Hot Chocolate o’Clock is my Favorite o’Clock

Every day (or nearly) at three o’clock in the afternoon I have a cup of hot chocolate. It’s become the tastiest part of my winter survival strategy (which also includes a daily vitamin D supplement and a 30 minute session in front of my LiteBook). As a dairy-free person it’s difficult to grab a cup on the go, so I make my own powdered mix and carry it with me to work. All you need is hot water and it’s your very own hot chocolate o’clock.

Here’s my recipe:

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered soy milk
• dash of salt

Mix everything together and keep in an airtight container. Two heaping spoonfuls is enough for one standard mug of hot chocolate, but you may need more or less depending on your mug size and how rich you want it to be. I never need more than three heaping spoonfuls in my largest mug, but your mileage may vary, of course. Fill your mug with hot water, stir until everything’s dissolved, sip, and enjoy. (Yields approximately 5 servings.)

Winter is difficult and we’ve got two more months of the stuff ahead of us. Share this recipe with your friends to keep them warm. Better yet, make them a batch and present it in a mason jar with a Cuppow! lid adapter and felt cozy (available in the Storenvy shop).

We’re back!

The shop is reopened and it feels so good!

Listings in the Etsy shop include lunch bags, mason jar cozies, and dice/gaming bags (which can be used for snack bags if that’s your thing – just don’t get your snacks and dice mixed up). There are still a few of the discounted 1.0 style lunch bags available. All new lunch bags will be made in the new size – see the Robot, Mushroom, or Bento lunch bag listings for more information.

Mason jar drinking lids are available via the Storenvy shop. Cozies are available at the Storenvy shop as well, so if you’re placing a cozy+lid combo order you don’t have to do so via multiple shops. (I sell the lids on Storenvy because I do not make them myself and cannot sell them on Etsy.)

The next scheduled shop update is Monday, 16 February 2015 when we’ll be adding more lunch and dice bags and party banners. As always, custom orders are welcome any time.

Cheers!

Project Update: Longest Scarf Ever

Before I started sewing for a living, I’d spend much of my free time knitting. Now my creative brain is all used up on the job and there’s little left at the end of the day to put into complicated wooly pursuits. Luckily, this garter stitch scarf is waiting for me whenever I have a spare moment to knit a few rows. It requires little thought at all and I can shut off my brain while simultaneously channeling my nervous energy into something productive.

I began it in October 2013 and I’m quite close to being 3/4 of the way through it. I’ve been weaving in the ends as I go (every couple of feet), so I won’t have those looming over me at the end of the project. Once I’m through the knitting, I just have to add the fringe, then BOOM. DONE.

If you’re on Ravelry, the yarn and pattern details are here. As I’ve mentioned in previous project posts, I’m using a pattern from (now defunct) Witty Little Knitter and working in Valley Yarns Northampton in the (approximately) appropriate colorways, though my red isn’t orange enough, and my tan is too grey. Those are the only two colors that really bother me. The rest are passable. Thus far I’ve made do with one ball of each color, though I will have to order more of some colors before the end. I’m terrible at yarn estimating and I’ve been putting it off.

My probably-making-things-harder-than-they-need-to-be plan is to knit until I run out of one color, add up all the rows I’ve knit in that color, and figure out how much of each of the other colors I’ve already gone through. Then I’ll probably panic and just order one more ball of each, spending more money than I have to, and be stuck with a bunch of yarn in 1970s colors.

Until then? I knit.

Arisia 2015

One of the fun parts of my job is attending conventions as a vendor. It’s exhausting, frustrating, and tremendously stressful leading up to the event, but once I get there and start helping to set up the booth things start to look a lot brighter. No matter how grumpy I am (or stressed out about how grumpy other members of our crew are) as soon as I see that first patron dressed as the TARDIS, I’m reminded of my place in the tribe and all is well.

I’ve been helping with the Threads of Time booth at various shows for about five years. I don’t get to see much of any show unless it passes directly in front of our booth, but I get rather familiar with the dealers’ rooms. I look forward to seeing the show regulars each year, and I’m always on the look out for new-to-me vendors. There’s always so much to see, so I usually end up with a pile of business cards at the end of the weekend.

Below are some of the other vendors I visited at this year’s Arisia science fiction convention (Boston, MA, January 16-19):

Tea and Absinthe – Always a favorite of mine at these shows, their tea is delicious and their tea accessories are fun (and functional). I always go home with a few bags of tea (and sometimes a new tea infuser), and I love when they bring their chocolate truffles to a show.

Emporium 32 – Lovely jewelry and other unique adornments. They have an author portrait pendant line that I love and they recently started carrying men’s grooming products. I got Jesse a mustache comb and he loves it.

Zooguu – Faux taxidermy! Adorable soft sculptures mounted on colorful plaques to dress up any wall. I really want the unicorn one. Or maybe the narwhal. Or platypus.

Storied Threads – While they started as makers of clothing, I really love visiting their booth for the patches. Anything you can think of in the geeky-pop-culture universe they’ve probably made into a patch. I want pretty much all of them.

Well Played Clothing – Represent your favorite pop-culture fandom in business casual style. I really wanted to get the Hogwarts one, but I spent too much on tea.

Crested Creations – I fell in love with these dragon soft toys, and if you need a giant mustache plush you need look no further.

Untamed Undies – Need some underpants with a kick-ass message? Here you go. My underpants tend to be quiet, and I don’t like words on my bum (or elsewhere), but every now and again I come across a booth and just want to shout “I LOVE THAT THIS EXISTS!” and so I’m sharing.

The Lost Year

Ever have one of those years? The kind of year where you get to the end of it mostly intact, but you don’t have much to show for yourself? The kind of year where you spend more time ill and grieving than you do actually living? The kind of year you never want to see the likes of again? I suppose we all have lost days or weeks every now and again. Sometimes there are so many lost days strung together we want to write off whole years as a loss. 2014 was my lost year.

This year was a struggle on many fronts. There was much illness and death, as well as frustration and guilt. (Who feels guilty about being ill? This gal, that’s who!)  To say that 2014 was a complete waste would be inaccurate and unfair. There were some tremendously good bits thrown in with all the bad, and in the end, while both my immune system and self worth have taken major damage (pro-tip: don’t measure your worth by productivity, folks), I am coming out of this year stronger and with more resolve to make 2015 the best damn year ever.

As I sit here in a pool of sunshine snuggled in a quilt made by my mother, sipping my tea, with a purring cat on my lap it is difficult to NOT be hopeful. (Is there anything a quilt, a cat, and a cup of tea can’t soothe?) As gloomy as things may have seemed this year, I have a really good imagination and know that we could have had it much, much worse. Instead of dwelling on past failures, I am revisiting my plans for the year and calling a do-over. All those beautiful and fun prints I bought for this year will be made into wonderful wares in the new year. Spring will come again, and Sparkle J Designs will be ready to celebrate. It’ll be time for picnics and garden parties before we know it. In the meantime, I’ll be relisting current lunchware stock for those of you who need a little bright color in your work or school day to get through winter.

I plan on surviving and even enjoying the rest of winter by surrounding myself with warm and cheerful things, which will probably include lots of wool. It was such a struggle to keep up with paying work this year, I wasn’t able to make much time for personal crafting. I managed to knit the odd sock or two, and a foot or so on my Doctor Who scarf, but that’s about it. I’m taking the time now while on vacation to make a few things for myself, friends, and family before I get too busy. I’ve been learning to make candy and have been honing my bread skills. I’m very much looking forward to the new year and hope you are, too.

However you choose to spend the rest of winter, I hope you take some time for yourselves. I wish you a very happy and healthy new year, full of friends and family and lots and lots of love! Cheers!

Green Earth Fest!

We’re a last minute addition to the Green Earth Fest at the South Shore Natural Science Center in Norwell, MA. The event is May 4th, 11 am – 4 pm and will take place rain or shine.

This is a family-friendly festival, and this year’s theme is “Celebrating Dirt.” There’s going to be all sorts of activities for kids, and it looks to be a very fun day. Hope we’ll see you there!

(Photo credit: Green Earth Fest)

Merry PAXmas!

Greetings, PAX-goers!

I’m looking forward to a weekend full of amazing games and tens of thousands of fellow game-type-people!

I’ll be there all weekend, knitting my way through the crowds. If you see me, please say hello. I’ll have some Cunning Hats and Dice/Gaming Bags on hand if you want to pick up an order at the show. Order from the shop just like normal, using coupon code PICKUP at checkout to waive the shipping fee. We’ll make arrangements to meet up so you can pick up your order. Please note this applies ONLY to dice bags and cunning hats. All other orders will have to be shipped to you. I need to save room in my bag for games!

See you there!

Running with Sticks: one down, five to go.

It’s finished! Well, the first pair are done, anyway. I started them mid February and just wove in the ends yesterday. Considering I took two weeks off in March, that’s not too shabby. Each legwarmer took 10 knitting gym sessions to complete. I started at a knitting rate of 12 rows per mile and have increased to 17 rows per mile. I’ve got to say, I’m pretty impressed with myself.

That said, while being impressed with my knitting and walking prowess yesterday I got cocky, lost focus, and didn’t notice when the last remnants of the last ball of yarn pulled out of the knitting bag, tumbled to my feet and got swept behind me on the treadmill. I didn’t trip, but I did utter a few profane oaths and turn several shades of red not related to the physical exertion at hand. Way to keep me grounded, Universe.

On to the next pair! These ones will be shades of green and yellow. Everyone else chose more shades of blue, grey, and black. I just can’t with those colors right now, so green and yellow it is.

Bags for all!

A customer recently told me she uses her lunch bag as a knitting bag for socks on the go. How clever is that? I was so focused on food, I never even thought of using the lunch bags for anything else. Thanks to her genius, I’m now using one of my old lunch bags (v 1.0) to bring my leg warmer knitting with me to the gym. Thanks, Candice! It really was a great idea.

What about dice bags? Do you like my dice bags but have no dice to call your own? As sad as your paucity of dice makes my wee, game-loving heart, I sympathize with your predicament. You don’t have to use the dice bags for dice, though. Did you know I first made those dice bags to accompany the lunch bags? Yes! Their original purpose was as receptacles for snacks. They’re still quite useful for that purpose, so you might as well grab a couple for yourself. One for your snacks, one for your dice. Just don’t mix up the two. I shall not be responsible for your dentist bills.

Got any clever ideas of your own? Do let me know! I’d love to hear how you’re making use of these bags.

Down the Rabbit Hole

The lovely gals at Chifferobe, a dance and entertainment company in Providence, RI, asked me to team up with Tropigal Melissa Freitas to design some Alice in Wonderland themed accessories for an upcoming event. You may already be aware of my fondness for tea, cake, parties, and miniatures, so the combination of all those things in this project probably doesn’t come as a surprise. I just couldn’t resist those tiny cakes. Tiny cakes!

Please see their blog for the Alice band tutorial as well as Melissa’s curiously wonderful (see what I did there?) designs for playing card and painted rose fascinators. They’re darling!