Trying to shake the million dollar coffee habit

14 Mar 2011 Leave a comment

by katsmama in favorite things Tags: ,


Melitta Number 2.

John Prine has a song about a Vietnam-war-vet-heroin addict with a line that goes: “There’s a hole in Daddy’s arm, where all the money goes.” I’ve got a hole like that, but it’s for coffee. Starbucks coffee, usually.

The big reason I go to Starbucks is they haveperfected the art of the “third place” a place that isn’t work or home, but seperate. I can do work there, but don’t have to. There are no projects piling up, the dishes in the sink are washed immediately, the bathrooms are sparkly clean, it is a home that is much cleaner than home.

I spend a fortune there.

With Spring on it’s way (I’m on Spring Break now, and we’ve had so little snow all winter that I’m just going to count it as sprung already) I have decided that I will find someplace cheaper for my “third place.” We have a great sculpture park nearby, the library is close and free, and there’s always our own back patio. Free wifi…well, not free, since I do pay for that, but, you know.

Trash is another problem with buying coffee “out.” I occasionally bring my own cup, but usually forget, so there’s a cup, with a cardboard holder, and a plastic lid, and a bag for the lemon cake. I can be greener at home, I think.

The problem was coffee. I have a couple of French presses, but they are kind of a pain to clean. I have a big drip machine that I use for parties, but it takes up a lot of kitchen real estate. It lives in the basement most of the year.

I used to have a cone drip thingy, which makes really good, really fast coffee, but it didn’t survive a purge- maybe the last time we moved?

So, I went to the LKGE (local kitchen gadget emporium- it’s my own acronym) and found this adorable little one- person cone. $3.50. I’ll wait while you do the math. Yes, for the price of 2 regular drip coffees, I can make my own at home. I’ll have to buy coffee and cream of course, but I will still save money, and trips out to Starbucks can be reserved for special treats, rather than everyday guilt fests.

No longer the color of a band-aid

10 Mar 2011 Leave a comment

by katsmama in arts and crafts Tags: , ,


Before.

I’ve written before about a top I was knitting with some really cheap bamboo yarn that was a 

After.

 ghastly color. Gray, beige, greige…with a little pink thrown in. Maybe some of you thought, oh, just wait til summer, and when you get a tan, you’ll look better.

 Um. No. I’m pretty pale. Even in August, I just get pinkey-beige…greige, if we’re being honest..

So, since I can’t color myself, I figured I’d dye the sweater. There is a bit of risk in this – sure, maybe the yarn was a 2 dollar investment, but the time is a big deal. Spending a month of free time working on something I can’t wear is disappointing.

Each package of dye cost about $3. I only used one, but I wanted a back-up.

I doubled my investment with a packet of dark brown Dylon dye from the craft store. I chose it over Rit because I have used both before, and Dylon seems stronger- it dyes deeper and seems to last longer, too.
My concern with dying an already-knit item was that the knit stitches themselves would act like tie-dye, so it wouldn’t take up evenly. In this case, I didn’t need to worry- the color took really evenly, and it is even a bit darker than I expected. I love my new sweater!
Judging from some of the searches that have found me, people want to know if Kool Aid works for dying cottons or other vegetable fibers. As far as I know, no. I do know they will stain cottons, but I don’t think they will be colorfast on anything other than wools and silks. That is why I went with a packet of relatively toxic dye for this sweater, and why I didn’t let my kids help me with this project.

 I followed the directions on the package- I have an enamel roasting pan that I only use for dye. I used disposable spoons to stir with, I wore gloves, and I didn’t do it at a time when the kids would get underfoot. The dye is most toxic when in powder form- it is not something anyone wants to breath in.

I mixed the dye according to package directions, and did most of the dying outside.

 However, once it was mixed, I didn’t want the boy hopping through the kitchen and spilling a gallon of dark brown liquid. Yikes! can you even imagine?

I washed the sweater first, then left it wet and put it in the dye. The directions say to stir for 15 minutes then let it set for another 45. I kind of got distracted and left the pot on the back porch for over an hour. It may have done some longterm damage…but I can’t tell at this point. I’m really happy with the color, and can’t wait until it’s warm enough to wear it.

The Logee’s Catalogue

12 Feb 2011 Leave a comment

by katsmama in containers, gardening in containers, Uncategorized Tags: , ,


I am on so many plant mailing lists- they know a sucker discriminating plant buyer when they see one. www.logees.com Got a new one the other day, and on one hand, it drives me crazy, and on the other hand, I feel very want-y about,  like, 6 different items. Logee’s specializes in tropical and subtropical plants for containers and greenhouses. I crave almost everything in this thing.

What drives me crazy is the organization. Flipping through it, there are figs and citrus on this page, then blueberries and passionflower, then…more figs and citrus…then papaya and sugar cane, then…another page with figs. Then more citrus. OOh, vanilla! But I have researched this already, and to grow vanilla you need a 2 story greenhouse. (SOMEDAY!)

What tempts me is the Meyer lemon plant, at only $11.50. In most other catalogues, Meyer lemons run about $50. I realize it will be tiny, and I will have to wait many years for the sweet little aromatic lemons to grow to maturity. At this point in my life, though, I honestly do have more time than money.

Also tempted by a tea plant- imagine, I could grow my own tea!!! And a coffee plant- I could grow my own coffee!!! And papyrus- I could grow my own…Egyptian paper!!!

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

The Band-aid Colored Sweater

03 Feb 2011 Leave a comment

by katsmama in arts and crafts Tags: , ,


At the halfway mark of a top down sweater...

I have been cranking along, about an inch per day on this short sleeved sweater that I started last…maybe…August? Part of the problem is that I don’t love the color- on the ball it was kind of pinkish, but knit up, it is weirdly grey. Beige. Greige… is greige a color? Because that’s what this is.

I found the yarn, a very thin bamboo, at the Habitat thrift store, for 50 cents a ball. It is super soft, and who could resist that price?

I got the pattern from Knitting in the Sun- great book, that I have used for a couple of patterns. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_19?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=knitting+in+the+sun&sprefix=knitting+in+the+sunThe detail I love is the waist shaping- gradual ribbing. First 1 perl stitch for every 7, then 1 in 3, then 1 perl, 1 knit, then back up again. Love it. 

Waist shaping detail

 However, the detail is really a pain in the neck to knit. I am almost through with the pain in the neck part, and then there will be about another 6 inches of length. Ugh. Then the sleeves. The goal was to finish it in the month of January, but obviously that didn’t happen.

So maybe sometime by the end of February, I’ll have a weirdly colored sweater. Maybe I’ll dye it.

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