latest creation

I keep returning to this awesome yarn/craft store on Broadway here in Denver. It’s called Fancy Tiger. The yarn and fabric and other odds and ends they sell there are the best and the folks who work there are always fun to talk with. So I bought a whole bag full of yarn all for myself sometime after my birthday. But my birthday is in November, which is so close to Christmas that I had to justify some of my purchase by making a few things for my family. So I knitted two of these cowls. The cowl pictured was sent to my step mom and the deep purple with green buttons (not pictured) I kept for myself. I found the pattern here, through Ravelry this great knitting and crocheting community.

I made these for my sister who is always complaining that So Cal is cold. Well, I gave her a gift that expresses just how cold I think So Cal is… only cold enough for fingerless gloves. So there! Cold in California, HA!

Every year at church we have what is called Super Saturday. Basically a few hours on a Saturday in late Nov. early Dec. where we make stuff. Last year I learned to knit. This year I was somehow wrangled into teaching how to etch glass. I had never etched glass in my life. But how hard could it be? I etched metal plates in my college intaglio print class 11 years ago. How different could it be? Oh, it was much easier. No acid baths in trays, no need to wear gloves or be under a fan (although a well ventilated room is a must) and we used contact paper to make the stencils. The hardest part was laying the stencil on the curved glass ornaments I had bought. The contact paper just didn’t want to bend the way I wanted it to. I made these plates for my mom. One of each of the kids’ profiles. I figured she could use a few extra plates. Since they are etched, they can be used without fear of rubbing off the decoration.

PS. The fingerless gloves were researched but no one pattern used, it was a mix of several. Also, the part around the fingers I knitted both white and green yarns at the same time. I saw someone using 2 strands at once while at India’s cello recital, of all places. One glove might be larger than the other… I will confess to nothing!

So we figured out a gift for the birthday boy on Saturday. I think it was a great success.
He really liked the shirt India made. Go figure. I thought he would pass right over that!
Here’s what we came up with.

A make-your-own robot set inspired by this one… which is way cooler. You gotta start somewhere, right?

A shirt designed and painted by India. Have you ever done a freezer paper shirt? That’s what we did. We had about 4 stencils made from the paper. It turned out pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

With a joint baby shower and a birthday party on Saturday, I was able to get back into our tradition of making gifts. I felt a baby book would be nice to give the expectant moms and I saw this memory game here.
Another birthday this coming Saturday. No ideas. A boy turning 8… hum. Can I find anything beyond the plastic yuck in the stores? We’ll see.

Exterior of each. One for a boy, one for a girl. I know, both are a bit feminine. What can ya do?

One of the interior pages. I finally bought one of those stamps that are like the librarian date stamps. This has the entire alphabet and I think about 15 letters across. Awesome.

I have so much paper that I knew this would be a great project.

The card India made for the birthday girl who was turning 3. A picture of the girl and her big brother… who is appropriately small for her special day.

India was invited to a birthday party for a boy. What to make him came up in conversation. I wasn’t quite sure, but I thought a terrarium might work. Just so long as we didn’t mention putting an animal inside this tank, for the parents’ sake.
I must say this gift was the largest and heaviest at the party. Have you ever given the largest present. It is sort of a strange feeling. Almost like we were trumping the grandparents… which I hope we didn’t. I think their gifts came on his actual birthday.
Once he pulled off the wrapping all the kids crowded around it. They ooooo-d and ahhhh-d (i’m making up how that is spelled. It’s allowed, I read it in a bookmaking book… for kids. hmmmm) for quite awhile.
Then India dropped the bomb. She let him know that he could put a fish in there. I had to remind her that we weren’t going to bring up that idea.
Whenever we give a homemade gift I always wonder if it is played with. I wonder if he will dig through this dirt like he does in his backyard. Maybe in the winter months. Who knows.

India’s filling it up with little dinosaurs and we hung a fly, butterfly and dragonfly from the ceiling of the tank. Yes, that is a real tree… hopefully it lives long enough. We also put in a little Hot Wheels car. If only to give him an idea of what to do with this mammoth of a gift.

I felt like this gift needed to come with instructions. I hope it is faring well and that it will have a long a prosperous life.

So India and I saw the cutest headbands in J.Crew.  Of course they were $15 and I couldn’t see spending that much on a headband.  Go figure.  I figured Indi and I could make them ourselves.  So we did… I did.  We took the flowers apart together but I had to sew the flowers to the band.