Morgainѐ Continued

It would almost seem that now that I'm set to figure a new way of finishing this hood I may now understand the directions: Go figure! So to picturize my understanding ...

Lay flat to help visualize!

 The right side of your piece should be at the top. That is to say the right edge. That's what my pink yarn is for btw. To mark my 'right' edge. The live stitches should be held to your right, CO to your left. The Cabling likes to get all twisty so be sure to straighten it out. Tempted to pin this sucker to my floor!

Now that we got that sucker down we gotta start picking up sts. Looks easy enough all a sudden. Hmph! Anyway, it would seem that you want to pick up every stitch that you can find to equal out the amount the pattern wants. A little tricky, I might need to bust out another pair of needles.

As I knit along, getting more fabric, I wish I had changed to larger needles. I find myself stopping to double check my yarn to what is recommended thinking it shouldn't be so stiff with such nice yarn. Next time, if there is a next time, I might use larger needles or a not so bulky yarn. If I wanted my items to be this stiff I'd have stuck with crochet! Note to self:  knit looser!

COOKING:

Well not too long ago I got the hankering to make myself some buttermilk. I don't care to use the powder and the stuff you get in cartons really isn't buttermilk. I now have proof of that! So I got a mason jar out cleaned it and poured some heavy cream in. What comes next is one heck of a work out. I shook that jar for a good 20min. After about 15 (which btw my online source said 10-12min of shaking) I noticed the cream thickening to ... well cream. Another 2 min had it sticking. It was like a dough in my jar. I plopped it out onto a muslin cloth, Squeezed all my buttermilk out and Jarred it then rinsed my butter in ice water. Yum on both accounts. Homemade is so much better!

So I made some pancakes with my buttermilk and they just fluffed right up!

See! Fluffy!

 Daniel of course said, "Bisquick's are fluffier!" The bugger! See if I make him pancakes again!

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I love this photo I took of my newest pixie hat.

Pixie Hat

In addition to my knitting and cooking I was inspired to make some Valentine's Day cards. Since I only have 1 lover I'm not sure who to give these all too. So I'm just going to store them until someone wants them or I get inspired. All are hand lettered and drawn plus folded and cut!

5"x5" postcard style. Great for framing.

Love the dangling crochet heart! Adds some more whimsy to the calligraphy style.

Keeping Busy

This is how I show my depression to the world. By putting out crafts of all types and keeping myself very busy so that I might not have to think about that which is killing me inside. In the past few days it hasn't been helping but with time I imagine this pain will become as manageable as all the others. In light of my crying myself to sleep and waking up with those horrid crusty eyes I treated myself to a Starbucks Soy Pumpkin Latte and a warmed blueberry muffin after dropping Daniel off at work. He's driving my rental home tonight. Since I'll be heading back to Virginia in the morning with father and cousin Esther. My pumpkin cozy still fits Starbucks cups beautifully!

My quote of the day "You're really spoiling me this morning!" They got a kick out of that. The guy who rung me up said they try or always or something like that ... I can't remember (it's my alzheimer's kicking in).

So yesterday; my day off, I spent the whole time either in front of the stove or my sewing machine. I started by waking up really early (10am ;3), grabbed a backpack, and hopped on my Saoirse and took off for The Andersons. Totally without eating breakfast first. I warn you, don't try that at home! Lucky me they were making things all over the store so I helped myself to some samples ... watermelon, apple slices with honey peanut butter! So yum! Anywho, I filled both my backpack and saddle bag with Pint Ball jars, rolls, grapefruit (because I was freakin' hungry), some liquor, Darjeeling loose tea, half a gallon of apple cider and a large red bell pepper. Then tromped home!

My colors! Don't you love them!

Once there I put everything away, jumped back into my jammies and started cooking. I put the bell peppers in the oven (I had some green ones from mothers garden) and sat down to sew.

I made a lovely knitting/crochet needle scroll that I have been meaning to make for quite some time just never got around to. I realized after I was sewing on all the pockets that the lovely tan fabric with the brown reliefs is reminiscent of fall and the other two are more spring. In the end as long as one doesn't look too closely it still works. I blame the ornery children who were distracting me while shopping for these fabrics!

Once the peppers were scorched I put them into a calonder in a bowl and covered them for 2 hrs (which I continued to sew during).

1hr till time, I put the apples, cider and water on the stove to cook. After about 30 min I had to take them off and puree them then put them back on with spices and sugar. At which point I had to do some juggling. I had to make sure the apples didn't scorch and peal and seed the peppers. I actually was able to do all this with out making too big a mess. Since I was not actually thinking freely but rather concentrating on each task at hand I never thought to take photos so sadly there's no photos of my peppers or apple butter ... sorry! I did get photos of my peaches and Jalapenos from my other jam I made!

I'm sure you can guess what these are!

All in all I finished cooking at about 5pm. I didn't finish my scroll until 10:00pm. Then I had to take a damn shower! Oui! My day off went by super fast!  I clearly slept in too long!

I got 3 and a half pints of apple butter. The half I brought to work this morning for everyone to enjoy. & I got 1 jar of roasted bell peppers with garlic. I'm so getting ready for winter ... can ya tell?! Next up I believe is pumpkin butter. I just love pumpkins! Unless of course mother wants some roasted peppers.

I'm slowly adding to this span but in the mean time it's all paternal.

I found this on my jump. I made it a while ago when I was really board. It's my blood line following my for fathers, going back till I reached the bonny shores of England at which point it gets harder ... for me anyways. They were all listed as farmers which I guess is were I get my desire to have my own land to toil in. Slowly I will be adding their other children and making it look less like a tree branch and more like chaos!

Also without a photo is the blanket I'm knitting for Bare Baby Photography. It's a chunky knit with i-cord edges for her newborn photography and a pair of fingerless gloves I'm making for a friend client. I'm slowly getting a lot of commissions, I think everyone is realizing I need the crafts to stay sane.

Sliogáin

My newborn hat is complete! Now I just need to type up the pattern for other people should they be interested in this little lovely!

I've got it posted on my facebook for peoples enjoyment. Of course I hope someone buys it but as long as they are enjoying it I don't care too much. Stacy will be using this prop as well as another one in grays for her photography session coming up. I can't wait to see how they turn out. I'm imagining cuteness but they might just look like poo on an actual baby. Cross your fingers for me!

Lace Gloves

I just finished making a pair of lace gloves for a friend. I did have to undo my work once since I was stitching too tightly thus making them a wee bit too small even for my little hands. In the end though I think they came out well: especially with the yarn I used. Such a pretty rose and brown exchange!

I used a fan pattern in crochet to create these and plan to make another pair in browns and golds for myself. I might change the pattern slightly so that I don't end up with the lined pattern here, otherwise I love them. The pattern referenced is a free one found on Crochet Insider. I'm sure you'll notice that theirs is a little different. I might have added a few extra rows somewhere.

I found when making these that I need to work on my tension: that could also have played a factor in the differences.

The wrapping that the gloves are shown in is something I sketched up real quick like after I finished them. I was going to give them to her as is or with a simple wrapping of ribbon and name tag that night but by the time I finished she was off work and heading home. So I expressed some of my pent up creative juices. I didn't have much time (or so I thought) to pose them properly which is why you can see my cluttered work space in the back ground. And taking images of your hands by yourself is not easy. However, I'm going to make her pose them for me when I visit her loft! I might bring my delf cup with me if she doesn't have something that would work.

More images can be found on my Deviantart gallery along with images of my other works. I do tend to update that more often. >.<;

As a side note I found that there are MANY people using the Crochet Insider pattern and selling the product on etsys for about $20.00 +.

Baby Mouse

Say hello to Baby Mouse! She got her name from my niece who kept asking to play with "baby mouse" and would hug it and burp it....so freakin' cute!

To the left here is just the charm and ribbon. For a full body shot see this! I attempted to load the image but it wouldn't work. *shrug*

I have two made ... well okay the second one doesn't have a face yet but that's only because I'm not sure what I want her to express.

Baby Mouse is about 7" tall from the top of her head (not her ears) to her little toes (not the length of her tail ... which may vary). I have based her off of a character I saw once, I thought she was so cute and had to make a plushie of her!

Info:
Cost: $15 (though people say I should ask $20 I figure I'll be nice since I've never sold before.)
-can complete within a week or two (depending on work)
-shipping is $3 for one within US borders and $5 for international shipment. (may vary based on how you would like it shipped [secure or reg.] and the going prices)

If you would like the one shown it's ready to ship as soon as I receive payment. I do do custom orders just email me the details and I'll let you know if I can do it.