**sniff, sniff**

So when we went to see my Grandmother before Christmas, she dug out a box of my old baby clothes. Now that we have a place with storage I was glad to take it off of her hands. Well it turned out to be a bunch of the stuff that my Nana knit and crochet for me when I was a baby. I got to really go through it today. It made me sniffle a bit. These are items that were made for me by the woman who taught me how to knit and crochet. I hope they last to be worn by my daughter, who I will knit and crochet things for and teach her to do so as well. I aspire to be able to make some of the knit items she made. Beautiful, tiny, even stitches. So I thought I would share pictures here. And also to inform my mom that I have these items and that unless she plans on having a baby before I do, they are mine. :o)

Some knitted (I guess you would call them Amigurumi now) dolls. In a bit of rough shape. Need some TLC and a couple accessories re-knit.
























Ok. The pink dress had a label in it so it wasn't made by Nana. But I couldn't tell until I found the tag.

Christmas Haul

I thought I would post the obligatory "look what I got for Christmas" post. Not that I have gotten everything (we are going to see my mom and Brian (woot spelled it right) this weekend, unless we get our Nintendo Wii. Ha ha no I kid...I think...). So here we go.

My haul. I got three dvd's, Amelie from Zach, Muppet's Christmas carol and Ratattolie from MIL. I thought I would take the time to mention how much I love the Muppets. So much so in fact that apparently I dance like one in the car. Mostly just bopping up and down. Anyway. I also got some daisy fondant cut outs. A blue white and silver tablecloth from my MIL that perfectly matches the the table runner, napkins and napkin rings my SIL got me even though they insist there was no collaboration. Of course it could be my love of things blue, silver and white (wedding colors anyone?) I got an Alton Brown cookbook (science + food= the best food network show ever) An Alton Brown shirt that says "Science, It's what for dinner". A cool digital clock/outside thermometer reader from my in-laws. which is good, because I have been coveting the one my BIL has. Also a picture of the castle used to film Harry Potter. And to prove how much of a Potterhead I am, I recognized the castle before reading the label. Which Zach found highly amusing. There are two more, but they get their own section

Zach's Haul. I didn't get to see much of it. Some movies, cds and books. Two puzzles. A pirate ship puzzle from me. Made of wood. Which I was super excited about. Although he keeps cussing me out as he puts it together, I know he loves it. Apparently it is a bit complicated with not exactly clear instructions. He also got the PS2 Guitar Hero III bundle and Puzzle Quest for the PS2.


My new Decor Accents Inc. 60" small gauge Infinity rake from the in-laws. **swoon** In fact, loved it so much there is already a project on it. Well technically a project has been transfered to it and has made this said project much much much easier to do. Cannot post pics as someone in my avid readership **giggles** will be owning said project (hopefully soon as it is a Christmas present)


And now the best present ever. Well, nah. That loom is awesome. But I have looked for this thing for like 4 years so the fact that I finally have it is awe-inspiring. What is it? What do you mean, what is it? Don't you watch Good Eats? Didn't you immediately run out and watch every episode from the sentence in the second paragraph? Oh, really. My bad. Perhaps I didn't properly express my intense obsession and love of Alton Brown and his show Good Eats. And that everyone should love and adore it as well. Anyway this is the Saltceller that Alton Brown uses on his show. I have wanted it since the first time I saw him use it. And now it is mine. Mwah ha ha ha ha. I giggled with joy every time I used it to make Christmas dinner apparently. So Zach did a good job

It's Christmas Eve

and I am on the computer blogging and updating my Ravelry projects and Zach is playing video games. We are the next generation. :o) Unfortunately there is still baking to be done. Well just the chocolate covered cherries. But I know I'm going to need more chocolate and those miniature baking cups. And Krogers scared me enough already today (I had to wait for a parking spot and this store is never crowded, ever). And there are still presents to wrap. Only two of them are Zach's that would have to be wrapped by tomorrow. And one of them isn't getting wrapped, because it is 4 feet long. He knows what it is. Maybe I'll make him go look for it instead of having him unwrap it.
So apparently even if you only have a dog, you still have to do the obligatory "sit on Santa's lap" pictures. Here is Heidi. I am so proud of her. It only took like 10 pictures to get a really good one of her looking in our general direction. And there were several other pretty good ones. And this is with a pet store full of people, other dogs and things to eat distracting her. So she got a little present early.
















But I have been knitting, crocheting and looming my little heart out to get things done for Christmas. I managed to get the Katamari done for Jess, the DNA strand for...someone, and a hat for me. Yeah I know. But it is super cute and comfy and covers up the fact that I didn't brush my hair today. Tres chic, no? I found the Katamari pattern here . I found the DNA strand here. But mine is the crochet version. After Christmas I have about 5-6 patterns to write up and this is one of them. Kimberly even said she would host the DNA pattern on her blog. Wooo. The hat can be found here.












Holy Cow! Make that 3 finished Christmas presents today. I rock! Oh yeah! Only two more to go. But I am going to take the rest of the night and work on something for me. You know, cause the hat wasn't enough.

Golden Compass

Loved this movie. But I found myself wanting to constantly pause the movie to stop and look at all the knitwear Lyra wore. Thankfully I found a group on Ravelry that wanted to do the exact same thing. I have actually made it about halfway through the third book and I don't know if I want to finish them, because Zach wants to have a theological discussion about them when we are done, I'm sure. I always end up feeling like an idiot when that happens. But I win the important arguments. Like what type of tennis shoes Wilt from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends wears. I said Chucks, Zach said white tennis shoes. I totally won.

Update of Epic Proportions

Nah, not really. But I really should update more often so I don't end up with super long posts. Last weeked was Hannukah with my Dad and that side of the family. I had lots of fun. Got lots of silly little presents. Got a scarf done for which I promptly stole some buttons from my Grandma. Although she is probably going to end up with this scarf so technically I just borrowed them. Right?

Used some lovely wool from Knit 'n Hook. **digs around for label** Well I don't remember what it is. But click on the picture for more detail. The yarn gets thicker and thinner throughout leading to a cool look. It is very warm, but wool makes my skin turn itchy and bright red (thankfully not my hands) so it will be gifted.

Speaking of gifts. Remember these lovely slippers. Well my dad and Donna took me to Crafts 2000 in Parkersburg and told me to get whatever I wanted. Very dangerous proposition. But I restrained myself (sort of) and got the supplies to begin needle felting. Since the only thing I had felted were these slippers, they got the brunt of my beginner hands. I think they turned out cute. Next is a bag. Blue with some green blueish brown roving. Not sure of the design. Might just wing it. The pattern I am using is loosely based off of a design from:

Everyone ooo and ah. My first knitting book. I chose this one because 1. not on my wish list 2. I am a member of a Stitch 'n Bitch 3. I wanted a minimal begginner/more intermediate book with lots of patterns but still some explanation.

This one has turned out to be perfect. I hate beginner books. I (beware of EGO ahead) catch on pretty quick. So I move through the beginner stages of most crafts during my first project. After that, I want something that will challenge me and more importantly, keep my attention. But I don't want it to be frustrating i.e. I am running between my beginner "how to knit" guide and the internet trying to figure out a stitch. This book has that and more. Each pattern that uses a special stitch explains that stitch in the beginning of the pattern. There is even a glossary that shows all the basic stitches (knit, purl, cast on, bind off, etc). Also I loooooove the patterns. No stodgy old scarves for me. It gives me cute and hip bags, scarves, hats, sweaters, everything. And in the beginning of the book is a long section on how to adapt patterns to make them my own and to fit me like they should. So this book will have me covered from beginner, to intermediate (some playful stitches), to advanced (where I severely alter/design my own patterns). Oh that and I had a 30% off Borders coupon and just needed to spend a bit to get my Border's Bucks.

Have I mentioned yet that I am becoming obsessed with Amigurumi? No? Well I am. Here is proof. Not content to follow patterns, I must make my own. But didn't she turn out cute? Except the eyes. I hate her eyes. I am thinking I will use felt next time. Heidi likes her too.

Ninja Lovin'

I couldn't resist expressing my love for Zach using a Ninja.

Getting to Know Me-Christmas Edition

A fun Christmas meme....Thank you Isela for the idea :)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? It depends. If they are going to sit under my tree or are nice square shaped or fit nicely in a box then they will be wrapped. Anything else gets put into a bag. Especially all of Becca's presents. Mwah ha ha ha ha
2. Real or fake tree? Fake. A real one seems like too much work. I just plug a pine scented Wallflower in.
3. When do you put up the tree? Right after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? When we get around to it
5. Do you like eggnog? Dear God NO
6. Favorite gift received as a child? ...Books, I always loved books
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, good thing this didn't ask if it was set up.
8. Hardest person to buy for? Zach
9. Easiest person to buy for? Becca, it is like buying presents for myself
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever got? I don't know. I usually like the stuff I get
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, I love getting non-bill mail
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Muppet's Christmas Carol
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? When I think about it. Usually Becca is the first I buy for. I have to start sometimes a year in advance. It depends upon when the perfect item appears
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Oh yes.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Brussel Sprouts and my mom's cheesecake
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored I like clear lights for outside the house
17. Favorite Christmas song? Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay Home with travel before and after
19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeers? Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donder and Blitzen, Rudolph
20. Angel or a star on the tree top? Star at home, Snowflake at work
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? in the morning, But we are supposed to open the one with our new Pajamas in it the night before
22. Where are your favorite places to shop? Craft Stores, I make a lot of my Christmas gifts
23. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Peoples' Non-Christmasy attitudes
24. What I love most about Christmas? Peoples' Christmasy attitudes and the 24 hour Christmas music stations (as long as they don't start until after Thanksgiving)

Mission: Baby Shower complete

Angela's and Lisa's Baby shower was last night. I finished Lisa's Lion baby bath wrap yesterday at lunch, finally. There is something about row after row after row of single crochet that makes me want to die. Angela's has been done for a while. She got a blanket, booties and a hat. They both went over very well. I sat by the fireplace and got sleepy after eating pizza. So a very good party. It was even over early enough for me to sneak of to Stitch 'n Bitch. I sense this will become a weekly occurance. They are having a party this Saturday. Silly grandma celebrating Hanukkah/Christmas this weekend. Well, it really isn't her choice. But still, Zach found these http://veganyumyum.com/2007/06/knit-night-cupcakes/ How flippin' awesome would these have been to make for a knitting party? Well obviously pretty awesome since that is why the lady made them to begin with.

Well I hate row after row of single crochet except when making Amigurumi things. Which is my newest craze. Essentially defined as some sort of animal or object crocheted adorably cute and misshapen using single crochets done in the round. There are books and patterns and I want to make them all. My favorite book (only known by the title) is Amigurumi Super Cute Happy Crochet. How could you not want to own that book? P.S. This adorable, head-heavy turtle is a Christmas present for one of my work studies, Dana. You know. The one who decorated my office Christmas tree. Yup. At least I reward them for work well done.
I finished my Jayne Cobb hat from the t.v. show Firefly. I loom knit this on the Yellow Knifty Knitter. Dear God is it ugly. but I think it is quite spot on. It is actually very comfy. I will get the pattern up here soon.

And from someone who is much better at pattern writing then myself, we have Victorian Lace Christmas Ornaments. http://loomlady.blogspot.com/ Lovely easy pattern = very lovely easy (and inexpensive) Christmas gifts

Some fun giveaways

http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/reviews/ Called Bloggy Giveaways. Not crafty, but I want one of those purses.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mHk56juh1YyvjLYIhwv9Uw_3d_3d LYS yarn store giveaway. You could win up to $300 for a shopping spree at your LYS. It makes me want to faint just imagining what I could buy with that.

http://getting-stitched-on-the-farm.blogspot.com/2007/11/its-virtual-book-launch-party-and-yarn.html virtual book launch and yarn giveaway

HOLY CRAP!!!

So, I went to Huntington's Stitch 'n Bitch this past Thursday. It was great. They were a bunch of late college/grad school age, really fun people. But the big news is that they produced an epiphany in me. Apparently there are two ways to knit/hold your yarn. There is the throw method where you hold your yarn in your right hand, and is also the most common method taught to beginners (well pretty much the only one). There is another method, the continental, where you hold your yarn in your left hand. This method is often taught to crochetiers because that is what they are used to while crocheting. I had no idea this made a difference. So crocheting me held my yarn in my left hand while learning from a book teaching me as if I had the yarn in my right hand. No wonder I could never do it. I looked up a fabulous YouTube video where the lady teaches continental. She was using circular knitting needles to do back and forth. They looked short and not at all the bulky monstrosities that I felt knitting needles were. So with my 50% off AC Moore Coupon in hand, I ran and got myself a pair of size 6 circular needles and armed with my new knowledge I set myself down to try and knit.

Wouldn't you know it, the whole thing makes sense now. And I can do it. My continental is a little slow, I can't keep my tension right. But my throwing is darn near my crochet speed. **insert shocked and disbelieving face here** So now I, the self-avowed non-knitter cause I am scared of more than one needle, can knit. A whole world of yarn crafts just opened itself up to me. No more staring longingly at a knit pattern and wishing I could convert it to a loom pattern. I can just knit it. Now don't think I don't still love my looms. They are fast. Very very fast. And I still can't beat the long looms ability to knit double sided. But this totally changes my Christmas list. A lot.

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...

Nothing like a rousing round of Muppet Christmas songs to get you in the mood to decorate. Or your In-laws bringing a bunch of presents with them. It didn't seem right to just stack them in the corner, so the tree went up.

I love this tree soooo much. Growing up, we always had the "Martha Stewart" trees. Although beautiful and homey because we got to help, they never had the touch of the homemade, kitchy, random ornaments. (It is ok Mom, I loved our trees, you did a very good job) But Zach's parents brought us a tote filled with his ornaments. Ones from when he was little. Some handmade looking ones. All beautiful. And I cried seeing all these things that were part of his childhood. But I particularly loved the Star Wars ornaments. So much in fact that I stole the little ones and put them on my tree at work.




















Couldn't resist adding a pic of the Hubby and Puppy giving me the look. Awwww...You would never know the dog is being pinned down so that she doesn't come lick the camera.

Felting

I finally got my invite to RAVELRY!!!!!!!! http://www.ravelry.com/ is a knitter/crocheter's dream. My handle on there is CSIcrafter. Look me up. This place is amazing. I can add all of my projects in there and keep track of them and how far along they are and when they need to be finished. And I spent most of last Wednesday (the day I got my invite) entering in all of my yarn and needles. It keeps track of your stash and what needles you have for you. I can peruse other peoples projects to get ideas, add them to my queue of things to make. And I can add and share all my projects I am working on. And I know the people I am making these for are not in Ravelry so I can put pictures and everything. Yay!!! I even joined my first Knit-a-long to make a pair of felted ballet slippers. The second one just needs felted. Speaking of which, since they aren't for anyone but me I can put up the picture.
I was soooooo worried making the first one. I have never felted anything and it was huge. Almost 1.5 feet long. But I felted it and it came out great. Still a bit long. So I took off a couple rows for the second slipper. Being able to felt stuff is awesome. It creates a much sturdier item. And AC Moore just got roving and felting needles. Roving=non-spun yarn. The needles have small barbs on them. You use the needles to punch through the roving and the felt and it locks the roving into the felt. You can make patterns, they have it in all sorts of colors. I was thinking a nice pink flower would look really cute on the slippers. Then to use up the rest of the black wool and some of my Kool-aid dyed wool, I knitted up a little purse. Gonna felt it tonight with the slipper. I hope it turns out alright. I still love that blue color. I had two balls of black wool left over (one from each slipper). I threw it on e-wrap flat panel on the green long Knifty Knitter. One ball was smaller so when I ran out of it, I joined on the blue and went until I ran out of the second bit of black. Then I did an I-cord on the KK spool knitter in the blue. I think I might have found a new stitch. I need to do a bit of searching to find out.

Oh, the slipper pattern is from http://www.decoraccentsinc.com/. She was offering it at 50% off for those who wanted to KAL (knit-a-long). The perfect time to pick up that pattern and several others I had been wanting for a while.

Thanksgiving and the day after

It ended up that Thanksgiving was at my house this year. My In-laws came over from Washington D.C. to spend it with us. They brought pies and the cranberry-orange relish that Zach adores SO much. We had maple syrup and cider glazed turkey (courtesy of my Hubby), roast garlic mashed potatoes, Stovetop stuffing, green bean casserole, brussel sprouts (I love these SO much, I look forward to them all year) and the Hawaiian bread rolls. For dessert we had spiced spiked apple cider (add amaretto), no-bake cheesecake (but not the Jello kind, it is cream cheese, sour cream, cool whip and sugar), Pumpkin and apple pie (MIL brought the last two). It was so very tasty.

That evening I left for Clarksburg, WV. Where my bestest friend, Becca, had come home for Thanksgiving. We were at the mall by 4:30 a.m. the next morning. And I think we finally got home around dinner time. But I only have Zach and Brian left to get Christmas presents for. And Brian is the only one I don't know what to buy for him. I think my mom should know. Essentially all I have left is a butt-ton of crocheting and looming. Hopefully I can get them all done in time.

It has arrived

My ESG Wonder loom from http://www.decoraccentsinc.com/ has arrived. Hooray!!! And of course my pact to not make anything non-gift related went right out the window. It is a bit top secret right now. I am working on making a glove on the looms. I haven't seen a pattern for anything like this yet. Hopefully it works out. Hoping to submit it to http://www.loomknitterscircle.com/ if I can get the details worked out. So far it is going good, but I've hit a snag with the fingers as I don't have a thumb loom. Decor Accents takes 5 weeks to deliver and I don't really have that kind of time. Might have to resort to making my own or knitting them flat for now.

A non-looming project. Actually this is going to be a baby present, hopefully, we'll see about getting it done. It might have to go to a certain biology nerd. It is the crochet version of http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/knit-patterns-dna.html that I was talking about in an earlier post. She gave me permission to adapt it to crochet. Yippee. Look at it curving all on its own. Makes me proud.

I am very proud of these. While acquiring Knifty Knitters, each one comes with one of their hooks. Even my Decor accents loom came with a Knifty Knitter hook. I don't like them because the rubber handle (which is like 1/2 an inch thick, which causes my wrist to hurt) comes loose and starts twisting. That doesn't really work when trying to lift some often tight yarn. So I took some Polymer clay I had sitting around the house from a previous craft project and dreamed these babies up. I wonder if Loom Knitter's Circle would accept these as a pattern. I love them because each pack of clay is like 2 dollars and the extra hooks are 97 cents. And I can shape them to my hand. Hmmm...runs off to write up the pattern to send in.

sorry there is no anything

ummm...yeah...so pretty much everything I am making right now is secret. Christmas presents, baby shower gifts, craft swap. The craft swap is over on December 3rd, so I can put up those pics and patterns after I get it sent out. The baby showers are December 6th (two of them together) so I can put up those pictures and patterns then. And Christmas...well, hopefully I can get some reaction shots. Those are my favorite. But I am not allowed to make anything for non-Christmas/baby shower/swap until all those are done. I think I need to sit down and make a list of every item that needs made and the date it needs made by. That way I'm not picking up and working on projects willy nilly. Indeed, I think I'll go do that when I am done blogging.

But never fear, there will be things to blog about. Zach and my one year anniversary is Sunday (dear God, what am I going to get him), I should be getting my Decor Accents Wonderloom by Saturday, Thanksgiving (wherever we may end up), Black Friday shopping with Becca (where she should finally get her scarf, so I'll have pictures of that, but she's seen it already). So I won't dissapear completely.

What yarn am I?

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Merino Wool.You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes.
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SQUEEEEEEE

So...It hasn't shipped yet, but my card has been charged for my new DA Loom. Hopefully it ships tomorrow and I should have it by the end of the week. My brand new extra small gauge wonderloom from http://www.decoraccentsinc.com/ That is why this update is short. Bouncing around like a kid waiting for Santa to get here. Can't stand the waiting...!!!!!

GTA donation

I have finished my Christmas donation for God's Tiny Angel's. Have I mentioned them before? It is a group, based out of Huntington, that donates to maternity wards and NICU's around the country. They have a YahooGroup and a website. Both are linked on my page. At final count (I gave a blanket and hat to Lisa) I have 15 hats, 5 blankets, 2 sets of booties and a sweater/hat set. Yay. The reason I like this group is I don't have to mail my stuff anywhere. I can just drive it to the coordinators house. She is about 15 minutes from where I work. So if you have absolutely no idea what to get me for Christmas, a nice skein of fluffy, soft, baby yarn would be nice. And you can feel good that eventually it will be made into something for a preemie and their family.

But speaking of Christmas and lists, I have discovered Wists. It is a website that allows you to construct wish lists from anything on the web, even if it isn't for sale. The RSS feed is to the right down towards the bottom. If you click on one of the listings it will take you to the Wists site. I am very excited. Now I can list all the stuff I want that isn't on Amazon. Must work on transfering over Amazon wish list.

Michael's yarn event tomorrow. Woot!!! I know what I'll be doing all day

I wish Christmas was over. I have sooooo many projects I want to do that are in no way related to anyone's Christmas presents. I know those have to come first, but http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/knit-patterns-dna.html I must make one of these for a co-worker. Plus, my felted ballerina shoes, my gloves (I have a cool idea for these), my Hogwart's house illusion blanket, so many projects, not enough hands.

Harry Potter Christmas Swap update:
1 Gryffindor knit hat- completed
1 pair Gryffindor Mittens -not started
1 Gryffindor Christmas Stocking- not started
HP Christmas tree ornaments- 4 done, 2 just need detailing
Hot cocoa mix- done
HP mug- no idea where I am gonna find this. Might have to resort to painting it myself.

Been a while

A little something extra to add to the growing pile of crafts for God's Tiny Angels. Found the sweater pattern at Bev's country crafts. And had enough left over to make a matching hat. I used left over cream yarn from Angela's baby's blanket set along with a pastel skein of eyelash yarn I got from Big Lots for one dollar. The other hat (I got three total from the skein) was made with 1 strand of another Big Lots dollar skein and 1 strand of some random worsted weight white yarn I had left over.

Speaking of one dollar a skein yarn and adding to my never shrinking but always growing stash, the AC Moore here has placed all their discontinued and previously 1/2 priced yarn on sale for 1 dollar. I went in with my coupon, intending to be good and just pick up one skein of Christmas yarn to make more baby hats for my donation box and walked out with $20 worth of yarn. And considering they were all $1...well let's just say I have a lot more yarn now. And Michael's yarn even is coming up this Saturday. So even more yarn on sale. Oh Noes!


Besides using yarn and other craftiness, I love to bake. Seeing as how it is apple season, our Wal-mart (I know, why go to walmart to get apples, well I never carry cash to stop at the one roadside stand we have that might carry apples) had lots of apples very cheap. So we got a bunch, and I made a pie. I think I have enough left over for one more apple pie and then a pumpkin pie. I was inspired by watching Paula's Party on the Food Network. She had a lady on there who made pies that weighed 6 pounds and were almost a foot tall. Mine wasn't quite that big, but it did turn out pretty.

I have started keeping track of all my ideas. Normally they end up getting scribbled on a small scrap of paper and lost. Now they have a notebook to be written in. If I remember to date my entries, it will be interesting to look back. This way I won't have to rush to start designing a pattern when I first think of it. I can enter it in the book and come back to it when I have more time. Example: I just thought of a way to do gloves on a loom. But with all the Christmas/Baby/Swap stuff I have going right now, I don't have time to start them. So they are safely tucked away in the book (instead of on a post-it not I will lose) until I have more time for them. Three cheers for organization. And speaking of organization. I saw a method you can use to rewind balls of yarn into center pull skeins. There is a nice turn the handle version (but it is 30-40 dollars) but for this all you need is a smooth wooden dowel about 1 inch in diameter. I found a miniature rolling pin at AC Moore I am going to try. I will post my results. It does take longer than just winding it into a ball, but it looks so much nicer and it won't bounce around all over the place while I'm using it.

Costumes and Craftiness

Yay for Halloween. A perfectly legitimate reason for me to wear my Hogwart's School Uniform. I made the robe and the "sweater" and the pin. I am wearing a black skirt, white dress shirt, and a tie I found that was red and white that I colored in with a gold Sharpie. The robe is lined with maroon cloth. it looks good when I walk. The sweater is actually a dark grey sweatshirt that I cut the neck into a "v" shape and sewed on red and gold ribbon. The prefect pin, I used the Crayola modeling clay/foamy stuff and made it sheild shaped with a "P" on it then painted it red and gold and hot glued a pin back on it. I even have a wand. But I don't have a holster for it so it is a bit unwieldly to carry around.




In cool crafty news, I am a member of the Harry Potter Crafts Yahoo Group. Their Christmas swap starts 11/3/07. And I signed up for it. This will be my first craft swap ever. I am so excited, I've started already. I am making Christmas ornaments, see some examples I've finished. They are crocheted. I am sort of winging it, but I am writing up the pattern as I go along so I will post those when I get them all finished. I am working on a Hedwig ornament. And plan to do a wand. Not sure what I will do from there. Maybe a dragon, or pygmy puff, or perhaps even Harry himself. Along with the ornaments, I plan to add in some homemade hot chocolate mix. And depending on what the person likes and what house they are in (see I'm so excited, I've started and I have no idea if I'm really in or who my person is or what they like) I am considering mittens or, even better for a Christmas swap, a Christmas stocking in their favorite house colors. So excited I want to find out who they are and get started.

Halloween weekend

We spent the weekend at Zach's brother's house in Athens, OH. We have gone every year for the annual Halloween block party. Good times. I will post pictures when I get them. Over the weekend, I did some work on my donation for God's Tiny Angels which you can see in the above picture. They are a charity here in Huntington that donates handmade (and bought) items to maternity wards and NICU's around the country. With my Knifty Knitter, I am a wiz at baby hats, so I spent the weekend making them with leftover yarn. I also picked up some yarn on sale at Joanns and have enough to make 6 baby blankets. Yesterday I found a pattern for baby slippers made out of fleece. I had a pretty big piece of white fleece left over (there was 1/2 a yard left after she measured out the piece I wanted, so she offered it to me at half price) I have gotten two pairs done and have pieces cut out for about 7 more pairs. They take me a while because I have to sew up the soles by hand because they are so small (I started with the preemie size). I need to get these sent off and start concentrating on two certain Christmas presents that are going to take a while.

Person in sheep's clothing...eventually

So I have never used wool to knit or crochet anything. I had always been worried that I wouldn't be able to wear what I made since my skin is sensitive. I don't break out, but I get all red and splotchy and wool is really itchy to me. But I thought maybe I could try felting to add embellishments to items with a bit of a softer touch. So I used a coupon and bought some wool (I feel better using a coupon on something I'm not sure I'm gonna like). Well let me back up a step or two. While looking at how to felt wool, I found articles about dying wool with Kool-aid. It seemed easy. When I was out buying the wool, I couldn't figure out what color to get, especially since I didn't know how it was going to work out. I remembered the Kool-aid dying technique and decided to get a skein of white and some Kool-aid and make it whatever color I wanted. The pictures above are my attempts. The little ball of pink-ish wool was dyed with Black Cherry. The green, white and pink striped was done with two bowls, one with Lemon-Lime and one with Black Cherry. I was hoping it would be more Christmasy, but it turned out very bright. I like it. The blue was done with Berry Blue. A fantastic color. And the purple-pink concoction was done by handpainting Grape and Pink Lemonade in a pinwheel fashion. The Grape was a bit strong and bled into the Pink Lemonade, but it turned out very tye-dyed looking. Now I just have to figure out what to use all this yarn for. I crocheted up a small flower with the Black Cherry. I am gonna felt it tonight and see how it works.

Articles I am using on this quest:
http://tinyurl.com/3565nv The PDF from Knitpicks.com about hand felting
http://tinyurl.com/hzep9 Knitty.com article on Kool-aid dying

Busy Weekend

So, I did run off to A.C. Moore to buy more yarn. Got all of these lovelies, and a few non-yarny things for less than 10 dollars. Now what is great about that is, one ball of the ModaDea Kickx is normally $10.99. Yay! Now, what should I do with them? The yarn pile has expanded to another box. The tote is for full skeins and the box holds yarn that has been used then wound into a ball.
Also finished my handwarmers. Had to crochet them. My Knifty Knitters are too big of a gauge. **wishes it was 5 weeks later, so new loom would be here** I wrote my own pattern for these so check out my pattern link for it.
I had yarn left over from my hat and handwarmers, and from the baby blanket I was working on. So I made a few extra items to go with the blanket. I love baby shoes. They are so adorable. Maybe it is because I love adult shoes so much. Hmmm...

A small project note. I had been working on a Gryffindor Illusion scarf. Well, my Knifty Knitter gauge is making it huge. I have gotten through two letters and it is already 12" across and 16" long. So I am adjusting. Instead of a scarf, I am making a blanket. I will work up patterns for all the house names. Make them up and stitch together. I'm sure if you used a smaller gauge loom with one strand of yarn, it would turn out scarf sized. But I don't want to rip out what I have done. As soon as I get the charts worked out I will put them up. **Runs off to buy lots of yarn in house colors**