Squid Pro Quo

I just had a commission on two knitted squids fall apart - I won't go too deep into it here except to say that I'm okay with it, actually kind of happy that it didn't work out. It was on a barter, and I wouldn't have been able to get what I wanted out of the deal. But any scheme that starts out "Squids for (blank)" makes me happy.

Picture me, the urchin on the sidewalk with a sign, "Will Knit Squids for Food."

That's actually a dream I'm starting to follow. I'm building a ladder up to that solar powered hover castle: I've started submitting patterns for publication, and I started selling my patterns on etsy a couple months ago. And any of you long-time friends and lurkers will have noticed (and hopefully not been too annoyed by) the sudden flutter of buy-it-now buttons on my pattern pages - folks can get their download on right here. I bought a domain last week - tattingmydoilies.com is now mine all mine. There's only the shell of a page up right now, but there's a pretty picture!

I'm excited about spreading out into a full-on website 'cause it means I can move all the dollar signs over to a shop page and this here blog can just be a regular old blog again - where I can think out loud and share my prides and progress and foibles and misadventures, and talk up other people that knock my socks off.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the economics of trying to get paid for making things, and about how money for "craft" works vis-a-vis money for "art". But right now I'm totally in love with the idea of bartering.

So: Dear universe - I knit squids, what do you do? Want to trade?

Will Knit Squids for Tatting Lessons.
Will Knit Squids for Massage.
Will Knit Squids for a Bottom Bracket.
Will Knit Squids for Web Design.
Will Knit Squids for _________

Class Picture Day at Sea Beast Academy

A kraken, a squid, and an octopus walk into a bar. The bartender says, what kind of a joke is this? Da-dum, dum. Step right up, folks! Here for your downloading amusement and knitting pleasure is the whole sea-beast family:

Squiddity, the Squid has 10 extra tentacles for good measure. Pulpo the Octopus is svelte, symmetrical, scalable, and smart. And Beware the Kraken strikes quivering fear of cuteness into the hearts of even the skankiest pirates.

Patterns are now available in the shop! Five dollars each or all three for twelve. (Drop me a line if you've already purchased the first two and I'll hook you up.)

More Kraken Love

Bleep! Glug, glug! Marsh- mallows!

Friend...

Beware the Kraken from the deep!

Is that a boat in your hair, or are you just happy to see me?

Pattern downloadable in the shop for five clams!

Inspired, of course, by

Sing Ho! For the life of an Octopus! Sing Ho! For Pulpo!

I've finally finished the octopus pattern! Meet Pulpo, my favorite new eight-legged friend. He's got a big head, and lots of long legs (only the standard compliment of eight this time!) Continuing my obsession with radial symmetry, he's totally symmetrical, except for his googley eyes. And did I mention the pleating? Well, there's pleating! It's really, really fun to do, at least if you're me.

Hmmm... why do I think he's a boy? I've just been reading about octopi on Wikipedia - they don't have any bones, and they're really, really smart but don't live very long because their hormones (endocrine secretions) "are the cause of genetically programmed death" after they reproduce. Ok, so I'm glad I'm not an octopus, even if it means I only have two arms. Oh, and also in the UK they're honorary vertibrates. I rather like that.

Anywho, the pattern is now available over in the shop.

Gaufrettes

Tonight Caro came over and we played Scrabble and made gaufrettes. It's a family recipe that came down from my mom's mom's Belgian side. It's a frenchy sounding name for a cookie, but we pronounce it goo-fritz.

You make them on a special iron - the "proper" iron is square and heated over the stovetop, but I use a plug-in pizzelle iron.

Today my sister asked me, "do you have just one iron?" My family's figured out what heirlooms to offer me, and taken advantage of my gemini nature to give me multiples of everything - Two china cabinets, and every Virgin Mary statue they've got. Do you want Grandma Margie's fry pot? Um, no, I've already got Grandma W's.

Anyway, here's gaufrettes. They're simple and delicious - try them hot off the iron and slathered in butter. There's some butter scarcity gaufrette story I seem to remember - if any aunts and uncles are tuning in and want the world to know it, tell me and I'll add it on. Here's what you do:

1/2 # Butter
3 C Sugar
5 Eggs
2 Tbl Vanilla
5 C Flour
1 tsp Salt

Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs and vanilla, stir in the flour and salt. Heat up the iron and grease it by "cooking" 2 pieces of buttered/margerined bread. Drop by teaspoons or with a cookie scoop and close the lid. Cook a couple minutes - just until they stop steaming. If you let them get a little on the brown side they develop a compelling caramelized-sugar taste. If you use too much dough, some will ooze out of the sides - a delicious mess. My mom makes them on the small side and pretty thin. I like to make them on the thick side by letting the weight of the
iron flatten them slowly.

We poke holes in them and hang them on the tree, too - a week later they're subtly pine-tree flavored sugar cookies. My "tree" this year is a little old rosemary bush, so I wonder how that's going to turn out...

The Atlantic Northeast Xmas Tree Jellyfish Tutorial

This year I signed up for a great holiday ornament swap - Thanks again Nicole and Kathleen for organizing it! There's a flickr pool of all the awesome stuff people have made here. And to spread the holiday love even further afield, here's how you can make a tree-jellyfish of your very own!

2009 Update: I've moved the pattern over to MoltingYeti.com, my pattern website, here: Forkfull the Jellyfish, or the Atlantic Northeast Christmas Tree Jellyfish Tutorial.