We don’t usually have ice cream hanging around the freezer, but there’s a little left over from Selma’s birthday. I wanted some–so I offered some to Selma (we were watching High School Musical together–she was fantasizing that when she got to high-school, they’d do a remake and she’d be cast as the lead.) I discovered our chocolate sauce was woefully out of date. I wouldn’t normally eat vanilla ice cream just for the sake of ice cream–for me, it’s just a vehicle for chocolate sauce. So, I rummaged through the freezer and found the remnants of a bag of chocolate chips–maybe 1/4 cup. “Don’t worry Selma, we can make some.” She wasn’t worried–unlike me, she’s perfectly happy to eat vanilla ice cream, but she was pretty amazed that I could magically create chocolate sauce on a whim… We put the chips in a bowl, and added some soy milk–just enough so the chips were coated, but not covered, a few tablespoons–and put it in the microwave for 40 seconds. Yummy ganache emerged, and we dolloped it onto the ice cream. “Wow,” she said. “I’m so glad you’re my mom.” Hmm… maybe we should make kitchen magic more often.

The mathematicians at the Institute for Figuring have been busy crocheting more hyperbolic sculptures. From the institute’s web site:

In homage to the Great One, IFF co-directors Margaret and Christine Wertheim have instigated a project to crochet a handmade reef. This woolly testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world celebrates also an unexpected intersection of feminine handicraft and a strange geometry that is realized throughout the oceanic realm.

You can see the reef in person at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA through June 17th, 2007.

If you can’t get there, there’s a new video about the origins of the crocheted hyperbolic planes cirulating the net:

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crochet, hyperbolic plane, space

Finishing
Originally uploaded by plainsight.

I don’t know why I procrastinate finishing so much. Maybe I put it off because finishing means I have to send the project away (usually), and it is hard to get rid of something you’ve worked on slowly over days or weeks. It’s a bit like finishing a good book–you stay up all night reading, you can’t put it down, but towards the last few chapters, you’re wishing it wouldn’t end.

I actually really enjoy the finishing process. I love piecing together a sweater, making separate bits of fabric magically join into one garment by stretching here and pushing there to get the perfect alignment. I love the quietness of sewing by hand–the change of perspective I get from looking at a project spread out on the table instead of crumpled in my lap. I like making the decision–crochet a seam, or sew it–wrong side or right side? Even though I create a lot of one-piece designs, I like seams–they add stability, structure, balance and detail. I even like watching as the ends–the thousands of them, it seems, in this case–disappear, one by one. Then, when the assembly is done, the creative process begins again–how to edge, cuff, hem.

This piece of paper was in Selma’s school folder today. Apparently, they’re learning about economics. She was asked to pick two things and decide how to spend her money, and explain why.

Pretty Dresses
Originally uploaded by plainsight.

Selma turns seven today and she had her birthday party on Saturday (of course, we’ll celebrate again tonight). She decided to have a tea party, she was inspired by the “Felicity” books she’s been reading, and she wanted to wear an “old fashioned” dress. I called my mom and asked her to send my favorite dress from when I was little. It’s pink dotted swiss with a pink gingham pinafore. Amazingly, it fits her perfectly (I must have been older when I wore it because I was not as big as Selma at seven).

Selma’s friend Mia also got very excited about having a special dress and talked her grandmother into making one just for the occasion–it’s purple gingham, with flowers.

Selma and I had a great time getting ready for the party. We browsed around Oriental Trading Company and found some hats and little white gloves to give as party favors… We didn’t have any china with service for 10, so we made several trips to the thrift store to find pretty cups and saucers to use (we let the girls take those home with them too).

While I normally like to do any food prep I can in the days leading up to a party, in this case, everything needed to be made right before serving (I did make the cupcakes the night before). So with the party at eleven a.m., it made for a busy morning.

Selma thought it would be fun (really, I promise this was not my idea), to have the girls embroider handkerchiefs as a craft at the party. It turned out to be a big success–James and I set up the embroidery hoops the night before and he and I both made samples for the girls to see, we threaded all the needles in advance. The girls did a great job, and they were amazingly focused. When I suggested we should finish up to start the tea, they all chorused “oh, no, we’re still working!”

The menu at tea included three kinds of tea sandwiches (cucumber; cream cheese and tomato; and veggie faux “chicken” salad), then scones with butter (I posted the recipe on Comfort Kitchen), jelly, and whipped “cream,” and finally mini cupcakes (orange with a chocolate buttercream). The tea was Rooibos (African Red Bush) which is a very mild twig tisane that has a slight vanilla flavor. All the food had vanished by the end of the party–I ended up making the scones again this morning because they were so yummy (and easy).

The girls all rose to the occasion and had a great time being formal and polite. It was great to watch them interacting in a new way. Parents started arriving almost as soon as tea was over–the time flew by–but I’m still exhausted, and still cleaning up. If you’d like, you can see more pictures on flickr

Michelle’s Slippers
Originally uploaded by plainsight.

We had more knitting machine fun today with the middle schoolers–Michelle, who made the slipper you see here is going to turn them into sock puppet slippers–I advised she paint some puff paint onto the bottom so they’re not too “slippery.”

I figure since my students are having so much fun with the crazy little machine, others must be too, so I’ve started a flickr group where we can share pictures called Cranky Knitters.

Callie
Originally uploaded by plainsight.

Callie–our almost 12-year old keeshound has pancreatitis and spent the night at the vet. She seems to be doing well, I called this morning, and they said her demeanor defies her prognosis–she’s active, alert, eating. But I’m very distracted worrying about her and can’t work. I called the amazing managing editor for the book I’m tech-editing right now and told her what’s going on, and she gave me the blessing to stay away from the computer unless there’s an editorial emergency (she’ll call)…

So, I’m cleaning. I’ve opened the doors and windows–it’s 60 degrees here today and sunny, and I’m starting with the basics of clearing up after the hurricane that hit the house while I was busy dealing with the dog yesterday.

Unfortunately, there’s sewer work happening in our neighborhood and our water is turned off, so I can’t do laundry, but there’s plenty more to keep me busy. Is it time to bring out the warm-weather clothes? I’d like to think so, but last week, after an 80-degree day, we had snow. Maybe I’ll just take my chances.

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spring, cleaning, callie, dog, keeshound

Vintage Fashion Expo 2007 SF
Originally uploaded by natzee.

Natalie got to go to the Vintage Fashion Expo in San Francisco this past weekend. This is what she bought–she has plenty more pictures on flickr of other amazing things she saw. So. Jealous. I’m already scheming about how to get out there for the next one in September.

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sewing, fashion, craft, fabric, buttons, vintage, craftmag, natalie zee

Sneak Peek
Originally uploaded by plainsight.

This is my latest project for Blue Sky Alpacas–a tunic vest with fun to knit darts in the front.

The neatest thing about this project? You knit the waist ribbing first–casting on with a provisional cast on, and then you knit the upper part of the vest, and when you’re done with that, pick up and knit the bottom.

I love provisional cast ons–not only are they super useful–they’re fast to do too. With this project, I like to cast on over a long circular cord from my Knit Picks set instead of waist yarn (It’s less floppy and the cast-on stitches don’t get so tight like they sometimes do with yarn), then, when I needed to knit down–no transferring stitches–just transfer needles onto the other cord and start knitting.

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knitting, pattern, fashion, alpaca, blue sky alpacas, darts, vest

When I’m tech-editing patterns, one of the things I need to do is figure out the exact amount of yarn needed to make a garment. It’s one of my favorite parts of the process because it seems a little bit like magic and involves some fun, easy math and my kitchen scale.

The first garment is easy. I weigh the knitted sample and divide the total number of grams by the number of skeins used. If you want to know meters v. weight, you can multiply that resulting number by the number of meters per skein.

The fun part comes when you’re figuring out yarn amounts for the other sizes. We all learned how to do this in junior high school algebra class, but until I needed the skill for crocheting I had lost it in the reaches of my brain.

You set up cross products by turning what you know into a fraction, i.e. take the bust measurement of the garment you have and make that the numerator (the top number). Take the total number of grams and make it the denominator (bottom number) like this

32
—
486

The other fraction uses the garment you’re trying to figure out the yarn amount for as the numerator and “x” as the denominator. We’ll find for “x”

38
—-
x

So the calculation looks like this:

 32         38---    =   ---486         x

Do you remember what to do next? Maybe this looks a little familiar and you just have to shake the cobwebs away for a moment.

1) Multiply 486 x 38. (18468)
2) Divide 18,468/32 (577.1)

Now you know you need 577.1 g of yarn for the 38″ garment.

3) Divide 577.1/50 (or however many grams are in each ball of yarn you’re using).

You’ll need 11.5 (or 12) balls of yarn (of course it wouldn’t hurt to buy 13 just in case your tension varies).

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knitting, pattern, crochet, yarn, math, cross products