{"id":2646,"date":"2014-03-22T15:16:42","date_gmt":"2014-03-22T15:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/?p=2646"},"modified":"2014-03-26T19:22:05","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T19:22:05","slug":"creative-outlets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/?p=2646","title":{"rendered":"Creative Outlets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes while we are hiding out from storms the waters are actually calm enough for me to work.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t been often!\u00a0 On good days, we tend to set off sight seeing and shell collecting, but on others I manage to get a bit of work done!<\/p>\n

TAPESTRY<\/p>\n

I started my tapestry idea (a shelf of spools) a few weeks ago by doing some sampling, and learned a lot by the time I unwove the whole thing.\u00a0 I\u2019d done about eight spools at that point and had worked out that I wanted the circles to be all different sizes and different shapes, and the little cardboard tubes and empty space inside the tubes to be fairly (but not perfectly!) consistent.<\/p>\n

This is the first tapestry I am making without a cartoon!\u00a0 \u2026. it is very freeing! Archie Brennan is always talking about the \u2018open journey,\u2019 \u00a0by which he means not making too many decisions ahead time, letting the work at hand determine what should come next, and this is my first attempt at that.\u00a0 I\u2019m doing the same with color choice, choosing colors based on what has just been done.\u00a0 Naturally, I wish I had a lot more choices onboard with me, but so far I have not been disappointed to make do with what I have.<\/p>\n

I am facing my blank warp and creating as I go.\u00a0 I do ink on a freehand circle or two before I weave, and each circle I draw is based on the circles that have come before them, and each color choice for the circles is based on the colors I\u2019ve already used as well as the loose \u2018plan\u2019 of where I hope to go.\u00a0 This is really a fun journey\u2026..I would call it a tapestry vacation!\u00a0 A little side trip along an untraveled road (for me) with lots of beautiful scenery!\u00a0 A playland!<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/a><\/p>\n

KNITTING<\/p>\n

My other big project onboard is a sweater that was posted on Pinterest<\/a> with a link to Ravelry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"knitting<\/a><\/p>\n

When you click on the floral sweater photo on Pinterest you get directed to\u00a0this sweater<\/a>\u00a0on Ravelry.<\/p>\n

\"Kauni<\/a><\/p>\n

The floral sweater is far more appealing to me than the little squares version!\u00a0 Finding the origin of this sweater was a bit challenging, but when I get focused on something I can be a bit maniacal.<\/p>\n

The little squares pattern is by Ruth Sorenson, and her directions call for 480 grams of Kauni Effekt “Rainbow” (EQ). \u00a0I had planned to use traditional Shetland Fair Isle construction for a loose fitting jacket with front opening, and I decided to increase the amount of yarn to 600 grams.\u00a0With a little searching for the thistle pattern I found this designer<\/a>, who used the thistle pattern for a shawl she calls “Mrs. Barrista,” \u00a0which was available for purchase in English. \u00a0Bingo! (I don’t know if she is also the designer of the sweater, but it’s not on her blog.)<\/p>\n

After doing a gauge swatch and determining that I’d use 10 repeats of the thistle pattern for the body, I cast on for corrugated rib and steeked the front opening, and have just been zipping along up to the armholes.\u00a0 Now I am at the armhole openings and thought I\u2019d better make a plan.<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/a><\/p>\n

While traditional Fair Isle construction makes for such easy knitting, it is not the most flattering look on me.\u00a0 I look better in sweaters that have a bit of armhole shaping, and even more importantly I need sloped shoulders.\u00a0 These two issues that are quite important to me will necessitate some fiddly knitting.\u00a0 Here is my sketch.<\/p>\n

\"3-20-14b<\/a><\/p>\n

I will bind off an inch or so of stitches at the beginning of the armscye and start the steeks.\u00a0 When I start the sleeves I will pick stitches along the armhole opening, and I will work back and forth (HORRORS!<\/i>) until I fill in that 1\u201d of bound off stitches, and then I can resume knitting in the round down to the sleeve cuff.\u00a0 It will only be fiddly for about a dozen rows or so\u2026maybe less\u2026<\/p>\n

The other fiddly bit will be making my shoulder line sloped.\u00a0 I have not yet settled on a definite plan for that, but I think that may also require working back and forth for the last several rows at the top of the body.\u00a0 It shouldn\u2019t be that bad!\u00a0 I\u2019m forging ahead with the sweater since I don\u2019t need to worry about the shoulders for a while.\u00a0 Maybe something else will occur to me by the time I get to there!\u00a0 I am thinking of making a short row plan\u2026<\/p>\n

If there are any knitters out there reading this, please weigh in on what you\u2019d do if you were making this sweater!\u00a0 I could use some input!<\/p>\n

COOKING<\/p>\n

I wonder how many of us use cooking as a creative outlet, especially when we can\u2019t do what we really want to do!\u00a0 I enjoy the challenge of cooking down here, where getting food is a hit or miss scavenger hunt.\u00a0 Thursday, I happened to hit the pink store in Staniel Cay as they were bringing in fresh produce from the mail boat.\u00a0 I got both fresh mushrooms \u00a0and a head of cabbage on the same day!\u00a0 (Only someone traveling down here can appreciate the rarity of fresh mushrooms in the Bahamas!)<\/p>\n

Cabbage, which I hardly ever eat at home, is quite a staple down here, and it always brings back great memories of cooking in college with my brand new edition of the Moosewood Cookbook.\u00a0 It had a catchy name I no longer remember, but I do remember that the Russian cabbage pie was one of my favorite meals from that book. \u00a0Thank you, Molly Katzen! I\u2019m sure I could have googled the recipe if only I had internet.\u00a0 Since that was not an option, I had to do the best I could on memory alone.<\/p>\n

I remembered the pastry crust had cream cheese as well as butter.\u00a0 So I made a crust with 4 TB butter and 4 oz. of cream cheese.\u00a0 I made 4 hard cooked eggs, saut\u00e9ed the mushrooms and set them aside to sautee the cabbage that had been salted and left to wilt for about 20 minutes.\u00a0 I seasoned everything liberally with dill and a little salt and pepper.\u00a0 I layered all this in my pie shell, along with the other 4oz of cream cheese left in the brick.<\/p>\n

Since I do not have a pie dish onboard I made this dish in my 9\u201d springform pan.\u00a0 It has come in very handily as a substitute for many other pans.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad to have it with me!<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/a><\/p>\n

Dinner was delicious! \u00a0Who knows how far from the original I have strayed, but we enjoyed it just the same!\u00a0 It does take a bit of doing to make something like this on a boat in a galley that is smaller than a NY City apartment kitchen.\u00a0 If not for the space it takes to pre-cook all the separate parts of this dish, I would definitely say this would become a staple meal on Pandora.\u00a0 It may become a staple in spite of the space challenge!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes while we are hiding out from storms the waters are actually calm enough for me to work.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t been often!\u00a0 On good days, we tend to set off sight seeing and shell collecting, but on others I manage to get a bit of work done! TAPESTRY I started my tapestry idea (a shelf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,7,11,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration","category-knitting","category-patterns","category-tapestry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2646"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2666,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2646\/revisions\/2666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}