July 29, 2010

Indie Arts Fest!!

Guess what. Providence Roller Derby is skating in a free bout on Saturday for the Indie Arts Fest. Our bout starts at 5:30. Click the flyer below to go to the site and see the whole schedule.

It's Zombies Vs. Robots and I'm totally skating on the Zombie team! Be there to cheer us on and see some awesome roller derby!

Indie Arts Fest!

July 24, 2010

Crafts abound

I love being creative. I love making things for me and I love making things for other people who truly appreciate the work. It feels good.

For me first. I was a turtle for one very amusing derby evening. If your friends with me on facebook, or were present at the event, you saw the chaos that happened. It was a great party, but that always seems to be the case with PRD.

For the shell, I found a cheap round pillow and some green fabric. I handsewed the fabric around the shell in a way that formed the ridge found on a turtle shell. Afterwards, I painted the outline of the plates on the shell. I made them too small the first time so I actually had to sew on another piece of fabric before repainting. Darn fabric paint just doesn't come off easily. Oh well. The second time came out great. I sewed on straps to make it fit like a backpack. After that I power knit a hat in about three hours. I finished with time to spare. It's great as a pillow, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it into a real backpack. =)


 As for knit items for other people, I've been working on store inventory. And by store I mean I opened an Artfire shop finally! I really like the site. I'm probably going to go pro soon. It's A stitch in time of course. Took me long enough. The banner is still a work in progress but it suits me for now. The knitting is more important. Below is a sneak peek at the next two items.



and



I added the details by needle felting wool on. The yellow guy is going to be a case of some sort. I'm so excited to continue him because now I have a SEWING MACHINE! Thursday night I met up with Joni and Vicky for a craft night. Joni was awesome enough to pass on a working sewing machine to me. I had a blast with the ladies. We crafted to my first episodes of Dr. Who. "Blink and your dead!"

July 16, 2010

An intro and a LOL moment

Last night was a fun night. Marsha got to the house for our playdate and snake adoption night. We hauled the very large 55 gallon tank into the house and found a makeshift temporary tank stand. Does anyone have a tank stand they'd like to get rid of? Or would like to trade for a 30 or 40 gallon breeder with a stand? Anyway, we set up Medusa's house in the dining room. She looks quite lovely there. The tank is stable. And I have since spruced things up in there. She has more bedding and I intend to put another temporary hide in there till I get her other one that was forgotten at home.

Anywho, she is a lovely and quiet new roommate who seems ok to put up with stuff. Even annoying cats. Of course Zeus tried going on top of the tank, but he was stopped many times. Bobo (Joel's cat) is more adventurous though. He was on the table while Joel, Marsha and I were chatting. He was looking at the tank from the table like any curious cat would. It then looked as if he was going to jump down to the floor. No big deal, right? Well, he jump down, but apparently his goal was to go in the tank by means of THROUGH the glass. He jumped right off the table and into the side of the tank with his face. There was a *THUNK* and he composed himself all cat like and went to see his father. There was no damage to the cat face.
Marsha and I were laughing so hard we were crying I got a serious workout in the ab region. I can't even look at him without giggling. Bobo is a bit special. I'll never let him live it down


Medusa didn't bat an eyelash. She was warming up in her cave. She really is a lovely and relaxed snake. This morning I disturbed her to tidy up and add more bedding to the tank. She never really got irked. I picked her up so I could finish with the bedding. She's a beefy girl, nothing like the cornsnake* I had. I think she is well mannered and we are going to get a lot of knitting done together. Marsha is going to have to visit a lot since I'm sure Medusa misses her already. Welcome to the family, Medusa! Now to change Bobo's name. Only Greek pet names aloud! ;)

 *The cornsnake and leopard gecko that I had had to be adopted out because at my last apartment the landlord wouldn't fix a window frame, that was practically falling out in the winter, till spring. In the meantime the thermostat was in the room with the leaky window causing the heating bill to go through the roof. My reptiles were too cold to want to eat. =( Jerk.

July 13, 2010

Things I can't wait for

I can't wait...

...for my Gregg's pickles to be done. They will be soon!

...to get my shop all ready. I hope I can get through that this week.

...to see my awesome boyfriend again. Life likes to get in the way of our spending time together.

...to have a fully healed knee so that I can skate full force again.

...to have a snake again. Medusa will be here thursday!

...to start some new ideas in knitting patterns.

...for a good time at my family reunion.

...to have the house and yard just how I want it.

...to have another Forest Folk gathering. I love those guys!

This summer is full of I-can't-waits. <3

July 10, 2010

Productivity!

Between daily things I've been trying to catch up with household stuff. Nothing like spurts of getting shit done!

Yesterday after work I got home and cleaned out my car. It was getting a little overrun with stuff. After that, I finished weeding around my tomatoes and basil. They are much happier, I'm sure. My first two tomatoes are ripening as I type. Then it was off to Phury's work for some sushi and a pomegranate margarita with some derby people. When I got home I did a bit of organizing then crashed.

I woke up at about 6:30 this morning and proceeded with the things to do. I cleaned the litter box and used a pet odor spray on the cat carrier finally. It has been hosed down. I finishing putting mulch in the garden, I harvested some herbs, and got my stuff together for a sleepover tonight.


Tonight is a big night. Providing the rain gods are polite and hold off till we're done, there will be the second Providence Roller Derby home-team bout at the Bank of America track. Please cross your fingers for us and hope for the best. Worse comes to worse we have the bout indoors at the rink in Narragansett Ocean Club tomorrow but that's not allowed. My team, the Mob Squad is playing but my knee isn't quite healed so I can't play. Big =(  face. They have to beat those Old Money Honeys so that I can play two bouts this year. =) But yeah, doors are at 6 and the bout is at 7! Be there!

July 8, 2010

Ocean life and the undead

Over the 4th of July weekend I had a wonderful wedding to go to. There will be pictures later. But anyway, the wedding was for two of my lovely friends Lenny and Kristen. They looked amazing.

Kristin loves all things ocean and Lenny is a pretty big fan of zombies. So of course I figured out something to include these themes in my knitting.

For Kristin I chose three awesome patterns to make her some sea creatures. First up is Nautie:


I really like how he came out and I found him really easy to knit. The increases are even neatly hidden in the coiling of the shell. There were some felt cutout eyes to make but I like buttons for my knit creatures. I recommend this pattern to any Nautiloid lover.

Next up was an Octopus:


The octopus was by far the easiest to make. The head took no time at all. The limbs crocheted up pretty quick too. I like crocheting every now and then so I don't forget the basics. I really like how it turned out. Octopi are so cute.

Last of the trio was the Sea Nettle:


This was the toughest to knit. Now I don't mean that in difficulty unless you are new to charts and color change. The head was pretty easy. What made this tough was the damn arms. They knit up so tight it hurt my fingers. It was totally worth it though. It came out so pretty.

After the sea creatures I moved onto the undead. This was going to be fun since it took a lot of creativity on my part, rather than just picking the colors. The base pattern was a children's doll set that I decided to creepify. After the bodies were knit and sewn together I had a blast. I embroidered blood, guts, falling off limbs and parts, and some bones.

Zombie girl:


Zombie boy:


Zombunni:


Zombear:


I knit almost a whole week straight through to get it all done. It was totally worth it when I saw their reactions to the gift. Nothing better than creating something for people you know will appreciate all your work. Love you Lenny and Kristin!

After all the work I swore I would take the weekend off from knitting. I felt I needed it. I think I may have an addiction because every moment I had downtime I was thinking, 'I wish I had my knitting.' I refuse to go to rehab. =)

July 5, 2010

97° is not okay

Happy belated July 4th! Today Hartford is too hot so we will hide away in the air-conditioned apartment until we go to live jazz in the park this evening.

I was all excited to start the 30 day journal challenge but apparently I picked the worst week to start ever! I had to power knit the entire week to finish an awesome wedding gift. I will be posting that when I get home. But pretty much every night, after work and practice, I was knitting my life away. It was totally worth it though. Lenny and Kristen loved it. I will try again to start the journal challenge. Expect that soon.

Currently I'm on the boyfriend's couch waiting while he cooks us some amazing french toast for brunch. We took our sweet time getting out of bed since we crashed late after being with lovely people for the 4th.

I leave you with this video. This band is great and I currently am loving them. This isn't really kid-safe. A bit gory and vulgar but they are great!