Sushi 4 Kitties Giveaway!

Yay, my 1st Giveaway!  This kappamaki (cucumber sushi roll) is made of yarn: a knitting pattern by Christen Haden, author of Yummi 'Gurumi and Creepy Cute Crochet.  Her pattern is my very 1st Etsy purchase: the PDF has 16 sushi pieces (including knit wasabi, ginger and decorative grass) and I can't wait to make them all.  But I had to make this one for a quick welcome gift....

[photo by Jenny G.]

for my friend Jenny's newly adopted kitty, what a beauty!  The last time I made gifts for kitties was some Christmas catnip mice and I figured something fishy would be appropriate, especially when I saw this ad: kind of looks like this kitty, right?

I've mentioned that I've always loved the sea, so I've been reading The Story of Sushi by Trevor Corson (loved his 1st book: The Secret Life of Lobsters) and as I started looking for craft projects Christen's Etsy page really stood out.  She e-mailed the pattern quickly and the directions are super easy to follow.  Plus, it's a great way to use up some yarn!

If I make all the pieces I'll be using all of these colors, so I'm excited to make more soon. 

You'll need double-pointed needles, a stitch marker, row counter, yarn needle and of course I like my crafty, little scissors.

Each piece is a combination of a few layers, all the better to stuff catnip in!

And then there was packaging: one of my favorite parts...

I didn't have time to knit up the condiments this time, so I used the real thing, added some chopsticks too.


So, to enter the giveaway, all you have to do is:
1) be a follower (thank you!)
2) leave a comment, any ol' comment will do
3) and specify if you'd like your sushi with, or without catnip


And on Labor Day, I'll pick one name randomly (U.S. residents only, please, just for shipping purposes) and you'll receive the next sushi piece I make, packaged similarly to the one I gave Jenny today.  

Good luck!

Bye bye bye July...

Summer's 2/3 over (or we have 1/3 left depending on how you look at it!) so a few fits and starts from the months so far and my last July post.

Got some flowers this week for a pink event tasting: roses, hydrangea, phalaenopsis orchid and calla lilies, aaahhh...we had cocktails with jasmine tea and rose nectar, and pink macaroons...

started this project with chiffon from Mood Fabrics and beads from Beads of Paradise.  I gave it to my sister to show her friend thinking about wedding headpieces, hmmm...

also from that bead store, these were for a project in the car on the way to vaca but I'm afraid to say it was a bit of a FAIL!  That's what I get for not trying it on along the way since we were on the road.  Will have to try arranging them differently...

The boyfriend brought this hand-dyed Artyarns hank from a trip to Portland (I think he pretty much wanted to move out there!), a gorgeous mix of silk and mohair with glass beads and sequins from Knit Knot Studio (now closed) along with a diagonal scarf pattern with a lace edge by Elizabeth Prusiewicz, so the crystals will be strewn throughout the finished piece.  Hopefully I'll finish it for fall! 

And started this hat for my Dad, but it was a bit too small (should have paid him a visit to measure first!), so another do-over.  I think Guinness enjoyed it here though.  Got a liiiitle more time until winter to finish this one, maybe for Christmas.  One summer month to go....

Chillax...

We use this word at work and it always cracks me up and defuses whatever tensions are going on.  Do you need a weekend?  Do you want some time for quiet contemplation with Tobey above?  This week's Time Out New York encourages you to "Find your calm"...

and I'm so glad to see two of my favorite places in the city mentioned as solutions: Lion Brand Yarn and Make Workshop. 

I talk about Lion Brand A LOT and mentioned the sewing class I took at Make.  Both places have affordable classes in a supportive environment of creative people and I'm all for that.  My first post ever was about The Zen of Crafting. 

So, tonight I stayed in and knit a birthday gift for a party on Sunday, so no spoilers yet, just a few hints: pink, pearl, ribbon.  Even with a minor snag I kept it mellow cause don't you hate it when an evening of calm crafting goes awry and you start fretting instead of being lulled into a Zen moment? 

So, happy weekend!  What do you do to chillax?

Christmas Wrapup

Gift wrapping and gift giving...

The frosty salted pillar candles were a gift for my Mom:

The amigurumi reindeer was for my Aunt:

The mice were for all of the cats in my life, here's Kiki:

And oh! gifts for me...

and I made this chilly

amigurumi penguin from Lion Brand 

on the day after Christmas. 

I want to keep him, so we'll see...

3 Little Mice

Completed: Monday, 12/21/09. Pattern: from Lion Brand Yarn. Yarn: Lion Wool Yarn in Pearl Gray
My 2nd amigurumi project was these cat toy mice from Lion Brand.  I know a lot of people on my Christmas gift list with cats and these seemed quick and easy.

I got better as I went along, so the last one took just under an hour, start to finish.

In addition to the fiberfill stuffing, these little guys are also full of catnip.  And I needed some jingle bells so I snipped them off this cat collar.
OK, one more shot: meow.

Decorative Decal Pillar Candles

I finished my first Christmas gift project last night: Martha Stewart Living's Decorative Decal Pillar Candles.  The website has the beautiful clip art that you can print onto a decal sheet, which you spray with clear varnish (in a well-ventilated area!).  Then apply the paper to the candles and matchboxes: very simple!  I also covered a couple matchboxes with glitter.

Finding the matchbooks was actually the hardest part, nothing in drug stores, restaurant supply stores, etc...Recently, The New York Times wrote about the resurgence in matchbox popularity as "a new old freebie" even though smoking isn't allowed in restaurants here anymore.  So, I finally walked into a famous restaurant not to be named, lest they be overrun with matchbox requests, and they were very accommodating and generously gave me 6!

I'm planning on giving these as Christmas gifts, but tested one out to make sure it didn't burn through the paper and it worked out fine.  Then I added a glass coaster and ribbon and voila: fini!