Name that contraption

Hey you-- with your mind in the gutter-- it's not what you think. That's a Banana Bunker. It'll keep your lunch nanner from getting all bruised in transit. Pretty cool, eh?

We're all healthy now in the Deplume household, although I'm still not totally unpacked. Life is just as busy as before we left, with dentist appointments, t-ball games, story time at the library, and on and on and on. Once stuff settles, I promise a few more vacation pictures.

And by the way, I crocheted a hat while on vacation. Right now it looks really ugly. I'm hoping that blocking will prove itself a miracle once again. Cross your fingers for me!

ugh.

The whole family has been under the weather. Nora is fine, but the rest of us, not so much. We'll live, though. We're staying at a hotel near the airport tonight and will fly out of San Jose at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Please pray that we're all pretty much fine by then.

We do have some more pictures of sights we saw in between the germ attack, but I'll wait to post them until we're home.

Sorry there are no pictures for Wednesday

We were sitting on the couch with sickly Nora all of yesterday. She seems to be better this morning after a long night's sleep (in addition to the three naps yesterday), so we'll most likely see some sights this afternoon and evening. I might even get to go to a Trader Joe's and/or Whole Foods. For some of you that sounds just plain silly, but we don't have them where we live, and I'm giddy at the prospect of visiting these grocery stores.

Fun with microclimates

Yesterday, we had a leisurely breakfast, then headed out to drive a bit on Highway 1 and take a gander at Big Sur. First we stopped at a Safeway to buy some new sunglasses for Nige. I didn't want him squinting all day and complaining about the sun (rightfully so-- it's really sunny out here). I got stuck in one of those express lanes that was anything but. First there was the lady who could not figure out how to use her credit card. I am not exaggerating when I say that she had to try the whole swiping process at least 5 separate times. I have no earthly idea why the checker didn't do it for her at some point, but whatever. The next guy didn't have a Safeway shopper card and needed one to get the sale price on his three packages of Starburst candies. The checker started off to the Customer Service desk to get a card application form, when an angel in the form of the next gal in line offered the use of her Safeway card. Nigel does love his glasses, though.

After that 20-plus minute stop, we were on our way. First, we stopped in the Carmel Highlands area and realized that it is very very windy there by the coast. Luckily, we all had appropriate jackets. Nora was afraid to get out of the car on this stop, as she felt like we were atop a sheer cliff. We weren't, but I can understand how her 6-year-old brain came to that conclusion.


After a while of driving around and finding that the Henry Miller Museum was closed, we stopped for lunch. It was only a few miles from our original stop, but holy crikies was the weather different! It was probably 90 degrees and still. We ate at a bakery/sandwich shop, then spent a few minutes enjoying the cacti and other succulents in the area.



We got back in the car, feeling very thankful for the air conditioning, and set back off for points north. We drove over some really tall bridges, most of them built in the early 1930's. Now I feel the need to understand 80-year-old road-building technology. They certainly didn't have the giant machinery that we see laying mile after mile of Interstate highway these days.


Then we got out at another point to take in the view. Again, the jackets went on. The cool wind was definitely back. But this time Nora got out and really enjoyed seeing the coastline. She said, with a giant smile on her face, "I'm sorry that I didn't get out the first time." Nigel remained inside the car, though, as he was having fun "driving" it.


We decided it was time to head back to Carmel and go stick our feet in the ocean. It was the first ocean-touching for both of the kids. That water is c-c-c-cold! But the air was warm everyone had fun. One rogue wave came up and soaked my pants from the knees down. That'll teach me not to wear shorts like everyone else. After a bunch of playing in the sand, we headed off to find the yarn store (nothing fabulous to report there, though) and come back home.


Unfortunately, vacation tragedy struck later last night. Nora has come down with a stomach bug. She's currently snuggling with daddy on the couch, and watching cartoons. We were supposed to go to a wild animal park (complete with lions and elephants) but I doubt that will happen at this point. Ive got a good book, and two yarn projects to tend to, and it's a sunny day. Nigel seems to feel fine, so I'm guessing he'll spend a lot of time on the swing set and slide outside.

Till tomorrow, I bid you adieu.

Pictures from Yesterday

We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is as fabulous as I remember it. Maybe even better, because we got to watch the kids see it all. I didn't have offspring yet the first time I was there. We spent most of the day at the aquarium, watching otters and crabs and tuna and hammerhead sharks, touching limpets and starfish and bat rays.

"Hey Look! It's the fish from Nemo!"

Penguins are so cool to look at. I could have spent all day just going back and forth between the penguins and sea otters.
Some seals having a nap out in the Bay.
I got quite a lot of practice using the manual settings on my camera to get shots of the tanks without a flash. I just might figure out this photography thing yet. These particular guys are mediterranean jellyfish.
And super duper surprise for Norm here, there is a Dale Chihuly installation. I have a deep and emotional love for art glass, so I was as happy as the proverbial clam to happen upon this. Squee!
In addition to the sea otters, we met a few river otters, too. These guys are fast! And really hard to get a decent picture of.
We came back home, had a little rest, and another fabulous home-cooked dinner, courtesy of our hosts. The kids are still sleeping now, and when they get up, we'll head out for 17 Mile Drive and Big Sur. Nora is really looking forward to stepping her feet into the ocean.

The view from my breakfast table

I was informed yesterday that I'm a bad person for not updating my blog. And I'm sad about that. So this morning I woke up determined to update. I need my "good girl" endorsement back.

We are on a vacation in California, staying with Mr Deplume's Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike. They are wonderful hosts. They fed us a great dinner last night, lots of fun conversation, and then, when the two children were just about to fall asleep in their dessert, we wandered back to our quarters for a deeeep sleep.

Mr Deplume got up early this morning and got a run in. Having driven the hill that he had to climb to get the run started, I'm duly impressed that he managed to get three miles in. Sheesh. I'm a flatlander through and through, so this hilly terrain makes me a bit twitchy.

Once he got back, we came outside for breakfast on the porch. This is what I ate (that's yogurt and raspberry granola:

And this is what we looked at while eating:

Not too shabby, eh? It's a little cold though. About 50 out here right now, and my fingers are really chilly from all this typing. After the hot spell in Illinois, I'm really happy that we've had to take a sweater everywhere so far this week.

Once the kids awake, we'll head off to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I don't know who is more excited, the kids or me.

Pictures like this make me want to start quilting

The front of doll quilt for swap III
Originally uploaded by upstatelisa

I saw this linked on one of the many blogs I regularly read, Reclaiming The Home and it struck me as just the right combination of modern and old-fashioned. If I were in a position to add any new hobbies to my already backlogged life, I think quilting would be at the top of the queue.

Gardening is hard work

I spent 3.5 hours mowing, then weeding, planting, weeding, and transplanting. And it still mostly looks the same as it did this morning. A few weeks ago, we removed the grass from an area outside our back door. My mama dug up a few of her perennials for me, and I finally managed to get them all in today. I put in two rudbeckia plants last week, then today I put in the coneflowers, the peonies, and some dame's rocket. That was seriously toilsome work, as the soil there is pretty hard packed and rocky (it's right near the gravel drive and alley). Mr Deplume tilled it for me, but the poor little tiller had a hard time with all the hackberry roots in the way. So it's up to Normpower to dig holes big enough, then add enough compost and garden soil to allow the plants to grow. There's at least a 68% chance that everything in that new bed will die this year and we'll have to start over in 2009.


Since the kids were playing nicely outside still, I started efforts to fix up the back garden. It's pretty overgrown with grass, and weeds. Until last spring, there were giant yew bushes int hat area, until Mr Deplume borrowed a chainsaw. Now we only have giant stumps. Taking those things out will be unfun. Since I prefer fun, I'm ignoring them, and planting stuff around them. Luckily, the soil there is nice and black and loose, and has very little foot traffic. After clearing a good-sized patch, I put two peonies in (I know it's the wrong season for peony planting, but I had them, so in they went), moved a volunteer heirloom tomato plant to another location, and left one where it popped up. There are still about 50 tomato seedlings in the other end of the bed, but that will be work for another day. At least there is progress. I'll be taking a second shower today as I completely reek, primarily of creeping charlie.

I was going to share a picture of my newest knitting project, but I've prattled on too long already, and still I need to run to the grocery then shower. And my hands hurt. And by now, I've lulled you all to sleep anyway, so it would be a wasted effort. If you have read this far and are interested, you can go look it up on its Ravelry page. :)

Drive-by blogging

I just got started in a shawl for me. It's in laceweight, but I decided on a really simple, mostly-stockinette pattern. Why? Because as much as I love the process of knitting lace, I'll never manage to finish a whole patterned shawl while my kids are young. I've had to accept my limitations, and go with something attainable.

But once the kids are both in school all day long, watch out! I'm going to be a lace fiend. I hope it's not out of style by then.

City-wide garage sale is this weekend. I have lots of pricing and purging to do before Saturday. Why do I do this to myself?? At least I have some furniture-like stuff that will make the yard look full without being a PITA for me to deal with. This afternoon I hope to put the 1960's formica kitchen table together so it can go. I love the table, but just have no place for it in my house. I bought it at auction 6 years ago and have not once used it. Bah.

Baconalia

The Anticraft is an online craft magazine that usually not-at-all-subtly reminds me that I'm a grown up. It is dedicated to macabre and or sinister crafts (to use their own words). It's a knitting, crochet, sewing, and cooking magazine, but with a decidedly dark twist. I have not ever had the desire to make anything from it.

Until today.

I present to you The Anticraft's Beltane 2008 issues, dedicated entirely to bacon. There is bacon fudge, bacon gingerbread cookies, a knitted bacon scarf*, and even a bacon crown**. Here's a snippet from the editor, Zabet Stewart:

I was thinking that bacon was a salty, crispy wonder of the world. I was thinking that bacon was a little like Mata Hari, seductive and delicious at first glance but actually devious and dangerous. I was thinking, "Cholesterol, schmolesterol." I was also thinking, at least while standing in the bacon section of the local grocery anyway, "I may just need to become a vegetarian."

I couldn't agree with her sentiment more. Even that vegetarian part. But good or bad, bacon mania has gripped the nation and I love it. I'm still inspired to find the perfect bacon cookie, and it's good to know that thousands of young, edgy hipsters will be joining me in my quest for the perfect combo of porky and sweet. It warms the cockles of my domesticated, conservative heart.




*yarn knit to look like bacon, not using bacon as the "fiber". I'm having troubles with misplaced modifiers there

** actually a crown made of bacon. I guess for your favorite pork princess.

Proud mama moments

Miss Nora wanted to learn how to knit. So we sat down, started to teach her, and she decided that it was still too hard for her little fingers. But she still wanted to play with yarn. So I reached back behind the mental cobwebs and recalled how to finger knit. I set her up with a ball of chunky purple yarn and her fingers, and off she went. This picture was taken about a week ago; the resulting tube is now about 8 feet long. Every time I break out my knitting bag, she gets her project and sits down next to me. It makes me squee with delight.

I'm not having the same delight at my own knitting these days, though. The wrap that I started with Trekking XXL is pretty, but lives in that irritating space between mindless knitting and something that I have to pay attention to. I kept forgetting to concentrate, and now there are several errors in it. I was thinking for awhile that I'd just try to block out the ugliness, but I just know that it wont work, and the bockety parts will bug me forever. So I think it is going to have to be pulled out. ARGH. Even that will be a pain, because it is being knit with two yarns at once.

I really need to finish the crochet sweater I started. I have the body done, I just need to finish the sleeves, then figure out a border. The sleeves will take me an hour or two, I think, but the border vexes me. I'll need the input of crocheters much more skilled than I to pick the right one that won't look stupid, methinks.

Sorry I've been a blog slacker lately. I've been feeling rather grumpy of late, and hate for all that grump to spill out here. I'll try to do better, I promise.

I could die from the cuteness

I've been open about my inability to knit socks. I've tried a few times before, and always seem to get bored or frustrated then frog them and use the yarn for something else. I went so far as to say that I have no desire to knit them. Just when I thought I had written off socks for good, something came into my life to turn all that resolve into "maybe I'll give socks one more try."

Let's back up a little. Last weekend, there was an Alpaca festival near me. So I took the girl with me, and we went to go meet some alpacas. There were something like 400 of them there. Plus vendors. I love any place with vendors. We watched the judging of young male Huacayas. Nora was really happy to see the one win that she was rooting for. And a few minutes later, a young girl (maybe 9 years old?) was walking her baby alpaca around, and let Nora pet her. How cute is that?? I am still angry at myself for leaving the house without my camera, but at least the phone has a camera-like feature on it to immortalize the day. If I had some farm land and a spare $10,000, I would have brought one home with me. They are lovely creatures.

As for the vendors, Marie from The Fiber Station was there. I had "met" her on Ravelry, and was happy to finally meet her in the real world, too. And she had the cutest little needles there. They are Hiya Hiya brand, and only 9 inches long. These are not straight needles, they are 9-inch-long circular needles. For knitting socks. Have I mentioned that I luuuve them? At first the novelty of them was what won me over. But now, it's the fact that there's no fumbling with DPNs involved. I know Magic Loop and two-circs methods are great, but I've never been able to convince myself to really try either one. I'm stubborn that way.

I cast on yesterday for a ankle sock, as I was anxious to get to the "meat" of the sock. I couldn't imagine wasting the time on a bunch of cuff right now (this impatience is mostly why I've failed at previous sock attempts). It took a little trial and error to get used to knitting with the 2" tips. I finally got the hang of it, got the cuff done. I turned the heel last night, it was a piece o' cake. I'll be picking up stitches for the gussets later today, I think.


Now I must go finish getting ready to play outside with the kids. it's supposed to be 63 degrees out this afternoon, and sunny. Cannot waste good days like this. All too soon it will be 90 and humid.

Bacon Cookies. (I wish I were kidding)

Who: me
What: Breakfast Cookies, from Workbasket magazine, Sept 1973
Where: my kitchen
When: this morning
Why: God only knows.

Being a fan of all things vintage, I bought a bunch of Workbasket Magazines from 1973, expecting granny square afghans and ugly sweaters on models with hair helmets and bad sunglasses. I found all that. But I also found that there were recipes. Lots of recipes. I would have skimmed past them if it weren't for the captions on the 2-inch-square photos. The first one I came upon was something about a zesty tomato and frankfurter sauce served over macaroni. I started reading them out loud to Mr. Deplume while he was driving us somewhere, and we had some good laughs.

Then I came upon this: "Why not have a cookie at breakfast time? Bacon, cereal and orange juice flavor these."

bacon? cereal? orange juice?

I looked at the recipe. It also has raisins. I immediately thought of the line from one of my favorite movies, Better Off Dead, "It's got raisins in it. You like raisins."

After Easter dinner, I showed these magazines to my family, all of whom also laughed. No wonder the 1970's were so screwed up: look what we were eating! In the course of that Easter afternoon, I came to realize that I must make the bacon cookies.

And I did.

The recipe is simple: mix flour, nut-like-cereal (think Grape Nuts), sugar and baking powder, then add butter, egg, orange juice concentrate, bacon and raisins. Mix. Bake. Enjoy.

And enjoy, I did not.

My three-year-old boy actually found them to be tasty. I'll pass them out to adventurous friends and family, and will share their reactions here, in case I'm just imagining that they are bad. The texture is actually pretty good. And the raisins aren't really even noticeable. But one thing is clear to me: orange juice and bacon should NOT co-mingle.

not. not. not.

See, even the cover model think they look like a bad idea. She's giving me the "look" and clutching that cardigan, planning to use it to protect her from the hickory smoked horror.



I have found out that there is another, modern, well-thought-out bacon cookie recipe out there, the bacon maple cookie, although the idea of chocolate chips and bacon sounds bad to me, too. But I'll probably try them someday, too. I'm still holding out hope, as I'm a true fan of bacon. It really is a wondrous meat-like substance.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Fur Feet

Ugh. eyelash yarn. It's not fun. When I was a new knitter, I was sucked into the sale price and the pretty colors. I was just sure that if I just happened upon the right project, it would look good. Pretty soon I realized the folly of my ways and stopped buying novelty yarns. But not before accumulating a small stash of the stuff. It's taking up room in my cupboard. And taunting me.

Entering stage left, the Fun Fur Smackdown on Ravelry. We've started a challenge: to use the novelty yarns in our stashes. We all have some lurking in a corner, lets get it out of there! So far I think only three of us have started anything. But it's a start.

I just couldn't bring myself to knit a scarf with it. There are already "magic scarfs" in my possession, not to mention plenty of scarves in general. I don't like to knit toys. I tried to crochet a toy, but I'm apparently not yet skilled enough in the hooking to work with the fur that way. Better to start with regular yarn in my first true attempt at amigurumi. After spending entirely too much time browsing for patterns, I settled on these two-needle booties. I'm using some thrift-store vintage acrylic and Red Heart Foxy together, on US5 needles. They are soming along, but I'm already sick of working with this stuff, and I'm only 3/4 of the way through the first one. I hope they fit my girl once they are done. Otherwise, they are going to charity. Some kid needs fur slippers, right?

I'd rather be working on the shawl I started with Trekking XXL. But it's curling something awful, and I'm afraid blocking just won't fix it. Le sigh. Since I'm using two different colorways in it, watching the color changes is really fun. (Pretty odd, what we yarnies find fun, eh?) I just hope after knitting 900 yards of it, it is wearable. ::fingers crosssed::

The lengths I will go to avoid housework

Earlier today, I happened upon some miniature hats and sweaters that someone on Ravelry made for her dollhouse. I was in awe. I could not imagine the skill it must take to knit sweaters in such a teeny scale. I shared the find with my e-pals*. They were duly impressed, and several of them said how they could never do it. At first I agreed that it was beyond my skills.

And then I realized that I needed to do laundry and figure out supper. At that exact moment, I decided that I really needed to see if it was all that impossible. I pulled out a size 1 steel hook, and some peacock blue size5 pearl cotton (both from the charity shop down the street) and went to work. A little while later, I had this:


One index-finger-sized hat. I'm pretty proud of myself. Although the family will not feel that same pride when there's no food on the table tonight at dinner. I suppose I'd better get something going on that front.




*E-pal: noun. An acquaintance acquired via the internet. Some of these e-pals can graduate to "true friend" status by exchanging phone numbers or actually meeting.

If ever you're feeling down

Watch this. My 6-year-old gave it a thumbs up, "Just seeing him laugh makes me laugh." Plus, babies in footie pajamas are among the cutest things on Earth.

Vintage Craft love

I adore old craft books. I really do love them. Each time I walk into the crafty section of my local charity shop, I hope that there is a new tasty morsel of yellowed goodness for me to buy. Many times, though, I look through every book and pamphlet, only to find piles of books on:
- Macrame
- ways to cut paint and sew an ordinary sweatshirt, to make it look like it's not a sweatshirt that has been cut, sewn, and painted.
- decorating your clothing with liquid beads. (On title I noticed today was "Glitzy Lady"

But this week, I found some real gems. I got an old Alice Brooks Designs pineapple-motif cape pattern. There's no date on it, but the envelope had 4.2 cents potage on it. I suppose that puts it somewhere in the late 1950's. There was another Alice Brooks mother-daughter poncho pattern, but I mainly only bought it so it wouldn't be lonely at the store without its friend.

There were Workbasket magazines from 1973, I think the whole year. I also picked up a Columbia-Minerva "Learn To Crochet" book from 1976 with patterns for everything from booties to granny-square vests, all made with bulky yarn.

I thought I was done, I had snapped up all the good stuff, when I spotted something on the bottom shelf, behind a Christian cross-stitch book. It was titled "Fashions made with the Heir-Loom™", published in 1971. On the cover was what looked like an informal wedding dress, whose bodice is made with yarn daisies. And then I opened it up, and the first page my fingers showed my eyes was this:


Obviously, I had to have it. The out loud snort and guffaw was $.35 price tag alone. It is one of the most gloriously perfect examples of the egregious fashions of the early Seventies. Eventually, I'll get the rest of this book scanned in. There are other goodies in store here. folks. I haven't even opened most of the Workbasket Magazines. Who knows what treasures lurk in there.

I hope everyone has a happy and peaceful Easter, and I'll see you on Monday, I hope. :)

WIP Wednesday.

I have never before actually taken a picture of a Work In Progress on a Wednesday, and might never manage to again, so I'm taking this opportunity to show off my latest creation, a crocheted summer sweater. I created the pattern using Knitware, a pattern generation software. I'm just using the demo version right now, but if I continue to want to make more sweaters this way, I just might fork over the moolah to buy it. Of course that could change me from casual yarn user to full blown fiber addict. It's a big step for me. ;)

Anyway, back to the project. I'm doing a top-down, raglan cardigan, crocheted in Knitpicks Shine Sport yarn and a 5mm hook. I had to rip it back to the first row two times, wasting several hours of my life, primarily due to my resistance to stitch markers. I got over that, and on the third try, got it figured out. I'm now one row into the body, so I was able to try it on and find that it fits. :) After all the "will it fit???" worries of knitting my first sweater, I really am sold on this one-piece construction.


If my wrist and thumb hold out, I just may have this sucker done in time for warm weather.

Hey look- a garment!

I actually finished a wearable. And miracle of miracles, it is actually wearable. I started this July 20 2007, and finally finished it. It spent several months hanging on the back of my office door, wondering if I had forgotten about it. Poor Otis. But I finally finished it, and it fits and everything. Although it isn't truly done quite yet. I need to sew a couple of snaps on it. The pattern called for a ribbon to tie it closed, but I'm jut not a ribbon-wearing sort. So utilitarian snaps it is.

I sewed it together last night without blocking first. It worked out okay, but when I tried it on, I was pretty sure it was a huge disaster. After gently blocking the hell out of it this morning, it fits much better, although the seed stitch border is still flipping like nobody's business. I don't know if that's the nature of the rayon yarn I used, or the pattern itself. I will probably need to crochet around the edges to fix that. Maybe later tonight I'll manage to finish it for reals.

SO here she is, Otis from Knitty.com, knit in Paton's Katrina, on US7 needles. Sorry for the headless shot, it was the best I could do indoors, alone, at 8am. Maybe once I fix the flip and add the snaps, I'll get Mr. Deplume to take a decent picture of me in it. (But don't hold your breath, okay?)

Gardening season has begun!

It's all of 25 degrees here, so nothing is going in the ground yet, and the lawn is still the color of a paper grocery bag. I have sent the kids out this afternoon to pick up all the recyclables that got blown across the yard in the last wind storm, so at least it will no longer look derelict. The weather promises to be a little nicer this week, so I might be able to clean up a few of the winter leaves and start mapping out what will go where this year. Of course only about 10% of my March plans get carried out each year. I hope that by the time I'm retired, I'll have one of those happy little gardens that cause people to slow down a little as they walk by the house. That would make me truly happy.

And today, I started on a new garden adventure, Winter Sowing. Winter sowing is a process where you plant seeds in plastic containers while it is still winter, then set them outside and wait for them to sprout in their own time. The containers serve as little individual greenhouses, reducing the need for watering, and protecting the seeds from the winter's hungry critters. To my spring-starved self, this concept seems to be genius. A perfect storm of frugality, recycling, and excitement for spring. So today, Nora and I cut apart some milk jugs and an old cranberry juice bottle, filled them with potting soil, and planted basil, dill, cilantro, lavender and rudbeckia. As soon as I gather some more containers, the rest of the herb seeds I have and some more flowers.

There's still a chance that the whole idea is silly, and I'll spend months staring at the stupid bottles, only to find out that wintersown.org is an elaborate web hoax, designed to make me look stupid. Only time will tell.