Saturday, August 30, 2008

I promise I haven't abandoned my blog

...In fact I've been dying to post almost all month, but, well, my major craft projects of late have all been presents for people who are likely to wander over and take a look here, so I haven't been able to post pictures or details for fear of spoiling surprises. I'll be back into the swing of things soon though.

I just finished reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. Strange, dreamlike romance; memory and loss; a library and a forest. An extremely introspective book that was very easy to lose myself in, even on the crowded and noisy Kaohsiung subway.

I think I would like to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. There's been some nattering about them on the ADF mailing lists and they sound intriguing from a Pagan POV.

Friday, August 1, 2008

knit 'n purl kitchenware

Part of me feels like a huge dork for posting these, but people who think knitting is stupid aren't likely to be checking out this blog anyway, so here's the latest exciting news on my jazzing-up-the-kitchen activities:


I still can't quite believe I'm using this to wash dishes with, given how much time I put into it - not that it was difficult, just kind of involved. You can see the pattern here if you like. This is the work in progress:


The yarn I used was a wool/acrylic blend. Cotton would have made more sense but I couldn't find any suitable cotton yarn at my local shop and wanted to use these stupidly bright pinks anyway. It's a bit weird - kind of like washing dishes with a piece of a sweater - but the thing will felt over time and be more cloth-like.

Next up: something to keep my mugs from clacking obnoxiously against the glass desktop.


These do very nicely! Insanely fast and easy pattern. You can see a little bit more of the design here:


...though it's still not all that clear.