it’s gray and stormy outside
but I don’t care a bit. I always loved the idea of rainy days as a kid, that there were craft books of ‘rainy day activities’. It’s still a good excuse to stay at home crafting and baking. So far in this rainy weekend I’ve accomplished rather a lot. I dodged the rain yesterday to get the supplies I wanted. Except for black fimo, I think someone must be building a black fimo monster because all four of the shops I tried had none left. I promised my mum some earrings, and wanted the fimo to make some flat disc beads for the bottoms. I got some grey and hopefully will be able to paint it to get what I want. Making the earrings is today’s project.
She requested more made from paper beads - like these:
Incidentally, I’m sure paper beads are a project found in many kids’ rainy day craft book. Still so much fun :)
I made bread, because just before I went to bed I realised I had nothing for breakfast so I mixed some bread and left it to rise overnight. This experiment worked ok, the top dried out a bit, but kneading it sorted that out. I think if I do this again I might coat the bread in a little oil. I used the malthouse bread flour from Doves Farm. I used the recipe on the back of the packet but halved the quantities to make an itty bitty one person loaf. The same company also sell quick yeast that doesn’t come in sachets so that you can actually measure the amount you need.
My dad’s making dinner tomorrow for my mum’s birthday and I decided to make dessert. I wanted to make a sort of gingery sticky toffee pudding. I used this recipe except I substituted dark muscovado sugar for the demerara and added 2 tablespoons of ginger and 1 tsp of mixed spice. I baked it in muffin cases to make individual puddings. The recipe says it serves 2-3 so I started making this as a trial run to see if it tasted good. It filled 10 muffin cases, and I should have split it between 12 because it overflowed a bit. There is no way I could eat a third, let alone half of this mixture. Needless to say this is no longer a trial run! Good thing they’re absolutely wonderful. I’m going to make the sauce in that recipe to serve with them too.
Last night I cut my first lino block, I need to go back over some bits but it turned out ok. The cutting was much harder than I expected it to be. I’m definitely going to order some rubber sheets.
I got some great long, narrow blank cards. Something I’ve always cut myself before, but these weren’t really much more expensive than doing that and they came with envelopes in a hard to find size. So once I perfect my printing I’ll be printing a whole batch of these to send out :) I need to sort my ink a bit, I tried using heavy body liquitex but it dried too quickly. I added some Marvin Medium which slow drying problem but made it stick to the paper. I’m going to try adding some washing up liquid and if that doesn’t work I guess I’ll be taking a trip to the art shop. Either I’ll just buy some block printing ink or I’ll find a suitable medium to add to the liquitex. Thankyou to everyone who’s emailed me about exchanging cards :) If you would like to I’d love to hear from you. I’m quite excited about getting cards from all over the world.
I think I’ll decorate a little, though getting a tree seems ridiculous maybe I’ll decorate this one:
Today I’m going to make my mum’s earrings and finish this scarf that I started making for her last night.
Using yarn left over from Ariel (HipKnits Aran Silk), and the same stitch pattern over 32 sts. Let me know if you want me to write it out - if you have the magazine (Issue 1 of Yarn Forward) though there is a chart :) I’m doing it on 5mm needles instead of the 4.5mm I used for Ariel just to give a little more drape.
Have a good day, even (or especially!) if it’s gray and stormy where you are too.
Posted: December 3rd, 2006 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 15
Comments
Comment from michael
Time: December 3, 2006, 5:22 pm
Hooray for block printing! We did some in my Art Education class, and then I just had to go grab some supplies of my own, it’s a blast.
Comment from chris
Time: December 3, 2006, 5:52 pm
is that a wee origami crane paper bead hanging up there?
Comment from caroline
Time: December 3, 2006, 7:09 pm
Oh, yes, do write it out! Girl, you do more on a wet Edinburgh morning than I do in a week! rock on…
Comment from meg
Time: December 3, 2006, 7:25 pm
I, too, love wet days for the guilt-free crafting time. There is some hope for snow tomorrow and I can’t wait to see if it is true!
If the linoleum is too stiff try warming it a bit with an iron set on a low setting and a clean sheet of paper placed between the iron and the linoblock.
Comment from Christina
Time: December 3, 2006, 8:52 pm
Ooh, I’d love that stitch pattern! What a gorgeous scarf. And as a side note, I’m really excited that you’re reworking your opera gloves pattern. They’re beautiful, and I started one but didn’t get past the first few rows. That was ages ago, though, so I’m looking forward to having a pair of opera gloves with your revised pattern and my increased knitting savvy. (Your projects always inspire me.)
Comment from Alli
Time: December 3, 2006, 10:45 pm
It is gray and stormy outside here too, with a couple feet of slushy snow thrown in just for fun. I love those paper earrings you made/are making! The stuff you make is just so cool. I always stop by your blog on days like this for a little inspiration! Thanks!
ps. I want to send you a card!
Comment from P?iv
Time: December 3, 2006, 11:53 pm
I`d love to see the pattern written out! Whenever you have time to write it (no hurry).
About the previous post, I usually don`t decorate my home for Christmas as I live alone and always spend Christmas in another town with my parents. But this year I decided I want to have some decorations for myself too (and began on Friday) - I guess that`s waht reading blogs and seeing all wonderful decorations do to you.
Comment from Jezze
Time: December 4, 2006, 7:50 am
I second that about warming the lino. It’s useful to have 2 blocks to work on at once; sit on the one while cutting the other, swop when the one you’re working on gets cold. I love your lino design! Good luck with the ink problem…. it’ll be great if you can find something to mix into the liquitex.
Comment from Michelle
Time: December 4, 2006, 8:26 am
Please, please write it out….what a gorgeous stitch!
Michelle
Comment from stacey
Time: December 4, 2006, 4:52 pm
Such cute crafts! I love rainy days for the same reason - a great excuse to stay home and bake, craft and be cozy! The bread I could almost smell…all looks great!
Comment from Heather
Time: December 4, 2006, 4:58 pm
Try using something called a retarder medium. it slows down the drying time and the paint won’t be so sticky. And i believe that either Liquitex or Golden actually make a printing medium that can be mixed with acrylic. Your design is great, and you’re right that lino is hard to cut, especially if its old. I really like the easy cut stuff made by Speedball - just like carving erasers!
Comment from Rachelle
Time: December 4, 2006, 8:34 pm
Oh please write out that pattern when you get the chance! It’s gorgeous and since I live in the US I don’t think there’s much chance I’ll be able to get ahold of the mag. Also, I’m making your skull scarf for my boyfriend for Christmas, his fraternity has the skull and crossbones as a symbol and he already thinks knitting is magical…I can’t wait to see him be baffled by illusion knitting!
Comment from Jenna
Time: December 4, 2006, 8:38 pm
You are so productive, I don’t know how you accomplish all these crafts and go to school at the same time.
I too would love to see that stitch pattern. I’ve seen it before in one of my pattern books and tried to do it, but unfortunately the stitch counts were all off. I’d be thrilled to see the correct version!
Comment from Carol
Time: December 5, 2006, 10:11 pm
Harking back to your magical Snow White design — is there any chance this pattern will be ready for posting soon? I would certainly buy a copy, as I’m completely charmed by this enchanting sweater but nowhere near clever enough to work it out for myself. Thanks — and thanks for all your beautiful designs! They’re so gorgeous.
Comment from Dani
Time: January 14, 2007, 10:34 pm
I’m late to the party, but re: warming lino blocks - if you’re working with hard lino, not rubber lino, you can use a warm iron (’wool’ setting, no steam) right on the surface to make it easier to cut. It stinks, but makes cutting lino possible instantly on even the chilliest days. Just don’t be caught off guard when your knife slides through the warmed stuff verrrry easily!
I’ve been systematically reading your archives (neglecting orchestration assignments to do so…) and I really love your designs. Reading about other crafty people’s motivation and work is so inspiring!
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