The Yard Disaster

My parents are getting the well redug and haven't had running water since the 6th, the work has completely destroyed the yard, damaged the driveway, and on top of all that is 2+ inches of snow.

Introducing the Knit Kit!

It's a knitter's supertool! Set to debut March of 2009!

The Knit Kit has a tape measure, stitch counter, thread cutter, crochet hook, folding scissors(TSA approved), tip protectors, and stitch markers; all contained in a compact like body. You can't really see it in the picture so the dimensions are 4 3/4"x3 1/2"x5/8", it weighs 4 oz., and the estimated price is going to be $19.95. I'm really excited about it and am planning on picking one up as soon as one of my lys gets them in.

Free Yarn Project

Some time ago I was given some stash items from a friend who was moving away, and in those items there was this sock yarn from dkKnits called Technicolor Dream Toes, that looks like it's black and gray until you get it into strong light were it turns green. There are also a fair amount of longer coarse hairs in it so it tends to halo a bit.

Well I'm not much of a sock knitter but since there was quite a bit of it I thought I could double strand it and make some accessories. Originally I'd intended to make a hat, scarf, & mitten set with it, but after I'd handled it a bit I decided that it was too rough to use for a scarf. I thought though that it would still work for the hat & mittens.

I started with one of my favorite mitten patterns, the Peekaboo from Pensive Frog and to make it fingerless I used the rib for the finger opening all the way around and then cast it off. I also modified the thumb so it would match by casting off at the knuckle, and I think it worked out pretty well.




For the hat I decided on the Jacques Cousteau hat by Typy, and I'd gotten pretty far on the hat before it occurred to me to try on the mittens. At first they were just a little scratchy, but I'd expected that, but after they'd been on for a few minutes as I continued to work on the hat, I REALLY started to itch where they were touching me.

Even after I took them off I was itchy for a bit, this hadn't ever happend to me before, not even mohair bothered me like this. A few days later I was talking to a freind who recommended using conditioner to try and soften up the fiber, and I thought it was worth a shot.




So I gathered my supplies, washed them,





and used a VERY healthy dollop to make sure...







they were completely saturated in the goo. I let them sit in the goo for about 20 minutes and rinsed them thoroughly because they REALLY smelled like coconut. After I'd gotten them all cleaned out I laid them flat to dry.







Once they were I tried them on again, and while the fiber was noticeably softer, after a few minutes though I started itching again. I posted my results in a knitting forum to see if anyone else had had the same experience or possibly had other suggestions, and lo and behold I was contacted by the gal who is dkKnits.

She said that because wool is an in demand product, her supplier uses fiber from a variety of breeds. This means that in theory you could purchase the product several times and like the feel of it and not have a reaction to it, and then get a batch that is a different texture and have it be too rough for socks and/or have a reaction to it. She offered to replace it, and suggested that I try her Smoosh line because it's designated as merino.

Flamboyant Googlie Eyes

I have a friend who has a thing for googlie eyes, that may possibly be a little on the obsessive side. That being said she was telling me how frustrated she was that there really isn't much variety in googlie eye styles, so I decided to try and make her some customized ones.


Materials

• To start I purchased three different sizes of eyes to experiment on 10mm, 15mm, and 20mm.
• small angled blade
• tweezers
• model glue/tacky glue
  
• glitter
• confetti
• acrylic/enamel paint
• small brushes
  

Opening The Eye


Using a small angled blade I inserted it in the side of the eye as close as I could to the white backing as I could get, and slowly slid the blade down the side. I had quite a few mishaps at first with the blade working it's way up the side until I was closer to cutting along the upper edge of the clear plastic. Once I got a little better at it though I was able to get the blade to separate the clear and white plastics giving me a cleaner opening.

Once you have an opening large enough to get the pupil out, I recommend using a pair of tweezers to do so, it allows you to get away with a smaller opening.







Pupil Mods

The first set I did I coated the pupil with the model glue, covered the surface with glitter, and patted it down until I had an even coat. That worked out alright, I just had to clean up the pieces that hung over the edges. Once once I was satisfied with it, I again coated the the eye with the model glue to help hold the glitter on the pupil.

Next I tried painting it, the acrylic paint worked alright but it took several coats to become opaque. Nail polish though worked really well, you can usually get it cheaper than model paint, and when you're done you can paint your nails to match. I'm thinking of attempting to paint the pupils to look like animal eyes next, but I need to get some good closeups so I can try to make them at least a little bit accurate.

I also tried replacing the pupil with confetti and/or glitter. I think it worked out pretty well, the one thing being that the confetti is much lighter than the original pupil so it doesn't move around as much.








The Eye

I haven't tried too much with the casing yet, but there are eyes with an eyelid painted on them available so I picked some of those up and used it as a guide to apply the model glue and then dipped them in glitter, and added another coat of model glue for a blingy eye. I also used the model glue to secure confetti to the white backing, by applying it to the confetti and then using tweezers to pick it up, insert it, and center it.

I'm thinking of using felt as an alternate backing and then it would be easier to use the eyes on sewing projects. I'd also like to get some doll making eyelashes and do some more glittered eyelids.




Reassembling

Ok, so this part is pretty easy, just insert whatever it is you've descided to use in the eye and glue the opening shut. Originally I also used model gule for this but the type I have has a very low viscosity so while it was great for detail work, almost all of the first eyes I made ended up with nonmoving parts because the glue seeped right through the opening. I found that using tacky glue which has a much higher viscosity, worked much better. I pinched the sides of the eye on either side of the opening and used a small paintbrush to apply the glue along both sides of the gap then pressed it closed and brushed some more glue along the seam.

So it's Back to Real Projects

So this is the lace scarf I started some time back that was put on hold for all the Christmas projects I had to do for the family. I guess that now that the snow is going, Christmas is over, and I've completed several culinary experiments it's time to get back to work on it. As far as lace goes this pattern isn't all that complicated, it's just really time consuming because it's done on US size 2 needles. I was thinking that if I ever make it again I'll use a sport weight with US 4 or 5s, it would be more shawl like but would still work as a scarf.

Bye, Bye, White Stuff!

I am honestly done with the stuff. I have not been able to get my car out of the driveway for close to two weeks. Everyday is a struggle to get to work because the roads are so bad I was bumming rides to work, and I didn't get my shopping done until Tuesday because my car has been stuck at my house the whole time.

Today I thought I'd be able to get out because the snow is melting and for most of the driveway you can see the gravel. Unfortunately the bottom of the driveway is a DEEP slushy muddy mess and I got stuck. We tried for almost an hour to get it out and finally had to concede defeat, when we got it part of the way up the other side and then it just started digging in instead of actually moving.

Bacon & Mayo Filled Chocolates

The Story

A few months ago I was watching Dinner Impossible on the Food Network, and the chef came up with Chocolate Covered Bacon as a dessert. What really got me though was that the people thought it was good, so I had to try it.

I made it the same way they did bacon coated in milk chocolate, and sprinkled with chopped almonds. Surprisingly it's pretty good though I would suggest using a thin sliced bacon because the thick slice that I used gets pretty chewy at the ends. Since it had turned out to be surprisingly good I made a big batch and took them to work.

One of the guys I work with is from Hawaii, and thought it was great but that it needed mayo in it. Well that wouldn't work because mayo doesn't setup, but I thought that if you used a mold you could just use it as a filling. I didn't want to make it though because I thought the idea was quite repulsive. My co-worker however thought it sounded wonderful and kept asking for it, until I finally caved and made it for him last week.



The bacon & mayo filling.





Filling the cups.