It's Always Tea Time!

Last weekend, Mum and I went to see Alice (in Wonderland) the ballet.  It was extraordinary.  They did minimalist sets and focused instead on the dancing and the lighting.  It was gorgeous.  In honor of that event and the amazing way the dancers interpreted the story, I decided I should share some of the things I've made recently that are Alice inspired. 

I made these a few weeks ago while working on many projects that are gifts.  This would be why I haven't made many entries lately.  I have been busy with work and class, but the project I have worked on in the crafting arena haven't been gifted yet.  Soon...

But back to Alice things.  I had found a photo of a tattoo and knew I wanted to put it on the side of a mug.  Lo and behold, I found a wonderful purple mug for it.  :)  I also found a tea bag/ spoon rest and decided I needed that as well.

I'd also come across a little individual tea pot, which I'd been looking for after having a pre-graduation tea party for my BFF's sister last year.  I can't tell you how thrilled I was to find it.  But I waffled on what to draw on the lovely chartreuse canvas of porcelain.  But the other day I was browsing Etsy and came across this set of headphones with an Alice design painted on them (see treasury below).  I drew inspiration from them and painted it today.  Tomorrow I'll fire it.  :D 

And who knows, after the firing is done, perhaps I shall have a spot of tea.  I did recently order some loose leaf tea from ThinkGeek.com and they look highly entertaining.  Timmy's Tea Sampler and Monkey Picked Tea, I am looking forward to the tea time adventure!

I've been continuing my reading list for the year, and I am actually currently in the midst of an Alice inspired adventure.  Hatter by Daniel Coleman (he also wrote one called Jabberwocky).  I'm really enjoying it.  The Mat Hatter and the Cheshire Cat are two of my favorite characters in the stories.  I just love that madness.  XD

As always I find myself on Etsy when the crafting bug hits or something sparks my interest.  That being the case, I made an Alice inspired treasury:

From a mountain of chunky yarn, Bellissima accessories...

A while ago, when I was renewing my interest in knitting, I stumbled upon a fun knitting book. That book is Vampire Knits by Genevieve Miller. Most of the contained patterns have something to do with Twilight which I could care less about. But a few of them are awesome in spite of that book series.

However, the pattern I was knitting up before, is a direct inspiration from Twilight. I was gifted yarn for my birthday, tons of it in fact, in a really neat blue. So when I decided I wanted to knit up the Bellissima Mittens, I pulled out that yarn.

I really love the length of them. They are floppy and big going over the cuffs of my coat well. If I was to knit them again, I would use a solid color so that the cables were really visible. With this yarn they are a bit hidden and I really do like the large link cable that goes up the back of the mittens.

Since I had lots of yarn left, I went looking for a hat pattern. I figured there had to be one out there. And low and behold, I found one. It took me a few hours to knit Bella's Hat which was pulled together from various Ravelery patterns of the mittens from the movie.

Yes, I got a little foam head to put things on. Partly for modeling hats, since I am horrific at taking pictures of myself; partly for my blue Coraline wig.

But whatever the reason, I like being able to photograph my hats at any angle. This doesn't really show the big link cable to well, but it looks neat paired with the mittens.

I actually wore them together on an excursion where it was quite chilly. While wandering about, I decided I would need a scarf too. And since I have a good chunk of the yarn left I would like to make it cabled and long.

Perhaps I'll get to the scarf one day, but for now the mittens and hat will have to do. 

knitting in pop culture

I've been really amused to come across a few knitting references in movies and literature lately.

I think another part of this is the yarn bombing movement. It's been making the news so putting knitting in the spot light. I really love the Wall Street Bull yarn bomb. :D

Dumbledore refers to knitting the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince:

"No, I was merely reading the Muggle magazines...I do love knitting patterns."

Mostly, I completely understand this compulsion. I have ridiculous amounts of fun looking at knitting patterns. Whether I knit them or not is irrelevant. They are creative and inspirational. Then again, I like to stock pile them away in hopes that I might knit them in the future. I also have a compulsion to buy yarn. My stash is huge.


Tangled refers to it twice. I love that Rapunzel knits. Look at Pascal hidden in her scarf! He's so freaking adorable. Hehe! She's knitting English style too.

And one of the ruffians does later on in the movie. It's part of the listing all their dreams.

If you haven't seen it, go and watch. One of the better animated non-Pixar movies to come out of Disney's studios in a while. Cracks me up every time I watch.

I look forward to finding more knitting references.

Pottermore

So my dear friend Lucy alerted me to a site that was established for Harry Potter fans to enhance the experience by Rowling. It is Pottermore. It looks very exciting.

Right now they are on Day 6 or 7 for early admission. It goes up for all in October. The way they do it is quite interesting. They open it up at random times for a short time with a clue. You solve the clue and find a quill. Then register. :) I finally got in today after trying yesterday unsuccessfully and missing the window for a few days.

I look forward to exploring the world and gaining new insight. Now I wait for my email confirmation.

Supernaturally Coraline!

I decided this weekend to do some craft projects that I've had languishing around in my mind. I finished up a gift for KA's birthday (pictures will have to wait until after giving.) I also finished the wedding tree details and acquired a tube for transport!

Finally made myself a set of stitch markers (since I have multiple projects cast on at a time and always need to find stitch markers). These were inspired by another's crafting of cell phone charms and bag charms. I made them a la Supernatural. :D Mostly they make me smile and I know that will help when I am knitting and need a pick me up mid row/round.

I have many charms left over so I will be making bag charms, zipper pulls, & cellphone charms for friends who are fans. Mostly I am terribly pleased with myself.

I've also taken steps toward making myself in to Coraline. If for no other reason than dressing up as her come Halloween. I don't know that I'll be making a mini-Coraline, that is still in reserve. I have also stumbled across peoples' plushies of The Cat. He might be fun to make, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be digging through my beanie babies for the panther one to carry about. I know my crafting limits...maybe. :D

In the mean time, there is a great little pattern I could use as a base line for The Cat. This was inspired by mtnb's flickr stream. It looks like it wouldn't be too complicated. Of course, too bad my cat is gone. Salem would have been perfect!

I did determine that I wanted to make a key necklace, a seeing stone necklace, and the three pearls she finds. I thought those would be cool. The results seem rather awesome. The pearls glow in the dark, which resulted since I bought the filmo intending to use with the seeing stone and forgetting that I wanted to paint the thing. Then I remembered the pearls. So having those to hang from my beltloop or something should be cool. :)

As I was searching for pictures of the key and seeing stone I came across a neat showing of Coraline inspired fashion.

Molding these didn't really take too much time. Yay for easy shapes. Actually it took most of my hand strength and time to soften the glow-in-the-dark clay. :P And there was a slight clay cooking malfunction. Hot glue was a no go, I was really hoping that it would work since there is no krazy glue in the house. I'm also too lazy at the moment to go out and get some. The painting and the glittering will have to wait.

FYI, my glitter thread has shipped and is in-route. Now to head to a LYS or online one and peruse the choices for base sweater. Still leaning to the cotton in a dark/mid range blue. I'm also wondering how to make a stripy pink shirt. Found a tye dying method that could work, but I'm also debating on doing it in paints or searching for one that is already out there. Then again, if I tye dye some of my old work under shirts, they are great for sleeping/working around the house in!

I am currently debating between making a steampunk shirt, gift plaque, glass etching, or knitting up a storm. I'm sure I'll end up doing at least two of these.

Coraline Sweater

I mentioned before about knitting a star sweater from Coraline and cosplaying as her. I think it would be kind of awesome. Not only cause it's a relatively simple outfit, but comfortable as well. :)

My biggest challenge will be getting the sweater made. I think it'll be a fun project.

Not sure what I'll end up doing with the stars. I think stitching them on after would be a good plan. I just need to wait for the glitter thread I ordered to come and determine the color blue I'd like to use. I'm leaning toward making a cotton sweater so that I'll be comfortable wearing it in heat and cold. I'm also thinking that making it fairly large will be good so that I can layer if need be in cooler weather.

If I go to Comic Con next year (like a really really want to) I might invest in an obnoxiously bright yellow rain jacket with matching galoshes for other days outfits. I will end up getting a short blue wig and need to see about the hair pins she uses. Overall I think it'll be a fun project adventure. :)

I think I'll have to also figure out how to make a little Coraline doll to carry around if I do the raincoat outfit. :D A lady on craftser has made a good inspiring version!

Here's to being creepy!

and sometimes, when you fall, you fly

I have a ridiculous amount of love for Neil Gaiman and his various works. I've read a few and have stacks of other to get through yet. But I don't know that I'll ever forget my first foray into his genius head.

I was in high school and a friend in my creative writing class suggested Neverwhere to me. After that I picked up other novels. I think it's a tie between Stardust and The Graveyard Book as my current favorite and I poke through The Sandman comics from time to time.

I love that there are a few references to his work in my favorite television show Supernatural as well.

He's created worlds that are simply awe-inspiring and incredible. The stories are often creepy with a good dose of humor in there to keep you on your toes. As I was stumbling about the internet I came across a video of knitting for the movie Coraline based off his book.

I can promise I was fascinated and enthralled.



Here's an actual person sized pattern of Coraline's sweater. I really really loved that sweater. I might actually have to make one for myself...yeah, that would be kind of awesome to dress up as at a convention. I actually have this awesome glow in the dark yarn that I could use for the stars. Hmmmm...this might be a good first sweater project.

In the mean time, I would love to see him speak. I've watched video and he seems completely awesome.

Ah well. One day.

Let the summer begin!

Too fraking cute! I love the summer (hate the heat), but s'mores and camp fires are amazing. I have many good memories of gathering around that burning log, marshmellows flaming, and songs being sung.

I know that I am going to have to make this by the end of the summer. XD

It also reminds me a little of Calcifer from Howl's Moving Castle (the book and the anime film).

Speaking of films, came across this scarf. I need to decide on a friend who is completely obsessed with film to make it for. I really enjoy that the pattern also comes with color ideas for the various genres of film. Hilarious!

Since I just got my car detailed I won't be purchasing this, but it is still amusing. I might get it for a later date actually. Overall, I have a few friends that this would be good for. :D It would make a neat birthday/christmas/holiday present add on.

Okay, so this post is actually about the nifty tree branch magnets, however that is an amazing to do list. I feel the need to put one up myself. Because I think everyone needs a reminder to BE AWESOME!

And something really awesome? It's Memorial Day. I like to use this day as a marker of the beginning of summer, but also for it's actual purpose. The day of remembrance for those who served.

I went on a little search hunt for neat patterns. Didn't find too much, but there is a cool initiative out of New Orleans for WWII vets and it seems like something that could be expanded. Getting something handmade is exciting for everyone. But it sounds like a nice thing to show appreciation for some of those who have served and survived. Might have to look into the or make something random for a few of the service men/women I know.

This reminded me of some books I've come across that address the issue of what happens after you knit things for you. They talked about the progression of a knitter in most cases. They start by knitting things for themselves, then move to knitting for people they know, and then for people they don't. There are a few books in particular that I liked; Knitting for Peace: Make the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time by Betty Christiansen and Kiriko Shirobayashi and Knitting for Good!: A Guide to Creating Personal, Social, and Political Change Stitch by Stitch by Betsy Greer. I'm mixing my stages and want to do it all at once!

Since I've developed my renewed interest in knitting, I've been reading books. Tons of books. Books on patterns, but I am starting to really branch out into the ones about fiber. I also have a keen interest in the ones on the history about knitting. This one struck my fancy Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art by Susan M. Strawn. I may have to put this one on my Kindle queue.