Two hats and a scarf

I know it's sounds like a kid's book, or song lyrics, but really that title's about my recently finished projects!  I've been much more inspired to knit, now that the weather is consistently under 100 (and even under 90 semi-regularly recently!  Woohoo, fall may be in sight!!)  So here is what I've produced in my recent bout of needle-related productivity:

Kool-HAAS

I love Jared Flood's patterns!  Nice, clean lines, classic without being fussy.  Love 'em!!  I'm anxiously awaiting cooler weather when I can actually wear hats again, so that I can give this one a go.  Oh, and the color of the hat is a lot closer to the picture below on the right - the fluorescent lighting in the left picture gave a clearer view of the cables, but kinda washed out the color  :\

I actually started this pattern back before we moved, teaching a good friend how to knit cables.  It got set aside for a while, though, between the move and the horrendous summer heat, so I've just finally finished it up.  I know this looks like it'd be a hard first cable pattern, but the pattern itself is very repetitive, and only 4 lines, so it actually worked pretty well!  It's a little fiddly at first, with the twisted stitches, but it becomes very easy to follow once you get a few rows done and you can see the path of the traveling lattice.

The yarn was an acrylic, Vanna's Choice by Lion Brand.  Less stiff'n'scratchy than Red Heart; less shiny and more muted than Caron Simply Soft; still acrylic, so washable, durable and inexpensive.  I'd use it again, definitely.  This time it was the choice of the friend I was teaching - she provided the yarn for both of us.  It was a little heavier than the yarn that the pattern called for, but my head it also a little bigger than what would be comfortable with the dimensions of the pattern's finished project.  So, little bigger yarn yields a little bigger hat, with no extra shaping needed to calculate.

And for the record, it's actually the "Koolhaas Hat," but I just seem to always hear it in the Hans-and-Frans voice from SNL (you know, the Schwarzenegger-esque voiced, "We will PAHMP you up!" guys).  Thus Kool-HAAS, the emphasis of course being on the second syllable.

My project is raveled here.

Lacy Hat

This yarn has been lurking in my stash for this project.  The colorway is called Fire Agate, but it makes me think of Christmas, so I have been wanting to make a winter accessories set using it.  Now that the hat is done, I've just under 3 skeins left of the yarn, so I plan on making a little pair on fingerless mitts and a scarf of whatever is left over after that.

The hat is an interesting pattern, and I don't know how crazy I am about it, but I like it enough that it's not worth a frogging.  You have the edging, a set of the lace repeats, a garter stitch section with decreases, another set of the lace, then garter stitch and shaping at the crown.  I'm more one for all-over lace patterns, so it's that garter section in the middle that I'm not sure of.  Still, the yarn's busy enough in both color and texture that it's not glaringly obvious and odd.  Like I said, I'm not crazy about it, but it's not bad.  If I truly hated it, it'd be ripped out and reworked in another pattern!  In summary, I guess, I like it, but it's not one I'd use again.

 

The yarn is Jewel Box, a yarn that has been discontinued by Caron, so good luck finding it.  I found it on clearance at Michael's when it was first being discontinued (like I said, it's been lurking in my stash for a while).  It's a chenille yarn, so it works up very soft, but I've no idea how durable it will be.  Hopefully, there won't be much of the Dreaded W that happens with some chenille yarns ('worming' for non-fiber folk).  Still, I'll be wearing this set in December only, as I am a strict traditionalist, and the Christmas season is confined to the one month between Thanksgiving and the actual holiday.  No Christmas in September for me!!  So, even if it does worm eventually, I think I should still get a few good seasons out of it.

The pattern is available on the Coats & Clark website.  My project is raveled here.

One Row Lacy Scarf

The opposite of the above project, this is from some very new yarn!  The yarn was Berroco Suede, a free ball of yarn from one of the shops on the Yarn Crawl a few weeks ago.  I looked at that yarn, and all I could think was 'casual one-skein scarf' and this project was born.  And knowing exactly what I wanted with a new yarn, led to a bit of Cast-on-itis, and ta-da!  New scarf!

The project is great!  It's a one row pattern, so very easy and mindless, despite being lace.  And it goes along quickly, as you're using bigger needles than usual.  And to ice the cake, it's free online!  Would definitely use this pattern again, as it would definitely be different with a different texture of yarn.

 

As I mentioned, the yarn itself is Berroco Suede.  I don't know if it really feels like suede, as I wasn't working a large flat piece - the laciness of the scarf kinda diminished that effect.  Still, it's soft and drapes beautifully, and I'm very pleased with it.  It is a little 'catchy,' though - one of those yarns that has enough soft texture to it that it snags and catches on every little uneven bit on your hands and needles.  For me, it's not a yarn I would use during the winter, as my hands are usually completely dried out and catch on everything during that season.  Still, if my hands are in better condition, it's a nice yarn to work with and I wouldn't mind using it again.

 

My project is raveled here.

Clock craftiness!

So now, being in a house instead of an apartment, we have more rooms to play with for decorating.  Granted that's taking a while, but small steps.  First, curtains, then smaller accent pieces, then actually making the place look 'adult,' or at least less collegiate.  In doing so, I have realized we have a drastic shortage of clocks in this house.  I'm one of those people who needs to know what time it is, so clocks are important.  I learned that they rank after curtains in importance on my Essential Decorating To-Do list, so I had to start looking for some nice ones for the house.  And of course, also some creative ones, which brings up this post.  One of the things I love about this house is having space for a whole craft room.  And of course, a craft room can't have a boring clock!

In doing all this looking around, I was torn between this idea, with the embroidery hoop and buttons, (which is a good idea for a craft room, isn't it?) and this one, with the sushi (which is just plain fun).  I eventually went with the sushi one, as, believe it or not, I actually have these erasers!

And how might I have a set of erasers found typically in 100 Yen stores?  When Anne visited Tokyo a few years ago, this was one of the souvenirs that she brought back for me.  They have been languishing on my craft desk waiting for something to do.  They are waaaay too cute for simply erasing, aren't they?  But what exactly to do with them was the challenge.  This clock was the perfect solution!

So, in addition to the cute erasers, I needed scrapbook paper, number stickers (you can see one of the fonts I was debating there below) and a clock I could easily dismantle.  I found a basic one at Target for about 4 bucks (it's the cheapest wall clock they had).  The stickers and the paper I had in my stash.  The blue paper is in the same color family as my curtains in that room, as well as being a nice contrast to the colors of the sushi.  I was very pleased with it :)  I eventually decided on black numbers (not in the picture below) to match the hands and frame of the clock.

The plastic front of the clock just popped off, once I removed two screws on the back of the clock.  I took off the clock hands too - another simple removal, just one screw.

Next step was cutting the scrapbook paper to fit the clock face and adding the number stickers. If you're lucky enough to have a clock face that comes out, you can use that to trace out your scrapbook paper circle.  Mine was already glued in place on the clock, so I had to estimate a little.  Ended up with a circle that's probably not quite as neat and even as it could be, but it'll never be noticed from a galloping horse - a common standard in my crafting projects. ;)  Marking out the numbers, however, was easier.  Use the original clock face as your starting point, and mark out the points on the circle for your numbers.  Add stickers at your time points, leaving space for your erasers.

I glued the paper face in place with some Mod Podge (decoupage glue, for those non-crafty types) and added a few coats over the paper to help seal in the number stickers.  Don't want them peeling up, after all!  You can see the shininess from the glue in the picture below.  Make sure when you're gluing the paper and numbers in, that your numbers line up with how the clock will hang - check the back of the clock!  I had to reposition my numbers once or twice, as I had lined up 2 o'clock with the straight-up position.  So, unless you really want that extra bit of quirkiness, check before you let your glue dry!  I'm so glad I caught it!!

Once the Mod Podge was all dry, I hot-glued the erasers in place.  If you have more or fewer erasers, you can position them where you want.  I had 4, so they are at the quarter-hour marks.  To make the erasers fit under the plastic clock front, I did have to trim a little off the underside of each piece.  An exacto-knife worked just fine, no fancy equipment needed - these are just soft erasers, after all.  Check with your erasers and your clock, to ensure that you can still reassemble the clock after the erasers are in place.  I also added a bit of hot glue on the erasers that come apart (the three sushi at 12, 3 and 6 are all 2-piece erasers and can separate).  Just a little extra security keeping everything in place.

Let everything dry completely, then reassemble the clock!  And you are done!

One extra step I did have to take, and you might have to as well, is that the hands on the clock needed to be trimmed a little.  They were so long, they would have caught on the 3-D erasers, instead of passing over them as they swung by.  My clock hands were simple light plastic, so regular scissors did the job.  I trimmed the hands into little points, to make it a bit more decorative, but you can cut them however you want.  Just make sure that you still keep the relative lengths appropriate - hour hand short, minute hand long :)

Ta-da! All done!  Isn't it the cutest!?  And here it is, at home on my craft room wall :)

A few beading projects

Inspired by some links I've found on Pinterest, actually!  I've got a whole board of jewelry inspirations.  There are lots of good jewelry inspiration ideas floating about on Pinterest, and as our heat wave continues on, I've been more into beading and general crafting than knitting - much cooler to work with, at least temperature-wise!  So, I'm being creative using another outlet, and hoping that Fall comes soon :)

First up is a necklace inspired by an Anthropologie piece, the Spinet necklace.  Anthropologie often has such adorable or striking pieces, but such prices!!  Much easier to make on your own!  This one used chain from Michael's, and a string of yellow and cream stones, also from Michael's, and a clasp and accent bead from my own stash, nothing too complex.  The necklace portion is 16 inches, then the chain drops down as a pendant.  I used the accent bead, as I only had 6 of the stone beads.  That left either extra beads, or oddly spaced stones on the 'pendant' portion of the necklace if I used 4 there, with 2 stones on the drops.  I played around a lot with the spacing of the stones and so forth, before diving into my stash and coming out with the brass accent bead - same metal as the chain, same size as the stones, works out nicely.  And I liked the dragonfly accent too, so I'm very pleased with my final result.

 

Another piece is a casual button bracelet.  I liked the monochromatic ones from the original website, Milomade, but found some black and white buttons to use in my first attempt.  This was a completely WalMart craft, actually.  They have blank link bracelets, and bags of assorted, color coordinated buttons.  Perfect supplies to get you started.  All you need now is the eye pins to attach the buttons to the bracelet.

I started with attaching the eye pins to the buttons, then laying them out in a pattern I liked.  The pattern I ended up with is alternating black and white buttons, and alternating styles of buttons within each color.  Black A, White 1, Black B, White 2, Black A, White 3, and so on.  It gives it an artfully random look - not perfectly matched, but not totally reach-in-the-bag-blindly type random.  I like it  :)

If you look at the above picture on the right, you can see how I attached the buttons.  The eye pin is looped through one of the buttons, then the eye of the eye pin attaches it to the bracelet link.  I spaced my buttons on this bracelet to be one per link - 23 altogether.  If you're working with a smaller linked chain, you might want to adjust the spacing of your buttons so it doesn't get too crowded.  This one worked out nicely for 1-per-link.

I've worn this one a couple of times already now, and really like it.  I've enough black and white and grey in my wardrobe that this works nicely as a casual match-almost-all sort of piece.  I've already picked up buttons for another in fall time colors of navy and gold and rust and green.  Thinking a copper chain with that one, but we'll see what looks good :)

Happy Roald Dahl Day!

Every year, Sept 13 is Roald Dahl Day!  Sept 13 is (was) his birthday, so makes for a fitting day to celebrate.  In the UK, they plan all sorts of things!  Some areas even have a whole Roald Dahl Month of activities!  Fun!

My favorite Roald Dahl book was by far Matilda.  Probably a combination of the independent, intelligent female protagonist who loved books, combined with an inner desire to have telekinetic abilities (ranks up there with my desire to have my own dragon... some things I still haven't outgrown!).  Probably why the Roald Dahl books have lasted so long - who ever outgrows the desire to see outrageously appropriate bad things happen to bad people, and good things happen to good ones?

Fun foods!

In celebration of my birthday this week, I'm sharing some foods I've attempted as some 'Happy Birthday to Me' fun!

The first is my birthday cupcake itself.  I was inspired by the web-famous Cookie Monster Cupcake.  I realize that my Cookie Monster looks a lot more melted than the inspiration piece, but I'm still happy with him.  I didn't use 'decorator's icing,' which makes the difference.  I made cream cheese icing instead, to go with the carrot cupcakes.  Tastes delicious, but doesn't hold peaks as well as the icing typically used on decorative cakes.  But, for whatever reason, I just don't like that icing.  Too rich, too sweet.  Looks beautiful, but I just don't like the taste, a waste of calories.  Oh well.  I think I can deal with melted Cookie Monsters if it means I like the taste of the finished cupcake!  I could have used white candies for the eyes, though, instead of icing.  Would have made them a little rounder, neater.  But seeing as only Zach and I saw them, I'm not worried.

And yes, I am almost 30, and made Cookie Monster cupcakes for my own birthday.  Any problems?  :)

 

And for a main dish (or lunchtime snack, whatever), here are Mini Corn Dogs!  I've seen this recipe posted a bunch of different places, and have wanted to give them a try.  These are delicious, and oh-so-easy!  Only a few ingredients: corn muffin mix, some hotdogs, and whatever corn dog toppings you like!  I used Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, my go-to corn bread mix, and it worked beautifully.  Yum!  

I did find that it yields a few more corn dog muffins than the box says it will yield in muffins.  Makes sense, as the meat does take up some space in the muffin cup, you can squeeze a few more corn dog muffins out of each box of mix.  Does mean that you have to adjust accordingly with the hot dogs you prepare, though - just something to note.  The hot dog part can be hot dogs cut into pieces (I found that cutting them into 3rds fit perfectly in the muffin cups) or Vienna sausage if you like that better.  Just press them into the muffin cups once some batter is in the cup and bake as usual for the mix.  

As for toppings, I like to sprinkle a bit of cheese on top, and serve them with ketchup.  But then, I'm a hot dog purist and don't go for many toppings on my hot dogs.  You can add whatever you want - mustard, onion, whatever toppings you like.  When adding cheese, I added it just a few minutes before the muffins were done, just enough time to melt.  

This was my first time making these, but I definitely know I'll be making these again! They made a good lunch, too.  Two or three of the muffins fit perfectly in my little lunch box, add some fruit, and there you go!  A nice change from sandwiches or casserole leftovers for my lunch at work :)

More Sisterly Bonding

We had some crafty time too, while Anne was visiting, so we played with the beading.  Anne's first time, so learning some new stuff for her and working on a few projects of my own.  Bwa ha ha!  I've started her on a new craft!  The Enabler strikes again! 

This one is inspired by a necklace I saw at Kohl's using yellow beads.  I used light green instead, as I still have bunches of them, and made it a double strand, because I wanted too.  The beads are just linked together, in a relatively random pattern, nothing complex.  I did try to mix up large vs. small beads in the pattern, and the two sides of each chain do mirror each other, but other than that...  The accent beads are just from Wal-Mart, and match the light green beads I had to a T!  Score!  And I've got a sweater in the same light green, so I'm looking forward to wearing this one a lot, assuming it ever becomes sweater weather again in Texas...

This one below was a simple one - just a ribbon with some decorative beads to match a pretty pendant.  Took some doing to find blues and greens that matched the pendant, though!  They aren't straightforward colors, apparently.  More of a blue-grey than a sky blue, for example, and the green's the same.  Still, am very pleased with the final project, worth the effort.  And the funny thing, Anne made a similar necklace with the same pendant in different colors.  Hers is in light and dark roses (rose and mauve? burgundy?) with a burgundy ribbon and silver beads.  Very pretty, and I wish they'd had more than one of those pinkish pendants, as I'd have been making one too!  I do like my blue and green one, though, and know I've got those colors in my wardrobe too, so it all works out.

I do have to say, I think Anne enjoyed this bonding more than the run :)

Sisterly Bonding (and she doesn't even hate me afterwards!)

So, part of the reason I was incommunicado recently, besides the work around the house and the starting of a new job and everything else that was keeping me busy, was that Anne was able to come out and visit for a week!  Huzzah!  Fun fun times abound!  Both of us recognized that we need to have more friends to just play with.  It's so much harder for adults to meet people, you know?  In high school, there are clubs and sports teams, and in college you have dorm life as well.  And throughout school, there are people in your classes that you get to know as well.  Once you're out of school, there's work, and... work.  You have to make an extra effort if you're going to find people to work out with or go to the movies with or have a board game night, or whatever.  So, it was greatly appreciated when a playmate came out here to TX!

Anyhoo, while she was here, there was a 5K on post which Zach and I wanted to run - the oh-so-appropriately named Hotter than Hades 5K.  We gave her the choice of running it (or walking it) or of sleeping in, and she took us up on the offer!  It helped, I'm sure, that the races on post are free ;)

So, we all woke up nice and early last Saturday and went over for a nice jog around post.  First 5K race I've done in MONTHS!  The ones back in CA weren't exactly well-advertised, so I missed some by just not hearing about them; and there were a few that I just couldn't do because of scheduling.  So I was greatly looking forward to the one here, something to hopefully get my lazy butt back in gear.

Here she is at the starting line, still looking very chipper.

 

So how did the race go?  Not too badly, considering I'm trying to get back in shape still!  Getting extended in the desert (that extra 6 months was a motivation killer) and having one of my workout buddies move and another get injured... well, my workout motivation thermometer dropped below freezing.  Now that we're in a new area, I'm trying to get back into a routine, but with my work hours bouncing around with trainings, and this horrible never-ending heat wave, I'm finding it a challenge.  So, a nice easy 5K was needed.  It was indeed Hotter than Hades, but was also held early enough that we could finish before it became too beastly. I was slower than usual, to be expected after 7 months of laziness, but I wasn't a total wreck either.  So, still have some muscles there under the lazy layer?  Let's try and get them going again!

And for Anne?  She survived!  Her first 5K successfully completed, no knees blown, no EMS called at the side of the road, and hey - she can still smile at the end of it!  She hung with me through the first 2 miles or so, and then had to do a bit more walking than running.  Still, not bad for her first 5K!  We made sure to take a bunch of pictures so she could go back home and show her workout buddies that she really did run a race.  She didn't they'd believe her otherwise, as she is definitely not a Runner :)

   

And as a side note, I'm wearing one of my favorite running shirts - a running donut, with the caption "1 Glazed Donut = 6 Miles" - a Target clearance find, actually.  Get compliments on it though! "I'm sweatin' sprinkles!"  Silly donut :)  We both laughed too, wearing our bright pink shirts together.  Made us a little easier to find, but we had to chuckle at how we turn the same color as our shirts as we workout.  Have always turned bright pink when I workout, and now I'm that color from the top of my head on down!  As one of my favorite workout quotes runs, "If you still look good at the end of a workout, you're not doing it right!"