Quickly now, since I’ve got something to do on a deadline that I forgot all about. I constantly speak to Joe about the advantages of reading the family calendar that hangs in the kitchen so that he can know what’s going on around here and damn if I shouldn’t have taken my own advice. Especially before the bank guy showed up at my house for an appointment and a rather surprised me had to have a conversation with him in a dirty living room, bra-less and unwashed. Idiot. I’m sure I made a grand impression. (The only good news there is that I only had to move two knitting projects for him to have room to put his papers on the table. Could have been worse.) After he left I checked that calendar and …well. I’ve got things to do.
Here is me on the TV yesterday, not looking like too much of an odd duck.
(My hand is up in that twit-like manner because I am knitting, which sort of looks less elegant than I imagined it would.) I managed to be mostly coherent (I stumbled once or twice, which isn’t too bad considering the rising gorge of my own terror screaming in my head.) I watched the tivo of it and I seem incredibly dorky to myself, but Joe’s mum said I was good and the girls didn’t refuse to go to school today, so the dork must be something only I can see.
Here is the almost finished phase of the eggs…
after they have been through all of their dyebaths, including the final black. You can see that they are quite dingy, with all the wax clinging to them.
Here is me melting the wax off the finished eggs.
You hold the egg near (but not in) the flame of a candle long enough for the wax to melt, but not so long that the egg inside begins to cook, since the final step is poking holes in the eggs and blowing out the contents. I have very good evidence that you can practically burst a lung trying to blow cooked egg out of a wee hole. As the wax melts in a little area, you wipe it off. The final sheen of wax is removed with lighter fluid, which…in a miracle of chemistry I don’t understand at all, leaves behind the dye, but also removes the original pencil lines UNDER the dye.
Here is the very, very nearly finished eggs…
These have now had the wax and pencil removed and a thin layer of oil based urethane rubbed on. (Tip: you’re going to want gloves for that part. Really.) Now all that remains is to poke holes in the tops and bottoms and blow the contents out. (That’s a grand opportunity to break them.) When they are dry inside I’ll affix a ribbon or some such and the will be personalized ornaments for the tree. (Um. Next years tree. Running a little behind.) Nifty…yes?
Here is the yoga mat bag.
Just a few centimetres to go. It’s the one from Knit Wit, and in the original pattern was knit in stripes out a bazillion colours of Mission Falls 1824 cotton. (You can see it on the cover of the book if you click. I had A) no burning desire to knit cotton, it bugs my hands. 2) No burning need to weave in so many ends that you would be ill to think of it. and C) No Mission Falls cotton. My cop-out knock off (adapted to knit flat.) is being knit in Noro Kuryon, to almost the same effect. The straightforward back and forth of stockinette on straight needles is the perfect counterpoint to bugging my eyes out by candlelight working on the eggs.
Here is… Well there’s no picture, but here’s me whipping off to move my knitting off the dining room table and maximize the professionalism of the next appointment. What the heck, I may even go look for my bra.
I love the eggs!
No bra. I love it. There is nothing quite like hanging out when unexpected company comes!
Your Pysanky eggs are beautiful! Very inspiring, I haven’t made any for years, but perhaps I will try some for Easter.
I’m sure the television thing was just great. Wish I could get to see it.
Oh my god — only one comment! Is there a link to hear the fabulous you being interviewed? And -where can you find the tools and steps for the egg-making? I remember my one gran speaking of making ‘Russian’ eggs — but never knew how or what they were, until now. And I’m filled with a desire to make them . . .
The TV interview was great, too bad the CBC website doesn’t have it posted so it could be replayed. Maybe someone could get it up on You Tube?
Actually Steph, your knitting process is really cool. It’s why I kept starting at your hands as you knit.
Your hair looks really good!
Ok – those eggs are so gorgous that it almost makes me want to make some. But then you had to go and spoil it by detailing how much work they are, and that nipped it in the bud. I’ll just admire yours. 🙂
I second Kristen’s idea – You Tube
Receiving bank official braless — perfectly reasonable. (He should not be noticing — if he does, more shame he.)
Rewriting a pattern from circular to flat — a perversion only comprable to some action involving Great Danes, silk scarves, thumbs and custard.
And bagpipes.
Nah — don’t worry about the bra.
i love the eggs, they are beautiful.
You (and your hair) look great, the eggs are fantastic, and that Noro is really picking up the color of the yoga mat. Well done!
Mr. Beth doesn’t read the family calendar either. He prefers to tell me about important dates and events when I’m nowhere near it and can’t write them down, or ask me what’s on it when he could take two steps and read it for himself.
The easiest way I found to blow an egg is make only one hole and use a needle and syringe (the longer the needle the better. You can get them at a feed store). The hole needs to be larger in diameter than the needle so the egg can come out while the needle is in. First use the needle to break the yoke and stir up the egg to “scramble” it. Fill the syringe with air, hold the egg with the hole at the bottom, then inject the air into the egg. You will have to do this several times always keeping the hole at the bottom so the egg contents will keep the air from escaping.
I used this method on an emu egg after about giving myself a stroke trying to blow it.
Good luck.
Tammy in Oregon
The eggs are lovely! You know, my mother used to make them and after blowing out a lung or two just…stopped doing that part. The whole eggs can sit, undisturbed, for years–the contents will eventually dry up and no one will be the wiser. The eggs are a little less fragile this way, too. Of course, if they do break during that drying-out period, that could be nasty–but Mom’s never did, really. Of course she wasn’t trying to hang hers on a tree…I’m trying to figure out how you’d hang them if there wasn’t a little hole at the top, but I’m sure there’s some way, probably involving superglue.
I just read Knitting Rules over the holidays. In the chapter about shawls you wonder what a triangle without a point would be called. It is a trapezoid. I doubt I’m the first person to tell you this, but now you know. I think it would make a nice shape for a shawl. A knitter could keep the nice, drapey points over the shoulders while eliminating the gigantic arrow pointing at the rear.
That chapter made me want to knit a lace shawl. I am waiting for the urge to wear off.
Don’t you knit sweaters just so you don’t have to have any guilt about not wearing a bra? Maybe that’s just me….
Beautiful knitting. Beautiful eggs. Beautiful you! I want to hear that interview, dammit!!!
WOW…just WOW. (Bras for smallish people like yourself are overrated. Me without a bra? That’s just wrong.)
Another vote for YouTube, from another non-Canadian 🙂
We are very lucky to have several of my husband’s grandmother’s beautiful eggs. So much work. Ever since we had children, they’ve moved up to the top shelf in the china cabinet! How they’ve survived 50-something years without being cracked is beyond me. Nice job on yours, Steph!
Those eggs are completely gorgeous. So I have this question – why don’t you blow the egg guts out first, so you don’t have to kill yourself after you shatter a completely beautiful piece of work?
well, I think you look great on TV! I would also like to see the interview if it’s ever available. Do you know when your Knitty Gritty will be on (or did I miss it?) also – where are you in the count for MSF? I love watching the number grow. We here at this house can also relate to people showing up unexpectedly (even when scheduled) and finding the place in complete disorder. Oh well! go knit and forget about it.
*chuckles*
the eggs are lovely (but everyone else has/will say that). personally, i liked them better in the last post with light colors…but that’s me. 😉
*chants*
youtube youtube
youtube youtube
youtube youtube
youtube youtube
youtube youtube
youtube youtube
youtube youtube
youtube youtube
youtube youtube
youtube youtube
youtube youtube
please?
Dude! In this day and age – you need to quit teasing us and upload to YouTube already!
Wish I could see them in person–as it is, I’m nearly ready to go try to paint eggs myself, which would be a first. Yours are gorgeous.
Ah, yes…braless for unexpected company…been there TOO many times. I even had an incident last week at work. A workman came in to help with the wiring istallation and when I went to scratch my back, I managed to unhook my bra in the process! Needless to say I was thrilled that was a sweatshirt day!
The eggs are gorgeous and I love the Noro for the bag. From the few times I’ve been on TV, you always feel like you were a dork despite what everyone tells you. Of course my appearances were due to me being an athlete, so everyone assumes that you’ll say something dumb anyways ;oP
Those eggs would make me not only blind, but nervous as heck — I’d be so afraid of spending all that time and effort and then breaking one! Hope the recipients appreciate all the work you’ve put in. 🙂
As for getting caught by surprise guests, been there, done that! At least you were dressed. Usually I’m in my robe without having even combed my hair. If I don’t know someone’s coming, I just stay comfortable! The worst was when I fell and broke my ankle and had to call 911. Paramedics and firemen showed up and here’s me in nothing but my robe lying on the floor with a broken ankle. Great. Now there are a bunch of good-looking guys in my house and THIS is how I receive them??! ACK! Oh well, such is life!
Just something my Gran told me about blowing eggs: take a syringe with needle and blow air into the egg before using your lungs or a small (SMALL!!) sports ball inflator pump.
the eggs are breathtakingly beautiful. I hope they last forever.
(have you seen the wonderful [b]knitted[/b] ornaments in Debbie New’s book [b][u]Unexpected Knitting[/u][/b]?)
Perhaps your wonderful Personal Geek can move the interview from Tivo to You Tube for us non-tv-owning Americans? I’d love to see it!
When we did very simple eggs as kids, we always blew out the contents first, let them dry, then dyed them. The syringe idea sounds really interesting, but how do you clean the syringe afterward? I think I’d probably make two holes and try to use the syringe as a blower.
No bra? Who would notice??
i made an egg with that technique for my daughter rory about 5 years ago, but it wasn’t nearly as fancy. can you send her the one that you made? i think she’d like it!
your eggs are just beautiful.
I must admit, I too have missed to check the calendar. Imagine my surprise when the dentist called wondering when my Meg was. Apparently I had sent her out of state without checking the calendar (I may have been braless when he called, but I don’t think it applies here). And I also vote UTUBE!
I’m hoping also that you will post to YouTube. You hair looked great. I’m in awe of the eggs. I’ve made them myself. Are you Ukranian, Czech, Russian?
Thanks for the step-by-steps on the egg dyeing! (I always thought you were supposed to blow out the insides before the dying process though… is it easier to dye them beforehand? Probably less fragile…)
Forget about the surprise visiter–you look FABULOUS on TV! The hair couldn’t be better . . . primo hair day. I do hope you said “arse” at least once, and that I will get to hear it on youtube. Meanwhile, Noro good, eggs unbelievable (I’m going blind just thinking about it) and sidebar tally–Woo Hoo!
I have a small tool from Germany that makes blowing eggs very simple. You drill a small hole in one end of the egg, insert a hand pump and the egg comes out. Beautiful egg, one hole, brains remain intact. ( I purchased it from a toy store in Berkley, Ca)
Stephanie, love. Blow the contents of the eggs out FIRST….then if a shell breaks, it’s blank, and no work is lost.
LOVE the eggs.
I have always blown the eggs out before the wax and dyeing. The dyes that I use are non-foodgrade so I can’t use the insides if I don’t blow them out first.
Also I have a really nifty egg blower that you only need to poke 1 hole in the egg and it has it own wee hand pump so that you don’t have to blow your brains out.
Glad that the yoga bag is coming together this time for you.
BTW you looked great on tv.
My sister and I waited all through Newsworld from 10:30 on yesterday morning, and were so pleased to see your news piece! And we were just marvelling at how fast your knitting really goes. I think we took a collective gulp and looked down at the socks in our hands and wondered if we will ever manage to reach such speeds.
You did the knitting community proud! It was a great (although too short, darn the real news for taking over) interview.
The eggs are amazing.
I’ll add my “WOW”! and say that I thought we had the only Quinn in the world (in the person of my nephew’s wee lad). I have eggs made by my sister-in-law and they’re heavy, so I suspect hard-boiled. They’re in the MacIntyre (glass-front bookcase) for looking only. I think you look adorable on the TV screen, but then I think you’re adorable.
My breasts are also born to be free. If they need more adequate cover on extremely short notice, I put on a sweatshirt.
You look divine on the TV. You look like you’re gesturing to make a very important point.
The eggs are very cool. Have they been stored in the fridge this whole time? I hope so or you could have some extra problems to worry about.
I feel your pain. People arriving at door in T-minus 15 minutes. Ack. And yet, somehow I still took time to read the Harlot… priorities.
Oh you look so cute on TV! Almost as cute as in person. I bet the bank guy has seen some pretty “odd” things if he does house calls. The handy man at a place we lived told me about a women who came to the door naked every time he came over one day after I welt like a crappy mom for having a messy house when he was there fixing something. Don’t worry about it… nice eggs, you can use a little squirter to blow them out, or a med dropper with a small end. Saves you from passing out on the floor. (go a head ask me how I know)
You know you knit when you can see the ball winder in the back groud of a picture. 🙂
This post reminds me of my grandmother, Virgie. She was always braless around the house and when someone came over to take her shopping she had to find her brassiere. Apparently, when she took it off she often hung it on a doorknob – behind the door. But not the same doorknob, so shopping trips started with helping her find where she’d left her brassiere.
OMG, Cindy’s comment (hanging out with company) has me howling like a ticklish banshee, and in the office yet. On winter weekends I often dispense with the bra entirely, swaddled as I am in fleecy layers. I knew there had to be some upside to an A cup.
I’ve blown eggs, and you are right about the lung power. I don’t know that I could stand to put an egg I had worked that hard and skillfully on into such peril. This is probably why I will never be a great artist. (Well, that and lack of talent.)
The little egg blowing tool is available from the all-natural type toy sellers…I got some at my kids’ Waldorf school store…places like http://www.hearthshearthsong.com still sell them. (it’s called egg blower)
http://www.allthingsukrainian.com/Class/Blow_Egg/Egg_Blower.htm
also has them.
With this tool, the dangers of crushing it while blowing drop DRAMATICALLY.
Ok, I’ll bite. Why did you adapt the yoga bag to be knit flat? I can’t think of one good reason. Though that doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist.
Reality finally sinks in. First it was the knitting, but what the hey, it’s your job. Then it was the cool cooking, but ok, you have a family, someone needs to. Then it was the really pretty eggs (showing, also, that you can draw), and now the final blow: no one really knits a yoga mat unless they actually take yoga. seriously.
Is sleep an option?
Holy Cow, those eggs look amazing! That’s incredibly cool. Is this a family tradition or something you just do once in a while?
You look great on the TV, I wish that I lived in Canada…or had cable…or TiVo…or whatever would enable me to watch you on TV. I’m sure you were elegant in the eyes of the world!
The eggs are incredible! Better late than never. I think your version of the Yoga Mat Bag is probably way easier anyway, you rebel you. Wish I could have caught you on TV!
Hand, schmand, lookit that gorgeous smile! A few stumbles don’t matter, either; c’mon, even the pros do it. (I mean geesh, just look at a Charlie Rose interview sometime.) Besides, there’s that big, honkin’ lovely KWF proudly splashed across the screen – woohoo!
Thanks much for more process pix of the eggs; gorgeous and fascinating. Although I’ll stick to jewelry for doing things with fiddly liddle details. 😉 And hurray for getting the yoga bag to submit! (Rams – I’m a committed circular knitter, and I can see the problem with the Great Dane, but how can one *possibly* have any objection to silk scarves, thumbs, custard and bagpipes?? Especially the bagpipes.)
your bag looks much better than the one on the cover btw.
much brighter.
anyway you look good on that picture box thingie with the talking heads:)
congrats steph! and i agree with someone earlier
youtube youtube!
The eggs are *beautiful*.
LaurieM, there IS no good reason. My bet is it’s just because she doesn’t like circular needles.
Stephanie your eggs are just LOVELY. there is a store at 2282 Bloor St W. called West Arka that I ordered my dyes and kistkas from .They are MOST accomodating and they have little do dads ( I don’t know what they are called ) to put on the finished egg so you hang them. I don’t know if I’m allowed to mention store names on here or not so if this comment doesn’t show I’ll understand. Go to the store if you can they had a goose egg that was done in a glass case and it was mind boggling. worth the trip just to see it. IF they still have it. they also have egg blower dooys (don’t know what they are called either but they do) LOVE the bright colurs for the bag. Again GOOD for you on CBC you were GREAT
The eggs are beautiful!
Hey- which colorway of Noro are you using on that yoga mat bag? I like that one- generally I shy away from Noro, because there’s always at least one really nasty color lurking in the middle of the ball (and invisible from the outside), which I know I will have to pull out and discard…
Having never blown an egg, I can give no advice, except maybe to have a drink nearby in case you accidentally ingest a little raw egg. The eggs are looking quite intricately beautiful. Who are Quinn & Rory?
BTW, my booga bag is made with Noro Kureyon. It holds up very well.
The eggs are gorgeous. I may have to try that myself.
Something I have noticed over the years: you are much more aware of being bra-less than anyone else is of your bra-less state. Nobody else ever even notices when I am, and my girls are not exactly small. I don’t know about you, but I blame my inability to be bra-less in front of other people without hunching over on my mother, who grounded me often when I was in my rebelious “not gonna wear a bra because they itch” days in middle school. Wow, that was a mouthful.
Those eggs are absolutely beautiful.
I have a remedy for the braless issues…I’ve switched to camisoles. Of course, then I have the issue of only wearing a camisole (and pants) when the mailman/maintenance man comes to the door. I guess that’s the trade-off.
the eggs are absolutely stunning. love love love.
Bras are overrated (unless you are nursing–then they are only good for holding the nursing pad in place)
Eggs. . . cool! I used to have one that wasn’t blown out. It rattled.
TV: also cool.
The banker: He just wants your business.
Am I the only one wondering if going bra-less for the bank guy results in a more favourable interest rate?
I’m assuming you didn’t say arse on live television. Arse. I had my fingers crossed for that!
Very pretty eggs. I’ve always wanted to try that; but like I need another hobby. Please post the url for your interview if it goes to youtube or similar.
Those eggs are stunning! I remember making those when I was little, but mine weren’t so elegant (of course). Also, we blew the eggs clean before dying them. Perhaps the grownups encouraged this so they could see us laugh at a burst egg and not cry over a broken creation.
I have to add my voice to all of those who say they blow out the eggs as the first step. Doesn’t mean it is the “right” way to do pysanky (just like there are 1001 “right” ways to make borshch!), but would make life a bit less stressful. At any rate, they are stunning–light years beyond anything I ever created!
Well I’m sending a note to the cbc asking them to put the clip on the website. Braless wouldn’t worry me however you saying you need to find it would, my luck the banker would be sitting on it.
The eggs are beautiful. So is the yoga bag. I had zero interest in knitting the original, but that one is tempting. I suppose I should take up yoga and buy a mat before knitting the bad though.
Your bank person comes to your house??!! My bank get cranky if they have to stay open later than 3pm on a Wednesday.
If you don’t blow the egg yolk out, eventually it just dries up. The egg will ratttle but that’s kind of cool.
Your eggs are lovely, thank you for sharing!
Must be your inner dork. No manifestation of your outer dork while at Full Thread Ahead in Los Altos.
huh – go figure. I just googled Knitters Without Borders, hoping I might find your stellar TV appearance, and instead, what do I find? You have a Wikipedia entry! I’m SO impressed! I know someone who is a Wikipedia entry! That totally cracks me up!
The eggs are gorgeous! But they seem awfully fiddly to me (sort of like working a bazillion cables in cotton on a sweater for child who will probably grow out of it before it’s finished). I hope that the blowing out of the egg innards goes well and no eggs break.
Under the category of things that sound dirty that aren’t:
1. “I have very good evidence that you can practically burst a lung trying to blow cooked egg out of a wee hole.”
2. “Kiwis spin dirty wool.”
I can’t wait to see the finished eggs as well as the finished yoga mat bag. Off to spin!
Why do you wait until after the eggs are finished being coloured before blowing out the insides? When I do egg dying, I normally blow out the insides as the first step, and then put a small dab of sealing wax over the hole on either side to keep the dye from getting inside the egg.
The eggs are beautiful. And that video totally needs to be loaded to YouTube…your public extends much farther than the CBC!
I wish I didn’t need to wear a bra everyday but lately I find I need the support or there are sore.
I love those eggs.
Look forward to seeing you tomorrow.
You know it’s funny I thought the eggs were done the last time and I didn’t really like them although I was impressed with the ability to only break two.
Now I like them. No, really, I like them a LOT. I just can’t imagine making them myself (I would break six before you could blink)
We always hung ours at Easter, on fresh green willow branches. And I vote for YouTube as well.
You know you read too much Harlot when she begins sneaking into your dreams. You were a very omnipresent character in a dream I had last night.. a normal day, but each time I picked up knitting you appeared. Very strange. I hope you’re not encoding your blog with subliminal messages to control our brains- though it would explain the TSF total. 😉
Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease…you tube. Please? I wanna see it.
Is there a way to get the interview onto Google Video or YouTube? I know nothing about Tivo.
A number of years ago I visited Vegreville, Alberta… home of the world’s largest Pysanky. I talked to a lady who taught classes and sold incredibly beautiful eggs. She told me that she never blows out the egg when she’s finished. She just leaves it out (not in the fridge) and it dries out. She showed me what she meant when she shook an older egg. It sounded like there was a little pea inside.
I love your eggs. I have all of my supplies and now, thanks to your blog, they are once again calling my name!
Ooh, I’d love to watch that on YouTube! (Although I’m not sure you’d want us to 😉
Lovely eggs, and the yoga mat bag is coming along nicely too!
I think I still own a bra. Somewhere. Not worth hunting it down, as after all these years it can’t possibly still be capable of fulfilling its intended function. If it hasn’t already rotted away to nothing in the Land of Lost Laundry it is welcome to do so in peace, for all I care.
*Gasp!*
The eggs are gorgeous! When you blow the eggs, remember to break the yolk with a toothpick. I always forget that until I pop out a quarter-size piece of shell. And those eggs are too pretty to break!
Just my 2 cents here, but when we would decorate eggs to be kept (*FAR* Less extravagent may I add) we would do the blowing out first…
Download that file from TiVo and post it on YouTube… please, please!
Wow, the eggs look beautiful! I’ve always seen photos and wondered if real people could ever actually do them. If people don’t like them as gifts, you should tell them there are plenty of other people who would love such a gift. The yoga mat bag is coming along, yay!
Bras are WAY overrated. So is being bathed and civilized-looking when a banker comes to your house (did you actually invite him?).
The eggs are tres’ cool. She knits AND does Ukranian eggs, sheesh! The eggs actually require artistic ability…..way beyond me!
First, I’m amazed and delighted at how many of your readers make/have made pysanky. Wonder why. I wonder if there’s a connection between making pysanky and knitting with fine yarn or knitting lace. Hmmmm…
There are all sorts of ways of dealing with the egg in the egg, if you know what I mean. There are don’t-blow-it folk, blow-it-before-and-leave-the-holes-open folk, blow-and-seal-the-holes folk and blow-after-it’s-done folk. I belong to the last group. If you blow before and leave the holes open, the egg fills with dye each time, leading to the risk of “polluting” the dyes and perhaps dye bleed-through. If you do close the holes, the egg floats in the dye unless you hold it under. Tried that, had lines on the egg. If you don’t blow it, there is a risk of stink-bombing the home where it breaks.
I have tried using a syringe, like Tammy suggested. The biggest blowout I’ve ever had was using that method – a gazillion little shattered pieces of dyed egg. I almost cried. I have the little yellow bellows device mentioned several times. It’s the neatest thing since sliced bread. But I don’t use their drill; I use an electric drill and a fine drill bit. I hold the egg in my left hand and brace the drill against my left arm for stability. Never had any problems. Practice might be a good thing.
To all who have said pysanky are too fiddly, SO’S KNITTING!!! Knitting doesn’t seem fiddly to us, but we started simply and got more complex. Same with pysanky. Never know till you try. The Ukranian shop mentioned is most likely a good source of information on how-to. Give it a whirl. I’m almost digging out my stuff, but in recent years I’ve developed a tremor in my right hand. It pretty well puts me out of the running. [sniff, whimper] But it’s a great craft and I still love it.
My gram always used a hair dryer with a really wide rubber band on the end of the hose to blow out the eggs she decorated. The rubber band creates a seal between the hose and the egg.
Is there anyway us Yanks can see your tv spot? Will it be on You Tube or anything? Congratulations on getting the word out about TSF (knitters are beginning to take over the world, no?).
And I love the eggs.
My mom used to leave the eggs unblown, and nothing much happened. If you blow them before dying, you can seal the hole with wax, but then you have to find a way to keep them submerged in the dyebath. There was also a tip that she told me once about dying the eggs orange in-between dying dark colors–like you’d dye the egg green, put on wax, dye it orange, let it dry, then dye it purple. I think it kept the colors brighter? Does the urethane that you used seal the egg? At one time, my mom used polyurethane as a top coat, but that turned a dingy brown as it aged.
In high school we used to make Ukranian eggs in Russian class, around Easter. We didn’t blow them or anything and at this point the ones my mom saved don’t have anything left inside.
Of course, if you want to use them on the tree next year, it’s probably not a good idea to just let them drain on their own.
Your eggs are unbelievable. Your creativity never ceases to be amazing! How you have the time, the patience, the creative juices to undertake all the projects you do is beyond the limits of human stamina! You are indeed a goddess, perhaps a goddess from another planet at that! You are my idol. And, remember that goddesses and idols are never required to keep dining room tables empty of their achievements or works in progress!
Wow! You blew the eggs AFTER you decorated them???
You are one gutsy woman. We blow first since God forbid we should spend all that time decorating only to have the damn things break. Truly you are brave.
My family will suck their breath in sharply in collective fear when I tell them this.
Those eggs are amazing. Beyond beautiful. The complexity and old-world quality of the designs are entrancing. And now, I’m going to have to go get a book and learn how to do it. Just amazing.
I’m assuming there is one egg for each of your children. How lovely. Do they appreciate you??? And please, how can those of us poor benighted ones unfortunate enough to live in the USA see your TV spot? as far as I could see you looked great, and remembered to wear a bra to the studio – that’s the main thing!
Those eggs are amazing! Too beautiful for words! Why don’t you blow the egg out of them before you do all the work?
Oh Ken, be still my beating heart, you are going to do this….youtube…..thank you thank you thank you. dude. I know you’ll figure this out.
Now, Stephanie, that ‘still’ you have posted of yourself….beautiful, what a glorious smile, jeeze you look to be 20something…
Beautiful eggs.
The eggs are really beautiful–but then, I knew they would be! I think you could totally pull off the egg harlot thing! Congratulations on being on TV, would have loved to see it.
The eggs look gorgeous! I have never attempted anything like that before…though I have blown out the insides of raw eggs to dip the shells in dye…or after painting them…nothing as extravagant and beautiful as yours though!
Oh my, those eggs are gorgeous. You are just a multi-talented woman!
If you plan a couple months ahead of time, each time you have scrambled eggs you blow them out instead of breaking them, and you save all the intact shells in a basket. Then when you are ready for decorating, you have a bunch ready to go. I have always done this for Easter, but never anything as elaborate as Pysanky.
By the way, I’ve seen you in person, and I think you have nice hair. There is no need to complain about it.
Dolly
The eggs are just amazing! Best of luck getting the eggs out of the shells. (I doubt I could do it without ruining the masterpiece!) LOL
You are not a dork. I was pleased to hear you speak for the first time in my experience.
It bears repeating: you are not a dork. Or if you are, we all are, for being knitters. If that’s the case, I’m OK with it.
Don’t blow the eggs. If you leave them (safely IN something,maybe the carton) in the back of the fridge, they eventually dry out. Just not in airtight plastic.
Brilliant! Everything is just brilliant!
When you make artwork like that, who the heck needs a bra.
*
*
*
*
Yeah, I don’t know what that means, either.
The eggs look great! My craft group makes some like it every year, but we blow them out first. Why do you wait until the end? That would scare me.
We use a little device with a tiny plastic bellows to blow them out, too…
I really like the eggs. I don’t understand why not blow out the content before doing all those complicated steps?
I sent an email to cbc.ca, too. I have a tivo, but it’s one of the old ones that doesn’t work in canada, and I’m living with my in-laws, and they’re less than cooperative or encouraging when it comes to technology.
The eggs look gorgeous! And you like great for your news debut! 🙂
The yoga mat is lovely, the interview was fabulous, and the eggs have me speechless. I would try, but anything involving me using lighter fluid and lit candles in the same day might void my renter’s insurance.
What? 117 comments and no-one has uploaded the interview to YouTube yet?
I didn’t even search the comments for a link, I just headed over there, blithely thinking that a force which can raise $150K in fifteen minutes, would surely have magicked a news report onto YouTube by now.
C’mon we must have some Canadian techo-knitter who happens to have a TV-card, a You-Tube account and was recording TV at precisely the right moment, in the crowd…non?
(sorry, posted this to the wrong day, first)
I hate having appointments in my home!
I was interviewing real estate agents, and my cat decided to wizz in the corner of the dining room. About 6 feet away from the agent.
Why, I never know, but I think it was the same week I switched them to diet kibble.
love those eggs, knitting writting and egg decorating, very cool. Me – I’m a slow reader and have only just caught up with the ‘knitting rules’ book, in that you mention it being hard to remember the side womens or mens garments do up on. This is a neat trick I was taught and teach my students, WOMEN ARE ALWAYS RIGHT ! (meaning the button always go on the right for a woman).
Did a bit of clothing history in my study and was told that the right left thing wasn’t so important until mass production hit in the late 19thC.
The photo of the candle melting the wax off of the egg is just magical. Very beautiful artwork!
And congrats on the Knitters without Borders interview.
hi:)
what color is that Noro ( yoga mat)>?
thanx
peace&blessings
mary~
You are amazing and quite the television celeb! I can’t beleive the eggs, I thought they were beautiful yesterday.
seriously. i must concur with the hundred other people who have already said it… YOU TUBE, PLEASE!
the newspaper i work at is running a story on thursday about the red scarf project and knitters without borders is mentioned. i was reading the rough draft today and literally ran over to the reporter when i got to that part because i was so excited. i’ve been trying to get someone to write a little something since your dec. 15th post. i’ll post a link when it publishes.
I’ll second the needle-drawing tip. It’s exactly like drawing vaccine out of a bottle. PRACTICE on the regular eggs your are scrambling for breakfast first.
After you have blown all the innards out of the egg, use the syringe to rinse the interior with water and then vinegar.
We used to make painted eggs for Easter Egg Trees to sell in the card store and gift shop my mom managed when I was growing up. Only ours were NOTHING like yours. I’m talking acrylic paint, pink easter-bunny paw-prints, the year, etc.
I wish I could see you-tube of harlot. No CBC on local cable. Every conceiveable kind of thing being done with American footballs on local cable. No CBC.
Pout.
Your eggs are absolutely lovely! It’s seems very similar to batik, only on eggs LOL. They are just beautiful, and so is your total amount you’ve raised for MSF. They are both very, very cool. Hope you found your bra.
The eggs are stunning.
Question though, just curious, really… The only time I decorated eggs that I planned on blowing out the centers… Well, I blew the eggs out of the shells *before* I decorated them.
Is there a reason you didn’t do this?
I admit to having been a kid (and didn’t make such fancy eggs), and didn’t have any directions, so probably missed something important, though the eggs didn’t break when being decorated, and they lasted for years…
Hi,
hang the eggs on some branches that you bring inside to bloom in time for easter and then you are ahead with your easter decorations…
Karin
I love the eggs, they look amazing! How cool do you look on TV, when Knitters rule the world, you are a shoo in for President. Now on to pressing matters, what colour is the Noro?
Love your work, Cheers Tye x
Miracle of chemistry: The wax and the pencil lead are soluble in oil (and hence lighter fluid) while the dye is soluble in water. Things that are soluble in water are not soluble in oil (think salad dressing). Things soluble in water have lots of plus and minus charges that can hang out together and be happy. Oils (and waxes and pencil lead) have no (or very very few charges). charges like to be with other charges, and no charges don’t like charges. So the dye (charges) is not going to dissolve in the chargeless lighter fluid, but the wax and the pencil are because they also have no charges.
Does that make any sense, or am I garbling to myself (I’m trying to be a high school chemistry teacher, so someday I have to be able to explain these things to everybody)?
The eggs are gorgeous works of art. Wow. Where you get the patience to do all of that, I am not sure.
Bras are overrated – your appearance on CBC, however? Definitely not – you were great – really – looked like you do that sort of thing all the time, with or without a bra…
Love the eggs and the yoga bag (that is a great colorway – “sunset” colors being among my favorites, especially together like that). I am glad you kept the abject terror to yourself during the interview (somehow I had gotten the idea that it was to be on the radio – or I would have been afraid for you as well!). Would love to see it if there is a computer-linky way to do it. Meanwhile, knit on! – Karen
The eggs are beautiful! I’m looking forward to going back to braless in the house. One day.
i, too, found myself braless for yesterdays unexpected company and i am i giantess with g cup knockers!
i finished secret life of a Knitter last night. i purely and thourghly enjoyed it. looking forward to more.
cheers!
Stephanie, you may not be aware of this due to the fact that I am older, but I was separated at birth from my family. Which happens to be YOUR family. See, we’re related. No, really, we are! Pinky Swear (which, if you don’t have children in my area, is MUCH more binding than just a promise!). Now, can I get my own egg??
Absolutely stunning.
Nice bag. I like it in Kureyon. I could have given you all the bag leftovers if I had known.
I’m sure others have said this but I’m in a rush to get to work … I’ve always blown out the eggs beforehand. That way you don’t have to worry about ruining your masterpiece and can toss the duds before they’re ever touched by wax/dye. Cheers!
How did you manage an appointment with a banker without a bra? I can’t think without a bra on. Oh, wait, was he the one who was bra-less and unwashed? Those of us who don’t work a regular schedule DO tend to flail around a bit, don’t we?
I am envious. I have always wanted to make Ukraine eggs.
I have a secret for you…..
I have been hand-painting and hodge-podging real eggs for years. If you know someone who has access to wall suction, you don’t have to blow the eggs out. Write me if you want to know more….
Oh, me too for YouTube! I really want to see this interview. I’m sure you did wonderfully, and I love that you knit on camera while being interviewed.
Okay, who are Rory and Quinn? Last I knew, those were not your daughters names. Nephews, perhaps?
After all that work, aren’t you scared you’ll break the eggs? Can’t you leave them whole/full/alone?
The egg-sucking device:
I do pysanky on and off and I have a bulb with a needle that actually sucks (or is it blows…?) the stuff out of the eggs when you’re done. I think I ordered it online from a ukrainian egg place.
The eggs are beautiful, Stephanie! They will look amazing on the tree.
Apparently you can ‘uncook’ an egg by adding vitamin C – may be worth trying with a dummy to see if it helps. A quick squirt of EmergenC may make them extra-runny, and save you from prolonged cheek-inflation… Plus give the girls a cool science project for the future!
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/futureoffood/story/0,,1969723,00.html
You actually seemed very serene on the CBC.
Accch! Where’s Scotty when you need him?!
The eggs look great. Yes, blowing them out is horrendous work. Found a bit easier way to do it from, dare I remember!, I think Martha Stewart.
1. Poke in the holes.
2. Use a needle to break up the egg substance.
3. Make one hole a tiny bit bigger. This seems to work better in the more rounded end, for me.
4. Use one of those rubber ear rinse bulbs they sell at the drug store to do the ‘breathing’. When you’re done, you can fill the bulb with water to help do the rinse.
Helps save getting a hernia….
Good luck! It’s always a process fraught with suspense and tension.
Love the yoga bag colours. Happy downward dog.
You’re a riot, the eggs are gorgeous! How about emptying egg, filling with epoxy or something that will set up, and then decorating? The solid inside would make it easier to work on, and keep it from breaking too easily. Maybe even unflavored gelatin would work.
and if you get tired of yoga, you can use the yoga mat for blocking lace stoles. makes a lovely surface to stick the needles in i suspect and will try pretty soon. a little tired of yoga for the time being, that is.
I haven’t read all the posts to see if I’m duplicating someone else, but why does one wait until the eggs are done to blow out their contents? Why not do that first and THEN put in the labors of decorating them (as you have so beautifully done)?
Holy cow, the eggs! Er, not that I’m not duly impressed by the TV appearance and all, but the eggs man, they’re a little mind-boggling. So pretty.
What? Knitting in public ALWAYS looks elegant.
Those eggs are an incredible demonstration of patience… but then again, so was that wedding shawl, and all your blocking of lace, and all that parenting you do. So, I guess it follows that you would make such beautiful, delicate eggs.
(As an aside, I sent you an email on Dec 18th to confirm my MSF donation, and I didn’t get an email from you… should I re-send? Or is the backlog still just back-breakingly long?) Cheers!
As a flute player with bagpipers in the house, we actually enjoy blowing eggs. I’ve done an ostrich egg. I cheated with paint instead of wax and dye (my husband is part Ukrainian, I’m Irish). Such a beautiful job of celebrating creation.
We must get a different CBC here in Northern Michigan, USA — I watched CBC all Sunday morning, hoping to catch you. Somehow I missed you anyway. Waah!
Your eggs are fantastic! Almost makes me want to put down my knitting & spinning to try.
Doesn’t wool stick to a sticky mat? Pretty, though. It’ll have the nicest fuzz halo.
Have you ever read “Chicken Sunday” by Patricia Polacco? It’s a charming picture book and Ukrainian eggs feature prominently in the story. I read it for the first time just days after reading your blog entry and it made me think of you.
Dear Stephanie, Do you have your 2007 travel calendar ready? I would love to meet you. All the best, Nancy Noonan, New Canaan, CT