Elephant Illusion Scarf

I hadn't given much thought to illusion knitting until my friend Rachel told me about her other friend's plan to make her a TARDIS illusion scarf, which is dorky but ingenious. Illusion knitting creates a pattern of raised purled stitches only visible at an angle. Sadly, I couldn't find any preexisting illusion patterns I liked, so I had to make my own.

Surprise, surprise, it's an elephant. Another shocker, I chose purple yarn. Using a size 7 needle, I alternated two rows of dark and light purple and knit 10 elephants, flipping the pattern vertically half-way, so all of my elephants will be right-side-up when I wrap the scarf around my neck. After binding off, I added some tassels for pizazz. In retrospect, I might have knit two more elephants for added length, but honestly, I hate using small needles and just wanted to finish.

Needle size: US 7, 4.5 mm

Yarn: 1 skein Bernat Satin Plum Mist Heather, 1 skein Bernat Satin Lavender

Meanwhile, I've been having fun with felting for one of my next projects. I'm making up my own pattern, so here's hoping it turns out properly. :/

C Is for Cookie

I think I'm a much better cook than baker, but at least I rarely burn cookies these days, and Christmas calls for cookies! This year, I gave two new cookie recipes a whirl: White Chocolate Candy Cane Drops and Banana Cookies. The former are pretty straightforward, although I had to go to more than one grocery store to find white chocolate. And a mallet does wonders on a plastic baggy full of candy canes. The latter emerged from a need to use really ripe bananas. I added a little more sugar, butter, and cinnamon, and a little less cloves. I also substituted cinnamon chips for nuts because I am firmly against nuts in baked goods. All in all, tasty treats for the family!

And now, my favorite childhood Sesame Street character!

Paper Magic

I have little skill with a pencil/pen/brush, but I love making art, so I took sculpture class in high school. We explored a myriad of materials beyond clay (which I hate), including paper. Su Blackwell's book sculptures are magical. LOVE IT!

On a side note, I adore the magazine Marie Claire Idées and am only slightly impeded by my non-existent French language skills. :/

Knit Pin Cushion

Every knitter inevitably has leftover yarn after each project. Some of my yarn is so old, I don't even remember what I made with it. Enter the brilliance of the Craft Leftovers blog! I've wanted a pin cushion for some time, but unoriginality and expense have stalled me, until I found this.

A squirrel even Emily could love...

So much for baby blankets and purses - Martha Stewart has inspired me to start crocheting adorable dog toys! (That is to say, as soon as the carpal tunnel pipes down.) Dog lovers - would you pay $9.99 for one of these? For serious?

Oh, Tahmoh

A few Friday nights ago, Ali and I, in our typical homebody fashion, decided to indulge in a bad Tahmoh Penikett Syfy movie, wine, and needlework. Let me just say, there's a fine line between "awesomely bad" and "painfully bad" movies. Riverworld falls into the latter category. Not even the prettiness of Tahmoh, the presence of Methos, or a blue Alan Cumming can save this movie. However, I'm now inspired to make a list of awesomely bad movie recommendations...later. :)

Victorian Hair Jewelry

Ah, the Victorian period -- creepy, and yet, fascinating. Perfect for me and my "tendency to cheery morbidity" (the protagonist's self-description in Gregory Maguire's Lost). I've spent many hours with the dead: in the research facility, in skeletal collections, in cemeteries, in family history. Respect and remembrance are important.

Victorians popularized mourning jewelry in memory of the dead in the 19th century. Hair jewelry was sometimes made as mourning pieces or reminders of mortality, but could also be made as tokens of love. One of our family heirlooms just so happens to be a piece of hair jewelry. Not just a lock of a dead loved-one's hair, but a necklace of intricately woven human hair with a locket. I'm generally not a fan of other people's hair (when not attached to a head), but the artistry of hairwork can't be denied.

Inside the locket is a photo of a woman who I am fairly certain belongs to the Webel family. Below is a photograph of my great great grandmother, Annie Webel Miller. That nose and jaw-line are unmistakable. Perhaps it's her mother (my great great great grandmother), Elizabeth Thiess Webel, who died in 1894?

Surprisingly, hairwork is not an entirely lost art. Just visit the Victorian Hairwork Society or the Victorian Hair Artists Guild. Or, for some beautiful mourning jewelry browsing, visit the Art of Mourning. Personally, if this piece of hair jewelry did not belong to one of my ancestors, I'm not sure I would want it because it kind of gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Christmas Vinyl Revisited

This album, a staple of my childhood Christmas experience, is undoubtedly the reason the Ring Christmas Bells (aka Ukrainian Bell Carol) is one of my favorite Christmas songs.

this is what I read in 2010

Alison's 2010 book montage

Alison's favorite books »

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden OR, Why I Didn't Get to Bed at a Reasonable Hour Last Night

It isn’t ten-year-old Pia’s fault that her grandmother dies in a freak accident. But tell that to the citizens of Pia’s little German hometown of Bad Münstereifel, or to the classmates who shun her. The only one who still wants to be her friend is StinkStefan, the most unpopular child in school.

But then something else captures the community’s attention: the vanishing of Katharina Linden. Katharina was last seen on a float in a parade, dressed as Snow White. Then, like a character in a Grimm’s fairy tale, she disappears. But, this being real life, she doesn’t return.

Pia and Stefan suspect that Katharina has been spirited away by the supernatural. Their investigation is inspired by the instructive—and cautionary—local legends told to them by their elderly friend Herr Schiller, tales such as that of Unshockable Hans, visited by witches in the form of cats, or of the knight whose son is doomed to hunt forever.

Then another girl disappears, and Pia is plunged into a new and unnerving place, one far away from fairy tales—and perilously close to adulthood.

I must say, mad props to Helen Grant and/or the Delacorte Press for the compelling title and artwork, since I picked this book up randomly from the New Book section at Martin Library. (Props to Martin Library for the new book section right near the main desk; it's the literary equivalent of the candy bars at the grocery store checkout.) 

I understand that this book was marketed as YA in the UK, and as I was reading it (and being wowed) I was pondering whether it was a suitable recommendation for, say, Dilesha, age 12 going on 30. Given that I already recommended The Hunger Games to her, which is far more graphic and disturbing, I'm thinking it shouldn't be an issue.

I also recommended it to Emily on account of it's thematic similarities (scary woods, foreign setting, children mysteriously disappearing) to Tana French's In the Woods, a book she had recommended to me. 

The books are about on par as far as readability and level of suspense, but if I had to choose, I'd  put The Vanishing of Katharina Linden ahead on account of the familiarity (and I dare say, likability) of it's narrator; i.e., I've never been a police detective with a traumatic past but I was once a ten-year-old girl with an (over)active imagination. 

After Pia herself, the second most important character is probably the town of Bad Münstereifel itself. I want to go back to Deutschland!  The book is set in 1998 (i.e. when there were still Deutschmarks) for, I would venture, two reasons: 1.)  life was way more suspenseful before everyone and his brother had a mobile phone and 2.)  the plot incorporates three generations of characters, and those who were adults during WWII needed to be old... but not dead. 

Read  it, particularly if you have been to/love Germany, or have German running in your veins, or have an interest in German history/folklore above and beyond a certain mustachioed psychopath. Well-written and suspenseful, with a climax that would do Stieg Larrson proud (you know, if he were alive). 

Check out Barry Forshaw's review from the Independent, or at the very least, follow the link to check out the cover art for the British edition. I usually bemoan the inferiority of American covers to their British counterparts, but in this particular instance, I think we got them beat. So props to one Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich for the cover design on the American edition. 

And here's an essay by the author, Helen Grant, about German folklore and her inspiration for the novel. 

Schubert For My Lady

Many moons ago, I watched The Portrait of a Lady and fell in love with a song Isabel (Nicole Kidman) plays on the piano. It just...makes me want to twirl. :) I give you Franz Schubert's Impromptu Op. 90 (D. 899) No. 4 in A-flat major.

Cabled Wristers, Au Naturale

The first friend-birthday since my resurgence of knitting has arrived and I decided to make her a new (for me) variation of a wristlet/wrister. Knit Simple's Winter 2009/10 issue has a pattern for cabled wristers that involves (you guessed it) cables, flat knitting, and buttons.

I chose a neutral color wool and coconut buttons for a natural, textural feel.

And voilà!

I have some ideas about modifications for my own pair, including family heirloom cuff links instead of buttons and a variation of the cable pattern. Stay tuned!

Daylight All Night

Blake got a new camera!

Yarnia

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Fraggle Rock Knitting Song

I used to watch Fraggle Rock, but I was less than 5 years old, so the details are fuzzy. I have no memory of this particular song, but I like it. The Doozers sing about knitting!

The Art of Knitting

Fiber artist Ben Cuevas combines my love of knitting and human anatomy. I want his knit skeleton!

His exhibition Healing Disparities: The Condition of Ebodiment reminds me of my UT Medical Anthropology class with Dr. Harper and our class discussions about western biomedicine (as well as being cholk-full of knit body parts).

I also enjoy the photography of Daniela Edburg, particularly her Knit series of photographs.

Hidden Talents

Years ago, when I was a measly undergraduate, I devoted many hours to Theatre Widener. One of the lovely people I met through theatre was Jane McGovern. At the time, I only knew of her acting craft, not her talent for drawing and painting. As always, I'm jealous of anyone who has skill with a brush/pen/pencil. :)

Disgruntled Dog

I was paying too much attention to my knitting and not enough to her.

Librarian chic

I meant to post this ages ago -- you know, like right after I bought it and before I gave it to its intended recipient -- but my camera phone wasn't cooperating. (Emily would say it was a user problem). Randomly stumbled upon this in the gift shop of the York County Heritage Trust, and it just screamed "RACHEL, RACHEL, RACHEL!" A little late for Banned Books Week, way early for Christmas (well, not NOW), but there you have it.

carolyn forsman : banned books bracelet on carolynforsman.com

P.S. Typing in wristlets is a new and interesting experience.

Mock Cabled Wristlets

I see wristlets as a fun and easier alternative to gloves or mittens for a knitting-in-the-round project. I found this pattern in the Fall 2010 issue of Creative Knitting Magazine. The pattern gives the appearance of cables without having to actually use a cable needle.