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Robbi's Books!

Please post in the comments here if you know the title of the book(s) you're gifting to Robbi for her shower. We're trying to avoid duplicates because they'll have the bookplate in them!

Thanks!

Butternut Squash

It's very tasty. And I learned two things about it tonight.

1. You can peel it with a regular vegetable peeler! I always thought the skin would be too thick or tough.
2. It smells just like watermelon when you chop it up.

Weird and wonderful squash, how I love thee.

Finished in a Year, But There's a Slight Problem

I started this pair of fingerless mittens from this knitty.com pattern at least a year ago. I really don't remember when exactly. But I finished one mitt and and I had this much on the needles before I put it aside and forgot about it until a week ago.

But I was victorious a week ago and I finished the second glove. Very good, no?

No, not really. Because in the intervening year, I put away the first glove somewhere and now I don't know where it is! I've looked everywhere I can think of, and it hasn't shown up. I considered even starting a third glove from the same yarn so I could have a pair, but with my luck I'd find the original first one as I was binding off.

What a conundrum!

Instead, I spied this lovely pink and green yarn at the store and decided to make an entirely new pair!











I have now finished the first one, and all I have to do now is finish the second one before I lose it somewhere.

See, I have two right gloves!

I did make some mods for the newer pair. My gauge was off on the blue pair, and although they fit fine, they're a little short on my wrists, exposing the tender skin to the cold, cold wind. So I added a row of cable repeats and the new ones are a little longer.

Unfortunately, the the pink yarn's soy-wool blend is a little itchy. I might line these with a little fleece, or at least the wrist part. The itchiness doesn't bother me up in the hand part. Maybe because they're looser with the ribbing there?

I like the new ones, so I hope I get the second one done before it gets warm out.

Origami for the Masses

This evening I held a very cool (if I do say so) "Origami for Kids" program at the library. The kids seemed to have fun, and we made a whole menagerie of origami animals out of colored paper.

The grand finale was this masterpiece:








It's an origami Golden Snitch! I love it!

So, my challenge to you, my dear readers, is to make your own golden snitch! You can find the step-by-step directions here and all you need is a square sheet of paper, preferably yellow. I know you can do it!

If you do, let me know and I'd love to see a picture of yourself posing with your snitch! Have fun, and remember: patience is key!

It's not my fault!

I know, I know what you're going to say... "She started off well, but there's just no follow-through." Not true!

I wanted to blog, I promise, but I was struck down by a vicious sickness last week! It was awful! I had a medium-high fever for 48 hours and felt pretty crappy the next day, too. I've been coughing nonstop since then. Last night I got the first good night of sleep in seven days. So, after a week's hiatus, I'm back.

Yesterday we went to J's sister's place to celebrate the three February birthdays in J's family. Here he is, enjoying his limited time with a cat. He's very allergic, but they have a breed that is very non-allergenic, so he thinks we're getting one in a few years. Wrong.

I also finished some fun crafty stuff last week that I didn't get pictures of until after the sickness hit. This is a design called "Ghost Birds" by the fabulous Amiee Ray of Dreamfollow.com:

Her original version is very much a winter design, which I like a lot, but I wanted to see if I could play around with the colors a bit and get something much more summery. What do you think? Does it work?

Pretty (Postponed) Pincushions

This post probably should have been posted a week ago, but I had other things to post and I was saving this one for a dry spell.

Remember I am totally into embroidery now? I have been picking up random craft books at the library and I found this really cute one:

Pretty Little Pincushions has a huge number of projects that I wanted to do as soon as I saw them! That's not as common as you'd think. Last weekend, I worked on a couple:










Here is the beginnings of the project on the front cover:
















I know, mine isn't cute yet, but it will be! I just have to set aside some time to design the motifs.

Another really darling pattern is for mini finger pincushions. They can be decorated any which way and are really easy to make.













Here are the four I made. I embroidered on the left two and did the bottom right one up in buttons and ribbon. Top right is plain as of yet.

Action shot!















And last, I put together this mod-looking patchwork pincushion:















Yes, I did organize my pins by head color on the patches. So?

The White Darkness

Today I finished the book I've been working on for the last couple of weeks. It feels like it took me awhile to get through this one, but it was completely worth it. The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean is about a modern-day British girl, Sym, who is swept up in the madness of her "uncle" Victor. Uncle Victor, a close friend of the family and her father's former business partner, has always encouraged Sym's facination with and love of "The Ice," or Antarctica. She has read every book, seen movies and documentaries and television shows. She even has Captain "Titus" Oates, one of Scott's fellow ill-fated explorers on his bid for the South Pole, in her head. Yes, he is an imaginary, yet very lifelike companion for lonely Sym, who has worn hearing aids since childhood and feels cut off and unlike her school mates. Uncle Victor has been a help to the family since Sym's father died prematurely, so no one's suspicions are raised when he takes Sym on "holiday" under false pretenses. They end up on The Ice, and his mad search for the mythical "Symmes' Hole" (named after John Symme) drags Sym into the harshest environment on earth.

McCaughrean's prose is gorgeous - lyrical and deeply descriptive. This is the 2008 winner of the Michael Printz award for excellence in Young Adult Literature, and it's a well-deserved honor. I would definitely reccomend it to anyone interested in a highly literary adventure and survival story.

Snow... Sort of

So we were under a snow advisory from 7 p.m. last night until 7 p.m. tonight. We were supposed to get up to 7 inches of snow - 3 at the least.

This is what we did get:











Ridiculous, eh? I was really looking forward to a snow day. It looks like we got barely an inch, though. There is some ice, but not enough to keep me from driving in to work at 5:45 this morning. Darn.

On a happier note, I just bought something from Etsy and realized I hadn't left feedback for a couple other things I bought. They have this neat feature where you can leave a "customer appreciation picture" with your text feedback. I got the material and directions to make a Domokun iPod cozy and I really love the results. As you can see... (sorry the "funnier" one is a little blurry.)


Funny face...

Somewhat dazed face...

Embroidered Graffiti

One quick post tonight.

Check out this guy's blog: Historically Inaccurate.

He has some really amazing artwork, but my favorite is his graffitied toile pieces. He stitches over the pattern to make cool and funny stuff.

Here are two of my favorites, but you should totally take a look at his whole site (including archived posts!)

I love the bird costume!