Well, it's been about 8 hours. The package said it would be set in 4, but I had my doubts and it wasn't. That's fine, generally working from plain yogurt for the culturing it can take 8-12 hours to set.
It's set up nicely, and it smells wonderful. I didn't follow the package instructions exactly because well.. generally I won't. So here's how I did it. (my notes follow, part of this is going up as a review)
( cut for the people who really don't care )

The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery is fantastic.
I'm only up to page 227 in this 900 page book and I'm wildly enthused about it. I don't know if I'll ever read the whole thing cover to cover, a lot of the information in it isn't applicable to my life, but what is, is a goldmine.
If you were only going to buy one book this year, this should be the one.If you have an interest in living frugally,naturally, and greenly this book is invaluable. If you live some place you can grow a kitchen garden, she's got hints and tips for growing almost everything, from sugar cane to broom corn and all the stuff you eat regularly in between. If you decided to try and live off the grid, this is a good starting place for information of all sorts.
Even living in the city, this provides a ton of information for how to live more frugally and greener including some ideas I've never heard of but make so much sense in retrospect, I wonder why I didn't think of that. She mentions Lehman's non-powered washing machines and washing boards, but her method is so much easier on clothes and costs very little. A dedicated to clothes washing plunger. Looking at it, it makes perfect sense, you agitate the water, and rubber is easier on clothes then washing boards. She says to use your wash water until it's too dirty, then put detergent in your rinse bucket and fill a new rinse bucket which is a great idea. I'll definitely be trying it with the clothes E and I for every day use.
On a personal note, this book fits in perfectly with my life philosophy. To me, living green should be also living frugally, it shouldn't be something it costs a lot to do, but does take more effort. It should be about making do,mending and repurposing rather then the constant consumerism. But with green being trendy, it is a marketing ploy now. This book is a nice get back to basics type book. Last year my favorite book that I bought was Wild Fermentation, this year, hands down, this is it. This is my favorite.
Mike likes reading these as much as I do. I frequently think if we were to get into re-enactment, it would be weekends of living in Ingalls-tech.

In other news, I'm going to try and start a wild yeast tomorrow that's going to be using a decoction of hops and rye to start with, and then switching out the rye a half cup at a time for the whole wheat flour I use most often. A lot of starters are started with just water and flour which didn't work well for me, I'm not sure if it's because I was trying in winter and my kitchen just got to cold or why else it might have failed. The HRS baker I was talking to the other day was using a starter that used potato water in it, which I've heard good things about, but it's not period. Hops are, and since baking and brewing went hand in hand in that time period, and since rye is easier to grow and was more used by peasants then regular flour, even it's not strictly accurate, it's still at least feasible that some yeasts were cultivated that way. Which in a round about way, brings me back to The EoCL, she has a ton of recipes for breads and ideas for bread, and instruction for making yeast cakes with starter. Yay!

One of the gifts I got for E was a bag from Enderby Designs, and it arrived on Christmas Day. E was *thrilled* Bouncy happy thrilled. Especially since there was a lovely note from Meg in the package. Meg does the Decor It Yourself segments on ThreadBanger.
( How to make a cape video with Meg of Enderby Designs )
Which makes it even odder something I sent 3 weeks ago never arrived at it's destination. *grumbles and complains about the US mail service*..

I really enjoy Yasime Galenorn's books, and Night Huntress which is the new book in her Sisters of the Moon series is coming out on January 6th, so I need to remember to reserve my copy. *grins* My husband HATES picking up my paranormal romances, and always asks if they can wrap them in plain brown paper wrappers when he leaves the book store. But I'm pretty picky about them. Just having a vampire isn't enough. I like these books because the romance isn't the most important part of it, the characters are strong women, and the romances themselves are alternative types of relationships. Not the "swoony woman falls in love with big strong rescuer". All 3 sisters are perfectly capable of saving themselves. It's a great alternate world. Yeah.. I'm pretty excited. You know.. like I haven't been reading much more than I should be lately.

Chat time in an hour, come on in, even if you don't want to talk beads. We hardly ever do. 8 am PST
I love our local extension coop service, I remember my mom calling them for recipes and stuff all the time, and since majortom_thecat brought up sustainable living, I wanted to post the link to our local extension service.
Here it is!, click on publications catalog. Most of the free stuff is also in PDF format, if you want a hard copy of anything you see on there, click on the how to order link, and it will give instructions for ordering the free or the inexpensive publications, the online forms are different for each. They don't charge for mailing, just the cost of the publications for the ones that cost money.
If nothing else, if you have a curiosity about the sort of things that would be of interest to Alaskans, it's fun to look at the list.
One of the things in it is of course, instructions for sourdough, and it includes instructions on how to dry and reconstitute starter for future use. I'm planning on making sourdough starter this week, but since I want to use the whey from making cheese to make bread with, I'll only be using a half cup of my initial starter to make a sponge with whey and flour. Whey would NOT be a good choice for the starter since it's milk and will go off badly in no time at all. So knowing how to dry all but what I need to store for starter will be a good thing.
One site suggested making whey into lemonade, or drinking it straight, so I tried some. Wow.. um.. I think it would be an acquired taste just straight, and the idea of whey lemonade is just icky. But I think in sourdough flapjacks, it will be great, and add a nice sweetness to set off the sour, and just a bit of richness.
This is my 1001st entry. I missed noticing the 1000th!

Shoe idea from spankmyspatula. I wouldn't do it with brand new shoes though when you can find old clogs with wooden bases or Dr. Scholl's sandals for the asking a lot of time. Or hit a thrift store for the right shoes.
This looks like a fantastic shoe for E. Who loves it funky and fabulous, and with the right base, you could glitter and decoupage that as well for extra personal sandals!

Also.. You could crochet a pair out of "plarn" (plastic bag yarn doncha know) or if you have tires around that your dad isn't having you hold on to because he knows he'll need them someday even if he sold the car 5 years ago and you've had tires in your shed for the last 17 years that he was going to use someday.. you can make sandals out of tires. (Not actually the link I wanted.. Jehanna? Don't suppose you still have the link I gave you in your history? Please?)

and I'm working with Mike and my brother to see how we can do it and how much it will cost with stuff scavenged where ever possible..
I think we can make a heated food dehydrator in an old tower case using an older power supply (because we have a brand new old power supply in a box from about 4 years ago) and scavenged fans, and light bulbs. But I think it's such a great idea I figured I'd share.
See, the best food dehydrators has fans on the sides of it instead of at the top or bottom. Top or bottom fans don't evenly distribute air through the layers, plus if it's on the bottom, food/liquid can drip in them and needs to be cleaned. But good food dehydrators with fans on the side can be a bit pricey. Computer parts are easy.

I was also watching E turn a plastic bag into a wind sock and remembered another one of those things mom used to do with us.. she would give us washed used aluminum foil and plastic bags to make comet balls out of. We had a lot of fun batting them around with old badminton raquets.

Yesterday, my son asked me about using cloth bags. He knows we've been using them for a couple years, but it's only recently it's become "trendy" and most people still don't. I hope it's different for you when you go shopping, but here, I think I've spotted 4 other people in the last 3 months of shopping using them. Plastic bags certainly have their purpose in my craft supplies, but since I don't throw them away when I do forget my bags sometimes, and I can always ask people for them, I'm fine on plastic bags.
Using cloth, with the amount of shopping we do, and the 5¢ discount we get for using cloth instead of plastic, will, in a year, save me 14.80 after the cost of the bags.
If you aren't spending 50 dollars on a bag for shopping, a lot of greener choices do save you money. A lot of ours are done because they are thrifty and I'd rather have the money for books or beads. Like going no shampoo. The shampoo that worked best for my hair type was 16.00 a bottle, and another 16 for conditioner. ACV is 3.00 a gallon, and baking soda, in big bags from a warehouse store is 6.00. So in a year, I save close to 200.00 on shampoo. Well.. a little less because every so often I splurge on a locally made shampoo bar for 5.00. That's not counting savings on hair trims because I've found that my hair splits a lot less.
There are a lot of great Christian living sites that have tips and hints from pioneer times. I don't think I'd like to be a pioneer, but what women did in those days out of necessity can save a lot of money now, as well as being the greener choice. I don't want to come off as being virtuous because we craft and re-purpose. It's not about virtue. It's thrift a lot of the time. The side-effect of also being green is a benefit, but not always the original intention.
When I was a kid.. (insert flashback sound effects).. my mom was thrifty, and also very into luxury. It was a contradiction handled by her creativity. She dumpster dived for clothes, and she hit thrift stores for everything under the sun. She grew edible flowers to decorate her salads with, and people thought my mom was so classy and elegant in her own quirky way. She'd bring home things she found to make stuff out of, and got terribly annoyed every time she saw a hand crocheted afghan at a thrift store. She valued handmade items, prized them. Along with her fine jewelry, she also had a lot of funky handmade jewelry she wore regularly. When I started beading, it wasn't quiet pieces I made for her, but big, bright, fun pieces.Growing up with her was magical. She was fae and fun. One of my fondest memories of her is from a year before she died. Mike was grilling food at her house for all of us, and she had this used karaoke machine she found somewhere that she played cds on. She pulled it outside, and was dancing on the walk outside her house, just so happy. Her barefeet were dirty, they often were, she hated wearing shoes if it was nice enough not to, and she was wearing jeans from a thrift store that were too long and she never hemmed them up, so the hems were ragged and softly frayed. Her dancing style was influenced by the native villages she taught in when she first came to Alaska. So her little feet patting out rhythms on the ground and her happiness at just being outside in the sunlight, with good food being cooked and her family around.. that was my mom.
It's not about green for me. It's somewhat about thrift, but even more then that, it's about my mom. What would she do. Can I see the world as she did? Full of ideas and creative uses? Can I teach that to my kids like she taught me? Can I teach them to value handmade over instant and the satisfaction it gives you to know you did it yourself? Or to enjoy something that was made by a local artist and appreciate the time and thought that goes into it?
So far, the answer has been yes. My son doesn't want a commercially produced case for his ipod, he loves the one I crocheted for him that has the button made with a scrap of wire and a bottle cap. My daughter makes cool things from cardboard boxes and thinks ThreadBanger is one of the greatest shows ever made.
E and I were talking about making a zine together, but she's not sure anyone would be interested. I told her she was wrong. That there are people already interested. Possibly the first one will just be a collection of stuff I've posted in here, crafts we've done together. I know if my mom were alive, she would be encouraging us to do it. She would have been absolutely enthused and full of ideas.
I really think, and it will sound arrogant, if I can influence people at all through the stuff I have on the net, then the legacy of who my mom was, will never die. She won't have just affected my life and the people who knew her, but also a lot of other people who she never met, who I'll never meet.

What is it? A new stone cab? Something I made playing with filters? A crayon gone crazy from the heat?
( well.. )
E is starting a blog, I'll create a feed once she starts posting. Let me know if you're interested. Still trying to convince Mike that every time he says "Dear Bloggy Blog" he proves he has something to blog and should start. Seriously. Because there are moments of silliness I'm too prissy to talk about. He would have people laughing so hard. He needs to share his cynical view and humor with the world.

I haven't tried making my own cheese yet. But I plan to, the kids and I talked about it, and they both agreed it would be fun and interesting. They are both always interested in how their favorite foods are made.

But last month, Bob and Mark were talking about nobody actually made their own cheese. I think the current DIY revolution has missed them.

Bassist Alex James makes cheese. I'm not sure who he is, but apparently it makes cheesemaking a bit more interesting.

Since I'm just beginning with the kids, we are going to start with soft cheeses because they are the easiest.

How do you explain DIY to people who just don't get it? That part of it is just to prove to yourself you can, part of it is because you want what you want, and not what's sold in stores, and part of it is just an overwhelming curiosity about how things are made. Chances are good, we won't become the sort of people who keep a goat in the backyard for milk and make all our own cheese, but knowing a bit more about it sharpens your appreciation. Part of it is embracing values formed from necessity in the past that have been discarded in an instant world, taking the time, doing it yourself, gives you such a sense of accomplishment.

And I'm thrilled my teenagers are interested in making cheese with me.

Bob said "Don't call and tell us you make your own cheese, nobody does that except Amish people, and they don't listen to our show." Hopefully, by next Christmas, we will be up to hard cheeses, so I can send him a round with a note that says "I'm not Amish, I do listen, and I make my own cheese. I hope you like it."

This weekend though, E and I are making The Hillbilly Housewife's Grape Jelly. It's made with grape juice and looks fairly quick, and it's a small batch, so I won't need to process the jars, it will get eaten pretty quickly so I can just keep it in the fridge. I'm also going to make up a batch of "cup of soups" for W, I'm using dried veggie soup mix (which is basically just a bunch of dehydrated finely cut veggies), a cube of bouillon, instant rice, and dehydrated mushrooms. He likes my homemade instant mixes better then the pre-packaged ones, so I'm going to use him as a guinea pig for figuring out a just right cup of soup. I could use tiny jewelry ziplocks to package, but yeah.. not exactly environmentally friendly, so I'm going to look for tiny side dish/condiment containers to put each serving in.

First,the dice bag. jenna_thorn pointed out that Anticraft had a really neat eyeball dice bag up. Well.. I'm not really a follow patterns kind of girl, so I didn't. I just grabbed some yarn,and wondered why I'd never thought of that.
( wanna see? )
So.. I did this last night in about 3 hours catching up on podcasts with E, like I said, we have a cord to hook my ipod to the tv. We watched On Networks Food Science, and E loved it so much. I really liked it too, I don't have easy access to liquid nitrogen to make instant ice cream or sorbets, but I do have blowtorches, and I like the idea of roasting corn with my big one. Fun fun!
We also watched episodes of ThreadBanger we hadn't seen yet. Still full of win. Next New Network actually has a bunch of E's favorites, Indy Mogul explains special effects on a budget, and Metal Chik is nicely done casts on how to do basic silversmithing. I think all of those are available on youtube too which is nice, but I like watching them on tv because.. well.. it's bigger and E doesn't crowd me watching over my shoulder.
We also watched DIY Style which doesn't have the flare or entertainment value of ThreadBanger, but it's solid, and teaches good sewing habits. For me it's a little too basic, but my mom was an amazing seamstress. For E, it's great. A lot of things my mom taught me but I haven't taught her are shown, and I can explain in greater depth.
I prefer the slapdash get it done of ThreadBanger, but ThreadBanger is short on nice finishing techniques. So I guess it depends if you want an obviously handmade diy alternative/punk look or if you want something finished so people think you bought it in a store.

Someone asked on poor_skills What's the best frugal secret/poor skill you've ever learned?
The start of my answer..
Plan your shopping. It sounds silly and obvious, but plan it. Look at the ads, plan menus in advance, but be flexible. If you have a big freezer/fridge and find a REALLY great deal on something you'll eat (it's only a good deal if you'll eat it) buy lots. I know what things cost me normally to buy them at the best regular price, like ramen is cheapest at the big warehouse store, and only becomes a "deal" at the grocery store when it's 8 for a dollar or better. 5 for a dollar isn't a deal at all, it costs 4.5¢ more per pack.
Buy bulk in the health food section, esp spices! A lot of times, people will have spice sets someone gave them that they don't use, or will keep empty bottles for you. Spices are way cheaper bulk.
TVP, as much as your family will let you get away with. My family likes meat, but I've found I can go up to 50% tvp in most things. TVP costs as much as hamburger per lb, but the volume is like 4 times that of hamburger, so it's healthy, low fat, and a great way to stretch a budget.
Okay.. actually, I can go on about this subject forever. *shuts up.. goes to own journal to write*

Okay, now that I'm in my own journal. Anything you can mix yourself, do. Seriously. I mean, we do splurge on stuff like pancake mixes sometimes when they are really inexpensive for fast, easy to do stuff, but usually, we mix a lot of stuff ourself.
My seasonings, I buy some in huge containers at warehouse stores. I like Johnny's, and use a lot of it, but since I'm handicapped, I mix my "Standard seasoning mix" in a salt shaker for speed, and so Mike can get the flavor I do without me trying to explain how much of each. It's Johnny's mixed with garlic powder, onion powder, good quality pepper and cayenne, and dry mustard. I have another mix for chicken that I use that wonderful lemon powder they make now. Mike loves velveeta shells and cheese, but he prefer my homemade mac and cheese, which costs more initially, but makes a lot more, so it works out to be less expensive per serving.
We make all our own cocoa mixes, chili seasoning, and as I've said before, I mix instant hot cereal for my son. He really loved those packets of oatmeal, and dad kept splurging on them for him, but per serving, those are kind of pricey. He prefers the 7 or 10 grain cereal I buy bulk at the supermarket, and I mix in wheat germ, instant non-fat dry milk, butter buds (imitation) for a buttery flavor, brown sugar and raisins, plus I mix some with other dried fruits for fun and variation.
Baking bread isn't really cost effective unless you actually do buy and use bulk ingredients, going to the bakery thrift store costs less, plus our local supermarket has a day old bakery rack with really cheap ciabatta, since Mike likes (when he's not dieting) to dip ciabatta in his soup, the fact it might be a bit dry/tough doesn't matter. Keeps it from crumbling.
When Wm was younger, and I was a bit more able to move around, I did actually bake/make all our flour goods, and being able to buy in bulk did save money, but time does = money, so it depends on which you have more of. These days, I have more money then spoons, at least when it comes to the slight savings baking would give me over buying day old and sales.
Drink lots of water. If you don't live in an area with decent drinking water, invest in a water purifying system like Brita or something. Water is cheap, even counting in the cost of filters for the purfier. I'm lucky, I live in an area with amazing tap water quality. I drink a lot of herbal teas, or water with a splash of lemon for flavor. My son refills his water bottles and keeps them in the fridge. My kids don't get stuff like kool-aid. They get fruit juice in limited amounts (it's high in sugar, even though I never buy the kind with corn syrup) and water. Lots of water.
We make it on a single income. That income is higher then some people's, but it is just a single income, we do it by being careful about our splurges. Neither of us drink alcohol, alcohol is very very expensive.
We don't fuss the pennies, we used to, but we do make a point of bang for the buck. A brand new video game for 40 dollars won't entertain as long as a decent pad of paper and colored pencils for 5. So we get the paper and pencils. We don't eat at the yuppie places Mike's colleagues do. If we go out, we go to local businesses and we choose carefully. It's a treat, not an everyday event. Mike packs leftovers for lunch frequently, even though lunch is provided for him at work, a lot of times it's stuff that's high in calories and low in nutrition.
We plan out some spending based on sales. When school supplies go on clearance, we buy glue, notebooks, et cetra for the year, including all the extras the kids will go through journalling, since both kids write a lot.
We go to the library. Yep. Instead of the movies a lot of the time, I take the kids to the library. They love it. During the summer, we make a day of it, pack bento lunches, and eat lunch by the water fountain, play in the big lawn our big central library has, and check out books, movies and music there. Sometimes I check out audio books to rip and put in my ipod to listen to later.
I'm lucky. Really lucky, I have 2 teens, but neither of them are concerned with brand names. They do wear chucks, but I won't spend more then 15 dollars on a pair of chucks, and up to 25 on a decent pair of sneakers. I'm really aggressive, and keep track of when they are likely to go on sale. I buy them snow jackets in January, when they are clearing them out at Old Navy. Until then, last years will work. I always buy a bit loose, in case they do have sudden growth spurts.

My other big secret for making it on a budget? Make friends. Sounds silly, but at Thanksgiving, we wound up with 2 free turkeys (you know, spend so much, you get a free turkey?), we gave both to a friend who has a lot of people in his house, but not a lot of free cash. What he does have from his job is access to great scraps of carpet, which was nice when we had our cats, we could build their scratching posts for nothing. Just recarpeting over the same block again and again. My dad knows lots of people who give him odd things, and what he can't use, he gives us. Which is why we have a 30 inch tv. I've never bought a tv in my life. We trade for things when we can. I make the blankets everyone uses in our family with fleece I buy on sale, and leftover lengths of size 10 crochet thread to blanket stitch around the edges. They are nice, usually about 8.00 for a piece of fleece that will cover Mike's 6'2" frame, and they wash up easily, and a few of them keep us toasty warm. (I like a lot of blankets)

Soo.. what are your favorite tricks?

I was checking my webstats the other day, and I was absolutely shocked to see how many hits I had from the diy ethics tag on here.
Right now, I'm watching Thread Bangers podcast, it's not one I've mentioned before, but for someone into DIY fashion, recycling and repurposing, it's fantastic. The music and energy of the show make it one of my daughter's favorite too. One episode features a fabric cuff that looks like so much fun.. well.. if I were a quilter. But some people who read this quilt. It is a video podcast.

Well, yesterday was Saturday, so we went to do crafts.
<begin minor rant>
One of the reasons we do the crafts thing so often even though E is just barely away from being too old is because I think parents who take the time to do these sorts of things usually have fairly good kids.
It's not the only reason, not even the main one. The main one is that E loves it, she loves doing projects with stuff I don't have.
My rant? This morning their were a couple of THOSE mothers there. The ones who don't seem to get that kid art is special all on it's own, and that perfection isn't a part of it.
I was flinching pretty badly. This week was a teddy bear sleeping bag and pillow made with a bandana. One little girl, after being left to do the craft, accidently glued it all the way around. She didn't leave an opening for a bear to go in. She happily decorated it, and then her mom came back. Her mom said, with disappointment in her voice, "I thought we were going to leave the pretty side (hemmed edge) for the opening." We? What we? You were shopping. Her daughter didn't think it was quite a tragedy, and said she was happy with it, and just going to cut a new opening. Her mother said "We will do it at home with my sharp scissors." and her daughter grabbed the safety scissors and started cutting. Mom tried to stop her. The girl knew what she wanted to do and continued to cut. Mom sighed deeply and said "It would have looked better if you let me do it at home with my scissors." The girl said again, she was happy with it.

Hey mom? This isn't about you. It's not going to hold your toys, it's not your craft, not your art. Would you have insisted that Picasso went back to more realistic portrayals as well? This? For the KIDS. I'm THRILLED my daughter would rather do crafts with me then hang out on the street with the other kids her age sneaking cigarettes. If she does it, I'm proud. Occasionally I do offer suggestions, but more in line with "I have ____, would you like to use it?" I like that my daughter has a DIY ethic. She plays more with dollhouses she makes out of boxes then with the one she got a few years ago as a gift, and she enjoys it a lot more, because she made it herself. Everything is how she wants it, how she envisions it. If she feels she needs help with something, she'll ask. I don't take over for her, I give her suggestions, or we check the net to see what other people have done or maybe to get other ideas. It's HERS. I know how I feel when I'm spending hours on a project and someone either offers suggestions in terms of "It would look better if you.." or worse, if someone "helps" me and takes over the project. It's not encouraging, it makes you feel like someone whose opinion you value obviously doesn't think your talent and vision are worth much. If it's a subtle sort of criticism as an adult, how much worse is it for kids?
Ah.. I lied, not a minor rant. That sort of behaviour really does make me cringe inside.
</rant>

Michaels of course, had lots of really inexpensive Halloween craft stuff. Including oddly, tubes of 15 glow bracelets for 1.00. I got lots of those even though they are way too disposable for me, because the kids and Mike love glow sticks. The also had little totes for trick or treat bags at 50¢ each, the nice canvas ones, and the black ones, so very not too halloweeny. So I got 3 of those, and one orange one for E and I to decorate to use as purses.
I love Halloween leftovers!

Thinking about it, I should have uploaded the picture Emily took of the fish art at the hospital so it could be a loaves and fishes entry.

Today I went to get coffee at the Saturday Market. I got a new flavor to try given to me. Yep yep. I'm special. I'm lucky. Possibly the luckiest girl on earth because the owner of the place that makes my favorite coffee in the whole wide world trusts my judgement enough to give me a half lb to review.
She says I should tell all my friends to try her coffee. So I'm telling you. Again. Which I did before she asked. I don't know how to make it any clearer how passionate I feel about this stuff. It's THE coffee. Reasonably priced and it tastes amazing. If you do order, and tell her Shala recommended it, I get discounts on my coffee. Not a big deal to anyone else, but coffee makes shala a happy productive girl. Blue Bonsai coffee specifically. I don't drink anything else.
So get to her website and order coffee that doesn't suffer from the desire to taste like Starbucks. I'll tell you what.. if you'll give it a fair shot, and your actually on my flist (this isn't an open offer).. I'll make up pot sized baggies and mail it to people. I'll make this entry screened comments, leave your address. I know I'm slow to mail things, but I'll put this out without worrying about the other things I have to organise to get mailed to you. I prefer dark roasts, so it will be a dark roast since it's from my personal stash, and I'm a snob, so if you don't have a grinder, well.. you'll have to work it out yourself. Because I'm NOT ruining this stuff by mailing it GROUND.

I also told Mike I wanted bread. So we stopped and got bread from one of my favorite bakeries. Yum yum. I have a big fat happy loaf of honey wheat. I'm not a big bread eater, but this stuff makes me happy. I also like sourdough sometimes with Emily.

( The stencil spray stencil washed )
-Shala

Subtitled: Where she proves R is almost always right.
Subtitle 2: The scariness of being OCA*.

Obsessive Compulsive Ability. Which means I only get obsessive compulsive about certain things

( parts is parts, and an alien. You knew there had to be an alien eventually )
-Shala

Neiman Marcus.

Here's the answer.
A xashmere rectangle, 6.5 feet long and a bit over 2 feet wide that costs 825 dollars.

What is "Are you fscking kidding me Alex?"

Answer
My mom would have loved this, and had one similar I found at a bus station, but this Italian shawl costs over 2000 dollars.

What is "Are they on more drugs them I am Alex?"

Answer
Easy to make, and actually requires a bit more time then the above items, place where it's made isn't listed. Costs a whole lot less. Kind of pretty in a grandma sort of way.

What is "Probably made by child labor?"

Answer
A tasteful collection of rabbit fur to hang around your neck that makes you kind of wish for the happy days of Muppet slayage

What is "Who ever thought this was even vaguely a good idea?"

I'm actually still looking for a good scarf idea for Kim. At this point it's looking more and more like my last idea is the one I'm going with.

Although I need to admit, I'm a little taken back that armpits got more comments then my shawl!
( soap and lotion )


My family tends to take a lot of things for granted. Admittedly Mike's had nearly 10 years with me to learn to, and my kids have known me and my mom all our lives, and Dad was with mom for over half his life. One of these things is blankets. Just about every blanket in this house was one I made, which means Mike's got several blankets big enough to cover him completely and we sleep with seperate blankets because it varies wildly how much I want on me. Emily's washclothes were all handmade by me.
Spoiled rotten.
But as far as blankets go, what I do for most of them and the background of most of the pictures I take of my crocheting are those heavy fleece blankets. I make them with 2 layers of fleece blanket stitched together with embroidery floss. Even the large sizes cost about 20 dollars to make. I buy the fleece at Joann's while it's on sale, and buy the floss when it's 4 skeins for a 1.00. They take about 2-3 hours to stitch by hand which I do during tv time. The afgans are done in Lion Brand Homespun and take 5-7 skeins of yarn,also bought on sale. Emily's wound up being their disco color which is a blend of teal/black/purple when they discontinued it because it went on sale for 3 dollars. They are the easiest things in the world to crochet. My pattern, if it can be called such, is to chain a length about 6 inches short of how wide I want the blanket to be with a size N hook, then I single crochet it until it's 6 inches short of the total length I want. Then I do single crochets all the way around with 3 single crochets in the corners. slip stitch to join that round, chain 1 to turn, and single crochet in that stitch (the one the chain one comes out of) then chain 3, skip a stitch, and single crochet in the next stitch, do that all the way around, and on the loop, chain 1 and double crochet in the first single crochet of that round, repeat twice, then the next round, chain 1, 3 single crochets in every loop with 5 single crochets in the corners. The 3 chain mesh gives a nice border, and most of the blanket is dense enough that toes don't stick through. I promised Mike an afgan for years and never got it done until I finally did this one for him, and Emily loved his enough I had to make her one too. She also sleeps with her baby blanket. If we are going to the hotel for the weekend it's the first thing that get's packed. It's a simple granny square blanket that's stretched over the years, and she's very good about putting it in the laundry when she needs it cleaned. I don't know I'd be willing to take all the time to make her and her brother nice things if they didn't take such care with them.

Babble babble. This is what I do when I'm awake when I shouldn't be.
-Shala

I did finally get my Bernat Disco at my dad's house, I had him open the package because he wasn't clear on who it came from, he described it to me and I said "it's really ugly isn't it?" I got the brown though, so I'm happy.

Here's the problem. I had him open it. It included a catalog. So he opened that. And *described* things to me out of it. Page numbers. The free patterns. All of that.
If you simply can not stand your free yarn, send it to me. I know I can use it. Especially if you got the brown.
(google bernat disco if your interested, I'm sure you can find a link to the free yarn offer if it's still good. I'm just not sure and too lazy to google it right now)

He described it in *detail* which scarves he liked, so I asked (logically enough to my way of thinking) "Would you like me to make you a scarf?" He said no, he wouldn't use it, but spent at least 10 minutes explaining to me *why* he liked the one in the catalog he was looking at.

He told me there were lots of things I could make and a coupon and special deals and on and on and on.

You know that part of Clue:The Movie? "To make a long story short.." "too late"
That's my dad.
Crochet Geek Speak:
I wound up frogging the border. So I could do it exactly how I envisioned it. The first round is a shell border which at the bottom point to set it up for the final round needed to be one shell on either side of the point and instead wound up being a centered shell. So I frogged it, and restarted the border using a half shell at the top corner. I've got that round almost done. :) 90% of the shawl is in singles and chains, I don't think triples count as advanced, so do you think it's okay if I use them on the final round? I want it to be a fairly simple pattern for beginners, but IF you shift the the shells by one half shell, it can be ended with that row.

2 months now shampoo free. Still thrilled with it. I do miss suds sometimes, but my hair is so much healthier it's amazing, I've had one trim since I gave up shampoo and I don't need to dust my hair anymore. Mixing the vinegar ahead of time and putting it into an old shampoo bottle works well for me, but the baking soda I need to mix fresh everytime. I keep an old margerine tub in the shower to mix it in. I found that if I pre-mixed that, it settled and bits of the baking soda dried and clogged the bottle, plus getting cold meant that it just didn't mix as nicely when I shook the bottle. The vinegar is infused rather then making teas to mix in with it. I have rosemary and lavender both in it. I rinse it very well and never have even a trace of vinegary smell afterwards. Actually my hair smells just clean. No shampoo smells to clash with my perfume.

-Shala

One of the things I like best about both of these shows is how much there is for hand knit and crocheted clothing. Think about it, in a frontier society like the outskirts of the Alliance is, or in a post apocalyptic like in Jeremiah, knitting and crocheting would make a lot of sense, so would quilting, old fashioned patchwork made with patches instead of brand new fabric. Societies like that make recylcing necessary instead of a socially consious thing to do.A torn shawl could be darned, or unraveled to create something new, and history has proven swaths of fabric like saris and shawls are a very effective way of protecting modesty and protecting skin again the enviroment.Darning machine knit mass produced socks isn't necessary, socks are cheap, but I know people who can and will darn good pairs of handmade socks and wear them for years.I know, everyone reading this knows this already. It's like WW2 retrospectives on PBS, preaching to the converted.
I don't have my copy of Jeremiah season 1 right now, I loaned it to a friend who loves Bab 5 and likes Luke Perry and is busier then me, I'll get it back eventually and screencap the shawl that inspired my granny square shawl.
I'd like to put together a list of links of patterns based on sci-fi or fantasy shows, although actually a lot of the things I'd love to see patterns for were never worked out except by the original designers, like some of the gorgeous things Inara and River wore in Firefly. I'm working on them as I can. If you have any links, please let me know, the internet is growing so fast with free patterns that the major indexers can't keep up, much less a hobbyist like me, but there NEEDS to be an index of sci-fi/fantasy patterns and of good goth and punk patterns.
Buffy had some nice handknits in it too yes? And obviously there are a ton of HP inspired pieces both from the books and the movies.
I'm a hoarder. I never quite know when I'll need something specific. I can get rid of clothes and such sometimes, but if it's too ruined to donate, I'll clip the buttons off for future use, jeans.. those I can't get rid of. I haven't set up my sewing machine in years, but I know when I do, I'll want all those outgrown pairs of jeans for potholders and bed spreads and purses. I think I have 30 or 40 pairs that members of my family have outgrown or ruined. Emily's I give to a friend who has a daughter a couple years younger, the rest I keep, Emily after all doesn't wear them out, she outgrows them, and this little girl has a similar sense of style, so the ribbon embroidered pairs of jeans and jackets I decorate for E get a couple years of use with her, then her mom turns them into purses or cuts around my embroidery to patch favorite flowers on other items of her clothes.
My dad is thrifty. Thrifty in my NSHO to the point of silliness. When I told him I was thinking of using the black pairs of jeans he gave me with busted out buttons and such for practice silkscreening, he asked if I could silk screen him mini patches to patch the 5.00 shirts I buy him from hot topic, so I'm working on a set of tiny designs that he would consider wearable. Little skulls and bats and such, sometimes he's got a very punk sensibility and these are shirts that having tiny holes in them he only uses for work now.

In other news of recycling and hoarding, I've got a stack of ruined comics, they had things spilled on them, or got torn when someone stepped on them. If you are a part of the purse swap and would like random comic pages to craft with, let me know. I *think* I have an unused sticker/lamination cartridge for my xyron and could possibly even make you sticky sheets.