pickles, second round

i don't have any pictures yet, but i needed to breifly blog my pickles before i forget what i put in them!

i went into all-out experiment mode, so some of these will probably be kinda nasty, but they sounded good at the time.... that being said, i also used small jars as to not waste massive amounts of cucumber. well, they were starting to get soft anyway....

sweet pickles - apple cider vinegar, cinnamon stick, cloves
spicy-sweet pickles - apple cider vinegar, cinnamon stick, cloves, and red pepper flakes
"scarborough" pickles - regular white vinegar, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme
scarborough-dill: self-explanatory
asian(ish) - white vinegar, dill, ginger, garlic, and few drops of soy sauce
mustard pickles - white vinegar, mustard seed, celery seed
mustard dill - white vinegar, mustard seed, celery seed, and dill!

i'm sure some of these will come out more like "ick"les, but i needed to use up those cucumbers somehow! i'm a little nervous about the sweet pickles and the asian pickles... the ginger just smelled so good with the garlic and dill though, i couldn't resist! i'll post pictures soon.

WARNING: potentially flammable material. DO NOT READ if a friend of craftster

so every night we have this ritual: he sits down in front of one computer and pulls up a game, and pulls up another game or show on the other computer, and i sit here on the couch behind him and look at other people's creations.

it's sad, really. i should be creating my own things - well, i do - but i sit here and look at all these projects, outpourings of creation; some good, some bad, some quality, some not, some made for others, for themselves, for kids... the list could go on and on... i'd say maybe one out of every 200 i'm actually truly interested in...

i have issues with craftster. i appreciate the place as a forum for people who like to craft, and there are certain aspects i agree with - the tutorial sections, for example, are particularly helpful. what i don't understand, and maybe this is because i'm not very versed in internet communities, is the interaction between posters and the people who comment. i realize this is a "free country" and people can say whatever they want, and maybe i'm a little starved for artistic recognition myself, but here' an example typical of craftster: i posted a really high quality necklace i made (seriously, i got paid like $30 for it), and i got nothing, not even a single comment, but a cross stitch that says F**K YEAH (you know, but without the asterisks) generates 3-4 pages of "awesome" comments. another typical craftster; post a sob story along with your project, it's a guaranteed two pages at least. make sure your pet gets in the picture and that will up your comments quota by at least five posters. and you'll never get a negative comment. EVER. even if you're looking to troubleshoot something, you'll get a bunch of "honey, it's beautiful the way it is," "it's art, it doesn't have to be perfect," "i don't see what's wrong with it; great job!"

one of craftster's t-shirt sayings is "Don't Date: Craftsterbate!" hmm, are they trying to tell us something?? oh! call on me! i get it! craftster is a place where people go to stroke their own creative libidos by shoving their "creations" out into the void. or more accurately, into the arms of so much shallow praise.*

here's one scenario that really irked me: someone posted a picture frame, broken in one corner and splatter-painted red, with a picture of her friend with a (fake) gun to his head in the frame. a friend and i got pretty upset by this, and we said, "we know you're entitled to artistic freedom, but could you please warn people in your topic heading that you have potentially sensitive material in your post? some/many have lost friends or know someone who has lost a loved one to suicide, and we don't take it lightly or joke about it." our posts were deleted by the moderator because they were deemed offensive.

i still browse, every day, like some sort of sordid addiction, and once in awhile there's a good project and a genuine artist pops up. the rest of 'em are a bunch of posers. a preponderance of wannabe lolita's and young and old punks, hippies, rockabillies, and general social rebels. "see what i did? i cut up a t-shirt, smeared some black paint on it and did it all up in safety pins. i'm an artist and you can't understand the angst in my soul."

go cry, emo kid. i refuse to offer social justification for this. at least it's better than a bunch of melrose place/gossip girl copycats, though some posts come dangerously close.

that's a rant for another day.

* as an educator, i realize there is nothing wrong with praise and encouragement. i take issue specifically with empty, gratuitous generalities, which are actually more harmful than honest, constructive criticism. it's like giving every kid on every t-ball team a trophy at the end of the season, because "there are no winners and losers." well, yes there are, in t-ball and in real life, and there's nothing wrong with kids (and adults) learning that lesson with grace and respect. just because you have a shiny piece of plastic doesn't mean you've accomplished anything; at least nowadays it doesn't. another rant, another day.

CHALLENGE

I have just issued myself a challenge:

from now until christmas, i will not buy any new materials for projects.

now, this has to have some stipulations: for example, i'm working on a quilt right now, and i have all the material, but i may need to buy thread or batting.

but.... i could say... "well, i have this extra bit of homespun left over, i could use it to trim a hat!" problem: it would require yarn for the bulk of the hat.

so this is the stipulation: every craft from now until december (excluding wedding crafts) must include at least 50% materials from my stash.

four months, 8 days, and i bought my last yard of fabric today. it was really pretty though... batik with bleach/gold pumpkins...

finally! a crochet [related] project!

doily shirts!!

i can't remember if i saw this exact idea somewhere or if i put two and two together... on craftster they always have bleach stencils, and there was an article in crochet today about using old doilies and trim to revamp shirts... i think it's been done before, so don't quote me as an original (well, i really only have two readers anyway, so nothing to worry about there!)

this was my first go, and i like the way it turned out, though i think the bleaching is a little lopsided... my friend gave me this shirt as i was helping her move (i saved it from the goodwill stash)

try #2: a roxy t-shirt from the 50-80% off bins at our local resale store (its where i got all the shirts for my little experiment, except the previous one). i love this one; whaddaya know, you can bleach over colors! but it will soon be shipped off to colorado ; )


and this is my favorite. a triangle doily... the patterns came out so clear and i love the little random bleach splatters.

now, my problem is i'm so addicted to the different type of doily shapes and stitches that i want to start MAKING them! and b-e-a-you-tifull as they are, i can't seem to think off any practical applications for them (other than as bleach stencils).

by the by, to "set" the bleach i ran the shirts through the wash with a bunch of white/light kitchen towels the first time around, so none of the bleach would leak onto my clothing. worked great!

i ALSO made fabulous chocolate-chip zucchinni bread today. it's delicious, if i do say so myself. in fact, i'm going to go have some!

why no more crochet?

the answer to this is because i've been working on an afghan from the 8-petal square motif i posted last month. it's about 20% done, but when it comes to crochet that's really the only project i have 'on the burners' right now. i started a shwal, i suppose, and i have plans for tons of yarn stashed in my cupboard, but i'll keep you updated on the progress.

meanwhile, i do have a crochet-related post coming up next, and this little ditty for today. my mother and i spent the day together, and it is always an adventure. lunch was good, the movie was good (Julie & Julia), and our trip to michael's craft store was productive. too productive. our original intention was to get beads to make matching earrings for a tiger's eye/turquoise/pearl necklace i got her for her birthday.

not finding anything that fit the bill, she picked out these beads instead:

ithe top is some kind of marbled stone, with silver flat diamond-shaped beads and mother-of-pearl dangles, and the bottom one (my favorite) is rose quartz with shells, small silver spacers and seafoam green seed beads. of course, the benefit of making these for her was i got to keep the extras and make some for myself.

i also made this necklace for myself as kind of a splurge. i don't think it's quite finished yet... i really adore the random look of some of the 'steampunk' necklaces i've seen on craftster but can't quite get it down yet. i think i need to add some chain in there somewhere... ceramic, metal, and possibly a kind of jade stone, and backing the dragonfly pendant is what looks like a leaf dipped in enamel so only the veins remain... it was worth the splurge. but still, not quite right yet....

it felt good to get back into making jewelry, if only temporarily. meanwhile, the laundry churns away at home, which is where the content of my next post is stashed...

i made pickles!

but i have to wait 7 weeks before they're ready. boo.

and i'm so antsy to see if they turned out or not!! i've never done pickles before, just jam, and fruit and sugar pretty much always tastes good, so no biggie there.

here we have, from left to right: 2 jars (spicy!) dill/garlic/peppercorn/red pepper, 1 jar dill/garlic, 3 jars dill/garlic/peppercorn, 1 jar dill/garlic spears and 1 jar dill/garlic/peppercorn spears.

so far, all but one of the jars has sealed. and my family really likes crunchy, garlicky pickles, and i definitely wanted to a try a spicy variety. i barely put in a pinch of flakes, but the jars are small, so i think it'll be enough. but what to call them....? "hickles" (hot-pickles) was quickly rejected... but 7 weeks!!!! that's so long to figure out if i've made a tasty pickle. and i don't have much patience!

one other bit of good news is that they actually changed the start of school by a week so it doesn't coincide with state fair. gotta love rural iowa...

and i learned how to spin on a drop spindle last weekend. haven't done it yet though, even though my man made me a bottom-whorl drop spindle. see, i took his parents (future in-laws) to the arts festival in amana and they had a tent where this guy was just sitting out front spinning on a wheel, and him and his wife showed me so much stuff! they raise these huge, fluffy angora bunnies and that's how they got started spinning. like i need another hobby....

suddenly, i seem to have run out of time...

... of course, that's what happens when summer vacay is over and we go back to work. that's one thing i have to be thankful for as a teacher: 2.5 months off.
love it.
but now i'm back, band camp is in full swing, and my office already looks like a tornado ran through it.
at least i got an awesome vacation beforehand. my honey did the math and we spent roughly 180 hours and traveled about 3,500 miles together and we still love each other! iowa city to houston, houston to central florida, florida to st. louis and back to iowa city. we saw the galleria mall in houston, visited friends, went to galveston, st. pete's beach, ate gator, went to the zoo, saw relatives.... we packed in as much as we could take in one week.
i should post pics sometime.
and kitty has GROWN! she's gotta be over four pounds, from the measly little pound-and-less-than-a-half we found her at. i mean, we were gone a week and i swear she's bigger.
'nuff rambling. time for bed.