Wedding Planning

I'm getting married in a week, and Elijah and I are very excited, especially now that almost everything is done for it. The wedding is in Connecticut, in my hometown, so all the vendors are local to that area.

Caterer- A Thyme to Cook. We tasted the food in December, and everything- and I do mean everything- is delicious. I even liked things that I don't normally like, like couscous and peppers! I got to taste cake flavors over spring break, and we've decided on having two flavors- the bottom tier of the cake will be (my choice) lemon cake with lemon curd and raspberry filling, and the middle and top tiers will be vanilla cake with fresh strawberry filling (since Elijah doesn't really like lemon). We'll also be having other little desserts, so everyone will be able to find something that they like.

In March, I met again with the florist, Bakes & Baldwin. I chose the flowers for my bouquet (mostly cream, with a little white to add dimension, and bits of lavender and light blue flowers here and there) and for my maid of honor bouquets (the inverse of mine- mostly lavender and light blue with a little cream).

I had my second fitting for my dress; she had already done the bustle so Mom got a chance to practice putting it up. AND I finally found shoes! My feet aren't exactly narrow, but the toes are, I guess, so any open-toed shoe had the tendency for my toes to slide out and stick out past the toe of the shoe. Finally I found a pair of shimmery silver heels which fit and look great!

We picked up my ring from the jeweler, Wil McNabb in Flagstaff, the other day. It's white gold, to match my engagement ring (which has purple sapphires channel-set all the way around), and has the Hebrew phrase "Ani l'dodi v'dodi li", which means "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine." Elijah's ring has the same phrase and is in two-tone white and yellow gold.

Photos to come after the wedding!

March Yarncraft

Two projects for March; the first was for Transfiguration, where we investigated the uses of dragon's blood. I experimented with the fourth use of dragon’s blood, giving the ability to converse with birds. I used avifors to transfigure three drops of dragon’s blood into three small birds, each of which fit into the palm of my hand. But the fierceness of the dragon caused an interesting change- each bird took on a unexpected personality! First to greet me with an “Arr!” was a red bird who introduced himself as a pirate, then came another red bird with horns and a pitchford- a devil bird! I almost didn’t see the third bird, as his body was black, though he retained some of the blood-red color in his beak and wings, one of which was holding a throwing star- a ninja! I had a fascinating chat with these three fellows, and they showed me a trick where they could fly in the same pattern that three balls would be juggled in, before they flew away (the ninja bird and the pirate bird fighting while the devil bird laughed). What a curious experience!



The pattern is my own, and can be found for sale here.

My second project was for Herbology, where we studied flowers. I crafted something that is both flowery and in honor of Poppy Pomfrey. This pink bunny wearing a flower-adorned dress will someday go to a child, and will hopefully comfort that child as Poppy comforts her patients!

January/February Yarncraft Recap

Girl's dress in colors that wouldn't have been my first choice, but I had on hand and still look nice together:



Rainbow-inspired ripple skirt, modeled by Leia:

Operation Keep Mommy In Bed

I woke up this morning, shortly before my alarm went off, to all three boys curled up together by my legs. As soon as my alarm went off and I hit snooze, Luke came right up for some pets, so he got lots of head scritches. When I tired of that, he returned to his brothers and he and Han engaged in some mutual face-grooming. Nibbler was pretty out of it, but as soon as I began to stroke him, his purr machine started. When I started petting Luke again, his purrs joined Nibbler's. Han was a little less interested in pets then, so no purr from him.

After a while (and a couple times hitting the snooze button), I figured that I probably should get up, so I sat up a little and told the boys that. Immediately, Luke and Han got up (leaving very sleepy Nibbler) and came right up to me, almost demanding pets. Of course I had to oblige them and lay down to pet them. Trying to get up again, I rolled onto my back and stretched, with one hand above my head. Luke ran right up to that hand so that I could continue to pet him! Then when I moved my hand back down, he followed and flumped down in front of me, necessitating the giving of more pets before I was finally able to stop petting them and get up!

Of course, this sort of thing happens only when Elijah is gone, as the boys feel more comfortable with me (and always have). But it is progress, as previously, my sitting up in the bed would be cause enough for the twins to bolt out of the room. Having them approach me instead is a big step!

October/November/December Yarncraft Recap

I work at a preschool, and for our Halloween party, we had to wear non-scary, non-violent, peaceful costumes. That meant that my usual costumes (Jedi, fencer, etc.) were out. Well, one of my favorite Halloween candies is candy corn , so I decided to dress as candy corn ! I crocheted a candy corn hat and a candy corn Madonna bra (which was NOT worn around the preschoolers), and to complete the costume, I also made a Sculpey candy corn necklace with glittery glaze and sewed a candy corn skirt. (I also wore a black shirt with a candy corn ribbon belt, black and orange tie-dye tights, and candy corn socks, but I didn’t make any of those.)



*NOM* Says Nibbler.



Two sparkly swirly hats:



I also made some hats for my brother and cousin, but didn't get pictures of them.

Pattern News!

In other exciting news, the owner of my LYS, Purl in the Pines in Flagstaff, has started selling some of my patterns in her store! I'm excited and also energized to keep designing!

The Ignoring of Han and Luke

We continue to have problems with the twins, as their nervousness and fearfulness continues. It got a little better after we got back from winter break (we were away for two weeks), but progress since we got them (a year and a half now; they're almost two years old) has been very slow. We got a recommendation to talk to Sue, a woman who runs a cat sanctuary in the area and specializes in rehabilitating cats who are feral, semi-feral, and fearful, and after some phone tag-like situations, finally met her and had her come over to meet Luke and Han. She was surprised by how fearful they really are, since male cats are generally more adaptable than females, and we got them when they were four months old, so they weren't really that old yet, and she would have expected them to relax a little more than they have.

Han (curled up) with little brother Nibbler:


I did post an ad for them on Petfinder, figuring if we can get them a nice, quiet home where they might be more comfortable, it would be better for them than here, since it's not the most peaceful place (much as I try, it's hard to keep up with clutter and such), but they're not going anywhere unless I'm relatively sure that they'll be in a better place. In the meantime, we're willing to try Sue's suggestion- ignore them unless they approach us, to basically just let them do what they feel comfortable with and not force anything on them. It's been a few days now, and they already seem a little calmer. Hopefully they'll realize (and I've been saying this since we got them) that we're not going to hurt them, and that this home is a safe place. Anyway, it won't hurt them, since they can still come to us for affection (and they've been snuggling with me in bed in the morning and sometimes come to me for pets when I'm at the computer or in the bathroom), and we can still enjoy Nibbler and Leia. Next week, I'm away for a few days (spring break) while Elijah stays home with the cats, so we'll see what that brings.

Supreme Fuzzler

I was remiss in my last post (which I know was quite a while ago; life has a way of knocking you down for no good reason sometimes) in that I neglected to mention a new member of our family: another black boycat, whom we named Wicket (to continue to the Star Wars theme). We got him just before Halloween, so it really has been a while.



It took about a week for Leia to get used to having him around, and about another week after that before they really became playmates. Now, though, it's clear that they have a very similar energy level and are great together- they wrestle, chase, and compete for toys and treats (Wicket usually wins).



It also became apparent that he's very mouthy, eating ANYTHING that he can get his paws on, and licking most other things! So in light of that, and because he didn't really respond to the name Wicket, we decided to rename him Nibbler, after the Futurama character. He seems a bit happier with the new name, and also the new (orange, to match his collar) bow tie tag that I got him with his new name. So henceforth, Wicket shall be referred to as Nibbler. And Elijah's just thrilled that we have a cat who loves him as much as me. When Nibbler hears Elijah come home, he often runs to the door to greet him (though more often than not, he gets sidetracked by the food dish, little piglet that he is).

Long-Overdue September Yarncraft Recap

Flying:

Tunisian crochet seemed like an interesting meld of crochet and knitting, so I bought a hook and decided to give it a try. I made just a simple cotton dishcloth, using (my beginner, shoddy) Tunisian crochet, which falls under option 2, use a special tool. As you can see on the right side, it took me a little while to figure out what I was doing, but my dishes won’t mind!




Arithmancy:

Spirals are a shape found often in nature, from the center of a sunflower to a Nautilus shell. They are simple; a circle that gets progressively larger, so it spirals around itself, ever widening.



Transfiguration:

When I was little, I somehow got the idea in my head that pink was one of the natural colors that bunnies came in- you know, bunnies could be brown, white, grey, black, or pink! Well, eventually I figured out that it wasn’t true, but I still have a fondness for pink bunnies, so here’s my little pink bunny with button eyes, a button nose, and a button tail.




Potions:

I work at a preschool, and every day after school, I do cleaning, some of which involves bleach. Well, I dripped some bleach onto my pants, which of course left light spots, and then there’s the paint that wouldn’t wash out…. I’d already modified these pants a couple years ago by adding ribbon around the cuffs, so I got some embroidery floss in colors to match the ribbon to make butterfly appliques to hide the bleach spots.

Before:


After:

Snot

Working at a preschool, it's very easy to tell that we're well into the cold and flu season, which reminds me of a story from when my brother was in early elementary school. My mom took him with her to a PTA meeting, and he and his friend Todd were playing in the corner while the parents were having the meeting. In the middle of the meeting, my brother came up to my mom, and asked (loudly enough that everyone heard, of course), "Mom, what's 'snot'?" My mom was a bit mortified, and my brother added, "Todd said 'snot' and I don't know what that is." Now it was Todd's mother who was mortified. My mom calmly responded, "It's nasal drainage," and my brother said "Okay" and went back to play. My mom looked at the other mothers, who were probably thinking, "What kid doesn't know what snot is?" and said, "Well, what do you call it?" None of the other mothers had an answer for that.

A busy week

I haven't ever talked on this blog about my job. Well, for a while, that was because I didn't have one. I worked at Michaels (the craft store) until the beginning of July, then decided to leave, for various reasons that I won't get into.

After going for most of the summer fruitlessly searching for a job (and I tell you, it's frustrating that I can spend half an hour filling out a job application, and they can't take half a minute to call me about it. I only ever heard back from two places that I applied to.), earlier this week, I landed a position as an assistant teacher at a Montessori preschool. Unfortunately, it's not the school that's a three-minute walk from my house, but it's a short drive away. There's one lead teacher, a morning assistant who leaves after naptime, and I'll be there from lunch through after-care.

This week, we had three mini-days with the eight new children, three- and four-year-olds, with all three teachers there. The three of us have really been bonding as a team, as well as getting to know the routine and the children. The lead teacher, of course, has met all the children before, but the other assistant is also new, though she got hired about a week before I did. The two of us have also had some opportunities to meet the returning children, which culminated today in a picnic at the lead teacher's house for just the Kindergartners. The other assistant and I helped out, and got to know the four of them who were there (one was unable to make it, as his family is out of town for the weekend).

Monday is the first day with all the children, 17 total right now. That'll be a change, but at least all the returning ones know the routine, even if they'll have to be reminded a little at first.

I was hired the day before the first day that the new children came, so I've had to learn everything very quickly. Now that we've had some good mini-days of practice under our figurative belt, we're all feeling more confident. Not only that, it's been a lot of fun (if hard on my joints with all the sitting on the floor), and it's nice to have a job that I really enjoy going to.

July Yarncraft Recap

Again in July, I was able to do all six classes in the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup. First up was DADA, where our assignment was to "create something which represents a way that you banish the Dementors of Depression and the Werewolf of Anger from your life". I made this very peaceful Mother Nature Goddess doll, which is covered in vines and flowers, to be calming.






In Herbology, we explored "the vining properties of plants, as represented by CABLES!" I had seen, in other classes, several of my fellow students making a tea wallet (a pouch in which to carry a few tea bags). I wanted to make one, but the only pattern on Ravelry was for a basketweave pattern. I decided to let cables be the inspiration for my tea wallet, and made this one for my mom. I then wrote up the patten and posted it for sale on Ravelry.





The next class that I completed was History of Magic, where we were supposed to make something to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday, either by creating something for a baby, or create something to celebrate Harry himself. I chose to highlight Harry's ability to love, which is something that sets him apart from Voldemort. I also honored Harry's mother with this, since her love protected him, and I made this I Love You dishcloth for my mother.



In Ancient Runes, we were assigned a letter, which had to be the first letter of the type of item, patten name, yarn name, or colorway name. I was assigned "E", and I chose to make a bag with the pattern name "Exchange Bag". The crochet is done, but I will probably end up lining it and sewing in a zipper.




For Charms, we practiced Wingardium Leviosa, the levitating spell. We had to make something light and airy. I knit a lace shawl, which I also submitted for Ravenclaw's July Bugspray contest, as lace is reminiscent of mosquito netting. This was the first time I'd done a shawl with a knitted-on edging that worked in perpendicular rows rather than just knitted on. I used the same yarn as the shawl that I made for Transfiguration in March, and I still have some of it left.





The sixth class was Potions, where we studied aconite, which is used to create the Draught of Peace, which "calms anxiety and soothes agitation, but that is only in its finished form. Creating the Draught is a process fraught with difficulties, as it is a remarkably difficult potion to stir correctly." We were to create something that was either calming, or beautiful but fiddly. Just last month, I started spinning on a drop spindle, so I used my first skein of handspun as my project. It ended up being approximately 26 yards of double-ply bulky-to-super bulky at 6ish wpi, exactly 50 grams.




August is the month in between the summer and fall terms, so there are no classes, although there are lots of other things going on, at least one of which I'm planning to participate in. Ravenclaw is having a summer reading program, where we make items that are inspired by books that we're reading. I want to write more patterns, so I've been searching for things to make that don't have a lot of patterns for them already. I've already read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, but there are already a lot of Alice-themed patterns out there, so I'm not sure if I'm going to do anything with that. Next on my reading list is the Chronicles of Narnia (I got a nice collectible edition recently), so maybe I'll have more luck with that.

Catnip!

Here's another photo series, cleverly entitled, "Catnip".

In which Han decides that maybe life isn't so bad after all

Here's a series of photos which shows that Han isn't always hiding and running away from us, but is really a hedonist at heart:








Purr.