Thursday, December 27, 2012

After Holiday Sushi Sale!

As I'm cleaning up around the home, and putting things away after the holiday explosion, I'm realizing that I have the supplies to make a couple of sushi kits.

Sushi is one of my very favorites.  Both for eating and for knitting.

So, first come, first serve - Who wants an adorbsy (custom made and one of a kind) sushi roll set?  $25, shipping included.  Whattya say?


The set could look something like this one, but I'll make whatever kind of sushi you like.  Hell, I'll even do brown rice if you're a health nut.

Let me know, baby.  I'm on a roll.  Get it?  Oy.

Unwrapping presents

Hello, my little buddies.  I hope you all had a great Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanza, Winter Solstice, Secular Celebration of Consumerism and American Gluttony, or whatever other Pagan ritual I may have left out.  

Mine was great.  Thanks for asking.

We took a trip away from New York and into the country, where we spent a nice, quiet few days resting and eating and spending time with my glorious spitfire of a grandmother inlaw.   Plus we listened to heavy metal on satellite radio in the rental car for four straight days.  It was really the best winter holiday I could've asked for. 



I hope you've had a good year.  I hope you got everything you wanted in terms of gifts, whether material or otherwise.  I hope this year you saw fit to use all your powers for good instead of evil.  I hope you'll remember in the new year all the hard and wonderful lessons you learned this year.  Does this sound patronizing?  I hope not.  Because I really mean it, for me, and for all of you.  

Okay, so now that the holiday is behind us, I'm going to share with you some of my holiday crafts.  As much as I love crafting and knitting and taking my own photos of them, I love receiving photos of people enjoying the things most of all.  Here are some of the greatest hits of this season.....so far.  

I made some neck warmers for my favorite little women.

 


And they promptly showed me the various other uses they found for them.  Including nose/chin warmer:



And fancy oversized headband:


Beautiful.  Understated.  Reminds one of the elegant composition of the Girl With The Pearl Earring, no?

Last week I wrote a blog about the chicken and elephant I had knit for my sweet friend Rachel.  Here are some action shots of her mother opening her Christmas presents.


Really, it's the anticipation of gorgeous, happy faces like that that keep my fingers knitting busily all my waking hours.  Truly.  I can't hardly stand how adorable those photos are.

Last month I wrote a blog about a cat bed I had been commissioned by my friend Michael to make for his cat Dragon.  I sure hope Dragon gets a turn in the bed, because it looks like he's got a selfish roommate who has usurped it.



So rude.

A couple of months ago, when I first moved to Brooklyn and all my yarn was still stashed in moving boxes, my first official craft project in my new crafting headquarters was a "T" ring for myself (in honor of my foxy manfriend T-Bone).  I loved it so much, I decided to make a few more for some special ladies I love.  Here's one that I sent to my sweet friend Melissa, who's married to my equally as sweet friend Matt.  


I wish I could eat that ring and the hand it sits on, I love it all so much.

And last, but definitely not least, my good old pal Aaron asked me if I would be interested in making a present for his sweet wife.  Now they are both friends of mine from the waybacks, so no matter what it was, there was no way I could say no.    

The task was to make a ski mask - or a balaclava, if you want to get all uppity about it - that Maggie could wear on the chilly Los Angeles evenings when they enjoy sitting on their back patio.  The specifications were to make something that would keep her nose warm, but had an opening for her mouth.  I searched and searched for a pattern I liked, but nothing quite fit the bill, so I tweaked an existing pattern to come up with one of my own.

The result was so fun, I think I may need to make one for myself.  It's very Pussy Riot, don't you think?

Here are some photos of me modeling the ski mask before I sent it off.  And, yes it's true, I'm not wearing a shirt in these photos.  Because there's nothing more absurd than a shirtless person in a ski mask.  (Also, my apartment gets boiling hot in the evenings.)  So, now that I have burned the image of me knitting topless in your brain, let's consider that my belated holiday gift to you and move on to the photos:





Granted, I am pretty adorable in the photos above.  And clever and completely casual and unaware of my own amazingness.  But even better, infinitely better!, was getting a Christmas Eve email from Maggie entitled "OMG!!!! Best present ever!!!" with the photo below attached. 



THAT, my wonderful friends, is the true meaning of Christmas.

xoxo

Friday, December 21, 2012

I'm a busy holiday elf

Dudes.  Whoa.  WHOA.  I feel badly about how I've neglected this blog lately.

But the last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind, what with moving and hurricane recovery and holidays and visiting relatives and.....you don't care about my excuses.  I know that.

But, I assure you.  I've been crafting and snapping photos all along.  Now I'm just trying to find the time to post.

I've had a good mix of holiday commissions from other people and my own crafting projects to complete, which is exactly how I like it this time of year.

A little while ago, my sweet friend Rachel asked me to make her a chicken and an elephant.  Here they are.


Above is a moody silhouette of the chicken.  Beautiful.  Introspective.  And below is an action shot (which should explain the blurry quality of the photo) wherein the chicken is caught just at the beginning of her leap off the coffee table.



Below are photos of the elephant, taken before the eyes were attached.  But don't pity this blind beauty, she did indeed undergo a procedure that gave her the gift of sight.



Requisite profile view.


Below is a closeup of my favorite part, the delicious berry-red foot.  Mmmm.




Happy holidays, little lovies.  I have more to post, but in an effort not to spoil any holiday surprises, they may have to wait a few days.

xoxo