After the last firing I enlisted Craig in helping me replace the elements (electricity freaks me out). I watched the Clayshare video with guest star Drew from Clayscapes so I felt really prepared. The video is fantastic and bonus - they were replacing elements in the same kiln I have. When we opened up the kiln found an issue that was not talked about. Two of my terminals were cracked.




My initial hope was that it was just a superficial crack, but taking the screws out revealed - nope - cracked all the way through




Terminals aren't all that expensive, but I still have no idea what would cause two of them to be cracked. If you know - let me know!
While we had stuff open I checked the thermocouples because that's what Drew said to do in the video. They were in rough shape so before I placed my order I added them as well.
So between the elements, the terminals, and the thermocouples my kiln is getting like a $600 face lift. To be fair, I haven't had to do any kiln maintenance since I got my kiln and I've done almost 100 firings.




While I wait for the parts to arrive I still need to scrape down and re-kiln wash my shelves. Almost all of them have glaze drips after that last disastrous firing.

After the kiln didn't get to temp I didn't have high hopes, but oy this was worse than I was expecting. You'll remember from the last firing that I had a bunch of fern plates with Oribe that I wasn't happy with. Well refiring was not helpful. Three of them cracked, several ran onto my kiln shelf, and the rest still don't have the look I was going for. The only potential left is to practice my kintsugi.

Oribe issues aside - I messed up my egg tray. The red is too red, there was a color I thought was pink that's not and then one color that's just completely washed out. I think I might try to refire (ha I haven't learned) with a coat of something over it to see if I can make it better.
I'm really disappointed in the wave mugs too. I don't know what the Shadow Blue did at the bottom, but I'm worried that refiring would make them run onto the shelf. Maybe with a cookie under it? I don't know. I should probably just make new mugs.

Disappointing, just disappointing. Oh and wait till you hear about what happened when we went to replace the elements in tomorrow's post!

Ok let's start with a few that are good.

Colors for Earth Laurel Green and Maize 2167 Clear Over	Colors for Earth Cabernet, Laurel Green, and Maize with a hint of Florida Orange 2167 Clear Over
Spectrum Butter Yellow x3	Colors for Earth Cabernet, Red Geranium, Bright Violet, and Laurel Green 2167 Clear Over
Mayco Stroke and Coats Jack O Lantern, Sour Apple, Just Froggy, Java Bean	2167 Clear these are going to be little signs for my booth
Mayco Stroke and Coat many Stroke and Coats on the cacti (at least 5 greens), Fruit of the Vine Mayco Weeping Plum x3	Clayscapes Oribe - this is the one I am most happy with of all the leaves
Top Left: Amaco Weeping Plum x3 Top Right: Amaco Sky x3 Bottom: Spectrum Nori Green (this one is actually really disappointing, its just blah army green)	Top Left:Coyote Dragon's Eye x3 Top Right:Coyote Firefly Garden x3 Bottom Left: Amaco Deep Sienna Speckle x3 Bottom Right: Amaco Deep Olive Speckle x3
Mayco Black Fundamentals Wiped back Oribe x3

Ok so those were the good. Now let's talk about the meh. They aren't terrible, but I'm also just not exicted about them for various reasons.

50/50 gerstley borate and iron oxide, Clayscapes Oribe....these are just a little streaky	Amaco Marigold x3 - in some of the texture there are little holes on the outside
50/50 gerstley borate and iron oxide, Clayscapes Oribe....just a little streaky	Iron Oxide wiped back Amaco Jade x3, not bad just meh
Mayco Black Fundamentals Wiped back Oribe x3 - these just don't pop	Mayco Black Fundamentals Wiped back Oribe x3 - in the one on the right there is a white spot on the top. I'm not sure what it is
Oribe on all of them, two also have the 50/50 gerstley borate and iron oxide wash...meh no pop	50/50 gerstley borate and iron oxide, Clayscapes Oribe....just a little streaky
50/50 gerstley borate and iron oxide, Clayscapes Oribe....more streaks	Various Colors for Earth...this isn't bad just not really my taste

And then there is the bad

50/50 gerstley borate and iron oxide, Clayscapes Oribe....BROKEN	50/50 gerstley borate and iron oxide, Clayscapes Oribe....CRACK
50/50 gerstley borate and iron oxide, Clayscapes Oribe....Double CRACK	50/50 gerstley borate and iron oxide, Clayscapes Oribe....ran onto the shelf and it spat
Colors for Earth Red Geranium, Cranberry, Bright Violet and something else 2167 clear over This is just bad glazing. I might try to add a glaze on top	Clayscapes shadow blue....no clue what's going on at the bottom, one of the handles shivered. I don't know if I can reglaze these without it running on the shelf
Black wiped back Clayscapes Oribe....ran onto the shelf

Ok so the glazing doesn't work, but the sizing is perfect

So I'm a little worried about what's in this kiln. When I was watching the last few minutes waiting to turn off the fan I noticed that the temp was only 2138 and not 2167 like it should be. I knew that I was getting close on my kiln elements, but thought I had another couple of firings before I had to change them out.


Mostly it looks ok, but the two fern plates don't have the usual bluish tint to the oribe. The egg tray is Spectrum's Nori Green and it didn't break over the texture the way it should. I'll have to look closer when I can actually unload the kiln. I am really liking the yellow on the coaster though. That's a new glaze from Spectrum - Butter Yellow.

I couldn't really see the cone pack in the picture so I decided to pull it out. Things you should not do - pull the kiln back out with your bare hands when the kiln is still 300 degrees. I have a nice blister on my thumb. The top definitely didn't get quite to cone 5. I'll likely have to refire a number of things in here :( The good news is that the new kiln elements have arrived so it's just a matter of replacing them. Definitely enlisting Craig's help - I don't do anything eletric.

I purchased some Turin yarn at Hobby Lobby while it was on clearance in Antique Rose. They only had 3 skeins and I bought them all. I had pinned this Chunky Cabled Throw from All About Ami and I've wanted to make it for a while.


I started making the blanked and I assumed I'd just be able to get more yarn, even if it was at full price. Except that when I went online to look for it - it told me it was sold out and on clearance. Then the next day it was gone entirely. I googled for it and found that there were 5 skeins was available on Etsy from Carolynique. Initially when I put it in my cart the shipping was exhorbitant, but I messaged Carolynique and we worked out exact shipping which enabled me to finish.




I don't want to write a pattern because I mostly followed the one from All About Ami. I did want to make it longer so I modified it slightly. My pattern has 2 fp dc sections on either side instead of one to begin and I have 5 cable sections instead of 3. If you see a pattern you like, but its not quite what you had in mind - alter it. I wrote the pattern out on paper and then figured out how many stitches I needed to cast on with my updated pattern.




I had never done cabled before because I thought they'd be a little daunting, but it was so easy. It's basically just 3 repeating rows. All About Ami has amazing pictures with detailed instructions on how to do them.




Side view of the cables.









I did change up the edging from the pattern. For my blanket I hdc one row around the edge. In the corners I did 2 hdc, ch 2, 2 hdc. For the second row I did hdc, ch 1, sk st all the way around (using the same corners as the last row). For the last row I did a picot. Initially I did a 3 ch picot, but I got to the last side and was going to run out of yarn (fail at yarn chicken). I really liked the way it look so I modified it to be a ch 2 picot and was able to finish with just a bit to spare. This took 8 skeins of the Turin yarn. I don't know if Hobby Lobby will bring it back, but the skeins were a super bulky 270 yards. I used a 10 mm hook for the whole thing.

I've been making all these planters and most of the ones from my first batch were for plants I had purchased that needed a home. I have one more pot I need to glaze and more succulants waiting to be potted in it.


First up is my Rat Tailed Cactus in it's new hanging planter. All of these plants are in my office. This one will eventually (hopefully) bloom really pretty red or pink flowers. It needs a lot of light so I hung it in a window that gets a lot of direct sunlight.




Next is a Gryphon Begonia that I got at the Belle Aire Market from my neighbor Moonlit Moss. I love how the grey pot lets the plant shine.




Last, but not least are all my other cacti. On the far left are Lithops Live Rocks, next to it is Haworthia. My Philodendron has been in my office for a while, but I think might actually be time for a repot as it climbs up the wall. Last on the right is Crassula Baby's Necklace.

I got this yarn at the Maryland Sheep and Wool. It is was a show colorway from Kim Dyes Yarn. I bought 3 skeins - or at least I thought I did. I accidentally bought 2 skeins in a fingering weight and only 1 in the Brioche DK. When I got home and was looking at what I bought I realized my mistake. I contacted Kim and she sent me 2 skeins of the DK so that I would have 3. I haven't figured out yet what I'm going to make with the 2 skeins of fingering, but I know it's going to be gorgeous - because this yarn is gorgeous! It's inspired by Monet's water lilies.

This pattern uses a lot of yarn for the shells. Normally a shirt like this only takes 2 skeins, but this one used almost all of the 3.


Use a 5.5 mm hook
Stitches:
ch - chain
sk st - skip stitch
sc - single crochet
dc - double crochet
shell - 5 dc in the next ch 3 space




The pattern works with a cast on in multiples of 5 + 2. I cast on 72. I wanted this top to be a bit wider so that I could make the sleeves capped.
Row 1: Sc in the 2nd chain from the hook, sc in the next ch, * ch 3, sk 2 ch, sc, sc, sc. Repeat from * across. The last stitch will be a single sc
Row 2: Ch 1, sc in the first sc, * sk next sc, shell (5 dc in the chain space), sk next sc, sc in the next sc. Repeat from * across ending with a sc.
Row 3: Ch 3, sk next dc, * sc in the next 3 dc, ch 3, sk the first dc, sc in the next 3 dc, ch 3 and sk the last dc. Repeat from * across. At the end of the last shell ch 1, hdc in the last stitch.
Row 4: Ch 3, 2 dc in the first ch 1 space, * sk next sc, shell. Repeat from * across, for the last shell only do 3 dc in the turning chain.
Row 5: Ch 1, sc in the frist dc, sc in the next dc, * ch 3, sk next (dc, sc, dc), sc in the next 3 dc. Repeat from * across ending with the ch 3 and then dc in th e last 2 stitches.
Repeat rows 2-5 until you get to your desired length. I made mine 19 rows. Make 2 panels




Sew from the shoulder to the neck hole. I made my neck hole 11 inches wide.
Now for the sides. I wanted there to be some capped sleeves, but I didn't exactly know how to do it so I played with it until I figured out a way that I liked.
First make sure that the top is turned right side out. You're going to pin from the shoulder down how big you want your arm hole (mine is 8 inches) and then an inch in from the edge. Start sewing from that inch in and move to the edge. When you get to the edge flip the top inside out and then sew the seam normally. I left about 2 inches at the bottom unsewed because I like that look.