Late night project

This week has not been a real good one as far as productivity goes.

We've had a medical emergency with our dog, a toddler tooth removed, and on top of it all everyone in the household has a cold. We're also trying to prepare for an upcoming trip to visit my husband's family in Kansas. So though I have a couple items prepared and ready to list in my Etsy site, I'm afraid they'll have to wait until next week. Work on business related crafts will also be put on hold starting next week. I'll be frantically working on crafts for Christmas gifts.

However, I did accomplish something small last night and I wanted to share it. I felt it was a necessity with our upcoming trip so I sacrificed a couple hours of much needed sleep to get it done.

Aaron has a Nintendo DS and when we bought it for him we also got a pouch to house it in. It works well, however there is nothing to hold his extra games. We bought him a hard sided case to house the game cartridges in but then he's either carrying it in his pocket or just leaving it lay somewhere.

I thought if I could create another simple pouch to piggyback onto his current DS pouch that it would be perfect. I used some felt I had and I embellished it with some quick hand embroidery. I did the rocket free hand and it only took me about 3 tries to get the letters small enough to fit his whole name inside the rocket.

Knit-stravaganza!

It never fails that as soon as I start going on and on about how I never have time to finish a knit project, that I would then all of a sudden complete a whirlwind of projects and prove myself wrong.

After I finished my first cowl Aaron was very depressed that I had not yet knit anything for him (I had crocheted a sweater for Gwen a couple months ago) and so I could not let the poor boy down. He picked out this yarn himself from the store and requested a hat and scarf, "with stripes, Momma!"

Only after I'd started knitting it did I realize that he'd picked colors that almost exactly matched his winter coat. And considering that at the time he chose the yarn his coat was still in storage, he's either a fashion guru, or just plain lucky.

I also recently finished my second cowl from the fabulous bargain yarn I found at Big Lots. This time around I opted for a simple garter stitch and just made a simple tube rather than the fancy button closure like I did on the first one. It's my favorite of the two, mostly because it's a lot easier to put on and fits a little better.

I've been getting quite a bit of use out of it now that the temperatures are dropping.

I didn't have much leftover yarn. I thought it might be enough for a small scarf for Gwen but I ran short. It made a perfect little scarf for her teddy though.

Prototypes

For some reason there seems to be a fake moustache and beard trend, and I'm dying to get in on it. Why? I'm not quite sure. Maybe because it's just plain fun.

I'm still working on my prototypes but I wanted to give you a sneak peek. Aaron is seen here sporting "The Poirot" an homage to the Agatha Christie detective whom I adore. I'm fairly happy with it but I might make it slightly smaller.


I'm also working on "The Selleck" an homage to Tom and his bushy facial locks, "Bandit" which is based on Burt Reynolds stache of Smoky and the Bandit days, and perhaps a nice Fu Manchu.

Right now I'm having some trouble with The Selleck. I haven't yet captured that Magnum P.I. essence. It looks alright on Aaron but I want these to be wearable by adults as well and when Matt dons it, it is a little reminiscent of Hitler so it's back to the drawing board on that one.

Hope to have them in the shop soon.

I'm in love, and her name is Nikki

Merry Christmas to me!

I know it's a little early to be talking about Christmas but why not? They're already moving in the holiday decorations at the stores AND I've alread gotten my present!

We've been saving up for months to get a new camera. I've been dreaming and longing and drooling for months and the original plan was to purchase it as my Christmas gift in December. However, the quickening decline of my faithful duct tape encrusted Kodak sped up the timetable of the new camera purchase.

I've had my eye on the Nikon D40 for quite some time, well really ever since it came out and I was suckered in with their ingenious marketing plan. I did my research though and decided that based on its price, ease of use (it's my first digital SLR) and features that it would be perfect for our family - and it is.

I call her Niki and she and I have spent the entire weekend spooning. I've been nuzzling her lens while she wrapped herself around my neck. We shall never be apart.

It's an unconventional relationship, that's for sure. But it has its rewards. I give her a warm and caring home and she gives me:

The speed and ability to capture action shots - on the first try! Not on the 50th!

I have dozens of shots like these! Dozens! With my old camera I'd have to force the poor kids to jump in and throw leaves for 45 minutes before my camera could actually capture them mid-air like this.

She also gives me the speed needed to capture faces like this, that flash for only a moment:

and moments like these:

vibrant and detailed still-lifes:

and natural coloring and glow in low-light situations (this was taken in the basement, without a flash!)

Our love shall last forever!

(special thanks to my hubby for having the financial wherewithall to save up for this camera, and thanks to my sweet Momma for the extra push at the end to allow me to get it this early!)

Like high school but without the acne

I’m not in general the best person in social situations. Small talk pretty much scares the hell out of me. It’s not my forte. I never know what to say, or I’m afraid whatever I do say is going to make me sound stupid. It stems from a pretty healthy fear of rejection I think. My close friends and my husband have great fun pointing out my social ineptness and therefore I’m trying to slowly but surely make more of an effort to overcome said deficiencies.

I figured that perhaps some sort of online chat situation would be a non-intimidating avenue to explore. Plus, I’m also eager to promote my Etsy shop and make more crafty connections and therefore the Etsy Chat seemed like the perfect thing to do. I boldly logged in and browsed the active chats. I chose a Vintage chat since I’m pretty keen on vintage stuff and with one click of my mouse I was in on the chat.

I had some problems initially with my pop up blocker not allowing me to see some of the stuff on screen. However, once I got that issue resolved I was greeted warmly and was prepared to chat!

It was awful! It was like high school all over again. There were inside jokes that I didn’t get, there was slang that I didn’t understand – I get LOL but there was BRB and PYT and TLC and R-E-S-P-E-C-T – okay, maybe that’s not exactly the acronyms used, but the point is that I didn’t know what the hell they were talking about half the time. I didn’t have any burning questions to ask these complete strangers, I didn’t see any threads of conversation that I felt I could add input to without coming off as a complete dork.

I finally just gave up and left. I felt embarrassed and exposed – like I’d just walked around the entire dance floor at prom and then realized that the back of my dress had been caught in the waist of my pantyhose. Terrible.

I think I just need some more experience. Maybe next time I’ll look for a chat room with only one desperate person in there waiting for someone to talk to. Of course then I’ll feel the pressure of being the only source of conversation.
Man, it sucks to be socially inept.

Intimidated – vintage quilt blocks

Years ago my grandmother gave me a large sack full of hand pieced – let me say that again – hand pieced – quilt blocks that she had found at a church bazaar or rummage type sale. Or perhaps someone gave them to her I can’t quite remember. Anyway, she gave them to me thinking that I could possibly use them in my crafts and I was excited to receive them because they truly are beautiful. I have nine patch blocks, appliquéd sue bonnet blocks and meticulously cut and sewn honeycomb patchwork and they’re absolutely gorgeous!

However I’ve been so intimidated by them that they’ve sat in boxes under my desk for years just waiting for me to muster the nerve and inspiration to do something with them. Some of them, I’m sad to say are stained and badly disintegrated, but others are in excellent shape and they’re begging to be given new life.

I’m particularly fond of these honeycomb blocks. Whoever put these together took great care with the color palette and the placement of the fabric pattern within the block.

I’ve got a few ideas for these pieces rummaging around my head but it’s fairly intimidating. To me these items are precious and I’m afraid to waste them on any less than worthy project. However, I’ve been trying to tell myself that any use for them would be better than letting them rot away in a dark lonely box and I’m hoping this mindset will allow me the freedom to be creative with them.

So stay tuned and hopefully I’ll be able to show you some finished projects soon. Do any of you have any thoughts on possible projects for these pieces? Have you made something out of old quilt blocks that you’d like share?

Cowl or double chin cozy? You decide

I recently finished my first ever knitted cowl project with the fabulous bargain yarn I purchased a few weeks ago.

I didn't really follow a pattern, I just pretty much knitted a short version of a scarf, made some buttonholes (which really was a big accomplishment for me since I'd never done buttonholes before) and Bob's Your Uncle, I have a cowl.

I absolutely love this yarn. It's a wool blend but not 100% wool. I felted it ever so slightly after knitting it just to tighten it up a little since I made it a little too large. I kind of half expected it to be a little itchy but it's really not.

I think it looks quite nice actually and nothing like a double chin cozy as I had feared. On a separate note, it's really no fun taking pictures of yourself. I mean first of all you can never get the right angle. My nose really isn't as large as it appears in the following picture and I'm really popping my eyes open here because the previous 10 shots I'd taken made me look like Courtney Love before rehab - or even after rehab really - is there a difference?

Look below, do you see the seemingly half asleep/half conscious eye situation going on? And this is one of the better shots. I think I was squinting to see the camera. You see I had an elaborate set up which involved a mirror in front of me so that I could see the reflection of the camera's viewing screen so that I could try to frame myself in the shot. And man, maybe my nose is that big?!

Anyway, sorry I got off track. I still have a little yarn left which I think will be enough to make a skinny little scarf for my soon to be 2 yr. old baby girl. Plus I have two skeins of the pink/rose colored yarn that is destined to be another cowl. I think I might try a more textural tube-like cowl for that one.