Friday is for Felting

Felting, felting, felting.

I really enjoy making felted items. There's something rebellious and subversive about doing exactly the opposite of what you are supposed to do with the fibers. It feels dangerous and I love to watch the process happen and seeing the stitches close in on each other.

I get a little bored on knitted felted projects since they are usually so big, so I thought I'd try out some different felting projects. Using the tutorial found here and some roving purchased here, isn't it gorgeous??, I made some beautiful felted soaps today.

While I was at it, I finished up the body and attachments for my Sushi Wallet and threw that in the washing machine to felt up. The packaging for this kit is deceptive, I know it's called the Sushi Wallet, but I envisioned it as a Sushi Changepurse. It's actually almost 8 inches wide and very spacious.

I've been on an etsy buying spree for Secret Pal gifts and got a little something for myself. My recent love of black and white damask print has been manifested in the most amazing checkbook cover ever. Thanks Laura! One of my favorite things about etsy is how so many things come packaged like gifts. Everyone loves gifts! She even included a handwritten card! Lovely!

And in the crazy, randomness of Orlando, we were at the park today, not any old park, one of the swankier parks in the downtown area and saw this sign:

That's right Moms, if you're going to be running around with the kiddies, remember to take off your stilettos first. Funny thing is, you can see the areas of the squishy, recycled tire ground that have already been pocked by heels. Madness!

A Magical Day

1. wishes show, 2. Nana, Ali, Emi & Minnie Mouse, 3. Ali & Megan, 4. Emily & Nana, 5. Ali & Emi on Cinderella's Carrousel, 6. Nana and Alison discuss photography, 7. Ali, Emi & Mickey Mouse!!, 8. Sisters in Minnie's house, 9. Nana and the girls with Walt and Mickey, 10. Megan & Emily, 11. Emily dreaming before the wishes show, 12. Emily on the Carrousel, 13. Nana, taken by Alison

On Wednesday, my Mom and I took the girls to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Now we've had annual passes to Universal and Sea World, but never Disney, and while Alison has been before, there's still a lot of mystique to Disney. What a great day we had!

I packed enough baby and people food for the whole day and made a deal with Alison that if there were no fits we could stay all the way to the fireworks. And that kid pulled it off. Not one tear or stamped foot was seen all day. All day being 9:15am until 9pm when the wishes fireworks show started. Then we had a bit of a I'm-sleepy-you're-sleepy-I-just-want-to-lay-down hiccup, but we quickly recovered. We didn't get home until 11:15pm and Mom still had to drive to her house. What a great Nana!

Unlike the other theme parks we've been to, the Magic Kingdom has lots of rides that babies can go on - everything in Fantasyland, plus good rides like Pirates of the Carribean. Ah yes, PotC has been revamped a little to incorporate Johnny Depp. You can't hate Johnny Depp animitronics. Very lifelike. :)

The girls got to meet Micky and Minnie Mouse and Emily got her own pair of ears with her name embroidered on them.

Alison used all her bravery and went on Big Splash Mountain and almost went on Space Mountain, but the kid with the measuring stick inside said she was 1/32 of an inch too short. Irritating since the girl outside said she was fine. No bravery was necessary to get her onto this one, since it's all inside she had no idea what I was taking her on. Tricky Mommy.

It was a wonderful day and wouldn't have happened without the generosity of a knitterly friend, thanks Eve! I think you're awesome and the girls do too. :)

Panic Attack!!!

The power on our street blinked about 15 minutes ago. No big deal, except when I turned the cable back on and went to watch something off the DVR all my shows were gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Replaced by shows from 2 months ago!!!!!!!!!!!! I called the cable company and the lady told me they probably won't be able to get them back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm off to iTunes to see if I can download my missing LOST episodes.........

Fun Weekend-O-Rama!

We were very busy this weekend, busy having tons of fun!

You're waiting with bated breath to know if I finished R2 aren't you?? I did, but it was an 11th hour finish if ever there was one. Duplicate stitch takes a lot longer than knitting, so while the re-knit of the hat in the round took just a few hours, I was stitching for 3 days. In the end it turned out great, but I don't have pictures yet.

Wayne and I talked about this on our way to the party. Ordinarily when I give something handknit to someone, I want them to immediately love it so much that they try it on (assuming it's a wearable knit). This is how I roll. I knew that this wasn't going to happen with the hat though and tried to prepare myself, not because Nick didn't love it (he does!), but because he also loves his hair which I knew would be styled by the time we got there and that would prevent any hat trying-on. And that's exactly what happened, he opened it, there was much fanfare about how awesome it was/I am/Star Wars is and then promptly said, "I'd try it on, but I don't want to mess up my hair."

So pictures are coming soon, when I catch him on a bad hair day or at the end of the day when he's stopped caring. :)

As far as the recon pattern goes, I'm waiting to hear back from the chick who did the pattern before I post it. I'd really like her permission since it is her chart.

A night on the town was good for Mr. Megaknits and I - we had a few drinks, met some new people and even did a little dancing. And we didn't get home until almost 1AM, I can't tell you the last time we were out that late. We must be the oldest 26/27-year-olds alive.

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The fun didn't stop on Saturday either. I went and (wo)manned the Not Your Grandma's Knitting Group table at the Central Florida fair and got to meet quite a few people who are interested in knitting. I also got to receive all the compliments for the items we had on display. :) And was the first to see the results for the Creative Arts competitions. I won two 2nd place ribbons, one 3rd place and two honorable mentions. :)

One of the girls in our group won 1st place with her gorgeous Lady Eleanor shawl! I'm so proud. I know other people entered and won things, but I couldn't be 100% sure about every item 'cause the tags were hard to see. Congratulations ladies!

When my shift was up, Wayne and the girls joined me for an evening at the fair.

1. Central Florida Fair 2007: Kiddie Ferris Wheel at Dusk,
2. Alison riding the caterpillar coaster,
3. High school photography that caught Wayne's eye,
4. Emily seeing the sights,
5. Ali playing "Dairy Toss",
6. Gorgeous quilts,
7. Crochet Nicole got an honorable mention,
8. The Birthday Socks took second!,
9. Em's Pinwheel Sweater won third!

Also on Saturday, before the Fair, the mailman came. Where's the fun in that you ask?? Here's the fun:

AN AMAZING PACKAGE FROM MY SECRET PAL - THANKS PAL!!! YOU ARE AMAZING!!!

1. What's this peaking out??,
2. Wrapped goodness,
3. Unwrapped amazingness!,
4. NORO!!! It is so beautiful, I did it justice and took this photo in natural light.,
5. Alison loves "Crabby"!,
6. "Spring Tulips" by Spritely Goods - Handdyed DK! Holy Project Spectrum. :)

Can you believe the amazing-ness!! Also included, but not individually photographed are: a note on cute stationary - pal, you've got really cute stationary; a chibi set of bent needles; Burt's Bees Hand Care Kit, o yeah, the whole kit; Ginger and Green Tea Mineral Bath set that smells delicious; a bottle of Hempz hand moisturizer; another ball of cotton, I love cotton. I think I'm going to use the "Spring Tulips" to knit Alison another shrug for ballet, it's very soft.

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Sunday I attended my knitterly friend Jessica's baby shower. It was a lot of fun and her Mom made a really yummy lunch full of stuff I love. We played some games, ate until our bellies were full and got to spend some time just hanging out. I brought a diaper cake and am so impressed with myself that I took pictures to show you. :)

R2 Recon

Our friend Nick, an AVID Star Wars fan, is celebrating his birthday tomorrow. As a gift to him, I'm knitting up another R2D2 hat from this pattern. I finished it the night before last and was sadly disappointed with how it turned out. I changed a few things from the last one I made - I used sz. 8 needles, knit it flat and used Aurora 8 yarn. I'm thinking that the two former changes were the problem. My seam looked horrible. It was way too big. Ick!



I was only cheered by this sight on my TV. Leah Remini knitting! What a pleasant surprise! I've thought she's hilarious for years, but now I know we could be friends if we ever met in real life. My apologies to Leah if you ever see this, it's not the most flattering screenshot, but I had to catch it quickly. :)



Anyway, it didn't take too long and I had this. And started over.



I've decided to nix the intarsia, it pulls too much, and instead do duplicate stitching based on the chart. If all goes well, I'll repost the reconstructed pattern when it's finished.

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Do you know what these are??



They're beanbags! In dance class on Monday Alison and her classmates danced to some crazy beanbag dance and she informed me that she NEEDED beanbags.



I dug around in my fabric stash and she picked some she liked. We attempted to hand sew them together, but she didn't want to pay attention and I hate to hand sew. In the end I brought out the sewing machine and got them finished in about 20 minutes. They have received the Ali seal of approval and are being carried around on heads all over the house.

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Mr. Megaknits has decided that since he hasn't gotten hired up in Atlanta yet and the house hasn't sold yet that the most practical thing to do is start a business in the meantime. He's off galavanting around Orlando doing renovation and remodeling work, while I have just spent the morning printing, reading, filling out and trying to understand all the city, county and state paperwork. O, and setting up the books. He's lucky to have me. :)

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Finally, thank you to all the new visitors who stopped by to check out YARNIVAL! The number of hits lead me to conclude it was a success! If you're interested in submitting to next month's issue, visit Linda and fill out the form.

Thanks to the contributors for linking back and to Chris for getting the word out. If you love me and want more, bookmark me or subscribe to my blog with bloglines. :)

YARNIVAL!!

Woo hoo! This is the April 15th, 2007 edition of Yarnival! And what better theme for today's issue then taxes. :)

Let's start off with the forms, you know the usual suspects: 1040, w-2, 1099, Schedule C. Think you've got all the forms you need, sharpen your pencil and dive into these handy tools.

lucia presents Maggie Shawl Calculator posted at The Knitting Fiend, saying, "I wrote a handy calculator for a simple shawl. It creates directions and estimates yarn needs."

Feel like you're in a rut? The Positivity Blog gives us 8 Ways to Spark Your Creativity posted by Henrik Edberg.

Elinor presents Yarn Wear Tests posted at Exercise Before Knitting, saying, "I think postmortem yarn reviews could be really useful so I've dug up some baby knits to see how they've held up to 6 months of spit up, drool and frequent washings."

Maia cooked up Yarn Recipe posted at Maia Spins, saying, "In this post I discuss how to make spinning batts on a drum carder and how different spinning methods will change the look of the finished yarn."

Are you feeling overwhelmed?? Too many "subtract line 39 from line 40, unless it's greater than line 2"s?? Perhaps it's time to call in the professional accountants . . . These guys are sure to be helpful. You've got people.

Miss T presents In Praise of Vintage Needles posted at Miss T's Mystery House of Yarn & Horrors.

What the hell is a LYS?? Kim presents Knitblog Lingo posted at Knits with a silent K, saying, "It's a glossary of knitblog terms, abbreviations, and acronyms, for people who are just starting out reading blogs."

Pooch presents Favorite Knitting Accessory posted at Yarn~Knit~Read~Lit, saying, "This post is about my favorite knitting accessory, the magnetic chart/pattern holder which is as essential as my yarn when I knit! :)"

Hooray, you did it! You finished the forms and lucked out even further - you're getting a refund! For those of you who opted for direct deposit, here's a little instant gratification.

Nicole presents Knerq: Swish poncho posted at Knerq, saying, "A simple finished object that turned out well despite a yarn substitution and a pattern that was not as specific as it could have been."

Rachel gave us the not so instant Finished Object: My White Whale posted at Lickety Knit, saying, "Rachel shares a great story of making her man a sweater and all of the trials she endured to get to the finish."

Megan presents Knittin' Mittens posted at Woolly Interlude.

Amy presents An astounding object posted at Knit Think.

But if you decided to wait for your check, here are some great ways to pass the time.

Niki Anders presents Arm/Leg - Warmers posted at The-A-TEAM.

Ann-Marie shares I Dreamed of Africa sock pattern posted at thechickwithsticks.

Okay, okay, so maybe you filed back in January, or live in a different country where April 15th doesn't grip your heart with fear, or maybe you just want to take a break from the tedium of the IRS website. If that's the case, here are some diversions.

Hannah presents Complexity and Dependability posted at The Purloined Letter.

Elvis D presents Social posted at 365fiction.

Kim presents Shopping for a New Car while Knitting posted at The Purloined Letter, saying, "Describes shopping for a car in terms of types of yarn: luxury, American made, etc. Short but funny."

We just assumed posted at Domesticat, saying, "Funny story about how she almost didn't know she was her friend's maid of honor."

Parenting posted at The Soapy Knitter, saying, "Compares knitting to parenting."


That concludes this edition.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of yarnival! using our
carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

May 15th Issue to be edited by Laura of Fiber Dreams. :)

Ramblings of a Mouth Breather*

1. I won those jelly beans in a 'guess how many' contest at an Easter party. I'm thrilled, mostly because I used math to make my guess and now remembering the formula for volume doesn't seem so useless - high schoolers take note. Wayne however does not seem to understand how to eat Jelly Bellys and keeps grabbing them by the handful and then spitting them out when the combo doesn't work out. I have printed this out and posted it near the jar, maybe now he'll enjoy them more.

2. Find yourself getting disinterested with LOST?? Is that perhaps because you didn't watch the first, or even second, season during live broadcast but instead on DVD?? Set your DVR, let them back up a little. Much more stimulating. I'm half way through March.

3. When you are hopped up on 'Quil, whether Ny or Day, do not attempt to knit from a chart. You will read it two or three times, it will be a simple repeating pattern and 3 rows in you'll realize you can't count. Then you'll have to un-knit it, hoping against hope that you won't drop a stitch 'cause you definitely can't handle that. Once you're back to the beginning of the mistake you'll be exhausted from all that and still have made no progress.

4. YARNIVAL will be posted on Sunday, maybe late Saturday, but definitely by Sunday. :)

* I am sick. It's just a cold that has been developing for the past few days, but I am miserable and can't breath through my stuffed up nose. Where's my ChapStick??

Are you a Joiner??

'Cause I apparently am. :) Click on over so you don't miss out on the fun.

Happy Easter!

We have bellies full of wonderful nana-cooking and all the eggs have been collected. Ultimately though, we're thankful for the grace and hope we receieved when Jesus died for our sins. Happy Easter!

Elf-y!

I have been knitting, I just haven't had time until today to mention it. Behold, one "finished" hooded baby poncho for Emily.

I say "finished" instead of FINISHED! because there is a pocket that still needs to be affixed to the front. It's knitted, but I need to find my pins so that I don't wing it and have Em run around in wonky-pocket-poncho. You could also say that it needs more than a little blocking.

It's a size 18-months (she's 9 months today) so hopefully it will fit when the 80-90 degree weather lets up sometime next November.

The yarn I used was Paton's Soft Yarn in a nice spring green and it took just shy of 2 skeins. The intended yarn is Lion Brand CottonEase, but since it has been re-released, it hasn't made it to any of my craft stores. I also need to add snaps to make little "sleeves".

Although this poncho was started in March (and a lot of it was knit driving to and from Atlanta), I'm revealing it just in time to coincide with Project Spectrum's new color group: green, yellow, and pink. Hopefully my Janet Lace Shawl (featuring green and yellow) will be completed by the end of May. :)

Additionally, I have gone to the yarn store. Actually I have gone to both yarn stores near me in search of the yarn I needed and I found it. Three balls of Karabella Aurora 8 for Nick's birthday present: an R2D2 hat.

House-related update: Our buyers' financing fell through and now we're back to square one. Anyone want to buy a cute house in Orlando?? :)