This year, the deadline for sign-ups to be a square on a card is Tuesday at midnight. Cards will be emailed on Wednesday (some may actually go out on Tuesday). If you miss the deadline, you can still play without officially signing up. Bingo cards and pins will be available at the A Craftman’s Touch Alpaca Co./RedMaple Sportswear booth - Building 31, Booth 27.

You can sign up by using this handy dandy Google doc form that is totally saving my bacon this time around (thank you, Caro!) I also updated the Ravelry group, where you will find all necessary information and updates. I will be adding a list of prizes and players to the Rav group shortly.

If you’d like to donate a prize, please let me know via Ravelry. You can either PM me there. I’m trying to keep it all centralized to make organization easier. Ravelry rawks for this sort of thing.

That’s right, I’m going off the grid. You can take your marxistcommiesocialist electricity and plug it where the sun don’t shine. And when the end times come (oh, they’re gonna come, my friend. But due to lack of interest – WHO WILL CARE FOR THE PETS??!?!?), I’m still going to have coffee. I will also have my hair dryer, because I need to look good post-rapture. And my TV because if I can’t watch The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert over and over, what’s the point of being left behind? And my Zojirushi rice cooker because that thing is suh-weet! It totally cooks quinoa and beans and hopefully the random carcasses I’ll gather in my travels along our new smoldering hellscape!

OK, I’m going to need a generator.

But not for coffee. No, ma’am. Enabler extraordinaire, Kellee (you may know her from blogs such as Obsession du Jour and the amazing Communal Skillet), has shown me the the One True Way to achieve the best iced coffee ever. And I really only ever drink iced coffee.

Cold brew is the way to go. I got this novelty-sized Ball jar at Target. Those are it’s little quart-sized babies all around it. It’s a gallon and was labelled as a “Decorative or Craft Jar”. The tag seemed to dare me to put anything besides pom-poms or glittery pipe-cleaners  chenille stems into it. But after much turning and sniffing and knocking on it, I decided it was actually made of glass and went for it. I noticed later that “NOT FOR CANNING” is printed in large bumpy letters around the bottom. So yeah, forget canning an entire garden’s worth of tomatoes at once.

Here’s how it works. You get a pound of coffee. Please note that all those little bags and cans at the store that seem like they’re a pound of coffee are not actually a pound of coffee.  They are, in fact, something in the neighborhood of 10-12 oz of coffee. Total bullshit. I got a 14-oz can at Trader Joe’s and was right pissed when I weighed the contents to find it was less that 11-oz. I suspect that the grinding machine kept 3-oz for itself. Not good.

Anyway, for my maiden voyage, Kellee shared some of her special stash with me. An honest-to-goodness pound of French Market Coffee with chicory. Apparently it tastes like New Orleans in a can. My personal memories of New Orleans are all pretty vague, but this coffee didn’t taste at all like stale cigarettes and beer-soaked, never-been-vacuumed carpet. Maybe that’s a different blend.

So now you have your empty jar and your bag of coffee. Dump the coffee into the jar. Fill the jar the rest of the way with cold water. Put the lid on. Back away. Try not to think about it for 12-24 hours.*

Here’s what the top will look like. Resist poking at it too much. Maybe a quick poke because it’s so sludgy and pokable.

(click the picture for big). Looks like you could make a huge mess with that, eh? Don’t worry, it’s only messy if you aren’t careful when it comes time to straining it.

Like so.

Here’s the real lesson. I only kind of know how a gun works, but I think it has to do with something being shoved in there. And it’s stuck behind something else that’s really stuffed in there good. Then, when the pressure is released, that first thing that was put in there comes flying out of there like the dickens.

Cold brew is just like that. The coffee grounds form kind of a plug, especially if the mouth of the jar is small. Don’t just skip on over to the jar all “tra-la-la, I would like some coffee now” and dump it into the strainer. Especially don’t do that near a bunch of dishes you just washed. A series of annoying things will happen.

Now is when you can really poke at those grounds. Get them to fall into the jar, then, VERY CAREFULLY AND S-L-O-W-L-Y start pouring it out into the strainer. The last batch I did went much smoother. I ended up pouring the jar out into a large pasta strainer over a big-ass roasting pan. Then from the roasting pan, I strained the liquid again through this smaller strainer into this pan. This method removed most of the grounds and grit and there was no coffee explosion.

I did manage to save 2 quarts out of that first batch and it was damn tasty! I’d never had chicory before and I really liked it. But I’ll be switching back to regular coffee going forward (using chicory ice cubes made from this batch). I’ll keep experimenting with the time and size of the grind to find that perfect balance, but honestly, I don’t see this really ever coming out bad. The cold brewing process doesn’t draw out the acid, so the coffee is smooth and sweet. I don’t even use sugar in it, just milk.

I’m hooked and now I have extra counter space where the coffee maker used to be. Win-win!

*A quick note on brewing time. I did the chicory for 12 hours and it was great, I did regular coffee for 24 and it was also great. I did find that the chicory batch was much more concentrated (I used 1/3 cup of the concentrate to 2/3 cups of milk)  than the coffee batch, but I think that was because I had less coffee and should have used much less water. I barely diluted that to drink and it was strong, but good. I just strained another batch today using a full pound of coffee, ground on the “fine” setting, and I let it sit for a full 24 hours, so hopefully I’ll get a higher concentrate.**

**Yep! That was juuust right. It’s about a 1/2 and 1/2 mix of coffee to water/milk.

Now I need a compost pile for all those grounds . . .

Instead of marching around in a pair of divine Lourdes boots , I hired the suprememly talented and ever-patient Carrie at Identity Web and Photo  to fix up my tattered little blog. You long-time knitbloggers will know her as Carrieoke. I know! I’ve known her blog and her name for years, but it took until now – after internet vandals rolled me for small change – to get in touch with her. Trust me, if you have needs on the intertubes, Carrie is your go-to gal. She’ll fix you up, right as rain. Your blog will thank you for it! She is every bit as delightful and helpful as you’ve imagined looking at that bright smile all these years. Hire her. Just do it. She rocks and she will make your blog not suck, and we both know, your blog is kind of a hot mess right now. I only say that because I love you and you need to hear it.

Now that my blog is all patched back together, the old posts have been archived, and the Museum of Kitschy Stitches has been shuffled off to it’s own corner of the internet, I am left with something of a blank slate. I’ve been hesitant to blog for real, even though I do it in my head all the time. Seriously, I mind-blog in the shower all the time. I spend a lot of make-believe time with you while I’m naked. A lot. It makes me a little uncomfortable, frankly. Let’s never speak of it again.

Anyway, I’ve felt a little boxed in by the whole “knit blogger” thing. I don’t knit as much as I used to, and I don’t want to talk about it all the time, even when I am knitting something. I have a lot to say and have felt constrained by the walls I built for myself. But no more! I am unleashing myself from the yarny ties that once bound me! I am declaring myself officially free to talk about whatever the hell it is I want to talk about. Woo!

Knitting? Awesome, I’ll tell you all about it. Sewing – check. I’ve got a room full of fabric that needs discussing. Cats? Obviously. As a now-divorced woman who has five cats, I am surely bound by some law that states I must discuss these little poop machines at length until I finally die and they consume as much of me as they can until someone wonders where I’ve been for the last few weeks.

But also – politics. Seriously? Conservatives can’t seem to take us back in time fast enough. Give ‘em a TARDIS and we’ll be back in petticoats and gender-specific roles assigned to us by the oligarchical patriarchy to keep us in our place so we never realize how fearful they are that it is women alone who hold the power to decide the fate of future generations (and therefore, future wealth, prosperity, and indeed, society) in no time.

Feminism? Super important to me, but lots of ideas to hash through to figure out what it really means, if it really means anything beyond “Dude, quit being such a fuckhead. Who said you need to “let” me have equality, why don’t I just have it all automatic-like? You know, like men do?”

Nail polish? OMG, my newest obsession! Is Spectraflair a true linear holo? Discuss!

Cooking? I suck at it, but I’m trying.

So yeah, I am dying to get back to blogging. I’ll try to keep it entertaining, but it’s also going to get a whole lot more . . . I don’t know – Honest? Potentially offensive to people who like to be offended – so I guess that fits in with entertaining. And funny. I really need to bring the funny back. So there’s that. Stick with me and maybe we’ll have some fun! Or not. We’ll see.

Signup deadline is Sunday, October 9th, at midnight.

It’s getting to be that time of year again, when a knitter’s thoughts turn to folly and festivals. And you know what that means, right?

Rhinebeck Bingo!!

That’s right, folks, it’s the best excuse yet to hug perfect strangers at the NY Sheep and Wool Festival. We’ve been playing for a few years now and I think it might be becoming something of a tradition. It’s a great way to put a face to the bloggers and Ravelers you’ve been following and befriending in virtual space, now it’s time to hook up in meat space!

Chi Chi even pitched in. Cat hair doesn’t put itself on all of my stuff.

And Dot helped me manage my To Do list. It’s weird how many treats I had to buy to get ready for this show.

Caro and I are leaving tomorrow so we can set up our booth and get ready for a crazy few days of meetin’ and greetin’ and sellin’. Hopefuly loads and loads of sellin’.

Here are somephotos of some of the stuff I’ll be bringing. Whatever I don’t sell will be added to my Etsy shop in August. A quick note about my shop, I will be closing it tonight and it won’t be back up until mid-August sometime. I’m adjusting some prices and the cost of the bags will be going up when I re-open, so if you want something in there, you might want to grab it now. It’s been a while since I’ve tweaked the pricing, but I think it’s time.

Here is a sampling of some of the new stuff. I think you’ll like it as much as I do!! (these photos were taken before I added the drawstrings)

It’s gearing up to be a wildly fun and productive summer! Spring has already lit a fire under my butt. I’m like Wile E. Coyote strapping himself to a bright red rocket and getting ready to blast off into the great unknown. Must. Go. Fast! I guess that makes the fiber community the Roadrunner? Not really sure how that all works out. Does Acme even make yarn?

First, I am so excited! Wonder Mike over at Fiber Beat interviewed Caro and I at TNNA Winter in Long Beach and it’s live, so go listen! Mike did an amazing job editing the interview and adding just the perfect songs and musical interludes. I want him to follow me around all the time from now on so he can make me sound articulate and not-at-all-like-a-dumbass. Thank you, Mike, you are a Master Podcaster!

Last week, I went to TNNA in Ohio with Caro (Splityarn), Amy (StashKnitRepeat) and Pam (FlintKnits) and it was such a great trip. I also got to spend some quality time with Jenn (Nipperknits), Elinor (ExcerciseBeforeKnitting), Miriam (MimKnits) and a whole host of other people. It really was the most amazing array of people you could imagine. I’ve been knitting and blogging since 2004. You guys, it’s 2011! That’s . . . ermmm . . . a number of years. A whole bunch of them. And it’s been amazing to watch my fellow fiber enthusists change and grow over those years.

(I’m going to do a big name/link drop at the end of this post and hopefully I won’t forget too many people. I always forget people, but if we met and laughed and possibly hugged, chime in to remind me because I’m really bad at remembering things.)

You couldn’t ask for a group of more brilliant and talented people to spend time with. I’m always amazed at the brain power we have managed to capture in this community. Luckily, we have decided to use that power for good, otherwise we’d be flying around in an intricately cabled cashmere Death Star. Take that, Rebel Alliance! Did you feel that disturbance? Yeah, that was us tangling up Alderaan with our sonacrylic ray beam. What are you gonna to do about it, huh? Bring it.

Festivals like Rhinebeck or NHSW are great for meeting and reconnecting with friends, spending the mortgage on yarn and generally relaxing among pals. Unlike those events, TNNA is an industry convention. That means people are there to buy and sell for retail shops, to network, to make contacts, to get business done. I can’t even tell you how invigorating it is to be able to consider knitting my “business”. I’m trying to figure out a way to make it pay the bills and software is still my primary business, but I’m really do lucky to be part of this industry. When I was a kid, my dad used to go to conventions for his work, but I’m pretty sure there wasn’t nearly as much hugging and squeeing at the industrial brush convention. I could be wrong, I’m just assuming.

I knew it was going to be an amazing time when it began with a Designers Dinner hosted by the lovely Marly of Yarn Thing. It was one of those times when you look around at the other guests and think “How the hell did I manage to get invited to this?” The room was packed with people I’ve admired for ages and I considered myself a fangirl. And now I was there as a peer. Weird. And awesome!

Also? We all got freakishly good swag bags brimming with amazing things that Andi at Knit Brit has actually listed out and is giving away in a contest. And Namaste bags! I know!!! There were all kinds and colors, deals and trades were being made and everyone left with a glow that can only be had by cradling a new Namaste bag. I got the lime green Bitty Bag, which is just the right size for me. I lurve it.

Here are some of the highlights in no particular order because the whole thing is one big blur. (those of you who remember Romper Room, this is the part where I check you out through the Magic Mirror)

First off, I got to meet Bonne Marie Burns! She and Marnie MacLean are the two people single-handedly responsible for getting me interested in knitting in the first place. Their designs and blogs captured me immediately. I was truly star struck and Bonne Marie was just as sweet and funny and savvy as I had hoped she would be.

We magnanimously shared our flight from and to (well, I took a later flight home in exchange for a voucher) Boston with Clara Parkes (Knitters Review), who totally cracks me up all the time. Hob-nobbed with Carol Sulkosci (GoKnitInYourHat) – I love me some Carol. She’s wicked in the best way possible. We got caught up on Shannon Okey’s (Knitgrrl) continuing plans for world domination. We think she’s really on to something good with her new publishing venture. After years of following her online, I finally got to meet Jessica from Rose-Kim Knits! She’s been making Thursdays better for a helluva long time.

Amy Detjen is always a delight to run into, her smile is infectious and I can’t wait to have cocktails with her in September at The Creative Connection! (It will happen, Amy. Oh yes. It will.) And continuing with the contagiously delightful, Amy Singer (Knitty) was there and though I’ve met her briefly before, we actually got to hang out at the Columbus Airport for a long while and it was really great. We also enjoyed the company of Chris Bylsma, who I am now in love with. That woman is sass on a silver platter.

The winner of the “Blew My Mind” award goes to Alisdair (Fallingblox Designs), a fellow Common Cod Fiber Guild member, who is coming out with a book called Extreme Double-Knitting in the next few months and it’s stunning. Stun. Ning. He’s doing the book with Cooperative Press and they had pieces from the book there. I cannot wait to get my paws on this book. I’ve been wanting to try double-knitting for a while and this is just the thing to get me doing it. Very exciting! (Alisdair was also hanging out with us at the airport, it was quite a knitting group we amassed there.)

I met a whack of amazing people for the first time, including Andi (KnitBrit) – who I ran into every 5 seconds and was happy about it every single time, Mercedes (Kitchen Sink Dyeworks) who dyes amazing yarn in bold, bright colors, and Daniel Yuhas, a soon-to-be published designer with a website called Molting Yeti – I love this guy!

I was also super excited to meet Heather from Army of Knitters. Her designs make my heart go pitter-pat in a big way. She then introduced us to Ragga (Knitting Iceland), who does knitting tours of Iceland! This makes me love Heather even more because Ragga is also darling and does knitting tours of Iceland! We are totally going to go on a knitting tour of Iceland. I can’t wait!

We literally chased down Linda Permann (LindaMade) to check out her gorgeous crocheted sweater, which turned out to be called Peanut Butter! It is now on my To Do List. (hope we didn’t scare Linda with our lion/gazelle technique.)

We fondled lots of good yarn in brilliant colors. Alisha (Alisha Goes Around) is a firecracker to the tenth power and I can’t wait to use the super-soft superwash BFL in Charcoal she gave me to create my first actual clothing design that doesn’t use beer cans. Then I fell head over heels for Merri Fromm from Blue Sky Alpacas. She totally gets our retro asthetic, was so sweet and charming and she gave us a bunch of amazing yarn to play with! I’m working on a bag design using some of their seriously chunky wool/alpaca. I swatched it and it’s 3 stitches to the inch using 10.5 needles. Boo-ya!

Speaking of needles, the lovely and generous ladies at HiyaHiya gave me a bunch of needles and crochet hooks, including the thinnest knitting needles I’ve ever seen. At 1.2mm, they’re so delicate and the cable join is so smooth, I can’t wait to try out something special with that cobweb cashmere I’ve been squirreling away.

Whew, I think that’s a pretty good rundown. It’s impossible to list everyone. Just know that the future of the fiber industry looks very bright. So much passion and talent and know-how. From the folks at Ravelry to yarn shop owners to indie yarn dyers and designers, our fiber world is a force to be reckoned with and with so much momentum, I think the next few years are going to be really interesting. I forsee a lot of changes and innovation coming that will benefit us all. It’s a good time to love yarn!

Are you in New England? Need more yarn. Of course you do!

Join the first annual Great Rhody Yarn Crawl this weekend for an amazing list of yarn shops, prizes, vendors, and even a good cause! Crawlers will earn an extra raffle ticket for each shop’s raffle by making a donation to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Donation boxes will be located at each stop of the yarn crawl.

You can find their Ravelry group.

I’ll be one of the vendors and will have the books for sale, as well as the trunk show in hand. I will also be selling some of my wares, including drawstring project bags (I just made some that are 14”x14”, they’re perfect for sweaters on the go).

Unfortunately Caro can’t make it, but I did make her sign some books in advance, so she’ll be there in Sharpie.

The vendors will be in the Slater Mill Museum, an old textile mill with all kinds of cool old machinery to look at. I am also considering bringing my brand new toy – a circular sock machine!

See you there, it’s going to be amazing. The organizers, Traci and Chrystee, have gone above and beyond to create something really special. Don’t miss out!

So I scrapped the idea of working on my facial region and went to IKEA. Any place you can buy a sofa and some meatballs is A-OK with me! I went a little bananas because it’s the first time I’ve actually “decorated” and it was a blast. I did pretty well staying within my budget, too. Yay, me!

I don’t have any “before” pictures, but the living room was Cottage White, a couple of random curtains on random windows, and the biggest, ugliest couch you’ve ever seen. We actually bought it 6 or so years ago, when I was pregnant that last time. While at the furniture store, I imagined an entirely different life lived on that couch. But it didn’t happen and frankly, it was really cathartic to get rid of it. My brother helped me saw it into pieces because it was too big to carry out whole. It’s still waiting to be thrown off my back porch, so there’s still fun to be had with it. I love pitching stuff out of the third-story window, it’s as much fun as you’d think it would be. Heavy stuff makes a very satisfying ~thud~ on the dirt yard below.

But here it is now, all chic and clean with French Silver walls and bright white trim. And expertly modeled by Dot, my very own little Vannah White.

The image in the giant frame is one of those big-eyed girl “paintings” from the 60s or 70s. It’s called “Ingrid” or “Inga” or somesuch, but to me, she looks like Bjork in a pink headband and fuzzy sweater. I cut out an oval mat from black foam core and then glued pink rik-rajk around the edge for extra fanciness. It’s ridiculous and girly. The polka dotted Fatboy beanbag chair is going to be replaced with this Marimekko one with red poppies soon. It’s comfy and my niece and nephew love it. So does my brother, so he’s getting the polka-dotted one. He’s always been a bean bag guy.

You can see the new chandelier in this photo. I thought it was very Audrey Hepburn. Or a very stylish hat. Maybe a stylish hat for Audrey Hepburn.

I also created a new reading nook. My apartment is set up in a really weird way. There’s a big central room with doors all around leading to the front hall, my bedroom, sewing room, living room, office and the hallway to the kitchen. It’s the largest room in the place, but also the most useless because every wall has at least one door. There’s not much wall space, no windows and it’s just kind of awkward. But my friend Victor helped me visualize a way to make at least part of the space useful. I love it to pieces and often just relax in silence on my faux knitted couch (it’s printed with a knit pattern!)

It features my other lovely model, Chloe – the Cindy Crawford of the house.

That shelf is full of knitting and craft books and magazines. The fabric on the wall is a vintage piece called “Forest Friends”, you can see details of it here. It’s totally cute. And the embroidered bird is one I made a few years ago. It’s a 1970s pattern that my mom actually made for our house when I was a kid. His name is Mortimer and amazingly, I found the exact same kit on eBay, so I had to get it.

I also repainted my office a bright aqua color and hung some vinyl bird decals and groovy records from the 50s and 60s on the wall. I tried to photograph it, but I couldn’t quite catch the light right, so I’ll have to try again later.

I’m on kind of a bird kick with this redecoration, so my mom got in on the action. Check out this amazing quilt she made for me! She didn’t know how to applique, but taught herself to do it so she could make this for me. I’m crazy about the way she made their eyes and legs different. Her attention to detail is a Thing of Wonder. My momma loves me, and I love her. I’m so glad I got her crafty genes.

Now the trick is to keep it away from Dot. After I use it, I always put it back in the zippered bag it came in. Victor came up with a good plan for it. He’s going to help me hang a clothesline on the wall to hang it on when not in use. And he suggested pairing it with these bird clothespins for cuteness sake. The guy is good, I tell ya’.

So that’s my newly improved pad. It’s nice to have it decorated in a way that always makes me smile. I’m trying to be good about not going overboard, so I’m going to make more things for the walls to save money and personalize it even further. I think the sewing room and kitchen will be next. They mostly need organization, but we’ll see what IKEA has to say about that.

I was doing paperwork last week and saw this exact scene on my desk and knew it was the perfect way to start this blog post. I’ve been putting off writing about it for a while because I’m not even sure what and how much I want to say about it.

Discount Valentine’s candy* and divorce papers. Or as I like to call it,  creamy divorce nougat enrobed in rich chocolate. Neither of these things make me happy, per se, but each were what I really needed. I would have preferred cardamom marshmallows and a lifetime of fulfillment. But you play the cards you’re dealt, yes? Then, once you’ve played them, you switch to a game where you can actually pick your own damned cards!

That’s what I’m focusing on now, figuring out how to assemble a good hand. Ok, I need to quit with this card metaphor before someone tells me to “shuffle up and deal!”

Jon and I separated in May of last year. It was actually just before Caro and I finished the book. A couple of weeks after we decided to separate, I had to hand in my dedication to the publisher. This really threw me for a loop since everything was so fresh, but I realized that just because we weren’t going forward, there was no reason to discount the past. I did appreciate his support during the making of the book and I thanked him for it. And that’s how I’ve tried to proceed since then.

I’m not going to go into details of our relationship any more than to say that after 15 years, our relationship was over and separating was inevitable. I don’t regret our decision and I don’t have any ill will towards him. I just want us both to lead happy, full lives. It’s like a midlife reboot. A Ctrl+Alt+Del in meatspace. A do-over, if you will. Wish us luck!

In the meantime, a new man has entered my life. He looks really young, but he’s actually quite a bit older than me. His name is Bobby and I loff him.

Bobby came to me from YarnyOldKim, who I adore and desperately want to be. Maybe if I eat Bobby, I will absorb her powers.

The cats are getting used to having him around, although he’s not as good at cuddling as Chi Chi would like.

And I suspect Bobby misses his old home. I found him surfing around on my computer the other night. He said he was just looking for photos of naked Sears mannequins, but he was looking at Kim’s Flickr stream.

But he’s settling in well. Thank you, Kim! He looks really great in my sewing room, even though he nearly gives me a heart attack every time I walk in there. That disembodied little darling keeps the ol’ blood pumpin’!

Boop!

Phew, well, that feels good to get off my chest. I wasn’t sure how to approach the divorce on the blog and I think it was kind of acting like a block. Let my prolific blogginggggg – BEGIN!

*It used to have a pretty bow, but I had to cut it off because Dot was nomming on it.