I managed to finish my dining room desk overhaul and whoa what a difference it makes! A main benefit is supposed to be when I work on my next project… having all my supplies organized and at-hand… but an important EXTRA benefit is that now the desk is clean… which means Yannick no longer tries to avoid looking in the dining room’s general direction. 😉
The before can be seen in my previous post…and here’s the after:
What a difference, no? All that space… just waiting for me to pile stuff on it… hehehe
The boys keep talking about what they want to be for Halloween this year, and it has me reminiscing about Jakob’s first Halloween, and one of my very first designs.
Here’s a repost, coming to you from all the way back in 2007. Lookit how wittle he was!!
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From November 2007: May I present…
SuperBaby!
SuperBaby’s special powers include drowning his adversaries in massive amounts of drool, and the ability to shove anything into his mouth. Foes are often foiled in their plots by his awesome cuteness which requires all who pass to stop, come closer, and kiss him.
SuperBaby also managed to stand by himself (leaning on the sofa) for the purposes of taking this photo. His detachable cape is this season’s “in” accessory. No SuperBaby would be caught dead without a cape this year, and we hear that shiny red is the new black.
The pattern is my own, for both the outfit and the cape. I had Yannick’s help in creating the baby, and the Superness is all his own. 🙂
By the way, these are the pumpkins that Yannick bought for outside our house. Should I be insulted that the “Daddy” and “Baby” pumpkins are perfect, and the “Mommy” pumpkin is all lumpy and deformed?
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Heh.
My brother Aaron edited that pic up there and now SuperBaby looks right at home, defending the city.
He wore the outfit again for Purim too. 🙂
A little while later I’d contacted DC inquiring about permission to write up and publish the pattern. (They, duh, refused me).
So… I modified it into a generic superhero instead, and now anyone who wants to can knit up their very own!
The pattern is written for ages 6-12 months [12-18 months], and includes full instructions and charts for the costume, the two shown chest shields, and the cape. There is also a blank chart with instructions on how to design your own shield, in case you want to personalize it with your favorite SuperBaby’s initial.
In this post: the cast of an NBC sitcom surrounding me as they hold stitched samples of their likeness. In other words, just a normal Thursday…
Ha!
First, a brief apology. After the rush and whirlwind of finishing my Sprocket costume I took a little break from crafting, and blogging. Took advantage of not needing to stay up until 3am to crash early, or do other things that didn’t involve math, or thinking. Couple that with an onslaught of weather-induced migraines, and I’ve been getting a lot more rest lately, but it means the blogging has suffered.
So. A few weeks ago I got word that I’d be able to attend a Just For Laughs panel involving the cast of Undateable.
I knew that since it would be a con-style panel, vs a stand-up-type comedy show, there was a chance the audience might be able to meet the cast. And I decided I wanted to do something for them. While I enjoy the show, I didn’t do it because I’m the ohemgee number one fan!!! nor to get a chance to potentially meet them. I just thought it would be nice. 🙂
I hit upon the idea of doing something in cross stitch right away. I knew it was easy and portable and something I could likely finish in time (I had less than a week until the panel). I’ve had transactions in the past with an etsy vendor called weelittlestitches and I absolutely love her work*, and immediately I thought of contacting her to commission a custom pattern of the cast. Unfortunately I didn’t think the timing would work out, so I ended up designing them myself.
I did an image search for each character and put together a little file for each one, giving me the gist of that character’s ‘look’. At the same time I also pulled out some quotes from each episode so I could add a funny line for each character.
And finally “Shelly”, played by Ron Funches… who wasn’t there, but I hope his got to him anyways.
“I identify with piñatas. I’m also adorable and full of candy.”
Once at the panel my mom and I were seated pretty close. Like…
My feet were about 2 feet from the stage.
…really close. So close in fact that when the cast came out and Rick was using his phone to stream the panel for Periscope, I jokingly offered to hold it for him and he leaned over and handed it to me. (So if any of you reading this were watching the panel, I’m sorry for swinging it around and possibly making you nauseous before I realized where it was actually aiming).
Brent answering a question, possibly about the little gnome in his butt (you had to be there), while David, Rick, Bianca and Bridgit look on and feign amusement.
The other side of said gnome-butt convo, egged on by Chris and more feigned amusement on behalf of Adam Sztykiel and Bill Lawrence, along with the panel moderator (who I think was from Mashable?).
Towards the end of the panel they took audience questions and I got the last one, asking, rather awkwardly, “I, um, made you guys something. Can I give it to you?” (Not my finest moment). Luckily they said yes, and I got to give each one their framed portrait. At one point Chris asked if it was called needlepoint, and started calling out, all Oprah-esque, “YOU get a needlepoint! And YOU get a needlepoint! Aaand YOU get a needlepoint!”.
There was a funny/sad moment towards the very end when they were all looking at each others’ and then Bill put out his hands and looked around like “Where… where’s mine?” I offered him a hug instead but he didn’t take me up on it.
Then the panel was over, and I thought that was the end of it. Instead, however, David jumped right down and came and gave me a hug and said thanks. Bianca did too, before walking away. Brent came by, and suddenly I turned around and the whole cast (minus Bianca and the absent Ron) were standing right behind me. My mom had been taking pics the whole time, so I wound up with this:
Yep. That’s me looking all dork-tastic. 🙂
Mom and I had barely made it to the elevator when my phone buzzed, and I saw this Tweet:
Awwww! 😀
* If you’re into cross stitch, or pop culture, or any combination thereof, go check her stuff out, it’s amazing. 😀
There’s a letdown that comes after 5 weeks of non-stop rushing. Instead of reaching for my project bag I’m avoiding it ‘cus it’s only filled with the left-over odds and ends that need sorting and putting away. My thumb has a sore spot from forcing my needle around awkward angles. I have this weird amount of this strange thing called time.
I’m putting the time to good use, sorting through all my pics to prepare coherent posts. I’ve got all the rest of the step-by-steps and a ton of completed pics from the con itself and afterwards. I’ll probably post the rest of the WIP stuff first, then close with the FOs
If you’re in Montreal, and have some free time today, I highly recommend checking out the final day of Montreal Comiccon 2015!
It’s done! On Tuesday I finished the vest, and was able to move on to the next part of the Sprocket cosplay.
I ended up picking up stitches around the armholes then working a 3-st, i-cord BO/applied i-cord around the edge, grafting the ends together. I didn’t bother with a provisional CO, I just used the yarn tail to duplicate stitch the join so it looked flush. In this image you can see the difference between the before (left) and the after (right).
I did the same thing for the neckline, with one minor tweak. The edges were curling, and I preferred the lower edge. So when I picked up the sts I picked up about 3 rows down in the flat sections, turning that extra fabric to the back. After working the i-cord I took another length of yarn and tacked that little flap down on the insides.
You can just barely see it on the inside, and see a slight ridge on the outside, but I don’t mind.
The lighting in my kitchen sucks, but here’s the back…
… and the front. And Sam, for some reason.I’m wearing it over the shirt and pants I bought for the costume, so this is the best progress pic so far. 😀
Plus- it fits!Cosplay progress completed parts to-date:
First came the Minecraft lootbags, then the Minecraft fondant toppers, and then the Minecraft cake. Now’s where it all came together – the final Minecraft birthday party.
Once again, this was Henri’s 6th birthday party, from back in January. Jakob just had his own Minecraft party but I didn’t change much except for the cake, and that will get its own post shortly.
There are a lot of ways you can incorporate Minecraft ‘foods’ into your own party. A quick look through Google images or Pinterest will show idea after idea, I pulled some of them out and added my own to get what worked for the small group of kids we had. If you’re having a larger party, or its for a gaggle of teens, you can really go all out with some creative food arrangements. I’ve seen everything from pretzel-grid trap doors to a soda maker doubling as a brewing station!
I didn’t go quite so elaborate. Only 10 kids, a few lingering adults, and I knew the children would be rushing through the food to get back to playing video games (we were at an arcade). The place provided pizza, so I added a quick veggie side dish to the table.
Clear enough? 🙂
I had a little more fun preparing the dessert table…
Regular and Golden Apples…
…Water Buckets… (blue raspberry Jell-O… would have been cuter in plastic shot glasses if I’d thought about buying some in time)…
…and TNT (red licorice bundles with black licorice whip wicks).
Combine these with the Minecraft lootbags the kids got when they left, and it made for a party they could all dig. (Get it?) 😉
Can I just say that I love the dollar store square dishes and platters? Love them.
Henri really enjoyed his 6th birthday party, and I had a lot of fun putting everything together for it.
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You can download and print the images below to make your own Minecraft party. I copy/pasted a bunch onto an Excel spreadsheet so I could fit as many to a page as I needed. The TNT strips were sized at 3″ tall by 5″ wide (the block of 10 strips), the water bucket graphic is 1.75″ wide by 2″ high, and the apples and carrots were 2.25″ by 3″.
Today was uneventful. I didn’t get much weaving done, just a few rows while the kids played this morning. I did some swatching for a new pattern, but it’s still in the early drafting stages, and I’m playing around with it in Excel until I get it right.
Since I’ve got nothing else to show you, here’s my aunt’s scarf all finished up.
I mailed it to her as a surprise, and she was supposed to receive it last Monday, which is why I haven’t been posting finished pics (even though I don’t think she knows about, or reads my blog). I’ve come to find out that she’s out of town, and didn’t actually receive it yet. Oh well- here it is.
It’s an infinity scarf with a twist, and can be worn straight or wrapped twice around the neck.
This shows the seam. You can barely see it because it was done by machine, and it really doesn’t have much bulk at all.
It’s hard to photograph something with a twist- you don’t know how to lay it down!
This shows the crochet edging, and how tight the fabric ended up after it was washed and dried.
Today ended a bit depressingly. I was starting to feel a bit better, and looking forwards to getting back to work next week. Kind of my own Spring renewal. And then…before bed I noticed the boys were acting a big sluggish. I’d thought Henri felt a bit warm last night but since he was staying home today I didn’t take his temperature. I took it tonight- 102. 😦 Then I took Jakob’s, because a sign that he’s sick is when he’s extremely cuddly and affectionate, and he’d been coming up to me and stroking my cheek before giving me a little kiss all afternoon- 100.8. 😦 Looks like I might not be back at work so soon…
Still the same. Still coughing. Yannick drove the boys in this morning, and my mom was nice enough to pick up the boys for me today so I didn’t have to go out and pick them up. I spent the day in my pjs, slept a bit, and got some knitting done.
I finished the Celery socks!
So as I’d said previously, this is Knit Picks’ Bare sock yarn that I hand-dyed in self-striping shades of green.
I’d used most of it for my mom’s woven scarf (my first woven project) and these socks used up all but 1 yard of the leftovers. (Yay for scales!)
My latest “usual” sock pattern- figure 8 cast on, toe up socks, short row heel, modified to have a patterned leg instead of just stockinette stitch. No ribbing, about 5 garter ridges instead.
UPS is coming today! UPS is coming today! Yay yay yay! UPS is coming today!
Don’t mind the happy dance over here…I’m just excited that this box will be leaving today to go to it’s destination. It’s sad to see a project leave but I’m thrilled to know where it’s going and the physical act of it leaving my presence means I can move on to other projects completely guilt-free.
They say that fences make good neighbors…but in my case I really lucked out in the neighbor category. Not only does Maaike live around the corner, but there are lots of awesome people on my street, especially C who helped me out not once, not twice, but three (!!) times today, even though we initially had to cancel our plans because she’s sick.
Her huge amount of (last minute) help meant that my secret project was able to be finished, as in all end woven in, finishing touches applied, and ready to be mailed. I just need to finalize the written pattern first to make sure there are no measurements/etc to be taken, and it will be done!
The resulting unexpected free time (I’d only scheduled to be finished later in the week) meant that I could finally finish up the project that has been on my loom since January.
It’s going to be a surprise present for my aunt, but I think it’s ok to talk about here ‘cus I’m pretty sure she doesn’t read/know about my blog. I wove until it ws 60″ long. There are only 59″ showing in the photo, but the point of the photo was to show the lack of too much loom waste. My mom’s scarf was cut off the loom at the proper length, but I’d overestimated how much warp I’d need. Here you can see that my warp is completely unwound with just the loops remaining on the back beam. (Technical term? Not sure).
A quick hemstitch was the only finishing done to the edges. My aunt had commented on liking the “infinity”-style scarves she’d been seeing everywhere, the ones you can wear long as a scarf or wrapped twice around your neck as a cowl. My plan had always been to join the two short ends after twisting the scarf once, but I hadn’t really thought through how the join would work.
I debated tying knots to join the two sides and having a short fringe running down, but quickly decided that would look kinda awful. I consulted with Maaike and had decided to hem the two edges by hand and then join them, but at the last minute called up C and asked if she could sew them together for me with her machine (that was the 3rd help of the day) and she graciously obliged.
I’ll show the resulting seam after I soak and dry it later tonight. For now I leave you with my easy answer on how to straighten the beginner weaver’s problem of uneven selvedges- single crochet! Because the scarf had a twist in it, it effectively became a moebius….a word my spell check doesn’t seem to believe exists. Anyhoo, that let me start at one point, single crochet in every 2nd hole at the edge, and end up exactly right back where I started from. The sc edge done in the working yarn gave a cute rainbow look around the scarf, and ensured that no matter which end/edge is up, the edges will always look “finished”.
Now I’m going to let it soak in a Eucalan bath for an hour or so, towel out most of the water then pop it in the dryer to really soften & full the fabric.
jeloca.com 