Small Bursts

As the semester trudges on I'm trying to find a few minutes a day to knit or be otherwise creative so that I don't completely stagnate. (Like my blog has.)

The projects can't be big or I end up consumed with working on them and end up ignoring my homework, which is bad. So here are the small projects that I managed to finish this month:

A photo collage: I bought a poster frame, lined it with some fun fabric I picked up and then used fabric glue to attach the pictures. I did it in two evenings. Quick. Fun. And it'll make moving my photos around much easier.

A springy 3-strand bracelet:This has been floating around in my head for a while now, so I hunted down the beads I needed and whipped this up last week. The colors are much brighter in person.

And then there's Oogie...Oogie is my personal gremlin and will also serve as a very good dammit doll when I'm having a bad day.

I knit him up Sunday while doing laundry and then did the finishing and detail work today.

He's based off of the Jelly Baby pattern from Jean Greenhowe's Gift Dolls book. I used my leftover yarn from my badly needed hat & scarf that I knit over the winter.

In the meantime, I have 3 research papers to write and no ideas on what to write about. Wheeeee!

Crafty Devil

Thanks to everyone who sympathized with me about yesterday’s crappy dorm news. I’m still holding on to a tiny sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, I’ll get my own room.

Anyways, I mentioned that I’ve been doing a LOT of non-knitting crafts. And most of them are for the 3 different Harry Potter swaps that I’m in right now.

First we’ve got the Handmade Harry Potter swap.
I painted the book/box and the little trinket box, sewed the DPN holder, beaded a subtle Gryffindor pride bracelet (cause not everyone is down with shouting their fandom from the rooftops) and made some stitch markers in all the house colors.

I have to say that I’m quite please with how the book/box came out. I painted it green, but it looked too fresh, so I took a brush, put a little brown paint on it and dirtied the book up. Then I used crackle, so it looks like aged leather.

And what book of Darkest Magick would be complete without a splatter of blood and a bloody thumbprint on the back?

I finally finished everything up for my Hogwarts Sock Swap pal. Besides the socks and Hagrid (who I got on eBay for $1!) there’s stitch markers, a sewn DPN case and 4 sets of DPNs, a beaded bookmark, a painted trinket box in purple (her favorite color) and a bracelet in purple and silver.

Close up of the box:

And for my Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap pal…A handknit Ravenclaw bag with dyed Ravenclaw yarn from an Etsy seller inside, a DPN case with 4 sets of needles, a bookmark, a trinket box and tonight there will be a bracelet made as well. All of this stuff is due to be shipped out on Monday, assuming that I can get to the stores and stuff to find the silly Harry Potter candy.

I have to say that I really enjoyed painting those boxes. I got them for $1 each at Michaels and they turned out better than I could have hoped.

Lil sis and I went to the museum this past Saturday and it was artist day. That’s where they have artists at the museum and they’ll give you paper and pencils and crayons and little chairs and you can go anywhere you like to draw whatever you want. Well Lil sis LOVES pandas, so we headed over to the case with pandas inside to draw them. Lil sis’s is WAY better than mine. Her pandas are all happy and smiling. And hers is in color. We’ll be saving her drawing for the dorm room wall.

In reading news, I was completely sucked into: For a Victorian novel it is remarkably funny, fast paced, easy to read and completely accessible to the modern reader. I suggest it to anyone who enjoyed Jurassic Park or who was a dinosaur nut as a kid. Professor Challenger is a hilarious character.

That's all I got for now!

Miscellany….

After my fish went to the big fishbowl in the sky I found myself unable to sleep deeply in my room. It was just too quiet without the sounds of the tank, the air pump and the filter buzzing away, the gentle trickle of water. After a week of crap sleep I went out and bought myself this spiffy little doodad:
Not only does it have an adjustable rain feature (from gentle shower to downpour) but it has nature sounds as well. My favorite is the thunder setting. Very nice.

Amy from KnitThink had a contest about Buffy and I was one of the lucky winners. Unfortunately I won Victorian Lace Today, which I already have. Instead of giving me a duplicate book, Amy went out and bought me Knitting Rules and had it autographed!
Thanks Amy!

Friday I had the day off, so I decided to bite the bullet and cast on the Three Corner Shawl in Clover Pattern from Victorian Lace Today.
Six. Hundred. And. Twenty. Four. Stitches. I don’t even want to think about how long it took me to cast on. I’m on row three. I have a feeling I will be on row three for a while. Apparently I told my mom about casting on this project three times. When she informed me of this I looked at her, let my bottom lip quiver a little and said “Well… it was traumatizing!”

My Jay Walkers are zipping right along. You can actually see the zigzag pattern better here than in person, which is good cause I was starting to get worried that the yarn wasn’t going to show the pattern.

I’ve gone and gotten myself another crafting addiction. I saw these things called Book Thongs in Borders and I really wanted one, but they were fairly pricey for a bookmark. So I made one myself. Then I made another. Then… well….Think they’d sell on Etsy? I’m debating opening a store with my book thongs, stitch markers, shawl pins and bracelets.

My Sheep Swap package came yesterday. It was perfect timing too, I was not in a happy mood but who can resist furzy cute things? Thanks swap buddy!

Speaking of sheep, I love the day after Easter sales. So many sheep!My bedroom looked like a farmyard when I emptied the bag.

This Thursday and Friday I’m heading down to visit SIUE for my advising meeting and to see the school. I’m excited and terrified all at the same time. There’s always that fear that you’ll walk in the door and they’ll all scream “Unteachable! Unworthy! Get out! Get out!”

It should be fun. I’ll be bringing my shawl (six hundred… oh my… so many cast on stitches…) and my jay walkers to knit during the FIVE AND A HALF HOUR DRIVE. Then we (me, mom and Kari) will be staying in the only hotel in Edwardsville. Which is why they can charge $85 for two beds and call it the discounted school visit rate.