Snowflake in a Bottle (Well...Ornament really)

Hey everyone!

I just posted a Christmas present that I came up with. I didn't get the idea from anywhere in particular, just worked with what I had on hand. This is the finished product:

Forgive the messy background but at least you can see the beads! This is actually a really simple project and doesn't really take all that long.

Here are my supplies:

Ok, so the plastic bag is the blocking mat for the snowflake. It's a piece of cardboard with a six pointed stencil drawn on it and then put in a ziploc.
Stiffy fabric stiffener.
The snowflake pattern book.
A couple of short Christmas ornament hangers and a clear plastic ornament. I got mine at the Christmas Tree Shoppe for $1 and you can open it up and take out that tinsel.

The ornament is about 12" around and originally I was going to make multiple motifs to wrap around it. Well, that didn't work out so well. However, I did think that the one motif that I made would fit inside the ball. The snowflake pattern I picked out was 3 1/2" across. The beads were an add-on idea and is not described in the book at all. I used size 10 crochet cotton and a size 7 steel hook.

Once the snowflake is done, and you've woven in all your ends, you'll want to soak it with water. Wring it out and drop in a solution of 1 part water, 3 parts fabric stiffener. If you used full strength, the finished snowflake wouldn't really be pliable and you might crease it rather than just bend it. Pin this to dry overnight on your blocking mat, aligning the points of the snowflake with the points of the stencil.

Once dry, go ahead and open up your ornament and discard that tinsel (who invented that crap anyway). Now, this is a little tricky, carefully, and gently roll up your snowflake so that you can get it through the opening at the top. Don't worry about losing it, it's only going inside the ball and you can easily reach it with your fingers. Let it drop inside, breathe, then get to flattening it out again. This is easily done by putting your fingers in there and pressing the snowflake against the sides of the ball.

After you've gotten the snowflake flattened back out again, use the short Christmas ornament hooks to hang it from the plastic at the top. Seen here in this picture is how I put the two hooks through the same whole but in different directions to get the snowflake to hang freely:

Now that the snowflake is hanging freely inside your ornament, pop the cover back on and voila! A beautiful ornament as a present or for your own tree!!

Let me know if you have questions and feel free to spread this around as much as you'd like!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!

<3 kobuu="" p="">

Project #MakeMyQueue - An Update (Of sorts)

And you thought I was done. Or had forgotten about it...HAHAHA...

No no, I'm still working on this. Remember I started with 47 projects in my queue. I've added, deleted, switched, frogged and completed a LOT of them. This isn't the rundown post but it's a current count.

Finished projects since January 1: 45!
Holy crap! That's a lot. And I'm not done yet! If you do the math, that's one project every 8 days or so. Not really, but the average. In reality, some only took one day while others took 4 weeks. Even so, I'm applauding myself ::claps:: ok, maybe not really... LOl

Finished #MakeMyQueue projects: 29 (that were labelled as part of this project)
Frogged: 7
WIP: 6
Total: 42
Still to cast on.... well, none. If I get through those 6 WIP's, I'll be happy. Chances are that won't happen though. I'm optimistic but not stupid. Truth be told, I'm tired of Project #MakeMyQueue and I plan on just completing things as I want to.

Today I'm going through my queue, my WIP's and my stash. I've found a few other projects I didn't know I started and I want to start projects not even in my queue! Oi. This never ends. My "2014" queue is already getting too long...

I'm Calling this #NoComNov

Yes, I'm calling this No Commitment November. As in, I'm not doing #NaNoWriMo or #NaKniSweMo, or even #Movember or "No Shave November".

My November is NO. Haha.

Honestly though, I need to recover from CAL/KAL-tober and actually complete some of those things. I'm not committing to that though. I have other ideas, plans, things to do. Like find a job, relax, and knit. I want to actually enjoy waking up in the morning, going through a day without stress and learning to love myself again.

There is one thing that I'm REALLY looking forward to: not being angry.
Everyday I get up and drive more than an hour to work in morning traffic. It doesn't matter if I've had a fantastic night, or got enough sleep, or listen to Broadway and sing in the car. Inevitably, there will be either traffic or some idiot on the road that will sour my mood. From there, it's a quick roll down the hill. While the start of my commute was within the speed limit and cautious, the ending is usually speeding and trying to get off the roads at to the safety of the office. I'm usually grumpy when I first sit down and have little regard or care for the people around me.

The converse also happens on my ride home which can be even longer.

I'm tired of that. I'm tired of having to deal with the types of people on the road at that hour. And I'll admit that sometimes, I'm one of them. And I hate that about myself. There's no reason to drive like that since everyone has to get to work just like you do. There's no sense in "being first" because if it causes an accident in the process, you're either going to be dead or injured AND you're going to basically stop traffic for everyone else! How considerate.

I need the next few days to just be over. Then I need to wake up on the 8th, make breakfast for +Victor Woodroffe and relax.

"I have no closing so I'll just end this with a small bow." - George Carlin

Rhinebeck Madness!!!

So for anyone doubting what I was doing yesterday, it was the New York Sheep and Wool Festival. Up at 5am, to Framingham by 6:30am, bus ride to the gate in Rhinebeck, NY took about 3.5 hours. The traffic getting into the damn festival took more than 45 minutes....but it was well worth it. The whole thing was quite overwhelming once you got through the gates!

We didn't have to stop here, thankfully, since we already had tickets. Really great to have paid in advance and just be able to walk in the park!

At the gate, +Sara Marks and I got our guide book and we started mapping out where we were going.

Ready to conquer the day!

And these little guys were right by the entrance...

Lemurs!!

The food area...

SO MANY PEOPLE!!! This was only at 11am or so. It was a madhouse!! +Sara Marks needed a bite to eat so we took a break for that. While she was in line, I was knitting. What was I knitting? I was working on the Hurricane Hat I started Friday night. 

Remember this??

I don't know if I was sniffing it or cuddling it actually..

Ok, so I worked on this from the onset of the trip to the gates. Between chatting and resting, the rest stop and meeting people, I was still able to nearly finish it before we got there. When Sara was in line, I got to the decrease part... so I just finished it.

Tada! Picture taken this morning, however.

So then we went yarn shopping!! The first place we went was building C to pickup +Mori Gryphon 's Shark Week socks. I didn't take a picture of that but they're adorable. After that was the souvenir tent for +Erin W 's mug and memorabilia. I got a project bag with the logo on it and Sara got one, too.  

From there is was our mission to actually get yarn since up to this point we hadn't yet! For the next several hours it was one gasp after another. Rows and rows of vendors with all kinds of fibers and yarns. The smells of amazing food wafting around. Fried dough! There was just so much to SEE!!

This was just one Vendor space. And evidently my phone can use both cameras at once!

Throughout the day I met up with #Fiberatti from all over: +Petra Cosgrove-Tremblay , +Elizabeth Ives , +Hugh Tauerner , +Heather Zoppetti , +Stephanie D'Annibale !! I met the crew of Ravelry.com and they signed my official Ravelry bag!! (Total fanboy moment, btw) And you can see me on the far left of the group shot from the Ravelry meetup: 

I was getting my bag signed at this point. And my Rav button!!

Eventually they did a big group shot. I caught this one and then made my way into the crowd for it!

+Sara Marks were wiped out from all the walking and browsing and at 5pm, sat and waited for the bus. It was time to head back to reality, drunk on yarn.

By now we were cold, and hungry, and sore...

At the end of a long day, I did end up going over budget. Oh well. My birthday's next month so I'm using that as an excuse. And I didn't go totally crazy like I could have. I was looking for worsted and heavier which was tough. Everyone had tons of fingering and lace!

SO HERE'S THE HAUL::

Worsted weight Superwash Merino from Blue Ridge Yarn (Sara wanted to take this one from me..)

More Blue Ridge worsted in what we're calling "Drowning Zombie"

Dragonfly Fibers "Zombie Apocalypse"!! So amazing!

Briar Rose Fibers Chunky in "Robusta"

And finally, the yarn that put me over budget:

This is 570 yards of superwash merino in this GORGEOUS colourway!!! The yarn is by Tess Designer Yarns. It is so soft and wonderful. I don't know what I'm making just yet but with this much worsted, I can kind of go nuts.

My first trip to Rhinebeck was nearly perfect. The only thing missing was +Zen Alpaca to make the DDA complete...but next year!! I met a woman named Anise from Maryland that said we need to go to the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival, too. Plus the New England one is in November.... Dear god, the yarn.

So that's it! I'm still tired. I need more coffee. And I need to plan my projects!!!

Em-KAL-CAL-Tober Fest Update!

This month has been rather insane with projects...but that's not going to stop me!!

/Begin RANT
What IS going to stop me is a particular Raveler who is taking far too great an interest in every single person's project. This person has been trolling the 114 projects that are participating in the MKAL and making sure no one has posted pictures. I know this because she messaged me directly asking me to remove the picture. I simply responded with 'removed' and left it at that. I'm not happy about my decision but it's Ravelry and I don't want issues.

A few minutes later I got another message. Just a quick 'Thank you' in reply to my previous message. I thought, ok, fine. Done. But I was also thinking that I would probably put my photo back up. Here's the thing.. yes, I know it's a Mystery knit a long, but you've given us a pattern already. Moreover, you gave us a CHART of that pattern. AND the instructions tell you to use that chart over and over until you get to 56"! So... the pattern is basically known. The only part you're saving is the stupid 4" edging which, frankly, I don't care. If you want it to be some big secret, don't give a chart. That's the only way to make it unknown. 

After the last email I assumed that was it. Eventually I'd put my photo up anyway (not sharing to the group, mind you) and finish the project. Not so. This Raveler took it upon herself to message me again giving a dramatic reason why I was to take my photo down and then give me advice about my colour choices and placement. Uh, really?! TROLOLOLOLOLOLOL! GO AWAY!

So, fuck you "stitchnerds", I'm all set. Project frogged, group unjoined. I don't feel that micromanaging over a hundred people and their projects is right. If Stephen West doesn't care, you shouldn't either.
/Rant

Ok, so today I'm working on the #SWMKAL13 since the last clue came in last night!! I got the first three rows done and cannot wait for the bind off. He gave us three that he thought we'd like but I don't really like any of them, so I'll be using Jenny's super stretchy bind off instead. 

I feel a little better...but the knowledge that I'm probably going to get messaged by her again is grating on me. I've deleted my own posts in her group but I don't know if she gets some kind of notification of that. Given her track record of trolling, I would imagine that she's going to go to my project page and see her's removed and wonder why. Gah.

KNIT ALL THE THINGS.

Ok, so this isn't  ...more like  ...

Tripartite: need to cast on side #2
Scallop Hat: Started last night, through one repeat of the pattern; needs 4 more and decreases.
Chadwick: This is for #ChadwickKAL and is getting cast on today...
#SWMKAL13: I still need to finish clue 3.... but it's getting shorter. I'm hoping maybe today, if I can hide out from work someplace..
Lonely Yarn MKAL: Really? I'm going to start another MKAL???? (DAMN YOU +Fiber Babble )

....NONE of that is crochet. You know, the craft where you can get shit done really fast? Yeah, that. Nope. All knitting. I'm running out of needles...

Oh wait, I did start Geoui. But I don't really like it as much as I thought I was going to. It's coming out a little too feminine and I already know it won't block out like I want either. 

Let's see... pictures?

Scallop Hat from last night..

What will eventually be Chadwick by Stephen West

Ok, so...like I said in a comment on a post, I have STARTITIS. I just want to knit EVERYTHING and my fingers actually twitch at the thought of time with my needles. Crocheting right now just doesn't seem plausible. I've got #Rhinebeck coming up with +Sara Marks in October, too! Whew. Someone save me from myself..

Eat.Sleep.Knit

Just going to put this out there that this is my second favourite place to get yarn!

http://www.eatsleepknit.com

Ok #Fiberatti, honestly, this is awesome. For anyone not paying attention to some of my previous posts, EatSleepKnit has a fabulous program: for every yard you purchase, you earn yardage towards their Yarn-a-Thon!!

This means that you earn prizes just for buying yarn. Like points at CVS or other programs! This site was brought to me originally by +Susan Weaver and I've been hooked ever since.

So if you're looking for a new place online to get yarn, great prices and REALLY reasonable shipping, check out EatSleepKnit run by +Erin Walker . Or, just click the link above/below and GO THERE!

Side note: I hope you use my links as they get me a little bonus!!
Take care, Pleeps!
-Kobuu



*Please note, the images on this post belong to EatSleepKnit. I am not taking credit, just using them to promote their image. If anyone has an issue with that, please let me know and I will remove them.