An author's collection of thoughts and stories
Other people on the internet talk about turning woven bands into things like belts and dog leashes.
Me?
I cut mine up and used it to embellish a princess dress. XD
It actually went pretty smoothly. I did steam iron the woven band first to set the strings into place, and it didn’t unravel at all after I took the scissors to it.
It’s like a pretty custom ribbon!
Also, stencil+paint for the birds and flowers.
VERY princess-y.
At the end of my third pregnancy, I commented to another mom my age that all I ever wanted to eat was brownies made with real butter. She reacted like I had said something weird — along the lines of, “What else would you make brownies with?”
I didn’t bother to explain that shortening is frequently used as a substitute, or that box brownies usually call for vegetable oil. I’ve always had a lazy streak when it comes to conversations, and I thought that she was the one who was being weird.
Anyway, after months of craving a variety of foods, the last few weeks of pregnancy always boil down to carbs and fat. Like brownies. Baby needs to come out chubby, you see.
Today, I decided to make cast iron brownies.
I use a normal brownie recipe, then bake it in a preheated cast iron pan soaked in butter for extra deliciousness.
As I was getting the batter mixed together, one of my kids asked, “Can we put marshmallows in it?”
And I thought to myself, “Why not?”
So, I put mini marshmallows on top of the brownies for the last five minutes of baking.
They’re so delicious, I’m certain that I have invented a new type of sin. ^.^
I’m making this one for my baby who loves purple.
I dyed the warp cotton yarn myself, which is much softer and less of a strain on my hands than the popular crochet thread that’s in all the crafting stores (I also like it much better for lace crochet for the same reasons).
It’s kind of like magic to watch all of the individual threads come together into a woven pattern.
Maybe in the future, I’ll have to get myself a heddle loom.
I designed the pattern, and my almost-ten-year-old did the weaving on the inkle loom.
I wasn’t really expecting any of the kids to take an interest in this, but it seems to have tickled the fancy of my two oldest. We’ve been taking turns.
Unfortunately, the pale pink and white threads aren’t easy to distinguish from each other. I have discovered through experience that just because two colors look good next to each other on the spools, that’s not necessarily the effect that you’re going to get with weaving — it’s better to compare individual strands.
Should you decide to use this pattern, I recommend going a little darker with the pink. Also, I forgot to change the weft color in the pattern — it should be black to match the outside edges.
Purely by chance a few months ago, I saw a video on historic tablet weaving. It stayed on my mind, so I looked up instructions on how to do it, made some makeshift cards, and proceeded to string a bunch of yarn between myself and a table leg to experiment with.
It was a chaotic mess, and I loved it.
I then came to the conclusion that I needed to be free to get up move around at the drop of the hat, on account of the toddlers that I live with, lol.
So, for my birthday, I got an inkle loom.
And promptly got sucked into that world of crafting.
I’ve joked with my husband that weaving is telling yourself, “one more pass with the shuttle, then I’ll do something else,” for three hours straight. I actually have a number of bands that I’ve made, and a few that the children have done as well.
Now I’ve begun experimenting with fancier patterns.
Next step: Applying these to clothing.
I also have some bands that I’ve made with the cards, but I’m saving those for another post.
The fiber of the month club through Paradise Fibers
I know, I’m late for a number of reasons.
In January, Paradise Fibers sent the Humbug Merino, and the Silver Glitter Merino. I decided to ply them together for lots of sparkly silver yarn.
Aiming to make a lace shrug out of this, so hopefully I’ve got enough yarn to pull it off.
Step one: Have a unique tamagotchi.
You can easily achieve this by proposing to other unique tamagotchis in the park! Because you aren’t required to sync the app with the tamagotchi device, people will think that you’re a **** if you decline proposals.
Step two: Like others.
Anyone and everyone. It doesn’t matter.
Step three: When someone likes your tama, like theirs in return
You’re allowed to give the same tama up to 10 likes a day. This means that the cool people will just keep liking each other until they’ve maxed it out.
Don’t be shy about maxing it out with others, and they’ll do the same for you.
Pro tip: If the park seems to be full of NPCs, go ahead and exit then re-enter. The more unique tamas around, the more likely you’re in the company of real people.
PS: Don’t bother with the Tama Party unless you’re in the mood for it, or you want to marry the unique visitor of the month. Otherwise, it’s very slow paced, the tamas frequently decline, and there isn’t anything that you can’t easily get on the device.
Follow these steps, and you can be a Tamagotchi Guru.
After I finished knitting this blanket, I promptly put it away and forgot to get any pictures. After all that work dying, spinning, and knitting, I can’t help but feel paranoid of the destructive capabilities of toddlers. I don’t want anything to happen to this blanket before the new baby is born.
I did get a progress photo though, because I really liked the way the colors were coming together. They feel so magically alive.
I have a recipe for peanut butter bars that I’m fond of, with one adjustment that I’ve made to it: I double the amount of butter called for. Unfortunately, I failed to write the change down, and today when I decided that the day was dark and dreary enough to call for an indulgence, I completely forgot to put in the extra butter.
So dry and crumbly.
The kids don’t mind, but I sure miss that extra butter.
I signed up for the fiber of the month club with ParadiseFibers.com, and every month they send some sort of fiber along with miscellaneous goodies.
Here’s the yarn that I made with December’s fiber:
The one with Christmas colors is a merino/alpaca blend, and I followed the instructions for fractal color spinning that came with it. I’m very curious about what it will look like once knitted.
The white one is yak down. It is incredibly fine and soft … and far outside of my skill zone as a n00b. I really struggled to maintain any semblance of control over the fiber while I was spinning it, so the end result is … artistic. My skirt also looked like I had been snuggling a white cat during shedding season after I finished, lol. But hey, I have a book on spinning that advises to “press on and keep practicing,” so that’s what I did.
All told, it was quite fun. I’m glad that I’m getting exposure to different types of fibers, especially since I tend to default to what sounds practical and rarely venture outside of that (having 5.5 kids will do that).
I’m looking forward to January’s haul. 🙂
By Autumn Rain 