What Is Trump?

In my gaming group we love to play a card game we either call 'Prediction' or 'Up and Down'. I'm not really sure what the right name of the game is. My sister learned it a long time ago on a trip through Africa from some of her fellow travellers. Basically, each round you play with less and less cards, while the trump suit also changes each round. Goal is to predict how many tricks you will make each round. Correct prediction will give you five points, while each trick you make will give you another point.
(I did some digging and found that the games 'Oh, Hell' or 'Up And Down The River' seem fairly similar to our game - though there are some variations still)
Prediction is our fall back game anytime we are not able to play our usual roleplaying game because one of our group is not available.
As the suit which is trump changes every round, a very common question is: "What is trump?"
For which I now have the perfect solution:

Suit coasters!!

I used felt and applicated the suit color using my sewing machine. On the backside I sewed some soft leather.

Mission Accomplished

After one day and four evenings (though, of course, not all the time ...)

Very Puzzling

I'm working on this Lord of the Rings jigsaw puzzle. It's a fairly difficult one (at least I think so ...), but I'm plowing on.

It's driving me crazy, but it's also a lot of fun. :)

Balla Balla

I made those two balls on the weekend. The sewing is done by hand, but using the right technique (in this case the English paper method) it's super simple and is a lot of fun. I stuffed them with polyfill and granules used for stuffing dolls or teddy bears. In the middle of each is also a little bell, though it's not really loud.  

 Mathematically the balls are regular dodecahdrons, formed of twelve regular pentagons (I love that!)

I'm thinking about making them a little smaller still and fill them with catnip for friends who have cats.

More tricky (as the instructions were not 100% correct and some guesswork was involved) to make was this little backpack. At the moment I'm happy with the outcome, though it has to be seen how usuable it is in the end.

It was the first time I did crazy patchwork, and that was a lot of fun to make.

 

Finally, the last of the tree Mini Mandala Gardens. I changed a bit how I attached the beads on this, then decided that I liked it more and went back to the other two mandalas and redid most of the beads there.

Too warm for this

We picked the hottest day of the year (as in today with 38°C) to make mixed pickles. I wanted to make photos, but forgot to bring the camera.

So all I can offer are two project bags I sewed last weekend.
Both are made following the same pattern. The first one is made from jeans fabric and some fabric I picked up ages ago in Japan.

 The second one was a present for a friend's birthday and is already living at his new home.

Slippers

One pattern I picked up at my sister's but didn't get around making in Sweden is for a pair of slippers. Back home I picked some matching fabric and gave it a whirl.

 They do fit very well (better than those my sister made and she and I have the same shoe size ... go figure). For the sole I used some fake leather which worked (at least so far) very well. It gives just enough traction to make them feel right.

During the last days of the Olymic Games I also finished the second Mini Garden Mandala (or is it Mini Mandala Garden?). Number 3 has been started but is not very far yet.

Sigh, vacation is over and I have to go back to work on Tuesday. So updates and finished projects will be further in between again.

Sweden 2012 - Creativity

As I already mentioned yesterday, I've been busy in Sweden.

Project 1 is a pair of potholders using some fabric I also picked up in Goetheborg. There was no real pattern, but we saw something similar in a store downtown, so we reverse engineered the whole thing. For a first try pretty good, though there's some room for improvement.

The potholders are fairly small, but thanks to the opening in the back, you can almost wear them like hot gloves, so very usable. They are also totally reversable.

Project 2 was a small beaded bracelet we found the kit for in a sale. The bracelet is super easy to make, so not really very crafty, but pretty.
In the photo I present it over a lovely cup my sister got me for my birthday. There's this super cute little dragon peeking over the rim of the cup. Happily I managed to transport the cup back home without breaking it.

 Project 3 and 4 (and some trials inbetween) are made using a technique called tatting. Using a special long needle, you make a couple of slip knots on the one end of the needle and then pull through the tread to either form a ring or a chain before moving on to the next set of knots. Adding little loops (picots) during the process of the knot making will give you added decoration and also a point to connect the chains and rings to each other, enableling the making of a large variation of shapes.
I still need some practice though ....

Number 5, a project I've started before I came to Sweden, some cross stitch. This is the first in three so called Mini Garden Mandalas by Martina Weber of Châtelaine Designs. The kit I have contained the pattern for all three manadalas and the specialty threads and beads, but no fabric and none of the DMCs needed. Lucky me, I've got plenty of fabric and DMC. I picked some unbleached linen in 32ct to stitch on and enjoyed (and still am enjoying) stitching it. Currently I'm plowing my way through the back stitches on the second mandala.

Finally, I also did some knitting. I started a cardigan in Wollmeise lace, but am not happy at the moment with it. I'm thinking about ripping everything up and starting again with a smaller needle size, but first I want to give what I have (back and front down to about 5 cm underneath the armholes) a bath and see how it fits.

Sweden 2012

It has turned into something of a tradition that during the Olympic Games I pack my bags and set up camp at my sister's and her family in Sweden for a week.
First of all it gives me time to spend time with my nephew, whom I, due to the fact that he's living in another country, don't see nearly often enough.
Second, it's a perfect excuse for my sister and me to spend hours in front of the TV to watch the games. We are not exactly idle while we watch, but do knit, stitch, tat (what is the verb going with 'tatting'? I don't know), sew and do other creative stuff. More on that tomorrow.
Third, hey, who wouldn't want to spend vacation time in Sweden? It's a beautiful country. My sister's place is close to the sea and even if the weather is not always perfect, there's still enough nice days to go out on a walk and take some photos.

One day we went to Goetheborg to the botanical garden. We wanted Adventure Golf, but it was seriously too full. If we hadn't gone I would never have seen this dude, and what a shame that would have been.

More on the creative part tomorrow, after I take some project pictures.

Almost Finished and Finished

I finished the stitching on the Delightful Dragon Scissor Fob. Seems like I'm getting too old for this shit, or that it's about time I'm getting reading glasses. I still managed though sometimes, especially in the evening, I had trouble focusing on all those super tiny stitches.

I need to do the sewing part still.

I also finished knitting the New Wave cardigan in Wollmeise Twin 'Blaue Tinte'. Of course it's now far too hot to wear it...

 Some detail of the collar.

I did recycle the yarn from another project where I was not happy with the outcome. This one, I'm much more happy with.

Blueberries

Not far from where I'm working is a field were you can go and pick your own blueberries.

(for those interested, those are not the wild growing blueberry Vaccinium myrtillus - Wildheidelbeere or Waldheidelbeere - that grows in forests and in the wild, but the American Northern Highbush Blueberry Vaccinium corymbosum - Amerikanische Heidelbeere - that is nowadays cultivated)

Within half an hour I had a small bucket full (a little more than 1 kg), not counting those that somehow never made it to the bucket but ended in my mouth directly.

Though, eventually, the rest will end up in my mouth anyway, as I made blueberry jam.

 

RTFM

In engineering RTFM stands for Read The F***ing Manual, also known as: "if you're trying to do something, it might a good idea to read the instructions first".

The same can be said for cross stitching.
Because, if the instructions say to stitch something over 1 (thread, that is), you shouldn't stitch it over 2 (threads).
Else, you get this:

 If, actually, you should have this:

By the way, this is the same fabric. The motive is just half the size. Which is a good size for a scissor fob. Which the over-2 clearly is not.
Ah, pattern: Teresa Wentzler's 'Delightful Dragon Fob'
And, yes, I know, the over-1 one is not ready yet. Have patience.

Sockblank

What is a sockblank and why would anybody bother?
A sockblank is a rectangular piece of knitting, made with two strands of sockweight yarn held together. You knit one (or buy one) so you can dye it, unravel it and then knit again, this time in the shape of a sock (or a shawl, or a pullover, ....)

Here, the knitted blank, after I soaked it for a couple of hours in water (not a good idea to dye a dry piece of fabric). I spread it out on cling film so the dye won't do funny things to my table.

Using various Kool-Aid packaged I painted the blank in various pattern. The color combination here is a bit wild, I admit, but as those were the only colors/flavors I had left, I didn't have much choice.

Next, I covered the blank with a second layer of cling film, rolled it up like a long sausage and placed in a glass dish. I put it in the microwave for 3 x 2min on full power, letting it set for a few minutes in between. Unlike my first experiment with Kool-Aid, I had no indicator if the colors have really set, but i think it might have been enough.

 Then I unraveled the blank and wound the two threads into skeins. This step is not really nesseccary, as you could knit directly of the blank if you want (doing two socks at the same time), but I wanted to see how the yarn looks, and, damn, it's pretty!

The first sock knitted from it. The pattern is froop loop, an older pattern from knitty. When I saw the skein, it sort of wanted to be that one, so who am I to protest.

As you can see, I started from the left of the blank (the orange section on the cuff) and ended about 2/3 through (before the next section of blue). Next time when I'm dying a blank, I will make less vertical stripes, as they lead to large stretches of just one color.
But over all I love the result. This is a lot of fun to do and I certainly will try again.

The Rhubarb-Banana Experiment

On Friday I was gifted with 2 kilos of rhubarb. Though I'v already made rhubarb jelly and rhubarb-strawberry jam two weeks ago, (after using about 1/2 kilo for a yummy cake) I decided again to make jam. But what to use to compliment the rhubarb flavor? I decided to try bananas and lemon juice/zest.
The result ... hmmmmmm, loving it!

As I made it up as I went, here my first attempt to write a recipe.

You need:
600-750 gr rhubarb
half again water
500 sugar for jams 1:2
3 bananas (depending on the ripeness - mine were just about ripe)
1 lemon (bio)
5 gr lemon acid

Clean the rhubarb and cut it into small pieces. Cook with water for 20 minutes, then filter through a kitchen towel. Your aim is to get about 500ml of juice. Wait for it to cool.
Peel the bananas and cut them into small pieces. Add them to the rhubarb juice and the sugar.
Let sit for 1 hr, then puree all with a hand blender. Cut thin stripes off the lemon (after washing very hot) and cut them to tiny slivers. Squeeze the lemon. Add the zest, the lemon juice and the lemon acid to the rhubarb-banana mix.
Cook for four minutes, never stop steering, then fill in to clean glasses.

Notes: While I was cooking the jam, I noticed something dark and sugary sticking to the tip of my cooking spoon. I looks like the sugar at the bottom of the pot actually caramelized (and burned a little). I don't know if this can be prevented (I never really stoped steering the pot), but actually I like the flavor, so no harm done.


I sort of call this jam the 'three-hit-wonder' as you'll have three distinct flavor experiences. First the banana is very dominant, then the rhubarb makes an apperance, only to end with a lemony note.
I don't really need rolls or bread for this, I could just eat it right out of the glass.

(and in case you wonder, I made also another batch of the jelly with the left over rhubarbs)

Odds and Ends

My vacation is coming to an end (sigh) and now a couple of things I've made in the last two weeks, but haven't blogged about.

I've made elder flowers gelée. I picked some of the flowers, then steept them in apple juice for 24hrs. I then cooked the resulting liquid with jam suger. To one half of the batch I added orange juice, the other half I left as is.

 Not having enough of the cooking I also made strawberry syrup (basically a watered down strawberry gelée). A spoon full of it to a glass of water and maybe some ice and lemon, and, voilá, you have a lovely refreshing drink. A little 250ml bottle of it goes a pretty long way.

I made a small neckless (presented here on some estonian lace I'm knitting right now). Not very good to see in the picture, but it's a collier of three steel wires.

And finally (well at least here) I used my new sewing machine (which I inhereted from my sister - thanks - and was brought over from Sweden by my parents - thanks again) to sew another project bag, using the left overs from my April project.

Other than the trip to the zoo in Stuttgard, I pretty much stayed at home in my vacation. I had about a million things on my to-do list and managed to tick of quite a few of them. I finally managed to go see the King Tutanchamun exhibition in Frankfurt (before it closes), saw two movies ('Man In Black 3' and 'Snowwhite and the Huntsman'), went shopping, fixed a couple of things around the appartment, and had a good time.

Wilhelma

A couple of days ago we went to the zoo.

The Wilhelma in Stuttgard is one of the nicest zoos I've been to so far, and even the fact that it rained half of the time, didn't take much off of the enjoyment.
I made a ton of photos, so here a very small selection:

Large Projects

Within the last week I finished two larger projects.

First project is a Nuvem ('Wolke') made from Wollmeise Lace yarn in the color 'Nicole'. I used all but a small rest of maybe 2 gr from a large skein (they come normally in 300g skeins, but mine was slightly under weight). The finished shawl is big enough to wrap completely wround me so it's perfect for cooler summer nights.
I did change the border from the pattern, knitting 3 knit / 2 purl instead of all knit. This leads to a somewhat less ruffled border.

Second project is a smallish blanket (it turned out 135cm by 120cm, which is nice for a lapblanket). The original used thinner yarn, which would have made it even smaller (I think it's something like 90 by 90cm)
I used Lett Lopi for it and we had loads of fun picking out the right colors in my local yarn shop.
I used about 3 skeins each of the lighter colors and 4 of the darker ones. The border, which is knitted first outward, then inward to be sewed to the back of the blanket, uses up a lot of the yarn and I had to shop for more two times during the process of making it.
The border is also a bit on the biggish side, less stitches or smaller needles would have been better.

The little stray blue sheep was an idea I saw in another project for this blanket. I believe it lightens the whole thing up a little.

Schwabsburger Wollfest

Last weekend was a lovely little yarn (+ a couple of other things) market in the village of Schwabsburg, south of Mainz.

There was yarn, of course

 Some finished products (I covet the blanket there)

Though, what really made me drool was this loom. Not just the wrap on it (though it was totally drool worthy) but I would love to have a loom like this. Sadly (or maybe luckily) I don't have the space to store it.

 Still, WANT!!!

Even though I walked through the market muttering "I have enough wool, I don't need to buy any more wool", I brought two lovely beauties home with me. I was simply defenceless in the presence of so much yarn.

Creativity

The jewellery making is still ongoing.

But also the colunary art is not neglected.
I've made rhubarb jelly folloging this recipe: http://dieraumfee.blogspot.de/2012/05/rhabarbergelee-vanille-rhubarb-gelee.html
Next time, I would use less of the juice (maybe 750ml ~ 800ml instead of a full litre to the 500gr jam suger. The jelly simply didn't firm up enough and eating it involves keeping your bread perfectly level else the stuff drips off said bread.
With the rest of the juice and strawberries I've then made jam.

All very tasty.
I personally, don't eat much jams (I'm more for a hearty breakfast), so I gave most of the stuff away already.
You may ask though, why then I made it in the first place? The answer is simple: I have fun doing it!