Knitting socks

I have been knitting for three years, for half of that time my focus has been primarily on socks. When I first started out it was so complicated. Until I realized that all knitting really comes down to those two stitches, knit and purl. Keeping that in mind I plunged fearlessly on. Now for me knitting in the round is more enjoyable than flat knitting. When the piece starts to take on a real sock shape it’s like magic. I just follow the pattern and pretty soon...there is a foot shape! Socks are small, they don’t take up much yarn which not only makes them a less pricey project then say, a sweater, but It also means that they take less of your time. I love the new self striping sock yarns that are available, they are mathematically figured to automatically stripe themselves as you knit along. That is fun. The self striping prompts you to go on because you want to find out what it’s going to look like.The pair shown here are the socks from my Socks and Bones post. Here I am balancing along on a log in the middle of a marshy place filled with skunk cabbage. I managed to make it across without getting my new socks wet and slimy.  

“And I am hypnotized by knitting socks. Once a sock has been cast on to five double-pointed needles, I adore the mindlessness of going round and round like a hamster in a wheel.”

“The only way to knit a sock in the round is to keep coming back to your starting point. But, almost imperceptibly, progress is made. It’s a pattern, yes, but it’s not really a circle, it’s a spiral and all the stitches and rows, like days and weeks, are linked to form an unbroken chain. We can think we are getting nowhere with the cyclical nature of domesticity, and yet all the time, as with sock knitting we are moving on to a new row or color.”

quotes are from The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket

Secret Garden Backpack

Since October I have been carting around a very big, very black bag. I love the bag. It’s a bulky mix of faux fur and leather with Edward Scissorhands type straps and buckles. Now that spring has come that bag seems to have gained 10 lbs. Along with shedding the heavy clothes it’s time to shed the heavy bag too.

With no plan other than to make something “light” and “springy” I poked around my local fabric shop. As soon as I laid eyes on this fabric with it's swirling vines and little birds my search was over. I bought 1/2 yard, took it home and proceeded to cut into it. With no pattern (and no patience to take my time and do it right) I cut out the general shape of my black bag. This technique rarely works out as well as it did this time. It was to be a shoulder bag, but after playing around with the straps I liked it better as a backpack. Once the bag was finished I thought it fitting to have an ornamental key as a closure. I found the perfect one on etsy. Once the whole thing was complete it reminded me of the book ‘The Secret Garden’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  In The Secret Garden a robin leads Mary (the main character) to a mysterious buried key and then to the door that fits the key. The door leads her to the overgrown “secret” garden which has been neglected for so many years. The restoration of the garden to it’s former glory leads the characters on a path to their own restoration and healing. 

Spring Bentos

My girls and I are lurkers of bento blogs and love to look at bento books. Bentos are very cute arranged Japanese lunch boxes. Not only are they tasty little works of art, but they are usually healthier than the lunch fare kids are typically presented with. The foods are to be balanced for taste as well as for the eye. I recently purchased the book Kawaii Bento Boxes and we decided to try our hands at making Spring themed Bentos. It was a fun way to ring in the season. We have made bentos for lunch from time to time, they are great portable snacks and when compared they make fast food quite undesirable. 

My Spring bento centered around the idea of new life. I shaped a nest from seasoned sushi rice. Inside are hard boiled quail eggs dyed yellow with curry. I have broccoli sprouts for the ground and a couple of tiny radish ‘mushrooms’ growing there as well. There is some fruit salad for color. Tempura asparagus grow up from the ground and a butterfly made from jicama and carrot flies over.

For my daughter’s bento she started with a bed of sushi rice. She made a butterfly with a rice ball body and egg wings decorated with cheese and carrot. She also made a flower made of carved carrot, cheese and a snap pea.

Bad Friday, buns and a new shirt

Each year when my daughter sees Good Friday come up on the calendar she says grumpily “I don’t know why they call it Good, it should be called Bad Friday”. I say something like “Yes, you are right what happened to Jesus was bad, but in the long run it was good for us. That’s why he did it”.  She knows this but she remains sulky about it. Today is Good/Bad Friday so we have hot cross buns for tea and this evening we will join with friends and family to hear our Pastor read through the trial and unfair execution of Christ. Yes it is bad, a very solemn day. But we know the next part of this story don’t we? We eagerly look forward to Easter Sunday when we will rejoice.

This is our hot cross bun dough being deflated. My little one loves to punch down the dough. A year ago I made this shirt for her. Her reaction was, “Well... I don’t really like it.” I could tell by her tone that she was trying to be very delicate and not hurt my feelings. I asked what exactly was it that she didn’t like about it. “It’s not pretty enough” she said. That from a five year old means that it is brown. Not the favored pink, purple or yellow...brown. So, it hung in the closet for a year and now she actually likes it. I don’t know why, I’m just glad it still fits.

Hot cross buns,

Hot cross buns,

one ha' penny,

two ha' penny,

hot cross buns.

If you have no daughters,

give them to your sons,

one ha' penny,

two ha' penny,

Hot Cross Buns

inspiration: little houses

 

I find myself drawn to things fashioned as little houses lately. Maybe it's because they evoke in me a comfortable safe feeling, maybe they are just ridiculously adorable. Either way I've put together a few that I think are very cute and fairly easy to accomplish. These food houses are the best. We all have these ingredients- rice and bread, but it's the execution that really is great. I wish I had come up with these ideas, but at least we can duplicate them. The rice house was accented with cheese and nori, the bread house roof was dusted with cocoa powder. Try powdered sugar for a snowy winter roof. 

O.k., these little houses do take a bit more effort to accomplish. But, because of the simple shapes they are not too difficult for even a beginner. The top embroidered house is a tissue holder which has an opening on the underside to pull out the tissues. The two cheery little potholders can also be used as coasters. Or just string them up around the kitchen. I love the mix of springtime fabrics here. These are great projects to use up those cute thrifted cotton prints you may have laying around. 

Girl's Day 2010

March 3rd is Japanese Girl's Day called hina-matsuri (Japanese doll festival). It's a celebration for Japanese girls. Being a big fan of dolls and girls I have adopted this holiday for my family. Last year I made sushi and pink sweets for the occasion. It’s my tendency to set up everything and present it to the girls. But, this year my ten year old had plans of her own. She has been using The Manga Cookcook quite a lot lately and she had her mind set on a certain menu. I relinquished my plans to hers, after all it is Girl's Day. I let the girl do her thing. She made rice balls with nori belts served with shoyu and wasabi and usagi ringo, apples cut into rabbits. I had nothing at all to do with it. Hot boiling rice and sharp knife! She was fearless. I on the other hand mentally played out the horrible possibilities. I am so glad that I resisted the urge to hover over her or worse yet to do it myself. Her confidence and her ability soared, it was a very special Girl’s Day.

“As adults we like to think that we are in control. After all, we have spent years developing our ideas and sharpening our minds. But, which is more fundamental: an adult’s intellect or a child’s innocence and faith? Whereas an adult has narrowed his hopes and expectations, a child dreams and wonders.”

from Toward A Meaningful Life, The Wisdom of Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson by Simon Jacobson

Recycle Sewing and Snow Bunnies

I cannot remember when we’ve had as much snow as we got last week. When a big snow is predicted I plan for it. I stock the house with food, water, candles, batteries and lots of library books. Then we settle in. Outside obligations come to a halt and I look forward to a couple of days of reading, sewing and making comfy foods. This time I made myself a pair of pajamas out of an old red flannel sheet and a pair of bloomers out of curtains that a friend was getting rid of. I make sheets into curtains and clothes out of curtains. While I was busy with all that my daughter did a bit of recycle sewing herself. She made this adorable black bunny out of a glove of mine whose match has been missing since last winter. Of course I found it’s mate the day after the rabbit was made! I told my girl that she must turn that one into a bunny too. It’s much easier to live with two very cute bunnies than one lonely glove.


The snowy season calls for special foods like these whole wheat donuts. To combat the gray/white sky I try to put as much ‘sunshine’ on the table as I can.