Copper-Chloride Flame Scarf

I completed this a few days before I went home for holidays, 2 weeks ago now.

This Candle Flame Scarf pattern has become one of my favorites (if not my favorite)... the pattern is easy to follow and the scarf grows fast! After a few rows, I didn't need to follow the pattern anymore (well, just a few times to make sure I was doing it right)

{Yup, I use a clip to mark my rows :p}

At first I had some trouble figuring it out, specially the first row but once I did, the rest was cake. Other problem I had was the grafting but I found a great video which helped me a lot (I can't find the video I've used for this scarf but found this one: Kitchener Stich which I've watched to make my birds), actually grafting is so easy that I wanted to do more but the scarf was not too wide :p (while looking for that video I found a very interesting video about grafting a seam with knits and purls, I'll keep this link here since youtube search is not working very well)

I love the texture and great thing is that it looks good on both sides.

And of course I love the yarn, it's very soft and the colors... teal/green/grey/dark grey/black, are perfect.
Copper-chloride?... well after I checked the other projects for this pattern, some people used red/orange colors, hence the name, candle flame, since I had green I wanted to know if there was green flame... and indeed there is, found this great post Colors of Elements in a Flame and there it is... my beautiful Copper(II) Chloride flame:

 "A bright green color is imparted to the flame by copper(II) chloride. (...) Usually copper salts other than the chloride are emerald green and copper chlorides are azure blue, but in this case the chloride appears emerald green."

Nerdy, I know... but I can't help it, I'm curious!

2 in 1 Blues and Green Pillow Covers

Finally I completed the other cushion to complete the set I started last year, so many projects at once make this happen but, baby steps, there is no rush.

I was inspired by a picture of some pillows in a magazine, then I added my own touch.
I used blues to match the triangle cushions and then added green, blues and greens, my favorite combination!
With this I learned how to sew two pieces which are not the same color and how to sew a zipper to a crochet project.

The pieces
A] I made 4 squares with half double crochet in this color pattern:
White
Row 1. Ch 27
and then 4 rows.
Light Blue: 2 rows
Blue 1: 2 rows
Blue 2: 2 rows
Green: 1 row
Blue 2: 2 rows
Blue 1: 2 rows
Light Blue: 2 rows
White: 4 rows, fasten off, weave in all those crazy ends, it's very important because later on it'll be easy to sew the parts.

My squares look kinda... odd, I think it's because of 2 reasons: 1 there are different types of yarn and 2 I might had crocheted them at night and might had made hdc where I didn't have to :p

B] I made a square starting with 6 ch joined by a sl st and then:
White:
1. ch 3, 3 dc, *3 ch, 4dc, I repeated from * till I had 4 groups.
2. ch 3, dc in the last ch of the "3 ch" from last row, 4 dc in each dc and then 2 dc in the "3 ch" group, ch 3.
And I basically repeated this, making 2 dc at the beginning and end of each group in all the rows following this color pattern:
White: 2 rows,
Green: 1 row,
Blue/white: 2 rows,
Green: 1 row
Until I had, more or less, the size of the previous 4 squares joined together.

Tarta de Zapallitos

My dad is here which is great for two reasons: one, I have a killer cold and I need someone to take care of me :3 and two he is vegetarian so I have to eat healthy and good, good meaning best quality products, since I'm a student, I have to make ends meet so I'm not used to buy those every day.

I'm not really into vegetables, I should, but I get puzzled when trying to cook them properly, except for potatoes, onions and tomatoes (not a vegetable but oh well), the rest is a "?" in my head, specially green vegetables. Once I tried to make a onion/carrot pie and it turned out way too sweet for me, my brother liked it though. So cooking for my dad was a challenge, good thing he also cooks so he always helps me.*

So I called my mom and ask for her assistance, went to the market and then with my dad's help here we have, squash pie or tarta de zapallitos.**

Making it was really easy, we just dice 2 onions and about 4 squashes (plural?) and then put them in a pan and let them cook.
At the same time, I prepared the dough, which is light, put some slices of low fat cheese because my mom told me the squashes would give off (? I will have to look that up) a lot of water and would make everything a mess, so I kind of isolate (or insulate? wow this college break is killing my English) the base with the cheese.

Then when the stuffing is cool, I added it to the dough with some more slices of low fat cheese again and some blue cheese and finally a beaten egg with a pinch of salt, pepper and little bit of grated cheese... I love cheese.
Finally we covered it with the other dough and to the oven!
I almost forgot, my mom always tells me to paint (?) the pie before going to the oven with milk or egg.
It tasted really good, it's not something I'd crave to eat but it is a start.


* Before I went back home for Christmas and New Years last year, my dad came and helped me bake some sweet things, pan dulce and a rosca. He was a great help, I'm surprised we share this, we always bond in intellectual matters. I might make pan dulce and rosca again, it was my first time, the rosca turned out great, unlike the pan dulce which was kind of a disappointment but I'll make it up this year.
** This was interesting in the matter of language, I couldn't find in English the type of squash we have here. This was helpful but even so, I still don't know how to translate it for future uses.

Denim-Polka Hexagon basket /ˈheksəɡən ˈbɑːskɪt/

/ðə ˈplætɪnəm blɒnd ˈsekrətri wəz ˈweərɪŋ taɪt ˈneɪvi bluː ˈtraʊzəz/

/wɒk ˈkʌlə wʊdʒu ˈlaɪk miː tə peɪnt ðə ˈbɑːθruːm wɔːl ˈdɑːlɪŋ/

This is what I've been doing, studying for exams, most of these days I've spent my time in phonetics adjustments and stress patterns and in grammar and adverbial clauses and catenatives... they look so simple but yet I didn't know that the verb  recollect is followed by a gerund and didn't even realised that react is followed by to. Anyways, there are 3 more exams to go but I think the worst has passed.

I finally had time to finish this hexagon basket I was longing for, I saw a great-crystal clear tutorial and pattern at CraftPassion a while ago and I knew I HAD to make it.
I started it by cutting the hexagon in cardboard before I started my exams... and on Friday night I was finally able to finish it in no time.
I chose blue and green again, I had some denim in my stash and in my mind I pictured it would look great with some apple green polka dot fabric, found it, bought it, the dots didn't pop out as I hoped for though but I still like how it looks. I have some coasters in mind, I have all the materials but they will have to wait a little bit (or not).

The pics are a bit dark since it's winter and... I took them at night.
In the photos there are the "2 sided" placemats I made last year, never took pics of them since I didn't like my old table and I was waiting the new table... and also I wanted it decorated... well, I'm a perfectionist *sigh, I want things to really pop and pics to do justice (as much as possible).

Wood+Wool+Gems+Glass = Happy Creative Space

 A month ago or so, we bought a new table and I chose this one because I can change whatever is inside anytime.
Usually people put cereals like corn, lentils, beans.. hence the name mesa cerealera, I've seen some with dry flowers also. So I thought, why not gems and crochet flowers?... that's more like me. So I tried and tried many many patterns and colors, none worked until one day my Reader showed me this post of whip up
and I loved the picot flower from Skamama. Made them in no time, they are very simple and beautiful, then added some white stones (the ones for fishtanks) so the gems pop, and it was done. I'm very happy with the results...

 

I'm playing along at Our Creative Spaces today, sooo many great stuff to see, specially this one which reminds me of the time I used to play with wire and make jewelry :)

Smok

 Last week I started and (kind of) finished this lovely dragon from Lucy Ravenscar's blog
 I found her previous free dragon on craftster last year but I frogged the project because I chose cotton and somehow the body was little and the legs were huge :/, so this year I saw she updated the pattern so I gave it a try... and here he is, still eyeless/earless... for some reason I just don't get how to finish the ears, it looks so simple but I think I'm just over thinking the deal.
 I decided to crochet claws instead of embroidering, I think it gaves the leg more balance. I looked up images of dragon's legs and images of other's people dragon designs, but they are either embroidered, too complicated or for sale so, not what I'm looking for now lol.
 I just somehow repeated the spike pattern in a smaller size, it doesn't look like... dragon claws, more like duck feet but oh well, everything cannot look always real (I actually have a ... problem with this, I should crochet a pink elephant or a purple pig with wings to get a bit out of my "realistic box" :p)

 

 Anyways back to the claws, I did this:

Hope this make sense. 
I found the middle st (where I wanted the bigger claw to be) in the 3rd row of the leg, and in the 3rd st to the right I worked:
Small claw: {ch 2, sc into 2nd ch from hook, ss into next base st},
Bigger claw: {ch 3, sc into 2nd ch from hook, hdc into 3rd ch from hook, skip a base st (middle st), ss in next base st},
And again small claw: {ch 2, sc into 2nd ch from hook, ss into next base st and fo}

I worked with a 5mm hook to make the claws of the back legs (same I used to crochet the whole thing, body, wings, etc) and changed to a 3 mm hook to make the claws of the front legs.

I like how they look now, I think the dragon looks cuter with these claws, and of course it will be cuter with ears and eyes :p

{scratch my belly, please :3}

Empanadas

Resulta que quedo de hace unas semanas en el congelador una bandeja con 4 bifes de cuadril enormes, y con mi hermano ayer no teniamos ganas de comer carne al plato asi que... salieron las empanadas cortadas a cuchillo! // I happened to have a few steaks on the freezer and my brother and I didn't feel like, eating plain steak(?) so we just decided to make empanadas which turns out to be very simple.

• Mi hermano se encargo de descongelar y cortar la carne en cubitos, corto dos cebollas  y puso todo en una olla a cocinar junto con una pizca de una especia que nos encanta: Garam Masala. // My brother diced the meat and two onions and put them to cook in a pot together with a little pinch of our favorite spice: Garam Masala.
• Cuando estaba todo cocido y enfriandose, puse agua a hervir, cuando hirviò , puse dos huevos (y me quede un poco corta al final) y espere que hirvieran 10 minutos, los pele y corte en cubitos. // When the meat and onions were cooked and cooling (it's very important that the stuffing is cold to .. stuff) I put water to boil, and once it boiled, I put two eggs to cook for 10 minutes then I peeled and diced them.
• Despues a armar las empanadas con un poco de carne (estaba cortada muy grande pero bueno), huevo, a hacer el repulgue, pintar con huevo batido, y al horno! // Then I put a bit of the stuffing in the dough along with a piece of egg, folded the dough, closed it, painted with beaten egg (beaten? lol) and then I just put the empanadas in the oven to cook.

No salieron jugosas como las verdaderas empanadas cortadas a cuchillo porque la carne no tenia grasa, igual salieron ricas, aunque tenia un poquito de mas la especia que es un poco invasiva, tiene mucho perfume.

A garment in less than 24 hours

I have this sleeveless top I really like because of the fit and length... so I copied it into a sleeve one... It was good because I got to remember how to make a sleeve from the patternmaking course.
It wasn't hard, a lot of pieces to sew but my pair of scissors didn't help from the begining... I need a new one, or even better.. a rotary cutter.. I always wanted one but they are kind of expensive. I think clean cuts make the sewing part a lot easier.

A blurry pic of the result... the neckline is not as neat as I'd wanted it to be but for a less than 24 hours garment is more than ok.

Today is the big day.. I'm leaving to Buenos Aires to Rammstein's gig tomorrow night. I'm going "alone" to a gig for the second time. First was Opeth and now Rammstein, I'm kinda.. anxious instead of nervous really. I'm going in a kind of tour the bar I go arranges, so there are 5 buses full of people going to the same gig... that doesn't make me feel so alone after all.

Mother's day, away from home, again

Finished the mother's day project on time, it's in my mom's right now, just got off the phone with her, she really likes the birds, her words were: cute, chubby, real and ... yummy (because of the gummies). When I go home this Christmas, I'm definetely taking a pic of this in her living room, I chose this colors because they match perfectly with her decoration.
She is a ric rac fan too, I don't know why I like this ric racs so much, maybe because of vintage feeling, too bad they don't make them anymore :/.
Anyways, the project was a success! 
I don't know if this is part 2 or what but I gotta say I wanted to make something different for the nest, tried making circles and strips to give the "nest cloth" a nice convex shape but obviously, it didn't work so I quickly chose the easiest way, 2 fabric circles with the ric rac inside, turn right sides out, then a nice lace ribbon and another ric rac ribbon and done. Finished with hot glue, moss and some dry flowers.
Thanks Katie from Duofiberworks for sharing the little birds pattern! While making them (it was my first time with dp needles so if I could, I think anybody can!) anyways, while making them I got this incredible creativity rush that I hadn't had in a long time, so thanks :>.

Now... I have to go back to study, I have like 3 exams this week which is why I'm not with my family, it's not that bad though, I enjoy my alone time... even if I have to study all this: (which I'm falling behind with, woops)

Multitasking day(s)

uhm where to start....
Over a week ago I saw focaccia recipes everywhere (I love italian food), it didn't seem too complicated so I wanted to give it a try, since my brother's birthday was coming, it was the perfect opportunity. So I made it happen, wrote down 2 recipes that looked the best and made my own with bits of them and it worked out really well, I wanted to make buns with the dough leftovers but my brother was like... "why don't we make a pizza out of it?"

This is what is left for tomorrow (and the day after tomorrow and who knows) (lots of food -.- but you don't turn 29 everyday):
 

Today I've also been watching videos at lockerz, they give you more points for watching videos today and since the redemption is coming soon and I have enough points to TRY to trade for 25 bucks on my paypal account (I'm looking forward to buy a rotary cutter on etsy), I made the most of it and watched threadbanger's videos, interesting things there.
There were also idiotic videos like some girls talking emptyheadedgirly stuff, I can't believe such people can be so airheaded, it's so ridiculous that it looks fake... come on, who cares if your bf wears designer underwear that cost more than a car! or if your miniature dog's farts smell like flowers! or if a "newsupahottop" iphone gadget gives you massages! come on!... so with just reading the video tittles ("Pink is in, Julia is out" or "Sex with ex?" or "Strippers"... please, give me a break here >.>) I knew it wasn't good, so I muted them and listened to some good old Beck songs, nice memories there... I used to lol at this video when it was first released, I was like 11 or 12 and the image of the fridge humping the cooker was to die for, also the songs sounds so... happy, like No rain by Blind Melon with the little bee that kinda looks like the girl from Little Miss Sunshine.

DANCE LITTLE BEE!! ^^



 These days, and today, I've been crocheting a little, I still have this endless "square net sweater"

but I know I'm going to complete it... this time.

Seriously... I do. Oh and there is also a peek at the crochet cushion cover I made for the white cushions I also made :p, I just need to make the other one.... so lazy

Also while I was waiting for the dough to rise I tried to knit with these double point needles I bought today... I almost bought them on etsy because no craft store had them or the size I needed, funny thing is that I didn't even know their name in Spanish (I think I heard it on a craft show here but I first knew about them in English) so I was like translating it and I found out the name "agujas para medias" or... sock needles... it seems nobody knit them anymore but I saw oooh so pretty sock patterns on ravelry!

The result of me getting started in ... this technique, more here.
Well, it is a nice "thumb cosy"
I'm excited with this.... it feels like those moments when your mind is all happy and racing because you accomplished something that seemed too hard,
eg:
- "I'm riding a bicycle on my own!"
- "I'm knitting!"
- "I'm driving!"
- "I finished school!"
- "I won!" (a dressing contest in second life, funny thing it was "best in skirts" and my avatar was wearing a simple one and the rest of the girls were all dressing like ho's... and people voted for me and I won :p)  
- "Opeth is coming!!!" (probably one of the happiest moments in my life, too bad at that time I didn't have someone to share the excitement with)
- "I understand!" (when I read or listen to stuff in other languages that I don't know much about)
- Etc...
And now...
- "I'm knitting with double needles!" 
 

212 Randomness and yesterday's sweetness

The other day I was touching up one of my posts (I can't help it) and saw this:

I don't really trust these things, some of them "catch" the IPs, others if you saw a picture on google images and so on, I think I'm going to get rid of these someday... but I really like the moon and the flags, I wonder how you called a person who likes countries and languages? Anyways...
Nice... 212 Polish views (I bet most of them are you mój przyjaciółka :p)... and tomorrow 1st... I'm going to be 22... yeah, random!!.

And about the sweetness... I baked tortas negras yesterday, I really enjoyed kneading, I used to do it a lot when I was younger, not for eating though, just to make a mess in the kitchen... sorry mom.

Corseted vest!

Wooho I finished this the other day, I'm so happy with the results... although it has lots of flaws but it was going to happen since it's my first try.

1. DSCN29211, 2. DSCN29291, 3. DSCN29231, 4. DSCN29321

Some things I need to keep leveling up:

· Cutting the fabric, I try to be neat but it seems that all my fabric scissors are useless, I've been thinking about buying a rotary cutter, I'd so LOVE to have one.

· Sewing stupid satin bias tape, yes... we met again, I had to use this tape to finish the armholes... since they are obviously round and the fabric wrinkled when I first try to finish them, my teacher told me the satin bias tape would stretch and finish it neatly.

Points to bare in mind for next time:

· The armholes were too wide on the front so I need to modify the pattern.

· The vest was also too big on the sides.

· Use thiner interfacing, which I kind saw it coming but I couldn't find other.

· Change the "homemade ribbon metal ring thingy" for pieces of fabric with eyelets.

· Go back to the basics! yeah, it's incredible, when I was about to give up finishing the armholes we had a black out and I was like, well I'll finish the "gapwhereIturneditrightsideout" and then I just went and finish the ends of the satin bias tape by hand, I wish I knew it before I sew the armholes with the sewing machine, I'd have done it entirely by hand but the thing with this satin bias tape, is that it is a pain to unpick so I left it that way.

About my inspiration, I totally love Sn@tch (virtual shop in a game I (used to) play called Second Life) and Lip Service, the first one I found it by chance and I was very hooked from the first time, it was like someone has made real all the ideas I have in mind or things I would totally like. And about the second one, I don't really remember how I end up knowing about it but it happens more or less the same, I really like some of their stuff, too bad I can't buy them though (It's going to be one of the first places I'm going to visit when I go to the states)

It's kind of funny but they both have the same looks sometimes, I'm not sure if the designers are just one but anyways... they truly inspire me.

I finished my pattern making course!

Well, actually a week ago but I didn't want to make a post without pics...
So, first we learned how to make skirts (I made a post when I was about to), then how to make vests and here a pic of what I've done. The skirt is made with kind of godets.

It's obvious it's ONLY for practice, the fabric is cheap and I chose those colors only for sight sake :p, and also the vest is not finished, I don't think I'm going to unless I need this for a costume or something.
In those 2 garments I learned how to sew a zipper, invisible stitch, waistband among other things.
The teacher asked us to create designs for a vest for us, so I did it, he loved them, specially the corseted ones, I've not scan them though but we had to make them real so I'm going to make a post about it later.
Then we moved to shirts and learned how to make collars, sleeves and cuffs and finally a pant and then a dress.

I chose this pretty striped black fabric for my pants since I wanted to make something I'd wear, the fabric was very affordable and did I meantion it is striped?, it's a denim corduroy kind of heavy but it's for winter, I have trouble with the crotch though so I'll have to look for a solution on the net one of these days. Good things I remark is that I learned how to make pockets and also sewing the zipper, which I kind of forgot now :p
About the dress, I have this beautiful black satin modal top, I love it but since my chest is too... big it's kind of too revealing so I have to wear it with a kind of bandeau underneath, I still love the shape so I told my teacher I wanted something like it, so he taught me how to do it, the transformation was easier than I thought. And I'm testing the pattern on this cheap cloth before actually going to the fabric I have in mind.
So this is more or less what I've done on the course, now I kind of miss going there but it was going to finish someday.

Also I found this great blog in Spanish, El costurero de Stella, she teaches pattern making and other stuff about sewing,I had the exact same idea of her blog, start to explain the process of pattern making, I love that because I've seen other blogs that only teach the sewing part, which is very important, but you have to buy the pattern or already know how to draw it from scratch so I'm really happy I found Stella, I wish she would have started to write it in English too, I'm starting to rust since I'm not reading crafts blogs everyday so I'm kind of forgetting English sewing terms, I wanted to say "vista" and "cartera", I just can't find the words in my head... oh well... they will come into my mind eventually.