Mary Maxim Aran Kimono Kit Review

by Kelly

The project for my aunt is done!

I tossed the finished product in the washer and tumble dried it for ten minutes and it is now wonderfully soft. And warm. Too warm to try on for even a few minutes in this ninety degree weather.

All in all, I was pretty pleased with this kit. The project was really fast to put together, even for an inexperienced knitter like me - it took less than two weeks. And the blend of knitting and crochet meant that it was never boring to work on. The acrylic yarn itself has varying thickness, so it self tweeds, without being either scraggly or too thick to work. And the little fluffs of dark gray add great texture and color.

There was also more than enough yarn to compete the project. I actually had a bit left over. Maybe my fabric should have been tighter?

 

My one quibble with the kit was the lack of guidance where seaming was concerned. I used mattress stitch on the vertical seam, and single crochet for the side seams. It actually worked out really well - it gives the garment a little more structure, while blending in perfectly with the edging.

At the same time, from the front or back, it's almost invisible:

Here's one last picture, posed artistically, as though I were putting it in the shop for sale:

I do love the colors and texture of that Aran Tweed yarn. I might have to get some for myself. It would make an awesome, soft and washable sweater. And with this latest success, I'm almost feeling brave enough to tackle the sweater project that has been languishing in a box since last winter. Almost.

Meanwhile, I had two gauge swatches that I had no use for - but then I got creative, so I took one of them apart and found another use for that yarn.

All together now....Awww! This little guy is going in the bag with the kimono. I hope my aunt gives him a good home.

Mary Meade's Kitchen Companion Review

by Kelly

People give me books all the time, usually with the comment, 'You can have these, as long as I never see them again.' It's almost like they're afraid that I'll sneak back to their homes late at night and leave an unwanted book on their doorstep like a foundling, something that I would never dream of doing. Spare garden produce, like zucchini, maybe, but books, never.

If I kept all the books that came my way I could found my own library. So, instead, I treat them like stray animals, and do my best to find good homes for them. Sometimes, though, I stumble across surprising finds in the boxes and bags, and then I'm rewarded for all that work.

Recently, tucked away in a 'donated' box of books with titles like 'How to Keep a Customer the Southwest Airlines Way' and '50 Things You Should Know about Your Health', I found a book called 'Mary Meade's Kitchen Companion', published in the 1950's.

A cookbook, written in the '50's?? What sage advice could I find inside? So I opened it up to see.

The first chapter was more than I could have hoped for. Entitled 'Atom and Eve', this is where the author (Ruth Church, who was a food editor for the Chicago Tribune for something like 20 years) discusses the glowing future of cuisine, including irradiating food with Gamma Rays to make it last longer (and probably turn it green and angry, like The Hulk), and the electronic range revolution (in pink or blue, no less). She also laments the new wave of convenience foods, including pre-packaged mixes and heat-and-eat foods, and makes a plea for the old 'from scratch' methods, including Grandma's canning of hundreds of quarts of food in the summer months. (Whew!)

She's not sad for long, though, as in the next chapter she's happily outfitting 'Your Dangerous Dream Kitchen' with meat grinders, wall mounted can openers, and food mills, although she takes care to stress how dangerous these new automated devices can be. Sharp objects aren't the only danger in the kitchen, though - there are also insect pests contaminating the food. Unfortunately, the advice on how to deal with ants and the like involves using a mixture of 5% DDT household insecticide or even Chlordane.

Meanwhile, the recipes themselves are also a bit dated, especially those for 'alternative meats' which I will leave to your imagination, but let me say that we aren't talking about chuck roasts or tofu here. There are also some pleasant surprises, though, like a recipe for 'Orange Chiffon Cake' and a mysterious 'Sunshine Cake', mentioned only in passing, apparently as something that every good '50's era housewife knew at birth. There is also an extensive review of 'the new boxed cake mixes', which apparently caused quite a stir (ha) at the time.

By turns hilarious and useful, and written with a self-aware sense of humor, this book is going on my shelf as a 'keeper'. Whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed with housework, I think I'll take a minute to open this book to the section which discusses waxing the kitchen floor and defrosting the refrigerator, and thank my lucky stars that I live in the modern age.

Dimension's Cross Stitch Kit Review

by Kelly

All cross stitch kits have a few things in common - one or two embroidery needles, a graphed pattern to follow, a piece of fabric, and floss.

I usually choose kits from a company called Dimensions. Now, in general I don't have much brand loyalty - I tend to buy for different reasons. But for cross stitch kits, I always look at Dimensions first, and here's why.


First of all, they chose beautiful images to turn into kits. Here are two of my favorites:

Midnight Dance via Amazon

via Dimensions site

Secondly, their kits are never boring to work. Now, having said that, if the idea of sewing hundreds or thousands of tiny colored x's onto a piece of fabric to make an image makes you shudder, these kits still aren't for you.
But if you're crazy like me, and find that kind of thing fun and worthwhile, then imagine combining different colors of floss together in your needle to get a unique variegated look, or learning how to make velvety dark shadows with four strands of black floss, or adding French knots and lazy daisy stitches onto a cross stitched background to create a patch of flowers.

Also, they're great quality for the money. I've completed somewhere between ten or fifteen of these kits, and I've never been disappointed. I've also never run out of floss, which is a good thing, because they dye their own. If you do run out, they provide a way to order more of that color. Of course then there might be problems with dye-lots, and that could be a huge issue if you're trying to finish a half completed kit. Luckily, I've always had floss left over when I'm finished.

And lastly, since they have kits for all levels, from beginner to expert, as I learned new things I've always been able to find a Dimensions kit that was interesting and challenging. Whether or not I will ever take on one of their really complicated kits (like Ballerina Dreams), that's another story.

For now, I'm back to crocheting. But that smaller kit below would be cute to gift to my mom, since she loves butterflies. Hmm....

via Dimensions site

Caron Yarn Review

by Kelly

A few days ago, our camera went to the camera shop. (Yes, there are still people who repair cameras. We were surprised, too! )We're hoping it's repairable, but in the meantime I can't take a picture of the cross-stitch project I'm currently working on, so instead let's talk about yarn.

Mostly my yarn habit is fed by Donna. She buys great big bags of random yarn for me at garage and estate sales, she invites me over to take my pick from her stash, and she occasional buys something that catches her eye and gifts it to me just because.

But sometimes I have to buy yarn. And because I am extremely cheap, I want quantity for my money. So I succumbed to the lure of Caron One Pound Yarn.
And I was kind of really happy...and kinda not really happy.

First of all, one pound of yarn is actually pretty impressive. It's about the size of a cat or a small dog. And it's 826 yards of yarn, which is more than enough unless you're yarn bombing the Brooklyn Bridge.

 And best of all, the yarn is acrylic but it feels and looks more like the expensive cotton yarn I've bought in the past. So as far as the quality of the yarn goes, it's worth the money. If I was making a bag, this is the yarn I would choose, because it really is very sturdy, almost more like a cord than a yarn.
 

But here's the catch - I'm not sold on the color quality.

I ordered one skein of white and one skein of black, since those are the colors that I am chronically short of. I used the white for my Broomstick Lace Shawl and I was really happy with it...but the black, not so much. In a dark room, the black yarn looks fine. Once you take it out into the sunlight, however, it has this unpleasant greenish tint to it that makes it look really cheap. Which it is, in all honesty, but still.

I know that black is a tricky color, and maybe I just got a bad dye lot. But will I try this yarn again? Maybe. Maybe if I can find a local yarn shop that will let me take a skein outside to see the yarn color in the sunlight, without fearing that I will abscond with their merchandise.

So if you hear about someone being jailed for stealing yarn, rest assured that it was probably only me, and that it's all just a big misunderstanding.

50 More Crocheted Afghan Borders

by Kelly


We're going to be having a giveaway soon, and one of the items in our contest is a book. If you're a regular visitor here, you know that I love
me some books. 

I'm always delighted to give books as gifts, because then I can check them out before wrapping them. One year for Christmas, I bought the Twilight series for someone, and read them all before The Big Day.  Luckily, I have inherited my mom's ability to read a book without cracking the spine or leaving other evidence behind.

The book to be included in our giveaway is 50 More Crocheted Afghan Borders  and has, of course, fifty beautiful borders. But two in particular caught my eye, so I had to try them out.

First up, a simple pink heart pattern, which I think would work beautifully as a border for anything made for a little girl:

then there was this slightly more complicated flower border:

I'm glad to report that these patterns are easy and fun. The directions are clear and the pictures are beautiful and encouraging, even when the pattern is a little challenging. The book stays open when you're working from it, unlike some pattern books that I have in my library.

Our giveaway is scheduled to begin January 30th, so be sure to visit us then for your chance to win a copy of this book!

Regretsy LOL

I wanted to do a little reading over the Christmas break and found a hilarious book at the library

Regretsy, by April Winchell will keep you in stitches! April runs a snarky blog called, regretsy.com that pulls items from Etsy that are well...interesting. It takes a special item to meet Rachel's criteria - a badly knit item won't do it. There needs to be that extra special something that takes an item to a new level of horror in order to make her list. The book is divided into various catergories (jewelry, home decor, pet humiliation) and then shows actual Etsy listings along with April's comments. I read the entire book in under an hour and laughed out loud through a number items. It's a don't miss on my 2012 list.

A Quiet Word About Washers

by Kelly


THIS IS NOT A PAID ADVERTISEMENT. ALTHOUGH, IF GE WOULD LIKE TO SEND SOME MONEY OUR WAY, WE COULD PROBABLY BRING OURSELVES TO ACCEPT IT.


So we bought a new washing machine, and I just have to post about it, because this thing is quiet. Now, considering that our last washer had degraded to the point where it sounded like a rampaging wildebeest during their annual migration, you might be persuaded that we just aren't used to having a decent appliance. But that's not true.

The Washer in Question

Firstly, due to the high sulfur content of our water, we go through appliances like a preschooler goes through crayons, so we have seen a wide variety of brands pass through our front door. Maytag, Kenmore, Roper, and others have come and gone, and none have seemed unusual or remarkable.

Secondly, this washer is so quiet that the manufacturer kindly included a disclaimer about the extreme quietness of the wash cycle, probably to reduce the number of calls to their complaint department. Here's a picture of the disclaimer. You can see by its crumpled state that I originally scorned this piece of paper as a gratuitous bit of advertising.

The disclaimer reads in part : "This new wash system is softer and quieter in agitate than any GE washer ever before... You will notice the difference during operation."

Well, GE, Engrish aside, I'm sorry that I didn't believe you. You're right. This thing really is super quiet.  Almost unnervingly so. After the dramatic daily presentation by our old washer, we couldn't help but be suspicious of this new, silent approach. My husband and I stood around it in awe, as though we were witnessing the launch of a space mission. "Is it really washing?" we wondered. But when we opened the lid, yes, water and soap were present.


So, if you're in the market for a new washing machine, might I suggest
GE  Model # GTWN3000MWS 3.6 cubic feet, Top Load Washer? (In White, of course. I don't know why they bother to specify the color - I haven't seen a top load washer in another color since the '70's.) And if the silent operation is too much for you, turn up the TV. That's what worked for us.

Book Review - 50 Sensational Crochet Afghans and Throws

by Kelly

While Dawn may get a little weak in the knees when confronted with a wall of yarn skeins, I have a different addiction - books.

Now, an additional difference is that I don't just love crafty books - I love all books. But I am going to spare your sanity and limit myself here to the topic of craft books, and in particular to only one of my favorites - 50 Sensational Crochet Afghans and Throws. Just check out that image on the cover. The look of stained glass achieved with crochet. Stunning.

And it gets even better inside. Page after page of beautiful afghans, with every stitch and technique fully explained, and even intricate patterns involving clusters, shells, and cables reduced to a level that a beginner like me can understand.

Dreamy, lacy creations like the one above, snuggly baby blankets, intricate throws made with rich colors of yarn that I have never heard of...what's not to like?

The patterns range from easy to a third level intermediate. To give you some perspective, the stained glass blanket on the cover has the highest difficulty level. It's made of single squares, joined together, with a border added at the end, and the hardest stitch used is a cluster. Of course, three pages are dedicated to the squares themselves, not to mention assembly and the border. Even I wasn't tempted to rush into this one.

So I started with something simpler - the Peaceful Harmony pattern. Ahhh, that sounds nice and soothing, doesn't it? And look, it's one step above beginner - perfect.

And how glad I am that I started with this one! The pattern itself was only a two row repeat, but there was some jiggery required at the edges to make things line up. So I learned a bit there, and at the same time used up a heap of my stash and got a quick, warm afghan that our cat loves to sleep on. It would be nice if I got to use it sometimes too, but hey, anything to keep peace in the family. Below is a picture of my version of the pattern, using stray skeins that I had on hand.

It has kind of a vintage, southwest feel. I'm sure that has nothing to do with the fact that almost every skein of yarn used to make it had a crumbling label from the seventies. If you look closely, you may see two rows of a color the yarn company called 'harvest gold'. I would have labeled it 'baby poop brown' myself. So why did I use it? Well, honestly, where else could I have ever used that yarn? It's only two rows. Besides, after a certain point, stash busting becomes addictive.

All in all, I am very pleased with this book. Four out of five stars for this one, my only reservation being that even with a weight to hold the book open, it had a tendency to spring shut at inopportune moments. If you see this book in a spiral-bound version, by all means pick it up. Or buy yourself a book stand.