One Geek to Craft Them All

Sunday I seemed to develop a theme for the crafts I worked on.  This book Series about A wizard named Harry.  You may have heard of it, he’s based in Chicago…wait no I mean that other Wizard named Harry.

My favorite piece from all those that I worked on. To the tune of I must get the parts to make more are the Golden Snitch Earrings.

The wings actually move and I think the detailing on the gold beads are very close to what they should be.  The earrings are pretty small and maybe I’ll add some gold beads to the next set to make the dangle longer. But I like how simple they are.

Next Up: Harry Potter – Youngest Seeker in A century – the boy who lived.

Brass tone lightening bolts and glasses with seed beads in the Gryffindor colors

And while one is on the topic of Gryffindors one Hermione Granger.

Books and cleverness are something I can get behind, and these earrings come with both a book charm and a quill charm, with some beads for her house.

A former member of the house of the lion was also covered.

Sirius Black, Padfoot,  Snuffles. With star and dog par charms, for the Marauder.

And on the other side of  the Hogwarts coin.

Slytherin. These earrings are for just a bit of House Pride. And  when one thinks of house Pride one can’t help but t think of  the the Head of the house. Severus Snape.

The last pair of earrings I made were  inspired by watching The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End while working on all the Harry Potter themed earrings.

A pair of Handy Spare Hand.

Images all link to the etsy listing for the items.  I think my next crafty weekend will have me pulling out the polymer clay again.

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So on Wednesday I mentioned that this weekend I would be hosting a thanksgiving potluck hybrid.  Friday night I started with prep.

I brined the turkey and the Turkey breast using this recipe which included sage, thyme and rosemary which were all in the  herb butter rub recipe that i was using for the turkey. I filled it full of ice and put it in the fridge for the night.

The odd pepper shaker was just to keep the bag in place. I found brining bags but they were for 23lb birds. So when shifted around the brine covered the bird with help. Enter empty pepper tin.

I also wasn’t really stuffing the bird just adding some veggies to both parts. Carrots celery and onions.

So come Saturday Afternoon  I pull out the turkeys and rinse them out and spread the herb butter over them.

Which was very difficult due to the fact the butter was warmer than the turkey at this point and, it hardened instead of spreading. With some very messy uses of my fingers, I made some magic happen. Or tried. Then into the oven with the bird.

The whole turkey went into the oven a couple hours before the breast. Then the turkey came out of the oven.  I had to say it looked like a success. I’d have to taste it to be sure but wow, that was one pretty bird.

Don’t you just want to have turkey now?

The bird was done at about 5:30 just in time for the first guests to start arriving, those that needed to cook, and or heat things up.  Then the table was set.

Turkey and the many sides. And that little blue cup? Homemade butter!

There is not nearly as much food as one would think left. Just a bit of Turkey back, the breast I divided among the guests in exchange for things like an alcohol soaked chocolate cake.

Sure you can take half the breast. I suppose I just have to be left with all this cake. There was lots of wine drank, and lots of food eaten.  All in all it was a fun time.  And then on Sunday there was a lot of  geeky crafting, and leftover eating.

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Cooking thanksgiving

Only my second WIP Weds and I have something very different to talk about. This weekend I’m hosting a Thanksgiving in April (it should not be this hard to find a Turkey in NYC- I actually bought it in NJ!), that turned into a bit of a pot luck.

So For the first time I’m going to brine, and roast a turkey. I’ve done chicken and Cornish hens, but I have never made brined anything.  But my goal is to make the turkey, and stuffing (separately) and end up with something like this.

I should be able to do it… And all the friends are bringing sides, and dessert, and other fixings.  I mean really what are the chances I end up with something like this?

There’s always pizza if that is the case and I can ply the masses with wine. They won’t notice then right? Right?  So between prepping for this and work eating me, there has been little knitting, I cast on the Oak grove in some blue Sweet Georgia yarn, and I’ll share that adventure in the next post. Small hands and long fingers can make for an odd effect.

Keep your fingers crossed for me and pray I am posting lovely photos of a meal gone very well on Monday.

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Cooking cooking, thanksgiving, WIPW

After doing 2kcbw I wanted to find another way to keep up my posting.  It helped that this was a pretty quiet week as far as life things go, so I will start by trying a WIP Wednesday post every week. We’ll see how that goes.

Right now I have three things on the needles that I am actually traveling with and in theory working on.  The  newest one being Oak Grove by Never Not Knitting, who also has a fun podcast if you weren’t aware.

I started these gloves on Sunday to replace a pair of black and red skull and cross  bones fingerless gloves, made of acrylic, and so old they are coming apart at the seams and the elastic is non existent.

That is more or less what they looked like in the good days. I’ll try to remember to take a picture of their current state.

A gift from long before I started knitting, so at least 4 years old, they are  dear friend to someone who always has cold extremities.

So this is the start of the first mitt, I think I will make them with fingers, but we’ll see how i feel when I get to that point. I have made a longer than stated cuff, but I  have long arms, and gloves then to work on that space between wrist and coat that always exists.

I’m knitting them in Madeline Tosh Sock in Tomato. We’ll see how they turn out and hope I start poking on my other two WIPs soon.  Both Shawls are in the same state as they were  Monday and the Monday before that.  Sigh.

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Knitting, WIP gloves, WIPW

While I sadly haven’t been anywhere lately I’ve had friends and family travel  and bring me back presents.  A friend went to Tahiti and I watched her cats for her and she brought me back a bottle of Pineapple Liquor.

I think the best thing about it is the blown glass pineapple in the bottle.  She warned me that she had purchased a bottle for herself that broke and that that it smelled less than good.  Maybe as a good mixer, or decorative, but with a cat at my place I don’t see it as a good idea to have a breakable glass bottle on display anywhere.

My sister, a  went on spring break  trip through Italy.  Florence, Rome, and Venice to be clear and brought me back gifts as well.

I had jokingly told her to bring me back yarn (she knows nothing about it except when she demands knitted items) So I was quite surprised to unwrap  2 skeins of lovely bulky wool.  As well as a mask and a small red leather purse.

I have to say the sister knows me well.

I’ve also been working on a couple shawls on and off.

Still not finished with Damson, I  counted the garter wrong and had to rip back a few rows as I started the lace too soon.

I hope to have that finished in the next few days.

I also started on an another Anthemion in purple light fingering this time. I’m not sure if It is the thicker yarn or more working in shawls and the like but is going much better than it did a year or so ago when Knitty first published the pattern.

I’m only about ten rows in but the first time I had frogged about 15 times by this point had created a section of lace that has felted itself it had been frogged so often and ran screaming from the project.

That skein of yarn still sits on my book shelf, about 1500 yards of red lace weight waiting for a project.

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Write about your typical crafting time. When it is that you are likely to craft – alone or in more social environments, when watching TV or whilst taking bus journeys. What items do you like to surround yourself with whilst you twirl your hook like a majorette’s baton or work those needles like a skilled set of samurai swords. Do you always have snacks to hand, or are you a strictly ‘no crumbs near my yarn!’ kind of knitter.

I seem to have developed two standard knitting environments; while traveling and while drinking. I have a long commute to work.  About 2 hours each way and, I don’t drive. So I start out my commute on the subway and usually have pulled out my needles while still on the platform.

Then starts the second part of my travels into the wilds of  New Jersey.

So I do have plenty of knitting time on my commute, though there are times where I spend that time reading, sleeping, writing, or playing video games.  It just all depends on my mood and what projects  and other distractions I have with me. The same is true if  I am doing something like flying.  I tend to plan what knitting to bring on a flight long before I decide on what clothing to bring.

In all these places I also have my other staple. My iPod. I always have music playing when traveling and knitting and it is something that helps keep me calm and keep me focused.  I find outside sounds distracting and harder to tune out then a play list I have put together.

My other knitting time is spent while drinking. I’d like to say something like I have no idea how that started, but I joined a knitting group that met in a bar. Not just any bar mind you, Burp Castle.

With Beers on tap and murals of Monks gone wild, we would meet here every Weds (we have since become a roving band of wild knitters) drink chat and knit.  We became regulars, it was the bar where everyone (at least weds night) knew our names or our habit.

“There are those knitters again.”
“What are you making this time?”
“Is that a TARDIS?”
“But you knit, in a BAR?”

So with beer, Pommes Frites, and hopefully a light colored yarn in hand, we knit. We chat and we drank.  It was something that I came to look forward to. Wednesday wasn’t hump day, it was Beer and Knitting.  And that made it a good day.  I joined this group, less than a year after I started knitting, and it has gotten me in the habit of knitting in bars with other friends, who either pull out their knitting as well, or shake their heads in amusement.

It’s amusing to see that my other knitting group, while it meets in a yarn store, said store has a bar in the back and it is quite often that you can find me with a bottle of cider, or a glass of Riesling as we knit and chat away.

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Knitting 2KCBW, 2KCBWDAY7, beer, Knitting

Is there a pattern or skill that you don’t yet feel ready to tackle but which you hope to (or think you can only dream of) tackling in the future, near or distant? Is there a skill or project that makes your mind boggle at the sheer time, dedication and mastery of the craft? Maybe the skill or pattern is one that you don’t even personally want to make but can stand back and admire those that do. Maybe it is something you think you will never be bothered to actually make bu can admire the result of those that have.

The one thing that I always have a moment of pause whenever it comes up is color work.  Which is strange as I clearly do color work when I am double knitting but I find that easy and straight forward. Stripes are in that same place as not complicated.

Fair-isle and Intarsia  are two things I have done on occasion but it never comes out quite right, there is puckering and yarn too tight, forgetting to carry yarn, forgetting to wrap. Every time I do a project with a small amount of color work, I worry that I will never be able to work on a more complicated project.

It’s a skill I hope to take on soon as I have quite a few pairs of gloves that I want to make for myself that have color work,  and I think if I just buckle down  and knit I can make my way through it. I have gotten books, yarn and patterns.

Baby steps towards getting through this mental block.

There is always the chance I will get through it the same way I did with lace knitting. I will find a project or a crazy goal (11 shawls in 2011 anyone?) and I will forget what it was that scared me, and be blocking a new project before it occurs that I shouldn’t be able to do this.

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Knitting 2KCBW, 2KCBWDAY6, color-work

This is an experimental blogging day to try and push your creativity in blogging to the same level that you perhaps push your creativity in the items you create.

Well I’m going totally different for this and blogging not about knitting at all.   This weekend in fact I am planning on working on a different craft project. I plan on building  myself a cyberwoman costume. I’ve mentioned costumes in the past but usually focus on sharing the finished product.

Today let’s see where I’m starting and  what I want my end to look like.

Cyberman Mask that I would have to alter extensively or may just not use at all.

Two yards of silver fabric I have to make look like robotic body parts.

Some stiffer silver Leather like fabric to turn into  straps and piping.

The cheerleader top and boy shorts that make the base of the costume. That happen  to not be the same silver as the fabric. Oh that’s going to be a fun thing to work out.

I still have to get a hold of gloves, shoes and a way  to make the headpiece. This costume is going to take work to get from that pile of miscellaneous  fabric, odds and ends to something that can be recognized as this with a couple modifications.

Especially when one is using an action figure and screen shots as reference material.

Maybe there will be an in progress post once  2KCBW is over.

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costumes 2KCBW, 2KCBWDAY5, conventions, Doctor Who, Torchwood