Smells like spring

First of all, to all that celebrate, Happy Easter!

Today is just gorgeous out. I've been up since 9ish sitting in my porch enjoying the view. The place we live in has a huge back yard with a small river running in the back. There are trees everywhere and they are starting to bud. All I can hear all day is the water running and the birds singing. The spring smells wonderful. The smell of new life. You really can't beat this.

Last night I tried to get my sewing done but the machine is going excessively slow. I'll have to figure it out. It may just need oil. I'll have to pick some up this week. From where? I don't know. What I did finish was my hair barrettes. They are adorable knit bows. I plan to make more in the near future. Below is a basic photo of how they came out.



Now we are getting ready to head to the boy's mother's house. It will be a nice day to hang with family. The nephews are big enough to enjoy the holiday so I'm sure they will have sugar coursing through their veins as they hunt for eggs. Enjoy your time whether it's with family or in your garden. Today would have been perfect but oh well. There are more days of spring to enjoy. Mmmmm....spring.

A Stitch in Time update

Last week was a week to dance. Why you ask? Well you know that little spot on the internet where I can sell my adorable knit items? I made my first sale through it! I had to say goodbye to my little monster wallet and ship it out to be enjoyed.

Also during this week, the guild I am part of was promoting me like crazy. The Stalkers Guild is pretty awesome. They made my stats climb faster every day as they shared my goods with everyone through Facebook, their blogs, Twitter, and many other venues. Thank you to my fellow guild members!!

I also added a new item to the shop. I added an adorable octopus pin cushion. 

I’ve already sold one to a friend so I quickly knit up 2 more. They just need some buttons, to be put together, and then photographed. I have so many ideas for store items. It’s exciting! Some to expect are hair barrettes, new mug cozies, and maybe different pin cushions. Nothing like a sale to really boost your enthusiasm.

I ended my great week with a post Thanksgiving feast with my dear friends in CT. We had lots of food, some yummy libations, crafting fun, and many laughs. They really are an awesome group. The ones that couldn’t make it were sorely missed. *hugs*

Now off to some English muffin pizzas for dinner :)

Going natural, one step at a time

I was a tired kid after 2 hours of league practice and then one hour of Mob time. <3 But I still managed to be productive when I got home. After doing some of the dishes (there was a lot) I got ready to try out some natural stuff.

First I had to make another batch of toothpaste. I need to have pretty teeth of course. I love how it whips up so fast. The recipe is here in a previous post: Better than Martha. After that I decided I needed to try out a new recipe in hair care.

For body wash and shampoo I picked up some Dr. Bronner's Peppermint castile soap. It's so refreshing to have the scent fill the whole shower. I pretty much love it. But for conditioner I found an interesting recipe on this site here. As conditioner I now used an apple cider vinegar rinse.

I tried it out last night and it's great. My hair felt practically as good as when you use the chemically stuff from the store. Plus it's a million times cheaper. Well I now know what my conditioner will be from now on. Oh and in case you were wondering the vinegar smell goes away after your hair dries. I just need a better container for it. I was thinking of getting one of those plastic vinegar squeeze bottles to make it easier to apply. Seriously guys. I recommend this. The site says it helps with some dandruff. We'll see how that goes in the winter.

A couple more chemicals knocked out of my everyday life. :)

Mmm pickles...

If you live in RI then you may have eaten at Gregg's Restaurant. If you have eaten there then you may love their pickles. I know I do. When I'd eat there we'd go through multiple dishes of pickles. They were soooo good. What is really cool is that Gregg's actually posted the recipe in the Providence Journal. I got the recipe years ago and only just this year tried to make them. I have to say, it is so easy and quick. The best part is, you only have to wait 7 days for them to be ready. Win!

It's really just a matter of washing and slicing the cucumbers, mixing the ingredients, and packing them in. I went to the local farm for my pickling cucumbers. I was happy to find them there. Now I know where to get some good local ones to continue my new obsession. This batch came out great!

Half-Sour Pickles
Aka: Greggs pickles

Washed pickling size cucumbers, cut into spears or 1/4-inch slices

1 ½ tablespoons pickling salt

1 ½ teaspoons pickling spices (I found mine at the supermarket.)

¼ teaspoon hot pepper seed or flaked red pepper

8 small gloves garlic

1 half-gallon glass jar with cover (I split mine amongst 4 pint jars)

Fill jars with washed cucumbers. Pack them in tightly. Mix salt, garlic, pickling spices and pepper in a bowl with about 2 cups of hot water; stir until the salt is dissolved. Add some cold water until the liquid feels comfortable to the touch, not hot. Add to the cucumbers. Add more water (warm) if necessary to fill the jar. Let stand on counter, loosely covered, for about 1 hour. After 1 hour cover tightly and refrigerate for 7 days. Taste on the 7^th day.

Crafts abound

I love being creative. I love making things for me and I love making things for other people who truly appreciate the work. It feels good.

For me first. I was a turtle for one very amusing derby evening. If your friends with me on facebook, or were present at the event, you saw the chaos that happened. It was a great party, but that always seems to be the case with PRD.

For the shell, I found a cheap round pillow and some green fabric. I handsewed the fabric around the shell in a way that formed the ridge found on a turtle shell. Afterwards, I painted the outline of the plates on the shell. I made them too small the first time so I actually had to sew on another piece of fabric before repainting. Darn fabric paint just doesn't come off easily. Oh well. The second time came out great. I sewed on straps to make it fit like a backpack. After that I power knit a hat in about three hours. I finished with time to spare. It's great as a pillow, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it into a real backpack. =)

 As for knit items for other people, I've been working on store inventory. And by store I mean I opened an Artfire shop finally! I really like the site. I'm probably going to go pro soon. It's A stitch in time of course. Took me long enough. The banner is still a work in progress but it suits me for now. The knitting is more important. Below is a sneak peek at the next two items.

and

I added the details by needle felting wool on. The yellow guy is going to be a case of some sort. I'm so excited to continue him because now I have a SEWING MACHINE! Thursday night I met up with Joni and Vicky for a craft night. Joni was awesome enough to pass on a working sewing machine to me. I had a blast with the ladies. We crafted to my first episodes of Dr. Who. "Blink and your dead!"

Ocean life and the undead

Over the 4th of July weekend I had a wonderful wedding to go to. There will be pictures later. But anyway, the wedding was for two of my lovely friends Lenny and Kristen. They looked amazing.

Kristin loves all things ocean and Lenny is a pretty big fan of zombies. So of course I figured out something to include these themes in my knitting.

For Kristin I chose three awesome patterns to make her some sea creatures. First up is Nautie:

I really like how he came out and I found him really easy to knit. The increases are even neatly hidden in the coiling of the shell. There were some felt cutout eyes to make but I like buttons for my knit creatures. I recommend this pattern to any Nautiloid lover.

Next up was an Octopus:

The octopus was by far the easiest to make. The head took no time at all. The limbs crocheted up pretty quick too. I like crocheting every now and then so I don't forget the basics. I really like how it turned out. Octopi are so cute.

Last of the trio was the Sea Nettle:

This was the toughest to knit. Now I don't mean that in difficulty unless you are new to charts and color change. The head was pretty easy. What made this tough was the damn arms. They knit up so tight it hurt my fingers. It was totally worth it though. It came out so pretty.

After the sea creatures I moved onto the undead. This was going to be fun since it took a lot of creativity on my part, rather than just picking the colors. The base pattern was a children's doll set that I decided to creepify. After the bodies were knit and sewn together I had a blast. I embroidered blood, guts, falling off limbs and parts, and some bones.

Zombie girl:

Zombie boy:

Zombunni:

Zombear:

I knit almost a whole week straight through to get it all done. It was totally worth it when I saw their reactions to the gift. Nothing better than creating something for people you know will appreciate all your work. Love you Lenny and Kristin!

After all the work I swore I would take the weekend off from knitting. I felt I needed it. I think I may have an addiction because every moment I had downtime I was thinking, 'I wish I had my knitting.' I refuse to go to rehab. =)

Better than Martha Part 3: Cleaning stuff

Here's the final part of the Better than Martha series. In the other posts I told you that I've been making my own stuff. I've been doing this for two reasons. 1) To waste less and to contribute less to the landfill. Seriously, that thing needs to be less gross. 2) So that I know the ingredients in my everyday items. I like knowing there aren't chemicals in what I use. I'm slowly replacing things in my life to be more green and me-friendly.

So on to the items that I made/am making.

First item is my Swiffer mop cover. It's on hold because I am working on a time sensitive project. As soon as that's all set, back to this one. But anywho, this will make it so I don't have to keep buying the wasteful cloths that cover it. It will be nice to just have to wash it. I'm using cotton to knit it so probably won't machine dry it. I found the pattern at the Knittnfool ->MD Swiffer Mop Cover. Below is my version in progress.

The other cleaning item I made is a homemade disinfectant. Not only is it nice to know what is in the spray bottle, but it's also a cheaper alternative. I put together a simple recipe that was based on others online. I filled the bottle with 1/2 water, 1/2 vinegar, then added the following: a squirt of castile soap and 1/4 tsp of each: tea tree and lavender essential oil. I know essential oils can be pricey but they last a long time and can be used for so many different things. The nice things is that when it dries the vinegar smell goes away and you are left with the smell of the oils.

That's it for the Better than Martha entries. As you can see it would have been way too much for one entry. How are you guys being more green? I know that Joni rocks at that with her cloth diapers and everything. She's pretty hardcore. I'll slowly get there, but minus the babies for now. =)

Better than Martha Part 2: Health care

Now for part two. Below are the items that I made which were evidently for roller derby injuries. It's good that I took the herbal classes last year. Funny thing is that till recently I never really got hurt, or even sick for that matter so any remedies I did make were not for me.

Because of my many derby bruises I felt it was about time I make use of my herbal apprenticeship and make myself an Arnica salve. I also added some Chamomile for skin care. I'll be sure to let you guys know how it goes. I made the base oil from grapeseed oil a while ago and finally got around to making the salve. I liked that it didn't leave my skin super greasy. The recipe made a perfect amount for this container. I didn't add an essential oil or any thing since I'm not turned off by the scent it has. I plan on stashing it in my gear bag.

Another new derby staple of life is my heating pad. I had rice around and a sock that didn't fit around my now muscular calves. Little did I know, till I googled, that was all I needed to make a heating pad. I microwaved it for a couple of minutes and sat back and relaxed while my knee was warmed up for healing. In the future I'll add some herbs or oils to make it smell pretty.

I'm sure as I continue with derby I'll be making more. The next entry will be about cleaning stuff.

Better than Martha

I'm better than Martha because I'm not obnoxious like her. =)

I've been on a homemade kick. I like finding ways to not be wasteful in my everyday life and I like knowing the ingredients in things. I've cut out paper plates from my life, try to use washcloths instead of sponges for dishes, less paper towels and napkins, recycling like crazy, starting to compost, and probably more. I hate that we waste so much in the US, or the world for that matter.

So that I know the ingredients in things I use, I made my own lip balm, arnica salve, and household disinfectant. I will continue to find more natural alternatives as I think of things I need in life. It makes me feel more self sufficient too. The next couple of entries will be the things I made as of late, otherwise I think it would just be one ginormous post.

First up are the personal care items:

Yesterday I made my own lip balm. I got the recipe from my friend Joni (aka: The Kitchen Witch Momma). It's a simple recipe, and if she doesn't mind, it can be posted by her or I. It was so easy to make and I won't be buying store lip balm ever again. It's peppermint. Next time I hope to use some of my own herbs from my garden. Chocolate mint maybe?

I really like the oils used and after it has set for a bit you can really smell the peppermint. I've been dying for some and most of mine got washed in the machine, but I had the ingredients and would not break down and buy some store ones.

Another item I made is my own toothpaste. It is a Tammy's Kitchen recipe that can be found here. It gets a bit melted in this weather but it's still paste-like and usable. I just give it a quick mix with my toothbrush before brushing. It's salty at first because of the baking soda but the essential oil leaves a refreshing aftertaste. You get used to the saltiness that quickly goes away. I did not use the sweetener she suggests. I felt it was unnecessary and I don't want to use a processed stevia. Maybe after I dry my own stevia I can powder it and mix it in. What is nice is that I won't have to buy a tube for a long time. Sorry no photo because mine is a bit melted, but mine looked like hers before it did. Thanks a lot New England Summer.  =)

The next part of the series will be my first aid items I made. Till then, enjoy the beautiful weather!

Somebody having a case of the Mondays?

It feels like the weekend just goes way too fast. I think I already have a case of the Mondays. I've been pretty creative and busy this week. Probably going to hibernate before the Derbytaunt ball and my camping trip.

I updated my derby helmet to have my name and my number.

I got to be undead.

I baked about 10 dozen oatmeal raisin cookies for Forest Folk.

I spent some time with my new niece Gretchen while I caught my runaway tent on this blustery day.

And I gessoed (if that's a word) a couple of pages. I plan on having some ready for when I'm camping in case the mood strikes me, which it tends to when I'm surrounded by creative people.

I ended my weekend with finally seeing Practical Magic and starting to watch True Blood. I'm glad Charlie showed me where the local video store is on the east side. Sadly though, my computer won't play any DVDs and I don't feel like fiddling with it. I have plenty more creative things coming up during my hybernation. :) Now I sleep.

Sun, I remember you!

So the sun tagged me for the first time. While I was driving to Hartford yesterday, I got my first sunburn of the year. It's not horrible but It's not fair that I get one from just driving. I need to pack sunscreen next time. At least I pretty much go right back to white so I won't have annoying uneven shoulders.

It was a great day though. We hid from the sun for a bit (the sun and I were in a fight) and I got to watch the 13th Warrior for the first time. While watching that fun movie I finished knitting for my art trade with Val. I just have to felt the project. No photos yet. I can't show it off and have her see too early. I think it will come out cool. I just hope my math was right.

I have a lot of projects in mind that I can't type here since they are gifts. I have a lot of knitting designs in mind right now. I really can't wait to raid my yarn stash and get started. :)

On a sad note, I heard that Joanns is going to go out of business and I hope it's not true. I liked having a cheap resource for knitting needles and some basic yarns. I love supporting local shops but I can't always afford their prices or their needle selection. Ugh. I'll just have to watch out for the going out of business sale.

On an awesome note, Derby practice is possibly going to be outside in Providence on Wednesday. Yay for a 5 second commute! It's also not until 7 so I won't burn. =)

Well back to enjoying this lovely day and to counting down till time on the farm. :)

Cat + Yarn = Sad Sarah

Well the lovely Zeus discovered yarn and the joy of decorating with it. I missed the results since my roommate picked up the yarn entrails left all over the apartment. Below is what I found on my bed. (Still yucky phone photos.)

He is so lucky that the yarn is still good for the art trade item it is becoming as of last night. After i'm done knitting with it I'll rewind the remains into a nice ball. When I'm not knitting the project is now safely tucked in my WIP purse. Seriously though, how could anyone stay mad at this ginormous ball of fluff?

I can't wait to see how the project comes out. Cross your fingers that it felts right.

Besides that the monster case is finished. My netbook now has a cozy and safe place to sleep, WHEN HE EATS IT!

Spring means new projects!

The weekend was amazing. The Forest Folk and I celebrated a special B-day and the first day of spring the only way we know how. A SLEEP OVER! As of late I fail at taking pictures since I have too much fun and forget about my camera. I will show you one picture though that I did post on my FB the other day. I was happily making vegetable pot pies for the event and my oven really sucks. It wasn't crisping up the top at all so after they cooked for a while I decided to try out my broiler. I had it in for the the right amount of time, but just like the rest of the oven it's not even. The oven definitely received much profanity for the turnout shown below. It is totally lucky that everyone loved the pies despite the mishap. I don't even know if it knows how lucky it is.

On to crafty update. Now that my knitting commission is done, and I won't take another for a while, I can now continue to work on stuff for the store I need a banner for. Today was a good night to start since I was winding down after a day of work and an amazing weekend with the lovely folks from CT.

What did I do for the next creative endeavor? Well I made my own yarn...out of a T-shirt! It was pretty fun. It was really easy. I found a tutorial here. I found it to be really simple, but I recommend using some good fabric scissors. I intend to pick up a better pair for this. Today was a test on just a plain white t-shirt. I didn't want to ruin one of the pretty ones I got from Bruce yesterday. I didn't take too many pics since the tutorial has great ones. Below is the chaos as I just started to tug the strip into tubes. It worked so easily. The directions couldn't be any better. It turned out well even while I was watching season 1 of Rome.

After all the tugging I was able to wind it up into a nice ball. I didn't take a size comparison photo, but I can next time.

I can't wait to make more. After some final felting of the swatch for my art trade I will make some with the different colored t-shirts I got. One day I'll learn how to spin but till then I'll recycle for mother earth with some old t-shirts. :) I have a couple of projects in mind, for the cotton yarn, that I'll sell online. I love when the creative juices are flowing!

Sheep and Art Journaling Experimentation

As I mentioned earlier I made some sheep coats for my cousin Julia. I think they came out nice. Hopefully they will fit her sheep properly. So my sheep is modeling them below before they are shipped to Baltimore. :) I have so much to mail to people so this will finally get me to the post office. I always fail at regular mail. (Click photo for larger image.)

Then tonight I figured I try out my art journal finally. My journal is made up of an old poetry book from an antique store. I used gesso to cover the page. The medium I chose was water color pencils and a prisma marker for the outline. Now this is only the second time I have ever used watercolors and the last time was just with the little cheap set from Job Lot, so don't be too hard on me. =) It's really rough but I like it. It is Zeus of course. I looked up and he was the first inspiration in view. I'm happy with my first page. It was a fun experiment. I really can't wait to continue it. (Click photo for larger image.)

Now to finish up the cleaning I was doing. Two very special guests are going to be here tomorrow so I don't want to look like a slob.

The finished product

Well as you remember from this post I was making a top secret gift for someone awesome. Well it was finished and delivered. He was happy with it and so was I. His brand new beer cozy now keeps his home brews cold and his hand warm and dry. It was personalized with an inside joke ("Who the hell is Bruce?")  but that's a story that's too long to tell and it's not for me to share. =) The words were added using needle felting. The great part is that it was my own pattern so I can now make more to sell in my store. I'll get going on that soon. Below is a mediocre photo of it. I forget to get a better one when I gave it to him. Oh well.

When I visited CO last year I went to see my uncle and my two cousins. Well it turns out Julia is a knitter and we thoroughly bonded in this way. We discovered the sheep pattern and quickly fell in love. A yarn store visit was in order and we made sheep together. I've been planning on making coats for a while and finally got my butt in gear. I knit some sheep coats for my cousin to coordinate with this pattern, though I think they may be too small. If they are I'll fit them to my sheep and remake some for her.   They are so quick to knit so it won't be an issue to make new ones for her if the measurements are off. Below I added a picture of my sheep to show how tiny they are.

In other crafting news my friend Val and I are doing an art trade. I just can't wait to felt the swatch so I can start knitting. It's going to be pretty cute. She requested a squid like mine but in golden yellow with greenish blue buttons. My camera squid is below and the swatch and buttons found are next. In return I will get a handmade cute crop top that she will upcycle for me. I'm so excited. I love receiving creative things. =) If she ever opens an online store I'll be sure to share it here.

Happy creating!

Valentine's Day weekend

(Published a little late because I was procrastinating on photos. Enjoy!)

In preparation of the amazing weekend to be had, I made a montrous amount of cookies. I was afraid to count how many till I was done, and it was rightly so. I ended up making 13 dozen adorable heart shaped cookies with royal icing. They were chocolate sugar cookies. The recipe can be found here. I brought 3 dozen to work and the rest were eaten at the lovely party I attended this past weekend. I did the minimum amount of water in the icing but I should have added it more slowly so I would use less and make it easier to draw with. I highly recommend the recipe though. The icing is way more pink than this looks.

I recently went to an antique store and found awesome V-day cards which I failed to bring to my Valentine. Oh well. He did get Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cookies. He's been sick lately too so we don't need to jinx him with these kick ass cards. I love the Curiosities store in Providence. They have such cute and random things there. You can click to enlarge them since I didn't get a chance to crop them. =) They are the front and back of each.

Saturday I met up with my Valentine in Hartford and we headed to Bruce and Jess's house in Oxford. They are lucky enough to rent a house on a beautiful farm in Oxford. This just moved in and it was their housewarming party. We had a cozy party with about 30 people of our Forest Folk Tribe. They all are really great people and our parties are always the best. We had great lasagna, cupcakes, rib roast, peirogies, cookies, quiche, bacon, and alcohol. =) We never are left hungry or thirsty at these events.

Something hilarious happened at about 6am. I was innocently tiptoeing to the bathroom on an important pee mission. It was pitch black in the living room and I was relying on shadows. Well shadows failed me because my toes met up with a dark box with a few bottles on top of it. My silent trip wasn't silent for long. The bottles fell right into a ceramic jug announcing me. I scared the crap out of sleeping innocent bystanders along with myself. Thankfully I made it to the bathroom in time. Sorry to Nici for the Charley Horse you endured afterwards.

The next day we all had breakfast and lounged around. Then Bruce fired up the tractor and we went for a beautiful winter hay ride. There were pheasant and hawk sightings. It was weird seeing the campground we party on all covered in a blanket of snow. It was so peaceful and quiet. I can't wait to return to our site in May. On the way back to the house we stopped and visited sheep with their lambs and pigs of all sizes. Finally back at the house we had a choice of homemade beef or chicken soup. A perfect ending to the weekend. (Again they are thumbnailed.  Hover over the photo for a description. Just click to see a medium sized version or go to my flickr page for the largest.)

I couldn't have had a better weekend anywhere else. For now I'll relax here in hartford ill it's back to derby practice and work. Life is good.