When the workplace and hobbies collide

I recently got the chance to use my knitting skills for a projects at work. During one of our slow days my manager and I were talking about ideas for photos. She said "I really want hats for infants" and showed me a few pictures of what she had in mind. Almost immediately I offered up my services. Two days later I had these...

Originally my manager had asked for a gender neutral infant sized hat, but that plan had to be scratched. When I went home and looked at my inventory there was little in the way of gender neutral yarns that I thought would photograph well and/or was willing to part with. In the end I decided to forgo neutrality in favor of vibrant colors and fantastic textures.




The first hat is made from Moda Dea's "Cache" (2355 siren). I whipped it up on size 8 dpns, guessed the amount of stitches that needed to be cast on and was actually correct on the first go, . I then proceeded to K1,P1 in the round until it measured 5 inches in length. I used the ever so handy kitchener stitch to bind off then sewed my fun and sassy tassles on . Can I just say how much I love the texture of this yarn when its all knit up?



Hat #2 was also worked up on size 8 using Lion brand suede yarn in teal (the darker blue), and mystery yarn puchased from goodwill several years ago. Same process as the hat before, only the ribbing on this hat is K2,P2 and has pom poms rather than tassles.

So far I've only seen the pink hat in action and it looks great against our brown minky baby blanket, once halloween is over and people start wanting winter pictures, they'll probably get more use. Just wait till the matching scarves are finished!

A few days after bringing them in I was asked by a coworker if it would be possble to knit hats for all their family members. They understand the specialness of a hand knit hat and are willing to pay actual money for it so yay!

Unless you gave birth to me, don't call me 'baby'

To the "men" of Albany New York- ages 40 and under, of all socioeconomic backgrounds and races-

I am not here for your leering pleasure, I do not walk down the street for your amusement, I do not wish to be called "baby", "sweet thing" or worse. I am for the most part walking to or from my bus stop. Sometimes its to get something from rite aid, other times such as today its just because I want to walk around and enjoy my surroundings.

Today I had planned on walking around downtown and taking some pictures of the fall foliage. Nowhere in my plans for today was having strange men catcalling me on my list of things to do. I was dressed in baggy khaki pants and a loose fitting hoodie, no make up, hair barely brushed. I just wanted to enjoy a day outside, laying down on the park grass and taking pictures. You could not let me be could you? My afternoon of leisurely fun turned into 45 minutes of self consciousness, anxiousness, and overall general discomfort all thanks to you.

You felt the need to draw attention to my body, to treat it like an object that needs to be appraised and given your approval.

Screw you.

It is my body, I approve of it and thats all that matters. I can run like the wind, I can lift full water cooler bottles with ease, I can climb trees, I can make children laugh with my bizarre dance moves.

I do not need you opinion, I do not want you to share it with me. I do not need reminders that in our culture women are valued more for their appearance than for what they are truely capable of.

If you want to talk, then say hello or how are you? I don't mind talking to people on the street, I've met some lovely and kind people that way. Shouting out comments about a woman's body is just rude and obnoxious.

I'm going to stop at that, there is a lot more I would like to say, but the more I think about it the angrier I get. Now I need to try and enjoy the rest of my day off

Did you know its September?

This month has really flown by for me which is why I haven't updated anything until now. The first week or so I was pretty much at work. Then came Byron and Gatsby's big day, they got neutered! They had a skirmish in August which surprised and terrified me, leading to their immediate separation. Gatsby became territorial and developed a bad habit of marking near Byron's cage much to my dismay. I was upset with myself for putting off the neuter for so long that it had escalated to the point of having to keep them separated. Watching them look at each other through cage bars longingly was hard, but I knew that I couldn't let them play together due to their raging and unpredictable bunny hormones.

I went into nurse mode for about a week making sure my boys were comfortable and happy. Yesterday was their two week post surgical exam. The vet said they were fully healed and looking quite nice, though we are concerned with the weight that they put on during the two weeks since the operation (Byron put on 6 ozs !). All in all life is now back to normal, possibly a little better. Since the neuter Gatsby has not sprayed one bit- that alone is well worth the money spent, liter box habits have improved on the whole, and I think they're starting to like each other again. In another couple of weeks the boyfriend and I plan on reintroducing them and seeing if they can forgive and forget.

On the craft front I've been fairly productive as well. I have finally managed to tame the beast known as yeast and produced some fantastic cinnamon rolls. Truth be told I went a little overboard on the filling, but that's okay in my opinion. I want to make these again when my mom and sister come to visit later in October. This time around I want to incorporate pumpkin into the recipe somehow to add some seasonal flavor to these babies. Mmmm. So keep an eye out for that next month, I'll provide a link to the original recipe as well.

I managed to start and almost finish knitting another hat using the knitty foliage pattern that I adore. When I say almost finish, I mean I need to redo the cast off due to it being super tight, which means I have to find my handy dandy crochet hook which I packed up last year at this time and have not seen since moving.

In true pro-craft-ination style I also have started and almost finished making a new purse. All that is left to do is stitch around the opening of the bag... give me another two weeks and that should be done hehe.

On a final note I have also been working on my side project which I've been promising to reveal for over a month. Though I doubt people have been clamoring to find out what it is I've been working on, I think the time is drawing near to reveal it. Not today, but soonish.

That is all for now, enjoy the rest of September!

Finished

In my last post I showed off my semi-completed Christmas present, now I am quite proud to show off the finished ornament.

The back is just red fabric from a t-shirt that I have had tucked away in my fabric drawers, the green ribbon I picked up from one of my local dollar stores that has a phenomenal craft section.

{side view}

One present down, so many more to go...

Thinking ahead

July is almost over and I've been working on finishing up a Christmas gift for my mom. Now, it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I think she'll love it.
I would like to think the reason I was able to have such a good relationship with my mom while growing up was our mutual love of horror movies. Specifically those of the zombie genre. At a time where most teens would do anything and everything to stay away from their parents, I was spending time with my mom analyzing the social commentary in Romero's zombie pics. It made sense that I try to capture that bond in ornament form for my zombie loving, ornament collecting mom. That is when the idea of a decapitated zombie hand holding mistletoe came to mind.

I began by sketching out my idea, using my own non-decapitated hand for a model, researching what mistletoe looked like, improving the rest. I finished the outline in January, but put it aside afterward due to embroidery burn out (see Christmas in July post). Now after picking it up again last week I have this.

{picture was taken sideways... too lazy to fix)

For the mistletoe I used white glass cats eye beads that I picked up from Joann's. I liked adding that tiny three dimensional detail.

{Up close detail picture}

{Angled view of hand}

Now all that is left is to sew it up and give it to her. I'm thinking I'll give it to her around thanksgiving so it can go up on the tree.