CUPCAKES!!! With a snazzy free printable.

We're kicking off the busy season at work today.  I won't go into details (they're the boring kind, not the "if I told you I'd have to kill you" kind), but the season goes by the acronym "SWT."  The "S" stands for summer - not that it's REMOTELY summery here in Kyiv at the moment, but it's essentially us gearing up for the summer.

So I decided to celebrate the kickoff by bringing cupcakes to work.  Cupcakes with RIDICULOUS CUPCAKE TOPPERS!!!  Muahahahahaaaaaaa.......

Click here to download the PDF file.

Folks, this is my first go creating printables, so please pardon the crude design.  I rather dig the crude design, actually.  I feel like toppers for cupcakes meant to celebrate the insane season at work sort of ought to look like they were drawn in crayon by a 4-year-old.  I figure none of you will have much use for cupcake toppers that say "SWT," so I'm just including a sheet of all-purpose "OMG" toppers for download.  If you DO happen to be in my same boat, though, and actually want SWT cupcake toppers, send me an email and I will totally hook you up.

You'll find cupcake topper printables online in perfect cirlce-shapes or even scalloped flowerdy-shapes.  These require a special paper punch to cut out neatly.  I do not own a special paper-punch (I'm a scrapper, for sure, but I am Not.  A.  Scrapbooker).  So I designed these to be cut into squares on straight lines between the suns.  Like with scissors.  You're welcome.

A lot of people tape these to lollipop sticks.  Some people tape them to cut-up popsicle sticks.  I figured I should be able to find toothpicks at the grocery store, but I was WRONG!!!  I've seen them at restaurants, I looked in all of the logical places, but the score wound up Kyiv 1, Sasha 0.  Fortunately, decapitated Q-tips will also do, in a pinch.

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Knitting in Public

Today is World Wide Knit in Public Day. Rejoice! There was a group meeting at a farmer's market not far from me this morning to knit in public. I thought about going, but decided that I'm probably just not strong enough to spend time surrounded by luscious, local, largely organic produce, meats, eggs, dairy and baked goods without buying something. Particularly circa breakfast time. And have we been keeping up with how pathetically jobless and broke I am? Yes.

So I humped my needles down to the park this afternoon. I found a nice, quiet, shady spot with a good view. It was pleasantly solitary, but there were enough joggers and bikers out today that it qualified as "knitting in public."

Pictured above is your basic garter stitch swiffer cover. While I'm usually not a huge fan of garter stitch, I find it's excellent for scrubbing and picking up schmutz! I got a whole mess of Sugar 'n Cream cotton from my mother a while back. Free yarn = free swiffer covers and washcloths! This is excellent from my broke-ass perspective! I might post a pattern for the swiffer cover at some point, but it's so stupid easy, I'm not sure the demand is there.

I have a hemlock ring blanket to finish that I'm out of yarn for. A couple of hats that are almost ready for testing. A new project I can't tell you about. But today - today I needed something simple and mindless that didn't involve buying new yarn. :-)

The Ikea Effect

Today we went to Ikea, mostly out of boredom, partly for the cheap Swedish meatballs and lingonberry jam. I was afraid it would make me pine for clever domestic things I can't afford, but I was pleasantly wrong. Ikea has these neat little alcoves set aside as fully furnished apartments with some astonishingly small square footage displayed like a badge of honor. "Look how clever we are, we can make this appalling space so comfortable, functional and welcoming."

So while peering into those, I was happily reminded of the process of kitting out my apartment back in Texas. I was living alone, on a modest teacher's salary in approximately 600 square feet, and for not much money, I made that place quite a nice little cave to spend a year in. Granted, it was hand-me-down furniture that really did the trick. And some cleverness of my own - repurposing extra curtain fabric, things like that. But it was fun, and I did a good job.

Ikea did not make me feel oppressed today, as I thought it would. But as I walked through aisles of clever, money-and-space-saving shelving and gadgetry, my mood drifted from happy nostalgia to wistful and then somewhat sad dreaming. I kept a running checklist in my head, ticking off what we wouldn't need, two grown people with their own pots and pans and beds and desks. I'd also imagine how we might transform a tiny apartment kitchen into a facility suitable for foodies, and my boyfriend, who will remain nameless, let his gaze linger on many of my chosen goodies. I'd picture what his son might draw or scrawl on the blackboard door of a wall-mounted cabinet, or how to portion-off rooms, so that three people might feel at home and welcome in too little space.

I have all I need and more than enough space now, with my roommates, but I would be so happy to make do on a small budget in a tiny space if that space were filled with people I love. But for that, he'd have to get a job in Madison. And so, I will continue to glory defiantly in my blue carpet, and to dream of some tiny apartment when I let my guard down.

This Post Has a Picture

It's right there at the top of the post. Just beneath the title. You don't see it? It's easy to miss, but quite clear. It's my favorite size 6 circular needle that has SUDDENLY BECOME INVISIBLE!!! This vanishing needle made me unreasonably angry and upset last night. I bought amazingly yummy yarn yesterday for two new projects that are going to be wonderful. Both require a size 6 circular needle. I have 2, one of which has a sweater on it, one of which is now charmingly invisible. I looked everywhere. My darling boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, even searched through my car. He found horrifying tupperware with old leftovers in them, an alarm clock, a bird call and lots of candy but, of course, no size 6 circular needle. I'll probably go buy another one today after school. I can justify (sort of) buying a duplicate of a duplicate needle because I think these are both patterns that can sell. *looks at bank account and whimpers*

Speaking of luscious, beautiful "money saving" things, here are some books I want. I need to be coming up with these ideas myself and not paying someone to come up with them for me. Still...inspiration...it helps a lot, particularly when bogged down with finals. I mean...Dostoevsky's idea of evil and the Late Common Slavic period of disintegration are definitely inspiring, just...not in quite the same way, y'know? A trip to the library is called for, I think. Or perhaps some window-shopping at Barnes and Noble. Then if these patterns are a) completed and b) sell, I'll splurge on some more books that I don't have room for on my shelves. :-)

Chipping Away at the Quilt

This is what the quilt looks like right now. There's a system, trust me.

I've laid out the quilt top and am getting started sewing all of the squares together. Once the top is put together, I'll start thinking about backing and batting and whatnot.

I think the colors look more garish in these pictures than they do in real life. They're really a bit deeper and richer than what you get here.

Mongo approves!

Have I mentioned that I hate sewing? As I suspected, this isn't as bad as sewing frequently is, when I'm involved. Straight lines. I can do that. My sewing machine, however...I can't believe I haven't thrown it through the window yet. That's all I'm going to say about it right now.

In a fit of procrastination, I went and priced similarly-sized quilts online to see if I'm actually saving money in this little endeavor. Based on what I've spent so far (got the fabric on sale), and what I estimate I might spend on backing and batting, the grand total will come to about the same price as a similarly-sized quilt on clearance at places like Bed Bath and Beyond or Linens 'N Things. Meh. I guess that's not so bad. Clearance quilts are kinda ugly, and mine will be glorious. I'm keeping a mental list as I go, however, of ways I can cut down on the cost next time around.

I feel the need to have a knitting love fest here before long, so I'm gathering pictures of FOs and WIPs and yarn and will revel in those here once I have what I want. I have several projects to show off, several that I can't show you yet (sniff), and some really yummy yarns to rave about. So stay tuned!

The Economics of Knitting Part 1

Why I Knit
I knit for 4 main reasons, at least...4 that I've been able to think of just now.



1) Relaxation: If you've read Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, you may remember that when Morgaine spins, she enters into a sort of trance state. I'm not saying I have visions when I knit, but it is definitely a meditative experience. When I knit, it gives my mind a chance to wander, to passively mull over things that are on it, rather than actively stressing about them. As my mind wanders undirected, it often finds paths that wouldn't have occurred to me in a more deliberate, active frame of mind.

2) Luxury: Leaving aside, for a moment, the delicious things you can get as a result of knitting, knitting is a pleasing sensual activity. Yarn is nice. It comes in pretty colors, yummy textures, it feels good in your hands and it looks luscious as the fabric you're creating grows like some living thing into whatever shape and pattern you've chosen for it. Yarn is soft and pretty and good.

3) Creativity and control: Once you get the hang of it, making things for yourself ensures that what you end up with is exactly what you want. I don't have to spend lots of money on a beautiful scarf that's kind of itchy, or a wonderful sweater that fits not quite just right. Fine, shaping and fit is something I'm still in the process of mastering, but in a materialistic sense, knitting and making things makes you the master of your own fate. This is where my reasons for knitting really intersect with my reasons for making things in general. If I want legwarmers to match my hat perfectly, then I shall have them! If I want carbonara that won't kill my boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, with cholesterol, then I shall leave out the egg yolks! If I want a pot-holder that matches both the mustard yellow of the kitchen counter and the avocado green of the stove top, I shall make it so! Creativity is liberating.

4) Saving money: As you may have deduced elsewhere on this blog, I am a broke-ass graduate student. Saving money is, for me, a necessity, but that doesn't mean I can't still have nice things in my life. I can knit myself a matching hat and scarf pair that's nicer and cheaper than one I'd find at, say, The Gap. I can make really great shirts and skirts out of old t-shirts that I never wear (more on that when it warms up outside). I can't afford to eat out much, but that doesn't mean I can't afford to eat well at home.

I know that I won't always be a broke-ass graduate student. At some point, I'll have the degree and the job and the house and the disposable income. At this point, I expect my first two reasons for knitting to really start conflicting with the last two - actually, more just #2 with #4. I think, however, that even then I'll value knitting as a means of saving money, and not just out of habit.

As much as I like pretty things, I have a definite anti-consumerist streak in me. I like showing "The Man," "The Powers That Be," "The Gods of Capitalism," or whomever that I am not a slave to the market, that I don't need what they're selling, that I can do perfectly well for myself. There are, of course, limits to this. I'm not about to run off and start homesteading. But I take pride and a subversive glee in not being a predictable consumer. If a company wants my money, they're going to have to put some effort into it, and not treat me like a non-existent generic member of my demographic. Give me real options, or I will make my own!

The next two installments of this series on the economics of knitting will deal with being a responsible consumer within this framework - because even as an independent, unpredictable consumer, I am still a consumer of yarn, of materials, of patterns, of ideas. But it will always boil down to why I knit.

Cold Feet

Behold the glorious trinity of foot happiness! Blanket + fuzzy slippers + hot-water bottle!

Right, so. I live in The Land of Cold. This much is very clear. My roommates, having grown up in The Land of Cold, tend to keep the heater on low during the winter and wear sweaters around the house. I, having grown up in The Land of Spontaneous Brush Fires, am not so used to this (though I have spent winters in Boston and Moscow, so I knew what I was getting myself into, thank you very much). When I moved up here, I decided that I'd roll with it - learn to wear sweaters during the winter and acclimate my wussy Texan tushy to the realities of my new climate. I should emphasize that my roommates have made it perfectly clear that I'm welcome to crank up the heat whenever I want - they're not ogres or misers by any means. But for financial, environmental and macho reasons, I've decided to acclimate.

It's worked quite well, actually. During the day and before I go to bed, I'm perfectly comfortable walking around in my gloriously long sweater-duster and fuzzy slippers. It's at night that the suffering begins. When I climb into bed, it is so cold under my covers that I have to lie there unmoving until my little patch of sheets warm up. Only then can I tentatively venture to roll over or otherwise shift position. On a cold night, my feet never warm up. I can bundle the rest of me up in nice, warm PJs, I can even wear socks to bed, but my feet stay cold. The warmth never quite makes it all the way down to the foot of the bed.

I knew I needed a hot-water bottle. More economical than cranking the heat, charmingly old-fashioned and I hear they're good for cramps, too! So imagine my surprise when every grocery and drug store I went to was completely bereft of hot-water bottles. I'm not sure "bereft" is the right word, it seems to imply that there were some to begin with. They had electric heating pads, electric blankets, even those weird stick-on hot/cold pads, but no hot-water bottles. Finally, I went to a Target in Minnesota. My boyfriend, who shall remain nameless, and I searched every possible aisle to no avail. We finally asked the woman behind the pharmacy counter if she had any. "No! Yes! Special order!" Someone had to special order hot water bottles in order to find any within a two-state radius. HELLO!!! HAS ANYONE ELSE NOTICED THAT IT GETS EFFING COLD HERE IN JANUARY??? I mean I know I grew up in Texas, but this can't just be me.


This is the hot-water bottle I had been using. Harlot worked very well, all things considered, but she had one chief draw-back: she wouldn't pre-warm the bed. Harlot is completely uninterested in taking the brunt of a freezing bed for the woman who feeds her. She prefers it to be a more collaborative effort. I warm her up while she warms me up. This works tolerably well until she loses interest. This new water bottle I can slip under the covers 10 or so minutes before I go to bed. I can be comfortable from the moment I snuggle under the covers and never have that "want to roll over but don't want to re-warm a new patch of sheets" let-down that keeps you from drifting off unmolested. Didn't leak (of course it didn't leak, but I was paranoid). Its one draw-back is that it does get quite hot to the touch. It keeps me comfortable all night as long as my feet don't actually make contact with it. Seriously, though, not only were my sheets still warm when I woke up this morning, the bottle itself was still pleasantly warm. I'm quite impressed. And so is Harlot.

Mending

Not the most exciting thing in the world, mending, and I've been putting it off for a few weeks, to be honest. Taking something that's broken and fixing it - not as fun and creative as making something shiny and new. But it needs to be done all the same.

I think we waste too much in our culture anyway. We've become so consumer driven that we throw things out as soon as something breaks, even if we could fix it. My briefcase, for instance. If I still had a 9-5 job, I'd have thrown it out and bought a new one by now. I don't have a 9-5 job anymore, and I need to save my leftover money for things I really value.

The fake-leather covering on the handles had started coming off, exposing the mesh padding underneath. This more than anything made it look torn and shabby, and of course the mesh would start to go soon as well. So I rigged this up. I don't really crochet, but a basic chain-stitch is a useful thing to know. I had some leftover black wool lying around, so I crocheted it around the handles of my briefcase - a lot like you might do to a clothes hanger, or a provisional cast-on in knitting. It's not exactly chic, but it's functional, innocuous and not falling apart.

Our culture has become so consumerist that things aren't made to last - I don't think the makers of my briefcase expected me to keep it this long. I'm not sure I did, when I bought it. Shoes aren't meant to be worn more than 6 months. You're supposed to keep throwing things out and buying new things. I kind of resent that. Even if I had money to throw around, I'd like to have the option of buying something nice, well-made, lasting, of not buying trash, if I'm going to buy anything. And that's aside from the environmental implications of a culture based on producing and throwing away trash at the quickest affordable rate.

I guess you get what you pay for. I also sewed 3 buttons onto my winter coat this weekend. My coat has five buttons going up the front, three of which have come flying off since I bought it in November. I'll probably have to replace the bottom two before next winter, but for now, it fastens fine. I had a really hard time finding a coat this winter (having just moved to Wisconsin from Texas), and I finally found one at the mall for much cheaper than I'd expected. I got what I paid for, though. A nice, wool coat that's warm and fits me with buttons that fling themselves from the fabric when you look at them funny. I'm actually still quite satisfied with my purchase, all things considered.

Then there are the things you make yourself. I made myself a neck-warmer last year based on John Brinegar's "Fourteen" (pictured at top because it's the prettiest). I think the yarn stretched out somewhat with use, but I also think that the length the pattern calls for, while perfect for a man's neck, is a bit much for my skinny little girl-neck. It was loose enough to let the wind in easier than I preferred. Discarding it was, of course, not an option not only because I went to the trouble of making it but because I love it and the hat and leg-warmers that now go with it! So this weekend, I finally fixed it - frogged back until it felt tight around my neck, then re-knit the button-hole rows. Fits like a charm now. I'm currently knitting a scarf on the needles I needed for this mending, so I just shoved the scarf down to the bottom of the needles while I fixed the neck-warmer. It wound up looking like flags or banners while I worked. I dig it.