Click pic for skeined view.

It's Fly Dyed Monarch Knit Paints in the "Plum Trees in Full Bloom" colorway. I found it at a store in Seattle that I never knew existed BR. (That would be "Before Ravelry".) Little Knits is a lovely little shop in West Seattle that is only open to the public two days a week, although it's always open online. They have an amazing assortment of yarn at great prices, including some sock yarns I'd never seen before, such as the one above.

The Knit Paints yarn is especially interesting to me because of the way that it is dyed. The dye is painted onto a pre-knitted tube, then the tube is unravelled and the yarn is re-skeined for sale. It is very pretty stuff. Intense dappled colors and a tightly plied and springy yarn base make for a very pleasant sock knitting diversion.

Pattern: Uptown Boot Socks by Jennifer L. Appleby in the "Favorite Socks" book published by Interweave Knits. I did make a slight change to the pattern in that I knit them toe-up with a short row heel in order to maximize the height I could make the cuffs. This was my first foray into toe-up sock knitting, and while I still prefer the cuff-down method I would like to try toe-up with a reverse heel flap and gusset sometime in the near future.

Of course I now know what I was missing. These days, one of my very favorite things to do whenever I have a free half hour is to drop by one of the many local thrift stores in my area to see if they have any fabric that might be interesting. And very often, they do. I continue to be amazed by some of the fantastic fabrics that can be found there, stuff that I'd never find at JoAnn or the fabric shop. Most days I leave empty handed, but sometimes I feel like I've hit the jackpot, like the time I found several yards of a vintage cotton velour with a crazy print in bright shades of green (see top pic below), or the day when I found three yards of a discontinued children's fabric marked 99 cents that I know would have cost a fortune on eBay. (I also continue to be surprised by the pricing. On some days, there will be a scant yard of denim marked $4.99 and an other days there will be several yards of a gorgeous cotton print marked 99 cents. ??? Not that I'm complaining about the 99 cent deals...)

Here are some favorite recent finds:

Usually when I find a piece that catches my eye, I think about whether or not I have any projects in mind for it, and many times I'll put it back on the rack if I can't think of anything at all. But every once in awhile, a piece will appear that is so fabulous that it suggests a new project all its own, and into the basket it goes. I absolutely love when this happens. Take this print for example:

This piece called out to me from the rack and as I held it in my hands, wondering what the heck I'd ever actually do with it, it came to me. Aprons. Children's aprons.

Now this is an idea that I never would have come up with on my own. My seven year old son has absolutely no interest in crafting or cooking endeavors, and would tear an apron off his little body as fast as I could get it tied onto him. So there is not much use for a child's apron here chez Mad Caterpillar. But still, this particular piece of fabric absolutely demanded to be made into children's aprons, and who am I to argue? I am so very happy with how they turned out -- buttery soft and reversible with lined pockets on the main side:

Now I'm obsessed with making aprons. They are so much fun! Every time I look at fabrics now I think about how they might look when made into an apron! The aprons above, along with some others, will be put up for sale in the shop sometime soon. (Please leave a comment if you'd like to be added to the Mad Caterpillar email list for notifications of shop updates.)

Here's another favorite find from a few weeks ago -- another great deal at $1.99 for over four yards!

I was glancing through the rest of the rack, with this piece tightly clutched in my hot little hands, when a woman who was browsing in the same section turned to me with a somewhat wistful expression on her face. She said that she had considered buying that fabric herself, but had put it back because she had no idea what to do with it.

Click for reverse side.

Honestly -- the fabric made me do it!

]]> tag:www.flopsy.com,2007:/MadCaterpillar/weblog//1.71 2007-11-13T00:14:31Z 2007-11-13T02:25:59Z

A few weeks ago, while visiting my mother, my stepfather pulled me aside to show me a picture in a book. It was a huge book all about orchids, the type that belongs on a coffee table, filled with glossy...

Danielle A few weeks ago, while visiting my mother, my stepfather pulled me aside to show me a picture in a book. It was a huge book all about orchids, the type that belongs on a coffee table, filled with glossy color pictures and tons of information. He pointed to the picture in question. It was an image of a room where every nook and cranny was filled with orchid plants. “Read the caption,” he said. I can’t remember the exact wording but it went something like this: This private collection of almost 2,000 orchids all began with the gift of a single plant.

“This is all your fault,” said my stepfather, with barely the hint of a smile on his face.

He was referring to my mother’s modest but rapidly growing collection of orchids. And yes, the collection all started with a single gift, from me. About a year ago, my mother fell in love with a plant that was sitting in my brother’s kitchen. It was a very pretty plant. It had tall thin leaves that looked like tulip leaves, but much thinner. Shooting up through these leaves were sprays of exquisite, delicate, pale yellow blooms. The flowers were tiny, and there must have been hundreds of them on this single plant. My brother’s wife, a botanist, told us that the plant was an orchid.

A few months later I was looking for a birthday gift for my mother. I remembered how much she loved my sister-in-law's orchid so I called to ask her what to look for. She told me it was called an Oncidium Twinkle. A quick search on Google led me to Orchid Web, and I gave them a call. Turns out they were in the middle of a snowstorm at the time and there was no way they’d be able to ship plants in that weather. So I shelved the idea until later -- Mother’s Day 2007. She was so surprised and happy about it, even though the plant would require some time before it would have any blooms. Little did we know that single plant would be the start of a rather addicting hobby.

It turns out that people are quite fanatical about orchids. I had no idea. Several months later, my mother is a card carrying member of her local Orchid Society. She has an area of her house dedicated to growing orchids, complete with a special growing light on a timer. She knows the latin names for her plants, each of which has its own watering and fertilization needs. It’s a fascinating hobby, orchid collecting, and while I am not much of a gardener myself, I’m enjoying hearing about it secondhand through her.

I recently accompanied her on a greenhouse tour with her local Orchid Society. It was a small tour of some of the society members’ private greenhouses, and it was really interesting to see the different setups – and the amazing plants – that the folks had. One woman had built a professional greenhouse from a kit. It was reasonably large – about eight people could comfortably gather around the main central table – and fully climate controlled with heat sensors and humidifying misters. It was full of light and it was peaceful and very professional looking – and her plants were gorgeous. Huge yellow blooms with spindly tendrils coming off of them. Small brownish red flowers that smelled like chocolate – really! Huge pink flowers similar to those you’ll see on the orchids for sale in the grocery store, only bigger and healthier. Another member, a veteran electrician, had built a greenhouse off of his garage. It was huge and haphazard, and not as professional looking as the first greenhouse, but it was filled to bursting with beautiful blooming plants – including a vanilla orchid! I had no idea that vanilla beans came from the seed pod of a type of orchid plant. Another member had built a greenhouse on his deck, right outside his home office so that he could look at his flowers while he was working. It was in this greenhouse that a particular plant caught my eye. It was a small thing, and had no flowers, but the foliage was nothing short of stunning. Its leaves were a deep emerald green, with intricate veins that were so white against the velvet green that they seemed to glow. The pattern that the veins made in the leaves was so beautiful and delicate. I’d never seen anything like it, and I asked what it was. “It’s a jewel orchid,” the owner told me. “They don’t have very pretty blooms, but people collect them for the beauty of their foliage.”

Now, I have to say I have no interest in houseplants. I kill them, no matter how hard I try to keep them alive. But I wanted one of these jewel orchids. Badly.

A few weeks ago, there was an orchid show at a local nursery in Seattle, and it happened to be on the same weekend that my mom was here for a visit. So we went together. There were all sorts of orchids there, and my mom’s collection grew a bit more. And she bought me a present, too. My very own jewel orchid. Ludisia discolor var alba to be more specific.

It is so very pretty, and I love it. But alas, my not-so-green thumb has already become a problem. Note the very unhappy and brown lower leaf:

My mother tells me that the bottom leaf on many orchids will often grow brown and fall off, but I’m worried that this isn’t a good sign. I’m doing everything the grower told me to do – watering it twice a week but keeping it well drained, misting it every now and again, and keeping it in a window that does not get direct sunlight. Still, I don’t think it’s very happy.

So after some googling around, I learned that this particular plant is often included in terrariums. And I had an idea. I cut the raised portion off of a Gladware container lid so that I could use it to stand the orchid in a dish of water without the pot actually coming into contact with the water. Then I cut the top off of a plastic container and inverted it over the plant – voila, a makeshift terrarium. I hope it helps. Wish me luck.

And I guess I should admit this now. Despite my reservations, my small collection has grown a tiny bit…

From left to right, for those of you that might be interested: Dendrobium Rigidum, Ascocentrum Miniatum, and Tolumnia Passionata. We’ll see if I can manage to get any of these to bloom in the coming years. (The only one mature enough to bloom anytime soon is the one on the right.)

A single plant indeed. Sigh…

]]> tag:www.flopsy.com,2007:/MadCaterpillar/weblog//1.70 2007-10-17T23:57:07Z 2007-10-18T00:26:49Z

Things are afoot here at Mad Caterpillar; I just haven't had much time to write about them lately. Hopefully I will be able to remedy that situation very soon. In the meantime, I have started working on a shop update,...

Danielle Things are afoot here at Mad Caterpillar; I just haven't had much time to write about them lately. Hopefully I will be able to remedy that situation very soon. In the meantime, I have started working on a shop update, and I hope to have a few new fun designs to post there soon.

After a bit of a summer hiatus, I'm back to knitting again. I have almost finished knitting the mate for this long neglected sock -- the completed pair will be a gift for a very special person whose birthday is coming up soon.

This is the beginning of a Plain Jane cardigan for a soon-to-be niece/nephew. The yarn is Gedifra New Age in a pea green color. I think this yarn is discontinued which is a shame -- it is lovely to work with, very soft and squishy and light as air. Should be perfect and cuddly against a newborn's skin.

Tonight hubby and I plan to see Laurie Perry talk about her new book at Barnes and Noble in downtown Seattle. I'm really looking forward to seeing her -- her website is one of my absolute favorites. I just know she'll be as charming and funny in person as she is on the internets! I wonder if she'll be wearing her bronze snakeskin boots?

]]> tag:www.flopsy.com,2007:/MadCaterpillar/weblog//1.69 2007-10-03T00:07:58Z 2007-10-03T06:55:10Z

I was recently cleaning out my office and purging a rather large portion of a previous life. I came across an old sketchbook filled with doodles -- most of them were just scribbles but there were a few pages...

Danielle

I was recently cleaning out my office and purging a rather large portion of a previous life. I came across an old sketchbook filled with doodles -- most of them were just scribbles but there were a few pages that I couldn't bring myself to throw out. So I cut them out and pasted them into my current ink-and-paper journal. The images in this entry are some of my favorite doodles from those pages. I had to laugh when I saw the first one posted above, the doodle of the rather vexed/concerned/frightened character. I'd forgotten about drawing her. I'm not a particularly good artist and cannot usually render such expression in faces. But this one exactly captured the feeling I was having at the time that I drew it.

These next doodles were ideas for a tattoo. (No, none of these ever ended up on my body.) I don't have any tattoos yet, and go back and forth thinking about whether or not I really want one. If I ever do get one, I want it to be original, something that I've designed (or something designed specifically for me), that has a lot of personal meaning.

I love it when I come across old bits of paper, notes, or doodles like these, done a long time ago and long forgotten. Ten years ago I had a purse stolen from my desk in a downtown Seattle office. I was very frustrated, needless to say -- replacing one's driver's license and credit cards is always a hassle, and my checkbook was in there so I had to cancel my bank account too. I didn't have a lot of cash in the purse so it wasn't a huge loss, except for two things. My special pen and my ever-present small notebook were in that purse. The pen was a lovely Mont Blanc LeGrand ballpoint pen, given to me as a gift and I absolutely loved it. (I have a thing for nice pens...) I was very sad thinking of that pen sitting in some dingy hock shop somewhere after whatever jerk stole my purse traded it in for a few bucks. And I was so upset about the notebook. I always keep a little pad of paper with me so that I can jot down names, numbers, notes, ideas, etc. Never a good thing to lose. I figured I'd never see either again.

A little over a year ago, I got a phone call out of the blue from a man I didn't know. He asked for me by name, so I assumed he was a telemarketer and I started to give one of my usual "sorry don't need that, gotta go" excuses when he asked me if my purse had been stolen. It turns out he was a maintenance engineer for an apartment complex downtown, and he'd found my old purse wedged behind a hot water tank there that he was working on.

He mailed it to me the next day. I sent him a small reward for the effort, although I didn't expect anything more than some dried out leather and cancelled credit cards. When I got it back, I was absolutely thrilled that not only was my notebook still intact, but my pen was there, too! I couldn't believe it!

It was so much fun to read through my little notebook from the past! I remembered long-forgotten names, found some song lyrics I'd written (crap, but still a hoot to read), and best of all, some notes I'd jotted down while on a business trip to Chicago! As I usually do with these things, I took the pages that I wanted to keep and pasted them in my journal...

"Houston's, 12:00am on Tuesday, July 28 [1997] (Weds. 7/29) in Chicago.

John Marowski* from Acme Industries* passed out at the dinner table.

Jane Develle* (company Freelancer-in-Training) sick in the bathroom.

Me at the table, alone, wishing I was anywhere but here. What a life."

* Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Reading these notes completely transported me back to the night in question. At the time I worked for a software company, and had taken a trip to Chicago to train a new customer. On one of the nights I was there, I went to dinner with a couple of the customer's employees and two of the salespeople that I worked with. At that dinner, I watched three people consume more alcohol than I would have thought possible. Shots of tequila accompanied every glass of beer, and there were many glasses of beer... One of the customers passed out at the table, and the other got very sick in the restaurant bathroom. One of the salespeople that I worked with got drunk enough that I had to confiscate his keys and call a cab to get him home. Fortunately, the other salesperson was as sober as I was that evening. She went to the hotel next door to see if they had a room where we could take the guy that had passed out. It was while she was doing this that I wrote the note above. When she returned, the two of us half-dragged half-carried the unconscious guy next door (fortunately the hotel had vacancies) and plunked him down in a room to sleep it off. (The girl that had gotten sick had a friend come to pick her up.)

I remember going to the customer's office the next morning and being amazed that neither of the folks from the night before appeared to be hung over.

I had completely forgotten about this incident, and it's amazing how these sketchy notes brought all the details from that evening back to me, ten years later. And while this event was not particularly noteworthy or important, the details were still there, in the back of my mind. All it took was a few scribbled words to retrieve a memory that might have been lost for good otherwise. It is a good reminder for me of why it's so important to keep a journal. Good or bad, mundane or profound, I don't want to forget all of the adventures (and misadventures) that pepper life here and there!

* I'm sure I've forgotten a few others, too, but this one was too good to leave out of the list.

I've been meaning to add a "Reading" sidebar to my blog for a long time now, and finally got around to it. I tend to have several books in rotation at any one time -- something to escape into, something to learn from, something to be inspired by, something that someone recommended... my mood will dictate what gets picked up at any given time. I also have a particular weakness for books written for children and young adults, so I tend to have one of those on the nightstand at all times as well.

I usually also have a book to listen to waiting on the iPod for times when multitasking is called for. I have a labrador retriever that loves long walks (what lab doesn't?) and while I enjoy walking immensely, I sometimes find that treading the same city paths over and over again gets quite tedious at times. Listening to a book as we walk brings a whole new dimension to that activity, and I've spent many happy hours with my old girl walking the paths in our neighborhood, catching up on those books that I never seem to have the time to read in paper form. We both get our exercise, and I get caught up on some really good stories -- what's not to love?

I get most of my audiobooks from audible.com. I love that they have an extensive selection of unabridged titles (I just can't bring myself to listen to abridged versions of books) in almost every genre. I tend to listen to mostly escapist fare, with the occasional classic or non-fiction piece mixed in. So far, here is a list of my favorite listens from the past year -- if anyone reads this and cares to add their favorite audiobook titles to the comments, I'd love to see what other folks have enjoyed listening to lately!

So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are some audiobook titles that I highly recommend:

-- "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke, narrated by Simon Prebble

-- "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte, narrated by Amanda Root

-- "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon, narrated by Davina Porter

-- "Out of the Silent Planet" by CS Lewis, narrated by Geoffrey Howard

-- "Son of a Witch" by Gregory Maguire, narrated by John McDonough

-- "1776" by David McCullough, narrated by David McCullough

-- "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki and Harlan Ellison

Ask any published author for their advice to budding writers, and chances are the response will be simple. Write. Put words on paper. Practice your craft, and then worry about the rest.

Writers write. This is the one true requirement for pursuing the profession. But the blank page is a daunting one, and ideas are not always a dime a dozen. Enter one of the coolest new online communities I’ve come across in a long time… 52Stories.net. The concept is simple and elegant – every week a new picture is posted, and anyone inspired by that image can write about it and submit their story (or poem, or song lyrics, or novel if desired) for publication on the site the following week. Readers are encouraged to give you comments about your submission – it’s basically an online writing group where everyone is writing about the same thing with wildly different results.

If you like to write, but need prompts or ideas, I highly recommend this site. If you simply just like to read, it is a fascinating glimpse into the variety of ideas that a single image can inspire.

*Or in my case, 3,350 to be exact…

I have recently developed an urge to start collecting vintage buttons. I especially love the vintage buttons that have a flower style to them. I don't know much about old buttons, the materials they are made of, etc. etc, I just know that they have this wonderful unique look to them that you cannot generally find at craft shops or sewing stores. And I have all sorts of ideas as to what I'd like to use them for.

I have terrible luck in actually finding vintage buttons, though. I never see them at garage sales (and I always ask), and I am inevitably that person that gets to the thrift store just in time to see someone holding a tin of button treasure aloft and exclaiming the bargain they just found at two dollars for the lot.

So I turned to eBay. I don't have a big button budget, but I decided I'd roll the dice to see what I could get for a few bucks plus shipping. It simply amazes me that something that looks like this on first open...

... can end up looking like this after a little searching and sorting (and a LOT of cleaning):

The extra big surprise here was what great fun it was to dig for these tiny treasures! I had a blast searching through dirt and nails and pins and beans (there were lots of non-button items in the two lots I received), and finding wonderful colors and shapes that will find new life in future projects. I'm sure many of these will find their way to the shop in some form or another as soon as I get the time to turn ideas into reality.

And here was what was inside:

My upstream Sock Pal was Tammy from Cozy Stitches -- be sure to stop by and see the gorgeous shawl she just posted on her blog! The socks that she made for me are fantastic! She used Henry's Attic Kona DK yarn dyed by Little Turtle Knits, and she used the Crusoe pattern from Knitty. The stitch pattern really shows off the variegated yarn well, and I love the deep colors! They fit perfectly -- the DK weight yarn makes for a wonderful pair of thick and warm boot socks for the coming fall and winter. I especially love the eye of partridge detail on the heels and soles of the socks, making them extra-durable.

Tammy also included a fun small project knitting bag, some Cozy Stitches Crafter's Lotion, and some stitch markers for crochet as she'd noticed I'd been dabbling in crochet lately. Thanks so much for such a thoughtful package, Sock Pal!

So it's no surprise when I spied this skein sitting in a local yarn store that it was impossible to resist.

It's Yarn Pirate 50% merino 50% tencel sock yarn in the Karma colorway. The colors are so beautiful, ranging from a deep grass green to light cornflower blue to shale brown. And the wool/tencel blend is so shiny and soft. As always, the joy of knitting with hand dyed yarn is watching how it knits up. Here is how it looks after being wound into a ball:

And here it is in soon-to-be-finished sock form:

It stripes! This yarn has been so much fun to work with that I haven't had any desire to dally with my other socks-in-progress while working on this pair. And the main benefit of sock monogamy is a fast finish -- that sock has since been completed and I'm half way down the cuff of sock number two.

Speaking of socks, my Sockapalooza4 sock pal's package was dropped off at the post office today! I can't wait to see if she likes the pair I made for her...