Baby, It's Cold Outside

The thermometer tells me it's -2F (-18 C) and this does not make me happy. I did managed to get money together to feed the birds this year, unlike last year with lots of doctor appointments and inevitable co-pays.

I took some pictures yesterday because a melanistic squirrel had come to dine. He's on the left and a regular grey squirrel is on the right.

There was also the tiniest goldfinch I'd ever seen on the finch feeder.

Today there's a dusting of snow covering the ice from yesterday afternoon, and steam is rising from my heated birdbath.

These days FuzzyHusband is much less fuzzy, at least when it comes to his head. I happened to pick up a crochet magazine whilst getting supplies before the ice hit on Friday and found a handsome hat pattern that called for a yarn I had stashed. And more luck, I already owned the correct hook size!

So I came home, put all the groceries away, filled bird feeders, and bided my time until I had to pick himself up from work. What I should've done was triple check that the hook was where it belonged. You can see where this is going, can't you?

Himself gets a ride home from a coworker who was coming into town to see a movie. He makes eggnog and I decide a jot of rum in my chai would be nice and warming. THEN I decide to look for my hook. And its missing.

So before he could enjoy his freshly made drink, FH puts shoes back on and drives me to buy a new hook. What we didn't know is the ice storm had started. He almost turned us around. But he's happy that he didn't.

Now I must brave the weather and the streets to go check on a friend's bunny. I'd been watching him all week and couldn't go over yesterday. I did give him lot of extra food on Friday just in case I was trapped yesterday. Happily a neighbor (who is unfamiliar with rabbit car) checked on him yesterday and he was fine. Don't let the cute face fool you. He's gnawing on my boot in this picture!

Once I'm home there is a long list of chores that needs doing. That's what I get for doing nothing yesterday but dishes and crochet. See you next week and stay warm!

Bonus picture of Pixel because she was just too cute not to share!

Mini Millinery Madness

Note: Somehow this didn't get published on Sunday. Sorry for that!

Well perhaps not madness, but I'm certainly having fun with these little hats! In anticipation of June's mini group meeting, I started figuring out the top two fabric hat choices from Millinery Magic by Barbara Hillier Smith: the Gibson Girl and a flat brimmed hat.

I decided to make two of each hat; one in cotton and the other in silk. That way there's more than one example of each hat and everyone can see the effects of both fabrics. Then I decided I wanted to make the pillbox hat design for myself... just because.

So Monday and Tuesday were spent constructing mini hats. The Gibson girl hats are the black and white floral and the blue silk. I only made the flat brimmed hat in cotton on Monday. I needed to unearth my other silk colors.

Other silk was reclaimed and used for the other flat brimmed hat and a pillbox on Tuesday. The grey pillbox is cotton.

There were nasty storms on Wednesday, so I didn't stream. The PC needed to stay off and unplugged.

Thursday I decorated three of the hats. The rose silk pillbox's details were inspired by many of the pillbox hat images I found online. I used the same fabric to create the fan shape. The grey pillbox got a hefty bow out of mini rick rack, three silk roses, and a dark feather.

The blue silk hat got the royal treatment. Lace roselets, silk roses encrusted with silver no hole beads, silk leaves, feathers, a silk band, and some pearls. Here's another view of the blue silk hat's decor. I used some of the 2 mm glass pearls I had stashed away for a rainy day.

This flat brimmed hat got a cotton band. I need to make some daisies to attach to the back on top of the bow.

I'm still figuring out the bits and bobs for the other two hats.

Friday was a day for research. I combed through my entire stash of books and magazines looking for tutorials on parasols, purses, other hat designs, gloves, shoes, and anything else that might go into a hat shop.I came away with quite a stack and have chosen a few to test out and show to the mini club members. They can decide which ones they want to learn.

I also took the time and ordered several spools of 4 mm silk ribbon. My stash had never been large and I've already wiped out one shade of purple. So in a week I shall have a silken rainbow to work with.

Saturday I prowled through thrift shops looking for deals on silk blouses. I found a couple in colors that I don't already have. One is a silk-cotton blend in a delicate shade of purple and drapes ever so well. I'm already seeing at least one gown made from it in the future. For now though, I believe there will be a parasol and some gathered flowers on a hat of some sort. There was also a thin leather vest in a mulberry color. I decided to grab it up too.

That's all for now. I'm going to go tidy up the studio, do some housework, and perhaps play with that leather vest and some purse patterns. See you next week!

Teapots, Hatboxes, and Crocheted Hats

Last week was pretty good on and off stream. It feels really good working in my remodeled studio space. There are still some areas that need decluttering and some tubs of supplies to go through and whittle down, but so far I'm really relaxed in there.

Monday I continued working on teapots. Mostly because I wanted to try adding vine-like details and leave to the tomato teapots. I tried a few different variations and I think I've settled on an arrangement that I prefer. I'm thinking of one more change I'd like to make and then I'm start a production run of them.

For fun I showed how to make a marbled set of colors and made some teapots out if it. I did some solid ones too.

Tuesday I switched gears from clay and went to work on some prototype hexagonal hatboxes for next month's mini club meeting. Another member is teaching round hatboxes and I found this hexagon version in an issue of American Miniaturist. We're going to split up the members and this way everyone can learn both with more hands on instruction. I need to briefly jump ahead to Thursday for this part as well. Bear with me. ;-)

From left to right:

(Tuesday) Light green scrapbooking paper with regular paper template foundation. - It worked alright. Not too stiff when bending the paper into shape. The lid is a little loose though. I covered it with some antique lace on the sides.

Rose colored cardstock with regular paper template foundation. - This one was a little thick and harder to fold into shape. Loose lid again. It's not bad though. I used more antique lace on it.

Cream colored (striped) wallpaper sample with regular paper as foundation. - Again this one worked well. It was also a bit easier to fold than the cardstock. It got trimmed in silk ribbon.

Black and white cotton fabric with regular paper foundation. - I liked the way the cotton folded into shape. But the plain paper foundation wasn't very sturdy. The lid isn't quite as loose. Trimmed in pink silk ribbon... because "sassiness."

(Thursday) Teal cotton fabric and cardstock foundation. - This combination worked the best.  The lid fits perfectly too.

Blue silk with cardstock foundation. Gluing the foundation to the fabric (per instructions) led to some bleed-through of glue. Also the foundation paper shows at the corners.  I'm thinking if I cut things differently, that issue can go away. Not sure what to do about the glue since even using as little glue as possible showed badly.

But for this one, I covered the corners with silk ribbon and hid the massive glue stain on the lid with lace, silk roses, and no hole beads.

Back to Wednesday, I'd forgotten to print out the hatbox templates on cardstock and neglected to press my silk, so I constructed some tools for miniature millinery.

Of course the rose tool was tested out.

I also started a crocheted cloche hat. I found the pattern in a miniature magazine.

I finished it later that night. Wasn't too pleased with it, but we'll see how it turns out after it's blocked and stiffened.

It will be decorated in part with some miniature faux blackberries I made from no hole beads.

For fun on Friday I started my own cloche pattern. I got it mostly done and figured out I'd decreased too much at one point and had to frog most of it.

I need to get back to real life house work for now, so I'll leave you with a picture of Mercedes post-bath on Friday. She's gorgeous and she knows it!

A Bit of Full Size Millinery

My grandmother would be proud.  Or at the very least amused.  She in fact was a milliner before marrying my grandfather.  Anyway, I needed a hat to wear to the Steampunk wedding.  Originally I wanted a pith helmet but let's face it... how many times would I wear a pith helmet?  And would it be enough to justify ordering one?  Probably not.  So to the sewing room I went... and the hardware store.

Some cotton print from my stash, some dupioni silk for contrast, a gorgeous trim, some wire....

 Before putting the wire in the brim.

After putting wire in the brim. (Note: I learned later after emailing the wonderful folks at the pattern company that the brim is currently upside down.  There was a correction needed in the instructions and since I made them aware of it, they're sending me a coupon for a free pattern.  Since there will be trim put around the brim both above and below, I don't think it will really matter.)

  

Currently the hat is waiting on me to get more trim, stitch it on, and then decorate it.  FH is making leather roses and maybe some other flowers as well.  

Even More Lovelies From Kat the Hat!

In addition to happy news yesterday, my latest treasure trove arrived from Kat the Hat Lady! Everything is so lovely!
I'm especially in love with the special red heart witch's hat and brooms set that Kat made just for me. Thank you so much, Kat! It really made me smile yesterday when I needed it the most. :-)

Here's the "non-witchy" hats. I just love the white one with black and red roses!
The two plain straw hats on the right are destined to be in the Rendezvous miniatures when I get going with that project. The rest are going into my "regular" hat shop.

Kat, you're the greatest! Thank you for everything! :-)

GLEE!! Thank you, Kat!

I'm so excited! The latest parcel of mini purchases from Kat the Hat Lady has arrived! I'm so in love with it all!

Isn't it all amazing? The lovely Edwardian Easter bonnet is destined for my modern hat shop. The Gothic red and black rose broom belongs to Ezzie and will go in her cottage when it's built. The rest will be in various witchy settings when they are built. Right now, Ezzie's potion kitchen and cottage are at the top of the list... along with Ezzie herself. Then I've planned on turning my San Fran into a haunted house and I want to build a witch's hat shop.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Kat! I love your work! :-)

Glee!

Glee! I ran out to check the mail before FH and I left for the state capitol to wander the museums and found my package from Kat the Hat Lady!

This hat will belong to my witch, Ezzie, who I really need to start sculpting. I've had her in my mind for ages.

This one is proof that Kat's hats are addicting! I just couldn't resist! I may end up doing a witchy hat shop just to house them all. ;-)
These next two pictures are of the "witchy surprises" that Kat included in my parcel! Aren't they awesome?! An extra hat and dragon eggs! So cool!

Thank you so much, Kat! Everything is lovely and I can't wait to order some more hats! :-)

Picture Goodness

Here is the new knitting project. I'm about halfway finished with it. I completed the first repeat for the cabling last night. I'm set to start the decreases next.

This is the almost finished cross stitch for a friend's first baby. Of course I can't actually finish it until the baby is here and I know what date to put on it. The center chunk that is framed in green will be cut away so the whole piece acts as a photo mat.

My plans for today include blocking the wedding piece now that I have a frame and mat that I like, laundry, more stitching, and packing for the trip to the 'rents for Thanksgiving. I may or may not work on the cabled hat.

Funny thing about the hat... it's for a friend of ours. My husband saw me working on it and has said that if I don't use my second "safety ball" of the heather yarn, he would very much like one just like it. That was a hint if I ever heard one. I promised him that if there wasn't enough leftover that we would go visit a yarn shop and he could pick a new color if they are out of the heather. I'm such a good wife. ;-)

Froggy!!

So the new hat that I started while the sheep geek was here got frogged and restarted. I started out originally by trying to knit a Mobius strip. While I do find the mathematics of:

x(u,v)=(1+0.5vcos0.5u)cosu
y(u,v)=(1+0.5vcos0.5u)sinu
z(u,v)=0.5vsin0.5u

where 0 is less than or equal to u,
u and v approach each other in value,
and v is less than or equal to 1;

to be quite lovely, I do not want to knit one right now. Fortunately the mistake was caught early and the bit where I cast on too many stitches was also dealt with via a simple decrease.

However... I found yet another mistake in the first round after she had left. After a bit of pondering I decided I really should take advantage of the new cast-on method that was rattling around in my brain while it was still there. Really that is the only way I can actually remember a new technique. The added bonus of knowing there were no initial flaws was also quite compelling. So a froggin' I went.

With this new and improved cast-on I managed to not start a Mobius strip and actually got the correct number of stitches in place. Currently I'm on the 14th round and tackling the cabling. I will have a picture up sometime this week. I'm not saying who the hat is for though. I will say it's not for FH, but if he likes it I told him I would make him one.