Thursday, August 27, 2009

another best idea ever...

From the Lion Brand Yarn periodic email (8/27/09):

Tip of the Week
Tricks of the trade from customers like you

Join us every week for tips, tricks, and advice shared by customers like you. This week's tip is from Wendy D.:

"I use a [cleaned out] two-pound coffee can to keep my balls of yarn hair- and debris-free while knitting. I cut holes in the plastic top and use metal rings [grommets] (found in hardware stores) so as to not snag the yarn. Pop in a few balls of my favorite yarn, pull through the holes and ta-da! No hair or lint on my yarn while I am knitting and it is easy to take in the car too!"



Now, to find a coffee can... I think I have a
Trader Joe's one around here somewhere. I abandoned it for bags of delicious Eight O' Clock Coffee. If you haven't tried that stuff, it rules... Go immediately to Amazon.com and sign up for Subscribe & Save with that stuff, you will not be sorry.

-M

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Monster Puppets in Seattle

A cute little shop in Capitol Hill had these upstairs in their own wee gallery!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

best idea ever!!!!

well, almost... notice the price says "Books start at $24.95"
submitted for your approval, i give you the knit book.
i'll need to investigate further for accurate pricing info...

here's a random picture, just for fun:






Saturday, February 14, 2009

happy valentine's day!

In honor of Valentine's Day, I'll post in red and detail my day a little bit. It was a things filled day. First, the I got this sweet litter box, delivered at about 10AM. I promptly put it together and waited for it's first use so I could test the awesomeness. Then, I took the little guy over to the cafe on the corner so he could make some juice and hang out with the dudes from his daycare. I came home and there was a little surprise for me to 'rollaway' out of the new litter box. Awesomeness confirmed! Later, I made a delicious breakfast for Nick and myself consisting of fried eggs, fried potatoes, turkey bacon for me, sausage for the big guy and English muffins. By the time breakfast was cooked, consumed and cleared from the table, it was time to pick up the little guy and send him off to Granny and Pappa's House. While exchanging Valentines and gathering overnight stuff for the little guy, my new camera arrived in the mail! I put it aside to I could open it after everyone left. Then, they left, so I opened all of my regular mail and left descended upon my little box from Amazon.com. I immediately put in the battery and card and began snapping pictures. We decided that we should finally exchange gifts... I got a sweet garden gnome and some new ice cube trays (not the first time I have received ice cube trays as a gift, incidentally). He got The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins. As I was playing with my camera and loading pictures onto my computer, the Nick said he wanted to go to The ReBuilding Center. So we hopped on the bus and went! When we were walking to The ReBuilding Center from the bus stop, we passed by a little taqueria called Por Que No and decided that we should eat dinner there later. The RBC was totally awesome and we will probably get a few things there when we move into our new place later this month.


Dudes, Por Que No was totally amazing.
It was like Tiajuana style tacos but more fancy. I'm not much of a food reviewer, but I know good tacos when I eat 'em and these were good tacos!

Once back at home I decided that my new camera needed a cozy so I looked for some knitting patterns on ye olde internet and didn't really see anything that caught my fancy, but I did find a sewing pattern, Amy a la Mode's Cozy Camera Case Tutorial.
I did modify it to make things easier on myself. Firstly, I did not quilt it, rather I used two layers of kids' flannel fabric. I also augmented the dimensions to fit my camera. I also did not do the binding thing because, well, I don't know how! I used a button for closure instead of a snap and added and extra button hole at the top to feed the wrist strap through. Oh, and I omitted the pocket because I couldn't figure out a use for it.

Some lovely pictures of the cozy with Nick's lovely camera doing the modeling:








Please also note that all images shown in this post were taken with the new camera. Kickass, right?!?!?!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

A response from my congress person!

I know this isn't the most exciting thing to read, but it's important. I wrote to my congressman regarding the legislation surrounding the homemade toys issue and he responded:

Dear Chloe:
Thank you for your recent communication regarding HR 4040, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). I appreciate the time you took to write.

As you may know, this bill resulted from the 2007 discovery that large toy manufacturers were importing and selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small parts, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that could cause children to become ill. Because the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US, new legislation was necessary to address this situation; the CPSIA was cosponsored by more than 100 members of the House of Representatives. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys, and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date of manufacture and batch number. On July 30, 2008, I voted with an overwhelming majority of my House colleagues to support this bill. The Senate approved this legislation on July 31, 2008, and President Bush signed it into law on August 14, 2008. The measure is codified as Public Law No 110-314.

Small toy manufacturers and others have expressed concern that the CPSIA will place an undue financial burden on small toy producers and those who resell toys and children's clothing. In response to these concerns, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which now has jurisdiction in this matter, is working to clarify particular language in the law, and to establish clearer rules for testing. Further, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will continue to oversee implementation of this legislation and, if additional legislative changes are necessary, I am confident the Committee will act in a timely manner to implement those modifications.

HR 4040 is important legislation which addresses a very serious and growing problem. The protections and enforcement authority of this measure will assure consumers that the toys and other products they buy for their children are safe.

Again, thank you for contacting me about this measure.


Sincerely,Jim McDermottMember of Congress

Monday, January 19, 2009

Loom!

This is the third item I have made on loom, and I would actually wear this out into the world! I used two balls of yarn because I wanted it to be super long (it's almost 6 1/2 feet long!). It's super warm and I've been wearing it around the house. Oh did I mention I made it in one day? Looms rock.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Shirt Update

I haven't done a whole lot, but I wanted to show that I really have been working on it! Actually so far all I have done is the stay stitching and the darts. Hopefully I will do some more over the long weekend coming up!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

New Sewing Project!

I haven't sewn an article of clothing in a long while, especially not for myself. I bought this pattern on etsy. I am such a sucker for the Peter Pan rounded collar! This is an old pattern (1963) and is a little harder to read than our modern counterparts (i.e. new Simplicity patterns). I am going nice and slow and making sure not to miss any tiny step. Sizes were also different. This pattern is for a size 16, which looks more like a modern 6-8 maybe? I will be adjusting it as I go anyway, so it will fit me well.
I spent a lot of time picking out the fabrics. I decided to use one fabric for the 'body' of the shirt, and a different fabric for the sleeves and collar. I am using a very soft corduroy with a green plaid print on it, and a japanese linen with piggies on it. For the armhole and neck facings, I am using a cream Kona cotton.
So far all I have done is cut out the fabric :o)