November 25, 2012
Knitting!
I’m not a knitter. I’ve tried – multiple times – to understand the whole knit/purl thing, but it’s never stuck. So what made me pick up needles again? No idea. But this time, the whole concept made sense. I don’t know what’s different, but I’ll go with it. I’ve already completed a scarf I started last year in stockinette stitch, and now I’m doing one in plain garter stitch to showcase this awesome yarn. I love seeing the pattern evolve as I work this yarn.
Do you have any favorite knitting websites to help me learn more than these two designs? I’m especially interested in trying lace at some point.
November 13, 2012
Mother, May I Go And Swim?
I haven’t been embroidering as much as I used to, but hopefully this winter will make me want to curl up under a blanket with my hoops and needles. I made this piece over the summer (one of the few pieces I did this year) for my mother. It’s our favorite poem from a book of nonsense poetry that I adored when I was a child:
Mother, may I go and swim? Yes, my darling daughter. Hang your clothes on yonder limb, but don’t go near the water.
My mother doesn’t need things, which can make getting presents for her difficult. But when this idea popped into my head, it went from idea to reality in very little time.
I’m especially happy with how the two-tone coloring came out. I wanted there to be a little variation in shades but have it remain one color. The matting of the finished piece helped pull it together too.
And in case anyone was wondering, here’s a little insight into my planning process for a piece. I take the original (here, a photocopy of the page from the book, blown up to the size I needed) and create a simplified tracing of it on my lightbox. Then I use a water-soluble pen to trace that simplified design onto the fabric (again, on the lightbox).
November 3, 2012
It’s Muppet Time!
Well, I must say that my group of friends has a knack for wacky gifts. We’ve had the Supernatural dolls and the zombie kit (among others). So when Melody said “I don’t want anything for my birthday. Well, I guess, maybe a muppet of myself” it felt like the gauntlet had been thrown.
Originally, I found the Muppet Whatnot Workshop at FAO Schwarz (which is what you get if you google “make your own muppet”), and we spent days arguing over which choices would make for the perfect Melody doll. When we went to order it, however, it seemed that the site was down and we couldn’t get a call through, so we started brainstorming ideas of how to actually make the thing ourselves.
Then we were going to do a real puppet – moving mouth, hand up the ass, and all. We were going to settle for a largish shirt that could act as a body and have the whole thing need to be used behind some kind of table (like a real muppet). But when we got to Old Navy (what better place for cheap kids clothes?), we found so many different outfits we wanted, including the terribly perfect My Melody shirt (above), that we decided we HAD to go with a more typical doll (simply so she could have a whole wardrobe).
I could go into detail on the multiple nights of crafting madness that resulted in the My Melody doll, but frankly, they’re a blur. I do remember frequently looking up and saying “We MADE this!” It was awesome to see us each take control of a little piece of the project and, more quickly than expected, see it all pull together into one cohesive thing.
So let this be a warning to everyone I know: I have made a muppet, and I can do it again. Don’t tempt me!
Making Islands Where No Island Should Go 
