Yesterday I was teaching at The Net Loft when I had one of those strange convergences whereby the need for something springy to wear (brought on by a bit of rainy weather) and the urge to crochet a quick project ended hitting me right as I walked past the cubby of Noro Silk Garden. (I swear, I didn’t plan this, I even had to buy a hook as I had only brought one with me for a lace project).

I didn’t mean to scowl, but it was cold and wet, and I’m not so good at the hasty self-portrait. This was before I blocked the scarf. It’s crocheted with a point at one end beginning with just one v-stitch and increasing in each row until I had 8 v-stitches. I then worked even putting in a keyhole (basically a buttonhole made by chaining and skipping stitches) after a few rows. Then I continued to work even in v-stitches until the scarf was about 36″ long. I finished the crocheting in about 2 hours, it was a nice change from the hard to see lace-mohair that I’ve been working on.

After about 3 inches of work on the little scarfette, my friend Becca had to put down the socks she was knitting and go get her own ball of Silk Garden to make a scarf too. So now there are two of these scarves in Cordova. (It takes a wee bit more than one ball to get the length and width I wanted, but you can get two scarves easily from three balls, so Becca plans to make one in the color I used yesterday and I’ll do likewise with her color).

I washed it last night in Unicorn Fibre Wash. I knew that Noro was pretty minimally processed (there were lots of twigs to be removed while I was crocheting), but I was still suprised at the amount of actual DIRT that came out while I soaked it. It’s much softer after blocking. I hard blocked it with pins, but I’m actually planning to wet it again and re-scrunch it a bit, because I like it’s rustic, scrunched up look better.

Selma was home from school today recovering from a stomach bug, and by evening she was feeling better and looking for something yummy to eat that wouldn’t be to hard to digest. She requested gingerbread, and this is what I came up with after reading quite a few recipes (looking for one that used only ingredients already in my pantry). I was inspired by a Blackstrap Gingerbread on Jennifer’s awesome Recipes from the Vegan Lunchbox, and adapted it to fit our tastes and available ingredients.  Jennifer likes her gingerbread with lemon sauce. I’m more traditional and serve it with applesauce (which is also good for ailing tummies).

Gingerbread

Preheat oven to 350F
Grease and flour an 8″ glass baking dish

DRY
1 3/4 c + 2T flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 T tapioca flour
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
2 t ground ginger
1 t cinnamon
1/8 t salt

WET
3/4 c unsulfured molasses
1/4 c honey
1/2 c canola oil
1 c hot water (I don’t know the science behind using hot water, but so many of the gingerbread recipes I read included it, that I’m using it too)

In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, stir together wet ingredients. Once oven is preheated, combine wet with dry and stir until smooth. Pour into prepared baking dish and bake 30-40 minutes or until done.

Enjoy with applesauce while still warm!

Congratulations to Betty Crowther and Juliann the winners of the Get Hooked book giveaway. I’ve e-mailed you both to get your addresses. Happy Monday!

May Day is just around the corner. It’s also Fair Use in Art and Craft Day. In honor of both, I’m giving away two copies of Get Hooked: Simple Steps to Crochet Cool Stuff by Kim Werker. It’s a fun beginning crochet book with big, clear photographic instructions and cute portable projects. It’s aimed at teen/tween girls. I often find the best how-to books are often aimed at kids, the type is big and the instructions are very clear. To be eligible for the book giveaway, just leave a comment telling about a craft project you’re currently working on or have made in the past that was inspired by or somehow used and transformed someone else’s art or craft. Bonus points for linking to pictures!

I’m still working on that little mystery project. And yes, it was inspired by another, if unlikely piece of crochet: the Stepping Stones cardigan by Kristin Omdahl in the Fall ’08 issue of Interweave Crochet. I’ve been intrigued since the pattern was published with how Kristin put all of the increases for the sweater at the start of the garment, and that’s the technique I’m playing with in my current piece.

I did finish the baby sweater last night. I even wove in the ends. I haven’t *cough* written the pattern yet, but that will happen before the weekend is over. But it was pretty early in the evening when I finished so I allowed mysek to start playing with the reward yarn. I began with the Kid Merino. I chose a pretty large hook (3.5mm) given the thinness of the laceweight strand, and I began the project I had in mind in a rather conventional way. But I was foiled, it wasn’t working: neither the way the colors were appearing nor the stitches. I ripped after a few rows and began again, more intuitively, and this is the result so far:

It looks nothing (I expect) like what the finished project will be, but I thought it might entice to you to venture another guess. Want to try?

I feel like there are two kinds of yarn acquisitions–for the yarn and for the project, right? The other day, I just *had* to buy some Hazel Knits DK because, well, it was gorgeous and I hadn’t ever tried it before. It’s sitting in the yarn basket on my desk in my studio making me happy every time I look at it. I don’t have a plan for it though.

But when this yarn came in the mail, I immediately had an idea for it. When I finish the baby sweater I’m working on now, this yarn will be my reward.

On the right is Panda Silk DK from Crystal Palace, I had been expecting it, I’ve tried the fingering weight before, and I was looking forward to trying the DK. It came with a little surprise, the Kid Merino in the same colorway. As soon as I saw the pair I knew what it had to become. Can you guess?

As promised, here’s the Boston Cream Pie. This recipe is an adaptation and amalgam of a few different recipes. I was working on a New-England themed meal, and got the idea for Boston Cream Pie–but I don’t really like conventional Boston Cream Pie–it’s heavy and isn’t chocolaty enough for my tastes. So this is a chocolate cake version. The cake is adapted from The Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts, and the filling and ganache are inspired by recipes I was browsing on Vegweb. I love Vegweb because you don’t only get to read a recipe, but you also can read about people’s adaptations and find out what people think works and what doesn’t.

Boston Cream Pie
This recipe takes a bit of advance planning–the cake has to cool completely before it’s filled and frosted, but you can make the cake and the filling the day before you plan to serve if you’d like.

Cake
Requires one 9″ round cake pan, sprayed with oil and lined with parchment. Preheat oven to 375F.

DRY
1 1/2 c flour
1/3 c natural (not dutch processed) cocoa powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c sugar

WET
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 c water
1 T vanilla extract

LEAVENING MAGIC
2 T Apple Cider Vinegar

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients and stir into dry. Beat batter until smooth. When oven is preheated and pan is prepared, stir apple cider vinegar into batter. Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake. Allow the cake to cool for 5-10 minutes on the pan, then invert onto a cooling rack, and cool completely.

Filling
While the cake is cooking, you can make the vanilla pudding filling.

In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 c sugar, 1 1/2 T cornstarch. Add 1 c soy milk and 2 1/2 t vanilla ,1/8 t salt. Set flame to medium and stir constantly until pudding thickens and boils. Allow to bubble for 2-3 minutes before removing from heat. Pour the pudding into a shallow bowl and place plastic wrap directly on top of the pudding to prevent a “skin” from forming. Cool the pudding in the refrigerator.

Ganache
Make the ganache just before frosting the cake. It shouldn’t sit around as it will start to firm up as it cools.
1 10 oz bag chocolate chips (I like Tropical Source)
1 c (!!, well it is dessert) non-hydrogenated margarine (I use Earth Balance)

Put chips and margarine in a glass bowl, and microwave for 2-3 minutes until chips are melted. Stir to combine.

Assembly
When the cake is cool, use a sharp bread knife and split the cake horizontally (into two thinner cakes) Set the top layer aside. Spoon the chilled filling onto the bottom layer, then carefully replace the top layer. Make the ganache, then pour it over the cake. Chill the cake until the ganache has firmed. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

So here I am blogging instead of finishing up the remnants of dishes from the book club I hosted yesterday. (More on that, and my boston cream pie in my next post).

On Saturday night I got to go to a charity event here in town called Dressed to Kill, this year, raising money for our local community center. It is a women-only party. The theme of the year was Wig Out, to be interpreted as you like. I knew I wanted to do something with wool (big surprise) and I dug in my fiber stash to find some suitable materials. I was lucky to find a hand-dyed “fiber puff” from Pagewood Farm. This puff was perfect because it had wool and mohair, locks and combed and included bits of nylon sparkle as well. It would have made a very nice yarn.

To begin with, I crocheted a little mesh cap that would serve as the base of the wig.

Then I began adding the fiber, by just poking bits through the holes.

The inside of the wig was beginning to look like thrummed mittens. I think that if the wig got any substantial amount of wear it would probably felt  on the inside. Not leaving anything to chance, I went at it with a felting needle to give it a bit of stability.

And that was it. I attached it to my head with bobby pins, and added a bit of hair spray for good measure.

The party was tons of fun, there was dancing, good music, fancy wig-themed drinks and lots of great getups. One of my favorites was Mary, who made her wig from feather boas.

Yes, that really is a wolf-skin. (Guys weren’t allowed at the party until 11pm and could only enter if they were wearing wigs as well).

I loved the candy head-pieces made from chicklets and lolly pops that served as centerpieces.

You can see all my pictures on flickr, Kristy’s are good too. On facebook, Mary has some fun ones.

by art makes me smile

Are you working on any transformative works? If so, please consider showing them off on Fair Use in Art and Craft Day, May 1st.  When you’ve got something to show, post it to your blog, to facebook, and too our flickr group. Meanwhile, you can read a little bit about what inspired the celebration.

If you’re looking for inspiration, you might want to visit Creative Commons. Creative commons is an organization that has created licensing options for authors, artists, crafters, makers, etc. that go beyond simple copyright to allow specified forms of creative reuse. You can read a lot about what the licenses are on the site, and you can learn how to apply them to your own work. Also, there’s a great search engine on the web site that allows you to search for other works that have been licensed to specifically allow your use of them in your own work. The engine searches Flickr, blip.tv, google, yahoo and music sites. (Some other web sites, like flickr allow you to specify various Creative Commons licenses when using their internal search engines.)

I’ve been caught up with a bunch of little projects and haven’t worked on any specifically transformative works…yet…but I’m still musing on it, and expect to have something to show on May 1st. Today, however, I transformed some sparkly roving from Pagewood Farm into a hairpiece for a wig-themed party I’m going to tonight. Pictures to come, certainly.

The new e-book from Straight from Today’s Designers has just been released and I have a pattern in it. The book is Strapped for Bags, Volume 3. This e-book has 7 designs from some of your favorite designers including Doris Chan, Marty Miller and Vashti Braha, and it’s a bargain at $10.00. It comes in a tidy little PDF that allows you to print out only the pattern you’re working on at the time and is full of color pictures and clear instructions.

The series is a collaborative effort. We all edit one anothers’ designs and Amie Hirties who is a graphic designer extraordinaire (in addition to being a super crochet designer) designed the books.

I designed this bag with a crocheter in mind. It’s large enough to hold a medium-sized project-in-progress and the bag stands open when the closure is undone so you can leave yarn inside and work out of it. The bottom is a sturdy single crochet-rib, and the straps and draw-string closure are done in one piece so the bag is automatically adjustable to any sized wearer. Sling it over one shoulder or two, you’ll find it easy to carry and fun to make and use.

Oh, and in the spirit of Havi, who likes to share when her computers have a mind of their own, here’s what flickr came up with when I was searching for the pictures of the backpack:

That was Jay, aged 18 months in his backpack. Of course, at 4 1/2 (gasp!) he no longer rides in anything, which is at once more and less convenient as I’ve been thinking of how to retrieve him from school by bicycle. It must be time to train him to ride the trail-a-bike!