Hello!

Greetings, new visitors, and thanks for popping by!

It’s PAX East time and I’m wandering the Convention Center with Cunning Jayne Hats. If you didn’t get a chance to grab one from me, here’s where you’ll see more in the future:

sparklej.etsy.com

Follow me on twitter: @sparklej I’ll be tweeting my location all weekend if you want to find me and say hello.

I’m also on Facebook and periodically give away stuff.

YAY! PAX! See you around!

Valentinies!

Hello! Despite the lack of updates here, I’ve been quite busy crafting. We’re nearly buried in snow, so I’ve been at the knitting needles most of the time, as is my usual winter habit. If you want to see what sorts of crafty things I’ve been up to thus far this year, check out my Flickr set.

This recent bout of craftiness has been largely inspired by the wonderful Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochi Land. I just can’t seem to stop knitting her little creatures. I just love them to bits. I’d forgotten just how much I like knitting little things on double pointed needles.

I was even inspired to write my own pattern! Of course, it borrows heavily from Anna’s technique, and is an obvious attempt to mimic her knit-flat-and-seam heart pattern into an in-the-round pattern, but I’m quite happy with it.

If you would like to knit some wee heart-shaped Valentinies like the ones above, here’s a free pattern (PDF) for you! If you notice any mistakes or if something doesn’t make sense, please feel free to leave a comment here letting me know.

Happy knitting!
(PS- Yes, this pattern is posted with Anna’s permission.)

Mushrooms!

I have quite a fondness for all things woodland and whimsical, especially mushrooms and gnomes. I just added several wee mushrooms to my Etsy shop. Please check them out and spread the word. I hope to get a couple of gnomes done soon as well. Thanks!

(And a big thank you to Rachel Freitas for the lovely photographs!)

Sweater Workshop sampler

It only took me five years to complete, but here it is! Jacqueline Fee wrote this great book called The Sweater Workshop. I bought it fiver years ago with the intention to knit my first sweater. I cast on the sampler hoping by constructing it I’d gain lots of worldly knitter knowledge. As is typical of my crafty endeavors, I petered out about half way through.

Fast forward five years to oh, about last week or so…

I was digging through my UFO (unfinished object) basket and found all sorts of treasures. Balls of yarn I’d forgotten about, circular needles I thought I’d lost, and projects that hadn’t seen the light of day in aeons. Among them I rediscovered the sad state of my sweater sampler and vowed to promptly get to work.

Being a procrastinator, I of course had to first put the kettle on, grab my slippers (the floor is really cold), get a snack (or two), play with the cat, gather my supplies, pick out which tea I wanted to drink, and THEN got down to work.

Once I got going I realized how much I’d actually learned in the last five years. I’ve done short rows, and all sorts of shaping, and even designed and tweaked my own patterns. Working on the second half of the sampler was fabulous! I learned all sorts of tricks for techniques I’d been using for ages. The tips for two-color knitting were especially helpful. It was one of those AHA! moments where you wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself because it’s so obvious.

I worked on it a little bit each night this week and wove in the ends last night. It really is a neat little thing. When I do want to get to my first sweater (which I still haven’t cast on for yet), I’ll have this handy guide at my disposal. If I want to do a certain kind of raglan shaping, I just look at my sampler, then flip to the section in the book with those instructions and I can easily refresh my memory. Like so many knitters (and muggles) I’m a visual learner. If you’re the same, I highly recommend working this sampler before you tackle your next project.

Even if you’re not planning to make a sweater, the wisdom sprinkled throughout is well worth the price of the book. The author takes bits of Barbara Walker and Elizabeth Zimmermann’s advice and combines it with her own observations in the instructions for each section. I definitely recommend adding this to your library if you don’t have it already.

Scarf-O-Matic!

When I first wanted to knit a Doctor Who scarf (you know the one – worn by Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor) in high school, there were no resources for a fledgling knitter like myself. I had a “learn to knit” book, a lesson or two from a cousin, and a VHS tape of a couple of episodes of Doctor Who. That’s it.

Fast forward 15 years, and there are all sorts of tools available for the Whovian knitter. There’s the Witty Little Knitter and her seemingly endless observations and recommendations, and the gaggle of knitters on Ravelry‘s “Who Knits?” and “Doctor Who Scarf Support Group” forums. (Gaggle? What is the collective term for Whovian knitters?) Yarn suggestions, support groups for those of us crazy enough to take on such a project, places to share photos and to brag to one another. There’s even a really nifty tool that lets you share your progress with the world: The Scarf-O-Matic!

I love the future!

My scarf is at 0% at the moment, not having even purchased the yarn yet, but that’s my major project for the winter. I want to have it done in time for the convention circuit next spring, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to manage that, along with all the other projects I have going on.

The scarf I’m going to work on is based on the one Tom Baker wore in the 16th and 17th seasons, which is about 14 feet long. It’s not terribly wide, and it’s not the longest (that one was 26 feet long!). I’m using the Witty Little Knitter’s guide and with the help of my Ravelry pals, I think it’ll go smoothly enough. It’s just garter stitch after all. Not complicated, but it could get deadly dull if I’m not careful. I’ve always wanted one, and I think it’s time I had one.

Allons-y!

Sunday Eats! Summer Rolls (or Tauntaun Guts Rolls, if you’re feeling extra geeky)

Time has gotten away from me and this recipe has been sitting here in the queue for ages. I made these delicious summer rolls for our Lost Finale party (way back a zillion years ago) representing the Kwons (we had a dish representing most of our favorite characters). Yes, I know these rolls aren’t exactly Korean. Or really Korean at all. However, I did use quite a bit of mint, which is often used in Korean fare. If I wanted them to be more authentic, I should have used pickled vegetables for the filling and seaweed for the wrapper, but I wasn’t in the mood for that, so I cheated. Anyway, they’re delicious, and despite their appearance otherwise, they’re quite easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

• rice paper spring roll wrappers
• thin vermicelli-style rice noodles
• tofu
• mint leaves (2 each per roll)
• vegetables, sliced into thin sticks or shredded, pickled or fresh

Equipment:

• shallow pan filled with hot water
• bamboo rolling mat (optional)

Boil some water in your kettle and leave it on to keep the water hot while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Cook the rice noodles as per the package instructions (most likely boiling them for three to four minutes). As soon as the noodles are cooked, drain them immediately and rinse them under the cold tap to stop them from cooking and to make them easy to handle. Drain the noodles and set them aside.

Slice, peel, or shred your veggies, and set them aside. I usually stuff my rolls with sliced cucumber, avocado, or shredded carrots. Slice the tofu into thin-ish sticks as well, and set aside.

Once you’ve got all your ingredients prepped, you’re ready to roll. (Hah. Punny.) Fill the shallow pan with hot water. Slide one of the wrappers into the pan, making sure the water covers it. After about 10 seconds (or less) it will be dramatically softened. Here’s where it gets a bit tricky. Carefully lift the wrapper from the pan and place on your bamboo mat, or other surface. It will probably stick together like cling film. It takes a bit of practice to figure out a way to handle it so it doesn’t stick and tear.

Once you’ve got it on your mat, plop down a handful of noodles near in the lower third of the wrapper. Top the noodles with the sliced or shredded veggies, tofu, and two mint leaves. Using the mat to assist you (optional) bring the lower edge of the wrapper over the top of the pile of filling. Bring the sides of the wrapper up over the ends of the filling. Make sure the ends of the roll are secure as you roll it up, using your fingers to tuck in any stray filling. The stickiness of the wrappers will allow it to adhere to itself and seal in the filling nice and tightly.

It’s a bit tricky to get at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be whipping these out in large quantities in no time flat. I like to enjoy mine with sesame ginger or peanut sauce. (And if you are making these in large quantities, it’s best to cover them with a damp cloth or some cling film so the completed ones don’t dry out.)

I have also been known to refer to these as “Tauntaun Guts Rolls” because when you cut them in half, the noodles kind of look like, well, you know. But they smell good on both the inside and the outside, so there’s that at least.

Etsy update!

I’ve just listed five super cute, reversible lunch bags, with coordinating napkins. I’m really quite happy with how these turned out. I’ve got a few more of these bags ready for production, but I’m also adding in aprons to this week’s sewing line up. It seems there’s quite a demand for aprons, as I’ve had several requests for them since I opened my shop last week.

Pop over to my Etsy Shop and check out the Lunch Sets. Let me know what you think!

Woah. I have an Etsy shop.

Technically, I’ve had an Etsy shop for 5 years. I’ve only just now begun listing items to sell, though. Please check it out and let me know what you think. So far, I only have a couple of items listed (and they just sold while I was writing this!), but I’ve got loads more pictures and things to put up, so please check back often. (sparkle j designs on Etsy)
My plan is to create a range of kitchen/houseware type goods. I’m focusing on lunch type things right now so I have something to offer the back-to-school crowd. Expect more napkins and lunch bags to be added over the next couple of weeks. Coming this fall and winter, I will be adding aprons, tea towels, and pot holders to the collection.

My house is pretty much consumed by fabric and sewing implements at the moment. Now that I’ve got my sewing machine back from the shop, I’m in high production mode. I’m really quite excited about this, and hope to make something out of it. Thanks to: Jesse for putting up with the mess, Rachel for enduring dripping trees to take gorgeous photos of the goods, and to everyone else for being so encouraging and enthusiastic.

Bicycle! Bicycle!

Recently, amidst the fog of a head and chest cold, I popped over to Dighton and bought a vintage English bicycle. No, it wasn’t the cold meds that prompted this momentary bout with madness. I’ve been thinking about getting a bicycle (or fixing up my old one) for a while now.

If I had been a more educated bicycle buyer in the early 2000s I wouldn’t have gotten the bike that I did. It’s a hybrid road/trail bike, and it’s probably the least elegant thing in the universe. It’s a perfectly fine bicycle if you want an exercise machine, which at the time I did. My parents bought it for me when I (finally) graduated college. I rode it every now and again for a couple of years, but when we moved it just sort of sat in the shed. I had goals to turn it into a commuting vehicle, but I was too intimidated by cars and what not, even though at the time my job was only 2 miles from my home.

I tried to be enthusiastic about cycling, but I could never find my niche. I spoke to a few bicycle enthusiasts that I knew, but I just didn’t fit well with their bicycle culture. I don’t like the aesthetics of the Lycra crowd, nor did I fit with the ironic hipster crowd. Where were my people? You know, the picnic crowd. The take it slow and enjoy the ride crowd. I didn’t even know those people existed until I came across an advert for the Boston Tweed Ride last year. I immediately thought: Hallelujah! I have found my people! Hats! Tea! Baskets! Old English bicycles! Even if I’m hardly ever as put together as those people, just looking at the photos from that ride were inspiring.

I hate exercising for the sake of exercising, and that’s what my bike felt like. Like some sort of hamster wheel. (Past me was just fine with hamster wheel exercising, but present me hates it.) I wanted something charming. Something I could put a basket on or a rack on the back to cart a thermos of tea, my knitting, and a picnic lunch. Something to get me from point A to B while looking cute. There are some in the bicycle culture who look down upon those who like their bikes to be as quirkily fashionable as they are. I say let those people have their lycra or their skinny jeans and ironic mustaches. More power to them. But let me have my flowered sundress, floppy hat, and picnic basket of tea and biscuits.

My poor, neglected, exercise machine of a bicycle (really, it’s not its fault) has sat these seven years rusting in the shed. I shall endeavor to fix it up and sell it to someone who will enjoy it and use it. A neglected and unused bicycle is a sad, sad thing.

Since discovering the culture of English (and otherwise) 3-speed bicycles, I decided to procure one for myself. I spent the last year casually researching old 3-speeds and perusing Craigslist for something affordable that wouldn’t require too much fixing up to be road-ready. Searching exclusively on the Boston page was a mistake, since most of the 3-speeds one finds there are priced way out of my range. Jesse had the brilliant idea to search more locally to our neighborhood and found one for far less than those in the Boston listings. The frame is a bit too small for me, seeing as how I stand at a stately 5 foot 10 inches, but it’ll do for now. I have my summer bicycle, and when I save up enough for something nicer (oh, how I drool over the Pashley Princess and Brittania), I’ll probably pass this one along to someone else. Or maybe not; I’m becoming quite attached to it.

It is a lovely Royal 3-speed and in excellent shape for its age (1964 if the hub is original). There isn’t much information about this particular line of bicycles available online. Examination of the markings on the parts, the decals on the frame, and research and conversations with other vintage bicycle folks online leads me to conclude that it was made in England by Raleigh and imported to the US by D. P. Harris Hardware and Manufacturing Company of New York.

One of my online bicycling/knitting acquaintances helped me name her. I think Josephine is a fine name for such a classy bicycle. My first goal is to install a basket on the front, and make a pretty liner for it. I also want to make a big, floppy sun hat to go over my helmet, though I have no idea how successful that project will be. I’ll need to get her tuned up soon, but I don’t think I have the money for that just yet. She’ll also need new tires, and I’ll want to get a patch kit and tool set to carry with me. And a bell. And a rear rack with folding baskets. But I’m getting ahead of myself; all in due time.

Last week I rode a bicycle for the first time in seven years. It felt quite good, and since I still have my derby legs, I was able to ride a little over six miles in one go.  Very much looking forward to bicycle picnics in the park, and longer tours once I get her fixed up a bit more. Would anyone care to join me later this summer on a casual cycling tour? Let’s plan!

Cheers!

(Click on the photo to be taken to Josephine’s Flickr set.)

Lost Series Finale

At first I didn’t want to post on Twitter in case any of my friends were unable to watch, but then I gave up that noble idea and had fun with my fellow Lostie Twitterpals. I wrote a wee bit more for myself than I did for Twitter, so here are my unedited reactions to last night’s Lost finale. And as one of my Twitterpals (@amandamcpherson) noted, I should’ve sent in a “final transmission” that said, “OHAI DESMOND! OMNOMNOMNOM!”

And here we go:
Magic Leprechaun?! I <3 Sawyer. I <3 Hurley's Star Wars lines. Awesome. Yoda... bad feeling... hah! Damn, Charlie. You've looked better. Sayid's face! Perfect. What was that? that was charlie. "As long as you're watching... why don't you join us?" Uhhhh... Ben and Sawyer? I smell a slash fan fic. Paw prints? VINCENT!!! Rose and Bernard!!!! YEAHHH!!!! Don't you dare hurt Rose and Bernard, you smoke bastard! OHAI, RICHARD!!! What happened? You got a face full of Smokey, that's what. Juliet, the baby doctor! YAY! Sun and Jin. Goosebumps, y'all. No no no no! Is Juliet going to shoot someone? Like in that flashy time travel bit? Been bracing myself for that bit. Don't let it be miles or Rich... HEY!... LAPIDUS!!!!! YEAH. Showdown. Mom = Juliet. Surprise. Hope she and Sawyer still go out for coffee. :) See you in another life, Brotha. Shannon and Boone!!!! D'awwww. Charlotte! Daniel! charlie! so good. Wow, it really was a cork. Charlie and Claire and Aaron = Niagara Falls. cry cry cry Lock and Jack. Man of Science. Man of Faith. Well, at least we know where that neck wound came from. Confused Detective Sawyer is confused. "I don't believe in a lot of things. But I do believe in Duct Tape." <3 Miles Aw. Dang, you guys. Sawyer and Juliet. sigh. I do not like it when Hurley cries. Too upsetting. Mmmm, puddle water Jack: I'll see you in another life, brother. Come on FRANK!!! YEAH! Hey, this Jack turned into a Desmond. Hugo and Ben, great duo. But how did Ben get his memory of the island? And how the hell is Locke walking after spinal surgery? Didn't expect Christian to show up in a corporeal live form. weeeeird. huh. Sideways world = dead. Hmm. Wasn't expecting that. Well that answers a lot of things, and poses a zillion more questions. Well, that's that, then. Goodbye, Lost. Thanks for the ride.