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!

Key West Headdress Ball 2011

I worked the front desk at the Headdress Ball a couple of weeks ago, part of the annual 10-day Fantasy Fest here in Key West.

My pictures aren’t the greatest, but I wanted to share because some of the headdresses were so amazing!

The theme of this year’s Fantasy Fest was Aquatic Afrolic.

She’s part of a very sparkly dyad of jellyfish!

This whirlygig actually whirled…

This couple was staying in the hotel where the Headdress Ball was taking place, they only entered the contest because we thought they were so fun.

I loved this mermaid’s body paint.

This group wasn’t even competing, they came dressed up to watch.

Same with these guys, only there were, like, TEN of them!! Can you tell that their skirts are made of construction fencing? One guy had fashioned his into a bustle instead of a skirt.

I had a backstage pass so I caught up with these ladies after they hit the runway.

This is Inga, a local celebrity, leading the audience in the Chicken Dance and a naughty number.

This ensemble wore my favorite costumes, 18th century-ish. The queen wore pink frilly pumps, which I coveted, and satin bloomers. The boys are wearing crushed velvet hot pants. Ooh la la.

These gents come from across the pond every year for Fantasy Fest, and I adored their light-up flamingos.

This girl’s headdress is a ship being attacked by a kraken. The ship had an on-board cannon that shot confetti cannonballs.

 

I dig this scaly costume made from paint samples.

I couldn’t get a good shot of these snooty girls from NY. But they had the most amazing headdresses made from real sea sponges and coral fans. They were wrapped in olive green and tan fish nets.

This headdress features a functional water fountain up top.

This guy was sporting a HUGELY heavy headdress and he fell off the stage… onto my husband, who saved him from breaking his neck. Zach’s knee is still hurt from the strain of catching this guy and his getup.

Christopher Peterson sang a number and sounded great.

This fellow had something of a flamingo theme going on.

I absolutely loved this Las Vegas style clownfish costume. She had tailfeathers to match!

This was the coolest Fantasy Fest event I’ve been to so far!

 

Late July Adventures

I checked out this awesome book from the library,  because Zach is going through a ‘no-white-flour’ kick. It’s the first cookbook I’ve ever read that truly addressed the challenges of cooking with whole grains, and not just substituting 1/2  a cup of whole wheat flour but still making essentially fluffy white breads.

Thanks to this YouTube video, I now know how to make a 6-braid challah! I also know now that I don’t really care for poppy seeds on top of bread.

Here is the poor Chibberty in my shirt, which I had heard can calm a dog down in a thunderstorm. I don’t believe he was calmed by our laughter or this photoshoot.

In our little town, the moving of this house from its place by the cemetery, across the busiest intersection in town, and into the lot next door to the cupcake shop, was big news and a spectator event.

Hee Hee. A modification of the Fleming Street sign downtown where the road begins.

I bet my Walgreens is cooler than yours. Formerly the Strand Theater. The place where I spend buckets of money on athletic tape for my poor, injured footie.

As a reward for learning to swim, the Boogedy received Perplexus. Possibly the coolest toy ever invented. We are all addicted to this game. As Zach says “there’s no better reward for a physical workout than a toy that will put you on your butt for hours”.

Key West Pride Parade 2011

Sunday evening we went to see the pride parade down Duval street. From my vantage point on the curb, I noticed that the police horses were wearing pretty cool shoes.

I called them Vibram One-Finger shoes.

This super cool “headdress” is from Island Gym, and it is more than one lane wide.

I like this car with stamps painted on it, but I don’t know who owns it.

The cookie mobile gave us FIVE fresh chocolate chip cookies (the benefit of taking a kid to a parade).

I have to interject here that one of the great benefits of having a little kid, besides the cookies, is the ability to use a bathroom in stores that have “no public bathrooms”. I never let on that it’s not actually my kid who’s going to have an accident if we don’t get to use their restroom right now.

Here’s a float from the MCC, the only church I’ve set foot inside in years (for a Hand-and-Foot tournament). Our friend Scot sits on the corner closest to us. He taught us the game last winter…I think he was a bit surprised at how fast we caught on to that locally popular version of canasta.

The cuties from Bourbon Street Pub

In 2003 there was an 8-bar rainbow flag that stretched from one end of Duval street to the other. Now pieces of it travel the globe and we have a small section for our parade.

Although curious, I did not ask how this codpiece stays on.

Dotty Hat

A while back, I made a really fun hat for Erica Perl, the author of “Chicken Butt!” New she has published a beautiful new book called “Dotty” about a girl and her imaginary friend. Erica asked me to create a new hat to go with her new book. I’m proud to show it off here!

Erica, please send me a picture of yourself wearing it (though it can’t possibly top this one)!

Family Weekend

On Wednesday, the Boogedy was babysat and we walked to our beach for a lovely sunset

And went to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse, where they cook the food on the grill at your table. I did not photograph the chef, but will show you the fountain outside.

On Thursday, we found a listless frog on our porch. He allowed his head to be pet, and I picked him up and placed him under the bushes. He wasn’t there on Friday.

On Friday I took Zach a picnic lunch at work. It was pouring rain, so we asked permission to sit at one of the tables outside the coffee shop, under the eaves.

On Saturday, we rode our bikes hard for 8 miles, then stopped at Thomas’ Donut Shop across the street from the beach.

And tried something I’ve never seen in donut form, Red Velvet.

We bought an umbrella because the rain has started to be just a little chilly, and it looked like it wouldn’t stop.

While we were at the farmer’s market picking up raw milk, the Boogedy rolled down the grassy slope in the rain, getting completely soaked.

There was some puddle twirling and jumping.

And we grabbed Pizza at Brunos, which has the most wonderful garden/swamp in the back of the building.

To finish the day, the dog was wrapped in blankets and piled with pillows.

And dad was forced to take his own medicine: The Bravery Test.

A gift from Alexis

Look what arrived for us yesterday! Well, I say us, but I know who Alexis had in mind when she picked this out…

Alexis knows my weakness for cooking gadgets! This is adorable, and it goes really well with the Matryoska dolly that my friend Sonya gave the Boogedy for Christmas!

When Zach and I first moved in together in San Francisco (near Japantown), Alexis was our sweet, smart, funny upstairs neighbor who befriended me and Zach, and claimed to love Zach’s guitar solos that snuck into her apartment by wafting up the light shaft and floating through her open windows. He even wrote a song to encourage her to try online dating titled “Meet me at Hot or Not.”

That was nearly 5 years ago, but we’ve kept in touch with Alexis and we always visit her when in SF, and we all admire her classy personality, fashion, and swank apartment with the best view of SF anyone could ask for. She has a cool, witty husband, too, who I still think of as her “new boyfriend”.

Now, it’s her turn to come visit us so that I can use these measuring cups to make her some green curry with jasmine rice!

Alexis found this cool present at Dream in Plastic.

Staying Entertained

Two things we’ve done lately:

Bowling with bumpers and a ramp:

The Boogedy believes that the best and most magical part is when the ball comes back!

Making our own beanbags:

Little fingers helped fill the bags with weevily chana dal:

Finished products (2 of polkadot/cupcake, 2 of lime checks/stripes, and 2 oranges/sunset plaid)

Playing toss, and trying hard to understand why we have to stand way over here on this paper and can’t just drop them in from above: