food poisoning or a stomach bug and spent a day moaning and whining and barfing. Sorry, I didn’t take any photos.

Feb 16 2012

Lost the battle but not the war

Posted on by

102 | Needlework | Crochet | Afghan: Deconstructed

I knew my afghan wasn’t going to be perfect, but when I tossed it onto the floor last night to check on it’s progress, I knew. There was no way this project would ever be anything at all resembling an afghan.

I put the kid to work. She giggled with glee as she zzzzzzzzipppppped away the rows of crochet. After the yarn snagged a few times, though, she lost interest and left the job to me.

After about an hour of demolition, this is what’s left. I gave up on the last part and left it intact. Perhaps it will become a doll shawl?

Back to the drawing board. Perhaps I will do something similar but just do straight rows. Maybe I’ll try something with a bunch of holes in it.

Feb 11 2012

The Dolly Saga

Posted on by

144 | Craft | Handicraft | Creative Toy: Completed

When I was at our local yarn store, The Woolly Jumper, buying expensive yarn for 108 | Needlework | Knitting | Infant’s Set, Anya saw a kit for a knitted, felted dollie (Knitted Felted Kuku Doll – “Ella”) The kits were put together very cutely, and displayed way down low where little hands could easily pick them up. Anya had to have one. She picked her favorite one up and carried it around the store. When I told her we were just there for some yarn, she was heartbroken. And determined. While I was chatting with the yarn lady and another customer, Anya clutched the doll kit to her chest and raced for the door. After explaining how we don’t take things from a store without buying them because that is wrong and is called stealing and yes the police will give you a ticket, I said that thing parents often say in December when their kid wants something the parent isn’t going to buy: Maybe Santa will bring it for Christmas. Well, Santa must have heard because the dolly showed up under the tree at Christmas. (I’d like to have a word with Santa about that because while it was a gift for Anya, it was a project for me. Shouldn’t Santa have made up the kit before delivering it??)

The doll knit up quickly, but I hit a snag. About one third through the second arm, I ran out of yarn. I was visiting my parents in Georgia, so I couldn’t just dash over to The Woolly Jumper. I googled yarn shops in the area and found one, but it was closed that day. (Why had I never thought to look for a yarn store there before??) I tried finding a match at Michael’s (HAHA). I thought about giving Anya a doll with only one arm, but she already has one of those, and it seems to make her a bit sad. So, I did what Andy would do, and I wrote a forlorn email to the Dolly Mamas (who made the kit). They wrote back right away, asked for my address, and put some more yarn in the mail. They even offered to send it super-fast-mail, but I told them not to worry about that.

I finished up the knitting and prepped the doll for felting, but then Anya saw her and grabbed her and ran off shouting, “DOLLY!” For a while, I wondered if Anya would let me felt her. She finally did this weekend. The felting went quickly, and after the doll dried (wet wool smells far too much like cat poo), I needle felted a face, and now the doll is done.

175 | Craft | Art | Drawing, Ink/Pen: Completed

I already posted this picture, but I forgot to say that it was a Fair item.

Feb 10 2012

Hip Hip Hooray for Crafty Slumber Parties!

Posted on by

111 | Needlework | Knitting | Misc. Knitted Item: Completed

I bought the pattern (Landscape Shawl & Scarf by Evelyn A. Clark) for this project about seven years ago in Tucson (well, okay, my Mom bought it for me). I’ve been working on the shawl off and on ever since. When I first moved to Virginia, I knitted on this piece during lunch at work. That first version was being made with a really pretty hand-dyed yarn in dark purples and midnight blues, which I picked up at the same time as the pattern. For months I struggled: post-it notes on the pattern to mark my place, stitch markers made out of loops of yarn (as recommended by the Tucson yarn store person), somehow ripping out more rows than I put in. Then one day Anya was born, and I pulled the shawl off the needles and crammed it into a drawer.

A few years later, I started a knitting club at work. For our first meeting, we went to the local yarn store for knitting lessons / project ideas / yarn. I bought new yarn for the shawl. This time I chose a yarn in light, watery greens and blues. I also bought real stitch markers. What was that Tucson person thinking letting me walk out of that store with that purple yarn for that pattern and NO stitch markers? Maybe she was hoping that when I failed, I would bring the yarn and pattern back to the store and give them to her. The yarn was way too dark for the design, and dude, stitch markers made of loops of yarn will work in a pinch, but the real ones are cheap and oh-so-much better.

So, I started on the new version of the shawl, and the changes I’d made definitely made things better. That and figuring out the rhythm of the pattern, so that I didn’t have to read each and every line for each and every repeat of each and every pattern. The problem was, there I would be merrily stitching along when I’d realize I was off by one (or sometimes two or sometimes I’d have the right number but they’d be in the wrong place). I’d try to do a little unknitting to correct things, but this pattern has YOs, man. YOs. Unknitting around YOs is … well … just not done when you are me. But, I kept trying and trying. Years passed by again, and I began to glare at the shawl and say, “YOU WILL NOT CONQUER ME!” Then one day, I brought the shawl with me on a trip with some friends, including Super Knitter C. I showed her my work and whined a bit, and she said, “Where is your lifeline?”

Doh.

See, a lifeline is not always a person you can call when you are on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Sometimes it is a piece of brick red cotton yarn that you slip through the stitches of a row. The line sits there and waits patiently until inevitably you realize you have screwed something up. When you unknit, the lifeline holds that one row secure, YOs and all, so you can remove the bad stitches and start again in a good place. I wasn’t taking any chances. I used two lifelines, and I moved one every four rows. And yes, there were a few times I had to unknit to the second line, at which points I thanked myself for being paranoid and insecure.

I finally finished my shawl at my last scrapbook / misc. crafty stuff gathering last weekend. I almost couldn’t take the suspense while I was binding off. I flung with glee my fabulous-non-loops-of-yarn stitch markers! I cheered and danced! I requested praise from all those present! And then I put the shawl in my knitting bag and started work on my next project.

162 | Craft | Holiday Decorations | Misc. Holiday: Completed

Inspired by this quilled heart, I made a heart decoration for Valentine’s Day. This piece took me an entire day at scrapbook / misc. crafty stuff gathering. I feel like I must have done something else, but aside from making a pot of chili and eating an enormous amount of tasty treats, I seem to have only this piece to show. That’s okay. I like it.

Jan 7 2012

That was easy

Posted on by

I 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.