My Version of Bento #1 from JustBento.com

September 1st, 2010 by Kiba | Posted in Cookery | 4 Comments »

Bento #1

This is my version of Bento #1 from JustBento.com.  Just Bento doesn’t so much feature charaben as it does a combo of basic bento and soshoku (healthy) bento, so this is less cute and more healthy.

Left to right, we have: brown rice (not Japanese – I decided instead of being exact to be frugal and use what I already had); steamed cut green beans and crinkle cut carrots (from frozen; you can see at Just Bento that she’s used fresh and cut the carrots into strips); a hard boiled quail egg; stir-fried tofu and green onions with oyster sauce (she used deep-fried tofu).

Culinary Adventures: Not a Bento, Exactly

August 30th, 2010 by Kiba | Posted in Cookery | 3 Comments »

I have an insane semester coming up. (I’m in library school, in case I never mentioned that here.) Here’s what my schedule looks like:

Monday 9:30 – 3 Internship (not too bad right?)
Tuesday 9:30 – 3 Internship, 4:45 – 6 class (again, not terrible)
Wednesday 10 – 5 Work, 6 – 8:30 class (it begins to get intense)
Thursday 9:30 – 3:30 Work, 4:45 – 8:45 class (see, this is the day that’s crazy)
Friday 9:30 – 3:30 Work

Add to that some playing of Vampire: The Masquerade once a month and voice lessons twice a month, and the fact that for every hour I spend in class I’ve got about 3 hours of homework outside of it, and this semester has become an official adventure. So on Wednesday and Thursday nights I’ll be eating Harris Teeter prepared sushi. I decided I wanted to carry it in something cuter than the containers they put it in, though, so I decided to buy a bento box to put it in. But then I decided to research bentos further, and perhaps start making them. So I’ve been using the excellent Just Bento blog for inspiration. I haven’t made an actual bento, yet, but I have bento-ized my very Western lunch for tomorrow:

PB&J on Sourdough, Carrots, Hummus, and Yogurt

So here I’ve got peanut butter and jelly on sourdough – an odd bread choice, I know, so we’ll see how I like it – baby carrots and hummus.  I cut the sandwiches with some star and moon cookie cutters I bought at World Market.  The dividers/containers are cupcake papers from Kroger, with a princess print on them.  All of that is set inside a knock-off of a Gladware sandwich container.  Separately, I’ve got some vanilla FiberOne yogurt.

What do you think?

The Slightly Less New Domesticity

June 2nd, 2010 by Kiba | Posted in New Domesticity | No Comments »

Referring to it as the “New Domesticity” is so 2004, isn’t it? But that’s what it is: taking pleasure in the ability to be crafty, successful in the domestic arts, and still punk rock and feminist all at the same time. (So there’s a bit more to it than that – read Jean Railla’s manifesto for more.)

I’ve been without religious affiliation for some time but I don’t think that means I need to be denied a spiritual path. A friend recently suggested that my affinity for cupcake making involves magical powers, so I recently dabbled in reading about Kitchen Witchery. After reading about solitary practitioners who consider the most mundane of tasks to be sacred, I found some truth there. And decided that I would name Concordia Domestica. Concordia is the Roman goddess of harmony (and if you contrast her with the Discordia, she has some orderliness about her as well). So Concordia Domestica is a goddess representing the harmony one has in a home that is well-cared for, where all family members feel loved.

I feel it worthwhile to point out here that my husband is responsible for most of the cleaning tasks in the house (because he is more satisfied by cleanliness than I am, and thus cares more). So it’s not like he’s oppressing me with a vacuum cleaner and a broom. He sweeps, vacuums, and does dishes. I bake, clear clutter (a different thing than cleaning), and craft. It’s just a nice name to give to a set of interests that I’ve had for a while, and a way of thinking of these disparate interests – crochet, cross-stitch, baking, clutter-clearing – as parts of a whole, and serving a larger purpose than my own amusement (though that would be enough).

I hope to write more about all of these endeavors, plus new ones I take on in the same vein – gardening, cooking beyond baking, trying new styles of eating… So keep an eye out!

Cross-Stitch: Black Mage and White Mage

May 4th, 2010 by Kiba | Posted in Craft, Cross Stitch | 2 Comments »

A couple of years ago, I discovered the excellent website Sprite Stitch, which revealed to me something that seemed obvious immediately after I learned about it: pixels are little colored boxes which can be approximated with embroidery thread in the shape of an X.

Eventually I determined that my first project in this area would be a Valentine’s Day gift to my then-boyfriend now-husband or, as he may be referred to from here on out, O. G.  I decided to show Black Mage and White Mage, from the first Final Fantasy game, with a heart over their heads to indicate that they were in love.

This conceit comes from a twisting of the webcomic 8 Bit Theatre, in which Black Mage frequently hits on White Mage, and as far as I have read, is unsuccessful.  But I haven’t read it in many years so that may have changed by now.

It was only after the work was completed that I realized it looks as though one of them is casting Charm on the other.

Sadly I have no details about the cloth except that it is black Aida; I don’t know what the count is (probably 14).  The thread is all DMC but I don’t know which colors.  The patterns for the characters came from Sprite Stitch but I don’t know where I got the heart.

My Lifestyle, Let Me Show You It

April 22nd, 2010 by Kiba | Posted in Baking, Cookery, Craft, Crochet, Cupcakes, Geeky Crochet | 1 Comment »

It turns out when you’re a graduate student, even though you’re online all the time, you’re not actually talking to people about fun things like crochet.

What have I pursued in terms of new domesticity endeavors in the past 10 months?  Well, I made a lot of hideous afghan squares in an attempt to use up scratchy acrylic yarn.  I intend to one day put them all together and make a giant afghan of mighty ugly.  Class is an excellent time to crochet.  It keeps me from abusing my laptop privileges (i. e., compulsively refreshing Facebook while my professors talk) because my hands are busy and I get a lot done.  I have all of those afghan squares, plus a stash of hats to give as gifts from now until eternity.  (Impromptu gift-giving is one of the best arguments for crafting random stuff and then just storing it.  Often it turns out I made something for a friend without knowing at the time that my heart and hands intended it for her.)

In November, I took up cupcakery.  This has been a most delightful experience.  Excellent for stress relief and at the end you get CUPCAKES!

Also I cross-stitched the Konami code for my husband as a Christmas present.

Then, even more recently, I decided it would be fun to crochet things from authentic Victorian patterns, so I downloaded My Crochet Sampler and have been making tapestry-style bags from patterns in it.

Coming soon, posts with photos of projects!

What have you been up to?

My “New” Lifestyle Blog

June 15th, 2009 by Kiba | Posted in Site Updates | 1 Comment »

I’ve just finished what may be my last year of teaching.  I will miss my colleagues very much, and I enjoyed my students, but teaching is a very physically demanding job.  As such, there are lots of things I wanted to do and try but didn’t ever seem to have the energy.

In August, I’m entering library school.  Between now and then I’ll be getting married and performing in a play.  I’m already finding myself with a lot more energy (being able to actually get a full eight hours of sleep will do that) and am looking forward to pursuing many new interests.

Crochet remains my go-to craft, but I hope to try others.  I certainly have quite a few supplies for things like illuminated calligraphy and t-shirt stenciling.

In addition to crafting, I’m planning to pick up thrifting as a real hobby and to play more with my fashion.  Being a teacher restricts your clothing options somewhat, but graduate students can pretty much run the gamut in their style of dress without anyone declaring them unprofessional.

So this space, which I have heretofore been calling my craft/design blog, is going to expand a bit to be a LIFESTYLE blog, which incorporates craft, design, thrifting, fashion, cooking, gardening, and anything else that seems to fall under that heading.  I feel like these areas of interest do overlap, but one word to cover it all is escaping me right now.

Stay tuned.

My Crafty Life

January 24th, 2009 by Kiba | Posted in Crochet, General Craft | No Comments »

I haven’t been posting but I have been crafting.

For Halloween, I altered a shirt I found at Goodwill, as well as crocheting the Ladylike Lace Gloves from Stitch ‘N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker.

For the holidays, I accomplished the following projects:

1. Least Crafty – putting photos in an album for parents.

2. For my sister, I made the Ruffled Corset Belt from Stitch ‘N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker.  I also made her the Hot Cross Slouch Beret, which kind of matches the belt, from the Winter 2007 Interweave Crochet.

3. For my brother, I did my first freezer paper stencil ever.  I stenciled a black great white shark silhouette onto a turquoise t-shirt.  I was pretty sure he wouldn’t like it, but it was just a placeholder present anyway, as I’m actually getting him membership to an aquarium.  But he actually really liked it, and said that out of the articles of clothing he received for Christmas, it was the only one he’d wear willingly.

4. For my fiance, I continued my Chrono Trigger cross stitch coaster series.

I’m still working on a plaid scarf for a friend, and making the Short and Sweet from Stitch ‘N Bitch for myself.  I’m lengthening it considerably, as cropped things don’t look very good on my short-waisted self.  I really need to acquire a blocking board.

I’ve been experimenting with converting antique lace edging designs into chokers with pendants.  I’ve made two so far.  They’re quite lovely and a bit steampunk-y.  They need to be blocked as well.

I finished crocheting Fit to Be Tied from Stitch ‘N Bitch a while back, but have yet to line it and add the ribbon.

I finally finished my Jayne Cobb hat from Kim Werker’s design:

I also designed a hat called Wily Willow Charms, which will be getting its very own post in the near future.