Shanna's Journal

I found an awesome new (to me) amigurumi maker!

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:40:19 GMT

Have you seen the blog Gumi-Gumi Island? She goes by KnittingTurnip. Her blog is at: http://amigurumiandpizza.blogspot.com/ Check out her work. It is TOOOOO cute! I especially like her little babies in animal suits. :D

And she is having a contest right now in which you can win a customized baby bunny! Woohoo! I'll tell you about it even though that means my chances of winning are lower if you enter too (see, aren't I a sweetie?) Go to the page here for info: http://amigurumiandpizza.blogspot.com/2009/11/giveaway-ups-i-did-it-again.html The contest only runs until Dec 19, so make sure you enter before then. Who doesn't want one of her adorable baby bunnies? Below is a pic from her blog announcing the giveaway. Squeeeee!

I hope I win!!!

Ganesh is done!

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:05:10 GMT

I made this for a friend on Ravelry who commissioned it for her hubby's 50th birthday. Lord Ganesh is on his way to her as we speak. He lived with me for so long, I miss him now!

This is his bench that he sits on and the mouse that my husband made.

Cross posted to We Love Amigurumi

Presents from TheKnittyCat!

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:17:04 GMT

My friend TheKnittyCat just send my kiddos a care package with some wonderful little peeps in it! They were so excited! First thing out of Taran's mouth: It's Oddish!!! He then went around talking like Oddish apparently talks: Odd Odd Oddish! He is a total Pokemon freak. He LOVES his Oddish and Pokeballs and could not possibly have been happier with her choice.

Kaisa got a little bunny peep named Felicity who likes carrots, celery, and her friend Flutterby the butterfly (who conveniently came along with Felicity). They are so cute! I foresee lots of snuggling in their futures. :)

Flutterby loves to sit on people's heads:

Kasia discovered Felicity's little bed makes a nice little pill box hat:

Thank you TheKnittyCat! You're the best! My kids will love you forever! :)

Is there a spy?

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:14:31 GMT

I got the following as part of an add for the Spin-Off Autumn Retreat, but it is like someone has been secretly watching me and taking notes...

"Does this sound familiar?

For years, you've had a secret, inexplicable yearning to make yarn—a subconscious desire that you've resisted, rationalized away, and pushed to the back of your mind. Things have happened, though, that make this resisting harder. Perhaps a good knitting friend has confessed a desire to learn how to spin, or maybe you just happened to attend a sheep and wool festival and couldn't tear yourself away from the spinning demonstrations that seemed to be occurring behind every barnyard door.

Or you've walked away from your local knitting shop with a bag full of unspun fiber—even though you're not quite sure what to do with the stuff—you just like the way it feels and smells.

Eventually your resistance has eroded, and you've finally been able to say aloud, "I want to make yarn. I need to make yarn. This yarn must be made."

So, you found some books, magazines, and websites and pored over them, wanting to learn the secrets—how to turn this insubstantial fuzz into yarn that can be knitted up into the gorgeous garments that dance across the insides of your eyelids at night as you're falling to sleep?"

So now do you see why I think there must be a spy? Or maybe it's a hidden camera. The spinning bug has bitten. I took a drop spindle spinning class at the Estes Park Wool Market, and now I want to take a wheel spinning class next year. You know what that leads to, don't you? Pining for my own spinning wheel! Just what I need since I have no free time as it is. And when I do craft, I feel guilty because there is always something more important I should be doing (like laundry, feeding the kids, etc.).

Well, I'm going to play with spinning anyway. I may not make it to the point of owning my own wheel, but you never know. Maybe I will.

My first spinning from right after Wool Market.

Health Care Reform

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:59:50 GMT

This was written by the father of one of my good friends from when I was growing up - John William Smith from Rockville, MD

Til This Summer..... An American Story

Until this summer, when the Town Meeting Thugs, took over the town hall health care meetings, I thought I lived in a democratic America.

Until this summer, I thought I lived in a democratic America, and loved the fact that Americans overwhelmingly elected a black man to the nation's highest elective office, that is until THT began carrying loaded guns to the President's appearance at health care meetings. Until this summer, I thought calling the President vile, racist-names, was a thing out of America's unforgiveable past.

Until this summer, when the THT took over the nation's Town Hall meetings, and drowned out any intelligent discussions of the nation’s need to discuss the need to reform national health care matters, I thought I lived in a democratic America.

Until this summer, it did not dawn on me that the THT were bought and paid-for insurance and pharmaceutical company shills and provocateurs.

Until this summer, I thought there was at least respect for the office of the President, until THT burned him in effigy, painted Hitler-like mustaches on his pictures, and called him names that belied any respect for his office and for his humanity.

Until this summer, I thought American parents would welcome a public address by the President, to the students of the nation to study hard, get good grades and graduate from high school, but I was wrong about some misguided parents.

Until this summer, I had hoped that America's racist past was receding from its heart, but the THT, in their most virulent outbursts about race and culture, erased those thoughts of hope from my mind. How sad!!!!!!!!

Until this past summer, I had hopes that America's belief in democratic principles, would be a shining light to people of other nation's, but the THT have given a black eye to that hope.

Until last summer, the THT thought they had won the health care war; good Americans saw through theTHT "30 pieces of silver" take, and good Americans overwhelmingly still want a new and reformed health care system that will:
not discriminate against the sick and disabled; protect the health care needs of senior citizens; be portable across state lines; be competitive with a public option function; be cost effective and keep costs contained; cover and protect all Americans.

The THT had a wonderful summertime insulting the intelligence of the American people, and insulting elected officials and their constituents; even now the THT don’t realize that they have lost the war against the American people. There will be a new health care law.

Written this day, September 7, 2009, by johnwilliamsmith

First handspun

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:04:38 GMT

I finished my first handspun. This pic shows it partially spun, with the original color of the batting.

I was not hugely fond of the colorway...

...So I decided to overdye it with Kool Aid and Wilton's coloring. Here it is presoaking so the dye would absorb evenly.

I used Kool Aid Pink Lemonaid and Berry Blue,and Wilton's Violet.

The pink was not as bright as I wanted, so I added just a bit of Kool Aid Strawberry, but this turned it red.

I dyed it single-ply, and plyed it after dying.

I am calling it "Fiesta."

Estes Park Wool Market

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:21:58 GMT

Last weekend was the Wool Market in Estes Park. We have gone the past few years, but this was the first time I signed up for workshops on Thurs and Fri. My friend Kathy and I rode up together and stayed over Thurs nite at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes.

Thursday, I went to the Ravelry class. It was taught by Jess, Casey, and Mary-Heather. They were the three people behind Ravelry for a long time, but they have recently added a 4th person. Sara was not at Estes though. They talked about the history of Ravelry, its neat features and how to use them, and they answered questions. Poor Jess had bad altitude sickness and clearly just wanted to get to lower elevation so she could feel better.

Here is a pic of Mary-Heather, me, Jess, and Casey from after the class.

I also got to meet a group of friends that I made on Ravelry. They were a lot of fun and I'm so glad that we got to get together in person! We did an ami animal swap Thursday evening, and here we all are with what we got:

I brought a fairy kitty (see WLA for details)

In exchange, I got a Jack Sparrow doll. Here he is pre-face (he wasn't quite finished when I got him).

And here he is after getting duded up with a face, headband, and beads.

Friday, I took a beginner's spindle class. It was fabulous. I came out feeling like I had really learned the basics of how to spin. Now I just need to practice.

On Sunday, I went back up to Estes with my family, and we got to see lots of wonderful animals, many of which we wanted to take home with us. Sadly, none of them did come home. The only thing I bought was some alpaca batting to try spinning. I will probably mix some in with wool and spin some by itself.

There were yaks this year at Wool Market. Too cool. They are like little fuzzy cows.

There were, of course, lots of beautiful llamas and alpacas. This llama was my favorite, I think. He came in 4th in his class (long haired llamas - I can't remember the official name for this).

And a few favorite Angora goats (which yield cashmere):

This guy fell asleep with his horn propped against the enclosure.

I really wanted to take home an angora rabbit (which yield angora). We could even keep them at our current house, unlike the llamas, alpacas, goats, sheep, and yaks! And they are much less expensive to purchase and care for! Some day I'll get one. :)

All in all, Wool Market was great fun this year. I can't wait till next year! Only 358 more days! :)

I got a package!!!

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:15:10 GMT

My friend Sian sent me a great package in the mail - all the way from England! It had a bunch of wonderful stuff in it:

There was a cute little amigurumi she made:

He promptly jumped up on my shoulder and hasn't wanted to leave.

We are still deciding what his name should be. His tail is very fox-like, but his face and ears for some reason make me think of a kangaroo. I'll have to ask him if he wants to be called Foxaroo or if he thinks that is too silly a name.

There were also some of Sian's wonderful cards showing off some of her great photography.

And some fabulous recycled paper beads. I have been dying to get my hands on some of these. (How did you know? ^.^ )

She even sent some cute little tops for my kids! They loved them and played with them all during breakfast this morning!

You're wonderful, Sian! Thanks so much for the great package! <3

An apple for the (other) teacher

Thu, 21 May 2009 11:13:13 GMT

I made a little apple for my son's other teacher. He spends a lot of time in his classroom, so I figured I needed to make something for him as well. It is from the Lion Brand pattern "Amigurumi Apple" http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80283AD.html?noImages=. I gave mine a face because, well, it needed one!

Cross posted to WLA

Teacher present

Tue, 19 May 2009 02:14:10 GMT

For my son's teacher this year, I made the Lion Brand graduation bear (http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80285AD.html?noImages=). He's not graduating, but I thought it looked like something for a teacher. I used old yarn from my stash (actually, I think it is from my Mom's stash so no telling how old it is!), and after doing the head, body, and arms, I decided I was definitely going to run out. And they don't make that kind anymore. So I turned the arms into the legs and made smaller arms. Also, he really needed something, so I made him a little sweater in the school's colors to match his mortar board. I am not totally thrilled with him, but eh, he'll do. I know - terrible attitude, but I don't have a lot of time to make him better right now. I need to move on to making something for a swap at the Estes Park Wool Market with some Ravelry friends.

Cross posted to WLA

Two new ami projects

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:04:23 GMT

I've got two more items to show off. The first is one that I sent to a friend, so I had to wait till she got it to post a pic.

I'm not exactly sure what it is - your guess is as good as mine. It just sort of emerged from my hook. I think it is a little monster of some kind. He has a really long tail. :)

The second one is a Sentret. It is a kind of Pokemon. I started it a while ago, then put it down to finish some other projects. I finally got him done today.

He has a racoony tail. I tried to make it poseable, but it is too thick to be able to bend easily.

Plarn Bag

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:56:01 GMT

For Earth Day there was a reusable tote bag contest at work. I decided to try making a plarn bag - plastic yarn. You cut the bag into strips so you end up with circles of yarn about 1" wide. Then you loop them together to make a double stranded plastic yarn. The bag took about 45 bags to make!

If I made one of these again, I wouldn't attach the handles with bows. I don't like how they look, but I couldn't fix it at that point without ruining the handles. And I didn't have time to redo them.

Walrus!

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:45:05 GMT

I made a walrus for a friend, and now that she has it, I can post!

Cross posted to WeLoveAmigurumi

My Pet

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:31:06 GMT

adopt your own virtual pet!

Blogging and Crocheting

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:03:06 GMT

Check this out. During the 30 hrs that a 98 yr old woman was trapped under the rubble of her collapsed house in Italy following an earthquake, she kept herself occupied by crocheting! http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/08/italy-earthquake-survivor-crochet If I ever get trapped in a disaster of some sort and am waiting by myself for rescue (or even death for that matter), I want to have my knitting or crochet with me too! That and a good audiobook. :0)

I also wanted to share this awesome poster I found online. It sums up this blog pretty well.

Color

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:43:44 GMT

I found this quote on an artist friend's blog (http://www.brithammer.com/) and it really speaks to me. I am *so* inspired by color.

"Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with their imagination." - Robert Fulghum

Playin' with Clay

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 03:09:04 GMT

My 4 yr old daughter is really crafty already, and for her birthday in January, I got her a bunch of her own Sculpey, some tools, and some tiny cookie cutters of animals, flowers, and things. She has been doing a lot of clay playing lately, and she often asks me to play too. I have made a couple of little things lately that I am happy with, so I thought I'd post pics.

First, the purple and light pink she has made me think of the octopus and HK I got for the WLA swap, so I ended up making a clay version of the octopus. (Ignore the finger prints - they aren't nearly as obvious in real life. At least that's what I tell myself!)

Here she is at work, sitting on my printer with her inspiration and HK (made by the very talented kidmissile).

Then today, I just started mixing some of her bright colors. I decided it needed to become a little turtle. The whole thing is just over an inch long. She has been carrying it around all day.

Chocolate Mug Cake

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:02:43 GMT

You have probably already seen this somewhere since it has been all over the web, but just in case, I'll add it one more time to the growing number of mug cake posts. My mom sent me this recipe in an e-mail, and I had to try it out. It was yummy! I used apple sauce instead of oil or butter, and it worked fine. The cake was a bit dense, but that could also be because I used bread flour instead of regular or cake flour. The applesauce was chunky, so there were little bits of apple in the cake. I couldn't taste them because of the chocolate, but I want to try this again without the chocolate (maybe add 2 extra teaspoons of flour instead of the cocoa?) and add cinnamon to make an apple cinnamon cake. I also saw people online adding things like chopped hazelnuts to the chocolate version. If you make it , let me know how it tuns out, especially if you try something different! Also, if anyone has tried this version as well as the cake mix version, how did they compare? Which was easier? Did you have to use up all the cake mix quickly?

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil ..or try real butter...worked very well
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using - but then again, who wouldn't want to add more chocolate?!) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired (the chocolate chips all sink to the bottom - probably better to use mini ones). EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

Luna Bear

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:29:24 GMT

Yesterday I finished a little bear I was working on. I think I am going to start an Etsy site to sell him and his pattern, but first i want to get another ami and pattern ready to put in there so I have more than one thing. What do you all think? And does anyone know what I patterned him after?

These little guys like to soak their paws in honey so they can go around sucking on their paws.

Cross posted to We Love Amigurumi

Random Album Meme

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:57:45 GMT

I got the following from thropots LJ:

Fictional Album created via meme
1. Go to Wikipedia and ask it for a random article. The title of the article you get is the name of your band.
2. Go to the Random Quotations Page. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page are the title of your album.
3. Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”. Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Band Name: Ivesia paniculata (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivesia_paniculata)
Album title: At the Village Pump (en.wikiquote.org/wiki/656)
Album Cover:

What's your Word?

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:09:33 GMT

What's Your Word?
My Word is "Think"

I see life as an amazing mix of possibilities, ideas, and fascinations.
And sometimes I feel like I don't have enough time to take it all in.

I love learning. Whether I'm in school or not (yep, again), I'm probably immersed in several subjects right now.

When I'm not learning, I'm busy reflecting. I think a lot about the people I know and the things I've experienced.

[Pretty accurate, except it doesn't say anthing about the time I spend crafting]

What's YOUR word?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyourwordquiz/

I got my swap for the WLA ami swap!!!!

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:38:29 GMT

Wait till you see the amazing swap things that kidmissle made for me! I was in total awe when I opened the package. They are absoulutely amazing!!!! I wish you could see the details of the work, but my camera just doesn't do macro well enough.

The story behind the cuteness is this (according to kidmissle, who HK told the story to):
Hello Kitty found an orphaned baby octopus one day when she was exploring the sea. She took it home and raised it. To make it feel comfortable, HK sewed strips of fabric to her favorite dress, and made a hood so that she'd look like an octopus. Of course HK likes to look pretty, and wanted her pet octopus to have cute accessories too. So she gave her a cute flower bow and necklace.

kidmissle's wife made the lovely necklace, which can double as a bracelet for me! Thanks Mrs. Kidmissle!! What a sweetie you are!

Here are a couple of close ups of the lovely octopus.

The crochet on these is so beautiful! Even the bottom is lovely! (click on the pics to see bigger versions!)

And here is the fabulous Miss HK in her octopus outfit:

As soon as my daughter saw them, the first thing out of her mouth was: Oooooo, can I have those? I had to say that No, they were made especially for me. If she's very careful, she can play with them some, but they are Mommy's. Heck, she and my son get all the stuff I make, but these are MINE! (mine mine mine mine mine) :)

Now I just need to come up with a name for Hello Kitty's beautiful pet octopus.
(cross posted to WeLoveAmigurumi)

My trip to England - Lyme Regis and Charmouth

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 19:56:30 GMT

Over Christmas I went to England with my family to see my BIL and his family. It was awesome. We went to London and to Cornwall. A day trip we went on was to Dorset to Lyme Regis to go fossil hunting on the beach. England is so different from the US. Here, they would make it a park so you couldn't just find stuff and keep it. Or it would be privately owned so you had to pay money to hunt. But there, you can just go and find stuff and keep it! The main fossils there are belemnites (described by my DH as squids with shells) and ammonites.

I'll add more to this later, cause my DH just asked if he could take this computer with him.

Fun, Sharing Meme-thingy

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:28:15 GMT

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me!

My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- what I create will be just for you.
- it'll be done this year. no guarantees when, it will be a total surprise!
- you have no clue what it's going to be. it may be poetry. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. maybe a beanie. who knows? not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to repost this, and repost right away. We can all make stuff and make someone's day a little bit brighter!

Now lets see if at least 5 people read my blog.

What do you want?

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:21:55 GMT

Q: Let's say you're unfathomably wealthy. Money is not an issue- you could spend off-handedly for the rest of your life and never keep track and never run out, and because of this you could be and do anything you wanted, anything at all, for the rest of your life. What would it be? Of course, you want things. Let's say you've gotten them all, and as you discover new things that make you happy you can keep buying them. But what else? How would you occupy yourself for the rest of your life? List the first nine things that come to mind if you can.

ETA: Damn, I obviously didn't read this very well. I thought I was supposed to write about what I would buy with all my money. Not what I would do since I had so much money I could do whatever I wanted. Oh well, here are my answers of what I would spend my unfathomable wealth on.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Crap! I just spent a hug amount of time answering this, and my answers went away! I turned around to talk to someone, then I turned back and they were gone! Where did they go????

Well, here is a recap as best I can. But I'm sure it won't be as good as the original. They never are. :(

1) I would help others. No, really. This is the first thing that came to mind. I have so much and there are so many people with next to nothing. I would give them food, clothing, shelter, education, training, and whatever else was necessary to help them be comfortable and self-sufficient. If the money is never-ending, I should be able to help a lot of people!

2) I'd pay off our debts and the debts of my friends and family. We'd all own our houses and cars and have not credit card debt.

3) I'd travel. I'd go wherever we (DH and I) decided to go. Sometimes we would take the kids (with a tutor) and other times we'd leave them with family or the best care money can buy. Spain, Italy, Turkey (is Turkey safe for Americans right now?), Egypt, Greece, Africa, etc.

4) I'd fund research. As a former scientist, I know how hard it is to get research funded, especially when all the money is going to bombing the crap out of Iraqis and Afghans and others. I'd fund alternative energy research, scientific research, medical research, and anything else that sounded like it would benefit humanity or provide us with cool info about how the universe works.

5) I'd buy the most energy efficient car out there. Heck, I'd buy a fleet of them and give them away to people with old, gas-guzzling cars.

6) I'd buy a bigger house to hold all our stuff. It would have lots of windows, a nice big yard with several gardens and someone to take care of them, someone to cook for us when we didn't want to, and someone to clean for us.

7) I'd donate enough money to Barak Obama and the Democratic Party that he'd want to meet me. How cool would that be? Barak is the man!

8) I'd buy art and I'd buy stuff from small locally-owned businesses and other underdogs. Any time I heard about a reasonable business that was about to go under, I'd buy a ton of whatever and help keep them afloat. Then I'd find people who want rubber duckies or whatever I just bought and give them the goods or services. I wish I had been able to do this for a friend recently whose restaurant had to close. And it was a good restaurant with a nice atmosphere. :(

9) I'd buy wild land all over the world to preserve it and the plants, animals, and other organisms living in or on it.

I know I sound like a total idealist, but I would really like to do these things more than I would want to go out and buy a myself a Hummer. Heck, I wouldn't drive a Hummer if you gave me one. Well, maybe I'd drive it off a cliff (after jumping out at the brink).

Did I mention yarn? I'd need lots of yarn to play with during all of my travels. :)