Tephie's Personal Bombshelter MarkII

Back in October 2007 I did a knitting survey, I think it's about time to update it. Changes are in red.

Mark with bold the things you have knit, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest alone.

( The list is a bit long. )

In an attempt to keep the knitting posts from being huge, and from my journals from being neglected for months, an update before I have tons of photos to link.

Anjeni has been basically hanging out around my PC since I got her. She has a stand in front of my knitting books and sometimes sits on the edge of the shelf above my monitor. Other times she sits in her favorite chair on top of my stacking drawer units on the shelf over my monitor. The chair and the stand are basically out of the way so she's there most, but neither place is very cat resistant nor are they good for photography. What to do about that? Clear out a shelf in the bookcase obviously.

She can stand in there, with about an inch of head room, so the ceiling is definitely low, but it works. The dresser is an old jewelry box, all drawers without a flip top for rings as most boxes of the style generally have. The chair and love seat were given to us by Kris.

Now dolls don't need beds really, but when you have set dressing you really should go for the whole shebang. Given the lack of room on the shelf she could have a narrow bed and her chair and dresser with basically no floor space, or she could go for something less Western traditional, such as a futon (no frame, so it would be folded when not in use) or, say, a hammock. A really spiffy and decorative hammock. A lace doily draped over a hammock "frame" (stretcher bars and edge lines the doily could be stitched to). Maybe some bead edging. It could be arranged decoratively in the corner when not in use perhaps. The first problem is the doily, the mechanics can be determined after that is made.

So I went looking for a good doily pattern to use and immediately hit on a problem. Most doily patterns don't have a firm size. Depending on your yarn/thread and needles/hook you can make any pattern in multiple sizes. In fact, a lot of the knitting patterns just tell you how many rounds they have. So I figured the best way to work around this problem is to make a small doily with the yarn and needles I plan to use and measure it to figure out how many rows my target doily should have.

Thirty two rows and barring the loops from the crochet cast-off, seven inches in diameter. I'm looking for a sixty round doily pattern. That turns out to be a rare, rare beast so I may be using an 88 on smaller needles.

So what to do with my test doily? As it turns out it's a bit small for a proper shawl for Anjeni, and the girl doesn't have anything to wear one with yet anyway. For now, it gets to live on her dresser.

In other knitting news, still doll related, pants with booty coverage in progress:



Japanese short rows are awesome, just saying.

I love it, the darker the better, and finally I have a good recipe for it using the bread machine.

1 ¹/₈ cup warm water
¹/₃ cup molasses
1 ¹/₂ Tbsp oil
1 ¹/₂ tsp salt
1 ¹/₂ cup all purpose flour
1 cup rye flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp dry active yeast

Run through your bread machine set for a 1.5 pound loaf on the whole wheat setting. This bread actually rises more than my normal white bread recipe and has a wonderfully fine crumb.

This recipe isn't as dark as I would like, but we were only able to find light rye flour, so it might be dark enough if I could get some dark rye. Also, the molasses on hand was black strap, which along with the cocoa powder might be adding a bit of bitterness that would be avoided with a less harsh variety of molasses. I like it fine as is however, and seeing as how I'm the one with the extra taste buds in the household.... :D

The original recipe is here if you want to see what changes I made.

Yep, about time for an update. Before I cut for images I feel I should inform you all that there is a shift in my knitting lately. You see, someone *cough*tamashitoshiro/ToshiroDragon@LJ*cough* sent me an extremely unexpected and generous birthday gift. As a result, my knit and craft urges have been focused on that gift for the past month.

First, the last thing I finished before my birthday:



Now I can say I've knit entrelac. I also knit all the purl side rows from the knit side, aka "knitting backwards".

Okay, onto the gift and the stuff I've made for it.

( Click to see what I got! )

About ten minutes on the phone, and on the air (WKMT northern Michigan). A few verbal flubs, minor ones, and I was probably talking a bit fast, but I think it went okay.

I also got to put an email address out on the radio, custom set up for today, so if anyone is looking for a computer geek in northern Michigan they can chat with one that did a little work on CASPER.

So I went to the Job Fair today. I was exceedingly wound up about it last night and this morning and managed the world's fastest total revision of a resume ever I think. I printed out fifteen, enough for about half the employers, as if fifty percent was a reasonable match rate. I didn't need that many of course, I think I handed out three and one of those was to Kelly Services. The employers represented were basically military, law enforcement, health care, and food service. Not a very encouraging pool.

Anyway, onto the nuts part. The part giving me butterflies so big they might as well be fruit bats.

I spotted a listing of job categories with the local radio broadcasters. While I know nothing about, and have no interest in, working the public side of radio, I do know computers so I chatted a bit and they aren't looking right now but I can submit a resume. Pretty standard for the geekier positions around here.

And he actually skimmed it.

And noticed a little bit about working on the Cassini project's mission planning software.

And he's really good at talking people into things.

So around 8:10am I'm going to get a phone call and talk about working on that software for about 10-15 minutes on the radio.

I'm going to die.

My favorite skirt from back in my grad school days fits¹ again! I love this skirt to pieces, it's black with a vaguely Victorian rose pattern. The fabric is sheer and crinkly and it's put together in tiers with the last tier being short enough to be judged a ruffle. Even though it's tiered it hangs very straight and even though it's sheer it is lined to mid calf (with an nearly as sheer fabric, but it is enough). But the things that make it awesome are that it is long, the ruffle rests on the tops of my feet, and it has movement. Walking in this skirt is amazing because it swirls around like liquid without getting tangled up around my legs.

If you listen carefully you can probably hear my *squee!* of joy at being able to wear this skirt again. Walking out to the mailbox was fun even if it is spitting snow right now. :D

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1. For a value of "fit" where I put it on over my head and squish the boobs through before snugging it down to my waist. It won't go over my hips. This is exactly how it fit when I bought it.

Your result for The Steampunk Style Test...

The Citizen

39% Elegant, 52% Technological, 67% Historical, 40% Adventurous and 23% Playful!

Take The Steampunk Style Test at HelloQuizzy

All ingredients up for personal choice, tonight's choice in parenthesis.

Required:
1 pound dried pasta (radiatori)
1 26oz jar pasta sauce (Ragu Super Chunk Mushroom)
1 jar of water
1 15oz can diced tomatoes with juice¹
2 cups shredded cheese (Italian 4 cheese - mozzarella, provolone, romano, asiago)

Optional (I never make it without meat of some sort)
1 pound ground beef
1/2 bag frozen onions and peppers
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained

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1. Added to increase moisture and tomato flavor. - 3/20/09

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Brown up the beef, onions, and peppers; drain excess fat.

In a 13x9x2" pan mix the dried pasta, sauce, and one full sauce jar of water. Sprinkle meat and veggies on top and cover tightly with foil. Bake at 350F for 35 minutes. Remove foil and stir, checking that the pasta is al dente (if not add a bit more water if it looks like it needs it and bake some more). Sprinkle with cheese and return to the oven, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and perhaps lightly browned.

I just finished a toe-up gusset and flap sock heel. I think this will be my preferred toe-up heel (and since toe-up is my preferred method it will likely be my preferred heel in general). The yarn isn't really right for this sock though, beyond the variegation fighting the pattern it should be knitted in a firmer gauge but the pattern doesn't scale and probably wouldn't fit if I dropped a needle size or two. Ah well, knitting it was more to scratch an itch than to have useful socks.

And yes, that would be my first set of shoe lasts that the sock is modeled on. I should also get off my butt and do something on that project as well. I'm not sure that those lasts are even the right size anymore, I started the project that long ago.

I've been swatching the heck out of the #10 bamboo crochet thread I have. It's nice on size 0 needles and while it's not the best for cables (too slippery and soft) the cables don't look horrible. It's definitely better for things that don't require a lot of stitch definition.

Still haven't frogged the sweater even though I know I should. I keep taking it out and measuring, as if the extra six inches of ease will just go away if I do that. Part of my reluctance is that I haven't figured out the best way to fix the problem, or where the problem came from exactly. Sure my gauge may have just loosened up as I got comfortable with the pattern, but what is part of the problem is a method error in measuring? The major part of the hesitation is just the amount of work that has gone to waste. I started that sweater at the end of March last year, and while it sat most of the summer untouched it still represents a lot of work, over forty thousand stitches worth.

While trying to avoid thinking on the sweater I made some eye-searing, cat-scaring slippers:

Modular/domino knitting is addictive. I've added a cardigan to my queue that uses the technique for the "skirt" from underbust to hip. Since I have the yarn for 3-4 other sweaters already it's pretty far down the list though.

I'm about forty percent finished with that heating pad cover. It's ideal TV knitting, but I don't watch that much TV. :D

The shawl is still in the bin, I should take that out and work on the next segment rather than starting something new.

And spring seems to be the time of the year for sewing urges. I need to give my machine a thorough cleaning and tune-up and investigate my fabric stash for ideas. I know I don't have the stuff for one of the things I want to make, so have a shopping list to puzzle over:

5 buttons - metal and shanked, preferably riveted/"jeans" style
4 buckles - sized for 1" straps
54 eyelets - "standard" size, 2-part preferred but unlikely locally
1 D-ring - 1" size
2.5 yards light to medium weight twill or heavy broadcloth

About thirty four of the eyelets could be replaced with rivets, they're decorative rather than functional. They could also be omitted entirely but some of the charm of the original item might be lost if they were.

I'm contemplating setting up a blog in my domain for a craft blog. It would have postings about patterns I'll be putting up for sale (and I'll probably have a few free ones) and assorted technique and springboard ideas. Since I'm into more than one craft (even if it looks like all knitting all the time these days) I need a non-craft specific name for the blog. The blog name will end up being used as my Ravelry store name as well so it shouldn't be too cutesy or generic.

The sorts of things that are likely to turn up on the craft blog:
knitting patterns
"choose your own" knitting pattern (AKA, fill in your own gauge and measurement guides)
knitting technique tutorials
how to make knitting charts with a decent paint program (PSP for me but it plan to generalize)
crochet patterns
sewing patterns
how to draft sewing patterns (specific patterns that I don't feel like grading and working up PDFs for)
beading projects
wire projects
heck, maybe some soap recipes
tatting patterns, if I ever do more than dabble with it
ditto with sprang

You get the general idea. :)

I was thinking "Making Stuph" but that is very generic, even with the verging on cutesy Stuph spelling. "Teph Makes Stuph" is today's thought. Whatever I come up with will have a subdomain on tephras.com so whatever.tephras.com should also be a memorable URL easily associated with the site name.

I'm sort of tempted to swipe the name of my dead crafting comm on LJ, Internet Refrigerator, iFridge.tephras.com? :D Yes, I could do the technique posts to internet_fridge, and I may do that, but it wouldn't be kosher to take that comm for the pattern selling part of the plan.

Some one toss me some ideas? Random thoughts?

Crafty Pantry just popped into my head. I need to kill it with fire.

So I picked up my sweater to work on again and knit a pair of rows (808 sts since I'm doing back and front at the same time) and since I'm nearly at the armscye I figured I'd better get a good measurement of it so I can calculate my decreases.

[insert assorted profanity here]

My gauge swatch lied.

Apparently I have loosened up a lot in knitting this pattern. A lot. As in ten inches of positive ease. Which would have been fine in the 80s but not in aught-nine.

I'll remeasure tomorrow but I have the sinking feeling the answer to the problem is to measure my gauge from the sweater and figure out what size I should knit from that and start over.

I am not a happy knitter.

And I know I should have noticed earlier. In my defense, I generally knit with my work bunched up on the needle rather than using a long cable so I don't have to shuffle things around as much. I transfered to a longer cable so I could check the measurement and went "oh, that can't be good" when I saw it spread out.

Add to that the fact that I have been losing weight... I gained a couple inches of ease since I started with that alone.

41,612 stitches to waste, argh!

Well, I think take two (and I reluctantly admit I need to do if it really as big as I just measured, I'm also in denial on that) will be in the round, even if it does make setting in the sleeves a bit tricker. If my measurements are right I'll drop out 4 pattern repeats and the "filler" cables from knitting it flat, that will take out 124 stitches (including the selvedge that is no longer needed).

It's kinda amazing to think that my single row stitch count will go from 404 to 280 though, assuming all my midnight math is right.

While I was out in California a few weeks ago athelind (@LJ) introduced me to something called "orchata" and it was nummy. Some googling for recipes revealed that it is more commonly spelled "horchata" and that it's very simple to make (and that everyone has their own recipe and opinion about what is "the right way").

So I'm giving it a try.

2 cups rice (the original recipe says white or brown, I only have white on hand so that's what I'm using)
2.5 quarts water
1 tsp ground cinnamon (the original recipe has one stick, but we only have ground so...)
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup sugar (to taste really)
TIME

Wash the rice then cover it in cold water and let it soak for at least eight hours. I ended up leaving it for about eighteen.

Drain the rice and put it in the blender with enough water from the 2.5 quarts to cover (about 2 cups) and grind/puree/liquefy. If you're using ground cinnamon go ahead and add it in the blender to make it mix in easier. Dump the puree into a pot that will hold at least 3.5 quarts and use the remainder of the 2.5 quarts of water to rinse the blender into the pot. If you're using stick cinnamon, toss it into the pot. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Strain the mixture through a sieve. I feel there should be some use for the rice mash but I haven't thought of anything yet.¹

Strain the mixture again through damp cheesecloth. Since I have none I attempted the damp coffee filter suggestion. Don't bother. It filters too well for this. I gently strained through the sieve again and resigned myself to some amount of grit.

Add vanilla and sugar, stir well (or in the case of a container that can be closed tightly, shake like hell) and chill.

The verdict? Not as good as I hoped. I'll give it a few hours to rest and taste it again. As much as the various commentary put down cooking the mixture I think it might help to scald it at least. So if sitting over night doesn't help I'll heat it.

1. Yes I have. Put mash in a pot, add 2 cups of liquid (I used one each milk and water), 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 tsp vanilla. Cook on low until smooth and creamy. It's sort of a "cream of rice" pudding.

Knitting update! *watches most of her flist run away*

I document everything but swatches and failed experiments over on Ravelry so I forget to update here and Craftster (and I have about a year of stuff to update there, *sigh*). So it's time to catch up.

( Most of it under a cut to spare the flists. )

And finally, a second take on the "Reasonably Hip" hat pattern. I cast-on more stitches so I could do double decreases that would maintain the stitch pattern but I still ended up liking the way they looked on the inside better and turned the hat inside out like I did the first one. I also totally abandoned the plastic canvas stiffened brim idea and worked out something completely different.



The brim is a bit wide and a hair deep but I love it!

I went to the expensive place for my haircut and I should just suck it up and go there all the time because the extra $4 means I get a freaking awesome haircut. Thank you very much, Dixie!

The good mood today is probably the result of the awesomeness of the hair cut and the fact that I am wearing jeans I have not been able to wear since I left Tucson, size 28 and not stretch denim. :D

Stopped at the Dollar Tree and Walmart for a few travel items. Walmart Optical says my glasses should be ready tomorrow, I really hope that's true because the old pair is on the rapid decline to unwearable unless I figure out a way to fix the ear piece on the right bow.

And I have to wonder about the sizing system used by White Stag (one of the brands that Walmart carries much of). I tried on a 4X shirt and pants, which are labeled as 26/28W... *mimes lifting her arms and looking at extra fabric around her bust* the hell? I didn't bother to try the 3X stuff today but if my glasses really are ready tomorrow I think I will.

I just tried on the trouser socks I bought at Dollar Tree, figuring for a buck I could wear them in my granny boots or something where they could slouch around my ankles after failing to reach my knees. The no name queen sized ones get as far as mid calf, which means they will be slouching about my ankles as expected.

The George ones, for shoe sizes 8-12 and not plus sized at all, actually go to my knee. OMGWTF?! I am SO getting more of these for a buck a pair. I can't remember the last time I got knee high any sort of sock that actually stretched over my calves and made it to my knee. And bonus points for being brown on brown zebra stripes. :D

Or I missed them finding it.

A dragon made of CAKE!

And he's (she's?) a gamer, or snacks on them, there's a d20 there under that foreclaw. :D

My glasses arrived from Zenni Optical today, unfortunately I think the Post Office was more fumble fingered than usual, the right lens is in 10 pieces. The case they were in is in 32.

I'm opting for the slow route and mailing them back so they can confirm they are broken and replace them. The fast route would be to reorder and ship the busted ones back for a refund after I get the new ones, but since I won't be here when the new pair would likely get here by the fast route it seems pointless to get the double charge on my card.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry has died. Most people know she was Nurse Chapel, Lwaxana Troi, and the voice of the computer, but I was always fondest of her role as the original Number One.

Any of my journaling friends over there? I joined mostly to try to get around the lameness of the library section of Ravelry (no go, it won't add books that aren't already in the Ravelry database) and now I'm stuck with a lonely account.

I'm going to limit myself to adding books I can physically put my hands on (as opposed to ebooks and things that are currently one thousand miles away) so my inventory there will be skewed away from fiction but maybe it won't be too boring for other people to browse.