Comicon Nov 2012 sale

Overall I'd say the sale was a success!
Sold both Tardis hats and 2 R2D2 hats!  $30 each...$25 for me and $5 for the booth.
So... I still have hats.  Some I have found homes for though...
I'm going to send the Spock hat and a beard hat to my Sister and her fiance for Halloween.  I think they'll really get a kick out of them.  Bonnie wanted me to make Aaron some hair.  So hair for him and a beard for her seems perfect!
And cousin Carrie has asked for a R2D2.
The Princess Leia I'm going to donate to Desert Bus.  My friend Helen suggested it last year so...
I think I'll put Yoda on Etsy.  Still deciding.  I may wait until I have a couple of other things.

On to my next project.  I'm knitting a Tardis hat and scarf for a SwapBot exchange.  My partner will be sending me a box full of goodies for Frannie.  One Xmas present down!
I also met a gal on Swapbot that wants a simple, cut fox hat.  She makes adoreable stuffies.  I may have another present for Frannie done!
AND...my friend, Helen, wants a tardis hat for her daughter.  Helen is an amazing artist from my home town.  I may have a gift for my parents done too.
I love swapping!!

Spock hat

And my new favorite...the Spock Hat!

The pattern is named "Live Long and Keep Warm".  :)
Like the Princess Leia, it has built in ear muffs. 

Yoda Hat

I made one of these for Frannie a while ago.  I do agree with her that it needs some white fun fur hair in the back.  But I didn't have any and neither did the yarn store I went to that day.  Oh well.  It's still cute.

Princess Leia Hat

The Princess Leia hat.  How can you go wrong?
Easy knit but time consuming.  Just knit up a basic brown bucket hat/beanie.  Then make and stuff 2 snakes about 1-1/2 to 2 feet long, wind 'em up and sew them on.  It's a warm hat with built in ear muffs.
Easy schmeasy!  Go out and create!

R2D2 Beanie

Here's a picture of my friend Claire in her birthday beanie.  What a smile!  I think she likes it!

I made a couple for the swap too.
They're hard to set up but then they knit up really quickly.

Tardis Hats

The Tardis hats. 
I decided to knit one up to test the size of a pattern.  I am currently in a private swap on SwapBot for a Tardis Hat and Scarf in exchange for a box of girly treasures for my Frannie for Christmas.
I'm glad I tested the pattern.  On a size 6 needle it's a bit snug.  I think it's perfect on a 7.  I tested it on a 7 needle too.  So I have 2 to sell. 
I also played around a bit with a coffee cup cozy too.  There are a ton of Tardis patterns out there!  I may just keep knitting the skein of yarn til I use it up for my swap gal.  Fun!

Comicon 2012

OK.  It's been a long time since I posted.  But I have been a busy knitter!  I have been getting ready for Comicon Nov 2012.  One of the girls I work with works a booth at Comicons with a friend of hers.  She asked me to make some hats to sell.
I made 2 Tardis Hats, 2 R2D2 beanies, 1 Princess Leia, 1 Spock hat, and a Yoda hat.

I'll post close ups too.

Another Princess Leia Hat

I haven't posted in ages.  We've had lots of family about lately and I've been a knitting demon!
After I made the fabulous gloves and such for the "Show off your craft" swap I got asked to angel someone.  So...after reading her profile I found that Star Wars is one of her favorite movies and she likes mermaids.  I sent her a Princess Leia hat that she says she and her daughter have taken turns wearing around and putting on everything they can find.

I also sent her a mermaid Dotee doll which they like too.

Victorian/ Steampunk fingerless gloves

My latest Swapbot swap is called "Show off your craft".  I got a gal that's into Steampunk.  I've had this pattern in my list of things to do for a while so I was excited to try it out.  I think it turned out really well.
I posted it on facebook when I finished the first glove and now a friend wants me to make her a pair in purple.

I had plenty of the gray yarn leftover so I tried knitting a beret to go with it.  Epic fail!  So I added a flower to the brim and now it's a cloche.  Cute but drab in gray.  Oh well.

Market Bag

Here's my first market bag.  The pattern is called "Bag, You're It" from Ravelry.com
I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.  It was fun and pretty easy to knit and I love market bags but this one seems a bit small.  I was barely able to fit the 2-2 Liter sodas in it. 
Maybe it'll stretch.

Sea and Beach Dotee received

What a great package we received in the mail today!!  We got our Sea and Beach themed Dotee!

Frannie just loves her!  She's so cute!!
Our swap partner also sent some scraps of fun cloth and great ribbons.  We are all set to make more Dotees!!  Yippie!

Dotee Madness #6 received

I forgot to post a picture of the Dotee that we received for Dotee Madness #6!  We got it when we got back from Nooschkum this weekend...and here she is!!

She's a beaut!!  Our swap partner said that she was currently into whimsical stuff and thought she'd stick to that with our swap.  She is waaaayyy cool!!

Dorothy Dotee Doll sent

For Dotee Madness #6 I decided to make a Dorothy Dotee.  The gal I got to swap with is a huge fan of The Wizard of Oz so it just seems right.  Frannie helped!  I almost missed the ruby slippers!  She also helped to pick out Toto.

Of course, I will be making one for Frannie to keep too.  I'm thinking of making the rest of the Oz gang too.  I've designed them and have even cut out the Lion already.

Patriotic Dotee Received

I also participated in a Patriotic Dotee Doll exchange on Swapbot and also got my doll in the mail while we were out at the cabin!!  What a fun mail day!

Here she is!

I'd love to call her "Aunt Jemima", since that's who she reminds me of.  But I guess that's not very PC.  The little mop cap reminds me of Betsy Ross.  Maybe I'll call her Betsy.

Red, White and Blue dishcloth received

I participated in the Red, White and Blue Dishcloth exchange on Swapbot.  I posted pics of what I made.  Came home from a weekend at the cabin and had received mine!  Yea!

I tried this wavy pattern once.  Mine didn't turn out nearly as well.  I think it's the added ridge between the waves.  Mmm. 
Interesting that we used the same yarn.  :)  I wonder how many of us did?!

Patriotic Dotee Doll Exchange

Finished our Patriotic Dotee Doll.  I happened to get the swap coordinator in this swap.  Boy am I intimidated.  This is only my second Dotee Doll swap!
So, I read that she has a 4 year old son that's into super heros.  I decided to pull out my little stuffed doll pattern too and make him a Captain America.  That's patriotic!
This picture is the ones to keep.  I had already sent our swap.  His Captain America looks much better than this one.  This was my first attempt.  But Frannie likes it. 
Frannie tells me that Captain America is Wonder Woman's boyfriend. ...  I think I know what I'm making next.
:)

Red, White and Blue Dishcloth Exchange

Yea!!  I finished the star shaped dishcloth!!  Took 2 tries but I think well worth it.  Very fun!

So the square dishcloth with the star pattern, this star shaped dishcloth and a soap sack in the same yarn.  I think that makes a really good exchange package.  I hope my partner likes it. 

I know we really only have to send one dishcloth, but I bought one skein of the red, white and blue cotton yarn and just kept on knitting.  I even got another smaller star shaped dishcloth to keep.

Another Dishcloth swap

I'm working on my next dishcloth swap.  It's a red, white, and blue theme.
Here's my star dishcloth.

I've been working on a star shaped dishcloth too but I had to start over.  I dropped 2 stitches in it!  I tried to recover them but...  I have plenty of yarn left over and was going to make one for Frannie too so I've started over.  I may try to fix the other one too.  If I can't I'll just start it over too.

Then I'll need to block.  Hoping to get them out the beginning of the week so I can start on my Dotee Doll.  2 swaps coming up...a patriotic one and one based on your partner's profile. 
Busy, busy, busy!!

International Yarn Bombing Day, June 9th, 2012

Saturday, June 9th, was International Yarn Bombing Day.

I knitted several bees to add to the Blue Trees near my work for Intl Yarn Bomb Day 2012.  The trees are for deforestation awareness so I wanted to add a few bees for bee awareness.
My first one didn't turn out too well.  I defied the pattern and did it in the round.  I don't think I put the wings on in quite the right place either.
I will follow the pattern for the next one.
I made 5 bees.  But I chickened out of adding them to the Blue Trees.  I've read quite a bit about some people thinking that yarn bombing is a bit like vandalism. 
After watching a couple of squirels stealing strawberries from our patch I decided to put them in the strawberry patch like scarecrows.  Hopefully they'll do the trick!!

Frannie's 6th Birthday Party - Facepainting

This week was consumed by Frannie's 6th Birthday.
Her birthday was on Tuesday, the 5th. 
Wednesday her Grammy, my Mom, came into town.
I took Thursday and Friday off work. 
Frannie had her 6 year check up at the Dr's on Thursday morning then we all spent the afternoon at the Pacific Science Center.  Grammy was quite impressed.  Lots of fun.
Friday, Mom and I spent the day together shopping and lunching and doing the last arrangements, cake and crafts, for the party.
Saturday was the party.  But Frannie had a ballet rehearsal before that.  Daddy took her to rehearsal so we could get the party ready.
The party was a great success!!  The weather held out so there was a lot of playing outside.  We also had balsa wood masks for the kids to color.  Only the girls were into that.  The boys played on our playground, mini trampoline and kicked the soccer ball around.  I love our backyard!!
Then we had a surprise visit from my friend Dorothy and her daughter Marina.  I didn't think they were going to make it.  But they did!  And they brought their whole facepainting business with them!
Check them out on Facebook:  Doelicious Designs - Facepainting & Glitter Tattoos.
Here are some pictures of their fabulous work!

First...the line up.

Frannie as a Butterfly.

Another Butterfly.

An awesome Monkey!

A Tiger.

Or two.

Even a little Puppy.

OH!  Can't forget Hello Kitty!

As they gather around the cake to sing Happy Birthday to Frannie, you can also see the fantastic Batman in the back.  And the green spider beside Frannie too.

A good time was had by all!!

Water Bottle Holder

My latest Finished Object...a water bottle holder.  Cute, easy and useful.

Newbie Sticker Swap received

We got an envelope from Israel today.  It was our stickers from our Swapbot Newbie Sticker swap!
How exciting!  From Israel!
Our partner didn't know what kind of stickers we would like but she knew I had a 5 year old (6 year old today!) little girl so she went for cute.

Very fun!  Frannie has already dived in and is making lovely pictures using her new stickers!
Have I said how much I love this Swapbot stuff?!
It's so much fun.  When I/we participate in one it makes checking the mail and adventure! 
We're still waiting on our Ocean Themed Dotee Doll!  Next is a Patriotic Dotee Doll swap in anticipation of July 4th!  Also a Red, White, and Blue knitted dishcloth one.
After that there's another Dotee Doll (I'm addicted!) and a surprise, stuffed envelope one full of random fun stuff.  Weeee!  Thank you Swapbot!

Soap Making with Kids

So, today Frannie and her cousin, Sarah Rose, needed entertaining.  I saw this on pinterest and decided to give it a try.
Put a bar of Ivory in your microwave (no rotating plate, on top of a napkin or wax paper) for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes and watch it morph into...

A soap cloud!

Give it a minute and it hardens.  Then you can crackle in into a powder.  This is a fun, messy step.

Be sure to sweep away any of the dust rather than wash it.  Otherwise you end up with a foamy mess.

Add a bit of water (like making a pie crust) to make a paste.  Then put it into cookie molds.

Let it dry (24 hrs or so) and pop them out and you have lovely little soaps. 
You can add coloring if you like.  I only had food coloring around and was afraid it would turn people colors so we left ours white.

It was fun and kept the girls entertained for a while.  The best part is the soap cloud!

Thanks pinterest!!







T-Shirt Vest

Still knitting but decided to try this Tshirt Vest that I saw on Pinterest.  Whatcha think? 

Here's the Tshirt...

Cut out the neck (fairly low.  I had to cut more.), cut out the side seams and sleeves.

Then you put it on.

I think it turned out ok.  There are lots of other Tshirt redos that I want to try!
So, stay tuned.

Ocean Themed Dotee Doll Swap Package

Here it is.  The Ocean themed Dotee Doll package ready to seal and get mailed.
I'm nervous.  It's my first Dotee Doll.  Frannie designed it and I made it.  I'm adding a couple of knit fish to keep her company.  Since knitting is my main craft right now.
The partner I'm sending to has a lot of comments on her board.  It looks like she is very creative, has done a lot of Dotee Dolls and goes above and beyond the call of duty with her packages.  I hope I measure up.
It's been a lot of fun.  I can't wait to get our Dotee in the mail!  I think Frannie will love it!
Oh!  I had to make 2 of these Dotees.  One for Frannie to keep and one to share.  Frannie loves hers.  I hope that is a good sign!

Knitting In Public 5-30-11

While waiting for everyone to show up for a meeting at Panera's I was knitting.  One of my people was there.  She also happens to be a knitter.
This nice lady comes up to us and asks us when the knitting group was starting.  We knew nothing of the meeting and recommended that she ask one of the people that worked there.  She had and they knew nothing.
A minute later and she came back with her knitting needing some help.  She's a new knitter and had only cast on.  She had a hand written pattern and needed some help.  I showed her how to slip the first stitch and then do a YO, K2tog.  That was her pattern.  We did a few rows together and then she said thanks and left. 
She came back a couple of minutes later with a muffin for me. 
I love knitting in public.  Knitters are just the nicest people.

Kitchen towel exchange received #2

I forgot to post a picture of the second dishtowel I received in the dishtowel swap!  Real cute.  And she also sent the rest of the skein too.  She also sent a bar of yummy smelling rosemary and lemon soap!  So I made a soap sack to put the soap in.  Lovely!

Dead Fish Hat

I finished it!  The Dead Fish Hat for the St Andrew's Church Margaritaville themed dinner and auction.  I hope they like it and it raises some good money for the church!

Here's a picture of Frannie modeling the hat.

What a hoot!  I think I love this hat.  I want to make an orange and white Nemo hat sometime.  :)

Mermaid Dotee Doll

Our next Swapbot exchange is a Dotee Doll exchange.  I was attracted to the title thinking that Frannie likes dolls.  I looked it up and...now, I think I'll join all of these exchanges!!
This first one is an ocean themed one.  So, I asked Frannie to draw a picture of a mermaid and I have turned it into a Dotee Doll.  :)  I love it!  I'm going to have to make 2 because I want to keep it!  I still need to add the sequin scales to the tail though.  I'll post another picture when I have both (1 to keep and 1 to share) all done.

Short break from knitting

Took a short break from knitting this weekend. 
Thursday and Friday's break was due to being sick...dang soar throat!
Saturday and Sunday....  we give you...
a full dumpster!!

We cleaned out the garage!!
What a big job!  But we got through it!
We have this full dumpster, a vanload FULL to Goodwill, about 4 boxes of stuff for a friend of ours that's involved with a home for unwed mothers, and some stuff that actually got put away.
What's left?  I'm glad you asked.
A jogging stroller, toddler carseat, tricycle, tons of costume stuff all ready to go to good homes.
We also have books, books, and more books.  And videos, craft supplies (anyone into making soap?  I have molds, if you want them.)  Lots of stuff for garage selling, craigslisting, and just giving away.  If you're interested....

Kitchen Towel Set for Bonnie

Bonnie's kitchen towel set consisted of:
A Waffle Stitch kitchen towel with a hanging top in varigated tan, cream and teal
A Grandmother's Favorite dishcloth in the same yarn
A Double Bump dishcloth in cream
And a soap sack in teal...complete with lavendar soap!

I hope she likes it!!

Teacher Appreciation Week

This past week was teacher appreciation week.  Frannie and I made some pens with faux flowers taped to the ends and put them in nice mugs for her 2 teachers. 
(I will insert a photo of some that we have as a substitute)

But Frannie also insisted that they have some jewelry.  Soooo, I made some jewelry for her teachers.  A flower necklace and a rose on a bobby pin.

 They both seemed to really love the gifts!  I think the pens were the real hit!
*Oh!  Side note...My Mom loved her knitted kitchen towels.  She said that she's real impressed with my knitting skills!

Mom's Kitchen towel set

Finally finished a kitchen towel set for my Mom.  Perfect timing for Mother's Day.
An "All Washed Up" dish towel in a varigated cotton with cream, peach and light teal (her kitchen colors), "Waffle knit" dishcloth in the teal, "Double Bump" dishcloth in cream, "Grandmother's Heart" Dishcloth in cream, and a knitted dish scrubbie in the varigated yarn with a light pink tuelle also knitted in.  I think it turned out well and I really hope she likes it!!

Now to start on a set for my sister, Bonnie. 
:)

Kitchen towel swap - received today!

I received my first of the kitchen towel swaps.  And looks like I get one more too.  Weeeee!  This is so much fun!

I love the stitch on the dishcloth!  And Frannie and I both love the fish.  Frannie has decided that it's hers though.  I'll have to find a pattern for that!!
Did I mention that I love this swap stuff!  I can't wait to get the next one!  I can't wait to do another too!!  I'm watching a few and trying to decide which one to join in next.  :)