Yours is the Hat That WIll Pierce the Heavens!

After I made W that raspberry hat, he wore it a lot, but his only complaint was that the bulky yarn was so warm.  What's a girlfriend to do? I vowed to make him another to add to his collection of knit things.

We looked far and we looked wide.... Well, mostly I looked, on Ravelry.  I ran things by him, of course! When we came across Hurricane Hat by Strings in Motion, I commented on how it looked kind of like a drill.

"What! Yes! I could have... a hat that will pierce the heavens!"

"Uhwhaaaat?"

And then W made the comment that I should watch Gurren Lagann, and that I should also make that hat out of some gray that I have on tap from my grandmother.  So I made the hat, and now I'm watching the anime, and I really love it. 

The hat pattern itself is great, too! It's a simple pattern that you can seriously memorize in the time it takes you to read it.   I was working the set-up round and I thought "What...? Why didn't I think of that!? Jeez!!"   It really is a cute and easy pattern! I love the yarn, as well: Kraemer Yarns Tatami Tweed... with all sorts of color speckled in.  I'm not so sure about the material though: it's cotton-acrylic blend.  I'm not quite sure how it will stretch out with time (and W's noggin.)  He's very happy with it, especially since he can wear it in the hot, humid, icky weather.

Well, if it does become a misshapen mess, then I can always make another one!

Time to knit more things! *Dances off*

And you think YOU had a bad night?

Someone threw a lit firecracker into the open window of my dad's van.

What you can't see in these pictures is that all of his equipment was in the back... can you say, totaled?

There's a police investigation going on, and there are (actually) a few suspects, so I hope the criminal is caught. 

 

Also, I finished a hat for W, but ended up giving it to my uncle because it's his birthday. Happy birthday! There's a car on fire in front of the house!

(P.S. - My mom, aunt, and two of my uncles live in two houses that are next store to one another.  But that's a blog post in itself.)

(P.P.S- Yesterday a person who will not be named locked us out of the car while it was running, and we spent an hour and a half trying to get into it, then we paid $50 to get someone to come open it. And I missed seeing my Dad's band play.)

Have a better weekend than me!

Portrait of the Artist as Paddington Bear

I finally finished Little Me! Sewing her clothing wasn't so bad, really, at least not half as bad as I envisioned.  Her little yellow rainboots are felt, and were a pain, but her hoodie is fleece, which was really easy to sew up. (It's fleece. No huge surprise here.)

I ended up not making any changed to Lotus, since I cut her "quills" too short to spike with Elmer's Glue, like W the Puppet Master suggested.  The yarn for her quills is Caron Simply Soft (which, incidentally, makes great pom poms.  Who would have thought?) so I couldn't felt it.  Oh, also of note, I don't actually keep Lotus on a leash, I just didn't want Little Lotus to get lost.

Oh, the title? Something about yellow and blue always makes me think of Paddington Bear.  Do you remember Paddington Bear? Those were some of my favorite stories when I was young. (Image from Google Images)

Anyway, I will be sending her off tomorrow during my lunch, in a package made from a paper bag.  I hope she and Little Lotus have fun in London!

Of Socks and Kittens

Honestly, I am tired of looking at these socks.  I desperately want to finish them.  I told myself I would turn the heel this weekend, and I did, but meeting that goal gives me no satisfaction whatsoever.  I think that the only satisfaction I'll get is when I weave in the ends to these socks and see them on my uncle... preferably as he's walking away.

Of course, I could work on the stealth project that I've been hawing away at, or making little me's dress... GR! There's another deadline for the coming week.  Maybe I can sew her a top and send her off.  I can only hope.

Here are some kitten shots.  Little kitty has been sent to live with a family friend, as she is the most civilized of the wild little kitties.  W decided to give her away because, although she is TO cute, and we have no problem taking care of her, she will only suffer when school starts and we can't give her any attention. I'm not sure how I feel seeing her go, only that I know she'll be so much more happy in her new home than with us come August.

Also, she has this thing.  She likes knitting needles. Not the yarn, no, no yarn, just the needles.  That is just trouble if I ever knew it.  

But in the two weeks that she was with us, she's gone from timid scaredy-cat to prime kitten material.  Also, now you can't feel her ribs so well, which is a good sign I guess.

On with the weekend! (Although it's half over already)

And the winner is...

JerzyDevil!

I left a comment on your blog! E-mail me or send me a message on ravelry you claim your prize.

My... Wednesday... In Pictures?

Yes, there was no Ami Update yesterday because I did this instead.

I drove to Troy, packed W's stuff up, and drove him back to Sidney with a kitten.

Both W and the kitten are now living with me.

That is all.

P.S. - Still time to enter my contest! You have a nice chance of winning :)

P.P.S. - It's HOT.  Even Lotus is cranky, because it's so hot.

Contest: Would you like a Dinosaur?

Today at lunch I heard a tiny knock at my door. I opened it, and didn't see anyone! "Hello?"
 

"Down here!" A gruff voice piped.  I looked down to see a tiny white dinosaur.

"Is Dino here?" He asked, flapping his short arms.  I frowned.

"About that..."

"Because I knew him, from high school, and I saw him on your blog and I wanted to catch up! There aren't a lot of us left, you know, and it's awfully lonely..."

"Yes, I understand... Dino's not here."

The white dinosaur didn't seem to hear me. "... so I thought we could, you know, be buddies, even though -- what?"

I coughed. "Dino went to live with my roommate, she takes care of him now."

The tiny dinosaur flapped his arms. "What!? Dino found another family! I want a family! Will you adopt me?"

"Um, no.  I have a hedgehog, and we don't have cable."

"Gross. I don't want to live with you."

I sighed, and we sat down to drink some ginger ale. "Yeah, I'm not surprised."

The white dinosaur blinked.  "Wait! What about the internet? Can you find me a family on the internet."

"Huh?"
 

"Your blog! You can make a blog post asking if anyone wants to adopt me! I'm soft, washable, and good with kids!"

"Erm... okay?"

"Great! Can I hang out here until Friday?"

"I guess?"

"Awesome!"

----------

So, uh, this is a contest! My last contest didn't go so well, hopefully this one will have a winner! This dinosaur was supposed to be for someone, but then they decided they "didn't like him"... whatever.  That's fine. He's not my greatest work, but he's huggable and nicely shaped.  He's made out of Caron Simply Soft, and his arms are kind stubby and his legs are set pretty far on his body, which is probably why he can't stand like Dino.

To enter, just leave a comment! At around 5PM on Friday, I'm going to use a random number generator and there's the winner!

Golden Wonder

So, I was digging through my stash and I found a skein of Lion Brand Classic in yellow! Frablous day! That means, of course, that Little Me got some nice yellow hair! Also, combined with my white CSS, this yellow can make....

Hehe, it's another Pokemon (Jirachi) and Kuro-chan from Card Captor Sakkura.

Anyway, here's Little Me's progress.  I nixed the glasses, because I thought that my embroidery was wonky, and I'm much happier with her face now.  I still need to make clothes for her - I've done one rain boot, but sewing felt does NOT interest me in the slightest, so, that part was pretty hard.  I'm loathing the rest of her clothes. I wish I could just send her naked, maybe with some ivy leaves to cover her up, but I already did pants! Win some, loose some.

I really wanted to make a little Lotus to go with Little Me to London, you know, so she won't be lonely in the package.  My result was pretty irksome.  I showed it to the original, and was met with scorn.

First step: cautiously sniff.

Second step: Give the "WTF" look.

Third step: Be interested in something else, over there, yes, that... thing...

But I know that this is what happens whenever I show anything to Lotus, so I'm not too hurt.  She did the same thing with her green jingly cat ball, and every night I hear it jingling as she plays with it.  But if humans are watching, she hates it.  It's one of the mysteries of hedgie ownership, I guess.

Anyway, hopefully the next time you see that monstrosity I will have followed the advice of dear W, master of construction, and it will look more like a hedgehog than something Jim Henson has nightmares about.

Well hello there, little version of me...

Yes! My tiny self is laid out on the crafting table, and she has pants.  I'm basically following the Stitch London pattern that I mentioned last week, but with a few changes.  

(1) My neck is considerably shorter, so that the head won't flop around.

(2) My legs are also shorter, 13 rows instead of 20 because, well, I am short.  The 20-row leg didn't seem right to me.  We need to be true to life here!  Also, I decided to pick the legs up at the body instad of sewing them on.

That's really all the difference.  I'm beginning to wonder if Patons Natural was a good choice - although, in retrospect, it really wasn't a choice, because I'm SUPPOSED to be using all stash yarn on this.  Don't know what I'm going to do when I get to the hair though, since really, I don't have any yellow yarn (that I know of.)

Consider yourself updated! See you tomorrow for the weekly 'rumi.

My Weekend in Pictures

So, this weekend I went to Rochester (again) to see my sweetie's film screen (it did awesome!) and go to the Lilac Festival.  For those non-Rochesterians among us, the Lilac Festival is a HUGE event that goes for ten days in Rochester's Highland Park.  It's in the top 200 family events in the US, and I think it's in the top 10 events to go to in New York State.  Anyway, the point is, it's a big deal, and when I went last year I had an awesome time!

This year the event wasn't as "magical," I have to admit.  It's much later in May, and the lilacs were past their prime, to say the least.  Most of them were completely flowerless, due to the crazy weather and unfair unseasonable temperature (it's cold.)

But there were peonies the size of my head! If you don't believe me, you can see the picture of yours truly below.
 

Look close, because you're probably not going to see one of those for a looooonnnggg time.

Anyway, the culmination was the Conservatory.  I would TOTALLY recommend going to this festival because also, you get to go in here while you're "in the neighborhood."  It's probably my favorite place to be in Rochester (Besides the Butterfly Garden at Strong.)

On with the pictures!

I'll end with the fact that W and I bought a turkey leg when we went on Sunday and spent around an hour and a half trying to eat it all.  It was sooo delicious, and people kept stopping us and asking "Where did you get that?" In the end, we couldn't finish it, so W took it back to school with him.

Knitting? Oh, what's that? *sarcasm*

My weekend in pictures!

This weekend I went to sunny Philedelphia with my friend from high school.  We didn't do a ton - we just saw the Philly Art Museum and hung out at her aunt's house, but that was more than enough! I was too tired to drive all the way home yesterday, and so I went to bed early at woke up at 5 today to get to work.  Even worse idea than driving at night... because now I'm so tired! Boo!

But we did see some totally awesome things! The coolest being this painting by Van Eyke:

It may look unimpressive, but it was so tiny! About the size of my hands! The curator said that it was painted with a brush of two hairs...

And this photoshopped gate.  Yes, I did commit a horrible faux pas, as soon as I saw this painting I said... 

..."That gate looks totally 'shopped."

Though I have to admit that my friend said something equally funny, when we saw this altarpiece...

 ..."There's a bird trying to steal her hair!"

I love how the two of us did extremely well in Art History class, I got a 5 on the AP and I think she got a 4... if not a 5.  And now, 3-4 years later, we're in a museum poking fun at altarpieces. Hey, we did appreciate some stuff! They had some great impressionist works (I'm sorry that the Renoir exhibit wasn't open yet, because that will be AWESOME!) and some cool non-western art as well. Here's my top three (besides the Van Eyke, but photgraphs can't do that stuff justice, it's like Dali or Color Field paintings, you have to be there.)

Lotus spent the weekend at her grandmother's.  I'm such a typical teenage mom, dropping my hedgehog child onto her grandmother.  Both of them like it, though, I think.  At least, Mommy's never complained and Lotus has a whole room of her own, with a bed with piles of blankets to dig in.

  She was sooo happy last night, but she got grumpy as soon as I tried to get her under the light to take her photo.  I asked her "Don't you want to be famous on the internet!?" and she only replied by curling up into a ball and hissing.  She wouldn't stop, even when I put her back on her mountain of blankets.  So I decided she was done with playing and she went back in her cage, where she knocked her bowl over and then had me put it back, knock it over, put it back, until I finally gave up and went to bed.

Well, now I'm going to go back to work, then home to go to bed. Have a great week!

Free Pattern: Wooper

This pattern is dedicated to my sweetie, by the nickname of "Wooper."  I wanted to be nerdy, and there are so many Pokemon... he's why I chose this one! I hope you enjoy, and expect to see some more knit Pokemon in the future! Gotta Knit 'Em All!

Here's the pattern! If come across any problems, please feel free to let me know! This little guy has not been test knit, so if you come across something odd... it's probably me, not you! Send me an e-mail at lynough (at)gmail(dot)com!

Who's that Pokemon!?

Um, the reprise? I forgot how much I loved zoom abstract, hehe.

Bask in the glory of me finishing something! I didn't eat lunch today, instead I decided to snip all of this guy's loose ends and do a photo shoot.  I told myself that I would eat at home... but all I have is celery and wasa crackers.  I'm living lean! I'm trying to save money so I can take a summer course! There's nothing wrong with eating celery and wasa crackers for one... two.. three meals a week.

I also have a pattern for him, and I aim to get it up by Friday, which will be easy now that I have my car back and can drive to McDonald's! On an unrelated note, those Frappes? Pretty good.

Back to the subject of knitting... I can't believe this took me so long. Really.  Did you know Mother's Day is Sunday? Started knitting my mom's present today, and hopefully it doesn't take me all week! I'm on a mission to use up bits of my stash that I have lying around, which is not too hard because I build my stash very meticulously.  But I feel like that could be a blog post in itself, so I won't ramble here.

Guess what it is!

(P.S. - Don't ask me about Karen's Walk, which was supposed to be Sunday, but since I can't say anything nice about it I won't say anything at all and not make myself look like a total brat.)