seed pot tutorial #2

tomorrow is spring equinox, the day i have chosen to start my seeds. in preparation for this auspicious occasion i'm finishing up making my seed pots. i promised here to do a tutorial on origami seed pots, and i am a girl of my word, so here you are.

1. go to this site and follow the directions until you get to this picture:then stop. don't do what that picture indicates. instead,

2. fold the paper in thirds, first one way
3. and then the other

4. so when you open it up the way it says to here:it looks more like this:

then follow the directions on the site to the end. you should end up with this.
it's only a very minor modification, but it makes a big difference as far as the usefulness of the end product. remember: fold in thirds, not halves.

happy folding!

done!

my bff socks for daffodylic are finally done, and i am very pleased. look!
i mailed them off today. enjoy, friend.next up: a shrug for my friend's wedding and socks for my little boy, since he's already outgrown the ones i made him for xmas.

seed pot tutorial # 1

in honour of the temperature being all the way up near freezing today (and so balmy and summerlike, compared to the -30 and colder that i've gotten used to over the past four months) i will show you one of the ways i make my seed pots.
i'm not into paying for peat pots that destroy the planet. instead, i save my toilet paper rolls and paper bags for a while and make my pots out of them. that way i'm reducing, reusing, and upcycling. see how green i am?

this tutorial is for the very simplest possible seed pot. let me demonstrate.
did you catch that? because it's the whole thing. i'll write it out.

1. cut a toilet paper roll in half. (if you want a nice collar to protect your tomatoes from the horrors of cutworm, leave the roll whole but only fill it 1/2 or 2/3 with soil)
2. cut a strip of newspaper or paper bag (i prefer the paper bag, it's sturdier) that's long enough to wrap around the length of the roll and then some, and wide enough to cover the circle of the roll.
3. place the roll in the middle of the strip and pull the paper up to the top and tuck the ends into the roll
4. fill with soil. the soil will hold the paper in place.

next you put the pot in some sort of tray under a good window, plant your seeds, and let them grow.

you'll need to support the bottom of the pot when you move it, since the paper is going to slowly rot and become even more prone to tearing. but that's the idea, since you want the pot to biodegrade as the plant grows, once you transplant it outside.

if when you plant your pot in the soil, if you're nervous about the roll not decaying quickly enough, you can slide it out of the ground, leaving the plant behind. i don't think it's an issue, though, since the pot is so short that roots easily spread out below it.


my other method of making seed pots involves folding origami boxes. i've slightly modified the basic box design that you can find anywhere. (the regular plan makes a wide, low box, and i prefer something cube-ish)

if there is interest i can post a tutorial on the origami pots. is there interest?

sockly lessons learned.

i'm finally finished knitting my hedera. they took all month. i hate learning experiences. why can't complicated skills be easier to learn? the way they do it on the matrix looks convenient. can you imagine the knitting equivalent of this?

those would be some kickass socks, i tell you.


while knitting these socks i learned a thing or two. three things, to be precise.
1. pay attention, especially if you're knitting lace or deviating from the pattern. if you forget where you are but keep knitting, bad things happen. holes and blank sections in the pattern and holes and uneven parts and holes. and holes. 2. don't try two new things at the same time. if you're knitting your first lace socks, don't clutter up your thought processes by making them your first toe-up socks, as well. pick one new skill per project. after realizing that you're in way over your head, if you decide to spontaneously modify the pattern, you're an idiot.
3. just because you get bored doesn't mean you can stop, even if you're going out of your skull and can't bear another 4-row repeat of this damned lace pattern. keep going or the unfinished socks will haunt you from the bottom of the bin where you hid them. just buckle down and do it. and maybe make them shorter than you had originally planned, by a few inches. you know, for mental health's sake.

today i'm starting some straightforward, easy socks. ones in bulkier yarn so they knit up quickly. ones that i don't have to look at while i work on. ski socks for my dad's birthday, even. i can't wait. bring on the ridiculously simple!


nora, these are for you if you want them, llama llove. i don't know if they'll fit, but i made them in your foot size, i think.

how to be a square and a heel

i'm not happy with the socks i'm making. these are my reasons.

the foot of the sock is really narrow. i have high arches and suspect that these socks won't fit around my feet comfortably. i'm not making them for me, but i don't think they'll fit anyone. they're pretty, though.

i'm trying out a new heel. it's a bitch. first i did it wrong and it looked like this:
see the little flap on the right side of the needles? that's supposed to be the heel. do you know anyone with a flat, tapering growth on the back of their heel?
this shows the growth better. it looks like something vaguely obscene to me. a sock's private part. anyways, i tore it out. i hate undoing what i've knit, normally i just keep going and live with a flawed knit object. but this particular flaw would make the sock unwearable. i heaved a sigh and tore it out.

after the first heel i followed the instructions religiously. there was no way i was going to redo these babies more than once. but the pattern (lifestyle toe-up instructions) betrayed me. see, socks are supposed to have a gusset to make them foot-shaped. a triangle of fabric that helps them fit better. (it's the lightened part of the purple sock) the peach sock is more like a 90 degree angle in a pipe. now look at your foot. does it look like a pipe elbow to you? yes? i've got some socks for you!
so i'll finish the socks, because i can't not finish, but i'm not using the toe-up method again. not until these instructions apologze and make amends.

i hope the intended recipient has bizarrely shaped feet she's never told me about.

~*~

in other news, my non-condom hat is progressing. i like the colour and the texture and all that. but my friend pointed out yesterday that i have a green coat, green boots and i often wear green pants. now i feel torn about my cool green hat. maybe i should branch out a little, colour-wise.

anyways, i had an idea, inspired by this from craft:. it's headphones built into headwear. personally, i hate trying to keep my earbuds in my ears when i'm wearing a toque. they only stay if i hold very still. annoying. this hat will have earflaps and be lined with microfleece, with an old pair of headphones built in. the wire can go inside the cord that dangles from an earflap. what could be better?

off to a protest then for some food. have a great day, peeps!

making everything except news. and babies. and some other stuff.

things have been pretty business-as-usual around here. we've stayed holed up at home as much as possible, given the ridiculous cold outside.
i'm planning a trip to toronto with the kids in april and so am already scheming what to get at ikea. it's an illness, i can't help it.
my baby has been singing the star wars theme song (very off key and off tune, unbearably cute) and is obsessed with yoda. we only have one book with a picture of yoda, so he carries it around with him all the time, open to the page with his hero, and crows 'yaya! yaya!'. i want to bottle up his sweetness and keep it forever.

i forgot to post about it at the time, but in december i made this cape for my boy's friend's birthday. i'm pretty pleased with it. it's a cut up t shirt, with the star made out of old jeans. so it's 99% recycled materials. (the 1% is the embroidery thread. i'm not that hardcore)
my son has one of these and he loves it. he wears it all the time. they're so simple to make, and bring such joy to little people. i am definitley a fan of the diy cape.
the cape is being modeled by my baby, who, as of last night, is nightweaning. it's either that or get him a cow to sleep under so he can drink all night. i'm not willing to be his night cow any longer. the kid plays hard all day and goes to bed starved, and so nurses all night. he's 18 months old. old enough to eat during the day and let his mama sleep at night. he is firmly anti-nightweaning. he's made his opinion known. he expressed it all night last night and i'm sure he will again tonight. we'll probably have a desperately miserable week, but then much, much better sleep after that. until he gets a cold and i feel bad for him and so nurse him at night and we have to re-nightwean him. seriously, it never ends. never.


warning: this is not a giant wool condom, no matter what kara tells you. that is not a reservoir tip. it will not prevent pregnancy or sti's. please do not attempt intercourse with it.
actually, i'm making myself a hat. the lace socks, while fabulous looking, have gotten tedious so i decided to break it up with a quick, easy project. i don't much like my current toque (americans call them beanies or watchcaps. i'm not american) so i'm making one with this beautiful green yarn. it will have earflaps. i might even line it with microfleece, depending. i hate sewing, but added warmth is welcome when the forecast is for -55 tomorrow.

for dinner tonight we had my incredible, famous, delicious spicy orange tofu. it's my favourite way to cook tofu and no matter how much i make there are never leftovers. and you're in luck, i'm going to share the recipe.

phenomenal spicy orange tofu

1. start your rice cooking. use 1/2 water and 1/2 orange juice if you want it to be extra delicious. use all the spices listed below if you want to fall over with pleasure when you eat your meal.

2. chop a block of drained tofu into bite sized pieces. rabbit or chicken work well with this, too, i guess, but then you'd have to change the name, and that might get complicated. it's best to stick to tofu. anyways, saute the tofu (or whatever) in some oil, with garlic and/or onions if you're so inclined.

3. while the tofu becomes golden and delicious (or the meat cooks, i guess, you bloodthirsty carnivore) mix together

• 2/3 cups of orange juice
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• salt
• cayenne (if kids and wimps are eating this limit yourself to 1/4 tsp of cayenne, if you're making it for me use at least 1 tsp, preferrably more)
• chopped veggies (whatever you have around. today i had nothing in the fridge so i used frozen peas, carrots & corn, and that was fine) (beets do not taste good in this meal)

4. when the tofu is perfectly cooked pour in the juice & spice & veggie over the tofu, and stir until everything is nicely mixed. cover it and let it simmer for a bit, stirring every now and then.
5. take the lid off when the tofu has soaked up the sauce. let it simmer for another minute or two, just to thicken it.
6. serve with the rice.

mmmmmmm.

a lazy sunday: book review, recipe & photos

yesterday it was -40 and my partner was stuck at work, thanks to car trouble. so from the time we woke up until bedtime, the boys and i were on our own, housebound. plus the internet was down.
it was cold. hell-ass cold.


and, as we all know, the best thing to do when it's cold is make some delicious from-scratch chili that simmers its way to perfection over the course of the day. mine was made with garden black beans, farmers market veggies and lots of love.

we filled our day. there were stories read, naps taken, snacks munched, tickles,


songs hummed, (ani's present/infant, from her new album) (<-- track 3) blocks stacked, star wars watched ( the return of the jedi. yoda, jabba, darth vader and ewoks all in the same movie? plus a space battle? my kids think they've died and gone to heaven) and coffee sipped thoughtfully. i also made farmers market/ garden salsa. here's how.

• in the summer i gathered cilantro, onions, garlic, lemon juice, salt and hot peppers and threw them all in the blender. when the mixture was liquefied and burned my sinuses if i inhaled too close to it, i divided it up into baggies and froze them.
• i also processed a mountain of fresh corn and tomatoes and green peppers.
• yesterday i thawed a baggie of the salsa base, plus tomatoes and corn and green peppers. if i could have left the house i would have gotten avocado.
• i chopped the green peppers and tomatoes and mixed them into the base with the corn. then i pulled out the tortilla chips. i also mixed in some blue cheese, but many people would find that gross. many people are wrong.

i've been reading a cure for grief by nellie hermann. i'm not sure if i'll finish it. it's a good book - the author is clearly well educated and an adept writer. the pace is good, the prose is sparse and direct, the characters are relatable... but i feel like a peeping tom. the book is obvoiusly a thinly veiled autobiography. (the author's biography and the book match nearly perfectly.)

a cure for grief is 272 pages of pain. the protagonist lives through tradgedy after tradgedy, and every moment of her agony is expressed on the pages. it's not melodramatic or cheesy, at all. heartwrenching is more the word. and intensely personal. i feel guilty about reading something so private. hermann is a master of the english language andhas phenomenal skill as a writer, but this book is too visceral and too real to be read as entertainment.


of course, i can't read and drink coffee (and red wine mixed with cranberry juice) without knitting. my first project of 2009 was chosen to test my knitterly skills. i'm making hedera, from knitty. i'm over the moon that they're turning out. keeping track of a 4-row lace pattern when the little dudes are calling my attention away from the needles every few seconds is a real feat, i believe. on top of the complex stitch pattern, i though i'd try knitting these socks two at a time, toe-up. that's working out so far, too. and after so long using yarns i didn't like, dream in color's smooshy is pure bliss. the yarn is sproingy and soft and knits up quickly into a dense, smooth fabric with a subtle sheen. i'm not crazy about the colour, but the yarn itself is fantastic.
i haven't decided yet who i am making these for. on the one hand, i would love to show them off to everyone i see the way i've bragged on them here. then again, i don't have any nice shoes that would showcase them and so i'd have to pull off my boots or runners every time i wanted people to see them, and people might view me askance if i started pulling off my footwear on the bus and in the library and post office and grocery store. plus i'm not crazy about the colour. i don't have to decide just yet, i have a few more hours' work until i'm at the point where i decide what size they will be. you have until then to state your case in the comments.

2008: a retrospective

thinking back, it's hard to remember what i did this year. nothing, mostly. a lot of sitting around. i'm usually too tired to feel capable of anything, so i sit in this chair and read blogs and webcomics and message boards. it's not a good use of my time, but what else can i do? i end up frustrated and angry when i try to challenge myself when i've had very little sleep. so a lot of this year was pissed away. that sucks, but it's not something that i have a lot of control over.

a year or maybe a bit more ago i realized that this whole stay-at-home gig wasn't about to end anytime soon and bitching about it was only making me depressed. in 2008 i tried to make the best of it and be the best goddamn housewife the world has ever seen. i knit, cooked, canned, butchered, gardened, wiped asses, read stories, came up with activities, cleaned... you name it, i tried my hand at it in 2008. i learned a few things about myself in the process.

i hate doing childcare. hate it. my kids are great in small doses, i can read to them and tickle them and wipe their tears... but all day, every day, and every night? fuck, no. keeping them fed and clean(ish) and entertained and mediating their conflicts wears away at me and pisses me off. i spend a lot of time just wanting them to go away. unfortunately, childcare is my primary activity. fuck. all i can really do about this is wait as patiently as i can for them to get old enough to start school and, hopefully, one day start sleeping through the night. i hate that i have this attitude because one day they won't be so small and cute and they won't want to snuggle with me. i don't want to waste these years with my impatience and irritability. i don't want them to remember me as the mama who just wanted them to go away. so i really do try hard to be a good, attentive mother. but as i read them the same stupid book for the ten millionth time, i keep an eye on the clock.

cooking, cleaning and laundry i can handle. they're mindless activities that need doing. cleaning is a pretty quick way to get satisfying results. cooking can be fun, if no one is pulling at my legs. laundry... whatever. it's fast and i like clean undies. i can't stand cleaning the kitchen, so it stays dirty. problem solved!

gardening, canning and knitting make me happy. i love making things, especially useful things. these aren't often considered to be serious art forms, but they're the closest i get these days. i don't miss painting and doing metalwork when i'm gardening. canning is a little more tedious, but the resulting rows of jars fill me with as much pride as any ring or painting ever did. knitting is sort of a mix - i liken it to making jewelry. the conception and planning of a project is where the creativity is - choosing materials and a pattern or design. then comes the drudgery, where i use the skills i have and acquire whatever new ones i need to create the object. the finishing touches and cleanup always make me feel glow-y. unless the project didn't work out the way i wanted, and then i walk around muttering curses for a while, then start over.


metalwork is more prone to creating income, but it takes lengthy, formal training and a lot of expensive equipment. knitting is less impressive to an outsider, but it's a more affordable art, and one that i can practice while my kids play. and it doesn't cause serious health problems in fetuses. one day i hope to get back into jewellerymaking, but until then knitting is an acceptable substitute.

a whiny list

6 - six days of constant crying from the boy. he's in agony. all i can do is give him nyquil and hope he cries himself to sleep. and by 'constant crying' i mean constant crying. he only stops to sleep. and he often screams in his sleep. all day, every day, he ranges between a droning cry and piercing shrieks of pain. to say my nerves are shattered is a vast understatement. oh, and his face smells strongly of rotting meat. yum.

5 - the number of firemen that came over yesterday. not for tea and crumpets. our house filled scarily with smoke and we called 911. the firemen came and hunted all over the house for the source, then figured it must have been a dust bunny that got into the furnace, and left. not coincidentally, i didn't sleep well last night. and not just because my kids were up and down like screaming, crying yoyos all night.

4 - four projects i've made with my dishcloth cotton. these socks,


a pair of baby legwarmers, and two dishcloths. actually, the legwarmers are 3/4 done. i am so sick of this yarn. sure, it's washable, hypoallergenic, cheap, and soft, but it's also deadly boring, a pain to knit with, and makes this squeaky feeling with the needles. i am craving some other yarn - any other yarn. i'm rushing through the last of that last legwarmer so i can make a hat or a slipper. i have one slipper, and i'd like another. my left foot gets jealous of its counterpart. but my toque is boring and navy blue, i'd rather look a little more stylin' when i shovel the mountains of snow that build up, making the front gate unopenable.

3 - the boy has lost at least three pounds in the past week, thanks to his inability to eat. it has taken him a couple of years to get to the point where he doesn't feel like a skeleton with some skin, but he's back to that point. he literally looks like the famine victim kids you see on infomercials for world vision. send this kid some body fat, somebody, please.

2 - two days that the baby has been healthy for. prior to that he was scarily feverish, couldn't breathe, and was performing nonstop crying duets with his brother. also he puked like some sort of crazy puking machine. i'm glad that machine hasn't been invented. my parner would probably get it for me as an ill-advised joke. the baby is still a fountain of snot, but i can handle that.

1 - one day left until we celebrate the holidays. my partner is working over the actual holidays, so we've fooled the gullible minions into thinking that santa is coming tonight. we've cut out most of our plans so that we don't rush the sick, miserable boy around trying to cram in all the christmas cheer. presents and food and hopefully naps. oh, and a bottle of wine. and some rum. sounds good to me.

productiveness

i finally have my camera back and so i can tell you about some of the stuff i've been doing for the past few months.i did mountains of canning and freezing all through the summer and fall. our house's corners are stacked with jars with pickles, jam, tomato sauce, and more. the freezer is crammed with tomatoes, rabbits, and half a pig. the above picture was taken in the fridge just now. the jam was opened this week, the pickles opened yesterday. it's the universe's best jam, in my humble opinion. chunky and tart and flavourful and just the right consistency. i've been hunting for excuses to eat more of it. finding a spoon is a good enough excuse, in my book.
i don't personally like pickles, but i made 11 litres of them for my partner, because he's a pickled food fanatic. we opened the first jar yesterday and he says they're the best pickles he's ever had. i believe him, since he sat down with a fork and ate half the jar right then.
i won't show you the frozen rabbit meat. you're welcome, kara.

we butchered the baby rabbits, then talked about it for about a month, and ended up butchering the adults, too. raising rabbits inside the house isn't really a great idea, it turns out. it's cool because we get local, ethical, affordable meat and we're more self-sufficent, but the flies and the stink are less cool. we'll definitley do it again when we a better setup, like a heated, ventilated garage or a well-sheltered outdoor spot.

my little guys went as yoda and luke this halloween. of course, i made their costumes. it was fantastic. we went to a party and they cuted all over the place. i went as the virgin mary, complete with an immaculate heart, but we have no pictures of that.

we made a christmas tree yesterday. we needed to have an invincible tree, since the baby is a destruct-o-bot, so here it is: green wrapping paper taped to the wall. it's actually really cool because the little dudes can make as many paper ornaments as they like and we can tape them on. it's very modern-looking in this picture, but it's already kindergarten-esque, with crayon and paint-decorated circles all over it. by solstice the green will be almost completely covered, i predict.


i've been knitting like a madwoman, lately. so many presents, so little time! the slipper has a sheepskin insole and recycled denim sole. i'm very proud of how it turned out. my right index finger, though, is suffering. pushing a tiny sewing needle through all those layers savaged it. hopefully it's healed by tomorrow, in time to sew the other slipper.
i'm making socks for my boy. he's always asking me to make him socks, so he'll be happy. i'm making them out of cotton (dishcloth cotton, the bulky-ish kind) so i can just throw them in the wash. worsted weight toddler socks sure take a lot less time than fingering-weight adult socks. i could get used to projects that take only a couple of hours.
the hat is for my sister in law. right at the end i ran out of yarn and had to unravel the beginnings of a glove i was making to get more yarn. it kept tangling and knotting... i was up really late last night finishing it. she'd better like it, is all i'm saying.

i've done about 10 other small knitting projects, too, but i don't have pictures, so i won't bore you about them.

what have you been making?

brothers and their mother

the baby is going through a phase where anything vaguely humanoid is 'mama!'. the boy is going through a phase where he practices being literal and anal. so the baby walks around the house spotting all sorts of things and calling them mama and the boy follows him around, correcting him.
'mama!'
'no, that's mickey mouse.'
'mama!'
'no, baby, that's a veggietales!'
'mama!'
'NO, BABY!!! I TOLD YOU!!! that's the BROOM!!'

they have such different personalities, but they passionately love one another. with the sort of love that has room for violence and cruelty and indifference as well as hugging and sharing and playing with a dump truck in the kitchen together for a whole hour.

this week the boy went to see a pediatric gastro-endocrinologist. for the last couple of years i thought that my son had celiac disease. it turns out he doesn't. he has a mystery illness that includes dramatic responses to exposure to gluten, shitting blood and mucous and something that looked just like a placenta, a weak immune system, and very poor growth. and it seems to be getting worse. the doctor recommended a bunch of tests, since she has no idea. she specializes in this type of thing and has no idea whatsoever. that is simply not reassuring. i got to hold my boy down while he screamed and writhed as 6 vials of blood were drawn. partway through his vein collapsed. it was even less fun than what you're imagining. the next day i divvied up his morning poop into five sample containers. it was a fantastic 24 hours, i tell you.

i try not to think about the various things that could be wrong with my little boy.

*trying desperately to cheer up so this post doesn't cause depression and despondence across the blogosphere*

i've been knitting a ton. the holidays are coming and i have a huge list of things i want to make for people. i'm happy with what i've churned out so far, but i can't post pictures because *sob* my camera doesn't work. still. agh.

off to angst about sick children and dead cameras.

and the geek goes on

i'm taking part in a play food swap. i made knitted bacon and little dishcloths.please excuse the picture quality, my camera wasn't charged so i had to use the webcam.

my friends have teased me relentlessly since this whole 'knitting bacon' fiasco has begun. they don't see the crafting of pork products as a worthwhile endeavor. little do they know.

today i will mail these out. and i do not intend to knit any more bacon for a long, long time. well, except the bacon scarf and fried egg mittens my friend asked me to make for her...

miscelany

this month i have made:

• enough jam to last ~9 months (we love our jam around here so i'm counting on needing about a litre a month. but this is the world's best jam so we might finish it by halloween) (pics pending)

• this hat: the intended recipent, my brother in law, has a truly tremendous cranium. gigantic. so i meant to make the hat bigger than the pattern suggested. but i'm not the world's greatest knitter, it turns out. so it fits the boy. i guess my little dude gets to wear an extra-cool toque this winter.

• these socks. rather, i finished one and knit the other. it was a sock swap. kara (the best person in florida, possibly the southern states) knit me a beautiful pink sock, then sent me the pattern, the yarn and the one sock. i was to knit the other. but i was short a little yarn so i took the yarn from the first sock's toe to finish the second sock, then gave them matching white toes. it looks like i meant to do it.

• my garden has flourished. the tomatoes are almost ready and i think i have a hot pepper (i'm giving it a few more days but i could pick it now if i wanted) so today i got my first fruits: i thinned the beets. there's a scarce handful here, so i took a close-up so they look bigger. then i added a couple of carrots and some garlic and sauted them in soy & sesame oil. then i added in a shiitake mushroom and some water, then some miso. and a bit of cayenne. and it's delish. mmmm.

and the boy told his first mom joke the other day. he was touching me with a frozen water bottle and i was shrieking dramatically and jumping around.
me: aaaah! it's cold!
my 2 year old: your mom's cold!
i almost died of pride, right there. also my baby started walking, but that milestone seems small compared to the awesomeness of starting telling mom jokes.

now i'm going away for a few days. tata!

me so crafty

i've taken up knitting. i've made:

gloves with a mitten flap for my sister

a skull dishcloth for myself (with lots of holes and mistakes because i was learning how to knit in two colours)

and another skull dishcloth, this was my first-ever knitting project and it turned out ok, considering. nothing like my kickass mitts, though. obviously.

mismatched socks in ugly yarn. but they're mine and i made them so i wear them constantly.

that's it so far, but my skills are definitley developing. i've been turning a few ideas over in my mind, thinking of things i could sell on etsy. actually, i'm hoping to have all my ideas planned out and online by the end of july. i don't want to talk about it more specifically quite yet.


and what's this about only one entry in my contest? kara's going to win by default! enrich my online experience, people, and you could win a humiliating video!
the contest closes wednesday morning.