Category: Uncategorized

  • X Is For… X-Stitch!

    X Is For… X-Stitch!

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    Cross-stitch is one of the easiest needle arts to learn.  It\’s just making little \”x\’s\” all over the fabric, using different colors to create a design.  This particular one is from a book called Hand-Stitched Boxes by Meg Evans.  The box is remarkably easy to make, and I\’ve done several designs, but this is the pattern that\’s in the book and I\’m sharing it here because it has cross-stitch motifs.  I made a miscalculation on the canvas, and my design is a little modified because of it, but that\’s the beauty of cross-stitch – it\’s very easy to modify it and come up with things that you like better.

    One hint when working cross-stitch:  decide which direction your \”X\’s\” face.  Either have all the bottom stitches going right and the top left, or vice-versa, but keep it consistent throughout the pattern.  This is how you get the characteristic sheen that\’s one of the hallmarks of good cross-stitch.  Also, keep your stitches on the back as neat as possible and don\’t use knots to secure the thread.  Just sew over the tails.

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What would you put in a box like this?

  • W Is For… Writing

    W Is For… Writing

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    Writing by hand is magical.  There\’s something special in it, visceral.  Yes, computers can reproduce calligraphy.  But they cannot create.  They are not people and therefore, they cannot make what we can.  The sad thing about the ease with which typesetting can be done is that people\’s eye is no longer educated to the beauty of the handwritten form.  They now no longer teach handwriting in grammar school, either.

    This is an awful state of affairs.  Handwriting has been the hallmark of education for generations.  Moving away from that is a bad idea.  Writing by hand can unlock our minds in ways that we cannot do with a computer.  For one thing, you can write a question with your non-dominant hand and answer it with your dominant hand, and thereby discover things buried in your subconscious mind.

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What\’s your favorite thing about handwriting?

  • W Is For… Weaving!

    W Is For… Weaving!

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    Weaving is one of the oldest textile arts in the world. The most complicated looms, like the huge one featured in the movie Wanted, are the same in principle to the simple back looms used in the mountains of Peru for centuries.  The idea is you use something to put the warp under tension.  Shown above is my simple Cricket Loom, with the warp threaded and some of the weft worked.

    The thing I find interesting about weaving is that it\’s more complex, at least to my brain, than knitting.  I have to make peace with winding on the warp, and with the mechanics of the loom itself.  The process of actually weaving, meaning putting the shuttle back and forth, is relatively straightforward.  But, as my weaving teacher Natalie Boyett of the Chicago Weaving School pointed out, half of weaving is winding on the warp.  Accepting that, embracing it, helps one enjoy the process of weaving even more.

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What unexpected thing has your crafting taught you?

  • V Is For… Vanuatu!

    V Is For… Vanuatu!

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    Vanuatu.  An archipelago halfway between Hawaii and Australia, it\’s been under many outside colonial jurisdictions in its history.  In researching for my post today, I couldn\’t think of a \”V\” to feature so I asked the internet.  It gave me the country.

    Then, I found out some sad news.  The country was hard-hit by Cyclone Pam.  Officials are asking for aid from other countries.  International activists are calling on others to provide help to this small nation.  The Guardian has a detailed timeline of what\’s been happening there.

  • V Is For… Vinegar!

    \"V\"I love vinegar. I use it in salad with fruit instead of dressing; I splash it on vegetables when I steam them; and I use it as part of the seasoning when cooking chicken. I particularly like flavored vinegar.

    Making flavored vinegars isn\’t difficult.  You cook the vinegar with the additives, either before you let it steep or after, depending on whether it\’s fruit or herbs.  Then you let it steep for a few weeks in a dark, cool place and voila, flavored vinegar.

    I\’ve got plans for a vinegar book that talks about how to do it, but until I write it, you can find some amazing vinegars at a shop in Grand Haven, Michigan, USA called Grand Haven Vinegar and Oil.  Their dark chocolate balsamic vinegar is worth sipping on its own and their fruit vinegars will make you want to find the nearest spinach merchant.  Lovely stuff, vinegar.

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What\’s your favorite condiment?

  • U Is For… Umbrella!

    U Is For… Umbrella!

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    I always carry an umbrella. I live in Chicago, which is called \”The Windy City,\” but should be called, \”The City of Unpredictable Weather.\”  When I arrived here over a decade and a half ago, I believed in the power of the weather reporters to predict the weather.

    I have since realized they cannot do so, at least it doesn\’t seem they can here in Chicago.  I remember going for a job interview, wearing a fine wool suit.  When I left home, the sun shone brightly and I got on the train to downtown.

    When I arrived, the skies opened.  To say it \”poured\” is an understatement:  in under two minutes, I looked like a drowned rat and smelled like a wet sheep.

    Since then, I\’ve kept a portable umbrella with me at all times in my satchel.

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What items do you carry for preparedness?

  • U Is For… Upholstery!

    U Is For… Upholstery!

    \"2015-04-24Yes, I know. It\’s an ugly chair.  I, however, happen to like it.  It belonged to my great-grandfather and is in serious need of re-upholstering, but because of its construction that\’s not inexpensive.  For one thing, the pegs that hold the armrest in place are broken and the glue holding them in place is congealed and hardened.  Never fear, I have the missing piece in a safe space.

    What you can\’t see is that when I inherited the chair, my cat at the time took a serious dislike to it – I can\’t see why; what\’s not to love about brown and yellow plaid? – and scratched the back left side to bits.  I finally got him to stop but the damage was done.

    When we moved, my husband and partner both said, get rid of the Ugli Chair.  But I can\’t.  I love it.  It wants to be loved, it wants to make people happy.  It wants a place in the home.  And it\’s damnably comfortable.  And let\’s face it – when you\’re sitting IN the Ugli Chair, you can\’t SEE the Ugli Chair anymore.  Problem solved, right?

    And in the meantime, until it can be refinished into a less… baby shit brown and pancake sort of color scheme, we\’re plotting to design a soft, brown, washable afghan that can be draped artfully over it so it at least looks intentional in the library and not like a \”Dear God, what is that?\”

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What furniture do you have that you can\’t bear to part with, even if it\’s no longer the height of fashion?

  • T Is For… Temp Work!

    T Is For… Temp Work!

    \"2015-04-23Temp work is a good way to learn the world of work without committing to a particular company.  Temporary agencies are used by companies of all sizes, from small single proprietorships to multi-national corporations.  You can spend your time learning the culture of the company to see if it fits with your goals and personality, and learn a lot about adaptive job skills in the process.

    As a temp, I\’ve done work in a declassified vault, filing documents; photographed graves for genealogical research; and lots and lots of copying of documents.  I can unjam copiers, fax machines, and printers; and put toners in all of them.  I\’ve worked on all sorts of networks.  I\’ve dealt with many different personality types and demographical groups.

    To get your engines started, here are some ideas:

    Adecco | OfficeTeam | Manpower | Accountemps

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What kinds of job resources do you like to use?

  • T Is For… Tunisian Crochet!

    T Is For… Tunisian Crochet!

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    A few years ago, I decided to try Tunisian crochet.  I took a class at a local store and talked about the challenges of the art in a blog post, here.  Since then, I haven\’t played with it much, other than to give it a shot for a project that became a gift for a friend.  I used the basic Tunisian crochet stitch to make a pocket on a backpack.  It\’s like anything else, if you take the time to practice, you get better.

    I made a fabulous discovery recently.  There\’s a site called Craftsy that has classes on all sorts of crafts, from textile arts to visual arts, cooking, woodworking, you name it.  They\’re adding new content all the time.  They have a great class in Tunisian crochet that I found super useful.  My blocks around translating 2-D to 3-D aren\’t as difficult to overcome with the videos, because you can stop and start and replay to your little heart\’s content – even better than feeling like you\’re annoying the poor teacher by asking them to show you something, again.  Here\’s the class on Tunisian Crochet so you can check it out.  Be sure to poke around, they have free classes so you can try them out without committing money.

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What classes look fun to try?

  • S Is For… Stars

    S Is For… Stars

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    I grew up on a ranch in the middle of the Sierra Nevada mountains, away from the lights of any city.  At night, you could see the stars – the constellations, the Milky Way, the planets, and the moon.

    When I went to college, I was for a brief time an Astrophysics major.  I was unable to secure funding to be able to finish the degree, which is why I ultimately got a Russian degree, but one of my classes in observational astronomy we visited the university\’s observatory.  Mine was the last class to get that opportunity before it was closed due to light pollution.  We got to see the Horsehead Nebula, among other things.

    To be honest, it looked like a blob to me.  The picture, above, is much better – of course it would be, since it\’s one of NASA\’s photos.  There is a wealth of astronomical information on the web, available for a click.

    Astronomy Magazine | Astronomy Picture of the Day (NASA) | Astronomy Now | Space.com

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What are your favorite science websites?

  • S Is For… Soapmaking!

    S Is For… Soapmaking!

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    Soap.  We all use it.   But do we really understand what it is?

    Most, if not all, of the stuff we buy at the grocery store or fancy upscale shops isn\’t soap, it\’s detergent – or, if you\’re lucky, it might just be glycerin, which is a part of the soapmaking process but still not actual soap.  Soap is made when you add lye to fat and it saponifies, the chemical reaction that results in soap.  Far from producing the harsh bars of yesteryear, today\’s craft soapmakers can make a variety of fine products that nourish the skin instead of stripping it of its natural oils.

    The bars above are a simple, basic soap that can then be grated down and mixed with more water, as well as other additives like essential oils, herbs, flowers, and fruits, to create French milled soap.  Made by \”cold process,\” they contain pork fat (lard), olive oil (pomace), coconut oil, and lye.  C\’est fini.  That\’s all.  The great thing about these bars is that if you have sensitive skin, as I do, it doesn\’t irritate it (unless you have a specific allergy or intolerance for the ingredients themselves.

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What kinds of body cleansers do you like?

     

  • R Is For… Rubbings!

    R Is For… Rubbings!

    \"R\"Grave rubbings is a hobby common in genealogy.  People interested in their family history sometimes make rubbings of their ancestors\’ grave markers as a way of preserving it as art.  I don\’t know where most of my ancestors are buried, so that\’s not something I\’ve been able to do with my genealogical research; however, that doesn\’t mean it\’s not something that is a satisfying way to spend an afternoon.

    Some friends and I went to the memorial at Tippecanoe Battlefield, not far from Lafayette, Indiana.  Many of the graves had gorgeous stone carvings and we took a box of crayons specifically saved for this purpose.  We wandered the graveyard for about three hours, looking for designs and my friend\’s ancestors.  It was sobering to know that so many people died there, but we came home with some beautiful reminders of our trip.  Sadly, when researching for this post, I couldn\’t find the file where I stored them, so clearly I need to do some more filing.  But the memory of the day, and spending time with a friend who herself has now passed on, is bright in my mind.

    I found an interesting article in Family Tree Magazine that details how to make grave rubbings, if you\’re not familiar with the practice.  As I said, I keep a special box of crayons (one of the deluxe ones with all the colors, I might add) for the purpose.  It\’s even got bold writing on the lid, \”for rubbings only.\”

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    Where might you go to make some rubbings?