Have a Munny Day!

I’ve been doing a variety of things around here. Mostly mudane and not worth posting about. My daughter’s school semester is one half day away from the end and I have good intentions for summer vacation. I hope I can keep the motivation up! Here’s some things I’ve done recently that maybe you’d like to see. Or maybe not, but I’m posting it anyway. =p

I love Munny dolls. And Dunny dolls. And all those weird vinyl toys etc. I’d start a collection if I didn’t feel so guilty about wasting money and space. Here’s my first Munny sketch. Done in pencil then in ink. I think I should get some 4 inch dolls to do with my daughter this summer.

Here he is colored in photoshop and made into a dorky wallpaper for my desktop. heeIn Amigurumi news... here’s a little guy I started yesterday. No plans. No direction. I just wanted to feel the calming rhythm of hook and yarn being stitched into something. ANYTHING. This so far. It has green cat eyes I bought online eons ago, but I’m not sure I really intend for it to become a cat. We’ll see.Oh yea, we were also watching Cardcaptor Sakura again. Kero-chan CHECK! I also made this crocheted flower with beads for a hair tie. Woot. The yarn is cotton. I've not done much with cotton before but I'm thinking I want to do lots more.I hope you’re all doing well out there. Live long and prosper. (Yes I saw the new Star Trek and I loved it! Casting was great. I'm excited for the future of the series.)

What else have I been wasting my time with instead of making amigurumi and writing patterns? Watching too much Heroes. Watched all of Season 3 in a few days. Whew. Addicting.

Stay cool! (^_^)v

Happy Day

Today is a good day. I think it's a good day. At least, it's a better day than some of the recent days I've had in a long while. The weather is mild with the smell of fresh rain in the air. The flowers on our balcony are all happily blooming. The pets are at peace. The house is in order (mostly - acceptably so anyway).

And there are a lot of cheery posts on other blogs. Read about making butter at Angry Chicken; especially the post that inspired her over at Portland Food and Drink.com. I don't know why reading about that made me feel good. Then go and read Alice's insanity at Finslippy. That was hilarious. Well, I thought it was. Probably because it sounds like she's my husband's long lost twin. Though he's not THAT bad. (~_^)

I know making this blanket has been making me happier too.

When I pick it up and work on it the colors scream "happy happy"! I'm behind in this soft-waves ripple blanket making craze I know but it still had to be done. This one is being made with misc. left over skeins so the colors and weights are varying. This other one (next photo) took me over a year to do (becuase I procrastinated THAT much) and was requested in those particular colors.

It was requested extra long too so that could be another reason why it took so long to do.

Anyway, Happy Day to you all!!
(^_^)v

ps~ Thanks for all the posts

- from comments on projects to just plain good wishes -

its been very nice. Thank you.

Something different

I wanted to try something different. Is that ok? Here are some charms I made from Sculpey. I used ivory Sculpey, baked it, put in the hooks, then painted them with acrylic paints and glazed them with the Sculpey Glaze (gloss). They turned out pretty cute. I just don’t know what to do with them now. HahaI also knitted a scarf from Paton’s Lacette in Beautiful Blue. Nothing fancy. I just wanted a blue scarf. The yarn was on sale and I love blue. It’s a little itchy but maybe it’ll be better after I steam it. There are no pictures of the itchy scarf. (^_^)' But here's another picture of the charms! (*_*) I just realized I don't have any reference photos... for size. These little gals are about the size of an American quarter.

(^_^)v

ps~ Are any of you video gamers and knitters? Sony's PlayStation3 LittleBigPlanet SackBoy pattern is now available to download for free (and legally) at The Sun's website. Click on the red typeface in the article and wait patiently for a nice PDF file that you can save to your computer or print out. It's the pattern that was published in the January issue of UK's Simply Knitting - which we never could find on the stands/in the stores. Maybe a lot of traditional knitters got mad about that too; their favourite monthly magazine suddenly no where to be found because of insane videogaming knitting geeks. haha Happy knitting! (I dont think I'm talented enough to do this one... ugh)

Everything but...

Everything but amigurumi. Sorry. I didn’t get very far with the whole amigurumi-ing during my midweek weekend. :( I tried. I really did. I got the yarn out, I had my hooks out, I even started something… but… I just wasn’t inspired enough I guess. So instead I started knitting a scarf. I have two skeins of wool ease sitting about and just the right size needles. I found this pattern of an easy cabled scarf at Pieknits. It's at the bottom of the page and is called Ropes and Ladders Scarf. I always wanted to try cabling. And that was that. Sad. Then today I finally painted this little girl. She’s dated 09.21.07. Just over a year later I’ve completed her.

Hahaha Man, I’m slow!

Busy or not...

I think I've been too busy. But then when people ask me what I've been doing I don't seem to have much to say. Do you ever feel like that? It seems like I feel like that a lot lately. Day to day that's how I feel. They'll say, "What did you guys do today?" and all I do is stare blankly back. *blink blink*

In May we moved. ugh. Moving sucks. And that seriously set me back in a lot of ways. I have been keeping busy here and there, however not much with amigurumi. I DID make one monkey but I don't have a photo of it and it's already been shipped off to its new owner. sorry. That's how scatter brained I've been!

Here's some photos of other things I've been up to...

I made two baby blankets. The scalloped one is from the book Bend the Rules Sewing. Love that book. Cute fabric isn't it? There was a Joann's near by doing a moving sale. heh heh

The other blanket is just scraps put together. I also made some baby bibs from the same book. I bought quilting squares so I could get more variety without the crazy left over yardage. Each square made two bibs with a good size strip left for some future project. ;) Cotton on the front, cotton flannel on the back with snap closures. Fun.

Then I made a necklace and a box to go with it. The box is just your regular cardboard box that I wrapped with handmade paper my mom brought me from Thailand a few years ago. The embellishments are store bought rub-ons. AND I got into making bread. LOVE LOVE LOVE this book . It really is easy and the results are yumMAY! Here slathered in butter with left over lasagne. So that's it. There were a lot of other activities crammed in between. It's summer vacation after all. Gotta keep the monster busy. Hm, I guess I have been doing a lot. It helps to see it all laid out like this. WHEW. I'm tired. (^_^)v

Happy New Year!

Not a very happy beginning to a new year when the whole household is sick mind you, but I still wish you all a happy one. (~_^)

My daughter got sick the Friday before Christmas then miraculously recovered for the special day and promptly got sick again (fever and all) the day after. Then after a week of that my husband caught it (fever and all) and now that he is finally on the mend I am coming down with it. *sigh* No fever for me as of yet, and I hope to escape that fate, but I have such a bad cough and horrible congestion. ugh. Anywaaaay, you must be thinking, "but what have you made?!?!"

Not much time for crafts when sickies around I tell you but I did manage to whip up quite a few scarves for gifts; both crocheted AND knitted. (Me? Knit?? I've been practicing. *hee*) I will only bore you with photos of one, however.

I love blue. And I love soft. So this was just heaven to me. The yarn is Baby Alpaca Brush. I bought it here in town but you can see it at Plymouth Yarn's website. It looks MUCH better in person I assure you (not to mention anything of the FEEL of it. yum!). The pattern is from The Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches - 1983. If you have the book or know of it the pattern is Diamond Lace in the All-over Lace Patterns section. Mix in some garter stitches for a border and BAM a scarf is born. I don't have a scale to weigh my yarn so I can't tell you exactly how much I used. One ball was 50 g. I used a little over one and a half it looks like.

The little puppy looking thing is a travel tissue pack holder I made from the scraps. Yes, I had the same yarn in white that I used for another scarf that I crocheted. Its body is in stockinette and its ears are crocheted.

Well, it's time to get back to movie land. All I've been able to do is "lay" here and watch movies. Yesterday I just watched the newest remake of Pride and Prejudice, over and over and over... I love the A&E production of it made in 1995 but my copy of that is so scratched I have to get a new one. This remake with Keira Knightley isn't half bad though. Quiet enjoyable. I still can't stand the mother. And although I still don't think anyone could take Colin Firth's place as Mr. Darcy I think Matthew Macfadyen is a very good runner up.

Today's movie is Emma. (^_^)v

Detours can be good.

We were detoured off our very usual routine this weekend. Just in time to deal with the daily grind blues we were transported to ... Disneyland! And Disneyland at Christmas time is just the best. This year our daughter was brave enough to ride all the "big kid" rides as well (Last year she was only four years old so we gave her a break. She could've though because amazingly she was tall enough to!) So what a blast we had! Her first "big kid" ride was Thunder Mountain. After that it was a sinch getting her on Matterhorn and Space Mountain. In fact, it was hard to keep her away from them! She wasn't too keen on Indiana Jones though. Although she said her favorite part of that was the boulder at the end. Too cold for Splash Mountain so maybe next time. Oh and the newly decorated Haunted Mansion was pretty cool! They did it all up Nightmare Before Christmas style. Very cute. *sigh* I love Disneyland.

I managed to crochet two scarves before I left. Identical except for the color scheme and made from a novelty yarn I got two years ago in Carmel - a mohair/acrylic blend. Here are some awful photos.

I gifted it while we were in the LA area. I have a dear friend who lives in Long Beach and was nice enough to drive out to meet us at our hotel. She also brought yummy yummy home made goodies!!!! *drool* Decadent brownies, super moist carrot cake, and chocolate chip laced zuchini bread/cake. Oh, was I supposed to include photos? Maybe next time I'll remember before I eat it all. muahahhaha

I was also trying to knit this scarf before we left. I was having the hardest time after the garter stitched area so I showed my mom who came along with my dad to dog/house sit for us and when I came back she had done a good 7 or 8 inches. Woohoo. Now I should have no problems continuing it. Ha, we'll see.

In the mean time we're revving up with all sorts of Christmas time engagements so there's not much time left for crafting unfortunately. Hopefully I'll have more to share come January. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! (-_-)zzZZ

Boo!

Happy Halloween!!

Front of costume pre-ears.

Back of costume pre-tail. (^_^)

My daughter decided she wanted to be a white puppy with brown spots this year (last year she wanted to be a pink yoshi... the dog costume was much easier). So I bought a white sweater and white skort... voila!

All done!

Wow that was quicker than I thought it would be. The scarf is all done. Each flower took not more than 45 minutes a piece ... that includes weaving in. Some of you are probably thinking, "so slow???". Anyway, here it is. I'm giving it to my friend today. I hope she likes it. These pictures suck. (x_x)

I'm already onto another project. I stayed up late last night doodling. My dear friend's birthday is coming up in just over a week. I've known her since i was 5 years old. I suppose it's about time I could actually make her something to show how much I love her. Stay tuned...

On a weird side note.... How can a simple pack of erasers make one so happy??? I have been without some quality erasers for some time. These may not be high quality but, shoot, they are sure better than what you get on those #2 pencils. Ugh.

Lovely scarf

I'm taking a short break from amigurumi-ing. My friend saw a pattern in one of my Japanese craft books (isbn4-8347-2322-4) that she fell in love with and subsequently asked if I could make it for her.

So Friday we went to Michael's (safer than going to the yarn shop in town which can break my bankbook too easily) and she picked out some Patons SWS. It's a little thicker than what I should be using I think, but it'll still be ok in the end.

The pattern is made of two toned "flowers" joined at tips of the petals. It's an easy pattern and actually fun to do. And with just 20 flowers to do it doesn't seem too daunting a project. My picture taking abilities seem to have gone on vacation recently... so... sorry.

On a side note, my daughter's tooth finally fell out. Yay! her tiny tooth is nestled safely in the little mushroom I made waiting for the tooth fairy. (^_^)









Oh... and this evening, the field behind our house was invaded by hundreds of goats. They were suddenly there and when I went to check again later they were suddenly gone. What a great way to create a fire break. haha All you could hear was "crunch crunch crunch"...

Forgot to mention...

Before I let myself make "Roadkill" I finished another blankie. One that was more "boy-ish". ;)

Bunny Blankie

I'd seen blankets like these before but never crocheted/knitted. And then suddenly, there was the pattern, in my daily crochet pattern calendar (* sorry the original link is broken and gone *.) . Actually it was a pattern for a "Bear-ghan" made with 9 balls of Fun Fur. Well, I didn't have NINE balls of Fun Fur and I'm too cheap to buy that many at once (even on sale). So I dug around my closet to see what I had the most of. There was some left over Caron Simply Soft in Orchid - just over a skein's worth and I thought for a baby that would be soft! Needless to say that wasn't enough and I had to run out to Michael's to buy another skein of Orchid and also pick up a skein of white for the details. Two whole skeins of the Orchid would have been more than plenty though). I followed the pattern for the head then dillineated from there. The rabbit is my own using my "design-as-u-go" method. hee hee. For the blanket part I referred back to the pattern and then added my own edging. It really didn't look like much at all, or I should say not as I wanted it to, and I was getting a bit discouraged. When I finally put on the nose piece - which was the very last bit I did on the bunny it all came together and I was rather impressed! I'm contemplating now if I should put a little tail on... (^_^)' More photos will be posted at Flickr. TTFN!