Tag Archives: Saturday Showcase

Knitting Notes For Saturday

Knoontime Knitting

I realized that I hadn’t been posting about the projects I’m working on, so I took some pictures last evening to get caught up. A few years ago, I started a course on Craftsy called “Wee Ones,” by Susan B. Anderson; making little stuffed elephant toys, and then set it aside. I picked it up a few weeks ago and finished this little guy.

Nadya was sitting next to me and wanted to see too.

Maybe not THAT close…

She decided to sniff it a couple times.

The eyes are made with some antique buttons from my grandmother’s button collection.

Here’s a close-up. It’s a cute little design.

And in other news, I decided to try making a koi fish. Susan B. Anderson has a little fish pattern and I used this to adapt the pattern and make it bigger.

This will be the face. I stuffed it too much at first and then realized I’m not making a sock, I’m making a fish, and it needs to be flatter.

This end will be the tail. It’s made in similar fashion to socks.

The tail is made on two needles, but still knitting in the round. I’ll post pics when it’s done.

I’m thinking I’m going to try another one with a lace pattern to simulate scale. And also one with overlaid fins. We’ll see; still playing around with it.

Saturday Showcase: Elizabeth Brooks Answers the Question

Knoontime Knitting

Elizabeth Brooks is amazing.  She’s talented.  She’s a writer and an editor and a darn fine human being.  And when I asked her, do you craft, she laughed.

Laughed.

Here then, is Elizabeth Brooks and “Sampler Platter.”  Enjoy!

Sampler Platter

So Noony put out a call, asking for blog posts about all kinds of things, including crafts.

Do I craft?

Oh, do I! I’m not actually that good at any of them, though, mind you, because I take a rather “sampler platter” approach to all kinds of crafts: I get interested in something, and I get deeply invested in it for a while… usually just long enough to learn the basics and assure myself that yep, I can do that… and then I lose interest and move on to something else.

I’ve done latchhook and needlepoint and embroidery. I’ve made my own clothes (both everyday — which were mostly miserable failures — and some fantasy/sci-fi garb for cons). I spent most of grad school making a counted cross-stitch piece involving a dragon on a castle in a lake that was huge and gorgeous and by the time I was done, I never wanted to see another cross-stitch pattern again in my life. (To this day, I haven’t seen a pattern that’s made me want to pick it back up again.) I’ve been an on-again, off-again amateur photographer since my parents gave me my first camera at the age of ten, and of course, with all those photographs, I got into scrapbooking for a good while, too.

There are tons of other crafts that I’ve toyed with, but never quite gotten fully into: cake decorating, jewelry-making, and assorted flavors of ethnic cooking, to name only a few.

But yarncraft, oh my goodness, yes. I learned to crochet when I was 13, more or less shamed into it by my great-aunt, who made gorgeous pieces despite being blind. I learned to do little bits, then dropped it for a decade, only to pick it back up after that cross-stitch overload I mentioned. I’m terrible at maintaining a gauge, though, so I mostly made things like afghans, where that’s not quite as important. I made about four afghans (they make fantastic gifts when you’re fresh out of school and poor), then transitioned to crocheting thread instead of yarn. I made a whole slew of lace-covered Christmas ornaments [photo at left] and some breadbasket cloths before dropping it again. After that, I decided I needed to teach myself how to knit, so I did — I made a scarf and a couple of Christmas stockings, but I found it lots slower than crochet, and then I had my first kid and my free time went away, and I put all the yarn away.

But my kids are older now, and just a few months ago, the (unintentionally) combined efforts of several friends and acquaintances got me hooked (hah! I love puns!) on making amigurumi (crocheted toys, essentially).

I love that they’re generally small and easy to make — my favorite pattern is a palm-sized octopus that I can whip out in about an hour and a half, but I’ve made dozens and dozens of different things in the last three or four months. I started with food, then made flowers. Then it was Easter time, so I made a bunch of eggs and bunnies.

I’m an enormous geek who’s just gotten into a Doctor Who obsession, so I made a bunny with a fez and bow tie. Then I made a couple of Daleks in wacky colors, and a weeping angel.

Then I found a little chibi-Cthulhu pattern (did I mention I was a geek?). And after I made one for myself, a friend of mine made some crack to me about Cthulhu porn (“Cockthulhu: The Throbbing Tentacles of Pulsing Purple Passion“) and just to punish him for putting that image in my brain, I made him a chibi-Cthulhu with penises instead of tentacles. (No photo for that. You’re welcome.)

Just about the time I was finishing that up, my friend Lynn showed me this picture of some adorable Elder Gods.

It rather lit a spark in my brain, and now I’m trying to make all of them, though since I’m working without patterns (except for the Cthulhu, of course, since he was already done), it’s a bit slower-going. I’ve got Hastur done, and Nyarlathotep, and Yog-Sothoth. I’m doing Shub-Niggurath now, though it’s slow going because working in black yarn is hell on my eyes. I’m saving Dagon for last, because he’ll be the easiest, actually. But here’s a picture of my Little Horrors family so far:

…Yeah, I’m not quite right in the head. I know. But just for enduring my wrongness, I’m offering up a contest! Leave a comment, and in 1 week?, one random commenter will be drawn to receive an octopus in a color of their choice! (NB: you need to be willing to send us a private message with a working mailing address that can receive a smallish package.)

And if you ask really nicely, I just might include a top hat for him.

* * *

Masquerading by day as an uptight corporate cog, Elizabeth spends her nights concocting gleefully smutty stories. She writes erotic romances for a wide span of worlds, genres, and orientations, and is also a senior editor for Torquere Press. When she’s not writing or editing, she loves a wide range of generally nerdy hobbies, including reading, photography, tabletop games, geeky yarncraft, and silly smartphone games. You can find her online at her blog or on Facebook.

Elizabeth’s latest release is Foxfur, available from Torquere Press on November 13.

Blurb:

Pleasure-slave Cheng takes no particular note of the red-haired woman when she purchases his services. But the morning after her departure, Cheng is taken into custody by the Emperor’s own guards and brought before one of the rare and terrifying Chained Mages. Already frightened and confused, things go from bad to worse for Cheng when the mage reveals the demonic nature of the red-haired woman. Now not only Cheng’s life, but the lives of everyone around him, depend on their finding the fox-demon as soon as possible.

As a Chained Mage, Jin is at best feared, and at worst, despised. But he can’t allow his personal feelings to interfere with his mission, not even when his admiration for the slave deepens. In fact, Jin’s love may result in a disaster. The fox-demon has placed a spell in Cheng, a spell designed to turn his sexual energy to a murderous ends, endangering himself and everyone around him. And worst of all, they’re not the only hunters on the fox-demon’s trail!

Saturday Showcase – In the Garden with J. M. Cartwright

Knoontime Knitting

After I did the call for authors who craft, J. M. Cartwright contact me and mentioned she loves to garden. Given all the work that goes into creating a garden, I absolutely consider it a craft as much as knitting or woodworking are. I asked J. M. some interview questions and here are her thoughts on life, the universe, and dirt:

K.K. Tell me a little more about what crafts you do. What do you like to make?

J.M.C. My craft is gardening, which is a fairly unforgiving craft, since we depend on sunlight and water and good soil to be successful. Oh, and a boatload of elbow grease. Uh-huh.

K.K. When did you learn to do crafts?

J.M.C. Hah. Gardening is a learn-by-doing exercise in frustration. The gardens continue to evolve because the product is a growing one. Literally. I’ve learned from other gardeners and from a fabulous magazine, Fine Gardening. It helps to see what others are doing, learn from their mistakes and copying their successes – though I do tend to add my own touches to things. I like to take an idea and twist it, bend it, enlarge it, make it my own.

It struck me this season that my gardens are ten years old this year. Whoa. I look around at the beds around my home and I’m amazed. When I moved to this home in 2002, there were some good foundation shrubs and a bounty of beautiful deciduous trees, plus two gorgeous blue spruces. Most of the trees are probably as old as my home (55 years), so the shade, the shape, the impact they have on my home are substantial. My airconditioning doesn’t have to work as hard as the systems in other homes, which is mighty nice. So I’ve been actively gardening with ground gardens and pots for these ten years. Prior to that, it was baskets and pots on decks and balconies. However, I’ve been an indoor plant person for a lot longer than that.

K.K. Have you ever given a craft to a character? How did you go about it? What research did it require?

J.M.C. Absolutely! One of my first books, A Change Of Scenery, had MC Stephen owning and operating a gardening shop in a small city in West Virginia. I used my work experience of dealing with landscapers (designers and installers), plus my own personal experience of being a consumer. Lots of consuming going on there, let me tell you.

K.K. What effect does your writing have on your crafting and vice-versa? Does one fall off when the other is stronger, or do they synergize?

J.M.C. It’s definitely synergy. How can it not be? The more I do it, the better I can write about it. The more I write about it, the more I want to do it – and have my characters enjoy doing it, too.

K.K. What do you dream of making when you have the time or skills?

J.M.C. I’d love to have several acres where I could expand my gardens. Currently I have two distinct gardens, one full shade and one full sun. The other beds are a mix. So having more land to work with would allow me to create individual spaces that speak to the different loves I have for growing things. I’d create some outdoor rooms, which is what these spaces are now called. They bringing seating, tables, hardscape into the garden, allowing people to experience the gardens while performing life activities.

K.K. Where do you get ideas for your crafts?

J.M.C. Magazines, other gardens, my imagination!

K.K. Any other questions you want me to ask that I haven’t yet? 😉

J.M.C. In the last two decades, I’ve noticed a substantial increase in the number of people who garden. A garden can be three or four containers on a balcony or it can be several acres in size. The point I’m making is that more people are recognizing what a difference it makes, whether we live in urban, suburban or rural settings, to have beauty surround us. It softens our hearts, eases our souls, brings out the joy and kindness in us. We need more of that in our lives, not less.

So I say, grow, baby, grow!

Biography

A little bit of info…

I’ve been a mix of a dreamer and a doer for pretty much my whole life. The doer part is usually in charge. But I think it’s the dreamer that adds the spice, the panache and the zest.

My stories come from both sides – the doer helps me get the damned things done while the dreamer lets me express my creative, artistic side. My day job of running a small business appreciates both parts and I’ve learned to be more patient, more thoughtful as I go through the day-to-day tasks and interact with people. I’ve learned to appreciate a lot more things about my life since I started seriously writing, and I’ve had an entire world opened up to me from the day I was brave enough to click send and submit my manuscript.

Saturday Showcase – Sitting with Selena Robins

Knoontime Knitting

Selena Robins is a kindred spirit. We met through shared writing acquaintances and have become fast friends through Facebook and similar passions – writing, food, craft, and family. I’m excited to bring you an interview with Selena in which she discusses her pursuit of culinary perfection. Please held me welcome Selena to Knoontime Knitting!

KK: Tell me a little more about your passion for your craft. What do you like to make?

SR: My craft is the oldest profession in the world—cooking. I’m a big time foodie, so I watch a lot of cooking shows. I love Iron Chef. I then try (the operative word here is try) to replicate what the Iron Chefs made. However, I won’t attempt anything that involves organ meats or gooey duck. My favorite things to cook is anything Italian.

Italian food is food inspired from the soul, simple to make, delicious, nutritious and shared with family and friends with pride. Italian recipes are handed down from generations of great cooks from the mother country.

Disclaimer: When I say recipes handed down, I’m not talking about the traditional cook book, detailing ingredients and exact measurements.

KK: When did you learn to cook?

SR: I learned how to cook at a young age from my mom, who was the best cook in the world. I know we all say that about our moms, but in my case it’s true. She could produce a seven course meal without ever turning a page in a recipe book or having state-of-the-art kitchen appliances or gadgets.

It was a rite of passage in our family (daughters and sons) to learn how to make homemade pasta and tomato sauce. Emphasis on homemade. Heaven forbid an Italian is caught with store-bought sauce or worse have a can of Spaghettio’s in the cupboard. Open one of those babies and your FBI status (Full Bloodied Italian) would be taken away.

My mom taught me to cook using my senses; sight, touch, taste, smell, listen. The latter was ultra important in our household. Always, listen to mamma.

KK: Have you ever given your love of cooking to a character?

SR: With my published novels, both my heroines do not like to cook, not only do they not like it, they can’t be bothered learning. However, I did give the skill to the hero’s. So sexy to see a man in the kitchen. With my two works in progress, the heroines do love cooking as much as I do.

KK: What effect does your writing have on your cooking and vice-versa? Does one fall off when the other is stronger, or do they synergize?

SR: The same techniques I use in cooking I also apply when writing, adding a lot of love into my writing craft. Using all the senses: touch, taste, sight and smell, creating characters, dialogue and plots that will give the reader not only a visual experience of what’s happening, but hopefully they can taste what the characters are tasting, smell the scents of the scenery, close their eyes and hear the voices (not the ones in our heads, that’s another story), but the tone of the characters, and most importantly feel the passion I (and other writer’s) have put into creating a wonderful story to draw the reader into a comical, suspenseful, mysterious and romantic world.

KK: What do you dream of making when you have the time or skills?

SR: The perfect pie crust recipe. I cannot master a pie crust. I can make homemade bread, cakes, pastas, pizza, but that perfect pie crust still haunts me.

KK: Those of you who have been following the Saturday Showcase know that I include pictures of the authors’ art. Selena has taken that one step further and included a recipe that we can try ourselves! If you try it, we’d love to hear how you liked it in the Comments.

Pasta e Fagioli

This recipe can be made and eaten the same day, but it tastes even better if you make it a day ahead of time and serve it the next day, as all the ingredients and goodness marinate together.

Ingredients:

  • olive oil
  • 5 chopped tomatoes (or a can of plum tomatoes)
  • 1 cup onion (finely chopped)
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 6 cups beef broth (or vegetable stock)
  • 1 can red kidney beans (drained and well rinsed)
  • 1 can white kidney beans (drained and well rinsed)
  • 1 can chick peas (drained and well rinsed)
  • ½ cup fresh basil (chopped)
  • **3 cups meatballs (use your favorite meatball recipe and make them tiny bite sized)
  • Pinch red pepper flakes, optional
  • Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
  • Pasta (your choice: penne, elbow, tubetti)

**Note: If you don’t want to make meatballs, you can use ground beef, or skip the meat all together.

Directions:

  • Coat soup pot with olive oil and heat oil on medium. Once oil is heated, add onion and cook until onion is transparent, then add garlic and keep stirring until garlic is infused with the onion.
  • Add tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring.
  • Add broth and let cook (uncovered) for 45 minutes.
  • Add red beans, white beans, chick peas, meatballs or sautéed ground beef if you are using meat, and let cook for 15 minutes
  • In a separate pot, boil water and make pasta according to package directions
  • While the pasta is cooking, add the chopped basil, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste and let the soup keep cooking.
  • Once pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the soup pot.
  • Ladle the soup into bowls. Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil just before serving.

Note: If making soup the day ahead, then don’t add any pasta, make the pasta the day you will be serving the soup.

Buon appetito!

Biography

Genre-defying, witty, humorous, suspenseful, romantic and sexy — words used to describe Selena’s novels. A self-professed foodie and chocolate guru, Selena loves to dance with her dog, sing into her hairbrush and write in her PJ’s. In love with her family, friends, books, laughter, hockey, lively discussions and red wine, (sometimes all at the same time). Selena is a dragon slayer who enjoys reading and writing sassy heroines and hot heroes (the ones your mamma warned you about, but secretly wished she’d dated a few in her life).

Saturday Showcase – A Conversation with ID Locke

Knoontime Knitting

I recently had the opportunity to hear from ID Locke about her process of art and writing and how they go together.  I’m excited to share her interview with you!

KK: Tell me a little more about what crafts you do. What do you like to make?

IDL: Generally, I do a lot of knitting and hand sewing. Knitting is whatever strikes my fancy at the moment or something that I “need” to do. Currently, my “need” project is a baby blanket for my soon-to-arrive grandbaby #2. I have another project that I’ve only gotten as far as casting on the required stitches before I realized that I had a month to knit said baby blanket.

I have a collection of BJD’s (ball-jointed dolls) that are physical representations of the characters in several of my stories. I mostly sew clothes for them, but also knit sweaters and travel blankets to provide additional protection when I take them out somewhere. Doll sweaters are fairly quick to knit even if you need to use baby/fingerling yarn and 2.5mm needles.

I typically knit and sew while watching TV as I can’t just sit there and do nothing. Long car rides are a challenge as I’ve found I can’t knit while in a car because it makes me feel queasy.

One of my favourite things to do is pick up random balls of yarn at second-hand shops and see what I can make with them. I like the challenge of taking a ball of one colour/texture/weight and mixing it with something else to see what happens. Quite a few of the things I knit are one of a kind as I often have no idea where the yarn came from and can’t get more of it.

KK: When did you learn to do crafts?

IDL: My mom got me started on sewing. She’s a wonderful seamstress and had me using a sewing machine by the time I was 6. I saw a friend knitting when I was about 8 or 9 and thought it looked neat so I decided to try it.

KK: Have you ever given a craft to a character? How did you go about it? What research did it require?

IDL: I have. I have one that actually knits and another who is a face-up artist for BJD’s on the side. The knitting aspect… well, I already do quite a bit of that so it was easy. The details about face-up work I asked face-up artists some basic information and browsed through a doll forum for info. I have a character that is a glass blower as his job and I researched that as well as spent some time watching some local glass blowers at work.

KK: What effect does your writing have on your crafting and vice-versa? Does one fall off when the other is stronger, or do they synergize?

IDL: I have to make time for each thing since they can’t be done at the same time. Generally, I’ll knit/sew after supper for an hour or two then switch to writing. On the weekends, depending on what is most pressing for me to get done is what gets worked on the most. For a while I focused exclusively on writing and learned the hard way that wasn’t a smart thing to do. I try to be more balanced now. I also find that if I’m working a simple pattern, my mind will go off on little day trips and either take a WIP into new territory or give me something completely new to work on.

KK: What do you dream of making when you have the time or skills?

IDL: I’d love to make a tree of life sweater but the idea of following a chart pattern to that degree turns me off. If I had the money, I’d love to make a sweater out of quivik yarn but at nearly $100/1 oz ball (and it’s a lace weight yarn)… yeah, not gonna happen unless I win the lotto.

KK: Where do you get ideas for your crafts?

IDL: I usually see something I like and want to make that for myself or somebody I know who’d really like it. When it comes to doll things, I generally need to make the various clothes as they’re typically created species of mine and their cultural clothes doesn’t really exist outside of my head.

Gallery

2 wigs for Jolen and a pair of boots I made. The outfit he’s wearing I also made out of a pair of dress socks.

I sewed Dakvir’s outfit and modded his wig to add the silver-white hair

Kysmirhea’s wig was made out of dyed fox fur and I sewed his cat ears to it. The white top he’s wearing is made out of a mesh glove and I also sewed the quasi military jacket, too.

Biography

ID Locke is an obsessive/compulsive writer who often ignores things like the need to eat and the fact she’ll be even later for work if that document isn’t closed right this minute. Writing has been a life-long obsession for her, and people have commented that she appears to get twitchy if she doesn’t do it on a regular basis.

ID Locke has been married for more than twenty years, has a grown son and is now a grandma. She has an exceptionally dirty mind filled with kinky possibilities and enjoys writing hot man-on-man sex (with Plot no less) for her own amusement and the entertainment of others. She works, writes, and knits, squeezing reading and some anime/TV watching in there somewhere. She also enjoys creating clothes and jewellery for the ball-jointed-dolls she has turned into many of the characters from her novels. She’s blunt, sarcastic, and not afraid to speak her mind. Music is one of her loves, and she often listens to her rather eclectic collection while writing to help the creative juices flow.

Saturday Showcase – MJ Fredrick Talks About Her Passion – The Other One!

Knoontime Knitting

KK: Tell me a little more about what crafts you do. What do you like to make?

MJF: I love to do all kinds of things, but am probably best at sewing. I love love love matching fabric and patterns, and compared to writing, sewing is instant gratification!

KK: When did you learn to do crafts?

MJF: When I was 14, my mom told me she didn’t have time to sew for both of us, so she started me out making simple drawstring shorts and halter tops. When I was in high school, I worked in the fabric department at the local five and dime. All my money went back to them for fabric! Some nights I’d go home from work and make an outfit to wear the next day!

KK: Have you ever given a craft to a character? How did you go about it? What research did it require?

MJF: Not that I can recall. I do have a heroine in a future novel who’s a gardener and will be opening a nursery. I’ve been pinning ideas for her nursery on Pinterest, lol.

KK: What effect does your writing have on your crafting and vice-versa? Does one fall off when the other is stronger, or do they synergize?

MJF: Oh, the writing definitely falls off when I craft. Last summer I managed to balance it pretty well–I’d write in the morning and sew for an hour when All My Children was on 😉 Then at the end of summer I got a new machine and started making things like purses, e-book reader covers and laptop bags, you know, when you see some cool fabric but you’re not sure what to do with it? So I barely wrote in the fall. So far this summer, I’ve spent more time on crafts than writing, mainly because I have a lot of nervous energy and can’t sit still!

Look at the interesting fabric effects in the center of this design!  Wow! -KK

KK: What do you dream of making when you have the time or skills?

MJF: Something retro, like from the 40s or 50s. There was a time, before I got serious about writing, that I could make anything if I just sat down to it. These days I just don’t trust myself to try. Also, I avoid labor-intensive crafts, especially when I know I should be writing.

KK: Where do you get ideas for your crafts?

MJF: Pinterest! Evil, evil Pinterest! Although I’ve been inspired by Project Runway, or even just seeing things at the store. Nothing will inspire me to sew like seeing a $400 skirt.

Biography:

MJ Fredrick knows about chasing dreams. Twelve years after she completed her first novel, she signed her first publishing contract. Now she divides her days between teaching fourth grade students how to write, and diving into her own writing—traveling everywhere in her mind, from Belize to Honduras to Africa to the past.

Website | Blog | Facebook | @MJFredrick | PINTEREST

Addendum

MJ went shopping today and found a ninety-nine cent sale at JoAnn Fabrics.  Here’s what she bought:
MJ says, “Here are two I’ll probably never make.”
MJ says, “Going to make this fabric in this pattern.” 
MJ says, “Going to make this fabric in one of these patterns.”

MJ says, “I think I may already have this pattern but I bought it anyway!”
She also plans to make a flip flop wreathe, and here’s a link.
And also, this.
Sounds like a productive shopping trip, MJ!

…

LOL.  I just got another email from MJ, and she wants to make this skirt on Pinterest.

I think we’re going to have to bring MJ back in a month or two and see what she’s made, yes?  Yes!  MJ, come baaaack!

~happy sewing~

Fan Moment – Luba Perchyshyn

Knoontime Knitting

I have done pysanky, or Ukranian decorated eggs, for years now. Every year, I get a new book or some tools in the craft. I have a small library of excellent books by Ms. Luba Perchyshyn, who writes beautifully and has lovely photographs explaining her techniques. I get my supplies from a couple places, but the books come from the Ukrainian Gift Shop in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. I’ve been to the Twin Cities three times now, and each time haven’t managed to get to the store. My friend went there recently and asked me if I wanted anything. I stared at her and then begged her to take my books to the store for an autograph. She did it! And she got to meet Ms. Perchyshyn herself! Ms. Perchychyn said it was obvious my books were well-loved and that the person who used them must enjoy the art very much. I was embarrassed because I couldn’t get the wax drips and dye dots off them, but she seemed very pleased by it. She even signed all my books! I about fainted when my friend brought them home for me. If you’ve ever wanted to try the art for yourself, I highly recommend checking out their supplies and books. The Design Books (there are 5) are very easy to follow and you’ll be making amazing eggs in no time. Have fun!