Is that PVC Pipe?

Zach asked as I walked in the door. Indeed it was. I had a Saturday project in mind.

PVC pipe that doesn't fit into my car and had to be cut in half $1.90
Various plastic bits $3.00
Hacksaw $4.00
My own Niddy Noddy Priceless

What is a Niddy Noddy? I feel like I have answered this before. But it can't hurt to try again. Well, I got the directions to make it from this site. I had to play around with the length of the center piece to get it so it was actually a 2 yard Niddy Noddy. I got the directions to use it here.

In all I made:
1 2-yard Niddy Noddy w/ 1-yard adapter








1 Andean plyer - No, there are no vampires in the immediate area. This is an attempt. I might have to add some polymer clay to get the right width around the center joint so that the center wind bracelet will be big enough. But this is what an Andean plyer should look like and this is how it works. I think it shows you how to do it on your hand, but it works the exact same way. The short upright piece would be the middle finger. The long piece is the wrist area.




And I probably have enough left over to make a separate 1 yd Niddy Noddy and a sample size Niddy Noddy

By my calculations I could make an interchangeable set for $6.00 and a complete set for $9.00. It took me less than an hour. Possible Etsy store fodder?


And while you are checking out the site that shows you how to use an Andean plyer, check out the rest of their useful information and free patterns

Useful information:
http://www.mielkesfiberarts.com/info.htm

Free Patterns:
http://www.mielkesfiberarts.com/fre_patt.htm

Wii Fit

We have acquired a copy of Wii Fit for the Wii. The purpose of this is that Zach said if we both use it for two months, we can get Rock Band. Sweet. That is a motivational goal I can use.

Let me tell you a bit about the game. It comes with a board that looks a lot like an aerobic step board. This is very handy considering that is so far my favorite exercise. Yes, this is a game where you exercise. There are four training modules. Yoga, Strength, Aerobic, and Balance. As you exercise more you get Fit Credits, these unlock more of the exercises and you also get advanced versions of them. You also earn points either for how well balanced you were or how many reps you did. So you can work to beat your best record. You check in every day you work out and the board weighs you, measures your BMI and then tests your balance and calculates your Wii Fit age. There is a calendar that you stamp when you finish. Of course your weight fluctuates with time of day, certain times of the month so I'm not a huge fan of getting weighed every day. But it is a nice measure.

I love this game. Today was day 4. And although I have developed somewhat of a routine, it changes depending on what new exercises I unlock (I nearly put games). I start out with 10-15 minutes of aerobic step. I unlocked the free step which is 10 minutes of step, but the wiimote ticks like a metronome to help you keep rhythm and lets you know how much time you have left. This way you can change the channel and watch tv for a bit. Very fun. And today I got rhythm boxing. It uses the wiimote and nunchuck to measure your punches and the board measures your steps. This will be added to the aerobic portion of the workout. Then I do about 5-10 minutes of the fun balance games. You use your body to control the character on screen to do things like ski and snowboard. Then I do a combination of yoga and strength moves for my remaining time. I pick my favorite yoga poses and the game tells me which strength moves to combine with it to keep my workout balanced.

So why do I love this game so much? Like I said it was day 4. I finished my "required" 30 minutes and wanted to keep going. I did an extra 10. Because it was fun. I don't think I've ever done an exercise where I wasn't counting the seconds until my time was up.

But the biggest thing was today. I'm a pretty big girl. I'm not the most flexible or athletic. But today during the sun salutation yoga pose I touched my toes!!! I about fell of the board out of shock. And it wasn't an unhealthy "I pushed and touched them for a second" bounce things. I was able to stay down there and play with my feet. I was enthralled. In fact, I just tried again (to make sure it wasn't some sort of fluke) and I can still do it.

I can't focus

I can't seem to focus on one project for more than a little bit it seems. Nothing diagnosable, just being kind of non-commital recently. One sees this in my crafting projects and in what I did today.

I'll start with today. I woke up and played some video games (I will get to that in a seperate post). Then some knitting/crocheting. Where instead of working on one of the several (I'll get to this too) projects I have going, I started a new one. Which is really of no purpose. Just cause I was thinking of writing the pattern and I saw a picture of a knitted one. It is a checker set. It will be neat when it is done. But what do I need it for. At least another pair of socks would get some use. And then I got the felting machine out and made two DPN cases, a sewing needle holder and a straight knitting needle holder. And one thing I did finish today was a book. Inkheart. Very good. Can't wait for the movie to come out. But I still have two others that need finished. I also started doing the research for putting together a Magic deck. For some reason. I can't remember the last time I played in a constructed tournament. Maybe back in college? And then I decided to clean both bathrooms. I moved some shelving downstairs to put knitting stuff in it. So now I am staring at the craft corner cause it needs sorted out. And I need to clean our bedroom, because I can't see the floor and I have no idea where any of my clothes are. Well, I do. It is all in the giant pile. But the odds of finding what I need to is very small. That is just today. And I slept in. This doesn't include all those things I need to do and that I strongly considered doing before doing something else. Like finally making my chocolate covered cherries.

Now you ask, how many projects could I have going on at once. Well let's see:
-Broadripple socks
-Viking socks
-checkerboard
-Lilith shawl
-Tapestry scarf
-Anouk
-danish tie shawl
-crochet thread monkey thingy
-crocheted sponge thingys I start when I get bored
-pieces of a crocheted dragon. I think all it needs is a tail
Those are the ones that get carried around in my bag
-Renaissance tunic sweater
-Harry Potter Blanket
-Slytherin Scarf
-loom knit gloves (although I do need to get a thumb loom to finish them)
-a care bear
-Bubble's Octopus doll
These have been relegated to the UFO bin and will get finished when my children learn to knit/crochet/loom knit and can finish them for me

Blah

I have returned

Florida was great. Becca and Michael were awesome hosts and I had tons of fun. There was lots of eating. In fact I managed to only eat at places I had never eaten at before. There was a resturant called Fuego where they walked around with hunks of meat on sticks and served it to you. We went there for Becca's birthday. Speaking of food, Becca, here is that website with the Marshmallows. Bittersweet is awesome for all sorts of vegan yummyness and crocheted goodness. I start drooling every time I visit her website.
We also did some Outlet Mall shopping. I scored 3 pairs of shoes for less than 5 dollars. **does dance of tribute to the bargain Gods** I also got some chocolaty goodness. And learned that we have a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Charleston. Funny to note since I've only ever eaten it in Texas and Florida. Becca, I hope you found that leftover apple in your fridge as a thank you gift. I think I told Michael about it.
And then we went to the beach. Lovely, gorgeous beach. White, soft sand. Teal ocean waves. Bright, burning ball of fury in the sky. Seriously, I have red hair, blue eyes and correction fluid white skin. I should not be out in the sun, on the water for 5 hours. Even with 50 SPF on most of my body and 70 SPF on my face and shoulders I roasted and turned lobster red. And now it is starting to itch. I spent most of today looking for something to scratch my back against. And I have more freckles now.
I got a lot of knitting done. Hopefully I'll finish one of my like 10 works in progress at some point. I'm thinking my Broadripple socks will be next, so I can start a pair of Baudelaire socks.

Time to breathe again

Work has calmed down. The house, and more specifically my craft corner could use a good cleaning. But it will have to wait. I am leaving for Florida Tuesday morning to see Becca and I am super excited. Not that this means I've actually packed. That would also assume I've managed to unpack from the conference that was over a week ago. That is what tomorrow is for, right? I'm thinking throw in my jeans, my t-shirt drawer, find my swimsuit, and a dressy outfit for Becca's birthday and I should be set. Right? Well first I have to figure out what size suitcase I can take. Actually, the hardest part will be deciding what projects to take with me. I have two sets of socks, one hard one easy. My danish shawl...well I am running out of yarn for that and haven't gone to get more, perhaps not a good idea. I don't really feel like making a run for some tomorrow. I have to find something that is on wooden needles to go in my carry on, along with a crochet project. Maybe I should have started this part a few weeks ago? I might be in trouble. Becca, if I miss the plane, it is because I couldn't find something to knit with.

Happy Birthday Heidi

It is Heidi's birthday, and she is 3 years old. It isn't exact though. We got her from the shelter on September 5th 2006 and they said she was 1.5 years old. So I added 6 months, got May 5th and decided that is the day we would celebrate her birthday. It means we have had Heidi for a year and a half. Hopefully with many more years to come.

Some needle felting and nummy-ness

We went to see IronMan today. Very very impressed and have now booked my summer with must see movies. I would like to mention that I love my husband very much. But Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in this movie...well...yum.













Anyway, this is a craft blog right? How about some stuff I've been making with the loverly needle felter. I made a few DPN cases by hand and I decided it would be much easier to do with the new shiny. So here is the first one I made on the machine.









It turned out really well. My favorite part is that I don't even have to sew anything. The felter does a good enough job that the seams are tight and stay together very well. Even under some mild tugging. I'm sure a good yank would pull them apart. but I am willing to sacrifice a little durability so I don't have to pull out the sewing machine and/or have visible seams.
Here is the front of the case I am making for myself. I want another one that matches my Namaste bag. Now I just need a proper tote bag to match them both. It is possible I might have to make a trip to JoAnn's to find some fabric. Or I could check the fabric stash.




Speaking of stashes, it appears that yet another stash has entered my crafting world. These felt sheets are cheap. I have started picking up neat colors when I find them. JoAnn's so far has the best. Bright, exciting, non-primary colors. They also carry bolts of felt you can buy by the yard. In such wonderfully basic colors as black, white and charcoal. Good for when I branch out from DPN cases and decide to make things bigger than an 8.5X11 sheet.

Catch up

I lied. My camera is fine. Well as fine as a Jello filled camera can be. It turns out that its inability to turn on even with brand new batteries is a sign of extreme battery snobbery and not broken-ness. Apparently my cheap, "this is what we had around the house" batteries are not good enough for it. So if you head down to the post about Lauren's birthday I will be adding pictures shortly.

I would love to say that I have all sorts of fun things to show you from this past week. But I spent 75% of it sitting on my butt at registration and the other 25% in the hospitality suite. It was a good conference and seemed to go very well. But I am very glad it is over. I did get to meet some very nice people, including my possible future self.

I get to spend the next week planning the program's graduation activities. Then on the 13th I leave for Florida. Nothing taxing I promise you. Instead I get to go to Tampa to visit my bestest friend in the whole wide world Becca. Finally we will be able to exchange Christmas presents and I will be there during her birthday as well.

So I was at Wal-mart yesterday and picked up a set of acrylic paints for $5. It was a beginners set of basic colors in really big tubes. I decided it was fate and thought I should take up painting. I am glad I grabbed the set because when I went to AC Moore to get paper (which was pretty much all I needed) the same set was selling for $40. So I got up early this morning (owed completely to going with Zach to his Magic game night and spending about 6 hours asleep on the couch at the game shop, on top of then getting about 6 hours of sleep at home) and did some painting. They don't look like a kindergarten's art project and that was all I was going for.
More of a watercolor look.


A study in a really cool tree we have in our back yard

It is done.

The conference is over. I am home. Please excuse me while I sleep for a week. I did take knitting/crocheting but all I crocheted were some dish sponges, bathpoofs and a scrubbie and I ripped out everything I knitted. Maybe I'll coax my camera to give up a few pictures of them at some point.