Crafty Resolutions

As we approach December 31, we take stock, judge our past 12 months, and resolve to create a new and better life in the coming year. It's normal to want to wipe the slate clean and start fresh, with promises of increased willpower and optimism. Of course, for those of us who ever purchased a gym membership in January and stopped going by March, we know that these resolutions are, at best, wishful thinking.

A very wise friend and mentor recently said that resolutions "set us up for failure and feeling sh**ty about ourselves. The resolutions people make are usually about fixing themselves and their lives, based on “there is something wrong here” or even worse, “there is something wrong with me.”

[Editorial tangent: if you're interested in doing something more productive than just making resolutions, I invite you to visit his blog post entitled "Looking Back, Looking Forward" which is a three-part exercise developed to help you create closure for this year and plan for the next.]

So, since I'm working on developing deliberate and authentic goals for next year, I figured it might be a good idea to apply this thinking to my crafting. There are a lot of things I'd like to to with my knitting/sewing/upholstery/etc but I need to be realistic about what I can accomplish while still stretching myself a bit. With this in mind, here are a few crafty goals for 2011:

There's an app for that.

1. More sewing. Being forced to sew as part of my upholstery class has given me new-found confidence with the medium. I've always said that I only sew squares (duvet covers, curtains, pillow covers, etc.) but, in 2010, I had to sew the more complicated seat cushion for my wing-back chair and I participated in the "charity craft day" during which I sewed simple girls dresses. As a result, I feel like it's time to branch out a bit and try to make something that requires more than just a straight stitch. The sewing machine is set up. Now I just need to pick a project to run with. Suggestions would be appreciated.

Cassandra rocks the cables

2. Knitting cables. Similar to my sewing prowess, my knitting skillz are not "mad." After nearly 9 years of knitting (off and on) I haven't progressed past beginning-intermediate. I try, with each project, to push myself a bit but my lack of confidence has kept me at "using techniques I already know - just in new and different ways." I need to make myself learn some new techniques. In 2011, I vow to learn cables. Cassandra (who started knitting on the same day as me and FAR surpassed me years ago) knits cables like they're nothing and creates the most gorgeous patterns. I'm intent on conquering my fear and adding this skill to my repertoire.

Cassandra rocks embroidery

3. Learning to embroider. As you may have noticed, Cassandra's a pretty good embroiderer (see: Tuesday's blog post as well has her Bert and Ernie pillows) and, again, I have skill envy. So, I'm going to use the awesome book that we reviewed a couple of months ago, and pick an embroidery pattern to apply to whatever sewing project I end up doing. See what I did there? Combined two goals. We call that efficiency, baby.

The chair that started it all.

4. Finish upholstering stuff. I originally took the upholstery class because I didn't want to pay someone to recover a particular chair. I'm now working on chair number three. If I do it correctly, I can have every upholstered chair in my house redone by December 2011. Once this happens, I have no more projects and I have no space for new furniture. This is a bittersweet thought. I love my upholstery class but there's no reason for me to keep taking it unless I want to try to be an upholsterer for a living - or I want to buy a bigger house. Seems like overkill just to keep taking a class. So my goal is to finish what I've got by the end of fall semester 2011. *sad face*

5. Open myself up to new inspiration. 2010 was a great craft year for me. Starting this blog and partnering with my old friend, Cassandra, has kept me firmly involved in what's going on in the craft world. In 2011, I'd like to expand on the work we've done, discover new crafters (via blogs, podcasts, books, etc), learn new skills, and generally become better at my hobbies (or add new ones.) I think it's important that we stay fresh and inspired - and it's a goal I'm committed to.

I hope that 2011 brings all of you health, happiness, and success in whatever goal(s) you set for yourself. Just remember, don't make resolutions that make you feel shitty about yourself. Set goals that, when you reach them, allow you to celebrate how awesome you are.

Happy New Year, friends.

- Alex

Practical, yet alluring.

Hi again everyone! I hope you had a wonderful holiday this year. My post-holiday has been spent decompressing and thinking about what I'd like to do next (craft-wise).

After the insanity that was Christmas morning at my house, the realization hit me that I had nothing on the needles. That is one weird sensation. You see, I am not one of those knitters who has 8 projects going at one time. I am more inclined to take one project from beginning to end, then begin again. So when I finish a project, I get a bit stressy until I cast-on for the next. I'd kind of like to use some yarn that I have in my stash for the next project. The front-runner is 1100 yards of Black Water Abbey 2Ply Worsted in the colorway Autumn. The color is so me,  love it. I had purchased it to make a vest that is not going to happen... so I'd love to find a good use for it. I have a few ideas and I will let you know which is the winner soon!

Black Water Abbey Worsted in Autumn.

Christmas night, relaxing on the couch after the boys went to bed, I cleaned out my knitting bag. Extra yarns from the holiday sweaters, needles, patterns, etc. Everything needed to be cleared out in anticipation of the next project. During my organizing, I took a good look at my accessory case. It's felted wool and was kinda cute at one time. I had purchased it a few years ago from a yarn show vendor. Today it looks a bit tattered and frankly isn't really my style.

Not really my style, but functional.

So my next project was obvious. I was going to design my own knitting accessory case. I set pencil to paper and began my design. I knew I wanted all the same functionality of the case I already had, but with a bit more panache.

From my sketches, you can see that I am don't improvise much!

I knew I wanted to use the linen-looking cotton by French General in my fabric stash for the body of the case. I dug that out and started thinking. The fabric is beautiful, but plain. It really called for some embroidery embellishment in the design. After much sketching, I decided that I wanted to do a robin and a robin's nest. In my searching for images of robins on the internet, I ran across a link to Martha Stewart's site that had a robin embroidery template all ready for download. How lucky was I? No need to draw it out myself. I downloaded and got cracking:

Robin embroidery template courtesy of Martha.

About halfway through the embroidery, I was a little disappointed. It's more traditional than I thought initially. It's the pose of the bird more than anything. But, I might be over-thinking this. I will press on. I will finish up the embroideries, and then break out the sewing machine and sew up the interior pockets and edging. Once I get to the sewing, I am assuming that the project will fly... famous last words! My next post will (hopefully) have a finished product for you to see!

Take care,

–Cassandra

It's the Most Wonderful Time...

"Sing it with me! 

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
With the kids jingle belling
And everyone telling you "Be of good cheer"
It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
It's the hap -happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings
When friends come to call 
It's the hap - happiest season of all

There'll be parties for hosting
Marshmallows for toasting
And caroling out in the snow
There'll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Christmases long, long ago

It's The Most Wonderful Ti....   Wait. What??

Hold that sled just a second. "There'll be scary ghost stories?" It's Christmas not Halloween... WTH?"

You've just read a fairly accurate portrayal of me, Alex, about four weeks ago when I finally (after 40-*cough* years on this earth) finally, actually processed that line of the song.

This led to a little bit of obsessive thinking every time I heard the song again - which, if you're listening to the "all Christmas, all the time" radio station is about every 22 minutes.

Yesterday, Cassandra suggested that I use today's blog post to "explore the English tradition of Christmas ghost stories." ...Wait. What?? There's actually a basis for that freaky line in the song? *facepalm*

So yeah. I thought I'd load y'all up with a bunch of links about the history of the tradition but all I could really find were vague references to pre-Christian, European oral traditions and evidence of the fact that the Victorians (obsessed with death and spirits as they were) were very fond of the Christmas ghost story. As Cassandra most eloquently put it, "You do realize that is why 'A Christmas Carol' is a ghost story, right? Dickens didn't just pull the concept out of his ass."

The best resource I found was from a literary researcher named Richard Dalby. Dalby has a penchant for the supernatural and many of the books and anthologies he's contributed to have this theme. One (sadly out of print, it seems), "Ghosts for Christmas," is a compilation of Christmas-themed ghost stories, I'm assuming from Victorian times. Here's the list of stories included:

"Our Ghost Party" - Jerome K. Jerome
"The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton - Charles Dickens
"The Ghost Detective" - Mark Lemon
"The Dead Sexton" - J. Sheridan Le Fanu
"Markheim" - Robert Louis Stevenson
"The Ghost of Christmas Eve" - J.M. Barrie
"The Real and the Counterfeit" - Mrs. Alfred Baldwin
"Number Ninety" - Mrs. B.M. Croker
"Thurlow's Christmas Story" - J.K. Bangs
"Their Dear Little Ghost" - Elia W. Peattie
"Wolverton Tower" - Grant Allen
"A Ghost-Child" - Bernard Capes
"The Kit-Bag" - Algernon Blackwood
"The Shadow" - E. Nesbit
"The Irtonwood Ghost" - Elinor Glyn
"Bone To His Bone" - E.G. Swain
"Transition" - Algernon Blackwood
"The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance" - M.R. James
"The Sculptor's Angel" - Marie Corelli
"The Snow" - Hugh Walpole
"Smee" - A.M. Burrage
"The Prescription" - Marjorie Bowen
"The Demon King" - J.B. Priestly
"Lucky's Grove" - H. Russell Wakefield
"I Shall Take Proper Precautions" - George H. Bushnell
"Christmas Meeting" - Rosemary Timperley
"Someone In The Lift" - L.P. Hartley
"The Christmas Present" - Ramsey Campbell
"Christmas Entertainment" - Daphne Froome
"Gebal and Ammon and Amalek" - David G. Rowlands

So now I'm on the hunt for a copy of this book and I'll be doing some independent, Interwebz research to see if I can find out more about this craziness. I'm not sure what was up with the Victorians and death but I found an interesting article written by someone at Berkley called "A Victorian Obsession With Death."

You know...suddenly the "hap-happiest time of the year" became awfully maudlin.

- Alex

Dec 24 - Postscript:  I follow a few blogs including one called "Forgotten Classics" which focuses on less-well-known classic literature. Guess what the post was today... Christmas Ghost Stories (of course). Check it out! Forgotten Classics: Episode 145 - Two Christmas Ghost Stories.

By the Skin of My Teeth

The clock is ticking...Santa will be here really soon. As usual, I'm not ready. The boy's sweaters are all knitted up and blocked. Seaming is in progress!

Bogart's blue sweater having a relaxing soak yesterday.

They will be done in the next few days (eek - skin of my teeth before the holiday) and then my knitting bag will be empty. That is the weirdest feeling ever. But it won't last, I have at least 99 ideas for what I want to do next. And the front-runners are all small scale projects. After two little cabled sweaters, I need some instant gratification. My next post will talk about my priority list (and maybe even some shots of the new sweaters on little bodies). Some knitting, some not. But I'm pretty excited about it all! I'm ready for a fresh start and I have so many ideas in my head.

Short post again today. This week, life is getting in the way of our relationship dear friends!

Happy Holidays everyone!

– Cassandra

You're a mean one...

Call me Grinch.

Run on sentences aside, I offer you the first paragraph (with paraphrased first line above) of Moby Dick. Ishmael's plight is a perfect analogy for how I'm feeling about this holiday season - and, frankly, a few holiday seasons before it.

"Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me."

Unlike Ishmael, however, I don't have the sea or ship to flee to when I'm feeling blue and the Grinch decides to take up residence in my soul over the holiday season.

I wish I could pinpoint when this started happening. I used to be a total brown-eyed Cindy-Lou Who - wide eyed and full of warm Christmas feelings. I decorated like crazy, put up a real tree, sent cards to an ever-growing list of family and friends, baked cookies, and planned and bought perfect, special gifts for everyone. But, for the last few years, I can barely be bothered.

And here's the really weird thing... I'm not depressed or sad, although I feel like I SHOULD be. Ironically, my guilt over my loss of Christmas spirit is actually WORSE than the loss of Christmas spirit.

This holiday, here are the things that give me a little glimmer of hope that I'm not really a total Grinch:

1. The awesome kid-sized foozball table that I bought for my niece and nephew. I'm glad I had an excuse to get that for them. Because it's AWESOME.

2. The Hallmark Star Trek-themed Christmas ornaments. This year they introduced one depicting the Pon-Farr fight between Kirk and Spock and now I want to have a Trek-themed tree next year.

Seriously! How cool is this?

3. Peppermint. There's not enough peppermint in our daily lives. This season rectifies that situation. Peppermint bark and peppermint hot chocolate top the list.

4. My neighbors' decorations. While I can't quite find the energy to put up my own decorations this year, I'm thankful every night, as I drive through the neighborhood, that the houses look festive.

Not my actual neighbors

Like Tom Bodett, I'm leaving the lights on for my Christmas spirit. I assume that, at some point in my future, I'll wake up one chilly late-November morning and have the calling. My soul will stir with Christmas cheer and I'll start chomping at the bit to put up a tree and fill my house presents. But, until that day arrives, I'm going to work at not feeling guilty about Christmas being more of a burden than a celebration, I'm going to enjoy other's holiday excitement, and I'm going to visualize my heart growing three sizes.

Merry Christmas (or whatever winter holiday you celebrate).

- Alex

Hey good lookin', whatcha got cookin'?

This has been a very hectic week of sickness (note the absence of a Monday post) and frantic little holiday-sweater knitting. I have a sleeve and a half left and I hope to have them done by the weekend. Then comes the seaming and collar finishing. Hopefully that will go quickly. Since both sweaters are the same, I opted to finish them at the same time. Ford-factory style. With the below-zero temperatures and snow in our future it should not be a problem to muster the ambition to sit and knit. This is the icy view of our yard this week:

Aside from the knitting, I haven't had too much time for anything else in my crafty world. I do have daydreams about upcoming project ideas, but I promised myself not to make any plans until after the new year. For now, I have to focus on sweaters, shopping, food and family... and those darn holiday cards that won't mail themselves!

Because we all have so much entertaining to do this time of year I thought I would share one of my favorite recipes. Deceptively simple, unbelievably tasty. Trust me. We used to have this dish quite often when we weren't as vegetarian as we are now, but it still gets trotted out for meat-eating company. Enjoy!

–Cassandra

Chicken & Basil Cream

4 chicken breasts without the bone

stick of butter

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

plain breadcrumbs

milk

pepper

salt

small container of heavy cream

¼ cup fresh grated parmesan

1 cup chicken bullion

1/8 cup fresh basil (chopped)

small jar of pimentos (diced)

Step 1: Clean and rinse chicken in cold water. Slice into smaller pieces and put in a bowl of milk.

Step 2: Dice the onion and garlic and sauté in hot skillet with about ½ stick of butter until the onions are soft and translucent.

Step 3: Put the breadcrumbs into a shallow pan about 1” deep. Add pepper and mix well.

Step 4: Take the chicken out of the milk and toss it in the breadcrumbs to coat. Then fry it in the pan with the onions and garlic until golden and juices run clear. If you need more butter in the pan…go ahead and put it in. Salt the cooking chicken lightly.

Step 5: Take the cooked chicken and put it in a serving bowl and keep warm.

Step 6: Take the cup of bullion and deglaze the pan. Then add the heavy cream and pepper to taste. Let that simmer for about 2 minutes. Stirring often. Add the grated parmesan, pimentos and chopped basil. Simmer for another minute and then remove from heat and let sit for a couple minutes until thickened.

Step 7: Pour cream sauce over cooked chicken and serve.

Online Inspiration

The world is becoming more and more "virtual" every day. It's not the Tron program or the Enterprise's halodeck yet but we spend SO much time online. We work, we learn, we play, and we "meet" people in a digital environment all day long. It stands to reason that we would find inspiration and creativity online as well. The best part of seeking inspiration online is that it's a deep, deep pool to explore - an entire globe's worth of creativity as a matter of fact.

Today, Cassandra and I are going to share a handful of Web-discovered inspirations. For me, it's usually people that I connect with who are doing amazing work - especially if it's something I'm not particularly good at. They make me want to be a better, more creative person. For Cassandra, it's all about "gorgeous things, darling." She gets her creative boost from beautifully handmade items. Both of us are consistently overwhelmed by the sheer volume of talent in the world.

Consider this blog entry our "follow Friday" (Twitter users know what I'm talkin' about.) We invite you to check these out and see if they inspire you! We'd also love it if you turn us on to something that you've found inspirational. Just leave us a post or send an email. We're always looking for new ways to spark that fire.

Cassandra's Inspiration Today:

I am always looking for gorgeous buttons for my knitted items and here are two I just might have to order very soon from Etsy. This craftsmanship inspires me to take even the smallest detail on one of my crafted items and make it special:

"Bubble Buttons" in Peacock Blue by chARityelise

"Birds of a Feather" Buttons by SandhraLee

I adore the fabric designs of Heather Ross. Her designs are so, so clever. She inspires me to think about possibly heading over to Spoonflower and designing my own yardage one of these days. These newspaper boats are outstanding, I just might have to order a few yards:

"Newspaper Boats" in Aqua by Heather Ross

Wes Anderson’s movies are very inspirational for me. Every aspect of his projects are thought out with such care and detail. The set designs, the stories, the pace, and most of all, the characters… it all blows my mind. Apparently, I’m not the only one. The artwork at Spoke Editions is all inspired by characters from Wes Anderson’s films. I’ve been drooling over this Margot Tenenbaum print for a while now:

"Margot Tenenbaum" by Ana Bagayan

Lastly, I’d like to talk about a podcast that just screams quality. Cast-On by Brenda Dayne is a show about knitting, sort of. Brenda (who has a smooth, easy-to-listen-to voice that makes you feel like she’s talking directly to you over a cup of tea) discusses her life as an ex-pat living in Wales, cooking, her family, her knitting, and the various other projects she sees fit to tackle. It’s well done mostly because it is so thoughtful, organized, and produced well. Try it sometime.

Alex's Inspiration Today:

As I mentioned earlier, a lot of my inspiration lately has been coming from super-talented people that I've met (or that I follow) online. Here are just a few of many:

One of Sam's book cover designs

Sam Potts - Sam is a NYC-based graphic designer. I don't remember how I started following him on Twitter (@sampotts) but I did and I'm a better person for it. Beyond being a really talented designer, Sam is driven to create interesting, unusual, and thoughtful art. He won my heart with a project called Twitter On Paper, wherein anyone could go to the website and either randomly generate or reference a particular tweet. Sam would then take the tweet of your choice and transpose it, by hand, onto paper and mail it to you. There was something so subtle and elegant in the art of taking a digital phenomenon and making it physical that I became completely enamored. His current project is The Infinite Jest Diagram. You have to see it to believe it.

Flower Cthulu

John Kovalic - To say that John is a cartoonist is to disregard the myriad talents of the man. The creator of Dork Tower and Dr Blink: Superhero Shrink, John's made a niche for himself on the page. But he's also a game developer (Apples to Apples), beer connoisseur, toy developer (Mythos Buddies & My Little Cthulu) and amazingly generous human being. I started following him on twitter (@muskrat_john) and, by the grace of the Norns (and through a mutual friend), met him at a Neil Gaiman event. I like to fancy myself his friend now. He inspires me to be a great writer and to think big.

Laurie - A sophisticated writer - in blog and 140 character form - @your_overcoat is poignant without trying to be. There's always something a little bittersweet in her lovely, concise writing. And, by the same token, she can geek out on something as simple as a set of flannel sheets or her new ukulele. She is the reason I first tried Adagio Tea and the reason I spent $80 today at Amazon.com. I love her style and her brain and, since we live in the same city and have mutual friends, I assume we'll meet someday. In the meantime, I strive to be as cool as she is.

The Brothers Winn of What You Ought To Know - Think of their videos as "The More You Know" PSAs with a HUGE dose of sarcasm. Their "about us" section on the site succinctly says, "Just two brothers making a podcast. We both research and write the show." I can't even find out what their first names are... Anyway, they're really smart. And funny. And appealing. And they inspire me by the simplicity of what they do and the passion they put into it. Basically, they do good research and then rant about it on camera. I fell in love when they did the rant on grammar and the English language and have stayed for rants on everything from politics to entertainment. They inspire me to want to be REALLY smart.

There are a whole lot of other online things that inspire me - videos, people, great site design, awesome content - but this post is getting too long as it is. Maybe we'll do another one so I can introduce to you some of my other favorite people - foodie librarians, beer makers, mommy-bloggers, tweeps and friends alike.

- Alex and Cassandra