Finished Objects 2010

Once again, moving my sidebar list into a post, dated to reflect end of year. I wish there was a way to tell blogger to make a list into a post, but alas, if there is, I know it not.

Quite a list this year. I kept busy with the Year of Ami creations, sure, but also, I just seemed to keep busy in the creative department. Good, that. Pretty sure, anyway.

Virus Lavender (k)
Virus Blue (c)
Boring Black Skirt (s)
Old-Fashioned Santa PJ pants for me (s)
PJ top for Twin1 (s)
Candy Cane PJ pants for me (s)
PJ pants for brother (s)
Mango Yip Yip (c) (gifted)
PJ pants for Twin1 (s)
PJ top and pants for Twin2 (s)
Urchin stone (c)
Urchin (k)
8 sets beaded stitch markers (gifted)
Guardian Angel Pin
11 reusable grocery totes with personalized dog tags (s) (gifted)
Tuck Turtle (k)
10 beaded bookmarks (gifted)
Slow Turtle (c)
Ginger Trio Softies (s)
Twisted Felt Bracelet (s)
2 Scarflettes (c)
Mini Gingerbread House
Sushi Fishy (k)
Fish to Sushi (c)
Roly Poly Kitty (k)
Roly Poly Cat (c)
1 wedge cheese (k)
1 slice cheese (c)
Butterscotch Slippers (c) (gifted)
Popcorn (k)
Popcorn 'n' Pretzel (c)
Socktopus (k)
Kitschy Octopus (c)
Weekend Blues Socks (k)
2 pr baby booties (c) (gifted)
2 Acorns (c)
1 Halloween Cookie House
Carved Pumpkins
Inara Costume (s)
10 Skull stitch markers
Little Acorn (k)
Halloween Book Cover
4 beaded stitch markers
Crackled Spider Clock
Button 'Shroom (k)
5 pretty flower arrangements
Teal 'Shroom (c)
Lobster Larger-Than-Life (k)
1 Katamari magnetic ball (c)
Lobster Small (c)
Katamari Prince (k)
X Marks the Spot (c)
Various Stamped Metal jewelry pieces (mostly samples)
Half-circle Batik panel skirt (s)
Liz Claiborne blouse for me! (s)
1 pr Fire-N-Flame Bella gloves (k)
1 sweet pea baby hat (k)
1 knitted strep throat virus of my own design (k) (gifted)
1 little crocheted jug
Knitted "suede" jacket (mine!)
1 Picasso Pence Jug (k)
1 cute blouse (s) (for me!)
1 crochet Indian Corn
1 Itsy Glitsy Spider (k)
Hunny Pot, Lid, and Spoon (c)
Honey Hive & 3 Bees (k)
1 knit Traveling Gnome
1 crochet Traveling Gnome
Captain Underpants! (k)
1 knit flamingo
1 knit Despicable Minion
1 small striped gift box
1 crochet flamingo
assorted stamped & domed metal pieces (gifted)
owlie hat (k) (gifted)
1/2 scotch egg (k)
1 fried egg (c)
1 crochet Despicable Minion
Sunbonnet Sue little cheater quilt (s)
1 Zozo (k)
1 knitted endless coral
1 lavender wand
yellow knit top (for me) (s)
1 crochet (hyperbolic) coral
1 Bzzz Knit Bumble Bee
1 Curious Glow-in-Dark Alien (c)
1 Fuzzy Little Friend Bee (k)
3 shell bracelets
1 red mini-alien (k)
1 Zoe Lily-Belle dolly-of-the-wild-hair (c)
1 Mega Cute Pea Babe (c)
Periwinkle Octopus for niece (c)
1 knit Yip Yip
patriotic pieced & quilted runner (s)
cute bee print pillowcase from Seasons of Home kit (s)
1 crochet Yip Yip
1 Juju Voodoo doll (k)
Very Small Giraffe (s)
1 teensy cabled sweater (k)
1 knitted Quart of Milk
3 (of 6) cushions for patio furniture (s)
Widdle Fat Sheepy (w/lavender) (c)
1 elusive Woodin (k)
2 cushions for outdoor couch (finally!) (s)
1 "walking man" silhouette (c)
1 felt dbl pnt needle holder (s)
1 Cluck Clutch (for me) (c)
2 sweet paper strawberry boxes
1 cute mini-pear (s)
1 appliqued onesie (s)
1 ugly bunny (fairly adorable) (c)
knitted peas
blue & brown print slinky-knit dress for me (s)
1 cute ruffle-bum patriotic onesie for grand-niece (s)
1 crochet honey
1 crochet trilobite
1 knit trilobite
1 cute knit seedling
1 Monkey! (c)
4 pr "pie wedge" eyes
1 crochet Stumpy!
1 crochet radish of cuteness
1 knit radish
1 seriously cute quahog (c)
1 nifty knit nautiloid
1 knit olive
1 crochet olive
1 reconfigured charm necklace for my baby sister
1 sweet Melly & Me giraffe (s) (gifted)
1 Nice Narcissus (c)
1 Minute MopTop (Lemming?) (c)
doll-sized pair of socks (k)
diapees & wipees case for V (s)
2 pr white Jaywalker baby socks (k) (1 gifted)
1 mute Monster Chunks (k)
super cute white vinyl purse (mine) (s)
cute pair of dark denim wide legged capris (for me) (s)
1 crochet lime
1 knit kiwi bird
1 crochet kiwi bird
1 knit lemon
5 knit cupcakes (gifted)
1 pr Newborn Jaywalker socks (k) (gifted)
1 Makurokurosuke Soot for Twin2 (c)
1 tiny Totoro for Twin2 (c)
1 black & white Ninjabun for Twin1 (k)
1 glow-in-the-dark jellyfish for Twin1 (c)
1 knit Bismarck jelly donut
5 blind fish (they need eyes) (k)
1 cute crochet Jellyfish
2 tiny crochet butterflies (a la Lolly)
1 cute fabric necklace
8 fun flowers (a la Lolly)
1 knit classic chocolate cone
1 crochet swirl cone
1 khaki Vogue skirt (for me) (s)
1 knitted hot dog
1 crochet hot dog & twinkie bun
Let It Snow pieced & embroidered pillow (s)
satin-trimmed fleece blanket & pillow cover for Twin2 (s)
1 knitted Gratis Grass
1 pr fleece socks for big sis (s)
1 gorgeous crochet gull
1 knit blue fish
1 Earl Lenmeyer - shape refined (c)
1 Earl Lenmeyer - needs refining (c)
1 homespun knit baby cocoon (gifted)
4 knit Owlie Sleep Sacks (3 gifted)
1 pr fleece armwarmers for Twin1 (s)
1 hot pink crochet eel (friendlier)
knit Pork Pie (my own creation, first draft)
1 crochet eel (creeping me out)
1 Celestine Crochet (crochet dodecahedron)
1 Celestine Sox (knit dodecahedron)
1 very twee Knitted Bunny
1 pr Alice's New Moon Mitts (mine!) (k)
1 knit Inishturk Tam
2 knit cherries
2 crochet cherries
set of 3 crochet sushi (gifted)
2 more pr crochet slippers (gifted)
1 Knitted Bunny
1 smooth Tea Cup Bunny
1 pr Bella Mittens for friends' niece (k)
1 crochet mushroom
2 fuzzy Tea Cup Bunnies (1 gifted) (c)
1 crochet rocket ship for nephew
1 improved knit apple
2 crochet green beans
1 knit tomato (used to be apple)
1 crochet armadillo
1 knit toadstool (gifted)
1 cabled & tassled baby hat (k) (gifted)
1 crochet alligator ami
1 crochet apple wedge
1 crochet grape jelly
1 crochet peanut butter
10 pcs crochet bread
1 crochet Cthulhu for brother
Pair of Bella Gloves for friend (k)
1 mega cute knit owl-in-sweater
1 boring painted treasure box
my dress for sisters' wedding (s)
2 flower girl dresses (s)
1 knitted boob (yeah, that's right, just the one - for my aunt)

k=knit, c=crochet, s=sewn

I'm sure it'd be handy if I linked these to any applicable blog posts. But...did you notice? Lots of items...not really up to that right now. Maybe later. Or not.

Virus Lavender

The knitted virus somehow just about flew off the needles for me. I was having some issues with the bobbles when I started, (more due to my needle size and the fact that it was about 10pm when I started the project) but I got the hang of it, and from there, it just took no time at all.

Pattern was great. I only made the cold virus for now, but I plan to make more, just for fun.

Sorry to be behind in my projects here. I expect to be totally caught up after the weekend.

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Lavender Blue

Virus Blue

I gotta say, even though I'm a tad bored of doing spheres, this little fella is pretty cute.

Pattern has some issues, though:

Rnd 6: pretty sure it should read *sc in first 5 st, 2 sc in next st; sc in next 5 st, inc nodule in next st*. As printed, it tells you to sc in 6 st before working the nodule (or bud), but that would put your stitch count off - you'd not be able to finish the round before running short of stitches.
Rnd 14: I recommend starting with sc 9, then sc 8 and work nodule. This will offset the nodules from the previous nodule round, and result in the item actually looking like the picture. If worked as written, it will match rnd 10, which won't then be offset.
Rnd 19: I elected to work as follows: *sc in first 3 st, dec in next st; sc in next 2 st, dec bud in next st, dec in next st* repeat. I found this placed the buds in the right places, and also kept the stitch count correct.

I think that's all. I hope I didn't intuitively correct something and then forget to write it down, though that's possible.

I placed my 15mm eyes between Rnds 9 & 10, centered just above and on either side of a nodule.

Yarn: Vanna Baby in Bluebell

We had a little bit of a storm...

Christmas with Teenagers

 Decided not to get a real tree this year - save myself one more errand, and a little cash...you know how it is. Our first time using this tree. The branches are, apparently, too weak to hold ornaments. Getting the star to stay on top? Yeah - that was...fun.

 All the gifts, wrapped, ready for the Christmas morning rush. Or whatever. I was a zombie by this time. (I do all this stuff Christmas Eve. It's tradition.)

I think this just about sums it up.
(Teenagers can be really hard to impress.)
But I totally dig Twin2's pj's - don't you? Those are monkeys, wearing sailor caps, in banana boats! I had to go to 3 different stores to find knit fabrics to match the flannel, and it was totally worth it. Now if we could just find him some banana-shaped slippers...
Twin1 is sporting his new Plushalicious, which hides his plain black flannel pj pants. He tells me he overheated himself wearing it to bed Sunday night.

Hope your Christmas was everything you wanted it to be!

Year of Ami, week 49, W is for...

 Weeeds to knit (wish I could find something similar in crochet, but it's not out there, sorry!)

and a wee Whale to crochet

(if you're in the mood to knit a whale, here's an Orca for you, or, for one more like this, there's Moby the Mini Whale)

What are you waiting for?

*pics of my own creations added after-the-fact*

Urchin Stone

My stone was considerably smaller than theirs, apparently. I had to skip 2 rounds and start the decreases early. I'm not over-impressed with the pattern. I guess I wanted something a little more lace-like?
No technical issues with the pattern. Just a bit bored with it.

Yarn: Patons Pearl Twist

Finished Urchin

The knitting is done. The fulling is not, but we're going to pretend it's all done anyway. I do hope the fulling improves it, though. I'm not overly impressed with it just now. It's not bad. It's just those nasty holes on the side of the bobbles. Gotta be a way around that.

No errors in the pattern. Just tension issues, apparently, but that's my fault, not the designers.

When it's been shrunk, I'll post more pics.

Yarn: Patons Classic Wool in Winter White

Urchin in Progress

I really should be done with this by now, but I've had these "other" things to do, like baking cookies, making fudge, dipping chocolates...

It's not a hard pattern, it's just I've only had a few minutes here and there when I didn't have something else in my hands.

Also, what with the beating of fudges and all, my arms are worn out, so my hands go numb pretty quickly while knitting. Trying to remedy that, but for now, I have to stop and shake it out every couple of rounds, so it's slow going.

Liking it so far, except for this:

I get holes next to my bobbles, but only to the right. I didn't have that problem with my Welig gloves, which have very large bobbles, but on this? massive holes!

Are those holes going to disappear? Here's hoping!

Attack!

Snow!

How about a little snow?

I'm glad I have this Beefeater Snowman Scarecrow to stand guard.

New Faucet

Isn't it pretty?

Just look at the old, ugly, leaky, cheap faucet that used to be there:

Yuck!

Two of my brothers came over Saturday and removed the old one, installed and endlessly tweaked the new one, and also replaced a leaking outdoor spigot.
Something like this always looks like it'd be a pretty simple job, but in an older home, you never know. I'd been told my "centers" were just barely off, so I knew it was going to require some work to get it to fit right. What I didn't know, is that my centers are actually right on, they just aren't level. You get the faucet on there, and you're thinking, "gosh, that was easy", and then you step back, and your head tilts to one side, and you realize that the faucet tilts to one side, and that's when the fun begins. Once you finally get it level, and turn on the water, that's when you find out that not everything was tightened quite right. Tightening the various places puts it out of level, so you start in with all of that again, and it seems like it could do on forever. I honestly don't know what I'd do without my family sometimes!
All in all, I wouldn't give up my wall-mount faucet for anything. It might be a pain to replace, but hopefully, since I bought a Chicago brand (commercial grade) faucet, we won't need to replace it again, ever.

Once I get used to the fact that it now turns off the correct way, maybe I won't get totally soaked every time I do the dishes. I was always forgetting, even 20+ years later, that I turned the old faucet handles inwards to turn it off, and thus soaked myself by turning it full-blast instead of off, countless times. Now that it turns off the correct way, or, at least, the same way as 99% of all other faucets I've encountered, for some reason I can't get the wrong way out of my head now, and I spent the weekend splashing water everywhere and soaking my shirt.

But look! Pretty faucet! Thanks again, my brothers. You guys are the best!

Year of Ami, week 48, V is for Virus!

Because a softie virus is so much nicer for Christmas than the usual kind!

To crochet, from Handmade Gypsy, Cold Virus

To knit, Microbes! (rav link), which offers you a choice of 6 common microbes, including Rhino virus.

Here's hoping these are the only versions you encounter this week!

*pics of my own creations added after-the-fact*

Turtle Tuck

This guy was much faster to knit, and I didn't have to sew anything together, either.

Pattern is very well written, and easy to follow. One error: when you finish the top of the shell, it doesn't tell you to finish off, or how to do it. You've just finished Rnd 17, you have 9 stitches left on your needles, and the next thing you read starts in on placement for the appendages. Not a big deal, overall, but for anyone new to the craft, you might have been confused by this, as all the other sections tell you to cut your yarn and finish off, in great detail. But that's really more of an editing error.

When I did the second piece on the bottom, the part his legs, head, and tail can be tucked into, I actually did mine backwards. I picked up stitches on the purl round at the bottom of the turtle shell, using the backward loop cast-on to cast on stitches where the head, legs, and tail were, so those parts would be open like they should be. Does that make sense? I picked up and cast on 48 stitches around the bottom, using the same stitches I would have used to sew it on if I'd worked it from the middle out. Then I proceeded to decrease instead of increase as I worked the piece backwards toward the center. I just hate the sewing up that much, I figured out how to work back instead. I know, I'm a little obsessed.

When I embroidered the rings on his shell, I worked the first two as written, but for the last one, around the biggest part, I decided to backstitch a wavy line. Just backstitch, nothing fancy.

You know what? One of the things I like most about Spud and Chloe is the clever names they come up with. I mean, you know why this little one is called Tuck, right? Sure, you can tuck in his parts like a real turtle, but that's only half the story. The part that makes it such a perfect, such an adorable, name? "Durn fool thing must think it's going to live forever."* I mean, how totally perfect is that?

*in the book, it's a toad...but I'm glad the movie people decided a turtle was a better fit.

Yarns: Vanna in Olive and Pea Green

Tabernacle

Is there anyone in Provo not saddened by this?

Image from here

Every Stake Conference, even after our stake started having overflow seating in our Stake Center, with only sound piped in, I insisted that we go to the Tabernacle. It meant a longer drive. It meant sitting in the balcony because we were usually late. Often it meant sitting on those skinny ledges built out over the old radiators. The benches that weren't really meant to be benches for seating.

But I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.

I loved that building. All those windows. All that detail. Those winding stairs up to the balcony. Walking to the front and past the speakers just to use the bathroom or get a drink. All those layers of paint on everything.

The steepness of the tiered seating in the balcony - so steep, everyone could see your knees above the bench in front of you, so you had to be sure you sat in a ladylike manner should you be in a skirt that only just reached your knees.

I will miss this building. Oh, so very much.

leaky-leaky, I no likey

I've had a leak developing on my crappy kitchen faucet for a week or so, and I arranged to have it seen to, like I should. My old plumbing tends not to be of the simple "replace the washer" variety, so I didn't want to open it up myself. Not this time, anyway.

I'd scheduled it for Saturday.

Apparently, that's not soon enough for the faucet. Last night, it decided to turn into a full-on stream of water. You can hear it all over the (very small) house, serious water running through the pipes and down the drain. Cold water, thank heavens, but still, a lot of water.

I couldn't stand listening to it and thinking of all that wasted water, so I shut it off. There is no shut-off under this sink - like I said, it's old - I had to shut off the whole house. Turned it back on this morning to shower, though I'd considered going to the rec center to save myself the trouble. Turned off again before I left for work. The Twins are not thrilled with this solution.

Good thing I'm hosting my party at my parents instead of my house tonight. A lack of modern plumbing could be a mood killer.

After last night's drama (I was in the middle of making bread, hands all sticky with dough), I've decided it's time to retire what I'm sure was not the greatest faucet even when it was new. (I was in college, I was poor, I got what I could afford at the time.) So I'll be spending my Saturday before Christmas  browsing the faucets at BJ's, hoping to find something both durable and pretty, to be installed by my very much unselfish, loving, capable brothers. If I'm lucky, I won't ever have to fix it again. (Why do all the guys at the DIY stores laugh when I say that? It seems reasonable to me.)

Happy Leaky-days!

Busy Rambling

Working a lot, but feeling like I'm not getting anywhere. And now I've said I'd do a new project that feels a little outside my comfort zone, while trying to come off as totally competent.

When I'm not at work, I'm over at my parent's prepping for a party, decorating the new digs, and trying not to get us in over our heads. If you know me, you know the bit about "over our heads" isn't really working. The place looks great, but I keep wanting to do just one more thing. And do that thing before the party, not just put it on the list for later.

When I'm not in party prep mode, I'm at home, sewing, baking, knitting, crocheting, beading, and basically creating a big ol' mess instead of, say, decorating for Christmas. Unless Chaos is synonymous with Christmas, in which case I'm totally festive!
(For instance, last night I cut out 18 of something I probably won't have time to sew up in the next week, totally intending them as Christmas gifts. The mess in the living room from this project's beginning is truly astounding, considering how few supplies it involved.)

I somehow managed to attend a Christmas party last night without feeling even the slightest tinge of guilt.

I immediately followed up my guilt-free attendance by stopping by to pick up pillow-dressing supplies from mom, so I can: make a pattern from the old, ugly covers, cut out in new, pretty fabric, make my own matching piping, salvage zippers from old, ugly covers, and sew up new covers. Hopefully in time for the party.

For whatever reason, this week I finally felt inspired (and thus able) to put away all the warm-weather clothing to make room for the cold-weather items. (What? I know it's December. When do you swap out your off-season clothes?) This involved doing many many loads of laundry, as well as a lot of taking things off hangers and putting other things back on hangers, while trying to rid myself of clothes I really don't wear. (I put 3 things in the donation box. At least, I think it was three. It might have only been two. I have issues.)
The "taking things to the attic" portion of this process has yet to happen, so this means the hallway is filled with bags (of the vacuum storage variety) of clothing. While these are very colorful, I seriously doubt they qualify as decorative.

Did I mention that the party is tomorrow night? I'm totally gonna be ready for that. Totally. Yup. And then next week, Santa will come down my chimney and decorate the house and leave all the presents, and I won't have to do anything, because he's gonna take care of all of it. Including putting that stuff up in the attic.

A girl can dream, right?

Besides, didn't you know? When you stop believing in Santa, you get underwear for Christmas. And not the fun kind.

Turtle Slow

Here he is, done. and not quite so slow as it seemed.

Big problem with this pattern, though. Um, absolutely no direction on placement of anything, on assembly in any way, shape, or form?!? Really? That fact makes this item unsuitable for a beginner, but someone with a little toy-making experience can definitely figure it out.

I should reveal that instead of finishing off the head and starting again for the neck, I simply decreased the head stitches to match the starting count for the neck and continued from there.

I must admit I really like the eyes on this one. Might have to steal that for another toy someday.

I put plastic pellets in the shell, to help balance the head, and he stays up just fine.

Yarns: Vanna Baby in Cherry Cherry, Vanna in Silver Blue and White

Year of Ami, week 47, U is for Urchin!

Ever had something in mind, and you end up totally fixated on it, no matter how many obstacles you encounter?

That's how it was for me with this Sea Urchin.

I really wanted to include this knitted beauty in this challenge, but could not find a crochet version to match. Then, Purl Bee came out with their lacy rock-covering, and I was set.

The crochet version is more of an art piece than a toy, but both are lovely.

*pics of my own creations added after-the-fact*

The Bishop's Wife

One of my favorite Christmas movies of all time.
Possibly even the favorite.
It never ceases to amaze me how many have never even heard of this film.
It's worth seeing for the skating scene alone.
I know it's not Cary Grant doing the skating, or playing the harp (see if you can figure out how they did those shots - I can't), but does that really matter? No, I think not.

If you haven't seen this Christmas miracle classic, I highly recommend picking up a copy at your local (online?) movie rental. Or you could just buy it. You can also buy a copy of the soundtrack here.

Cuz, I gotta tell ya, that Archibald Leach really knows how to show a gal a good time.

Turtles are slow critters

Even the yarn ones, apparently.

I'm working on it, I'm just not making much progress.

I'm thinking it must be a turtle thing, because the pair of gloves I cast on on Tuesday are coming along quite nicely. In fact, I'm almost ready to start the fingers.

I'll check back in later to show off the gloves turtle.

leftover whipped cream, anyone?

This dry winter weather has my hair in tangles, so I decided I'd have to do one of the Curly Girl suggested conditioning treatments. I've tried the avocado/honey/almond oil combo (I think smell like guacamole after, but when I ask others, they say not), which was the softest my hair has been in forever, but I wanted to try something else this time.
I had some whipping cream that was approaching it's sell-by date, so I figured I'd do that one. It's actually in there as a scalp treatment, for dry, itchy scalp, but as I had that as well (darned desert winters), that's what I set out to do.
I whipped the cream, without adding any sugar (though sugar won't harm your hair - it likes it well enough), and, after setting the bowl in the bathroom sink, I was ready.
I considered washing my hands just once more before scooping it up, so that I wouldn't be polluting this fine bowl of whipped cream, but then realized I'd be going right back into the stuff as I worked more of it into my hair, so hair (and other things) in the cream was going to happen in any event.
It didn't say to wet my hair first, so I didn't. I just started scooping up the whipped cream and massaging my scalp with it. Wet hair might have helped avoid some of the tangles I got while I did this, but see, I remembered that wetting your hair first keeps it from absorbing other things (this is why you want to wet your hair before swimming in a chlorinated pool - it'll protect your hair), so I thought it might be best if the only thing my hair was absorbing was the cream.
I'm sure you wish I'd taken a picture. Just recall how Julia Roberts looked in Dying Young (or in Pret-a-Porter (Ready to Wear) - but I'm sure most of you didn't see that one) when she had her hair up in mayonnaise to condition it. Only I smelled of cream, not mayo. (The Twins had a friend over. How fun for them, explaining my new "look".)
When it was time to rinse, I realized that instead of knitting while I waited for my hair to soak up the cream, I should have taken a moment to empty the kitchen sink, that being the one sink with a faucet high enough to get my head under. I endured a good 15 minutes of cream dripping down my face and neck while I washed dishes and scrubbed the sink.
I rinsed until the water ran clear, and wrapped my hair up in a towel. (I know some of these "deep conditioning treatments" say you should "wash as usual" after doing the treatment, but that's a bad idea. You just spent at least 30 minutes giving your hair some much-needed oils and moisture, and now you're going to wash it and strip all of it out? Believe me, your hair doesn't want that.)
Left it that way when I went to bed, since the hair was still pretty wet. This morning, I woke up to a head full of glossy curls tossed every which way.
There's still some of that cream left. I covered the bowl and put it in the back of the refrigerator. I just hope neither of the boys decides it looks like something to eat; I might want to recondition my ends later.

Kit Carson's socks

Went to see a showing of Kit Carson last week. Filmed in the 40's in Monument Valley, UT. A good old-fashioned western, it was.

Kit is asked to guide the US Cavalry through Indian territory to CA, with a group of settlers in tow. He's only just got back from a long trapping excursion, at the end of which they were set upon by the natives (I forget which tribe) and lost all their furs, and a couple of his "boys", so he's not anxious to get back out there just yet. He refuses, and settles in for a rest at the fort. The obligatory Beautiful Rich Girl comes to beg him to change his mind, and finds him barefoot on the porch. Somehow his buddies talk him 'round, and a few minutes later he's slipping those huge bare feet into his boots.

One evening on the trail, sitting 'round the campfire, eating dinner, talking, etc., Beautiful Rich Girl is knitting a sock. (It's a bit dim to see if the actress was actually knitting, but the work is on double-points, she's holding it the right way, and doing something with it, so let's say she's knitting, okay?) It's a fairly large sock, in a good hefty sock yarn, with at least 2" of ribbing at the top of 10" or so of leg. Definitely a manly sock. Kit and his buddies take off to scout the perimeter, and Rich Girl turns to her lady friend and says, "well, this is as far as I can go until I know what size shoes he wears", while holding up the leg portion of one sock. Lady Friend tells her she figures she'd know that by now, to which Rich Girl replies that it seems kind of a personal question. Whereupon Lady Friend tells her that Ape (one of Kit's buddies) is a size 12. They laugh, she stows the sock in her knitting basket, and the shot changes to Kit and his buddies.

Now, at this point, I'm seriously interested, because I'm knitting a sock myself at that moment, so I'm on the alert for more news of this sock. I want to know his shoe size, and my mind starts to think of how she could work this into conversation with him, and what she could do in the meantime, until she knows what size to make the foot. She could turn the heel and knit most of the foot. She could put the first leg on waste yarn and knit the other one to the same point. She could sneak a look at his boots. She could ask Ape if he knows Kit's size. Every time she manages a moment alone with Kit, I'm waiting for her to ask him. Or to present the socks to him and explain how she found out his size without him knowing.

And, you know what? Even though they are on the trail for weeks, months, I don't know, FOREVER...

The socks are NEVER mentioned again!

SERIOUSLY!

It's enough to drive a knitter out of her mind.

Itty Bitty Gingerbread house

Look what I made!

I know, it's tiny, but that's on purpose. I've had the little "kit" for years, but never used it.

Sunday, one of my brother's proposed a gingerbread house party, so we all went over to mom's to make them. We had the kids pose with theirs for pictures, but those pics are on mom's camera, so I can't share all of them here just yet.

Twin1 declined to participate, and ended up napping the entire time. Twin2 designed and built a most impressive structure. I helped a couple of little ones build and decorate theirs before finally turning to my own little itty bitty dwelling.

Fun was had by all!

Sproing!

Years ago, I ran across this craft project* using an old bed spring, just weeks after one of my friends hauled an old box spring to the dump. Ever since, I've been keeping an eye out for an old (broken) box spring so I could yank the springs out of it.

Thursday night, as I was dropping off one of my knitting friends, there it was, with the fabric already ripped off and some of the boards broken, leaving the springs all exposed to the elements. Yippee!

She went in to her apartment to see if she had wire cutters, and I rummaged in my car, hoping for a leather-man or some other tool. All I had was some bent-nose jewelry pliers, but went over to see if could just muscle them off somehow.

Turns out, they're held onto the wire frame by these tricky little twists of wire, which weren't too difficult to bend out of the way with my wimpy jewelry pliers.

I took home 13 of these beauties. If it hadn't been cold and dark, I would have liberated them all.

I may have to go back.

*scroll down on the linked page - there's a mummy, and a heart

Year of Ami, week 46, T is for Turtle!

Tough one, this. Lots of turtles out there to choose from, but I like these best.

To knit, from Spud & Chloe, Tuck

To crochet, the freebie offering from Tiny Yarn Animals, Turtle

*pics of my own creations added after-the-fact*

on a more personal note - updated x 2

I'm trying to find myself a date for my company party, (a company whose name I shall not mention here, because they've just "reminded" us we're not supposed to be talking about work in our "social" places online - which seems contradictory - shouldn't I be proud of where I work? isn't it part of who I am? but I digress...) the party is on Tuesday night, and I almost always take a sibling, friend, or parent, or go alone.

I asked a couple of friends to maybe put their minds to setting me up with someone, and then tried to think of someone myself.

Who came to mind is the reason for this post.

I thought maybe I could ask the drama teacher. So, I emailed, because I'd lost his number. And, because he's a teacher, I figured I'd just leave it until after the school day to look for a reply. No reply in the afternoon, so I looked harder for his number, and found it. But I got his voicemail. I was going to maybe leave a message, but then I remembered him saying he doesn't check his voicemail, it's best just to call back. Which leaves me wondering if he doesn't check his email much, either.
At any rate, I figured I had to give it 24 hrs on the email, to be fair, and then wait until after school today, before I try calling him.

The hour approaches, and I find I'm too nervous to even think about it.

Help me out here, my friends. I could use a little encouragement.

(Know what? It's much easier to just go along as I am, ignoring the idea of dating and whatever might come later, rather than trying to date.)

UPDATE: Called, got voicemail, and he hasn't called back. So, I guess, whatever. I did turn him down more than once back in the spring, so, I can understand if he isn't interested. But what about being polite, and returning calls? Never mind.

UPDATED UPDATE: He emailed back. He's seeing someone now, so it's a no. Haven't I said so before? He's nothing if not polite. And I'd even add "considerate" to that.

Sushi Fishy Two

This knitted version took a little longer, but it's still a quick project.

I wanted, as always, to figure a way out of having to sew stuff on. Not really possible. The way you work the fins and the tail, you gotta make them and sew them on after.
I did, however, knit the fish and sushi portions all in one. Figured it'd be easier that way.
One little tip, if you wish to do the same: make the fins and tail first, then work the fish, adding these parts as you can, instead of waiting until you've closed up the bottom end of the rice to realize you need a way into the thing so you can sew parts on. Just saying.

This version has the nori a little loose when it's sushi-side-out.

Also, I think there should be some connection between the bottom rice and the tail, so the toy never ends up looking like this:

Yarns: Red Heart Designer Sport in Melon, Wool Ease in Pine, White, Buttercup, and Black, Creme de la Creme in Brite Green

worse than anybody's aunt

Finally getting 'round to watching the latest Doctor Who, with Matt Smith.

I like him. I really do. He's completely different, and yet still completely the Doctor.

And I love Amelia (I can't call her Amy, it's just not right).

But here's the thing: up to now, all the Doctors have been, well, older. The last two were more my age range, which is still sort of in the realm of "older". But now this new guy, he's mid-twenties.
The point is, the Doctor has been getting younger with every regeneration (at least, as far as I can figure, though I could be wrong - there could have been some lateral moves there, and possibly some jump back to older - I'm not an expert).

Anyway, the real question is, "Where do we go from here?"

I mean, what's next? Rupert Grint? Although, at least he'd be ginger.

sushi fishy fun

This Fish to Sushi could not have been easier!

There were a few places in the pattern I wasn't sure what she meant, but it looks as though I got there anyway. Something like that should be frustrating, but for some reason it wasn't.

I'm still not entirely sure my fins or tail are done the right way, but they look fine, so I suppose it doesn't actually matter in the end, does it?

For the eyes, I did 6 sc in a magic ring, and then sewed them on using black yarn, stitching from the center out to the inner edges, 8 stitches, like the spokes in a wheel. I did that before sewing the sushi to the fish.

Speaking of attaching the sushi, I didn't sew it on. I joined them with sc, and did the whiskers at the same time. I started with sc in the lower corner of the mouth, did 6 sc, then chained 8 and sl st back along the back of the chain, sc in the same, and continued around to the beginning, where I repeated the ch and sl st for the other whisker.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that I worked the dorsal fin directly onto the fish. Instead of chaining, I worked 10sc through the top of the fish body, starting on round 6 near the mouth and working towards the tail end, and then continued as written. The other fins and the tail were worked as written (as far as I could follow them - the directions are a bit obscure in that region) and sewn on after.

When working the rice portions, think of them like a granny square. You want to work 1sc, ch 2, 1sc in each ch 2 space, and 1 sc in each sc around. That should give you a nice square. I worked both the white parts, then worked the nori in the round right on the bottom square. I then attached to the top rice with sc in the same color as the nori.

(geez, can I even say I followed the pattern?)

Oh, one more thing: some of the increase rounds are not what I'd call evenly distributed, and you may come to the end of a round in the middle of a repeat. Just stop at the end of the round, and you should have the right number of stitches. A stitch marker is helpful here.

This is great for using up bits of yarn. Don't worry about the fibers, just use whatever seems the right color. I've got mostly acrylic here, but the green is cotton.

Yarns: Red Heart Designer Sport in Melon, Wool-Ease in Buttercup, White, Pines and Black, Creme de la Creme in Brite Green