onesie time is nail art time

It's cold out and all I feel like doing is sipping tea and painting nails in my shark onesie. But since we all gotta do better, I'm upping the game with my first ever nail heart drawn with a bamboo skewer.

Wassail!

The Holidays in San Francisco with kooky old me? That means it's sweater time! FOR MY DOGS!

Soleil models her crazy couture. Strut!

Lulu is too happy to sit still!

Soleil indulges my desire to deck myself in Christmas ornaments...
Light-up Christmas lights necklace? Check.
Glitter bird ornament borrowed from our tree? Check.
Happy dog? Check!

But there's no mistletoe!

 Happy Holidays everybody!

down to the yarn

It's only 2 weeks until Chikorita's baby shower and my Peruvian flag baby blanket is about two-thirds done. Can I finish in time?

cue the ominous music

What a stressful game. Up by 4 in the 1st, then trailing by 3 in the 6th. The force may have ended up with the Giants but it took extra innings, base hits by the entire team, and a Jedi-worthy hit by Marco Scutaro to secure a victory over the D-backs.

My R2-D2 dress was well-received by everyone except the lady at concessions ("Who are you? Somebody get this girl some Star Wars fries!") And the Death Star baseball now sits at the front of my collection.

Almost ready

I could go to the ballpark as is on Monday but I'm hoping that I will find a good half hour or so to add the blue tulle. Because that's what separates R2-D2 from girly R2.

that plucky droid went to the disco...

I am on track to be the glitteriest and girliest R2-D2 ever...

do the robot

So I'm not a fantastic sewer, and the addition of a sewing machine didn't aid my endeavor to create an R2-D2 costume for Star Wars night at the ballpark. But don't think that I'm going to show up in plainclothes just yet.

I have returned to good ol' craft foam! I'm still sewing the patches onto the dress but now it's by hand instead of by machine. And for some reason, I'm just not that handy with machines.

Besides, foam is easier to cut than cotton cloth and naturally holds its shape. And... I got glitter foam! A short night's work produced these quick results.

R2-D2, here I come!

sew ready

In preparation for the upcoming Star Wars night at AT&T Park on Labor Day, I've borrowed a sewing machine from Speedy to make my R2D2 costume. Now I won't be creating the dress from scratch since that is much too difficult for someone who has never sewn anything more complex than a quilt. But I'm positive that I'm capable of applique-ing blue scraps of cloth to a pre-made white dress. I just want this to look a little more polished than my hand-sewn Marge Simpson costume.

So I've succeeded in threading the machine. What's next, you crafty chingra?

new record

This might be my personal best for knitting a blanket... I started this blue striped beauty in April, setting an even more ambitious deadline for early May to give to my sister for her wedding. Well, I only had one-third finished by the big day and my loving sister had no interest for such things in Los Angeles. So I decided to keep it for myself but keep knitting and see how quickly I could finish a throw (my last project took me almost a year to complete! And Mumsy keeps it in a box under the bed!)

Not only did I complete this blanket in just over three months (finishing just yesterday) I believe that this is also the largest blanket I have ever knit... I can lay down comfortably on it and not touch the floor so I know that it's at least 65 inches long.

This blanket is staying with me and will grace my convertible sofa, where it will be seen!

Well, there's no break for me. Not that knitting is a chore, I enjoy it quite a bit (otherwise I wouldn't knit!) But my dear friend Chikorita is already 5 months pregnant with a baby boy and I'm set on knitting a baby blanket to resemble the flag of Peru (the homeland of both parents.) The yellow border is supposed to be that gold rim you sometimes see on some flags... well, the more I think about it, the more I realize that I've only seen gold fringe on flags of the USA. Looks like Peru is getting the royal treatment from me!

Just gettin' crafty. Again.

about time

It has been almost a year since I started this blanket... this is the longest it's ever taken me to finish a knitting project. My advise... if you're halfway through a throw and you find that you're unsure of your original pattern, just keep knitting! Unraveling yarn is a time-consuming chore, even more so when you knit with two strands like me.

Anyways, a simple staircase was the winning pattern and I am happy I finally finished it!

Q-Tip models the cozy nature of the throw. Model on!

I've already started a new throw. I'll keep it simple with horizontal stripes so I don't have to count every stitch.

she's crafty!

and she's just my type! - Beastie Boys

So with all of this drizzle and soup-making going on, I'm feeling like cozying up on my futon and getting crafty with my knitting needles. Popped over to Beverly's at Westlake and got some new yarn...

those who know me know I love bold color combinations

They recently moved everything around so got a bit lost looking for the yarn corner, which is now a veritable yarn library where the standard Red Heart acrylic takes up most of one wall. I just had to browse the entire section, and in one of the aisles I found these gorgeous Peruvian skeins... mind you these are not alpaca wool, they're from Peruvian sheep, but they have this silky texture and are so soft!

now it's almost a compliment to be full o'sheep!

Picked up some of my standard wooly charcoal gray and am totally ready to start on a new blanket. I'm aiming to create one that mimics the feeling of the pashmina-throw thing I bought while touring Cuzco... only in San Francisco does it make sense to knit blankets in June!

Speaking of hella cool days in June, Flag Day is coming up on June 14. For those of you who ignore the little blib on your calendars, this is the day when we semi-commemorate Betsy Ross and look back upon the evolution of the national flag of the USA. This year, my friend Cabbage came up with the genius idea of spinning it into a flag party. So naturally, I went crazy at Party Warehouse:

so many flags, so little time!

If only they carried the San Francisco flag... and the national flag of the Phillippines. I mean, they most certainly do sell the 4" x 6" minature flag of the Phillippines, they were just sold out. It's like everyone in Daly City went to buy a flag!

Now it's time to watch another episode of Camelot, where another crafty lady - namely Morgan - will wreak mayhem!