Slaving over a hot stove

...to cook up two batches of yarn.


1. starting, 2. measuring, 3. cooking, 4. cooling, 5. drying, 6. admiring

Last weekend, I did some stovetop experimenting with wool, food colouring, and white vinegar. I had a 100-gram ball of white wool, which I divided into four small hanks. Batch 1 had 20 drops of red food colouring in it (which made a pretty light pink), and batch 2 had about half the 28-mL bottle (which made the most saturated bright-raspberry colour!). I think I'll knit a striped hat.

Hollow book

This is a project I've always wanted to make. I remember discovering that a particular little green book on my parents' bookshelf wasn't actually a book at all, but a hollow hiding place. My mom would sometimes take money out of it before church, for the offering plate. I thought it was the cleverest thing ever, and now I have one, too! A few weeks ago I bought a secondhand hardcover book, and today I followed this How To Do Stuff tutorial. (Let me say that I ordinarily don't believe in the defacement of books. I bought this one at a thrift shop -- a Reader's Digest version of My Ántonia, which I've read before -- and since it was unwanted, I consider this to be repurposing rather than vandalism.)


All you need is a book, white glue, a paintbrush, a ruler, a pencil, and a sharp blade. And some patience. Mine turned out better than I'd thought it would. Here's the finished inside:



I've always been a person who likes to have secret hiding places. (Probably everyone does. Why not?) This was fun, cheap, and easy to make. I can fit my passport inside, or cash, or whatever, and put it on my bookshelf with all my other books. (And two months from now, when I forget which book my passport is inside, well, that's what blog archives are for.)


I hope you're having a good weekend and a happy Valentine's Day! xo

Stuff

1. I've been back in Montreal for a few days -- woke up to snow this morning! Yikes!

2. I'm very glad I broke down and paid the $42 (!!) to see Me, Mom & Morgentaler play on Sunday night -- it was really fun. (Anyone else out there know/remember this band? I don't know if they ever played outside Quebec.)

3. I really, really love Cosmicpluto Laura's new Rayne Wrap Cardigan.

4. I'm still working away on my scrap-X quilt, having bought more fabric scraps from Robyn at lilybug. Planning to make it queen-sized. Why not?

5. The November holiday-themed market at Poppytalk Handmade is making me all wanty (so click at your own risk).

6. Kate asked for a picture of Mooky, so here he is, loving his crocheted blankie.


7. I need more coffee now. Bye!

Happy Birthday, Mom (and more!)

My mother will tell you she's not crafty, but I have evidence that she taught me to sew. This was at Christmas (I know because there's an advent calendar on the window -- maybe 1980?), and I got my own little sewing machine (my mom has a big one, on which she later taught me to sew for real). I distinctly remember this photograph being taken, actually; my brother took it, but insisted that he pose his favourite bunny on my sewing machine. And look at the vest I'm wearing! Now there's a chunky knit -- most likely made by my Aunt Nance. So there you go, Mom. Happy birthday!

The Puces Pop fair was awesome yesterday. (Are you in or near Montreal? Go today! Get a free lip balm from Etsy!) I bought a lovely tote bag, from Worn Journal, and a very exciting $10 fabric-scrap pack from lilybug.



Of course I would have liked to buy more stuff, but really, being surrounded by such creativity also makes me want to make more stuff -- and that's really more satisfying, isn't it? So today I'm sewing the top of my blue baby quilt, from the kit that Kelly McCaleb sent me. I'm in love with the fabrics she chose.


Are you doing creative things this weekend? I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving (you Canadians, that is). I give thanks for you.

Got outta town

I love Montreal, but I love getting away from it, too. Yesterday I spent the day in the country (about 45 minutes away, near Hemmingford), at the Roxham Wool Gathering. I went with fellow Montreal Knits ladies Robyn, Angela, and Kadi. We ran into Kate there, too. (Robyn went both days, and blogged about it here and here with lots of photos.)

It was a "wool gathering," but there was a lot more than wool -- or rather, there was lots more than yarn and roving for knitters. Several vendors were selling things made of wool, like these really fun felted hats by Elaine Saucier:


I loved the mittens, helmets, scarves, and pillows made of recycled wool sweaters by Genia (who doesn't have a website but sells her wares locally at L'Arterie):


There was a vendor selling alpaca yarn, finished alpaca socks and scarves, and the softest alpaca bears. Kadi met her new BFF:


There were also handmade crafty things that had little to do with wool. I loved the dolls by Raplapla (seriously, click that link), and I bought a typewriter-key (asterisk/hyphen) pin by Misssoka Salvageware.

It was great to get out of the city, and it was really great to be surrounded by such inspiring creativity. It was pretty fun to hang out with Robyn's little boy, too; Sean was all smiles, all day:


I even saw my first real-life sheep shearing!


Kadi and I were both ready to move to a farm by the end of the afternoon. Why not? Even the weeds are beautiful there:


Oh my, I can hardly wait for Rhinebeck...

Quick fix

I bought a top at Old N@vy last summer when I was going to a conference and needed respectable tattoo-coverage. It was the very end of May, and so too warm for long sleeves in Toronto, but almost all women's short-sleeved tees seem to have cap sleeves, or at least very short sleeves. So I picked up an inexpensive black top that had sleeves to just above the elbow, rolled up once and fastened with a button flap. (Those were big when I was little -- long-sleeved blouses and shirts with that flap hanging inside. Remember those?) Anyway, I haven't worn this top many times since, but it has a deep V-neck that I like, and yesterday I decided to give it a minor facelift. Can you see the difference?



These photos are terrible -- I took them last night under a lamp. I just want to take the little hand-shaped cursor and pick off all that lint! Anyway, a few buttons from the collection are all it took to make things a little more interesting. (Both buttons shown are black, even though the matte surface of the sleeve button makes it look not-black.) Next, I plan to replace the boring white buttons on a brown button-front shirt with some nicer, pearly buttons. Why not? No boring buttons!

Have you listened to the debut episode of "Stash and Burn"? It's a new podcast about knitting and destashing, starring the charming Nicole (of Big Sister) and Jenny. Excellent accompaniment to a half hour of knitting!

Ooh, ooh, I want to make a crafty bucket from a pair of jeans!

(link via whip up / designed by splityarn)

Eve

Yesterday I set up my sewing machine and whipped up two new Xmas stockings for Bill and me. I embellished them with some of my favourite red and white (and off-white) buttons. I'm quite pleased.

I'd thrifted an already-felted lambswool sweater recently, and I used it for both stockings. (If you have any use for felted wool -- for patchwork blankets, pillows, or maybe Xmas stockings -- there are loads at thrift stores. Unfortunately, many of them have labels from fancy stores and are often priced as though they were actually wearable Gap/Esprit/whatever sweaters. I paid $5.99 for this one.)

I'm also very pleased with my tree. We finally got a tree on Friday, at Jean Talon Market. It's bushy, and it smells amazing, and my recently acquired Xmas balls look lovely on it. Here's a photo, mostly for my mom:

One of the decorations on the tree is a tiny Fair Isle stocking, which you can see in my new and improved knitting gallery. Other decorations are what you'd call eclectic, including a small plastic goldfish, a bleeding heart with real rose thorns, a little hula dancer, a pretty cardinal, a blue plastic soldier, a stuffed tree from Sri Lanka, and a paper pyramid with an image of Patty Duke on each side.

Well, I'm still off the Bloglines radar, and I must admit, it's felt a little lonely around here. I maintain this blog for lots of different reasons, and it turns out that comments from fabulous readers is a big one of those reasons.

I want to wish all of you the very best for the holidays, whatever and however you are celebrating. Be safe, eat lots, love your pets, enjoy your family/friends, relax. Have a good one.

Links: Holiday craftiness

Over the last couple of weeks, I've felt really inspired by all of the holiday crafts people are making and sharing on their blogs. I've been bookmarking sites like crazy, and I figured I'd gather together a bunch of those links for you, in case you're feeling crafty in these last days before Xmas.

-button wreath, at little birds handmade

-soft trees, also at little birds

-felt garland, by Anna Maria Horner

-mitten ornament, at disdressed (instructions here)

-how to make an embroidered felt ornament

-pom-pom garland, at My Paper Crane (from last year, but so sweet)

-double-knit mini stocking ornament, by pieKnits

-button ornaments, at Martha Stewart Kids

-how to make a fabric yo-yo, by Heather Bailey (then use your yo-yos to make a yo-yo garland or a Christmas tree ornament)

-elf stitchette embroidery patterns, at WeeWonderfuls

-dress-up paper dolls and ornaments, by The Small Object, on Kiddley

-update! mini Christmas stocking pattern, by Little Cotton Rabbits (love these!)

I should really stay away from the non-knitting blogs, I know, since I barely have time to knit, let alone break out the fabric, buttons, and hot glue gun. Before I learned to knit (about four years ago), I used to sew, and make lino-cut prints, and take photographs, and make collages. I'd like to do a few of those things again. I picked up some lovely old buttons on my latest thrift, so I'll leave you with those (click for a Lady Fashion close-up):


Have a fabulous weekend, and wish me luck on my term paper!