Harry Potter Contest

My new favorite place to craft and hang out is the marvelous Instructables where you can learn anything from making a coffee table aquarium to picking locks to building a functioning grenade. Sounds scary, but I've seen the most amazing things there. I am so hooked.

I'm also going to enter their Harry Potter craft contest in the hopes of winning a t-shirt (with the robot logo) and a Hogwarts Plaque engraved with my name, close up detail below.

I'll post the project link before the deadline, July 25th. I'd sure appreciate your votes. Haven't decided between the HP themed shrinky dink earrings or the felted wand cozy, but am leaning toward the wand cozy. It just looks so gorgeous. I'll let you know.

In the meantime, I have the Harry Potter movie and the big bash Deathly Hallows Ball at Borders to go to. The night of the 20th is going to be very full evening for me and yes, of course, I'll be in costume. Let's hope the last book isn't really the end. I've already had to bid goodbye to Stargate SG-1 this year... It's not so bad if new things come to take old things' place but there seems to be a dearth of good stuff of late and I have to wait til 2008 before the next season of Torchwood starts up. As my friend Patricia would say, Waaaaahhhhh.

Buns & Projects Update

I feel bad that I haven't shared bunny news in so long. Star is currently unhappy about being in her pen 24/7 but until we can ensure she doesn't have access to the cat food while on runtime, in her pen she will have to stay. Yup, Ms Bossy Doe has a thing for 82% meat kitty food that is SCARY if you ask me. It's like a cow munching on a chicken--so very wrong. I have tried various creative means to keep the two separate but she has found a way around every clever idea I've come up with. The easiest thing would be to put the kitty food on a higher level but the cats can't jump up anywhere anymore. At the moment, my frustrated Star is only getting short bouts of supervised run time while her ex and current nemesis Licorice enjoys almost complete free roam status. Lotta jealousy there, I can tell you. The only reason I can come up with for Star's continued evil genius pursuit of the cat food is that she's pretty convinced she's a cat. Poor girl has grown up with and been the dominant of 4 cats her whole life, so I guess I can't blame her. Licorice has no such delusions and probably doesn't care what he is, as long as he continues to be his Momma's cuddle lump.

In other news, I'm still plugging away unhappily on the Pirate Queen's Booty Bag for my friend Renee. It has no hope of being done in a week, for her birthday. If I hadn't had that month delay due to the yarn shipment being lost, I'd be done... ah well. I've got another idea to make up for the lack which she'll like equally as well.

My lovely shawl languishes, only a ball away from completetion, but I did make some lovely stitch markers to match the counting row bracelet (see pics in the 7/2/07 post). Currently, I realize I need another container to port around my knitting to and from work. The shawl is in a small bright orange bag I got at Phoenix Rising (Harry Potter Con in New Orleans) and the Booty Bag is in a large Yarn Tainers, but it's gotten to a size and length that the Yarn Tainers can't do an adequate job. Am I the only knitter in the world without a proper knitting tote? Probably. Looking to get one off of cafe press or Etsy, but I might make my own to match my knitting pirate shirt that says "yarn aquisitions specialist" under a Jolly Roger (with knitting needles instead of bones).

Meet Shaun the Sheep

For those of you who aren't lucky enough to live in the UK (or are avid torrent users like me) you probably won't have heard of Shaun the Sheep. From Nick Park (of Wallace and Grommit fame), Shaun is the newest project of the Aardman Group, stop motion animators extraordinare!

Shaun is a sheep unlike other sheep, who rarely follows the crowd, is smarter than he should be, and often drags his flock into fantastic adventures. Like ordering pizza or playing soccer or just fighting off the depredations of the farm's biggest stinkers: the trio of very naughty pigs. But don't take my word for how hysterical the series is. Watch a few clips.

Timmy is the baby of the flock and isn't always as sweet as he looks.


Sometimes adventure turns out to be part of daily life on the farm. Bath time isn't nearly as fun when the hot water's on the fritz.



And remember those pigs? They really are stinkers, especially when they conspire to keep the sheep away from the apple tree. Shaun is not going to take this laying down and Bugs Bunny type mischief occurs.



Watch a full length episode of Shaun on YouTube called "Off the Baa.." The sheep discover soccer and the pigs try to ruin their fun.

Knitting Tools and PMS

Some of us get cranky. Some get horrific cramps. A friend of mine does a fair imitation of a comatose bear trying to hibernate for the winter (you know who you are). And me--most times I am the picture of laid back and relaxed. Don't kill me because I have it easy, ladies. Do notice I said "most times". I get the occasional nasty acne flair up, bloating, and don't-touch-me irritability. And once in a truly great while, the dreaded lower back pain that is immune to every pain reliever and comfy chair in existence. But lately, I wonder if I've found a new symptom... knitting tool obsession.

Maybe it's PMS that's driving me, forcing me to shop on Etsy for hours on end when I should be sleeping. Or maybe I'm just crazy. Case in point: a new contraption they call a Counting Row Bracelet aka Abacus Bracelet. It's a way to keep track of what row or pattern repeat you're on without using one of those dopey click contraptions or relying on pen and paper. (Personally, I've always been a pen and paper, cross off or X thru those rows, kinda knitter. It's comforting. But hey, maybe I gotta get with the times, right?) Besides, what if you lose or leave the pen and paper at home?

How it works: the bracelet has two strands of 10 beads each. They're usually differentiated by size, though I've seen ones that do it by color, too. If the smaller set of beads represents 1 row (or repeat) for each bead, then the larger beads represent 10 rows/repeats per bead. When you finish off a unit, you slide a bead to one side. A circle of tiny beads called a stopper makes sure the bead you slid (and it's fellows) stays put and doesn't mix with the unused ones. You see why another name for it is the Abacus Bracelet, right? Same principle.

When I first saw one of these on Etsy and figured out how it worked, I wanted to know how it was constructed. Once I figured that out, I was hot to make one of my own. Happily, I also have a big tote of beads and supplies left over from my sporadic beading habit that I could pull out and pore over, so I didn't need to delay the project to get supplies. Using up my bead stash also made me feel very VIRTUOUS, even though I was supposed to be sleeping so I wouldn't fall asleep during work that night. Funny how a virtue always seems to be a vice when you look at it from all angles. Anywho, this is what I came up with--and I'm very proud of it:
Unfortunately, now that I've made it, I no longer want one of these things. I really love my pen and paper method. It's much more satisfying and tangible. A pity, since the bracelet is gorgeous. I've been fondling it lovingly for a couple of days now. I should have taken a pic of it being held up to the light. The way light hits it and goes through it--these pics hardly touch on its beauty. I should use the beads I have left over to make earrings, I think. So lovely. Check out these details:

And have I learned my obsession lesson, yet? About living with an idea before diving in and committing creation? Nope. Never. Not me. I feel another project itch coming on, even now.