It’s okay. The Gods of Craftopia demand sacrifices, right?

At least I’m left handed.

Somehow I went from an end result hobbyist to a process driven driven one, which I think has improved not only my temperament but has greatly increased my ability to handle frustration. I’m not sure exactly when this transformation happened, but I’m glad it did.

Also improving my outlook on life is that we now have signed off on the house and the move is scheduled for the end of October. This is a huge relief as the idea of renovating this house has literally caused me to have nightmares. I’m serious, I dreamed that the floor in the bathroom collapsed and I couldn’t fix it because I was afraid of being electrocuted by ungrounded wires coming out of the toilet waving at me, and there were all these wingless flies. Okay, I’ll admit that does sound more funny than scary, but it was my dream and a pithy description can’t communicate the horrors that my brain can produce to amuse itself.

Oh, and I have a profound phobia of dangerous things coming out of toilets. I’m not talking about the normal horrors of things coming out of the toilet when it backs up. I’m talking about horrible things coming out of the toilet; things like large scaly hands tipped with razor sharp claws,  small man eating sewer demons, and plague bearing crazed aquatic wharf rats. Now I can add live malicious intelligent groping electrical wires.

In my mind these things are far more likely to come out of toilets when it’s late at night. Usually just after dreaming that horrible toilet terrors will happen, this makes my coffee habit seem like a very bad idea sometimes.

I love it when things work out perfectly– while cleaning out my little corner of the shop to make more room for doll carving I found this old box that once contained turning tools.

It turned out to be just right for holding my new gouges, carving knife, exact-o handles, extra blades, gauge, strop block and compound.

I love it when stash solutions present themselves  before I even know I need them. It looks so well thought out.

my drying solution-- a wire basket and bamboo skewers

What I haven’t thought out well was a way to deal with hanging pieces as the lacquer dries. The solution I came up with is workable, but not exactly satisfactory.

I bought this wire basket at the dollar store a few years ago, since my former desk top basket (a wicker nest number) was appropriated by one of my offspring to hold plastic groceries. My plan was to offer an exchange which makes sense to the adult mind; a little grocery basket to hold little plastic groceries. As you can see, negotiations for the safe return of my original basket failed and I resorted to keeping the little grocery basket.

Up until this morning, this basket held an assortment of junkmail and the small balls of yarn left over from knitting projects. I added a few bamboo skewers and voila! Drying rack.

all painted up and ready for her chemise

I finished the Hitty doll, dressed her in her little chemise (the idea being that Lexi and I will make clothing for her together) and gave her to Lexi on her 7th birthday.

I’m now working on a second Hitty doll. At least I was until I broke the scrolling blade on the bandsaw, so progress has come to a dead stop since I have the head and body finish but no limbs to work on until I buy a replacement blade.

In the meantime boredom (and a distinct lack of yarn) has forced my hand. It has forced my hand into picking up a pencil and putting it to paper and  before I knew it I was sketching out a new automata. Nothing complicated, but I still worry about going back to hobbies that I’ve abandoned because I sometimes worry that I’m not going to be as awesome at them as I remember (or think I remember.)

I need more projects like a hair cut needs a handle. Why do I do this to myself?

no, I have not started anthropomorphizing yet (maybe just a little)

Or at least the beginning of one. I’m getting ahead on my poplar Hitty’s head and body and I’ve left her arms and legs behind.

I guess it’s time to work on those.

Hitty’s face has been really difficult. I think I’ve redone the basic features far too much trying for symmetry. I’ve given up on trying for symmetrical, now I’m firmly aiming for acceptable.

I figure there are enough doll loving girls in my family that I will have plenty of opportunities to figure out where I’m going wrong. I am also appreciating the skill that it takes to work in such a small scale.

Hitty is a sweet little doll and main character in the book Hitty, Her First Hundred Years. I haven’t gotten hold of the book yet, but from what I picked up Hitty starts out as a bit of mountain ash and is carved by a family friend in Maine and given to a little girl and over the next hundred years she changes hands, meets famous people, and goes traveling the world until she winds up in an antique store window, which is where she narrates her story.

Of course our library wouldn’t have a copy, so it’s on reserve and I’m eagerly awaiting the call to tell me that it’s here.

hitty doll progress so far, just a hint of her nose has started to emerge

I don’t have any rowan handy, so I decided to make my Hitty from poplar. Google provided me with a few blank patterns to use as reference, so I drafted my own Hitty body but for the sake of simplicity I’m using Sara DeGroat Cole’s arms and legs straight out of the box.

Right now (as you can probably tell), I’m at the whittling stage. No fancy carving knives, no gouges, no rasps — just a nice simple pocket knife, some quiet music and a bit of time.

shorty socks

And more socks.

They look more or less like the other socks that I’ve already finished. I did the longer cuffed socks first, now I’m just trying to squeeze out a few pairs of the shorties out of the skein ends.

There is something innately satisfying about looking over and seeing a flock of socks form on the corner of my desk.

I haven’t exactly been very definite lately.

Me? A sock knitter?

I seem to work best in bursts. After a stint of yarnlessness (it was really not pretty) I went through a bit of a knitting related dry spell.

Actually, if I hadn’t been for the knitting this week I would have probably gone off the deep end.

It’s been a rough week for me. Not to sound cynical, but I learned (for the umpteen-thousandth time) that people who have a track record of flaking off will not randomly metamorphose into reliable and trustworthy butterflies. It’s one of those lessons that I think I’ve fully integrated, then I relapse and start with the whole irrational belief that people are generally benevolent.

So, with this kind of frustration I figure it’s best to put yarn on my knitting needles before I succumb to the temptation to violently stab them into human flesh. Because that sort of thing is generally frowned upon in polite company.

naked 6 cup amsterdam teapot

Matt is moving his studio back to the house, which means that the space I appropriated for sewing had to be returned to it’s owner. I know, poor me. Fortunately, once we got around to moving my stuff back inside the house I was able to set up my cutting table and one of my machines to my satisfaction.

I may break down a little, having access to only one of my four machines. I mean, I think I can make due. If I have to.

fully clothed teapot

At least I was able to get to most of my stuff last night so my teapot need not suffer the embarrassment of not having a new summer ensemble. I used cotton red ticking as the liner, and some printed cotton green plaid for the exterior.

I love plaid.

This is just the prototype, I’m going to re-cut it with a bit of a curve to the bottom so the base of the teapot don’t keep peaking out, but I’m actually very proud of the fit on the top. And the real tea cozy will have cotton batting between the layers.

this is my set up for making salad rolls

I just like them, because they taste good and don’t make me feel bad about myself, and I thought since it’s quickly warming up that it would be good to share something that won’t over heat the kitchen during preparation.

First, I julienne the carrots. Josey cooked the pork sausage. Then I rinse, shake, and wrap the cilantro in a dry cloth, and soften the noodles in hot water before transferring them into a new bowl in cold water. Then I put some hot (but not boiling– definitely not boiling) water into the pie dish. And a kettle of hot (but not boiling) water.

I did attempt to take pictures of the in progress stages, but I found out it’s pretty difficult to roll and hold and snap a clear picture at the same time. If the husband is willing I’ll try to get him to take a few snaps while I make rolls tomorrow.

My excuse for not having pictures of the finished rolls is completely valid, I had a hungry family and they tend to have epic levels of not-giving-a-rat’s-tiny-bottom just prior to lunch when it comes to my blog.

The system is pretty simple, get a clean flour sack towel, or kitchen towel or bar rag (so long as it’s clean) wet it and pop it into the microwave until it’s warm, squeeze out any excess water and put it over a cutting board. Take fresh rice paper round, wet it completely in the hot water on both sides and lay it out on the cloth.

Then arrange your veggies, protein, and noodles as you like. I roll the 6 o’ clock position up once, tightly, and then fold both the left and right flaps in carefully, before rolling all the way to noon. It takes a bit of practice to wrap as tightly as possible, but the wrappers (once softened with water) are very stretchy when they are fresh.I used cellophane noodles this time, but ordinary vermicelli noodles or rice noodles will work in a pinch.

the wrapper is there, on the towel, I swear it

Even though these are pork, I also like shrimp when they can be found fresh at a good price, or chopped roasted peanuts, or even tofu scrambled up with a splash of chili oil and oyster sauce. I guess it depends on what strikes your fancy. Vegetables are interchangeable too; mung bean sprouts, carrots, mashed yams, peppers, red beans, onions, cucumber, egg plant, cabbage. Do I have to mention there are no hard and fast rules on the herbs used either? I like cilantro; but mint, parsley chives, lemon grass and basil all work so long as they are fresh.

I know the round doesn’t show up well in the photo but the carrots and noodles are on the 6 o’ clock side, and the cilantro about an inch from the edge of noon (if you can’t see it in the picture, just try to trust me on this) that way when the roll is stuffed and rolled completely the bright color of the cilantro shows through best. Rose petals and borage or other edible flowers look really pretty on the noon too.

I usually just put these on the table family style over a bed of crispy fried noodles with peanut sauce and hoisin sauce or some hot soy sauce. They usually don’t last long enough for me to worry about keeping them in the fridge but they can be stored over night wrapped in a moist towel (so that the rolls do not touch each other, if they touch they will bond and become conjoined salad rolls.)

We’re still waiting for the roof to dry out enough so that we can repair the leak above the bathroom, and get to work remodeling the bathroom. This weather needs to start cooperating with my plans– I find it totally unacceptable that it insists on drizzling right over our house.

One bright side is that this gives Matt and I more time to argue over materials, colors and fixtures. I am trying to convince him to let me clean up the old tub (which is quite good and usable) and shower doors and sell them, so that I can put the money towards a nice old clawfoot tub and hardware.

He doesn’t think that cleaning it up would be worth the effort because it’s so old and ordinary, and that in order to sell it we’d have to refinish it. I looked it over (yesterday, when I was taking a bath) and I can’t see any wear or scratches so I’m not quite sure what he means. I think he thinks that I am not going to have the patience to sell it.

Admittedly we have wildly different tastes when it comes to materials and colors.

We’re like that song; he’s a little bit country and I’m a little bit rock n’ roll punk rock.

Cutest nightmare fuel ever.