[knitting] Fan TAS titch

Fantastitch off the needles, ends to sew in:

Someone on Instagram sent me a link to a video showing how Stephen West weaves in his ends as he joins a new color (Stephen Weavin') and I heard him say the name of the shawl. I've been saying it wrong. It's Fan-TAS-titch, like fantastic. I've been saying fanta-stitch. Like fantasy. Or the soda + stitch. Siiiiigh.

Anyway, I'll try that method on my next colorful shawl. For now, sew snip sew snip sew snip...

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So this Dalgona coffee craze... I have to try it. Need instant coffee. And milk. 

[vermont] April 27

Well, well, well...

Look what I woke up to. I'm at my desk in a wool shawl, wool cowl, wool socks and slippers. W the F is this S. I should be picking ramps this coming weekend but will prob wait another week.

I thought we were getting rain this week, not snow. I finished cleaning up all but one flowerbed. The young shoots should be okay- they've endured snow already. The only sensitive plants I seem to have are my hydrangea bushes. Those have definitely had their early foliage killed by a late frost. 

Good weekend, not much cooking. Sewed a lot- I should service my sewing machine again. And look for a manual online to make sure I'n oiling it correctly... and I should probably find some sewing machine oil. Started cutting up some fun fabrics. Will be sending out some more masks today.

I cast off the Fanastitch shawl and started sewing in ends. There are lots of ends.

Started knitting a hat. And will make some new fingerless mitts for Dollar. Since he's still wearing wool fingerless mitts. Because it's still winter.

[cooking] All the cheese

I saw a post on Instagram that Jasper Hill Farm was selling 4lb bags of Chef Shred for 50% off. Because everyone is (or should be!) quarantine-ing and not going to restaurants, they had a surplus. If you bought a bag, they would also donate a bag to chefs making meals for service workers. So I got a bag and it arrived in just a couple days.

I portioned out half of it for a few recipes and put the rest into the freezer. 

I also looooove the box that the cheese came in- it had an awesome picture:

"Freedom and Unity" is the Vermont state motto. But with cheese!

The first recipe I made were these stuffed buns, Russian pirozhki:

These were so good. Kind of took a day to make but worth it. I think these would be super cute for a Super Bowl party, if you add little strips (laces) perpendicularly to the top seam.

Next was some easy Cheddar Soda Bread:

I love quick breads- just mix and pour or pat it into a pan and bake. We've been enjoying this sliced in half and toasted.

Finally, I had to make mac and cheese. It's still basically winter here and this mac and cheese was the best I've ever made:

Now I can see why Jasper Hill recommends fondu with this cheese. Uuuggghhh, it's so good gooey and melty.

I'm glad I did all this cooking last weekend, I've really not had to cook much this week. We've been picking away at it- eggs with the soda bread for breakfast, a pirozhki for lunch, mac and cheese with broccoli or asparagus for dinner. But still, this is cheese three times a day. That's normal, right?

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TGIFFFF. It's forecast to be sunny and 60 tomorrow (omg omg omg). I'm going to finish cleaning up the flowerbeds in preparation for all the rain it looks like we're going to get next week.

Still sewing masks. I ordered some hella fun fabrics from Joann's that I'll pick up today. I basically only order fabric patterns that make me giggle.

I should be able to finish Fantastitch this weekend. I didn't make the last section as long as written (I ran out of one of the colors) but I'm just so ready to be done with it and move on to small projects. Just the i-cord bind off left. Then sewing in the ends. Then blocking.

[sewing] More face masks

I called a local fabric shop last week and made a one-on-one appt to visit and buy some new fabrics (and I got some bonus 1/4 inch elastic). I picked out a stack of fat quarters and brought them home. Washed, ironed and cut during my day off.

I cut mostly medium and small sizes, with a few large sizes. I did the first round of sewing on a stack and then brought the rectangles to the living room to turn right-side out and pin tucks while we watched a movie, in preparation for the final round of sewing.

I knew I have all those quilting pins for a reason.

After lots and lots of sewing:

I also received my delivery (finally) of colored 1/8 inch elastic.

41 masks total. They all pretty much gone- I sent 10 here, 8 there, 5 somewhere else, etc. I still have lots of cut fabric, so I'll do another round of sewing this week.

I ran out of two spools of thread and I've gotten quick a refilling the bobbin. I feel like the race track pit crew when I do it: pop off the bobbin cover, take the bobbin out, put it in it's spot up top, push it to the right, pull out the big knob on the end of the machine, thread the bobbin, spin it to fill it, pull it off, put it back in it's little nest, rethread the needle, grab the bobbin thread, pop the cover back on and go.

[misc] Penny Monday

Penny, blending into the random stuffed animal and knitting project chair:

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It was a great weekend- I took Friday off, which is exactly what I needed. I got some new fabric for face masks- as well as elastic (!!!)- and spent the weekend sewing. Did a lot of baking. It was not too warm but sunny. 

I'm nearing the end of the Fantastitch shawl. My knitting time has been replaced by sewing but really, I've hardly knit much over the past month. It feels like ever since I started teleworking, I haven't wanted to knit. 

Going to send out some face mask in the mail today. And sew more this week. 

[gardening] Rhubarb

I uncovered my rhubarb (growing since the days my grandmother lived on the property, maybe even since my great-grandmother) a couple days ago. It's so alien looking:

It looks like a brain hatching from a red egg, right? 

I brushed aside all the dead foliage from last year and they were all closed on Sunday. After the rain Monday and sun yesterday, leaves have started to break out of almost every egg:

I've made rhubarb muffins in the past, some rhubarb-strawberry shortbread bars. My favorite method is to just make some simple syrup with it and enjoy in cocktails.

[misc] Murderface Tuesday

We let Murderface and Penny out a bit during lunch while we're home, teleworking.

We try to keep them around the porch, not venturing too far. Penny's pretty good about it:

There are wild animals around here, obviously. I videoed a fox last Friday morning, who didn't seem too bothered that I was standing outside the garage:

So we don't just let the cats stay outside. It'll be nice once it's warm enough to leave windows open, then Penny will stop howling at the front door all day long. 

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Still waiting on elastic in the mail to be able to make more masks. I found my stash of soap fabrics:

I've been buying Orange Cat soaps for years at the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival. They come wrapped in bits of fabric. I was going to save them to make charm squares for a quilt but they are the perfect size for small face masks. I washed all the fabrics and they're ironed/cut. I just really need the elastic. 

[baking] Cinnamon Buns

We're supposed to be eating all the carbs while we're quarantining, right? I made some cinnamon buns over the weekend:

I've learned not to roll them too tight, or else they end up cone shaped:

Which still happened a little bit:

The only downside to these is that the butter/sugar seems to melt a bit during the second rise (perhaps I should do the second rise under a lower proofing temperature) and this kind of caramelizes under the buns when they bake. It sounds nice but it's kind of crispy and difficult to pull apart the buns when they're done.

Buuuuuuut... we ate them anyway.

I mixed up some simple powdered sugar / half and half icing. 

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The weekend went by too fast. I'm still working on the Fantastitch shawl- I'm in the middle of the last section, then I'll just have the bind-off. 

Yesterday I went out and cleaned up a few flowerbeds. I ripped back much of my 'snow in summer' (Cerastium tomentosum) hoping for new growth this year. It's been looking a little sad and old the past few years. I'm glad I did it before all the rain today.

Mini daffodils are blooming:

Fragrant hyacinths are on their way:

Plenty of irises and daylilies are poking up.

I need to make a list of all the things to divide this year. I'm going to try to manage my time better with so much teleworking and not having to drive into work and back. This should give me more free time in a day, right? But I feel like I'm knitting/crafting less and working more. And obviously cooking every single freaking night. But I should make time for an hour in the gardens every day after work, weather permitting. 

[sewing] Face masks

Now that we're advised to swear facemasks when we go out, so many sewing patterns have popped up online. My aunt sent me a link to this pattern for our local hospital. There is a link to a PDF pattern and an instructional video. I watched the video twice and then had no problems making some:

I'm using leftover cotton fabric from past quilts I've sewn. I was very fortunate to find 1/8" elastic in my craft stash. I made a medium size one for myself and it fit perfectly, so I made more.

After sewing the two pieces of fabric together (and inserting the elastic ends) and then turning the mask right side out:

Pinning the tucks:

Sewing the around the mask edge, securing the tucks:

And sewing around the mask one more time:

Finished:

I broke out some Start Wars fabrics:

I quickly ran out of 1/8" elastic and you can see I tried some other things that I had on hand. Thicker elastic (not as comfortable) and thin elastic cord (more comfortable but harder to sew in and I don't think it's as reliable). Also, I think these novelty fabrics are part polyester and probably not as good as the 100% cotton, thicker fabric.

I've ordered more 1/8" elastic from an Esty shop- maybe it'll arrive by the end of the week (I'd love to work on more this weekend- at least I could get all the cutting done) but more likely early next week. Every actual craft store in the area seems to be out of elastic in real life and online.

I made a couple small-sized masks for my niece and gave a couple medium-sized masks to my sister and mom. The mask was loose on my sister, which surprised me. I just assumed it would fit like a glove for everyone like it did for me. But some customization to the lengths of elastic would probably be necessary for some wearers.

I've worn mine out a couple times. I was apprehensive about looking silly but no one made me feel weird. In fact, most people looked at me like, "Good job, you're doing your part."

One other good thing- I finally serviced my sewing machine. I had never done that before- changed the needle, took of the metal plate and brushed out all the lint (omg, so much lint) and put everything back together. Now it's running smoother.

[misc] Santana

We had to say goodbye to Santana on Sunday evening. Dollar brought dinner up to Santana's room and she had a very large stroke that paralyzed her body. Her first big stroke was March 2019 and while she recovered to be almost 100%, we knew her time with us was going to be limited. We are thankful that she stayed with us an extra year to give us more love and kisses and nuzzles and attitude. 

This is the last photo I took of her, from April 2.

My after-work routine was to go into her room and get into bed to work on a NYT Crossword puzzle on my iPad. She would climb on top of me and purr while I filled out clues. I miss that so much now.

This is the earliest photo I have of her, from 2011:

She was the neighbor's cat (as was Murderface) but started coming around for reliable food and shelter. She'd be left out all winter long- I'd hear her crying at their door across the street. They would open up a can of wet food and just put the can outside for her. You can see she's so dirty in the picture- her white toes are gray and you can barely see the white streak on her nose.

I just remember saying, "When we move, we're taking her and Murderface." We kept the name Santana (which is what the neighbors called her- it just stuck) but she was Santana Banana or Nanny Bananny to us. 

We moved to a brand new house and gave her her own room:

We realized now that she must have thought it was a dream. Taken off the street and brought to a new house where she had her own safe space and food in real dishes and treats and unconditional patience and love. Okay, maybe she's tried our patience. Those early days featured lots scratched faces and hands.

She got toys:

But then we brought home Penny:

She never got along with the other cats but sometimes I'd catch a rare picture of the three of them together:

I like seeing old pictures of how chonky she got:

She helped me with all the quilts I've made:

And some of my knitting projects:

I'll miss my sleeping buddy. She got into the habit of sleeping right next to my pillow:

It was easy to turn my head and give her pets/kisses in the middle of the night. She'd start purring and I'd close my eyes and go back to sleep. She really got to trust us that we'd never hurt her and I'm so thankful all the scratching and hissing stopped. Sometimes she'd get grumpy and hit us, but she stopped using nails. 

I'm sorry she won't have one more summer of sleeping in a open window, so warm in the sun:

We miss her greatly: