Crafts Gone Wrong

Y'all remember last week when I posted about doing our Crafting for Charity day? Well, let me tell you... our normally laid back event was an adventure in pure frustration.

As I mentioned, three of us decided to make baby kimonos this time around. We've been using the book Craft Hope by Jade Sims for months and have really liked everything we've made from it so far. For example, the Take-Along Quilt pattern was super-easy and allowed three non-quilters to get our hands wet with a new craft. So, the baby kimonos seemed like the perfect project - small supply list, weirdly simple pattern, and only a few steps in the actual instructions.

Lesson #1: Never assume that, because every other pattern you've worked from a book is good, that the one you're working on now is going to be good.

Seriously, the "pattern" itself should have been a big red flag.  I sew. Cassandra sews. Our third charity crafter sews. Why any of us thought that THIS pattern was remotely complete is beyond me:

Please note that the pattern instructions say to "Enlarge 500%". Yeah. This is all fine and good except that the average office copy machine will only enlarge 400% and there's no standard paper large enough to accommodate the full-sized pattern.

Now, I'm sure that our math-inclined readers (or our readers with better abstract analytical skills) will immediately have a solution to this little problem. In the aftermath of our sewing adventure, I've managed to think of a variety of ways we could have approached this dilemma. However, in the throes of having to have this pattern ready for a scheduled event, I took the "easy" route and enlisted the help of someone at Company X who has access to a plotter.

We arrived at our local fabric shop and set up in the big sewing room. Then, the three kimono makers started to cut our fabric. In the middle of cutting, we realized that something was amiss. The description of the kimono mentions "...special features, including fold-over sleeve cuffs that will protect a baby from accidental scratches." Unfortunately, there was no pattern piece for the fold-over cuff. No worries! We can improvise the pattern-piece. And we did.

Our next hurdle came when we started piecing the pattern together and begin sewing. The instructions were just short of gibberish - leading us to wonder aloud if anyone had bothered testing this pattern before it was published.  Let me provide a sample of what we experienced:

3. Lay the back piece right side up on your work surface. Note: if you're making the version with the envelope, lay the folded envelope on top of the back piece with the raw edges aligned. The fold will be facing toward the top of the garment. Lay the front pieces, right side down and one on top of the other, over the back piece (and envelope, if applicable).

Again, I'd like to direct your attention to the actual pattern pieces. Does anyone see instructions for a "fold" on the envelope piece?? So... how is the envelope supposed to fold and why? If we fold the envelope and align the raw edges, they'll be sewn into the garment and the envelope won't turn correctly.

Oh! and pattern has you finishing the the raw edges AFTER you sew the entire kimono together - which makes absolutely no sense.  Of course, we learned (the hard way) that, if you finish the edges BEFORE you sew this wonky pattern together, the pieces don't fit properly.

We are three, intelligent, educated women and yet it still took us about an hour and a half to figure out how to piece this craziness together to make something that resembled a giftable item. Once we divined the answer, Charity Crafter #3 managed to knock out two of them. I did 1.75 (I have to lay in the ribbon and fix the mislaid fold-over sleeve envelopes. Cassandra finished one.

Cassandra was so angry about the pattern that she, quite literally, couldn't blog about it. Once we've both calmed down, we're going to write to Ms Sims and suggest that she either remove the pattern or fix it before they publish another edition of this book. We also going to suggest that someone TEST every pattern before they go to print.

My issue is with the people who wasted over and hour of our time, including: a pattern designer who wrote a crappy pattern (inexcusable), an author who didn't bother to read/test the pattern before it went to print, an editor who either didn't know or didn't care that the pattern was crap, and myriad other people who touched this book before it went to print. They are directly responsible for putting out a bad product and creating frustration where there should have been harmony and good-will.

Is it wrong to expect people to deliver a basic level of quality? I don't think so. Maybe if we were talking about subjective quality - like, is the finished pattern pretty. But this is not "subjective" this is "does it work or does it not work." It's pretty simple to get that right and incredibly lazy to allow something so ineffective to be part of an otherwise brilliant book.

Quality is important to me and Cassandra. It's one of the things we bond over. This experience is the kind of thing that really upsets me (in case you hadn't noticed) because I know that someone, anyone, could have taken a 1/2 hour of time and prevented the ripple effect that caused us to have a bad experience.

So... my two cents... Always do your best to ensure the highest quality you can provide and remember that your output is going to affect someone, somewhere. Maybe even a little crafting group from Madison, WI.

- Alex

Decisions, Decisions...

After much gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands, I have decided what sweaters to knit for the boys this season. (For those not in-the-know, I knit them new sweaters each winter.)  Last year the sweaters were cabled, so this year I thought that I would change it up and go with stripes. The pattern I decided on is the (aptly named) Boys Striped Sweater. And it happens to be free...score!

Boy's Striped Sweater photo courtesy of Prima Knitting Magazine.

Love the way it hangs, especially the straight bottom. I'm pretty excited to cast-on and can't wait until my yarn arrives from WEBS. And...speaking of the yarn...

Admittedly, my indecision on this yarn selection has been annoying to everyone around me. I have been pouring over cotton DK weight yarn choices online...looking for the perfect color/texture for the stripes. I know, I should be shopping at my local yarn shop (and I'd rather), but they aren't open after I get kids to bed. And lately, that's all the time I have.


The problem I have with shopping online is that the options are just so overwhelming. Color-wise, do I go with heathered, saturated or subtle tones? And when you can't see and feel the actual fibers, it's hard appreciate the qualities of each brand. I have been shopping online for this yarn for weeks. But I threw the gauntlet down (with myself) yesterday, I'd had enough. I needed to narrow the playing field so I could focus. Tick-tock. The leaves are turning already.


I decided to go with something I knew. Milk yarn. I love that stuff. I've made a couple things in the past out of Rowan's Milk Yarn. It knits up beautifully and time has told that it wears like iron. Sadly, when searching online, I discovered that my beloved Rowan was phasing out this line. They still seem to have it in "fine", but the DK is discontinued. Sniff.

Abel jumper knit in Rowan's Milk DK.

Farmer Fox was also knitted (and washed many times since) in Rowan Milk DK.

Luckily, a company called Viking of Norway is carrying what seems to be the same exact milk yarn fiber in a delicious array of colors. I stumbled upon them when searching on WEBS and promptly ordered 2 skeins each of green, blue, and brown to add to a couple of beige skeins I already have in my stash. It was on sale for $5.29/skein so I was pretty stoked that these sweaters weren't going to end up costing me a fortune. It looks just like the Rowan I am used to, hopefully I will fall in love when the package comes in the mail. I'm sure I will. I'm notoriously "easy" when it comes to soft, colorful skeins.

Viking of Norway's Milk and Honey collection...yummy!

Let's hope by the weekend I will be casting on for a green-beige striped sweater with brown trim and a blue-beige sweater with brown trim. My plate is very full these days dear friends...there will be so much to share here the next few months. :)

–Cassandra

Giving It Away

Multi-tasking (note the iPhone for tweeting while I craft)

It's that time again, folks! Our little craft group at Company X is off to make stuff for charity this afternoon.


For the uninitiated, Company X generously gives its employees four hours each quarter to do volunteer work. They don't really care what we do - pick up litter on the side of the road, help out at the local retirement home, volunteer at your kids school for a day, etc - they just want us out in the community doing something for the greater good.


At the beginning of the year, Cassandra found the book Craft Hope by Jade Sims. Thus began our Crafting for Charity group. Every quarter a group of us get together and make something to give away to people in need. We've made quilts that were sent to Japan after the earthquake, little girls' dresses that were sent to Haiti, fleece blankets for a pet shelter, tiny knitted caps for preemie babies, and more. Today we're going to be working on baby kimonos.

We're making the envelope bottom so little toes can't escape

Doing this every three months has turned out to be one of the most fulfilling parts of our job. As a team-building activity, it's been great. I love doing something fun with people who I work with. All the politics and wrangling gets left behind and I get to know the real person. Plus, packing the boxes and envelopes to send off our finished crafts is a huge soul-warmer.

I hope that our group will continue and that our idea will expand. I'd love to see other groups form to do charity work like this.

Maybe next week we'll post some pics of our day and our finished products. Have a great weekend everyone!

- Alex

The Definition of Distraction

Yeah...I have a lot of stuff I need to be doing right now. Sewing projects are half-baked, pattern designs need completion, supplies must be sourced, yada, yada. So what am I actually doing? Starting a Beekeeper's Quilt.

Photo of a finished quilt courtesy of Tiny Owl Knits.

I spent some time browsing Ravelry last weekend and stumbled upon this curious pattern. In short, it is a knitting pattern that appeals to the quilter in me. Each little honeycomb hexagon is knit separately and then tossed in a basket until you have enough to assemble the quilt (384 yikes!). I love the idea of little portable bits of knitting to keep in my purse for down times. I have always envied sock knitters and their portable projects!

This is a baby sock I abandoned 5 years ago...when I decided it wasn't for me.
Yarn will be re-purposed for the quilt.

Speaking of not sock knitting, I occasionally have a moment of insanity when I purchase sock yarn. It's usually the siren song of the pretty colors and soft fibers. It's when I get into full justification mode where I tell myself I will double it and use it for a scarf, or maybe some lace knitting. And then it sits in my yarn box. Forever. So, another reason for loving the pattern is that I can use all of the sock yarn I have on hand for this and it still won't be enough. Great stash-buster!

Sparkly pink sock yarn I bought ages ago...because it was pink and sparkly.

 This project is so darn cute! I am not the only one who thinks so. As of today, Ravelry has 1522 active projects for The Beekeeper's Quilt. Pretty awesome considering that the pattern was published in July of 2011. Way to go Tiny Owl Knits!

I am looking forward to seeing how I customize this project as I go along. The pattern really lends itself to embroidered bits, interesting color choices, shape, etc. I plan on taking my time with this...just picking it up here and there...letting it evolve. Love.

Tiny Owl designs some of the most fanciful and charming knitting patterns I've seen online. Very clever, lots of attention to detail. Take a look and a listen. The designer, Stephanie Dosen is an incredible professional musician as well.

–Cassandra

Soup's On (Again)

Late in the game today - having forgotten it was my turn to post - I decided to review some of our old posts for inspiration . I discovered that my post on 9/24/10 (a year ago this week) was about autumn's untimely arrival and soup. Interestingly, the entire post is applicable to today - autumn came to us last week without warning and, yesterday, I made my favorite Three Bean Soup (recipe below).

So, in the spirit of laziness and procrastination, I offer you last year's post for your reading pleasure....

Soup's On!

Autumn came unceremoniously to Wisconsin - as it often does. There were a couple of "transition" weeks thrown in there where it rained and got a little cooler but, for the most part, it was summer one day and not-summer the next.

This season is bittersweet. I hate that summer is over because I love the sun and the warmth and the activity. Plus, the end of summer means that winter - my most hated season - is just around the corner. (Argh!)  But there's something lovely about autumn too. The crisp feeling in the air. The smell of crumbly leaves. Wrapping up in a favorite sweater. And, for me, the return of comforting soups.

Now, don't get me wrong - I eat soup year round. I'm a huge fan of cold soups in the summer with Cold Cucumber Soup being my favorite. But there's something so nest-y and "mom" about a good, solid hot soup that I think of autumn and the subsequent unmentionable season as the seasons for this particular food.

There's also a nice dovetail with soup and the dreaded "garden clearing." The last of the tomatoes (which look kind of puny), the overgrown and flowering basil/fennel/oregano/etc., the squash, etc. all need to be dealt with. They're generally not nice enough to stand alone at this point so they need to be cooked into some lovely concoction and soup is the perfect vehicle.

Coincidentally, Bon Appetite Magazine's September edition has a really nice article about a woman who taught herself to cook by making soups. It's a fun story and I recommend it for both the treatise on soups and the provided recipes.

So, to kick off your autumn the right way, make a big pot of soup this week! Here are a couple of recipes to get you started. One uses up the last of the garden and the other is a fast and easy soup created from canned beans. Enjoy!

Squash & Tomato Soup

3-4 large tomatoes or the equivalent in medium to small tomatoes, skin & seeds removed, chopped
4-6 cups of various cubed summer squashes (eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, etc)
1/2 a large onion diced
1-2 cloves of garlic, diced
2-3 T olive oil
Basil, oregano, thyme, (or Italian-blend seasoning) to taste
Salt & pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese, grated, to taste
(optional: diced bell pepper; kale; spinach; cabbage)

Heat soup pot on medium to medium-high heat. Add olive oil. Saute onion until translucent. Add garlic and saute for one minute. Add chopped squash. Saute for a few minutes - until squash is a bit soft. Add chopped tomatoes. Stay with the pot, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have cooked down enough to make a broth. If your tomatoes don't have enough juice to make a broth, add a small can or two of diced tomatoes with their juices. Add your herbs. Once the consistency is sort of stew-like, lower heat to simmer and cover. Let it cook for thirty minutes or so and check that the squash is done. As soon as you're happy with the consistency, salt, pepper, and cheese to taste. Serve hot with a cheese to sprinkle on top.

This is the base soup. You can add many different veggies to this (see "optional"). Any vegetables you add, just saute for a bit before you put the tomatoes in. Common sense says that harder veggies (eggplant, carrots, celery, etc) should cook a little longer. Softer veggies like spinach and summer squash need less time to cook so plan your sauteing accordingly. :)

Three Bean Soup

2-3 T olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small head of green cabbage, chopped
2 cans of garbanzo beans
2 cans of canellini beans
2 cans of black beans
Stock (preferably vegetable) to cover
1 Bay leaf (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in the olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add cabbage and stir well to coat cabbage with oil/onion mixture. Cook until cabbage is wilted and a little soft. Add the beans and mix well. Cover with stock – I use vegetable stock but chicken is also good. The use of vegetable stock means no additional fat is added to the soup. Add bay leaf and salt if desired. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for one hour. I usually cover it to ensure less splatter but if you simmer uncovered, the soup will boil down a bit and be thicker.

edit: When I made this soup yesterday (9/18/11), I added some browned ground Italian sausage. It really adds a new dimension to the soup - if you're not a vegetarian of course.

Buon Appetito!

- Alex

You Are Number 6

Today's Speak Out with your Geek Out post is about a retro British TV program Alex and I love very much. As big fans of the old-school shows from across the pond, we could be referring to Monty Python, Dr. Who, Dave Allen at Large (this might technically be Irish), or even Benny Hill. But no, our geek lies today at the foot of The Prisoner.

Mod, mod, mod.

The Prisoner is an adventure TV series that ran from September 1967 to February 1968. Part spy thriller, part sci-fi, and part mod. Think Lost...by way of Carnaby Street.

He spends most of his time in the Village brooding.

This show starred the dashing Patrick McGoohan (of Danger Man fame) as a disgruntled secret agent who abruptly resigns from his position to then find himself abducted and held captive on an island called "The Village". The other residents of the island seem to be in the same boat as him, although, they are maniacally happy.

All names have been stripped away and everyone is assigned a number. McGoohan is No. 6. An (ever changing) individual called No. 2 seems to be running the joint...with instruction from a never seen No. 1. No. 6 often asks "who is No. 1??" only to be told "you are No. 6". Obviously, this answer does not satisfy his keen spy-man mind and adventures ensue. He wants out of this nuthouse and uses all his wits to make that happen. Though, should you try to escape The Village, a huge balloon named "Rover" will chase you down and you're caught. So, our man spends a lot of time avoiding that menace.

The location of this show is AMAZING. Almost the entire thing is shot at the Hotel Portmeirion in Penrhyndeudraeth, North Wales. It is enchanting, eerie, and otherworldly. Alex and I have schemes to visit this place someday...possibly during the Prisoner Appreciation Society festival! Oh yes, we are not alone in our geek on this.

This location is made-to-order for this show.

Luckily, this series is available on DVD. Our library system here in Madison even has it to let. Totally worth the time...give it a watch...you might want to travel to Wales with us someday :)

–Cassandra

P.S. The AMC Channel has recently done a modern adaptation of this story. It's fine, but not the same. Much like The Twilight Zone and Dark Shadows, it's hard to recreate the ethereal quality of those shows for some reason.

Nothing Geekier Than This

It's interesting that the Speak Out With Your Geek Out project came along when it did. Perhaps it wasn't random that it would be planned during, what I refer to as, "Con Season." 

For the uninitiated, July to October is when a large number of geeky conventions take place. From the mac-daddy of all conventions - Comic Con in San Diego - to smaller, regional cons, it is possible to get your geek on for months on end (assuming you have a big travel budget and lots of vacation time).

My convention-going started by accident. I lived in Atlanta for many years and one of my very best friends still lives there. A few years ago, my friend decided to attend Dragon*Con, a gigantic geek fan-convention held in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend. My friend was there for about a half a day when she called and said, "start saving your money now... you're coming here next year." I did and, with the exception of the year my grandmother died, I've been going every year since.

Labor Day weekend has, historically, also been host to PAX Prime (aka Penny Arcade Expo: The Original) a gaming convention held in Seattle. While I'm not an avid gamer, I've always lamented having to choose between these two conventions because, honestly, Wil Wheaton (high-priest of all geekdom) and a number of other super-cool, super-geeks choose to attend PAX instead of Dragon*Con. Made me curious and a bit jealous.

Then, this year, like some sort of miracle, PAX got moved to the weekend BEFORE Labor Day. *queue angelic music here* 

Within days my plans were set. Traveling with a friend who has attended PAX but not Dragon*Con, we would go to both PAX and Dragon*Con and introduce each other to our favorite conventions. August 25: Milwaukee to Seattle. August 30: Seattle to Atlanta. September 6: Atlanta to Milwaukee.

I had a blast. PAX was everything I thought it would be and much more. The convention was a bit overwhelming at first but once I found my place (table-top and retro games plus panels on the sociological impact of gaming) I was in heaven. The con is estimated to have about 35,000 attendees but it felt pretty small and intimate to me. Of course, I wasn't standing in the 3-hour line to play Mass Effects 3 either...  My best moments were getting to meet some of my geek heroes: Wil Wheaton (first meeting!), Felicia Day, Paul & Storm, Jonathan Coulton, and MC Frontalot. The people at PAX - attendees and staff alike - were fun and really nice. Plus we got pretty good swag.

Me & Wil

Me & Felicia

Me & MC Frontalot

Me & Jonathan Coulton

Me & Paul & Storm (note the hover hand)

The ultimate geek - Live D&D for an audience

Second only to the actual convention was just being in Seattle - one of my favorite cities. We visited the Pike Place market (of course), drank a lot of coffee (of course), and went to the Space Needle, the Experience Music Project (way cooler than I expected), and the Science Fiction Museum (AWESOME). We also ate in some fabulous restaurants. 

Then we were off to the insanity that is Dragon*Con. The actual attendance numbers are a mystery - I've heard that the organizers don't publish the real numbers for some reason - but people have estimated that it's between 50,000 and 60,000 over four days. I would totally believe it. The place is a mad-house of everything geeky - I couldn't possibly begin to capture the variety of programing tracks available. Suffice it to say, whether you like LARPing or Skepticism, books or TV, anime or science fiction, and on and on... there's something for you at Dragon*Con. I even attended a panel on ham radio operation.

From Storm Troopers...

To Severus Snape...

To My Little Ponies...

For me, Dragon*Con is mostly about seeing celebrities from movies and tv shows that I love. This year included seeing cast members from Eureka, V, True Blood, Battle Star Galactica, and The Guild, among others. Other highlights included seeing William Shatner speak (again) and meeting Colin Ferguson (from Eureka) and Mary McDonnell (from Battle Star Galactica and The Closer). And, because PAX and Dragon*Con were on different weekends, I was able to see Wil Wheaton, Felicia Day, Paul and Storm and Jonathan Coulton again - a week later. It was, pretty much, geek Nirvana.

So...dear readers... that's pretty much the geekiest I've ever been. And, probably, the geekiest I ever need to be.

- Alex

 PS: if you're interesting in wading through my as-yet-to-be-edited photos please feel free to go to my Flickr sets for PAX and Dragon*Con.