Why I Crochet: The Beginning

Perhaps this series is a bit self-indulgent, but I have decided to write several posts about how I learned to crochet and why I love it so much.  I can't really remember when I learned to crochet exactly.  I remember when I was a child that my mother occasionally crocheted potholders or blanket squares.  She was very busy with other things and preferred counted cross stitch to crochet, but I do remember being fascinated by the crochet. I know that my mother taught me some of the basics at my request at least two or three times.  I may have made a potholder or two but I honestly don't remember much.

Sometime while I was at university, I picked crochet up again.  I had been living with my parents to save money and wanted to make some cheap but special Christmas gifts.  I made 5 scarfs between November and Christmas that year.  I think this is when the bug bit me,  but the obsession hadn't really started yet.  I was too busy with with school, work, and World of Warcraft to really immerse myself in a new hobby, but it began to sneak into my life.  When crochet I saw beautiful things either on the internet or in stores, I began to imagine recreating them in crochet.  I also began to think about construction of things. I am certain that I began to dabble in crochet but again I don't really remember.  Store made winter garments had begun to lose appeal.  However, the region I lived in had relatively mild winters and I never got around to making any myself.

After I married and moved to Canada,  I found myself with a great deal of time to myself and I began to immerse myself in crochet. Before long it was my greatest obsession.
I hope that you find this reflection interesting and join me as I continue it next Monday.

FO Friday--Except it's Saturday

I haven't written a finished object post in a while and I find myself dithering between the thought that I have nothing worth sharing and far too much that I have finished in the last six months for a single post.  Both ideas are true and false at the same time --most things its a matter of perspective.  Consulting both my brain and my Ravelry notebook I know that I have finished at least a dozen projects since October. Some of them I have forgotten to photograph and some of them have fairly poor photographs, and a  few of them are part of larger projects that require more explanation than I wanted to write today.  My mind works like this often, I see the twists and turns and cracks in the earth and yet completely miss the footpath to my intended destination.   I think I will just share a few of my favorite things I finished in the last little while.

A lovely simple granny pillow that lives on my couch

My first hand-spun knit into a swath and sewn to a little pillow that makes me smile

My first hand-spun made over the winter holidays on the spindle my mother gave me for Christmas

My husband with his dragon hat I made him for Christmas.  My first real effort at tapestry crochet.

My Vampire scarf being modeled before sending it off to my sister.

Vampire scarf again

A blanket square made up with a few Tunisian stitches.  Also my first effort at Tunisian crochet.

A pair of knitted slippers made for a valentines day swap.  My second attempt at knitted cables.

Two new elephant hat samples.  The one on the right was finished last spring and the one on the left a few days ago

Another blanket square for Blankets for Canada.

The most frustrating crocheted socks that I finished for my husband's Grandfather's Christmas present at the end of January and still need to deliver.

This is made up with the pattern Lark by Stacey Trock.  We call him Confundus and he has taken to sitting on the corner of Pat's Computer.

I know there have been a few other projects but I think this is enough to give you and idea of what I've been making.  They are not in chronological order but I hope you enjoy them.   I hope you drop by Tami's amis to see what others have been up to this week.

National Crochet Month

March is National Crochet Month!  March is also my birth month, and I have been wanting to get things here on my blog going again.  I had been thinking the first day of March would be a good day to kick things off again.  
I have been taking a full time french course with a number of other immigrants.  It has been a wonderful experience.  I have learned a lot and made some fantastic friends, but it has also has been exhausting.  I have also not been feeling well this past six months or so, and so it has been difficult to find the denergy to work on my blog and designing.
Last March Stacey Trock of FreshStitches hosted a Knit and Crochet Design Week and I participated creating a an Elephant baby hat.

 I had intended to finish and publish the pattern for this hat and open a shop last spring and life got in the way.  Since then I have finished 2 new samples I am much happier with and have more notes to work with.  One of my goals for this month is to finish the pattern and get it tested by a few more people.  I think I will end up making at least one more sample while writing as that seems to be the way I think best.

I would like also to take a post or two to talk about what crochet and subsequently knitting and fiber have added to my life.  Crocheting has helped me through some difficult times and has become a way that I express my love and affection for others.  It is also one of my favorite creative outlets and often brings me a pure quiet joy.  I would like to take some time to write more about these thought both for myself and for the wider world.

I am working on a couple of large projects that I haven't shared that would be perfect to  talk about during this month and will probably have at least two more small patterns finished this month.

I know most of you don't know me well yet and I have been out of touch with the blogging world for a while but if you have ideas for things you would like to hear about in the next month especially those things concerning crochet.  I would love to hear your ideas.  

Weeknight Dinner: Sauted Liver and Broccoli Pesto Pasta

Sauteed Liver and Broccoli Pesto Pasta

 This is a dinner of loves and hates.  I love liver.  I hate broccoli.  I love cooking, but I hate cleaning up.  I love blogging, but I hate taking, uploading, and editing pictures.  So you get a little of both worlds a little liver, a lot of broccoli, an easy meal with not too much clean up, and a blog post with only one picture.  :D

Maybe you're the opposite of me you love broccoli but you hate liver.Liver has a bad rap.  Maybe you tried it once as a kid and it was gross dry and weirdly pasty with a texture like eating glue.  Here's the thing liver is delicious--if you follow two simple rules: one, marinate; and two don't over cook it.  Liver should still be slightly pink inside when you serve it.  The liver here is prepared in simple marinade of store bought dressing.  

As for the broccoli, I followed a recipe I found over at the Smitten Kitchen,  with only a few minor tweaks.   I used mozzarella cheese instead of parmesan because that's what I had on hand, milk instead of cream for the same reason, and I added more garlic and a pinch of red pepper for flavoring.

So give liver a shot and enjoy a simple meal.

Pork Liver marinated in Italian dressing

1/4 cup Italian dressing  ( I used two different kinds to use up the last of both bottles)

1/2 lb Fresh Pork liver

1 tsp olive oil

Rinse the liver and pat it dry place it in a shallow bowl or dish.  Pour the dressing over the liver and use a spoon to make sure each piece is coated.  Set aside for 20 mins.  Use this time to prepare your broccoli pasta.

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium low heat. Add oil and coat pan.  Add the liver and cook for 2-3 mins on each side or until the center is slightly pink.

I'm back!

Well after a long unplanned sabbatical,  I'm back.  Sorry for dropping off the face of the Earth.

I thought I'd jump right into the thick of things with a WIP Wednesday.  I bough this yarn earlier this summer from a Craftsy deal.

Nashua Handknits Summer Gardens

When I saw this yarn I knew it would become something for my sister Mel.  You see, I grew up in a very conservative household. We went to church on Sundays, and Wednesdays and often Saturdays, Tuesdays or Thursdays as well. We watched G and occasionally PG rated movies, we didn't have television, and the first tie I wore a tank top was in college.  So when my oldest sister started reading Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, my parents were, of course, quite horrified.   They tried to ban the books which as any person who's ever been teenager knows is much easier said than done.  I never read The Vampire Chronicles,  but Mel and I do share a love of a vampires (and other supernatural beings).  This is all a very long way to tell you that I knew that the lovely reds, and purples and almost blacks in this yarn made me think of all things vampire and gothic.

So here is my V is for Vampire Shawlette.  

This is my first attempt at knitting anything remotely cabled or lacy.  So although both the cables and the lace are fairly simple I am exceptionally proud of what I've managed to do so far.  Now that I have started on the second side I am pretty sure I did the decreases completely hay wire wrong on the first side.  I am planning to tear back and redo the whole first side after I finish the second side. It's weird though because I am feeling remarkably zen about the whole ripping out half a shawl thing.  Though I really hope I can get faster at knitting--that's the only complaint I have about knitting its terribly slow.

Drop by Tamis Amis, What you doing Wednesday, and Frontier Dreams  to see other great works in progress.  Have a Happy Wednesday!

Little Victories

I think successful lives are made up of lots of little victories.  Major victories are rare and sometimes fall flat of our expectations, but minor victories are always there.   Different things constitute as victories for different people on different days but, what matters is that we keep fighting our dragons.
Today was a good day for me and I needed a way to remember it--so on another day when it seems like it takes all my effort just to get out of bed I can remember my little victories.
Today despite anxieties and people phobia trying to get the best of me I managed to:

• Call and change my dentist appointment
• Ride several buses alone 
• Renew my bus pass
• Go to Service Canada and get my permanent SIN
• Swim at the Sports center
• Plus I managed to swim 3.5 times as many laps as my previous best number of laps before I was too out of breath to swim laps.

So how about you?  What dragons have you managed to conquer/evade today?  I would love to hear about any victories large or small that you might have had recently.

Tutorial: How to make your own wooden Buttons:

For the past few weeks I have been having fun making wooden buttons.  I thought I would share these lovelies and how to make them with you.

Equipment:
Jigsaw or Hand saw with a thin blade
Dremel with coarse and fine sanding drums/ or coarse and sand paper for sanding by hand
1/16 inch drill bit for dremel ( or drill and 1/16th inch bit)
Paintbrushes
Materials:
Long straight stick or dowel --mine is about 1 3/4" in diameter
Paint
Polyurethane or Sealing





Step 1: Slice your stick or dowel into disks. Mine are a little more than 1/8" thick.

Step 2:  Drill holes

Step 3:  Smooth and shape the disks using Sand paper or dremel with sanding drums.  I recommend wearing safety goggles and a dust mask while working with the dremel as it throws a lot of dust in your face.  Start with the coarse sand drums and smooth the surface of the buttons.  Then while holding the button in you hand rotate it slowly as you sand the edges into the desired shape. I mostly held my dremel at a slight angle to the disks to make a slightly beveled edge. If you want to keep the bark on your buttons be very careful while shaping the edges or you will sand or break it right off.  One the button is the right basic shape you will want to switch to the fine sand paper/drum and sand it until it feels silky smooth in your hands.

Step 4:  Clean up the dust from your work are and wipe off the buttons.

Step 5:  Painting and staining---This is the fun part.  You can pretty much do anything you want to the buttons now.  I painted most of mine but I used a little used vegetable oil to give a light stain to a few and I have use wood stain on buttons I have previously made.

Step 6:  Seal your buttons.  You can either spray your buttons with a clear sealant or brush them with polyurethane.  (I forgot to take pics of this step sorry)