Watercolor Beads and a Twisted Stringer

Here are the beads I made last week with Debby. First she taught me to make “watercolor” beads, where I start by melting a white core, and then “paint” on top with various transparent colored rods.

Next she taught me to pull a stringer (the twisty coral/turquoise strip in the foreground). Then I made a transparent, pale aqua bead and melted that stringer onto (and into) it.

Actually, Debby made two of the beads pictured, but I’m rather proud of myself that it isn’t immediately obvious which ones

 

Shiny Black Glass Beads

I’ve had a few lessons on making lampwork beads, something I’ve been wanting to learn for years and years. This small handful represents two sessions of progress. The first week I made a bunch of smallish plain black beads and the polka dotted ones. The second week I made the fancy flower ones. I’ve labeled the two made by my teacher, Debby Weaver, so you can see what I was going for on those flowers.

Debby taught me using black glass because it is visibly obvious how molten the glass is, whereas some of the other colors take more experience to work with. A few of my polka dotted beads cracked clean in half in the kiln because of temperature irregularities before I put them in there.

I really wish I had the space and money to take this up as a real hobby. I love doing it, and I feel like I’m pretty good at it, considering that I made that black/periwinkle/mint polka dot bead in the center on Day One! I wish Debby weren’t going back home to Maryland next month!

Owl Hat

My sister-in-law Julianne asked me to make a hat for Baby D, who is 7 months old. It took me a while to design, make, and send it, but here is a picture of him wearing it!

Before I sent it off, I modeled it on two adorable sisters here in town. Baby O was not terribly impressed with it.

Her sister Miss C really liked it.

I like that, when it is laying about by itself, it has that nervous, hyper-aware look that owls always wear.

For knitters: the body and eyes are Nature Spun sport, the ear tufts are Koigu.  The beak and pupils are scraps from the same ball of Zauberball. I made this pattern up, but will write it out, if you’re interested.

Hot Pink-Purple-Orange Baby Cap

My friend’s adorable daughter, Baby O, is modeling the most recent baby hat I made. There are at least 3 babies on the way among my family and friends right now, so I gotta get cracking on hats! Fortuitously, I made this one ages ago, before any pregnancies were announced.

I was between projects and I had some of this colorific yarn leftover from the amazing mittens I made in Spring of 2010. This is probably my favorite yarn ever, and now it is used up. I might have to buy another ball. The photo above (side view of the hat) is probably the truest for color).

Why am I putting it on my blog before I send it to the new mom? Because I can’t decide who to give it to! So I am going to let them choose. If one of them loves it, they will get it. Otherwise, they can wait and hope for something more….traditional….from me.

That third photo (top view of hat) is included not to show color or construction, but simply for those baby toes!

For knitters, I used the pattern serenaded here by the Yarn Harlot.  The yarn is Zauberball Fuchsienbeet.

Flamingo Mittens

I flipped for this pattern and just HAD to make these flamingo mittens! But for whom?

My mom, of course, because even though she lives so far away, her hands are about the same size as mine, so I could just make them to fit me and know that they would probably fit her!

Every stitch of these was fun, thanks to this mottled, hand-painted pink yarn that I bought on Etsy. The black is super-soft Capretta from KnitPicks and the pattern is from SpillyJane.

I have been working on these for weeks, but they arrived just in time to cheer her up after a fall that broke her shoulder a few days ago. I hope she feels good enough to be out for walks again before the weather gets too warm to wear these.

I love my mom!

Paint Your Own Mugs

A few weekends ago I went to Honest Works for Paint Your Own Pottery Day. I squirted out a bit of every teal, turquoise, aqua, and green that they had and made a stripey mug and a dotty mug.

The Boogedy painted his tile very quickly, and I had to really rush to get my two mugs finished before he broke anything in the studio while horsing around with his friends. I love the insides of these mugs!

I attempted a maker’s mark on the bottom with my initials and a snail.

Afterward, I took a deep breath and took the Boogedy and his friend S. to the dog beach to relax and swim. These boys crack me up!

 

 

Homemade Potstickers

I found a great recipe on SmittenKitchen for vegetarian potstickers. I made these for friends on Friday night, along with Thai green curry with veggies and brown rice and Tiramisu sundaes for dessert. Making these was easy once I got the hang of it.

The Boogedy made half-moon shapes using the biscuit cutter.

I forgot to photograph them cooked, but they were gorgeous and delicious and I will definitely make them again. I served them on a bed of  baby herb salad alongside sliced cucumber.

Also, here is how the Boogedy is styling his shoes these days. He calls them Times and Equals.

Perhaps you would also like some cat cuteness. This is Kirikou, the Catterfly, way up high.

I think you should also see the worst doggy haircut ever. Poor Chibberty got shaved on Sunday with worn out clippers. And we exposed all his old-man lumps; the indignity!

Whenever I take him outside, I feel really apologetic: to him and to passersby:

“I’m sorry.

My dog is really ok. He’s not so itchy now!

He just had a close shave with malfunctioning clippers.

He’s really very happy to be free of the winter coat…it’s 80 degrees out!

No, I don’t think he’s embarrassed.

I’m sorry, have you lost your appetite for potstickers?”

Xmas Stocking Redux

For Xmas 2010 I knit two stockings, a green/orange one for the Boogedy and a blue/yellow one for Zachary. For Xmas 2011 I made a fuchsia/violet one for myself, but without digging around in the closet for last years’ models. As you can see, I have no grasp of size over time.

When I pulled out all three stockings on Xmas eve several weeks ago, the Boogedy immediately picked the new stocking as his own, citing “it has purple and I like purple” as the reason. Somehow I doubted this excuse for bailing on the awesome orange and green one. I mean, the purple one doesn’t even have a tassel!

Parasailing Redux

This time with Dad and Uncle Kirk who was visiting from Utah!

I like this shot of Zach, as the sun came out from behind the clouds, just as they finished parasailing.

Someone should give this man a job as an adventure tour guide! Wait…somebody did. Did Zach tell you he’s going ziplining in Costa Rica next month? No? He would have…if you had been within a 50-ft radius. Don’t get him started on the volcano.

 

Poptarts Redux

When I first made these homemade poptarts back in Utah, I knew they would be good if not for my baking faux pas.

This time, though, they exceeded expectations and were delicious! Some were filled with raspberry jam, some with semisweet chocolate chips, and some with passionfruit jelly that I bought last time I visited Robert is Here. This fabulous exotic tropical fruit stand makes my bimonthly trips north worth the long drive!

I found the recipe via SmittenKitchen (of course…that’s my favorite food blog!).