Today is Your Birthday

You were the best 26th birthday present a girl could ask for.
Three days old and already smiling :)







Happy first birthday with all the Clifford goodness your little heart could take.







2nd birthday and you were growing so fast - Sesame street favoites all over your cake. The happiest girl to have a Big Bird plate and the gift of a new sister in your second year.









Third birthday and Care Bears were your thing, and Dora, and fairies and barbies and crayons and...










Fourth birthday and you had to have My Little Pony. It was a purple and pink day.







Fifth birthday and it was princesses all around - even though you favored The Little Mermaid.







Sixth year and a Dancing Princess you are.
Keep smiling baby, you make Mommy and Daddy SO proud.

Same Rock'n'Roll to Me

Its Merb Time again!
What is it with winter and these little mermaid dolls?!? My BIL runs a small production company and has comissioned 4(possibly 5) Merbs for a video for a client. This is the yarn for the "scandinavian" merb.








He's working on an underwater club scene kinda vibe so I'm making a variety of ethnicities to fill in the scene. This is the yarn for the "asian" merb.









All the dolls will have pipe cleaners in the arms so they are posable and a wire "backbone" so the bodies are also poseable. Eventually they will be filmed dancing in the club, it should be pretty funny - to me anyway, dancing merbs, Hah! This is the yarn for the redhead merb.






DId I mention the Narwhale? The whole point of the thing is to have a narwahle show up at the end - so the party can really get going. This will eventually be a unicorn of the sea.




Of course we also have a lovely latina merb in the works. This is my yarn selection for her - I'm thinking of throwing a few highlights into her hair, Miami Beach style, we'll see.








This is Ms. Latina merb in progress. She's actually done and stuffed at this point - no photos of that yet. I may also have an african beauty to knit up and I have the task of making multiple eyes for each merb. Not so they look like aliens but so they can change expressions. More updates to come.

Lazy Sunday

This is why its worth it to stay home for a quiet day with the family.

The Grumble wouldn't sit still enough to be filmed - we'll have to catch her unawares on another day.
More posts with actual works in progress later this week. I Promise!

Flying Purple People Eater

As promised, my present to Chixon! Chicken Chixon to be precise. She will be loved, though hopefully not by Baxter





Also, the promised pic of my first glorious gift of sock yarn from the Kangaroo Dyer. These are her Mistakes people! Mistakes!!


Finally, you may want to peek over here, it's a work in progress and you'll find out more soon :)

Headin' for a Heartbreak

I love working at Webs!
For so, so many reasons only one of which is the amazing free stuff that we get. Back during the rush of the Holidays I was also the happy recipient of 2 ebony cable needles, a set of sz2, 5 1/2" rosewood dpns, sz4, 4" bamboo dpns, sz8, 8" rosewood needles and a set of stitch markers. This table full of lovelies is what I got to come home with yesterday.


This is a silk mohair blend that our on staff dyer, The Kangaroo Dyer, was playing with, these were a couple of her "mistake" colors! Ultimately we decided not to carry this yarn but Artyarns carries a very similar blend.




We also get lots of nice free sample from the yarns companies we work with. Right now is swatch madness at the store as all the new Spring yarns begin to pour in. Customers have a much easier time picturing how to use the new yarns when they can see and feel how they knit/crochet up. I'm not a big cotton girl but it is Rowan and it will be nice for some cotton tops for the munchikins this summer.

Jo Sharp also has some great yarns with many, many wonderful patterns to play with. The Reynolds Soft Sea Wool is a new yarn and like the name implies - this stuff is soft. It has a nice nubby texture and knits up wonderfully on sz4 needles( 4!? Trust me, I've seen the sample swatch).



More lovely Rowan cotton.







The large hank is a not-quite-right dye lot of Kangaroo Dyer's SweetPotato Sock yarn - man, I love this color. One hank, two socks. Next to it is another "mistake" color that she was trying in the sock yarn, it'll make a nice pair for one of the munchikins. I had also gotten 2 hanks earlier in the year from her in colors that she wasn't thrilled with. What this woman sees as failures I would kill to some up with! She is one of the most honest, and modest, and lovely women I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I'll have to show you the other two colors in the next post.
Finally, one last "mistake" color, I'll show you the finished project soon, promise! I'm off to finish up some stuff for CHIXON :), pics to come later this weekend (we don't want any peeking!) The Hubby and I are childless this weekend and we have lots of time to spend with friends and get some little things done around the homestead.


Oh, today's post title - it's eigth-grade flashback day around here, I'm listening to Winger.

Butterfly Kisses

This past Sunday The Bean became an "offical" Daisy Girl Scout.
She had an investiture ceremony with her troop where she was welcomed to the Girl Scouts and given her first GS pin. We shared the evening with one of the local brownie troops.




Both of the ceremonies took less than 5 minutes - something the Hubby carefully noted because we had to wait twice as long for things to begin than we did for the actual events.




There was a special cake for each of the troops and the parents brought potluck dishes for the meal. The Grumble had her eyes on the cakes from the moment we walked in and everyone was waiting for her to snag a finger full of frosting when no one was looking. Thankfully she was a good girl and waited till after the meal but she told us she was going to have a piece of both when it was her turn.



The Bean was handed a daisy after she was pinned and asked in all seriousness, "Is it fake?" Her troop leader Brigette is great, " Yes, sweetie so you'll have it forever." My Mom, Dad and Step-Mom all came out to share in the evening and we had a fairly nice meal - some good potluck to be had in this here town - and we waited for all the Girl Scout to finish their meals before they blew out the candles and we could all have cake.

The grown-ups sat at the table and talked a bit as we waited for the girls to get their slices of cake. The Grumble got her two. I haven't seen my Dad laugh that herd in a while :)

Hopefully we'll have just as much fun next year as the Grumble becomes a Daisy and the Bean a Brownie.

Pins and Needles

I was home for a bit today and had a little time for some crafting.
I've been wanting to do some shrinky-dink pins for about 6 months and I finally just did it today. I may give some away and I wanted to keep them nice and organized, so I made these littel cards to store them on.




Arent's they cute! Its Chicken Betty in miniature! I'm thinking of making a whole line of chicken pins: Chickens Agnes, Maude, Edith and the ornament chicks. Whee!

This is How We Do It

The Give-Away Girls have made it to their new homes.
Well two out of three ain't bad. Ginny, on the right, and Gertrude, on the left, have found their new homes. I thought I'd share with you how they are doing.

The Stitching Nut says of Ginny:
"I got Chicken Ginny and I adore her. Altho, she looks very much like the "Partridge in a Pear Tree" and not a chicken, LOL. Must be the bling & clothes she's wearing, huh?"

Ellen says of Gertrude:
I just wanted to tell you again how much I have enjoyed having Gertrude here. She has been perched under our Christmas tree since we put it up. All went well until Christmas Eve when we have all of our family gathering here for fun and festivities, not to mention good food and all that goes with the Season. Well, not usually one to Tell Tales, but she got so many compliments that put the rest of the tree inhabitants to shame....and I fear all of the attention has quite gone to her wee head. She is refusing to leave her spot and we have had a number of discussions on Humility, Piousness, and Agreeableness. I have told her that when I take the tree down, pack everything away, she will not be included in the boxing up, but, as I told you, be a Presence in my Room. This seems to mollify her, and I am hoping for the best. The best meaning that she will go sweetly into the back room and rule her roost there. She has really been quite peevish! And may I add, has exhibited an aura of superiority. I have quietly suggested to her that beauty is only skin deep and ugly goes clear to the bone. I can tell that she is considering this possibility. I think that we may, after all, have a smooth transition in the long run.

And look, LOOK! At this fabulous thing that my MIL got me for the holidays. A mini iron! Yee-haw this thing will sure come in handy for seams and little sewing projects. Yay for me! We had a great time at the in-laws on Sat night with the Hubby's parents, both brothers and their ladies (wife + fiancee). The munchikins made out like bandits, again. An ant farm, a seamonster growing kit from the smithsonian, awesome handpainted building shapes, a rock tumbler, lots of goody bath soaps, bubbles and girlie body sprays. The Hubby and I got a vaccuum sealer for the kitchen, some handmade soap, pumpkin butter(!), and a turkey fryer - not for turkey - for boiling down sap for syrup in the spring. Homemade maple syrup for all next Xmas!

Wishing you all a fabulous 2007!