The other night at our newly formed craft night, Emily mentioned the Knitting Daily new poetry contest. I remembered that I had been given one of those magnet sets at a trade show a couple of years ago. I dug it out, and decided to try a Haiku. This is what I came up with:

We’ve been having a great time at our Wednesday night craft sessions, trying out new things each time. I love that it’s crafting with no purpose–No deadlines, no recipient or even finished project in mind, we’re just exploring and experimenting. The first session was fusing plastic bags:

The following week, Emily taught us how to cut fabric from one large sheet (I used an old sheet and a pair of curtains I had gotten at the thrift store) into yarn by zig-zagging your cuts of layered fabric. Emily, a blogger who comes to these gatherings has a fabulous blog and has done a great job of writing about our craft nights. She gives a detailed post about making the fabric too.

Here’s our finished yarn. I haven’t crocheted anything with mine yet.

The next week, we had a few friends who wanted to learn to crochet. Lisa and Esther are great knitters, but they are new to crochet–at our last knitting group meeting I had taught them each to chain, and they were ready to move on. They both mastered single crochet at craft night, I’ve since taught Lisa double crochet and she’s ready to start a project.

That night, Heidi blazed through a scarf using a great variation on Turkish Stitch. Heidi knits in the “Eastern” method, meaning all her stitches are crossed. This works especially well for this particular lace stitch:

At our knitting group, several folks demanded she write down the pattern, and she asked me to “translate” it into pattern language. Hopefully she’ll correct me if I’ve gotten it wrong. Essentially, she cast on a multiple of 3 stitches plus 2 for the edges.

[ETA]: Heidi did send a correction in the comments, here it is: K1, *(yo, s1, k2tog-tbl) repeating from * across, end with k1. On the wrong side rows, the yarn over and the slipped stitch stitch are the k2tog-tbl from the row below.

Tanya is a vetran crocheter, she even had a crocheted hat line when she lived in Austin, TX. She made a coat for her daughter’s new webkin:

This past wednesday, we wanted to try making beads from pages of magazines. Again, Emily has the best photographic round-up of this one, I’ll have to lift one, with her permission to give you the idea, but you can get the whole scoop from Emily.

We haven’t yet chosen the next craft we want to attempt–but we’re liking doing things with recycled and repurposed materials.

Coming Soon…
Originally uploaded by plainsight

Here’s a lacy but warm scarf to be unveiled soon–just in time for spring. It’s crocheted in just one skein of Blue Sky Alpaca’s luxurious Royal–100% royal alpaca (which is super-soft, and finer than even baby alpaca).

In other crochet news–David, at A Yarnified Life has a great list of especially pointy hooks which he likes to use for surface crochet.

James and I fell in love with Bok Choy in Seattle–specifically at the Canton Wanton Noodle House in the International District. There you could order a big bowl of soup, which was basically boiling hot fish broth poured over raw veggies, sprouts, and cilantro, raw meat and freshly made buckwheat noodles (you could watch old ladies making the noodles through a window into the kitchen). The broth cooked everything perfectly while the soup cooled down to an edible temperature. I’ve been a vegetarian since 1996, so I stopped going to Canton Wanton, but James still likes to visit when he gets back to Seattle.

Recently, I was reminded how much calcium bok choy has so I’ve been trying to incorporate it into the menu at home. I was hopeful that Jay would eat it because he munched on three stalks raw before dinner, but once it was cooked he wasn’t interested. The rest of us, however, devoured the stir fry (so quickly, unfortunately, that I forgot to get a photo of the dish).

Bok Choy Stir Fry
(Serves 3)

2 T. Canola oil
2 med heads of baby bok choy, washed and roughly chopped
1 package chicken-style seitan, thinly sliced (you could easily substitute homemade)
1 T. soy sauce (we like Nama Shoyu–a live, cultured soy sauce)
1/2 c. water
1 T. corn starch

In a large skillet, warm oil over a medium flame and add bok choy. Sauté until wilted. Add seitan and stir. Add soy sauce. In a small glass, mix corn starch and water. Pour corn starch mixture into the pan, and stir until it thickens. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Serve over cooked brown rice.

IMG_5708
Originally uploaded by plainsight

Or that’s what Selma called it anyway. We love to make nachos and quesadillas, tacos or burritos, but we always end up with leftover refried beans and rice that goes bad in the fridge. This time, I was determined to use them up, so I decided to make a soup. It was really good and passed muster with everyone except Jay who only eats pizza, peanut butter and jelly or cereal. (Well, ok, he likes broccoli too).

Here’s the recipe:

1 can of refried beans (we used Eden brand refried kidney beans)
1/2 cup mild salsa (we used Muir Glen)
1 cup water
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (for a vegan version, sub 1/2 cup vegan sour cream)
1 cup cooked brown rice

Garnish: Avocado, lime, more grated cheese, tortilla chips

Warm beans and water and stir until smooth, add salsa and more water if necessary to get a consistency you like. Add rice and stir. Add cheese and heat until melted.

Serve with garnishes and chips.

Have a good weekend!

Crochet Today Vest
Originally uploaded by plainsight

The Springtime Shell on the current cover of Crochet Today has gotten lots of people asking me about linked stitches.

It’s easiest to think of linked stitches as a sort of “hybrid” stitch: a cross between Tunisian and conventional crochet. If you’ve ever tried Tunisian or Afghan crochet, the stitches may look a bit similar, even though they are formed one at a time.

Linked stitches have a couple of desirable properties–they create a more solid fabric than standard crochet stitches, and they create a slightly thinner fabric with more drape than the same gauge of standard stitch. (The nature of the fabric leads me to believe that we’re using a little less yarn with linked stitches as well).

To make a linked double crochet, you insert the hook into the horizontal center bar of the previous crochet stitch and pull up a loop, then, insert the hook into the next stitch of the row, and finish the double crochet normally. If you’re working the first linked dc of the row, you can link to the second chain of the turning ch-3.

Robyn Chachula has a great tutorial discussing linked trebles on the Crochet Me site.

As you can see in the pictures on Robyn’s tutorial, linked stitches have a definite right side and wrong side. in the Springtime Shell, I didn’t want the wrong side to show, so I worked the wrong side rows in single crochet and only the right side rows in linked doubles. Linked stitches are also great for working in the round like I did on this raglan sweater:

How have you used linked stitches?

Lots of you have been asking where you can get this pattern, so I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve collaborated with O-Wool, my yarn sponsor on this jacket, and I’ll be offering it for sale through my pattern line. If you click the button below, you’ll be taken to my Lulu storefront where you can buy and download the pattern.

The pattern ranges in size from a 32″ – 40″ chest, however, the nature of the sideways construction means that it’s easily customizable for width (bust size) and I give tips on doing that in the pattern.

Shellie and Michael Lackman at the Organic Clothing blog have a great run-down on the processing of Bamboo into fiber and fabric including lots of great details about the not-so-eco-friendly chemical process. The only thing missing from this article? Links or names of companies doing it right–either processing bamboo as linen, or using some of the newer less caustic methods (like modal) of making the yarn. Manufacturers rarely release information about their practices, but I think it would be in their best interests to be open if they are in fact using more eco-friendly processing.

Pagewood Farms Sock Yarn
Originally uploaded by plainsight

My mailbox is full of yarn these days–the latest shipment is from Pagewood Farm. It’s hand-dyed merino sock yarn, and lots of it too! Destined to become not socks, but a set of knitted accessories, hat, scarf, mini-bag. Stay tuned!

mona the camel
Originally uploaded by plainsight

On Valentine’s Day, I was heading back to Seattle from Friday Harbor and we finally got to see Mona, the local island camel (apparently a rescue from Ebay). Mona was an especially friendly camel–I normally wouldn’t get so close to any old camel as they are wont to spit or bite.

I have a special fondness for camels–as a kid I collected camels of all types–figurines, stuffed animals, jewelry. My Syrian grandmother, “Sitto” started my collection, and over the years I received camels as gifts and occasionally found some myself.

When I was accepted to Connecticut College, I found out that their mascot was also the camel, so I brought some of my collection with me to school.

Of course, these days I have more contact with camel cousins–bumping into llamas and alpacas at sheep and wool festivals and using their fibers in my crochet and knitting. Still, it was nice to have some “face time” with Mona. You can find more pictures of her on flickr.

Room with a view
Originally uploaded by plainsight

I’m far from home this week working with together with other fiber writers to discover and share our ideas about writing and producing knitting and crochet books. We’re in a beautiful setting in the San Juan Islands, and while we’re working quite intently, it’s wonderful to be able to stop and take in the surroundings.

Everyone in the group seems excited about and impressed with the new magazine Living Crafts–the second issue came out recently, and has some lovely pieces: an article by Clara Parkes about organic cotton yarn; an essay by Elizabeth Seward about spinning, and its place in modern life; as well as some spring projects for kids to enjoy and make including knitted bunnies, fluffy wool butterflies and knitted flower children.

I spoke with editor Pardis Amirshahi recently about the magazine and it’s focus. She has a very clear vision, and says, “Living Crafts is about classic crafts, things that have a long history and ought to be preserved.” Making things was a natural part of life in Pardis’ family growing up and that history serves as inspiration for the magazine. Pardis focuses on projects that can be made with and for children, and on crafts that involve natural materials.