Lee Does Stuff

It’s time for some leethal trivia!

Hey remember how I was going to share my trivia with you?! I think it’s about time! So, I did post all of these questions on twitter, one at a time (back in March-April), but now here they are all in one place for your nerdy trivia enjoyment. I put way too much time into this, planning out all the rounds, designing the themes, writing the questions… so I’m excited to share it all publicly and hopefully it will reach out to some trivia fans beyond Zach’s and twitter…

Since everything’s already been out there, and because it’s so easy to find the answers online, there won’t be any prizes for getting the answers here – except for one chance! No one ever got this bonus question on twitter, so I’ll put it out there for you (and I’ll even raise the prize amount!) – the first to comment with the answer gets a $5 coupon code for my knitting patterns:

In round 3: Ten Degrees, each answer is connected to the next through an actor (as explained in the category intro) – list all 10 actor connections for the bonus win!

So, beyond that, feel free to comment with answers to questions/categories you like, for fun! The questions are listed here with no answers, so if you want to play with friends or anything, don’t scroll down to the spoiler-filled comments… I will post all the answers as comments sometime next week, just to give you some time to have fun with it first.

And fun news for trivia fans on twitter: I hosted my second trivia night last week, which means I have a whole new batch of questions! This month is a bit crazy, and I’ll be out of town for a chunk of it (more on that later) so I’m planning to start twittering those questions, just like last time, at the beginning of June.

(Those photos were taken at trivia nights that Pete hosted, by the way.)

And here we go!

Round 1: Well Rounded People

Note: All clues are written to be gender non-specific, so keep in mind when I say “actor” that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a man, and some quotes used have minor edits to keep the neutrality.

1. This chef, author and television personality is “best known for culinary and cultural knowledge, as well as often biting observations of the world’s most exotic dishes,” to quote the Travel Channel website.

2. An American singer/songwriter loved by the Beatles, who, in addition to 16 albums released between 1966 and 1980, did the songwriting for the film Popeye, and wrote songs which were recorded by The Monkees, Glen Campbell, Fred Astaire, The Shangri-Las, The Yardbirds, and Three Dog Night.

3. Television personality, author, magazine publisher, designer of home furnishings and other products; two TV movies were made about a brief stint in prison, starring the same actor in both.

4. Born in 1960 in London to a Scottish father and an Australian mother, this actor has worked with the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, acted in a performance art piece in London and Rome, appeared in many British films including several with director Derek Jarman, many American films with directors such as the Coen Brothers, Spike Jonze, Cameron Crowe, Danny Boyle, Jim Jarmusch, and David Fincher, as well as multiple Italian films including the latest which premiered in the US in 2010.

5. A major cast member in multiple TV shows from early childhood on, in the 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 2000’s, this Hollywood Icon has been writing and directing films and television since 1977, producing since 1980, and won the Academy Award for best director in 2002.

6. This filmmaker has written+directed movies and television with lines such as:

“Heineken? Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon!”

“Oh Diane, I almost forgot. Got to find out what kind of trees these are. They’re really something.”

“There’s a man… in back of this place. He’s the one who’s doing it. I can see him through the wall. I can see his face. I hope that I never see that face, ever, outside of a dream.”

“This is a story that happened yesterday. But I know it’s tomorrow.”

7. This American born in 1897 has been played in movies by Diane Keaton, Sharon Lawrence, Amy Adams, Hilary Swank, and Jane Lynch, though Lynch’s scenes were cut from the film.

8. This German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director’s films include Even Dwarfs Started Small, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Encounters at the End of the World, and the filmmaker’s first 3-D documentary premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

9. With occupation on Wikipedia listed as “poet, civil rights activist, dancer, film producer, television producer, playwright, film director, author, actor, professor”, this well rounded individual is best known as being the writer of autobiographical books and of poetry, and most recently has released a cookbook called Great Food, All Day Long in December of 2010.

10. Australian actor who has played the roles of both of two cousins in the film Coffee and Cigarettes, Bob Dylan, Galadriel of Middle Earth, and an English Monarch.

Round 2: Making Stuff

I’ll list 5 terms that relate to the making of something… you tell me what the terms all relate to. Some terms may apply to different things, but there should be just one answer that all the terms have in common. And, the answer could be a specific thing – like, for example, coffee, in which case your answer could be “coffee” or “coffee-making”. Or it could be a type of making, like weaving, for example, which could be used to make lots of different things (like scarves, blankets, clothes, etc), and your answer would just be “weaving,” not the actual thing that it’s making.

1. autolyse, biga, gringe, poolish, proofing.

2. cassette, fork, frame, headset, stem.

3. cockling, fresco, gesso, impasto, scumbling.

4. baste, boning, dart, ease, shirring.

5. annatto, labneh, rennet, slurry, starter.

6. anchor, CSS, PHP, script, SQL.

7. awl, endleaves, headband, mull, signature.

8. bolt, cloche, damping off, thinning, tilth.

9. back post half double, chain, extended single, gauge, slip-stitch seam.

10. chuck, dado, furring, pitch, scarfing.

Round 3: Ten Degrees

Each answer is the name of a movie – each movie is connected through an actor to the previous and the following movie. So, answer #2 has an actor in common with answer #1 and another in common with #3 (like the game Six Degrees). In the live trivia that I hosted, I had players write the actors that connect the movies for an extra 1 bonus point per connection. For you, win a $5 coupon for my knitting patterns if you’re the first to correctly list all 10 actor connections in the comments – connect each answer to the next, and then #10 connects back up with #1 for 10 total actors.

1. Written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, this film includes lines like “Joel, hide me in your humiliation!” and “I love being bathed in the sink – such a feeling of security.”

2. A story of the making of the musical Red, White and Blaine, which features the musical numbers Nothing Ever Happens on Mars, A Penny For Your Thoughts, Covered Wagons, Open-toed Shoes, and Stool Boom.

3. A quote from imdb of this film’s plot description, altered to change giveaways, reads: “A 9-year-old is left alone in New York City with enough cash and credit cards to turn the Big Apple into his very own playground. But he won’t be alone for long. The notorious Wet Bandits are bound for New York too, plotting a huge holiday heist! The kid is ready to welcome them with a battery of booby traps the bumbling bandits will never forget!”

4. This 2002 film about a 17-year-old misfit includes characters named Sookie Sapperstein, Mimi Slocumb, Bunny, Mrs. Piggee and lines like “I think if Gandhi had to spend a prolonged amount of time with you, he’d end up beating the shit out of you, too,” and “His conception was an act of animosity, why shouldn’t his life be one as well?”

5. Baz Luhrmann’s updated classic was accompanied by a popular soundtrack, with tracks by Garbage, Butthole Surfers, Des’ree, The Cardigans, Radiohead, Everclear, and The Wannadies.

6. This 2008 comedy directed by David Wain about 2 energy drink salesmen, which involves a ton of live action role playing, includes bits of dialogue like “No, venti is twenty. Large is large. In fact, tall is large and grande is Spanish for large. Venti is the only one that doesn’t mean large. It’s also the only one that’s Italian. Congratulations, you’re stupid in three languages.” and “No, I like to rock n’ roll all night and *part* of every day. I usually have errands… I can only rock from like 1-3.”

7. This television series about LA caterers, which aired on the Starz network and was sadly canceled after 2 short seasons, was co-created by Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas, and shares many other writers, producers, and actors from that show.

8. A 2009 comedy set in 1987, with characters James Brennan, a recent college graduate who majored in Comparative Literature and Renaissance Studies, Joel, a college student of Russian literature and Slavic languages, and Mike Connell, a maintenance man and part time musician who claims to have played a gig with Lou Reed.

9. Noah Baumbach’s 2005 critically acclaimed film which was named after an exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History.

10. This 2000 film’s one-line synopsis on imdb reads: “A single mother’s life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely-seen younger brother returns to town.”

Round 4: Music Mash-Ups

I will describe an imaginary concert lineup with 2 bands or musicians, which are mashed up as pop-culture-mashups, or before+after. For example, if the question reads – “The Swedish indie rock band well known for their 2006 hit single Young Folks time travels to open for the legendary singer from The Beatles, who plays some of his solo songs like Imagine and Give Peace a Chance” – the answer would be Peter Bjorn and John Lennon.

1. A show that starts with crowd favorite song Joey, sung by frontwoman Johnette Napolitano, ends with Debbie Harry’s excellent dance accompaniment to Atomic.

2. Will Oldham is first to play this mismatched lineup, under his stage name, opening for Leslie Sebastian Charles – though he too goes by a different name when performing his hit song Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car.

3. The singer of 80’s band ‘Til Tuesday goes solo, and after contributing to soundtracks for PT Anderson films, acting in The Big Lebowski, and appearing as herself in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she plays a show with a questionable surf rock band that’s known for using theremins, tesla coils and sound bites from forgotten science fiction films and TV shows.

4. The venue is packed to the brim with ultra-hardcore fans when these 2 bands play together – first up are Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew, who delight their followers with tracks off some older albums Fakebook, Painful, and Elecr-O-Pura; and headlining is the band that made history by being the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts, reaching number one with their debut album, Beauty and the Beat.

5. It’s a weird crowd tonight at this show that opens with I Wanna Sex You Up and All 4 Love, and closes with songs from the About a Boy soundtrack and lots of Damon Gough’s famous storytelling between songs.

6. This show starts hard with glam metal hits off the album Look What the Cat Dragged In, before the hair band closes their set with Every Rose Has Its Thorn to slow things down for headliner Mark Kozelek to play his signature mellowed-out covers of Modest Mouse songs with his band, along with their own tunes from the album Ghosts of the Great Highway.

7. Fans of this beloved singer/songwriter from Tacoma, Washington, get nostalgic when her set – featuring songs like I Wish I Was the Moon, Hold On, Hold On, and This Tornado Loves You – is followed by a Swedish pop band they are embarrassed to have loved many years ago, and they can’t help dancing to Don’t Turn Around.

8. It’s an all-English band lineup tonight, starting with the indie pop beats led by singers and childhood friends Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim, performing singles VCR and Islands off their debut album from 2009, and ending with the New Wave band responsible for singles The Mayor of Simpleton, King for a Day, and Senses Working Overtime.

9. After a month in a psychiatric hospital, Stuart Leslie Goddard opens this show under his solo performer name, playing fan favorites from the 70’s and 80’s just like he did at his huge 2010 show The Pirate Metal Extravaganza, and is followed by the band of a fellow Brit, whose musical genres are listed on Wikipedia as “Chamber pop and Dark Cabaret” and whose 2005 album includes guest appearances by Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, Boy George and Devendra Banhart.

10. Brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb play a diverse set of hits from the 1960’s through 2000’s, then the mood changes when the headliners, led by brothers Jim and William Reid, open with the single Blues from a Gun off their 1989 album Automatic.

And that’s that! Comment with answers if you want to, play with your friends if you want to, and enjoy!
(This trivia was written by Lee Meredith, posted here only for your own personal enjoyment, thanks!)

May’s quick knits club ebook: Eat!

It may not feel like spring here yet, but I’m already daydreaming about growing some food in my yard this year and cooking up some awesome fresh veggie-filled meals! So, this month is all about food! An eating-utensil-holder for picnicking or any other portable eating needs, a coaster or potholder depending on what size you make it, an apron made from a recycled shirt, and a little zine I made to share with you meatless things I like to make on my George Foreman grill…

My favorite thing about the patterns this month is that both of them are completely modular, not even requiring so much as a picked up stitch! No sewing or seaming of any kind, no breaking yarn partway through, etc. When you’re done knitting, it’s done!

This Picnic Wrapper pattern has you start at one i-cord tip, work through the entire pattern, close up the side with a 3-needle bind-off as you work, then end at the tip of the other i-cord! It works in a way that holds in whatever utensils, napkins, etc that you need to carry, grasping them in there securely with a pocket and one i-cord tie on the inside, then the flap side wraps around the whole thing and ties around into a convenient little bundle:

The Blocky Coaster/Potholder pattern is a log-cabin-ish design, which will give you a different look if you choose to switch solid color yarns (like my potholder) or use one self-striping yarn for the whole thing (like my coaster).

The coaster is the official “quick knit” version, using approx 15 yards of worsted weight, and the potholder uses much more. The pattern is given in 3 forms: worsted weight coaster and worsted weight potholder, like the 2 samples, and any-gauge/any-size, written with variables and some very basic math.

The square is felted (/fulled) to thicken it up, and smooth out the bumps. It’s knit up using lots of simple short rows – if you’ve made a Betiko, it’ll be very familiar to you. Sideways edge cast-ons along the sides of the first few sections, then sideways edge bind-offs for the two thick side sections, all in garter stitch:

The tutorial is a photo-filled explanation of how I made this pocketed apron from a recycled button-down shirt:

The collar of the shirt becomes the top pocket of the apron, and the shirt back’s bottom is the bottom edge of the apron…

I am no expert sewer, not even close, so mine is a bit messy, but if you have experience, then you could probably make a pretty awesome version using the same concepts.

And lastly, I made up this little folding zine that you can print out – there’s this colored one, and also a colorless version if you want to save printer ink. It’s a bunch of things I like to make using my George Foreman grill, which is one of my favorite appliances, and one that I think is mostly associated with meat, so I thought people might like to learn about how great it is for non-meat-eaters as well. But, of course, you can use lots of the “recipes” with other ways of cooking if you don’t have a GF grill.

The ebook this month is a whopping 19 pages long! $5 for this book alone, or $7 for a 2-month membership (next month is the last of the club!) – grab it on my site or on ravelry here.

Hey, I would love some theme ideas/requests for the last month! I have a bunch of barely-developed ideas that I’ve come up with over the last almost-2-years doing quick knits, but nothing that I’m super excited about for the last ebook… Comment with theme ideas if you have any, or just with pattern concept ideas, and I could even do some kind of “by request” theme with different ideas that don’t necessarily have to relate… just a thought…

Which reminds me, it was a member who put the food theme idea out there – she suggested recipe cards, which I had been planning on doing at first, but then I guess the zine idea took over and those didn’t happen. Thanks Ellen for that idea!! Aaaand, it was a twitter follower who gave me the idea for the utensil holder pattern, but, sadly, twitter does not make it easy to search through old @ messages, so I can’t find who it was that gave me the idea – I’m sorry!

Ok that’s all, happy knitting!

Happy Spring Sale!

Ok so… I continue to be ridiculously busy and I’ve been pretty absent over here and on twitter too. So, to thank you for bearing with me and continuing to follow me through these months of lacking content, I’m having a spring sale on my patterns!

Enter the code spring into your shopping cart coupon code box, now through Monday, either in ravelry or on my website, to get 20% off any and all of my knitting patterns and ebooks! Just so you know I didn’t forget about you! Happy spring!

Well, this is what spring looks like here in Portland most days…

I don’t have much to show you, as most of what I’ve been busy with is either secret or just not photographic; I hosted trivia again last night! But no pictures of that… I finished a huge design project last week that I’m super happy with… I’ve been slowly doing bits of yard work here and there when I have a chance, but nothing to show you yet with that… anyway, those above and this one below are just some random pictures from the last couple weeks. This is in the Ace Hotel, where I found myself killing some time waiting for a photoshoot to happen:

I spun some yarn the other day – birthday yarn for my buddy Caitlin!

And I did a brand new photoshoot for my old free pattern Waving Chevron Scarf. Have yet to redo the pdf, with my new pattern format and the new photos…

This weekend I’ll be hard at work on my second-to-last quick knits club ebook! You can still grab a 3-month subscription for just 10 bucks (and you can enter that coupon code to make it 8!), which will get you April’s music themed ebook, May’s book on Monday (hopefully, maybe Tuesday), and then June’s which is the last one. Follow my twitter to maybe see some peeks at the club designs as I’m working on them!

Keeping busy over here!

Oh hi! I have been busybusy, and obviously not with blogging, but hey, let me tell you what’s up! Well, first though, I want to make sure you know that if you’re in Portland, you can take a class with me on Thursday to learn how to self-publish patterns! Head to Twisted’s class schedule (click the pdf link on that page) for details – the class is on 4/21 5-8pm and costs $30. Sign up now if you want to join us!! (It’s mostly just on digital self-publishing, but my print patterns are much more photogenic.)

I have been working on a bunch of designs, but some are supersecret so I can’t show you yet… I can show you a couple though… this is my first example of a pattern I’m working on for self-publishing through me and through Knit Picks (which is why it’s in KP yarn) – it looks super simple, but it’s a squishy reversible fabric which will look crazy cool when striping between 2 yarns (several more samples will be knit before release)… plus, it’s any gauge and can be worn a ton of different ways:

And then… I have my first little bit to show you from my upcoming ebook that I’ve been working on a little here and there whenever I can squeeze it in. The ebook will be on how to make different kinds of recycled yarns, and patterns to go with them – below is the first thing I’ve knit up for a book design from recycled spun yarn! I’m working on a couple other designs, and have many more sketched out… Once I have a bit more to show you, and you can see some actual finished items, I plan to start selling pre-orders for the book, probably with some kind of bonus extra something since the release date will be uncertain and probably not till late this year. Anyway, I’m so happy to finally show you something at least!

What else has been taking up all my time, you may wonder? I’ve been busy with some fun freelance product photography gigs! I shot 13 of these incredible felt scarves by LeBrie of PenFelt:

It’s the best when I get to shoot items that I love; doesn’t even feel like work! Aren’t these scarves gorgeous?

These are just a small assortment of my favorite shots… head to PenFelt’s etsy shop to find what’s for sale at the moment.

There are also a few more of my choice shots in my product photography set on flickr…

And then, just before that bunch, I shot a huge batch of product photos for Trillium, which meant tons of different products by all kinds of different crafters and artists, all made from mostly recycled materials! These tops were probably my most favorite items to shoot, made from reclaimed skateboards! By Board Games:

Again, these are just a few of my favorite shots, out of 64 items total…

Of course I have to include this one!

So, if you want to check out Trillium products, there’s the etsy shop, but the Ebay World of Good shop has even more items and is a little more up to date.

Of course, if you happen to be in Portland, I highly recommend stopping by the brick+mortar shop! It’s a bit out there if you live close-in, or North/NE/West (it’s actually super close to me) – it’s on SE Foster at 91st, right near the 205 freeway, worth a stop if you’re in the area. Tons (like, maybe literally tons!) of super cheap recycled fabric pieces! (Upholstery fabric sample squares and stuff like that, $1 per pound if I’m remembering correctly.)

Fun stuff!

So that’s what I’ve been up to… lots of shooting and knitting – and movie-watching while knitting, of course! I’m doing well on my 365 movies in 2011 project so far! (Watched my 121st film last night, on the 107th day of the year.) Which is great, since we’re planning a trip for later in the year, which will mean probably about 2 weeks with few or no movies watched, so yay for being ahead!

April’s ebook: Listen Up!

I’ve finally done a theme I had wanted to do forever – music! I had planned to do a music themed club back in my first generation of the quick knits club, but it never happened, and I hadn’t been able to figure out all the parts until last week, super last minute. I’d actually been planning a different theme, and then I brainstormed this up and was much more excited about it so I went for it, though I put a little too much effort into making the ebook awesome so it was released a couple days late. I think it’s worth it though!

First, Listen Up! includes a pattern for this guitar pick keyring pouch:

It’s a simple little pattern that looks pretty cool when it’s done, but it’s an easy in-the-round construction with nothing but increases and decreases – so it’s good for someone new to DPNs or an adventurous beginner.

The sample was knit in a DK-ish weight, tightly on size US 2 needles, making the pattern written for a gauge of 8 sts/inch, but there are notes on working it in different gauges and it’s very easy to modify if you want to use a different weight.

The second pattern is this CD gift case, which can be made to look like an LP (sort of) when knit in the right colors. I didn’t have time to try it out, but I think it would be awesome to embroider “mix” or “to you” or something on the label (red) part. If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you know how obsessive I am about my mixes, so a special case for a special mix was a fun thing to design! Especially as I am also extremely into vinyl…

And here’s the back (or front, actually, it could go either way), the tricky part… It was tough to design and make it work, and it’s a wee bit hard to button around the disc until you get the hang of it, but it totally functions and I think it looks pretty cool! Of course, the mix gift will be made better if you take a sharpie (or many in different colors) to the top side of the mix and give it some custom art, which will show – or you could write the track list directly onto the disc so it’s readable while in the case.

For the tutorial, I show you how I made these vintage lace doily covered speakers! All you need is a speaker, a doily, and some yarn:

Here they are in action in my studio:

And then the final extra ebook item… the one that probably took me the most time of all and is my personal favorite part of this ebook… I made 6 album cover artwork connect-the-dots puzzles!

I’ll treat this set how I treat my stitch set puzzles, and I’ll show you one so you can get an idea of how they look, but then you can click over to my spoilers page and scroll to the bottom to find links to see all 6 of the puzzles, along with the art that inspired each one!

This sample is not the best, and definitely not my favorite of the 6, but it is the most recognizable album cover of them all, and one of the easiest to tell what it is in dot puzzle form. The 6 albums range from 1969 to 2009 and are a variety of music types, though all 6 are albums I like. I had a ton of nerdy fun making these, and I hope many of you have tons of fun doing them!

So that’s April’s club ebook. The usual info: head to the club page to subscribe and get this ebook plus the last 2 months ($10 for 3 ebooks), head to the ravelry page to grab this ebook alone, and hey, if you knit any patterns from this set (or any quick knits ebooks, for that matter), it would be very very cool if you added them to your ravelry projects! Just sayin’… Oh yeah, that reminds me, I’ve gotten the quick knits patterns page up to date, so you can see alllll my under-20-yards patterns together there.

Ok that’s all I’ve got. Sorry about the blog absence lately; oh life, it is busy. I’ve finished making some delicious liqueurs, so hopefully you’ll be hearing about those soon! Happy weekend!

March quick knits club: Plug In!

Wow, this is seriously belated, but hey, check it out! March’s quick knits club mini-ebook! The theme is Plug In! and it’s all about tech gadgets and various electronic things…

The highlight is this any-gauge custom-sized pattern for a gadget case, meant specifically for iphones, ipods, ipads, and any other non-i things that have full screens like this. The case is knit starting at the top, across with the sideways-edge cast-on method to fit the gadget width, then worked down from there to the bottom; a second row of stitches is added with increases to start the seed stitch flap. Then the bottom of the fitted part is worked across, with holes being added as needed for plug access – the whole thing is worked modularly so that there’s no seaming and only a few picked up stitches along the way.

To finish it off, yarn is threaded around the edges kind of like a drawstring, to pull the case edges in and hold tightly onto your gadget, without covering the screen. This variegated one was my prototype piece – the bottom of the case (as seen above) is different than the final design, but the rest is pretty much the same:

The second knitting pattern is this simple but functional wrist rest, worked in the round with short rows:

This month’s tutorial is for a phone (and whatever else) charging station, which holds a power strip and takes up minimal space on your counter top:

And the extra bonus is a second brief tutorial for this mp3 player pocket, which can be added to a scarf as pictured, or to a bag, jacket, etc…

So, this ebook is available alone for $5, or you can still sign up for a subscription – there are only 3 more months left of the club, so a 4 month membership (this ebook, then through to the end) is $14, through my site or ravelry.

Orange Milk Liqueur recipe, and experimentation updates!

Want to know how my experimental orange milk liqueurs turned out?!

The orange vanilla liqueur, based on this recipe(ish), turned out really well!! It tastes just like an adult creamsicle in liquid form! So, here’s my recipe (easy to double for a larger batch):

1 cup vodka (flavorless, I use Oregon Springs brand, which is like 1 step up from the cheapest options)
1 cup milk (I used whole for this one, but I think 2% would be fine)
1 cup sugar
4 mandarin oranges, sliced into 4 pieces each (other kinds of oranges should work fine too)
1/2 lemon, sliced into 3 pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the milk, vodka, and sugar together in a glass jar, then add the fruit and vanilla. Put the lid on and shake a bunch so it’s well blended. The next day it’ll be separated and look something like this:

Mix it up by shaking the jar once per day, and the separating will be less as the days pass. I made two batches and filtered one after 11 days and the other after 3 weeks, to test how much of a difference it would make… I can taste the difference between the two, but barely. The 3 week liqueur is a wee bit more flavorful, but the 11 day one is superduper delicious too.

So, my conclusion for that is: if you’re in no hurry, let it sit (shaking once per day) for about 3 weeks, but if there’s a reason you want it done sooner (like if it’s a gift), then about 10 days is enough time.

Now comes the filtering – there are a few steps here. First, strain the whole thing through a fine mesh strainer, and/or cheese cloth, to get out all the solids. Next, line a strainer (or a funnel) with a paper coffee filter, and pour the milky liquid in. It’ll take some time to filter through (overnight maybe), and it’ll coat the filter in milk solids, so you’ll need to change filters a few times as needed.

Once all your liqueur has gone through the coffee filters once, I recommend giving it one more run through – now that all the milk solids are filtered out, the second time goes very quickly and only one more coffee filter should be needed. You can run that second filtering through a funnel, directly into your glass bottle, and then you’ll be left with a beautiful golden, delicious liqueur!

Above are the 2 batches of orange vanilla liqueur (center and right) and then my super experimental orange spice liqueur… The orange spice is not ready to share a recipe yet – I learned some huge liqueur-making lessons with that experiment. Well, one huge lesson: don’t make liqueur with ground spices! I think the ground cinnamon was the main problem. Filtering took about 4 days, 3 or 4 times through, and probably about 12 or more coffee filters – not fun! Once all that filtering was finished, it made a totally drinkable liqueur, but man, it has bite! I can’t really taste the orange, just the spice! Good, though!

So, I’m now trying out some updated experimental liqueurs using cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and some crystalized ginger pieces…

There’s an orange spice, an orange+apricot spice, and a plain dried apricot milk liqueur. I got some liqueur making books, but there’s no mention of milk liqueurs (I think they are a traditional Portuguese thing that’s just starting to be known in the states thanks to this book, but I could be totally wrong and they could have some other origin… anyone know?) – so, I’m using the idea of a dried apricot liqueur from one of the books, and turning it into a milk liqueur. Based on how the orange ones turned out, I think it’ll work well!

Oh, a couple other things I want to share before I go – first, don’t use the kind of jar from Ikea like I used for the spiced liqueur! Major leaking, no good! I later found these jars at The Container Store that are working really well, and the biggest size I found is big enough for a batch with 2 cups each of milk/vodka/sugar, as long as I don’t need to add lots of solids (like orange slices) that take up space.

And one last thing – I used this idea to remove the labels from recycled jars and bottles, and it works really well! Once you use up the vodka for your liqueur, and whatever other glass bottles that have good lids, soak them in water with some shampoo for a few hours – with some kinds of labels, they will literally just fall off the bottle in the water (I think TJ’s blood orange soda was one of these), but others will just become looser and easier to scrape off.

I think that’s all I’ve got for you now. Happy daylight savings day!

New free pattern – Cassady! (plus trivia!)

What a week it’s been! My blog was down for most of yesterday and the first half of today, for some unknown reason, but it’s back now so that’s great! I hosted trivia night for my first time last night and it went really well!! I had so much fun designing all my categories and questions that I’ve thought of a fun way to recycle them… I’ll try it for a few days and if it’s working out well then I’ll keep it up through all 40 of my questions!

Starting tomorrow (Friday) about 10:30am-ish probably (west coast time) I’ll tweet my first trivia question – the first twitterer to reply with the correct answer will win a $2 off coupon code to my knitting pattern shop, or the Bad Movie Bingo pdf, your choice. I’ll put a limit of one win per person, per category – there are 4 categories with 10 questions each.

If it’s tons of fun, I might do 2 questions per day, at different times of the day, so if you aren’t available to play the first question, maybe you’ll be around for the second… I’ll probably do 1 question per day through this weekend, then on Monday I’ll tweet my trivia plans for the week. Sorry to non-twitterers, this is just a fun thing that twitter is the perfect platform for – once all the questions have been tweeted, I’ll throw the whole thing here on the blog.

update 3/14: ok I’m going to try to do 2 questions each day (maybe just one or none on weekend days though) – around 10:30am and 6pm west coast time.

That above is Zach’s Shack, where the trivia night happened last night, by the way… and now I’ll shut up about this trivia nonsense and move on to what you probably care more about!

I have a new free pattern! Cassady! (Once again named by Mary-Heather, who also named my Swerve and Betiko patterns, making her my official naming genius.) It was posted on WhipUp blog a couple days ago, for the guest blogger series – I talked a bit about the sideways edge cast-on I’ve been using, and how it’s kind of hard to grasp without actually doing it. Once you do it, you see how easy it is, so here’s a free and quick way to try it out!

The kerchief is for any-gauge, and custom fit to your head – pick out a pretty self-striping or variegated yarn to show off in the 2 different directions of garter stitch. This example was knit up in Knitted Wit worsted weight merino; I think it will work fabulously in a sock weight yarn.

The way the pattern works, there’s no need for a gauge swatch, as you start with just 1 single cast-on stitch, work out from there (starting with the tip of one side of the ties) and measure as you go, making the sideways stitches to fit perfectly around your head, then working the main part with decreases along the edges to make the triangular body.

Whether or not that made sense to you, trust me, it’s easy and awesome – there’s no swatching, no seaming, no picking up stitches… magic!

I’ve been wearing mine around the house pretty much every day since I made it, like I am in the photo above, to hold my hair back out of my face… you can also wear it around your neck if you like, though that might look better with a more drapey yarn choice:

I also knit up a sample in a bulky self-striping yarn, but I don’t like it as much – while you can technically knit Cassady in any weight yarn, I’d recommend no heavier than worsted… this one functions, but I just don’t like something about the way it fits and the bulk…

So that’s that – knit yourself a Cassady in some leftover yarn (you could even stripe to use up smaller bits of multiple yarns!) and be sure to post the project in ravelry so I can see your version! Yay!

Oh yeah, I also released March’s quick knits club ebook on Monday, but I’ll save that for another blog post sometime soon!

Old patterns made new!

I’m in the process of reformatting all of my patterns so that they all share the same stylesheet (fonts, layout elements, wording of certain parts, etc) – thanks to Knitgrrl’s book for calling my attention to this – and I’ve finished the main 4 that I was most eager to get updated. Skoodlet, Ten 10 yard Cuffs, Mr. Pointy, and Spiraling Stripes Hats are now freshly styled, partially rewritten, and looking much better I think!

I also knit up and included a new example of the Skoodlet – it’s in a bulky yarn (Lamb’s Pride) and an extra large size for a gigantic hood! And I LOVE the vintage buttons I found and how they look against the grey! I also reshot the rainbowy example since I didn’t much like those old photos of that one:

Mr. Pointy and Spiraling Stripes Hats were two of my very earliest patterns – Mr. Pointy is a pretty basic pattern compared to my new stuff, but I still like it, and there are some gorgeous versions knit up in handspun which you can check out on ravelry.

The old version of Spiraling Stripes was actually the first pdf I ever built, and it was kind of terrible so I let it hide away…. But now, with some new photos, a bunch of rewriting, reformatting, etc, I am super happy with the hat set and want to make sure you know about it! 6 different hat patterns, and tons of variation ideas and instructions for different hat styles and ways of striping.

I also did a new photoshoot with some of these old hats – you can see here the slanted brim above, and the straight brim and brimless versions below, as well as different kinds of stripes and fits. I think this hat set coordinations well with my Custom Tritops set – between these 2 pattern sets, you’d be set for unlimited one-of-a-kind hats for a lifetime of knitting!

I also completed a minor redesign of my main patterns page yesterday – not a big deal, but I think it’s a little easier to browse through all my patterns+ebooks now.

Ok that’s all for now… it’s some busy times around here lately… March’s quick knits club will be out on Monday, and I’m doing a crazy thing for the first time ever next week! I’m hosting trivia night at Zach’s Shack here in southeast Portland on Wednesday night! My guy has been a trivia host regularly for over 3 years now, and I’ve always kind of toyed with the idea of trying it sometime… and that time is 5 days from now! I’m totally nervous and super excited at the same time! I’ll probably blog later with how it went and I’ll share some of my favorite questions and/or categories (the way Zach’s trivia works is: 4 categories, 10 questions per category – and I’m really excited about some of my categories!)… Ok that’s all for reals now. Happy Friday!

World of Geekcraft!

I just want to take a minute to tell you how incredibly excited I am about this awesome book that’s coming out in May! I know, that’s awhile away still, but I just have to show you a peek! World of Geekcraft:

Update 6/4: Just a belated note that the book ended up coming out earlier than I’d thought, so it’s been on shelves for a couple months now! My pattern is now listed on ravelry, so add it as a project if you make a geeky sleeve!

My buddy Susan put together the most nerd-tastic amazing collection of geekery inspired craft projects, and I am so lucky to get to be a part of it! I designed this simple coffee cup sleeve knitting pattern that can be customized and embellished to show off whatever geeky obsession you might have:

My three chosen themes are: a Trivial Pursuit sleeve to display my board game geekery…

…a Jayne hat striped sleeve for the Joss Whedon nerd in me, and a Dr. Mario sleeve to show off my most favorite video game:

I got the opportunity to flip through the book a few days ago, and my project’s spread looks so good!!

The book has tons of different types of craft projects represented, and so many awesome contributors – see the list here on the book’s site. Two more super duper exciting things about this book – Pete wrote a page for a Geek Speak segment!

And, my project made it onto the back cover!! Woooo so awesome! Ok, so I’m sorry to tease you with how great this is, and you’ll have to wait to see more projects from it, but now you have it to look forward to! It really is a fabulous book – I would be totally excited about it even if I had nothing to do with it, for reals! So, follow the book’s blog and/or Susan’s blog to stay up-to-date, and I’ll definitely be posting more details about my design and the book in general when it’s released!

Oh, and be sure to check with Susan’s post for ways to pre-order and other book related links!

And yes, that is Oregon Trail cross stitch.