Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Kitchen Witch is a different kind of witch!


So what is the perfect gifts for Halloween than to have a kitchen witch. Where did I get my pattern, http://www.crochetsal.com , add "/kitchenwitch.html" to it and it will take you directly to the page. I don't know how long will 0the pattern be there, maybe is for a short time on the website.


This one is for my great niece, but I am seriously thinking on making two or three more for gifts. Copying from Wikipedia.org .

Kitchen witch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A kitchen witch is a practitioner of magic who uses the tools at hand to work his or her spells and create their rituals. For example, the kitchen witch might use a kitchen carving knife for an athame or a cast iron pot for a cauldron. Common kitchen herbs frequently have magical uses as well.

Some kitchens have a kitchen witch doll, which is said to prevent burnt pots, keep meals hot and flavorful, and to weave the family together. The kitchen witch doll is often placed over the stove, near the kitchen entrance, or sometimes over a seating area in the kitchen.

Superstition had it that when milk curdled or food burned, it was the fault of witches. The kitchen witch was meant to counter that with good magic and help out in the kitchen so that food never tasted too salty, water always boiled and food didn't burn. The superstition may be Norwegian. The craft of making kitchen witches had a revival in the 60's and 70's as part of the huge craft movement sweeping the country at the time. It is an appropriate gift to give newlyweds, as they need all the help in the kitchen they can get.

Thanks for stopping by,


Tuesday, September 26, 2006

A day in a dog's Morning


You will realize that a few hours for a dog is like a day for us, or maybe a week. It is enough to get Buster very excited and exhausted once his journey though the park is over.


Sometimes my dog have a special day in the park. He get's up and wakes the world up around 7 or 730 AM. We then get his breakfast and head toward Buena Vista Park ;

So Buster hops in the back. Actually he gets picked up and put in the back. A safety chain is attached to his collar , to abide by the law. It is also nice to have the dog secure and not running around the back of a truck.

In the picture below you see what buster sees in his journey to the park. He gets very excited, even though it is the same journey almost every weekend. He enjoys the moment. Every moment is anew to the dog, sometimes we need to learn from our animal friends how to really enjoy life.




So here we are going up the hill, here is the first view of the park, then the awaited arrival.


He finally gets to the park and starts his exploring. He loves to go everywhere and sniffs and marks his territory. It's a dog after all and mother nature is embedded in his genetic material, good and bad.

Here is a friend that he meets at the park once in a whi;e, then another friend, the view, which I don't think the dog really cares about. We do, we enjoy the walk as it is very pleasant to look at the city from above.

In our retunr down toward the vehicle, we find blackberries everywhere as you can see in the middle of this picture. After this the journey ends in the same way it started with buster getting in the back and coming to his home. Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Celebrating the Harvest with a Chocolate Cake


September 22 nd, 2006 I decided to celebrate the Equinox by making a Sugar Free Chocolate Cake , with Cream Cheese Chocolate frosting and walnuts pieces around. May our Harvest be full of joy, abundance, happiness and good health.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Golden Gate Recreational Area Excursion


Welcome to the Golden Gate National Recreational Area. Specifically Fort Point. Me and a group of friends went to have a nice meditative day. The day started with a nice breakfast at Katz' Bagels.

Some in the group are planning a spiritual journey to Egypt to visit the Egyptian Pyramids. I will not be able to go this year as I have some other plans for the time they are thinking of going.

We meet on a regular basis to meditate and to experience alternative healing methods to help us with our immune systems and our ability to enhance our personal lives and those who get affected by being around us.

We did some breathing excercises and healing excercises, we then finished the day by visiting San Francisco's Japantown. We were searching a DVD about Taiko Drums.








JAPANTOWN

Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Felting by Hand A Hat experience

Felting is a very tricky experience, as I learned . The wool that you are choosing has to be feltable, I guess is the right expression and usually light color felt like white and the like does not felt well. The reason behind it? Is because of the bleaching.

So when I went to do my hat I knew I had to do it in such a gauge that it was at least 6 to 8 inches bigger than usual. After reading the comment by my friend Deneen, I had to add this note. The Bottom of the hat up to the brown stripe is made with "Manos del Uruguay" yarn. I added Lamb's Pride in brown and inside the hat the color has melted, yet outside I kept diagonal lines, which is unusual for felting. The top has a darkgreen wool blend that if I find the skein n a store, I will tell you the brand. It is mingled with lamb's Pride as well. I think that If I ever wanted to felt another hat I will try "Manos del Uruguay", by itself or Lamb's Pride. Lambs pride does tend to shrink. Thank you Deneen!

Another point to have is that you can not felt or it is very difficult to felt in a side loader washing machine. I have one of those. So what did that leave me with was the need to felt by hand.



So to felt by hand I went to the biggest information encyclopedia available, the Internet. I found so much information and that is why I was able to felt by hand without much commotion. I even improvised by using a fork, and by using corn cob holders. I also grabbed a pair of rubber gloves.

Felting is a very tricky experience, as I learned . The wool that you are choosing has to be feltable,

I guess is the right expression and usually light color felt like white and the like does not felt well.

The reason behind it? Is because of the bleaching. So when I went to do my hat I knew I had to do it in such a gauge that it

was at least 6 to 8 inches bigger than usual. Another point to have is that you can not felt or it is very difficult to felt in a side

loader washing machine. I have one of those. So what did that leave me with was the need to felt by hand.

I started this hat in the middle with a I crochet hook, then when I was ready to make the rest I used a J hook and a looser tension. You can see the effet of the gauge in the hat. So to felted by hand I went to the biggest information encyclopedia available, the Internet. I found so much information and that is why I was able to felt by hand without much commotion. I even improvised by using a fork, and by using corn cob holders. I also grabbed a pair of rubber gloves.

Materials

1. Feltable garment crochet or knited

2. Hot Soapy Water, cold ice water on another bucket.

3. Wooden spoons, Rubber gloves, forks, felting needles if you have them, corn cob holders. LOL


The idea is to put your garment in the hot soapy water and create agitation. The soap will help dislodge the fibers and the heat, will also help with the felting. You need to check every so often, I will say every 10 to 15 minutes, or as often as every five minutes, to see if you are getting the desired result in your felting esperience. You will definitely need to do this washing by hand and you can use the fork or fork like utensil to help you move the fibers. It took me about three hours of felting to get my desired look. I allowed the garment to rest in the water for 5 to 10 minutes, then I will put it in cold water ( they say to shock the wool), wring it and the in the hot water again. I will simulate movement by using three wooden spoons as if I was mixing a big pot of soup. It was a lot of fun to see how it came out and how it shrank and how it look like those hats you buy at the store.

The only diffenrece is that this hat was made by me. I named this hat "Naomi".

Now I will share more about felting from http://wikipedia.org your source of information in the web.

Felt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers. The fibers form the structure of the fabric.

Felt is the oldest form of fabric known to man. It predates weaving and knitting, although there is archaeological evidence from the British museum that the first known thread was made by winding vegetable fibres on the thigh. Felt dates back to at least 6,500 BC where remains were found in Turkey. Highly sophisticated felted artifacts were found preserved in permafrost in a tomb in Siberia and dated to 600 AD.

Many cultures have legends as to the origins of feltmaking. The story of Saint Clement and Saint Christopher relates that while fleeing from persecution, the men packed their sandals with wool to prevent blisters. At the end of their journey, the movement and sweat had turned the wool into felt socks.

Felt is now widely used as a medium for expression in textile art as well as design, where it has significance as an ecological textile. Sumerian legend claims that the secret of feltmaking was discovered by Urnamman of Lagash.

Feltmaking is still practiced in traditional styles by nomadic peoples in Asia, where rugs, tents and clothing are regularly made.

Felt is made by a process called wet felting, where the natural wool fibre is stimulated by friction and lubricated by moisture (usually water), and the fibres move at a 90 degree angle towards the friction source and then away again, in effect making little "tacking" stitches. Only 5% of the fibres are active at any one moment, but the process is continual, and so different 'sets' of fibres become activated and then deactivated in the continual process.

This "wet" process utilises the inherent nature of wool and other animal hairs, because the hairs have scales on them which are directional. The hairs also have kinks in them, and this combination of scales (like the structure of a pine cone) are what react to the stimulation of friction and cause the phenomenon of felting. It tends to work well only with woolen fibres as their scales, when aggravated, bond together to form a cloth.

Felting is done by a chemical process in industry. It is also sometimes done with barbed needles, which grab individual fibers and drag them against their neighbors, thereby binding them. Felting may also be done out of your home, with your washing machine on a hot cycle.

From the mid-18th to the mid-19th centuries, a process called "carroting" was used in the manufacture of felt. Animal skins were rinsed in an orange solution of the mercury compound mercuric nitrate. This process separated the fur from the pelt and matted it together. This toxic solution and the vapors it produced resulted in widespread cases of mercury poisoning among hatters, which may have been the origin behind the phrase "mad as a hatter". The United States Public Health Service banned the use of mercury in the felt industry in December 1941.

Felting differs from fulling in the sense that fulling is fabric that is constructed before continuing with the felting process as noted above.

Knitted woollen garments which shrink in a hot machine wash can be said to have felted — an example of how the fibres bond together when combined with the movement of the washing machine, the heat of the water, and the addition of soap. Therefore, woolen clothes should only be hand-washed or machine-washed in cold water.

Cheaper felt is usually artificial. Artificial felt, if made using the wet method, has a minimum of 30% of wool fibres combined with other artificial fibres. This is the minimum required to hold a fabric together with the fibres alone. It would be difficult to achieve a stable fabric by hand at this ratio. All other wholly artificial felts are actually needle-felts.

Needle-felt is an artificial form created by the use of barbed needles forcing groups of fibres through a web of carded fibres to create a non woven fabric structure. This is not true felt.

Loden is a type of felt originally worn in the Alpine regions, which has recently gained worldwide acceptance as a textile for fine and durable clothing.

While standard felt is rarely used in the manufacture of modern garments, its breathability has been seen as a selling point among a niche market group. Among the supporters of felt-use in the textile industry include musical composer Aaron Copland and the satirical music group, the Capitol Steps.



Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

To Felt or not to felt, that's the question!


What? You can felt too! LOL. Well the search for fun is not limited to crochet , knit and quilting. I am getting so excited as I am getting all my projects done ahead of schedule.

Before your felt a project you need to make it. In this case I have crocheted this Hat from three different kinds of yarn.

The lower part of the Hat was made with Manos del Uruguay wool Yarn in a light warm green. The center band of the hat is made one stitch of Manos del Uruguay and one stitch of brown Lamb's pride alternating for about 6 rows. The top is made with Lamb' Pride entwined with a thick extra chunky unknown Wool blend in a dark green color.

The majority of the wool is from a skein Naomi gave to me, therefore I am naming this hat "Naomi". It is my own design I don't know if I can recall the pattern. I started in the middle with the alternating colors. The second step was the bottom until I was done. The third and final step was the top of the Hat. Because this hat was made with the idea of being felted, it is a lot bigger than what I would normally make a hat.

At this moment I am doing my felting , I should be done in an hour or so. I am felting by hand, it is an interesting experience and necessity is the mother of invention. I will share my steps later , thank you for stopping by.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

A Purse for Anna Ness




At Crochet Depot, http://groups.msn.com/crochetdepot , we had our Mystery Crochet Along this Month and the Pattern was supplied by our kind friend
Anna Ness from
http://www.lullabiesandlace.com/
The original pattern is a multipurpose Sack . I decided to finish the pattern in a different way than the instructions called for.


You may wonder why? I shall tell you. As I was working the instructions for this sack, I got the idea that it would make a beautiful purse or handbag. So I only did the skirt for 2 rows and I closed the bottom part and added a trim. I also crocheted a string to weave near the top to pull the bag closed if you wanted to. It has an elastic band at the bottom and at the top. I think that this sack is a perfect foundation for a handbag . As a multipurpose sack you canyou can use it to hold your grocery bags, extra yarn, even pajamas. Originally this is a sack that has a skirt long enough to cover the bottom part so that you don't know that it is there. Having an elastic at the top and at the bottom gives you the ability to pull things our of either end without much problems. KUDOS to Anna Ness as I named this creation with her pattern the Anna Ness Purse. Go an visit her site http://www.lullabiesandlace.com/and you will find beautiful baby patterns and grreat vintage dishcloth patterns. Her patterns for dishcloths are so versatile that you can use your imagination and create potholders with them if you use double strands or if you incorporated some wool to your creating for insulation.


Thanks Anna for sharing your wonderful creations with us.


Friday, September 15, 2006

Slippers Allure for Moi!

I guess you have been impatiently waiting for the results of my slipper making. I really like the warmth that it comes from wearing them. I am glad I decided for two strands.

The slippers are finished and as I was sharing with you the other day, I used two kinds of materials. This is done in double strands of Red Heart Yarn. The Cuff is made with one strand of Red Heart and one strand of Patons Allure Yarn.

The laces were a growing experience as you can see, I finally decided to keep the laces at the end. The tassel changed when I finished the second Slipper. They are warm and cushy , which is what I wanted to begin with.

The cuffs have such an exquisite feel to the touch, it is ribbed as ribbed as crochet gets by working on Back loops, so it does have some stretch quality to it. The combination of Red Red Heart and Garnet Patons Allure yarn.


This will be a great pattern to make a felted slipper, if wool was used instead of acrylic. You could probably use a bigger hook, this one called for an I Hook. Here you have the end result.

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon.











Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Slippers or Moccasins on the Go


So I will have you know that I am making a pair of slippers for my NightShirt. I decided in three colors and two textures. The sole of the slippers is black as you can see. I went with the bigger model as I thoughht this will be good for me. I also went with double strands of yarns instead of single strand. I want my slippers to last me for some time. I also went with a combination of colors and textures different than what the pattern called for. This I believe will look more like a moccasin than a slipper




The actual pattern is called Ribbed Cuff Comfies by Ruth Sheperd , The pattern is easy, but there comes a point were I got ver confused and started to finish the slipper in my own way.




This is another view of the top of the slipper, I Am making the second slipper at the same time. Sometimes patterns are made for the designer. I did not think the instructions for the top were very clear. The rest of the pattern seems to be better. The other material will be for the ribbed cuff and I have a feeling it will look and feel great.

Well thanks for stopping by and come back later, I will have at least one of them done, then I will have to decide how to embelish the top.

Monday, September 11, 2006

We Shall Never Forget Who We Are Sep 11 2006

I Could say so much, yet it would not be enough. Never Again shall this be allowed! May the souls of our brothers and sisters be at peace. May the Cowards tremble from fear and shame for all eternity.

United We Stand!


Sunday, September 10, 2006

NightShirt Finished


Finally today I finished my nightshirt. This is not the first time I make clothes, but it is the first time I make a night shirt. The quality of this nightshirt is pretty good. IT would have been a lot cheaper to get one at the store, but it will not fit the way I like them to fit. If you notice the hat is made of remants from the nightshirt and it has a pom pom in red and blue. It is a reversible Hat and the inside is made of red flannel as you see in the next picture.


I decided to make a hat out of the blue. I thought it would be cute and I put remants together with the main material. Then I decided to make it reversible so I bought some red flannel, washed it , dried it and got to make the hat. It has a pom pom on the red side as well.


I also wanted to have something to hang it with so I made a loop for the back, I put my handcrafted by Moi label and it is readsy to be hung by the door. The loop is in the back of the neck , on the outside of the collar. I hate labels inside they will make me itch LOL. Thanks for stopping by , let's see what my next project will be.

Well right now I exausted and am getting sleepy. Time to take a nap in my new NightShirt. Buenas Noches.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Sleeves in Blue are here


It was very easy to get the help from my friends to do the sleeves for the NightShirt. My monkey Coco, Risa the moouse and Fascia the Cat where giving me instructions on how to cut the material and how to properly hold it in place.

I don't have any such animals, I found them in my photo editing program and thought it would be cute to add them to the pictures. So the progress is coming along. One of the things that I have learn when you sew is that you need patience and determination. Sometimes a project gives you an unexpected challenge.

Since retiring, I have a lot of time in my hands. CraftyAndy is my name and I can attest to that, there are very few things that I will not attempt to do. It is all depending on my energy levels and the complexity of the project. From computer programming to baking to Landscaping, to putting up drywall, making cabinets, shelves, furniture or cushions, knitting, crocheting, and quilting. It's all about craftiness.

I am CraftyAndy, thanks for stopping by and come back later for the end product, we have sleeves, now to do the finishing touches, and make a hat as well. LOL. Until later.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Our Small Universe


Can you imagine this is how some planets compare to our planet. As you can see Pluto is very small in size, Venus is the closest in size to Earth.








Now compare Earth to this other giants of our solar system.










Now compare all those planets to our Sun.



















Now Comapre our Sun to other Suns

Now those suns to other suns. We are such a small solar system in this vast Universe. Somewhere out there , life is flowing like it is on Earth.

I found this somewhere and wanted to share it with you. Thanks for stopping by. Tomorrow I will have more pictures of my NightShirt.





Thursday, September 07, 2006

September Sewing (A NightShirt in Blue)

Until I took this picture I did not realize that my sewing machine had the name of MAGIC. Yeah right, magic would be if when I came back from lunch my NightShirt was finished, LOL. That's the machine in the Left Upper Quadrant of this picture.

On the Right Upper Quadrant are my quilting tools ready to be used. No matter how good your sewing machine is, the handsewn touch is always a nice touch and it gives you the feeling of how the garmet will feel against the skin. I love hand sewing, it is very peaceful and with the right music you can actually reach the end of the fabric LOL. Well Nirvana as well.

I cut all the pieces of the NightShirt, but the sleeves, I will do that sometime in the next few days. You know even though I am using a machine I thought this was the right time to test my thimble and quilting needles. I have not used the thumb thimble yet, maybe when I do some pot holders next week,

On the left lower quadrant you can see me in action using the quilting tools to hand sew the front of the V -Shape part of the front of the NightShirt. I may still have to put it through the machine for a certain detail, but this part was a lot easier to do by hand than by machine. If this was an industrial kind of sewing machine, sewing would have been a little different.

On the Lower Right Corner is the collar piece as you can see it is ready to be attached to the body of the shirt. I need to sew the shirt at the shoulders area then I can attach the collar. Thanks for stopping by and come back to see how this NightShirt comes to life.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

A growing quilt experience

A previous post, which you can reach --->>> Click Here ,showed you the fabrics as the lay unwashed. Today as I move along I washed the fabrics for the front of the Quilt. Here they are washed and dried all I need to do now is get the design ready. I have not decided what I am going to do with this quilt yet as far as the actual design. Lots of designs are going through my mind. I am still waiting for the batting which is (In quilting) , is a layer of insulation between a top layer of patchwork and a layer of backing material

I am also working on making a pair of slippers and a night shirt. I took advantege of the fact that I was washing the Quilt's fabrics to wash the flannel for my night shirt. Now that it has been washed and dried, the likelyhood of shrinkage is almost null. I fell in love with this fabric from the moment I saw it. Tomorrow I will be cutting the pieces, so before long you will have a modeling picture of my nightshirt. I am hoping to have it done before Sunday. More and more I realize that the good quality of a fabric makes a big difference in anything that you make. This fabric held up great to washing and drying. The fabric name is Circus Trickz By Jan Mullen.




So this was Labor day weekend and I had a nice weekend with a little of a celebration with a red , white and blue celebration. Nothing like homemade whipped cream.
Thanks for stopping by and come back some other time, let's see what Friday brings.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Fudgy Pecan Bars, 14 Quilting Fats for Me


So what do we have here? Low Carb Chocolate Fudge Pecan bars. They are sugar free, I used splenda. I got the recipe from a site on the net, but the recipe is not really complete. The author does not tell you what to do with the baking chocolate pieces that you need to make thgis great treat. Still I was thankful to find this recipe and was able to exttrapolate the necessary ingredients and instructions that needed to be added for my tasting desires. I added nutmeg to the crust it helps with the insulin sensitivity. Good thing I know how to bake, ROFL.

Idid something different with this recipe and as time goes by, I am using this ingredient more and more. Instead of 1/2 cup of melted butter I used 1/2 cup of olive oil. I like the flavor that it gave. As you can see in the upper left corner is one of the potholders from one of my exchanges this year. The recipe is very easy to make and it is full of flavor.

So talking about fats, here they are 14 fats that I got for my first quilt. I bought 13 of them on Ebay and the one in the center was given to me by my friend Calypso. I can see the quality that she was talking about, her gift is of the same quality of the pieces I bought.


So when am I going to start making this Quilt? I think that I will like to start at the end of September. I am waiting for some batting, I have one piece, I ordered another one, and will buy some more. I will need to buy the fabric for the back. I saw the perfect fabric at one store, it has some batting on it as well. I need to get more fabric for the front as well. I am expecting to have this major pieces of fabric , the front and the back, evolving as I get ready to start my Quilt. I am planning to hand stitch this quilt, I don't know yet. Maybe a combination of both methods.

The weekend seems to be interesting with lots of choices of things to do, I shall report on my adventures later on. Thanks for stopping by.

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Almost two years without blogging August 2020

Life can be a bowl of strawberries when cheries are not available.   It has been almost two years since I have been in this blog.  I have s...