Celadon (Monkey #2)

Well after my little pink monkey was seen, I received an order for a green one! I made this one with two strands of cotton.


She's about 14cm/5.5" tall, her name is Charmaine, she's leaf green and seems to like the pear tree which is where I found her to take this photo. She's very young with a curly tail. So far she hasn't gotten into any trouble. She's keeping the little pink one company until we can send her to her new owner.

Pink (Monkey #1)

My brother says I should not make just one of something, that I should make lots and lots of versions to get good.... at something! Here is my first attempt at an amigurumi monkey. Here is clearly a case where multiple efforts will pay off. I need more monkey practice! Actually, in the photo I like him more than in real life - except in real life, I like his colour better - dark pink.
It's fun to do, except I think I'll have to try a bit thicker yarn because I have to crochet so tightly so the stuffing doesn't come through, and he's only 8cm (3") tall - that's tiny.
It's been very hot outside - for Vancouver - 34 degrees so crochet was a nice thing to do in a lawn chair, it kept me from falling asleep. I didn't want to knit the white and black cotton sweater in the sun.

Oh glorious summer, how I love thee.

Bigger Little Red Shoes

So I just couldn't put my fingers on the right bootie pattern so I made my own. Here is my very own pattern:
These will definitely fit a baby and they are going to be the ones I will give. Yes, I scribbled the pattern down on the back of another pattern. I might embellish the tops, but I'm a little cautious, because I don't want the baby to be able to pluck something off and swallow it. I think that wouldn't be good.....

Meet Mei Joon

Yesterday, even though it was sunny in most of the Vancouver area, it was not over at my house. In fact for the past several days it's been very dark and gloomy here, and not that way elsewhere. I must move soon!

Anyway, I had a complete energy melt down and even ended up taking a nap in the afternoon!
I did, however, find the time (and energy) to make this little Amigurumi girl, whom I have named Mei Joon. Since she was born on the first day of summer, I thought the name was perfect. (get it? Mei Joon = May June).
I was not happy with the yarn used on her body, so I'm going to sew an "M" onto her shirt to cover up the yarn. Although I hated making the arms and the legs, I enjoyed the challenge making the rest of her body and can't wait to make another one. The pattern is in this month's issue of Bust Magazine.

Swag in da house!

Look at what the mailman delivered! Big Girl Feet had a blog-a-versary contest and I won a big surpirse package. Look at all the incredible stuff she sent - an original and beautiful card, a small bag made from fabric she printed with her own design, a purse-sized tissue cover in beautiful fabric, a lovely note and candies. Oh how sweet. It's all so beautiful. Even the tape she used to wrap up the package and her mailing label are unique and creative. That girl is going to go very far, she is so very talented.

Today is definitely my lucky day. Thank you Cynthia!

Baby Gift # 2

Okay, so I'm still working on making something for my friend's baby, and since I wasn't having any luck with the booties, I whipped up this little hat using a nice a nice generic yarn:
In case you're wondering, the hat is on a sculpture of an Kenyan baby and it is in black clay, his little facial features didn't come out all all... sorry baby. It's a life size sculpture, so at least I'm pretty sure this hat will fit a young baby.

But I still want to make some booties! I have two weeks before I'll be seeing them, so I've got a bit of time still! I'll either have to pop by the LYS or choose another pattern.

JP had a good father's day. The kid and I snuck off during our grocery shop to pick out a card and a gift. The kid thought a box of 100 chocolate bars was a good gift, so that's what he got his dad. I also cooked him some brisket for lunch and he talked about how good it was all day! Good. I'm glad he liked it.

I've put my mom's sweater on hold for a bit, but I know that I can't stray too far, or I won't finish it. So I will just have this little baby diversion and then back to work.

Big Girl Feet put parcels in the mail, so I could be getting something any day. I'm SO CURIOUS!

Tiny Dancer / Ruby Red Shoes

Some friends of mine are expecting really soon and I wanted to make them some baby shoes, so I started with the pattern for One Hour Baby Booties in SnB Nation. Well, I didn't have any chunky wool and it was 8:00 on a Saturday night, so I thought I'd try with some Red Heart Super Saver. Well, look what I have. 2" shoes! (That's the bottom of an iPod in the photo so you can see the sizing).

These are almost 1/2 what they should be. I laughed so hard after completing one tiny shoe that I decided I'd make a pair for fun. I'm sure they'll fit on some doll or stuffy. Right now they fit on the kid's big toes!

Good News and Bad News

Okay. I'll start with the bad (will it's more like sad, not really that bad...) news. I placed an order online with Ikea to deliver two bookcases for my 'office' and was so excited about receiving them. In fact I laid in bed for two nights in a row thinking about how great they were and how the room would get organized and I was so excited. They were the solution to the organization issue there. They were going to make my life better and make me happy. But since I have a very small car and there was just no way I could transport them home myself, I requested delivery; it would solve everything. Then I received a call from Ikea telling me that they don't deliver to my house (it's only an hour away) and would have to pick them up from a depot. I told him that wouldn't work because if I could transport them myself I'd just buy them from the store. He said he'd have someone call me with a quote. Two days later the call came in and the girl told me it would be $200 to deliver. UNREAL! Cancel that! Now I'll have to go to plan B.

So, onto the good news. Big Girl Feet chose me to be a recipient of her awesome goodies for her blog-a-versary. OMG! You have no idea. Her creations are the bomb! Listen to me, I sound like a school girl! Tee hee. I don't care. I can't wait to see what comes in my mailbox. How nice of her. I read her blog on a daily basis. I must stop gushing now..... (yay me!)

JP's Big Birthday

Well I think JP had a pretty good birthday. I gave him on iPod (with the video screen) and the painting. We both took the day off to make it more fun. We went to Nick's on Commercial for lunch and both rolled out of there. I don't know why I decided to eat all that pasta in one sitting, I'm sure I could've had it wrapped up for later, but no, I had to be a piggy. Then later we went and found an aluminum case for the iPod and a car kit so he could drive and around and listen to all his Johnny. We picked up his son and went to Moxie's (a nice one) for dessert. More food? Yes we did! Needless to say by the time we got home, we wanted nothing to do with food. JP loaded about 300 songs from his CDs onto the unit and that was a fine night.

Tonight we'll be having some scrumptious 16 oz steak that my brother couriered! Can you believe it? Like VIPs, we had steak couriered. Seasoned just for us, good ol' Alberta Beef. Yumm. JP's birthdays always include lots of good eating. Thank goodness it's in June and far away from Christmas to give me time to work it off. Although, maybe because I had a big lunch and not a dinner, I actually lost 1 pound since yesterday! I know, tomorrow 2 will have found their way back to me.

I'm really tired after a super busy day at work, I think it's time to watch TV and knit. I don't have energy for much else.

We bought this meat rug at Funhauser:

Beginner Painter

It's JP's birthday tomorrow, and so I painted this picture for him. (Yes, I have other presents to come.) Admittedly this isn't my image, I found it on-line from an artist called Shano. I hope I won't get in trouble from her. Shano's girl had red/orange hair but I changed it to a brunette as JP likes dark haired girls. I'm pretty pleased with my painting skills and how it turned out. Soon, I hope I can draw my own creations as well.

It's a small image, only 5" x 8" . I just need to seal it and get a small frame for it.

Heaven Scent

We had a yucky rainy Saturday, and we lazed around all day - don't really know what we did. JP and I did go underwear shopping for me. And we found some cute orange ones with black and white photos of 60's chicks on them. Cute!

Sunday, we took down some more limbs off the trees and mowed the yards. I started to do some weeding and cleaning up but it got darker and darker and I had to rush to put everything away and get inside before Jazz heard thunder and freaked. I made it inside and gave her 4 pills in time, then put her in the bathroom (her "safe room") but she still heard some noise. She shredded one of her towels in the midst of her panic. It lasted about an hour. I wonder if she knew it was coming because she didn't want to be in the yard in the hours before the storm, which is unusual. I'm going to watch that.

This is one of my favourite roses. It's a small little plant that usually only gives me one flower per year, but the scent is incredible. I think in the fall I'm going to create a rose garden and put them all together. I have them a variety of roses spread around the yard, but they're all sort of doing okay. Maybe together they can get the proper fertilizer and watering. As you can see, someone's been munching on the leaves.

I did get some knitting done, just working on the 'piano' sweater. No other crafts this weekend, but while I was thrifting I bought a bag of felt pieces. It turns out it was full of little baggies of pre-cut pointsettias, camels, polar bears, trees, starts, moose, snowmen, etc. Some sort of Christmas mural, advent calendar? I don't know. I'll have to lay it all out in the fall and see what can be made of it.

My cuddly pillow

I had finished knitting this pillow a little while ago, but didn't have a form to fit inside. This weekend they happened to go on sale, so I picked one up and sewed her together. I don't think the photo does it justice, but I just love this yarn. It was nubbly, and went from light blue to dark blue and sometimes lavender. To me, it's a warm and cuddly pillow. I like it alot!

It's 20" x 20" so it would be a great floor pillow too.

June already?

I took an extended weekend and traveled with my brother to visit my mom and other brother in Southern Alberta. We celebrated my mom's 50th anniversary in Canada. It was good to connect and hear stories and find out so many things that we do similarly. I was itching to knit or crochet while I was there. I should have brought my hooks with me. My mom did give me some yarn and let me pick through her shelf of craft books - she let me take about 30! Score! Wow, now I have more projects than days in my life! And of course, I cruise through a book store or a catalogue and see more craft books I want to buy! What an addict.
I think I'll need to try a year of craft supply abstinence and not buy any craft supplies - other than minor items needed to finish projects. Do you think that would work?
I did take photos while I was away but with my film camera and haven't developed anything yet.
I came home, did the laundry and mowed the lawn. Yesterday I put some mulch around my strawberries - which should keep the weeds down, plus it's easier to see the plants now. I have much more gardening to do, but all in good time.
I did bring back a sweater my mom started, which I promised I'll finish for her. I haven't knitted a whole sweater in a long time. And this one has fairly fine yarn and smaller needles so it could be a summer project. It's in cotton which I haven't knitted before (can you believe it?) and I find it's slippery so I have to add an extra loop around my fingers to keep the tension. I like the challenge of the project, so that's a great motivation.