Thursday, October 12, 2006

WOOO!

Class finished, project finished, got an A!!!!

*thud*

Sunday, October 08, 2006

What I did: AD LIB

So I just made a really yummy meal...I was trying to remember how to make tuna casserole, but I didn't want to use tuna, or mushrooms...

TTK said I should try to write it down, so here goes:

Thrown-together chicken casserole

1 lg can (12 oz.?) chunk chicken
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 bag egg noodles
1 can white hominy
1 can pinto beans (not refried!)
1/2 tsp or so Tarragon
1 tsp salt-free seasoning
pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated or shredded parmesan cheese

An 8 x 8 brownie pan
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Cook your noodles until they are almost ready (you want them harder than al-dente, because they'll cook more in the casserole...)

While your noodles are cooking, open and drain your beans, hominy, and chunk chicken.
Dump 'em all into a sm bowl, and add the condensed soup and spices.
Stir.
Dump your noodles into your colander, drain for a second, then dump them back into your pot.
Scrape the bowl of mixed chicken stuff into the noodles, and stir.
Dump the whole concoction into your pan, and cover the top liberally with the parmesan.

I use the 8 x 8 pan rather than the traditional bread-shaped one since you get more surface area for tasty cheese and toasty bits, plus you don't have to cook it forever--just until the cheese is browned. About 15 minutes.

Take out of the oven, being careful not to knock over your glass of milk all over the floor.

Eat! ...while watching anime, of course!

Friday, September 08, 2006

For The Next Potluck

I'm making this.

Heh. It's jsut so wrong.
But it's Weight Watchers!

Finished!

I finally finished the purse...sort of. I still have to do the handle, which involves me learning how to do the I-cord stitch. But the purse part is done!
I'm not sure how much I like the front flap--I have some ideas on how to change it...Pictures will be coming soon...

Meanwhile, I managed to trash yet another KK hook--I knit too tight and the
rubber handle starts to slide off of the hook, and after a while it's really loose and just kinda twists around when you try to knit. I knit so tight that I can't use chenille or I break the threads (I'm working on this, honest!).

So, I decided to experiment with glue.

What glue, hmmm...what glue...[looks through the house for glue]

Hey, I have superglue! And, white glue! And, um, that's it.

Superglue it is, then.

How I did it was I pulled the hook out about 2 inches from the rubber handle, then put superglue on the metal, then pushed the metal back in, overshooting a bit so it was sticking out the back end...there's a little rubber nubby that pops out of the back end, and it's easily glued back in when you're done.

I then put glue on the metal end sticking out the back, and pushed that end back in (until it was in the right place (I used the cement porch to help me with all the pushing, so I didn't get glued to the hook)

Then I stuck the little nubby thing back in.


[momentary interlude--the speckled hen for whom this page is named just came walking in through the open front door. She does this. I'm not sure what disturbs me more: that she might poop, or that she finds SO much to eat on our carpet!]

Now: You have to _leave_it_alone_ for about ten minutes...usually with superglue, it's instant, but for some reason with the metal and rubber, it's not.

But hey, it gives you time to pick all the superglue off your fingers, right? Heh!

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

No posts?

There's a reason I've not posted for a few days/weeks whatever--I'm exhausted!

This new swimming class is kicking my BUTT.

I have started a little purse-critter, though it's just sitting there about 3/4 finished, until I have the energy to get back to it.

A friend of mine had a great suggestion as to how to learn a new stitch--just do a 6"x6" square, or even 8"x8"...and then when you have a bunch of them, join them together to make a blanket or afghan.

I like it!

My goal is to learn a new stitch every week or every other week, considering how wiped I am right now...

On the computer end of the creative gauntlet, I must say: Dreamweaver is ridiculously easy.

I think I'm gonna hit my home page this weekend and see if I can get it organized and prettified... the link is http://ciar.org/~cobalt, but don't go there yet as it's really old and out of date and frankly, pretty tacky.
Soon, though, it'll be all pretty and easily navigable, and cool. And informative, too. :-)

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Another Project

Well, I created a narrow scarf for my sister with Rainbow green boucle...it's actually kind of cute... so now I'm making a purse to go with it. I've been experimenting with different stitches...

What I need is a way to experiment with new stitches whilst making something....but I REALLY don't want to make washcloths or dishcloths or something equally as useless..

but it would give me a chance to get the stitch right before actually making something to give to someone...maybe I can use these stitches on the baby hat project--it's called Care Wear, and you make baby/preemie hats for infants in hospitals. It's totally non-profit, and gives you something to make with all of the yarn stubs you have left over after a project...when I find the URL I will post it...[moments later]...duh...it's pretty easy-- http://carewear.org

...

:-)

Monday, August 21, 2006

Hmmm...next?

Well, I need a new project.
Anson's hat is done, and Joann Fabrics was having a clearance sale on their spring line of yarns--$3.00 a (tiny) skein, and 30 percent off of that--making them 2.10 each.
Woo!
I bought 4 skeins of each kind I liked, so I can make something big if I want, or just use one skein as an add-on to another yarn.

So I have a ton of yarn, and I can't decide what to make now.
I only have the KK circular looms so far, and I only know the basic stitches.
I don't want to give everyone the same old, same old, and I don't want to get bored...
so what now?

And, school starts bright and early tomorrow morning.
Whee.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Coding

Well, I'm figuring out how to edit CSS...slowly, very slowly.
I think this counts as a creative endeavour, and that's what this blog is for...

So I start school in 4 days.
Well, re-start school...would you believe I already have 2 bachelor's degrees?
Then I had brain surgery...now, I struggle along gamely trying to learn (re-learn?) what I can.
I'm taking 3 classes at the JC...

2 computer courses (beginning dreamweaver, and html 3...I'd like to take intro to CSS, but the html course is the prerequisite so I'm stuck) and an adaptive physical education course--swimming.
Whoever thoguht of the name for the handicapped exercise courses was just cruel--as if we don't have enough problems, note the abbreviation: APE. So I'm taking APE 10.1 or something.

Once I get going, expect a new look and feel on this and my other pages. Also, I'll be coding a site for a non-profit, once I get some more advanced skills--I can make UGLY web pages, but that's really not going to do for a REAL entity, unlike my own pathetic pages (templates are little miracles, aren't they? Think of how ugly the web would be...).

Loom Stuff


Currently, I'm making a hat for my little nephew. Hats are easy, so I always have to make things more complicated--I'm using three strands of yarn, and trying to do a double stitch. THAT was almost impossible: It got so tight that I couldn't get the yarn over the pegs, and I was at risk of breaking pegs/hook/fingers/yarn...so I cut off one of the yarn threads, and now I'm doing it with 2 yarns and a double stitch.
Luckily, I've included an eyelash-style yarn so you can't find where I cut the other yarn...and I did it as I was making the brim, as well, so the ends got tucked in and it looks like I did an extra thick stitch for the brim (which I did ;-), then changed deliberately (again, I did, but not for the usual reasons of appearance or style...).

His favorite color is a turquoisey/seafoam kinda green, so this is going to be a very colorful hat.
I'll upload a picture when I get it finished...and when I get around to it, I'll upload pictures of the 6 or so dog sweaters I've done, all modeled by my mother's dog Fancy and my dog Pocky. :-)

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Looming...

A few months ago (okay, last fall) I was down at a friend's house, and she was busily wrapping fuzzy yarn around this legoland-style red spiked wheel.
My reaction was, "WHAT is THAT?"
She explained to me (whilst looping away) that "it" was called a Knifty Knitter, and that she got it at Wal-mart (her favorite shopping therapy store), along with a bunch of really fun yarn, and she was making scarves.

I must say honestly that I kinda turned my nose up at it as a cheesy fad...but come June, bored and stuck at home because of health issues (if you really wanna know, read my other blog but it's pretty eccentric. You are warned.), I got the urge to crochet again. This is something I take up every once in a while, then quit either because the yarn is crappy, or the patterns are impossible to read. I have a monstrous time trying to learn the argot, and usually quit in frustration. I've been "playing" with crochet (with very little to show for it) since I was like, 12.

Then, I was visiting another friend, and lo! her 10 year old daughter was busily wrapping away on this gaudy yellow chunky plastic ring...and what was being produced was PRETTY!
Color me officially intrigued.

As a side note: I hate Wal-mart. I don't do crowds well, and for some reason Wal-Hell seems to attract a great deal of pushy, obnoxious, desperate-looking overweight (quintessential Americans?) people. Did I mention I don't do people well, either? My friend calls it my "agoraphobia" but I'm not sure that's accurate...needless to say I spend a lot of time at home, and working with animals (I do reptile rescue)...but I digress, brutally!

Where was I? Oh, yes, Wal-mart...believe it or not, I was intrigued enough by this knitting tool that I braved Wal-mart (with my sweet and wonderful husband as guardian) to get the kit and some yarn. Had I known the kit was available at JoAnn, I would have gone there--however, I didn't discover this until I went there later that week for more yarn (once again, hubby running interference. I've been 3 places alone in the past 3 months...but once again, I digress)...

So, tool in hand, pretty textured yarn in the other, instruction booklet in front of me, I proceeded to knit.

Now you know: This blog is about what I am creating/learning to create with this centuries-old knitting loom (yes, I did some research--there are some great handmade looms out there!) that ProvoCraft has brought into faddish popularity by making the "tools of the trade" very colorful, chunky, and non-threatening--therefore easy and possibly viewed as "not really knitting" by outsiders, as I once was. ;-)

Oh, this blog is ALSO about cooking, creating art in whatever form I find it.

Introducing...

This is my blog for my creative outlet(s)...my other blog is full of all other aspects of my life, so splitting them seems to be best. I wish Blogger had categories, the way typepad does, but oh well. I'm learning CSS, but it's slow going...being able to code my own template would be really damn nice.