Weird Week [NaBloPoMo]

OK, so the school board, in its infinite wisdom canceled school Tuesday for Ida.  Whole lot of us in the community thought that was silly – they certainly wouldn’t have done it 10 years ago.  Total nonstarter of a tropical event.  Many were scrambling to find ways to keep the kids safe and happy – the storm was pretty much over by school time and nobody EXCEPT the school board canceled work.  I am lucky enough to work from here, so we’ve just taken a bit of a holiday the past couple of days, because I had the luxury of being able to do so.

So, beyond not keeping up with the housework, crocheting entirely too much (working on a project for my step mother-in-law) and some movie-watching, we’ve been pretty much been focused on fort-making and the like:

Well, off to bed – back to “real life” tomorrow – I’ll have a lot of catchup to concern myself with, I”m sure.

Via the Jafagirls Site: Knit Knot Tree II Needs Yarnbombing [NaBloPoMo]

Just a quickie today – running short on time, and I want to succeed at NaBloPoMo.  If you’re in the Yellow Springs, OH area – the JafaGirls are looking to yarn bomb the Knit Knot Tree – see here for more deets!

If you live in town or just want to visit please bring along your knitting or crochet piece and stitch it onto the tree.

Good luck to the JafaGirls!

ZOMG! Yarn-Bombed Bus! ([NaBloPoMo])

Via the Little Blue Door, I’ve found this fab bus!!!  You can learn more at the Knitta Please site – check it out if you’ve not been.  I totally *heart* yarn-bombing!!!!

(You can learn a bit more here.)

Recent Food Explorations [NaBloPoMo]

I’m struggling with what I believe are gluten issues this week.  If I’m right, it explains an awful lot.  I’ll probably be heading over to the doc as soon as I can manage it this week.  Here’s hoping.

If I do have to go gluten free, I’m a bit bummed about what that will mean for baking and other culinary pursuits.  Both Kittee (over at Cake Maker to the Stars) and Mary (over at Mitten Machen) have extensively documented their struggles to make vegan xGFx (gluten-free) baked goods (crusts, breads, etc.).  Other vegan and xGFx blogs can be found out there (the following taken from this PPK thread):

• http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/
• http://glutenfreeveganfam.blogspot.com/
• http://glutenfreehippie.com/
• http://glutenfreesoyfreevegan.blogspot.com/
• http://glutenfreevegan.wordpress.com/
• http://clumzycook.blogspot.com/
• http://cupcakepunk.wordpress.com/
• http://happyveganface.blogspot.com/
• http://cupcakekitteh.blogspot.com

I’m still exploring these.

I have to say, I am VERY interested in pursuing a potential diagnosis – something I’m sure I’ll blog further on this month.  I do have some concerns tho – the most major being what looks to be the greater expense of trying to eat gluten-free – xanthan gum is 12 bucks at the local grocery, for instance.  I guess I should just be stoked they have it at all – it’s a small grocery.

On a totally opposite note, the local grocery chain in the area is carrying Gardein brand vegan meat analogs.  Everything we’ve tried is really fabulous.  I’ve some concerns that it won’t last, tho – they’ve already dropped the price on them.  On the other hand, if I go gluten free, I guess it won’t matter to me personally.  My oldest will be sorry, though.

Marinara Chick'n Good Stuff - the current fav - vegan cheez!!!!

We also made Whoopie Pies from My Sweet Vegan. They were OK, but need a lot of work before I’d be satisfied with them. I think the cookies should have been much smaller, for instance. Overall, I was surprised at the meh-factor – I’ve never made anything by Ms. Hannah I didn’t love – guess there’s a first time for everything.

A Smattering of Granny Square Inspirations [NaBloPoMo]

In keeping with my quick little post yesterday (NaBloPoMo keeps me posting, but antsy and short on time, some days. XD), I thought I’d share some of the web based inspiration I’ve found as I continue my quest towards granny-square-throw-FO-ness.

First off, check out this *KING SIZE* granny-square blanket over at YarnHog’s blog:

I’ll leave you to explore the blog entry, but a couple of points – it’s about 10 pounds, she figures, and it’s 9 feet square. 0.O

To go in a completely opposite direction, check out  Kirsty’s Granny Square ring over at her blog, Kootoyoo:

Other inspirations have been PurlBee’s blog entry “Joelle’s Giant Granny Square” and of course Attic24.  Here’s a fab pic of a WIP for her:

I highly recommend her site.  She has some nice tutorials, including granny blanket edging,  joining granny squares as well as joining granny squares as you go.

On that note, PurlBee has a good basic tutorial.  I am also pleased to have Bev’s Country Cottage’s page on granny squares.  Lots of pattern links and some sizing tips (“how many squares of what size do I need?”) here!

Granny Squares (WIP) [NaBloPoMo]

I took a break from it in the past few days, but until very recently I’ve been obsessed with Granny Squares.  It’s been good practice, and also a great way to use up old stash – specifically bag lots of yarn from Goodwill.  I had a whole bunch of scraps from sources like this.  So I’ve made a nice start on a granny square throw.  This is what I have so far:

Last I counted, there were 29 there.  I hope to get back to adding to them this evening – it’d be fun to get enough done for a throw before Thanksgiving.  There are a lot of weird colors I’m trying to use little bits of, and some of my combinations are questionable, I’m sure, but I’m trying to not exactly duplicate any square.  Those that you see below that look the same are all from different but similar yarns – I think the previous owner had a penchant for acrylic baby blanket making.  The odd ball is that little tiny scrap of hot pink – I found that wrapped *inside* another ball of yarn from that stash and felt like I should use it up, which I did.

The I’ve noticed that that previous owner was also sloppy with her instant coffee.  Some of this yarn was gross enough when I bought it that it needed a run through the wash on delicate.  I keep finding little imperfections inside the yarn balls I’m using, which is a shame.  I hate to waste the yarn, so I go ahead and use it, but now I have a couple of squares with little spots like this:

(pardon the shoddy picture – the camera is getting a bit…worn out. ;P)

And this:

I really want to use up this yarn – it seems wrong to not be frugal, to avoid wasting a resource, but I’m worried this isn’t going to come out.  Suggestions anyone?

Am I Boring You? ;D [NaBloPoMo]

Yeah, thought I might be. ^_-

I have this perpetual urge to make little classifications and subdivisions to work I’m doing on the computer.  I like to make meta-indexes – you know, stratified, taxonified collections of links to information?  For instance, an index on Hawai’i (which I have), with a subpage on Maui, with a subpage on – oh, I dunno – small local businesses, with a subpage on cafés possibly with subpages arranged by town or region.  I don’t know if it’s OCD or just being the daughter of a librarian, but gathering in huge amounts of information and then creating a cross-referenced index out of it is just my cup of tea.  I’m good at it.

Anyway, I’ve had this tendency to want to do the same with blogging.  I’ll not share how many blogs I have, but it’s a small slew, all by category of interest.  One of them does pretty well for itself, but I’m not ready to share it here, methinks.  However, I think the rest of them are perhaps not robust enough because I keep trying to hive out little chunks of thought streams.

SO – to that end, I think that, excepting topics that go better on that one blog I mentioned, I’m going to broaden the focus of UnRavelations and let it be my general blog for the moment.  However, I’m still very much in a crafty state of mind, so there will still be plenty of *that.*  I just plan on this being a more well-rounded journal.

I need to bounce – almost time to pick up the little dudes from school – but I thought I’d leave you with one of the better costume ideas I saw this Halloween:

 

The two boys dressed up here said they were bushes.  And what looks like Spanish moss there is actually all yarn.  Looks a bit like ghillie suits, but not quite, at least not to me.  In any case, I thought they were fab!

Considering Yarn… [NaBloPoMo]

I have to say, as I approach my first Holiday Season as a crocheter and proto-knitter, I’m struggling a bit with veganism and yarn.  I’ve been a vegan for more than 4 years, and I don’t buy wool – with the *possible* exception of second hand.  However I really do like a good wool yarn.  I don’t know if that’s a side effect of having a mom who knitted with wool when I was a kid or what.  Maybe so.

There are a lot of synthetics out there, but then I worry about the environmental impact their creation makes.  On the other hand, cotton is a very water intensive crop for most farmers.  It can be done “dry” but then one is looking at organic yarn, which is a bit beyond my budget at the moment.  Actually, a lot of better yarns are beyond my budget at the moment. o.0  So I’m mostly stuck *wanting* to get fancy vegan yarns (bamboo, soy, etc.) but actually purchasing affordable synthetics.

Today I’m going hunting for affordable yarn I can use to create the Delicate Web Wrap from Hooked Throws.  You can see the pattern at Lion Yarn (it’s free) or at Ravelry.  (I was a bit freaked out to see errata at the Lion site – hope that’s not par for the course for my chosen projects from this book!!)  I have some ideas, and I hope I can find what I need – I’m hoping to make this for a relative for Christmas!  Wish me luck! ^_^

Cake. [NaBloPoMo]

Ok, so it may not be a very glamorous shot – I didn’t have time to do any more than take a quick point-and-shoot photo the day I made this – but I did mention making Orange Dreamsicle Snack Cake.  I really wish I’d gotten a better pic, because it’s really yum.  Really rich, but really yum.

It just so happened that the day I got My Sweet Vegan I had all the ingredients for this decadent cake.  I felt it was Fate.  So, way later in the evening than I should have, I set to making this, much to the eventual delight of my family:

Ahem.  Silly boy.  Seriously, though – I’ve yet to make something of Hannah’s and not really enjoy it.  This morning I made her Chocolate Chickpea Spread to spread over some left-over ciabatta bread I’d toasted.  I’d share my picture of said toast, but I totally forgot I was wearing a bandaid when I was holding it to be photographed.  o.0  Not so lovely.  Her pics are much lovlier.  The spread was good, too. ^_^

Adventures in Mistakes [NaBloPoMo]

Looks like I’d better get on the ball if I’m going to get this post in today, for NaBloPoMo. o.0 Whew. I wanted inspiration to write more, but ZOMG, ya know?

I’ve been crocheting like mad – working on different projects, trying to improve my technique and also really enjoying learning to *make* things!  I’ve got some mistakes and tribulations to share, as well as some really basic FOs, but not today, methinks – thought I’d stick to showing you a couple of hats.

Firstly, I should mention I mostly taught myself to crochet with the Klutz Learn to Crochet kit book.   I love that book – it’s the one I kept referring to when I was trying to sort out the basic stitches – lots of good pics and good descriptions. *However* I never really groked the front loop, back loop, both loops thing and I pretty much taught myself using just the front loop.  I’m sure you can imagine what my (newbie) projects all look like.  o.0

When I got Crochet the Complete Guide the first thing I started working on was the Basic Single Crochet Hat pattern.  However, I knew I wasn’t going to have enough yarn (part of a skein of Caron’s Simply Soft Eco in Ocean), so I didn’t make the hat anywhere near as long as it should have been.  Also, since all my stitches went into the front loop, the texture came up very differently than Ms. Davis intended.  Still, my Eldest seemed pleased enough:

A couple more silly pics of said hat and boy:

Hopefully I didn’t crop these too small for you to  see the ribbed effect my stitches gave the hat. Ah well, I learned something, and it’s warm, and he seems happy enough with it, so it’s all good, yes?

Anyhoo, I was reading The Complete Guide when I came across a note about how, unless specified, the hook always goes through both loops.  Whoo-boy.  After an educational spin around YouTube (Lots of good crochet how-to videos there!) I took a couple of minutes to oh, roll my eyes and sigh dramatically, but then I took to working on new projects that involved really basic stitches.  One of them was a rework on this same pattern using Peaches & Creme Shaded Denim worsted weight. (have a big cone of it I got for $3 bucks @ Wally-World).  Things went swimmingly for a while:

About 5 steps after this, however, I crocheted half a row just in the front stitch.  It looked *really* wonky, so I frogged it back to the mistake and promptly lost track of my increases.  I have *no* idea how I should have recovered from this – it was really hard work counting all those stitches and looking for increases.  If anyone has advice on this I’m all ears!

I eventually decided to salvage what I had done, quit making increases, and just finished the hat off for Youngest Son.  It’s not perfect, but I think it turned out well enough, and YS is pleased:

See you tomorrow!