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Tag Blanket

2006-02-26T14:42:00.000-06:00

After not posting for...forever, I've decided to post about tag blankets.

Tag blankets are simply blankets made for babies with tags sewn all around the edges. For some reason, babies are fascinated by tags, so this is actually a really good idea. The part I have an objection to is how expensive tag blankets are. I also found it odd that I couldn't find directions for making these blankets anywhere on the 'net. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right place, or perhaps typing the wrong words into the search engine. In any case, I decided to try and figure it out myself, and after I'm finished writing about it, there'll be one more how-to tag blanket page on the WWW.

I started by cutting out two squares of coordinating flannel. I used a rotary cutter and mat. These squares are 9"x9". It was an arbitrary measurement; mainly I wanted something small to work with for my first experiment.

I then gathered up a bunch of different fabric ribbons and cut them into 4"-long pieces.

I folded all the ribbon pieces in half and arranged them on the right side of one of the squares of flannel. I used an iron (set to "polyester" since that's what the ribbons were made of) to help keep the ribbons folded.

Then, without pinning anything, I serged all the edges very carefully. This was a slow process and required removal of the ribbons while I worked one edge at a time. It helped to mark where the ribbons had to go with a chalk pencil (not shown).

If you look carefully at the right side of the serging, you'll notice it looks different from the other three sides. That's because my serger decided to vomit all over the last edge. I had to rethread all four threads before continuing with the next step. The good thing is, it doesn't really interfere with the functionality of the blanket.

Okay, moving on... Not shown is the part where I serge all four edges of the turquoise square so that I don't end up with frayed edges inside the blanket.

After I did that, I laid the turquoise square on top of the right side of the ribboned yellow flannel, pinned, and sewed all around except for one corner.

I used that unsewed corner to turn the blanket inside out. I then ironed it flat, folded the corner inside carefully, and topstitched all the way around.

Here's what it looks like finished:

And the back:

Notice that one corner looked like it's been lopped off. It hasn't; it's just been folded inside for the final topstitching.

All in all, it's a very easy project and can be completed in about an hour.

Okay, one more thing before I go... Please check out "Steve - Don't Eat It!" It's a link under "Blogs I read" on the left. Made me almost hyperventilate with laughter.

Television

2005-05-31T23:09:00.000-05:00

I found out today Veronica Mars has the ability to time travel. I saw her in the wild west, a place called Deadwood, where Wild Bill Hickok was killed. I observed her cavorting with a lesbian hooker named Joanie and stealing some of her jewelry at a gambling establishment known as the Bella Union. Joanie ended up killing her later on at the behest of her boss, Cy, but she didn't enjoy it, so it shouldn't really count.

Have I mentioned before how non-HBO-quality Deadwood is? It's actually more UPN-ish. And Veronica Mars is more HBO-esque. Maybe Veronica thought so too, and, in her confusion, ended up on both shows? To be fair, I have only watched about ten episodes of the first season of Deadwood, I've never been a fan of the Wild West, and most important of all, I'm not much of a misogynist. So you see, I'm kind of biased.

In the very recent past, I've watched entire seasons (and in some cases, all of the existing seasons, in their entirety) of: Carnivale, Six Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, Veronica Mars, Twin Peaks, Sex and the City, and Desperate Housewives.^

I've noticed some common themes amongst these amazing shows (Some more amazing than others. And others still that are hardly watchable at all.) From my observations, I've compiled a list of elements that make a show watchable (or at least popular). All of these elements involve at least one main character, unless otherwise specified or not applicable. You need at least three of the following, not to exceed ten for any one show (Otherwise the show, though it may be labeled "popular", becomes unwatchable. Also, some elements listed may or may not have been observed in only one of the aforementioned shows):

* a safety deposit box key that no one knows about until someone either skips town or dies
* a paternity test, coupled with not immediately finding out what the results are
* adultery, both in the past and ongoing
* at least one unsolved murder, preferably of a young female
* substance abuse
* at least one unplanned pregnancy
* a diagnosis or clear-cut observation of mental illness or instability
* token "other"^^ characters (at least three) that the show would die without: sullen female adolescent, dependable black male, lovable gay, proud Latino, angst-ridden middle-aged WASP female, single 30-something cosmopolitan writer, two-bit whore, etc.
* the supernatural: telepathic abilities, telekinesis, communing with the dead, ghosts, monsters, unexplained phenomena, and UFOs, inclusive
* an abusive patriarchal figure + matching victim(s)
* Sex, sex, sex... But more importantly, people talking about sex
* lies, corruption, deceit, scandal, betrayal, greed
* a gruff, drunk female character with no redeeming qualities that bears little resemblance to the historic figure she is intending to represent
* set in a small, small town, even by the standards of the time, somewhere in the northwestern United States
* alcohol used more than any other beverage
* the "everyman": strong, steady, upstanding, level-headed, usually white and in his mid-thirties; predictably winds up being some sort of hero and defender-of-the-meek, numerous times
* unintelligible, garbled, mumbled, obscure and possibly inaccurate-for-the-time-period dialogue that requires the use of Closed Captioned subtitles even for those of us that are hearing
* the use of the words "fuck", "cocksucker" and "cunt" at least seven times each, every three minutes, for the duration of each episode
* loads and loads of gratuitous, unforgivable (though, to be fair, probably historically accurate) misogyny, even though the show appears to be written mostly by women

Huh. I just perused HBO's Deadwood site again, and noticed that there's a blurb about the New York Times. Supposedly, the New York Times thinks Deadwood is "as absorbing and addictive as The Sopranos".

Hm.

Remind me never to watch The Sopranos.

^ I know, I should get some kind of award.

^^ Meaning, in addition to the plethora of complex 18-50-year-old white male characters used as a "baseline". See "Band of Brothers" for more info on how a mini-series can become a raging success and not feature any single other type of character.

Go, Spurs, Go!

2005-05-31T22:12:00.000-05:00

I'm going to go completely off-topic (if there is such a thing on this blog) and talk about the Spurs.

In the Western Conference so far, they have defeated the Denver Nuggets and the Seattle Supersonics. They are now up against the Phoenix Suns who they beat in the first three games.

It worries me a little bit when I hear that no one in the history of the NBA has ever come back from losing the first three playoff games to win because that just means that if the Suns DO manage to pull it off, it'll be all the harder for the Spurs to live it down. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

The Spurs almost swept the Suns in the fourth game, but unfortunately, last night wasn't their night. You can't win them all, and in truth, the Suns did play a better game four. We will see how things develop tomorrow in Phoenix.

Still, for all you Spurs fans out there, especially of #20, you can get shirts on ebay with timely, cleverly photoshopped iron-on transfers.

Here's one I like:

It just... Fits.

More Diapers... Hallelujah!

2005-05-14T12:20:00.000-05:00

I made four more diapers after not making jack in a long time.

Here they are.

Chinese takeout (Or take-away, if you prefer):

Polka-Dots:

Farm Fun:

Citrus:

I found out recently someone I know is pregnant, and I'm so excited for her I'm going to make her as many as she wants. I don't know that she'll want any, but I'm hoping she does. This is going to be so much fun!!

The Araucana's Sink

2005-05-14T10:35:00.000-05:00

Our lovely Araucana had been cannibalized a little by her peers while living in the upstairs bathroom, so we stuck her in our downstairs bathroom. The coop hadn't been finished yet, so we really had no other place to put her.

After she was finally transferred to the outdoors, we were left to contend with the disaster she'd left our bathroom in.

I'll spare you the grisly shambles of the rest of the bathroom, but I will share with you a picture of the aftermath of the sink:

That is the result of one chicken, working alone, for only a few days. And that's only the sink. You haven't seen the rest of the bathroom, and I'm not showing it to you.

To tackle this problem, I needed to get out the cleaning stuff:

Clockwise from left: Dr. Bronner's Tea Tree Oil Castille Soap, roll of paper towels, purple spray bottle filled with water, clear spray bottle filled with a mixture of Dr. Bronner's soap + water, blue rag, gloves.

Apparently Dr. Bronner's soap is so mild some people use it to brush their teeth with.

Oh, I almost forgot.

Baking soda. In a shaker container. I keep it in the fridge when I'm not using it to clean up chicken shit.

After much cursing, scrubbing, gritting of teeth, and several unpleasantly grime-filled hours, the sink, and the rest of the bathroom, looked something like this:

We haven't contracted Salmonella or any other chicken-feces-related ailments yet, even though no bleach or harsh cleaning products were used. Hmm...

Mothers' Day

2005-05-08T17:01:00.000-05:00

I have an addiction. I read infertility blogs. It's not so much that the subject of infertility is fascinating or that I like reading blogs so much. It's that the women who are writing them are willing to be so open about themselves regarding something so very personal and painful. I don't know that I would have the same strength in their position. Heck, I don't yet know with any guarantee that I won't be in their position because I haven't really tried to find out whether I can have a baby or not. After reading so many blogs, I realize nothing is impossible. I am not immune from infertility.

I made a silly doodle for my mom for today, Mothers' Day. I didn't finish it in time for it to get to her today, so Trustin scanned it for me and made it into a jpeg file. I emailed it to her, and then I thought about all the other mothers out there who aren't getting a silly doodle. Mothers who, for whatever reason, didn't get to keep or have their children, either by miscarriage, stillbirth, child death, abortion, adoption, or by never having the opportunity to officially have the title of Mother at all. Mothers-at-heart, with all the varying degrees and shades of gray, who also deserve their day.

At the risk of being publicly ridiculed and burned at the stake (not only for my artistic disability, but also for mentioning "abortion" in the same sentence as, well, all the other words it was paired up with), I share my silly doodle for ALL mothers:

Happy Mothers' Day. To all of you.

More chicken news...

2005-04-30T18:51:00.000-05:00

The most memorable thing that has happened in the chickens' lives lately is that Trustin finished the coop and they were finally moved in. He worked very hard and, though he had some help (Thank you, John! Thank you, Michael!), he did do most of the work himself. I am very proud of him.

Here's what it looks like:

Inside, I caught the Araucana taking a dustbath:

She really seemed to be into it:

Then I learned that dustbathing is contagious:

If we're not careful, we'll have a dustbathing epidemic on our hands.

For now, the majority of them just hang out most of the time.

Even the posh-looking Polishes seem to approve of their new abode.

Speaking of which, here is a close-up of the ~~ridiculous~~ sophisticated Silver Polish topknot:

And one of the Golden Polish, taken from the side, proving that they do indeed have eyes:

Overall, the chickens seem to enjoy being outdoors in the sun and shade quite a bit. You can find them lounging in sleepy states throughout the day.

Like this:

And this:

I swear it looks like they're smiling.

They don't always rest for the same amount of time, so a few seconds after the above picture was taken, the Rhode Island Red got up to go peck at something and left the rooster to nap alone.

Sometimes he sleeps in unusual positions. Here, he looks dead.

So that he won't be lonely, his mate, the only other Yellow Campine, who we call "Chickadee", has been known to keep him company.

Here she even adopted his same position.

You know what they say about imitation and flattery. I'd say the rooster has at least one sincere fan.

More about the chickens...

2005-04-30T18:37:00.000-05:00

There is a lot that needs to be updated with regard to the chickens. Firstly, and this is really important, one of our chickens did turn out to be a rooster, but it wasn't the big yellow araucana. It was the one that developed the comb before all the others. We didn't think he could be a rooster because (A) we were in denial, and (B) we'd ordered two Yellow Campine hens, and he was one of the only two Yellow Campines in the whole flock. Now, unless one of the mystery birds that died and couldn't be properly identified turns out to have been a Campine pullet, the hatchery made a mistake. It's really not a big deal, but it's good to know now for certain why that one "chicken" developed so much faster than "her" sisters.

Here is the missexed one now:

No mistaking his roosterness. That and the fact that he crows. In fact, that's how I realized "she" was a he. I went upstairs about a month ago and heard this strangled chortle coming from the flock. When I looked inside, there he was, stretching his scrawny (at the time) neck and coughing out a watery belch. He wasn't gassy, though. He was just teaching himself to crow. After a few short weeks, he was crowing like a pro, much to our dismay. He now crows when he's disturbed, so we try to keep him as happy as possible. Sometimes, though, he'll crow his fool head off and we have to intervene. We do so by picking him up (no small feat), holding him, and talking to him. We figure he'll come to associate crowing with being picked up (something he doesn't particularly like) so that he'll either come to like being picked up and crow so that we'll do it or he'll reduce his crowing to avoid the restrictiveness of being picked up. Obviously we're hoping it ends up reducing his crowing.

More updates to come...

Wasabi Egg Salad Sandwich

2005-04-30T18:02:00.000-05:00

Decided to finally try out that wasabi mayonnaise we'd bought.

I'm not really into wasabi, but Trustin is, so I got two peeled hard-boiled eggs, added a dollop of the flavored mayo, and smashed it all together with a fork.

I got some organic spring greens to go with it:

Mid-assembly:

Finally, in the recipient's hands:

According to Trustin, it was good, but the wasabi mayo was "stiff", meaning the spice was a little much. He said he felt like he was having sushi.

Stream-of-Consciousness Ice Cream

2005-03-13T19:34:00.000-06:00

Want to make ice cream. What flavor? What flavor? I know. Mango. No, no. I have pears. Pears that will go bad if they're not consumed soon. Need to include the pears. But the mangos are soft too.

Mango-pear ice cream, then.

Or should it be a sorbet? Let's see, sorbet recipes call for...

Corn syrup? Ugh.

NOT making sorbet. Of any flavor. Not consuming corn syrup.

Look at recipe for strawberry ice cream. Okay, calls for a pint of strawberries.

How much is a pint? Two cups.

Two cups, okay I think I have that much fruit.

Peel and cut pears, stick in measuring cup. Peel mango and commence cutting. Realize I have more than two cups of fruit. Press onward anyway.

Recipe calls for two cups heavy cream and one cup whole milk. Have neither.

Decide to substitute half and half for both whole milk and heavy cream. Decide amount should be two cups total, accounting for the excess of fruitage.

Recipe calls for macerating fruit in one-third cup sugar and three tablespoons lemon juice for two hours. Don't have lemon juice. Have orange juice. Will use evaporated cane juice instead of sugar.

Pour unknown, but small, amount of orange juice directly in bowl of cut-up fruit.

Doh! Realize I should have mixed in evaporated cane juice first.

Measure small amount of orange juice in measuring cup. Add evaporated cane juice and stir. Pour in bowl of cut-up fruit.

"Macerate" for a total of thirty seconds before becoming bored.

Pull out blender.

Macerate this.

Measure one cup half and half:

Whisk in 1/3 cup evaporated cane juice:

Top up with more half and half to two cups:

Pour sweetened half and half into blended fruit:

Re-blend:

Stick pitcher in fridge to chill for thirty minutes. It worked with the chocolate ice cream.

Stare at fridge and wonder why there's a Coke in the back. We don't drink Coke.

Close fridge. Check inbox at Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail. Notice zero new messages in each. Become despondent.

Listen to Sister meowing. Realize she is in heat. Experience despondent feeling dissolve instantly upon gazing at her cuteness.

Thirty minutes up. Grab pitcher from fridge and dump contents into ice cream maker. Turn ice cream maker on and set timer for another thirty minutes.

Start watching George Romero's Knight Riders. Think of nothing except how long movie is and if ice cream will turn out okay with only half and half.

Hear timer ding!

Spoon ice cream into container.

Listen with glee as boyfriend licks spoon and says, "Luscious, fruity, creamy goodness."

Stick in freezer to ripen.

Reflect on recipe.

Retrospective ingredients:

2 cups organic pear, peeled and cubed
1 large organic mango, peeled and cut into pieces
2 cups organic half and half
2/3 cups evaporated cane juice, divided
tiny splash of organic orange juice (about 1/4 cup)

Caught!

2005-03-12T13:32:00.000-06:00

The suspect:

The victim (Identity withheld to protect the innocent.):

The evidence:

Up Close and Chickenal, Part IV

2005-03-08T11:38:00.000-06:00

Our last chicken of the day was a Salmon Faverolle. They, like the Partridge Cochins, are also unmistakable.

They have unusual feet. Five-toed.

The one I pulled out never really calmed down.

She did this for about five seconds:

But mostly she did this:

She also squawked and cried constantly.

She was the only chicken that jumped out of my lap and started running around the room. We didn't take any pictures of that because we were too busy trying to catch her.

When we did catch her, she complained some more, so we knew we'd have to put her back soon. We did manage to get one last shot of one of her feet, though.

I guess different chickens have different temperaments. When they're all together, they feed off each other's moods. If one chicken starts flapping around, they'll all start doing it. If one gets freaked out, they all do. And some get more initially freaked out than others. The first three we held calmed down when they were one-on-one with us. The Salmon Faverolle, not so much. So now we know.

Salmon Faverolles suck.

Up Close and Chickenal, Part III

2005-03-08T11:23:00.000-06:00

After we put back Brazen Redcap, we decided to pull out a Partridge Cochin. This one we knew the name of beforehand. They are unmistakable.

See?

(Please don't look at my double chin, please don't look at my double chin, please don't look at my double chin...)

Their feathery feet and dark gray feathers are dead giveaways:

Like the two birds before her, this one relaxed after a few short minutes. She perched happily on my hands as though we'd known each other her whole life. Because we have.

Though as an adult she will be more feathery than most of the other chickens, right now her down:feathers ratio is about 1:1. Most of the other chickens have most of their real feathers already.

A late bloomer. Maybe that's why I like her so much.

One more left...

Up Close and Chickenal, Part II

2005-03-08T10:50:00.000-06:00

The next ~~victim~~ chicken we grabbed was probably a Redcap. She was a bit stiff at first:

Holding her this way as opposed to any other way seemed to calm her down. Or at least she didn't wiggle around frantically that way. Perhaps she was so petrified by what was going on that she felt death was imminent and decided to just go with it.

In any case, she did eventually relax. We put her on my lap and petted her a bit.

She seemed at peace so I let her go.

She then did this:

She was already to second base. Our relationship was moving along waaaay faster than I had anticipated. But it turned out okay. She didn't go for my eyes or anything, for which I was most grateful.

More to come...

Up Close and Chickenal, Part I

2005-03-08T10:15:00.000-06:00

We decided to spend quality time with some of our chickens yesterday. We wanted to be with the chickens we didn't really pay attention to normally. The first one we chose was easy. She is the only pullet so far with a well-developed comb.

We're not sure what kind of chicken she is yet. We'll have to wait a little longer to identify her. Our guess right now is Golden Campine. What we can say about her for sure now is that, though she wasn't happy about being taken out of her enclosure, she calmed down quickly once handled for only a few short minutes.

She sat on Trustin's ~~crotch~~ lap placidly:

She also obliged us by letting us take some close-ups of her gorgeous self. Profile of her new comb:

Full frontal comb shot:

Close-up of feathers:

Her reptilian feet:

My personal favorite:

To be continued...

We All Scream

2005-03-05T21:27:00.000-06:00

We recently bought a kitchen appliance. This means we are following in the age-old American tradition of buying a specialty appliance, using it once, and putting it away "for later" when it is decided that the item should be auctioned off at a yard sale.

The appliance in question this time was a Cuisinart brand ice cream maker from Bed Bath & Beyond. It features a removable, reusable tub filled with special liquid that you stick in the freezer. That way, you needn't bother with ice and salt.

What I'm trying to say is, we made ice cream.

First we prepared the ingredients. All four of them.

I measured the 1/2 cup of evaporated cane juice (sugar) and one cup whole organic milk. Two cups of organic heavy cream were also measured.

That's three ingredients. Only one left. Easy, right?

While I put the whole milk on the stove,

Trustin got to the business of preparing the fourth ingredient: 8 oz. Belgian chocolate (sans hydrogenated oils). It came in a block, as we'd purchased it from Whole Foods. Trustin cut it into bite-sized pieces for mixing with the sugar in the food processor.

We poured the sugar and chocolate pieces into the food processor bowl to be processed.

Connected the processor, turned it on and...

Nothing. Happened.

Except for a few pathetic whirring noises.

We didn't believe it at first, so we kept trying maybe five more times. Trustin even opened the machine and tried to assess (several times) what was wrong.

More assessment:

Sensing our stress levels rising, Trinket did her best to be helpful. She would stand directly behind one of us and lick the linoleum anytime she felt like something might have accidentally felt like perhaps it had fallen. Even when nothing actually fell, she was always there, our faithful chihuahua.

Because god forbid the kitchen floor should have even one micron of crumb on it.

Dulce decided to get in on the helpful-pet action too, by giving her all to getting the dryer door open. It's her most fervent wish to make it into the dryer someday.

After Trustin and I decided to pull our heads out of our asses regarding the food processor, we realized a blender would, uh, blend the chocolate and sugar together sufficiently.

So Trustin pulled it out grumpily. It really isn't fair for me to be picking on him, because, you see, as I took the picture, I had a scowl on my face, too.

After we dumped the sugar and chocolate in, we fully expected the blender to explode on us.

It didn't. But it did piss us off a little bit because it didn't quite blend the sugar and chocolate together effortlessly. At this point, we decided to ignore the advice of the recipe and just blend the motherfucking milk with the sugar and chocolate, all together at the same time.

It worked. Stupid Cuisinart cookbook.

We poured it into a container to chill it for 30 or more minutes (this is what the instructions specified). In retrospect, we probably should have just left it in situ and placed the whole blender pitcher in the fridge. Not that it matters because our minds were occupied with an episode of Desperate Housewives at the time.

After the chocolate mixture was well chilled, we needed to blend it with the cold heavy cream. So we used the hand blender attachment of the food processor (the part designed for soft things like fruit and liquids, for smoothies and shakes and the like -- the part that can afford to be wussy). Unfortunately, we don't have anymore pictures of our ice cream making endeavor, as we'd lost enthusiasm for documenting it.

Thankfully, we didn't lose enthusiasm for the project itself. After blending the heavy cream with the chilled chocolate mixture, we chilled it again for thirty more minutes while we watched another episode of Desperate Housewives.

When it was done chilling, we poured it into the pre-frozen tub, turned on the ice cream maker, and, you guessed it, watched yet another episode of Desperate Housewives. By the time the show was done, the ice cream was ready.

I don't have a picture of the ice cream, but I do have a picture of some weewee pads I serged for Trinket:

Terrycloth sandwiches with flannel "bread" in a Disney theme... What could be more delicious?

Don't answer that.

Potato Garden

2005-03-03T19:38:00.000-06:00

Trustin and I have been very busy. I know, it's hard to believe, what with both of us being such prolific procrastinators. But hear me out.

We have managed to create the lazy-man's garden. Here's how it works. You get some potatoes. These can't be any old potatoes, though. These have to be potatoes that you bought with the intention of cooking and eating but never got around to doing so. So, you need to wait until they're not only old and unpalatable, but sprouty, too. Then, just throw them out onto some patch of ground somewhere and wait for several weeks. Don't keep track of them or it won't work.

Here's what you'll end up with:

Notice the additional garlic (or onion -- who knows?) plant at the bottom right. You don't want your potatoes to be lonely.

Here's another view:

And a closeup of a single potato plant:

If we ever get around to it, we'll replant them. For now, they seem pretty happy right where they are.

Chicken Fun

2005-03-03T18:00:00.000-06:00

We still have chicks. They are adolescent, all acne and braces and surly bedroom-door-slamming.

Witness the sass:

They won't even make eye contact. After all we do for them. ::sniff::

Regardless, we enjoy their immature antics because we know they'll outgrow them. Like when they freak out if you make a loud noise, like clearing your throat. Or blinking. What I mean is, we hope they'll outgrow them.

I'm not gonna hold it against them if they don't, though. There's a reason why they're called "chicken" after all.

We aren't sure if all the chicks we have are female. See, we ordered 25 pullets, but we got two "free rare" (meaning "anything goes") chicks. So there were 27 in the box when we got them. Of those, four died. Of the four that died, none was of the "free" variety.

Following are pictures of some of the surviving birds we paid money for.

Rhode Island Red:

(Incidentally, she's standing on top of the sole waterer for the chickens. This behavior is both cute and endearing -- and oh, so popular among the flock. Unfortunately, it also means we have to flush out their water supply many more times a day to get rid of all the feces floating in it.)

Silver Polish:

Golden Polish:

This could be an Egyptian Fayoumis:

All of the above are known in the scientific poultry community as Gallus domesticus.

And here is one of the "free rare" ones:

He looks like Big Bird, doesn't he? We think he's a cockerel. He's been the biggest, strongest, and most aggressive of our flock since the beginning. Cockerel or pullet, though, we have no earthly idea what kind of chicken he is. So we're calling him Big Bird for simplicity. (Gallus bigbirdius being the scientific name.)

Diaper Frenzy

2005-02-27T15:32:00.000-06:00

For the past three days or so, all I've been able to do is make diapers. They're newborn size, inspired by my friend Cathy who just finished sewing six newborn sized AIOs in a row.

Here they all are:

(inside view)

(outside view)

(all closed)

The pink cat one used to be a failed diaper project that I didn't know what to do with. Here's what it used to look like:

Here's what it looks like now, up close:

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

This next diaper used to be part of a pajama pant.

The purple one was made from fabric Cathy sent me:

She has really good taste in fabric.

Just to show how tiny these diapers are, here's a size comparison. On the bottom is the Huggies Newborn disposable diaper that I made the pattern for the cloth diapers out of, and on top is one of my creations. They're both sitting on a "Parents" magazine.

Another size comparison. This time, my diaper is on a SIM City 3000 DVD box, and the Huggies newborn disposable diaper is next to it.

I'm becoming addicted to making these. I made two more today. They're not yet pictured. I'll probably go make some more right after I finish writing this. Unfortunately, I'm running out of elastic and Velcro, but it's okay. I probably need a break anyway.

Gay and Straight PJ Pants

2004-11-19T13:16:00.000-06:00

It's getting cold around here. This means I need PJ pants. So I pulled out my Simplicity pattern which promised me it would yield my size of drawstring pant, and whipped one up.

Here it is from the front:

Here's the back:

Perfect fit!

Unfortunately, that's TAC modeling it. This is what it looks like on me:

Yeah, I could take up the hem, but the crotch would still fit me like a balloon, and then no one in this house would be able to wear them!

The girl on the cover reassured me they would look like this:

Feeling betrayed, I decided the pattern was only a rough guide and not to be taken literally. I was determined to reduce the size of the crotch substantially, so I folded about an inch or two off the pattern top and shaved off another size down on all the sides. I then sewed with a generous 1/2" seam allowance for good measure.

I'd run out of pink flannel 'cause I'd used it all on making the first pair of PJ pants. Grrr. So I had to dip into my pink and white striped flannel stash.

Here are the new ones:

The crotch is well under control, though now a bit on the smallish side 'cause my panties have a tendency to stick out in back. The length is perfect, and this version (PJ Pants 2.0) has pockets! They are a bit low, but perfectly functional.

As for PJ Pants 1.0, they serve TAC well when he's kicking Half Life 2 alien butt.

Green Eggs and Ann

2004-11-17T13:35:00.000-06:00

We visited Ann recently. By "we" I mean TAC (my Talented Adjunct Crafter) and I. While we were there, we gave her the pillowcase skirt I made her. She obliged us by modeling it with TAC.

Then, her daughter Rachel modeled it, too.

I think it looks terrific on both of them.

While we were there, we relaxed quite a bit. Ann and I picked herbs from her garden and I made us some green eggs with them.

Okay, so they're really not that green, but I felt they were "earthy" enough to call them so 'cause they were made with homegrown garden herbs.

We later relaxed on the deck.

Ann's place is surrounded by ancient oak trees. To get from the house to the stream nearby, you need to go down the deck stairs,

cross the bridge,

and walk through those old trees.

The stream is just on the other side.

Nothing but utter peace.

¡Ay, Chihuahua! (Parte II)

2004-11-05T01:29:00.000-06:00

(La continuación...)

Saqué el suéter de la secadora.

Después, lo puse al revés y extendí una manga. La corté del cuerpo del suéter.

Le puse la manga al cuello de Trinket para ver si le quedaba bien.

¡Perfecto! Me entusiasmé mucho al descubrir esto, asi que seguí sin pena.

Medí la distancia entre sus patitas con la misma manga para determinar dónde cortar los hoyos.

Marqué sus posiciones con dos alfileres de seguridad.

Medí la circunferencia de sus patas en dos partes, arriba:

y abajo:

La medida de arriba la usé para dos propósitos. Primero, la usé para determinar la circunferencia del hoyo que iba a cortar en la manga.

Segundo, la usé, junto con la medida de abajo, para diseñar las micromanguitas a la talla de Trinket.

Medida de arriba de la pata:

Medida de abajo de la pata:

Después de cortar los hoyos en la manga, tuve que coser la micromanguitas en forma seudo-conica para poder sujetarlas a la manga. Antes de hacer esto, cosi con puntada de zigzag al borde del lado más angosto de la micromanguita para que no se desboronara. Doblé el borde y cosí con puntada recta para sujetarlo.

Luego, doblé la micromanguita con los lados derechos para adentro y con mi máquina tipo overlock, lo cosí junto.

Hice lo mismo para la otra manga.

Para estar segura de que los hoyos de la manga estaban en el lugar apropiado, se lo puse a Trinket de nuevo. Se estaba aburriendo ya del flash y de tanta pruebadera, la pobre.

Entonces se lo quité a Trinket y nuevamente con la máquina tipo overlock, le sujeté las micromanguitas a la manga (que precisamente ahora servía como cuerpo de suéter y no manga). Tomó varios intentos sujetarlo bien porque no había calculado adecuadamente que al formar la micromanguita, la circunferencia del mismo al sujetarlo al cuerpecito del suéter iba a ser más pequeño que la circunferencia del hoyo. O sea, si vas a hacerle un suéter a tu perro, corta el ancho de la parte de arriba de la micromanguita un poco más largo que la circunferencia del hoyo. De esa manera, cuando la vayas a sujetar al hoyo, la micromanguita y el hoyo serán de la misma circunferencia y no una más grande que la otra.

Posicioné cada micromanguita tal como lo ves aquí:

La costura de la micromanguita estaba para adentro y el cuerpecito del suéter estaba al revés. Así se sujetaron.

Ya cuando las dos mangas se cosieron con la máquina tipo overlock, ¡estaba listo el suéter!

Se lo probé a Trinket. O, mejor dicho, Trinket se lo probó. Con mi ayuda.

Con orejas para atrás:

Acostada:

Noté que se le veía por delante el hilo blanco que usé para coser. Para disimularlo más, decidí usar un marcador, marca "Sharpie" del color más parecido al suéter.

Simplemente pinté el hilo con el marcador.

A ver como luce...

¡Mucho mejor!

Me encantó este proyecto. Fue espontáneo y creativo y efectivo a la vez. Lo haría de nuevo.
Pero no sé si Trinket se siente igual...

¡Ay, Chihuahua! (Primera Parte)

2004-11-04T18:03:00.000-06:00

Esta es Trinket.

Donde vivimos, está empezando a hacer frío. Ella no lo tolera muy bien.

Traté de ponerle un abrigo...

...pero le quedó demasiado grande.

Así que no tuve más remedio. Iba a tener que hacerle uno.

Empezé con el mismo suéter de pura lana que intenté ponerle hace poco:

Lo metí a la lavadora en el agua más caliente y con la agitación más fuerte posible. El jabón que usé, sin embargo, fue suave. Tenemos un excedente de espuma de baño, así que tomo cualquier oportunidad para usarlo sin sentir que lo he malgastado. Eso fue lo que usé (y lo que uso habitualmente para ropa delicada, especialmente lana) para lavar el suéter.

Se estarán preguntando, ¿porqué lo lavó usando el agua más caliente y la agitación más fuerte? Buenísima pregunta. Lo hice para encoger el material y hacer que las fibras fueran lo más condensadas posible. Esto hace que cuando corte el material no se me desborone. También hace que el producto final se pueda lavar y secar a máquina porque ya se ha pre-encogido y no se podrá encoger más.

Mientras se lavaba y encogía el suéter, decidí que lo mejor sería que Trinket se bañara. ¿De qué sirve tener un suéter limpio y nuevo si uno mismo está hediondo?

Así que la bañé...

...y la enjuagué...

...y finalmente, la sequé.

Aproveché y le corté las uñas también. (Créeme que el bozal es necesario.)

Ya cuando salió el suéter de la secadora, empezó de veras la diversión.

(Será continuado...)

My First AIO

2004-11-02T15:09:00.000-06:00

Since the recipient of my first AIO has already received it, I can finally report on how I made it.

First off, some background... An AIO is an "All-in-One" diaper. When cloth diapering traditionally, it's advisable to use a diaper cover so that the baby doesn't leak all over everything. This can be an inconvenience and turns a lot of people off to cloth diapering. An AIO resolves that issue. It has the cover built-in, so it's essentially as easy to use as a disposable diaper. The only caveat being, of course, that with a disposable you throw it away and never think about it again, and with an AIO, you need to deal with it, clean up the mess, but -- BONUS -- you get to use the diaper indefinitely.

So, to make this AIO, I used really nice pink flannel sheets bought at a thrift store for next to nothing, a shower curtain liner generously donated to my cause by the benevolent Samwise, new 2" wide Velcro, and new 1/2" elastic.

The way I made the pattern for the diaper is that I laid down a disposable diaper in the size I wanted on a folded piece of scrap fabric. The disposable diaper, btw, was generously donated by my friend Cat in her efforts at supporting my crafting habit. So anyway, I positioned the diaper so that the fold of the fabric was sitting on half of the diaper lengthwise, and then I traced the outline with a pencil. Maybe the pictures will make this more clear:

I then cut on the line while it was still folded so that I'd end up with a symmetrical pattern like this:

Once I had that pattern, I cut out three flannel pieces and one shower curtain liner piece in the same shape.

I wanted to create a pocket diaper, meaning that the user can remove and add as many soaker pads as needed. I wanted to place the pocket in the middle so as to be as hassle-free as possible for whoever is changing the baby. This style is also reminiscent of menstrual pads, with the exception that in menstrual pads, the opening is not facing the wearer. Hopefully the end result of this diaper will be a useful and comfortable compromise for everyone involved.

Remember that I made three flannel cut-outs and one shower curtain liner one. I took two flannel cut-outs and serged a side on each.

I did this so that when you put one on top of the other, the edges overlap by quite a bit.

Next, I placed the layers in the appropriate order. First, the shower curtain liner, then the unserged whole flannel shape right side up, next the two overlapped pieces right sides down.

Here are all the layers, one on top of the other:

Then I serged all around:

I attached the elastic directly on the curves next by using a 3-step zigzag stitch and an elastic wizard. It was nerve-racking, but it came out okay.

Then I turned it inside-out and attached the velcro:

Definitely need to improve that. More later.

I then made the soaker pads. Basically I just eyeballed what would fit within the width of the diaper, made sure they were each at least four layers thick, and then serged the appropriate sides.

Here's what the diaper looks like without soakers.

You can see the shower curtain liner when you open it up, but otherwise you wouldn't know it was there.

Front view:

Back view:

3/4 view:

I'm hoping that it is leakproof and comfortable. Will hopefully get feedback on it soon.

Would I do this project again? I would like to say definitely yes because it was fun, but if it turns out that the result was useless and impractical, then I'd have to reconsider and modify a lot before proceeding on another one. I need to work on Velcro placement. Had I thought it through more carefully, I would have sewn tabs and layered them with the whole diaper prior to sewing anything else. Plus, I would have pre-sewn the tummy Velcro instead of waiting until after I'd sewn the liner in.

If the diaper turns out to be comfortable and leakproof...

Advantages: It's cheap, cheap, cheap. Shower curtain liners and thrift store sheets are practically given away, and you can make several AIOs out of one of each. Really, the most expensive thing you'll be paying for is the Velcro and elastic, and they're pretty cheap too. Besides, if you're really desperate, you can always recycle elastic from other clothes (like underwear) and just Snappi the diaper shut. Pinning is probably not a good idea since you'd create irreparable holes in the liner.

Also, it's machine-washable. I know this because I wash my shower curtain and liner in the washing machine all the time, neither of which has ever disintegrated or even torn, despite being the cheapest of the cheap.

Disadvantages: Not machine-dryable. I've never stuck a shower curtain or liner in the dryer, but I don't think I need to to know that it would melt and render both itself and the dryer useless. If you make an AIO like this one, please please please line dry it. It'll dry faster than you think. The soakers are machine washable and dryable, and they're the ones that will be absorbing the bulk of the diaper contents anyway.

Dulce

2004-11-02T14:55:00.000-06:00

Dulce es una gata.

Cuando la encontramos era así:

Ahora, tres meses después, es así:

Los pies son míos. Como podrán ver, la gata ha crecido mucho.

Voy a querer hablar más de ella en el futuro, pero por ahora lo dejaré así.

Stationery

2004-10-29T17:22:00.000-05:00

Here's how I made myself some rustic handmade stationery.

First I should explain that whenever I endeavor to create something new, I first look to see if I can make it out of something that I would otherwise throw away. Likewise, I derive a lot of my inspiration from looking at trash and wondering if it can be put to some other use.

With that said, I will continue with my stationery instructions.

I got an envelope I would have otherwise thrown away:

I had my choice of these. Waaaaay too much junk mail in this house.

Then I carefully opened it up. Didn't need to use steam or anything. I don't have the patience for that anyway.

Then I gathered all the other necessary materials:

Handmade paper, envelope, scissors, glue stick. Not pictured is a ruler, a pen, and a cookie sheet, which I realized later I also needed.

I set the open envelope on the paper diagonally because it didn't fit any other way.

Then I began to trace and the pen went right through the paper. Doh! Got the cookie sheet, put it underneath, and kept tracing.

This is what it looked like when I finished:

Then I saw that I needed to know where to fold, so I got a ruler and started making fold lines. I used corners as reference points for drawing the lines.

Here's what it looks like with all the necessary fold lines:

I cut out the envelope:

Then I folded on all the fold lines:

I glued in all the obvious places:

And pressed it shut:

But it wouldn't stick! The paper was too thick (more on that later), and I didn't press it for long enough. So I put the cookie sheet on it, and set something heavy on the cookie sheet:

That didn't last for more than half a minute, though, because I got bored just sitting there. Thankfully, it was enough to get it to stick.

So I set out to find some paper that could fit in this envelope. I got out another sheet of handmade paper, the thinnest one I'd made, and folded it. I tried to stick it in, but the envelope wouldn't close. So I tore some of it off one side (didn't want to cut because it would ruin the look of the other 3 sides of paper) and kept readjusting until it fit in the envelope and it could close.

Here's the torn paper with another handmade sheet next to it for size comparison:

And here it is, folded and in the envelope:

Okay, now for the evaluation...

This project didn't go completely smoothly. There were problems. When I folded the sides, the paper cracked.

This is probably due to the fact that it was too thick and stiff. It could probably have been avoided had I been more careful and diligent in making them as thin as possible.

I have an artist friend who looked at my papermaking post and said I didn't use enough water in the tray. She accurately predicted that the paper would be too thick. Her suggestion to me was to use more water the next time. I will, and am very grateful for her feedback.

As for this one, am I despondent? Heavens no! I loved this project. The cracks are more cosmetic than anything else. The mini stationery set, though only consisting of one envelope and one lone piece of paper, are still useful for the purposes I'd envisioned.

Papermaking

2004-10-28T15:43:00.000-05:00

I made paper. Here's how.

I collected scrap paper for a few days. It added up much more quickly than I thought it would: fast-food paper bags, unused napkins that would have gone in the trash, bills, junk mail, envelopes with the plastic window torn out, old mapquest directions I didn't need anymore, a couple of doilies from a restaurant, etc. I tried to collect paper with as little ink on it as possible. And I didn't use any new paper, because imho, that would defeat the purpose of recycling paper.

Here's a sample of my scrap material:

I tore the paper into pieces about 1" square. Then I stuck them in an old wastebasket with water and let them sit outside overnight.

The next day, I gathered all my materials:

Blender, extension cord, water, wet paper, toes. All are necessary for proper papermaking.

I stuck the wet paper in the blender and added more water:

Then I covered it and pressed the button. From the sounds the blender was making after a short while, I surmised that I should add more water. I did, and then continued blending. This is what it looked like when I stopped:

We have a dog. She is a chihuahua. She is twelve and she still has not mastered the fine art of housebrokenness. Why do I speak of this now?

Because our attempts at trying to housebreak her (unsuccessfully) have yielded us with a formerly useless vessel.

Behold, the doggie litterbox:

Now, the papermaking tray:

That white stuff, incidentally, is the exact same stuff that was in the blender after it finished blending. Looks a lot whiter than I thought it would. Just dumped it in. Then I added water.

And cornstarch. Cornstarch is added so that the resulting paper won't bleed whatever ink you use on it.

I mixed it all up with my hands. It didn't feel like I thought it would. It's not sticky or clumpy-feeling. It felt more silty, like playing with very fine clay suspended in water. It didn't have the substance I thought it would.

I got my screens and frames:

Btw, the screen was bought in a large roll that cost $7 at Home Depot. I cut four small screens from it and folded the edges over twice. There was still plenty of screen left over. The two wooden frames are regular picture frames bought hastily at Family Dollar for $3 each. So, new materials cost a total of $13. Yeah, kinda pricey, but I'm assuming I'll be able to make all the paper I could ever want for this much, so all in all, it's not that much. You can probably pull off the same project much more cheaply if you're willing to be more patient than me.

After mixing the pulp thoroughly, I made a screen sandwich. It's just a screen held between two frames. I tried to put this in my tray and make paper that way, but the water was too shallow. So I had to readjust and fill with more pulp and more water and it was still too shallow. So then I took the screen by itself, slid it in carefully so that it was under the pulp in the tray, grabbed a frame, carefully slid it under the screen, placed the other frame on top, shifted till I thought it was an even layer and pulled the whole thing straight up. This was a lot easier to write than it was to actually do. It took several attempts for each lousy sheet.

Sorry, no pictures of the process. I was working alone that day and I couldn't hold the camera and make the paper at the same time.

But I do have pics of what it looked like after I pulled the screens out:

Having a deck for a project like this helps tremendously. I can't imagine what the inside of the house would look like if I tried it in there.

After the paper dried, I peeled it off -- it came off quite easily -- and placed it between scrap fabric I had lying around to dry more thoroughly. I placed heavy books on top of this to make the paper lie flat, flat, flat.

This is the sort of project that has a lot of leeway. A lot of instructional websites will give the impression that papermaking is this exact science and that if you don't make it their way, it just won't come out. Ridiculous.

All in all, this is a project that despite its inconveniences, I would definitely try again. Seems like the sort of thing that gets better with practice.

Pillowcase Skirt, The Revenge

2004-10-28T13:52:00.000-05:00

I was successful in making a skirt from a pillowcase, so I decided to try something a little more challenging. A friend of ours, Ann, generously donated a bunch of her old clothes to me for use in sewing projects. As a way of returning the favor, I wanted to give a couple of her old tattered pillowcases new life. She didn't ask me to, she just said, "If you're going to use these, take them, but if not, I'll keep them because they have sentimental value." A couple of the pillowcases had some crochet edgings that had been stitched by her grandmother.

Here is one:

Here's a close-up of the same thing:

Okay, so I didn't take pictures of the progress as I made it. Mainly this is because I didn't know how it would turn out and I didn't want to invest even more energy on documenting when I was already sweating bullets just cutting into the fabric.

But here's a synopsis:

I tied up and repaired as much of the damage as I could. The pieces that weren't salvageable, I just had to let go. It didn't matter because I still had enough material to work with to make a decent skirt out of.

I estimated Ann's measurements to be slightly more than what one standard pillowcase would provide, and each pillowcase had only one side embroidered, so I separated fronts and backs from both pillowcases first. Actually, that's not true. I first cut off the crocheted edging, to be sewn on later. I cringed before, during, and after I did it, but I went ahead and did it and in the end didn't regret it.

I used the two embroidered pieces as the front and back of the skirt. Since I needed more material for it to fit, I cut up the plain backs of the pillowcases that I had left over into strips for the sides. I serged the pieces together, and then I cut up a pair of pink micro corduroy pants I had lying around into strips and serged those with the crocheted edging onto the edge of the soon-to-be skirt. Then I serged the skirt shut, making sure I had right sides together.

Then I made two buttonholes on one layer of fabric close to the top, but with enough material left over to fold down and make a casing. I straight stitched to make the casing. After that, I got lazy so for the cord I decided to chain stitch using a crochet hook and three strands of pink yarn together. I chained it until it looked long enough, and then I finished it off. Pulled it through the buttonholes and it was finished.

Here it is:

Close up of the serged crocheted edge and former corduroy pants:

This was a nail-biting project. Working with heirloom type material, not knowing if I was gonna mess it up... Ugh. The sort of thing that gives me nightmares. Thankfully, it turned out okay.

A project that took this much energy should have an equally impressive package to go in, imho. So I got a Whole Foods bag, cut it up, turn it inside out, zig-zag stitched the sides, punched some holes, and blanket "stitched" it shut with some leftover yarn.

Here it is:

Oh yeah, I also glued some leftover corduroy material on it as an accent. Looked too plain without it. Or maybe I was covering up a mistake. In any case, I'm happy with it, and I hope Ann will be to.

Socks

2004-10-28T10:54:00.000-05:00

I made these recently:

Here's what they look like on feet:

They were knit using "Magic Stripes" Lion Brand yarn (75% wool, 25% nylon) on size 2 double-pointed needles. They are not the first socks I've knitted, but they're the first I made for myself. It took about a week to finish the pair, and I was working on other projects as well. This is not a testament to my knitting ability but rather to the simplicity of sock knitting. Hopefully as you're reading this you'll become inspired to knit that pair you've been meaning to.

Other information that could be useful:

The socks were knit using a modified pattern from the very excellent _Learn to Knit Socks_ book by Edie Eckman. If you've never knit, I suggest you make yourself a scarf before trying to start on a sock. It'll save you a lot of grief.

This book will teach you a new stitch, SSK -- slip, slip, knit. What it doesn't tell you is that it's much easier to accomplish if you use a small crochet hook for the "knit" part. When you get there, you'll see what I mean, hopefully.

I hope to post more detailed instructions with pictures in the future so that this isn't all so theoretical.

Pillowcase Skirt

2004-10-19T10:22:00.000-05:00

I made my first pillowcase skirt last week.

First I cut off about six inches from the sewn end (not the open end). I cut this piece open and into strips which I sewed together and made the cord out of. I had to fold the resulting long strip about 5-6 times to get it to be the right size for a cord, and then I sewed it shut.

I struggled with the sewing machine's buttonholer and finally got two buttonholes done on *one* layer of the skirt. I'd accidentally done them through two layers and found to my chagrin that that wasn't going to work. :)

I folded the top down and topstitched it to make a casing for the cord. Drew the cord through the casing and, voila!

Here is the finished result from the front:

And a 3/4, kinda side view:

The drawstring is very long, so long that when I wear it I tie it around my waist twice and tie it in a knot in front. Provides a nice belted look. (Also, it covers up the buttonholes I mistakenly made through two layers on the other side. Shhhhh.) Wanted to show the cord in the pictures, though, so I tied it in a bow in front.