Last night when Selma asked to watch some TV I suggested that she might instead want to choose something out of her craft basket and finish it up. She found this punch-needle embroidery project that she had started during a summer class with Dottie at our local yarn store, The Net Loft. I love the colors she chose and the light shooting out from behind the mountain. Selma calls it “Magic Mountain,” and it is a little peak that she can see from her bedroom window. Right now Magic Mountain is completely snow covered.

Speaking of embroidery–Selma and I are excited because The Net Loft just got in some amazing hand-dyed thread from Romania. It comes in little three-strand balls intstead of skeins and you work right off of them–there are several weights some of which would be great for crochet.

Thank you everyone for your readership, for your support, for sharing your creative ideas in the comments on the blog. I wish you a colorful and happy Thanksgiving.

If you had asked me a year ago, I never would have guessed that my most-used handmade item would be my tea cozy, but it is! I make a big pot of tea each morning and my cozy keeps it warm for a long time. I’ve finally uploaded the pattern, so you can make one too.

Sombrero Tea Cozy on Flickr.

buy the pattern

Here’s a version my friend Deneen crocheted for her tiny 1-cup tea pot (just a coincidence we used the same colorway?)

A student from my beginning crochet course made the sides longer and uses it for her coffee press. What handmade items do you use every day?

This week I promised myself I’d get a jump on using the week’s veggies before they became less appealing in the fridge. I made chili earlier in the week with some of them, and today, I was craving stew–like a hearty thick stew someone might be making if they eat beef, which I don’t. I’m bringing the result to a potluck this afternoon (yes, they do have  a lot of potlucks around here!) and so I don’t forget what I did, I’ll share the recipe with you.

Ingredients

1 medium onion, diced
4 medium carrots, diced
1 small bunch of celery, diced including tops
1 medium sweet potato peeled and diced
3 golden beets, peeled and diced
(Here you could substitute any squashy or potato-y thing for the sweet potatoes and beets)
1 cup wild rice (I used a wild rice blend)
1 cup butler foods soy curls re-hydrated with 2 cups warm water (You could substitute 2 cups of seitan or a can of your favorite kind of beans)
3 T olive oil
1/2 cup flour
3 cubes bullion
1 cup red wine (I used a syrah)
2 t fresh thyme leaves (dry would work fine too)
2 qts water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Sauté onion in olive oil for 5 minutes. Add carrots, and celery, and thyme and continue cooking for another 10. Add sweet potatoes and beets. Add flour let the flour brown for 2-3 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the red wine. Add water and bullion. Add rice and simmer until rice is cooked. Add soy curls. Continue cooking until veggies are soft. Season to taste with salt, pepper and more wine as needed.

The new Twist Collective is out. I’m so excited because I’ve been sitting on this little secret since June, and I was losing the ability to keep it to myself: Twist has Crochet! When I met Twist Collective’s Kate Gilbert and Julia Farwell Clay this summer the first thing I thought was “wow.” They were getting ready to launch the first issue of their new magazine and they really had it all together with a fabulous presentation for advertisers and contributors alike. They were passionate about the new publishing model they had constructed and l was pleased when the first issue launched that it looked like they were meeting with success. Of course, when we got to talking, I immediately started asking them about crochet in Twist, and they both were interested and open to giving it a try. We talked about starting with a project that would be accessible and appealing to their mostly knitter audiance. The Elissa Hat and Scarf is made with sock yarn (wonderful squishy sock yarn from Pagewood Farm ). The stitch pattern is simple and fun to learn and easy to memorize. The pattern is being made available free until February 2009.

James grabbed this shot right before I sent the set off back in August. One of the wonderful things about working with Twist, is unlike other publications, I’ll get it back, eventually!

The whole winter issue is full of glorious patterns. I love the felted Heroine coat by Jennifer Lippman Bruno, and the collar and herringbone pattern on Stormsvale by Robin Melanson is dramatic and inspiring. The Gytha hooded pullover looks so wearable and fun to knit; and the I love the patterning of the Postwar Mittens.

I also wrote a short article for the issue, kind or an open letter to knitters who have yet to pick up the hook. (Thanks to the members of SSK for being the inspiration for my article opener!) For most of you dear blog readers, the article is preaching to the converted, but the sentiment, that you need to approach any new skill with a beginners mind and heart (watch a kid learn something new–they are ready for multiple failed attempts before eventual success) has helped me when I need to learn new things, like my recent dip into the waters of spinning.

This is Kris Kokborg. She’s one of the intrepid citizens of Cordova who does just about everything. She participated in the Mushroom Dying workshop I took. She heads the 4H Summer Music camp. She knits and spins and dyes her own yarn. In fact she recently spun, then knit then copper-dyed a sweater for her husband Eric.

On Saturday, Cordova Arts and Pageants, an organization that brings performers and artists to town for concerts and workshops held a Wearable Art Show as a fundraiser. I recently volunteered to help them out, and I offered to MC the event in a not so subtle attempt to get out of making a piece for the show. The theme of the show was recycled materials. There were some amazing entries, from a Warhol-inspired campbell soup-can dress to a recycled full-metal bikini.  Since this is a fiber blog, let’s focus on Kris’s knitted ensemble.

The entire outfit is made from reclaimed grocery sacks. The skirt is knitted in strips and sewn together. Kris had been chatting with me about the outfit and asking if I had any ideas for the bodice. I mentioned the idea of fusing the bags, and she ran with it, looking up instructions on the internet, she created the top with a quilt-inspired design and then punched holes around the arm opening, picked up stitches with more plastic bag yarn and knit down for the cap sleeves. There’s fishermen’s lead line strung through the bottom of the skirt to give it shape and stretch it out a bit. The hat is crocheted, and she’s wearing an old piece of net as a shawl. You can see other entries and all my photos from the event on flickr.

Also last week, my girl scout troop learned to sew. They made hats out of polar fleece sewing up one seam, creating a drawstring top and sewing buttons onto the brim. Everyone finished the project, and they seemed quite pleased with themselves.

I’ve been feeling a bit neglectful of blogs lately, both in posting and in reading because my attention has been drawn more to other online sources of information such as twitter, facebook, flickr, etc. Especially Twitter–the instantaneous nature and the short amount of time that Twitter takes to use has made it especially appealing lately. To that end, I’ve been procrastinating today trolling for ways to effectively collect all of my online activity. I haven’t found any ideal solutions, but I have created a “friendfeed,” so all my online activities are captured in one place and so I can follow other online friends. If you visit my actual blog page, you can see my feed in the sidebar; if you use an RSS reader, you can go to my feed page.

I have nine teddy bear garments to crochet between now and the end of November, so I’d better get back to it.

Pearl is ready for her close-up, but I have a feeling the news media might have other things to cover today. Nonetheless, my new book, Knits for Bears to Wear is officially released today. (A friend of my mom’s in upstate New York even confirmed a sighting in the wilid). Pearl did insist that I clean up the mess in my studio just in case a rogue reporter mistakenly stumbled on over to Cordova. I am excited about the book launch–we’ll be having a party to celebrate at my local yarn shop, The Net Loft on November 19th.

The book has over 20 outfits for soft toys–that’s right, they don’t have to be for bears. The patterns can fit bears, American Girl Dolls, and any soft toy. Each pattern can be easily customized to exactly fit your toy with a simple little “customizing sidebar” we built into each pattern. You do a couple of easy calculations, and you’re ready to knit!

I also, can finally tell you that I’ve been asked to do a sequel to Knits for Bears. A yet-to-be-titled Crochet for Bears book will be out in spring of 2010. I’m working on it now, and without the wonderful group of sample knitters I had helping me with Knits for Bears, it is a little more challenging, but I’m delighted to be designing on a small scale again–it’s a process that allows for creativity in ways that human garments do not.

OK, back to my regularly scheduled obsessive watching of the election results!

Last night we had a pumpkin carving party and a few families gathered to eat chili and pumpkin bread, and pear apple cake and carve pumpkins. I loved that most of the kids were old enough to carve their own. (I never did this as a kid as the tools my dad used were huge knives–I love the new pumpkin carving saws.) My friend Kristy took pictures.

A couple of nights ago, I got a call from Kristy when I was already reading in bed saying “The aurora is out!” We were lucky enough to get a great view from my back yard, but photographing it was really hard for a novice like me. I got one shot that I liked because you can sort of see the big dipper above the northern lights.

I have been crocheting a bit even though this past week has been mostly taken up by making costumes and other halloween activities–I’m working on a design for a new magazine, and I’ve been planning for a new big project that I’ll talk about next week.

Wow–I just realized this is the FOURTH Halloween that I’ve been blogging, so I have a bit of goolish content on the blog that it might be nice to revisit.

In 2005, my first year with the blog, I made a crocheted Halloween Treat Bag for a class. You can get the bag on my Ravelry store, but this week only, I’ll e-mail it for free to anyone who leaves me a comment on this post requesting the pattern.

In 2006 we carved a “knit-witch” pumpkin:

Speaking of which–I’m hosting a pumpkin-carving party later this week, and we’re contemplating making our own apple cider I’ll take pictures and report here if we do.

Ghoulish Snacks: Make this easy Halloween snack that jay brought home from preschool last year:

Bake and decorate Halloween Gingerbread Cookies with my recipe from last fall:

And of course, there’s Selma’s Hermione Tie which I made just this weekend:

What are you making this year?

Selma decided to be Hermione Granger for Halloween, and we’ve been collecting supplies: my mom sent my brother’s graduation gown which I will alter for her robe, she’s selected a chopstick for a wand, and asked me to knit her a tie. She chose the yarn: Lamb’s Pride worsted for warmth because she thought the tie would make a nice scarf after Halloween.

The knitting was simple enough. Truthfully, as James is underway, we had the most trouble tying it: “Selma, hold still!” I grumbled, while trying to read online instructions and tie at the same time. I think with a little more practice, I can get a neater knot.

Here’s how I made the tie, in case you’re trying to dress a little wizard this season as well. (The pattern is a quick write-up of my notes and tested only by me, so let me know if you see anything strange.)

Materials
Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted in Color A (CA): Raspberry #M-83 and Color B (CB): Sunburst Gold #M-14 (less than one skein of each)
US Size 8 needles
4.5 mm crochet hook
1 stitch marker

Wide Point
With CA, CO 3 stitches
Row 1: K1, yo, pm,  k1,  yo, k1
Row 2: knit
Row 3: knit to marker, yo, sm, k1, yo, knit to end
Repeat rows 2 & 3 until you have 13 stitches

Begin Color Changes
Pick up CB
Row 1: knit to 2 bef marker, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k2tog, knit to end
Row 2: knit
Rows 3-6: Change to CA, work rows 1-2 two times.

Work color change rows 1-6 until tie measures 13 1/2 inches

Tie Decreases
Continuing to work lace pattern and color changes, over the next 6 rows, dec 1 st at each edge on RS rows  until only 7 sts rem.

Work even until tie measures 53 inches. End with CA.

Ending Point
Continuing to work center eyelet pattern, dec 1 st at each edge on RS rows until only 3 sts rem. Final row: k3tog. Do not fasten off.

Edging and Finishing
Pick up final stitch with 4.5mm crochet hook, and with RS facing, sc evenly around all edges of the tie, join edging round with a sl st. Fasten off. Weave in ends. Block gently so tie lays flat.