Stitch Loves Kare Pan

My son asked me to make curry buns yesterday. I made the chicken curry from scratch but I cheated and used some frozen bread dough. On Mondays I stop in at a local thrift store, that's where I found this Stitch bobble head. I'm not a big fan of Disney products, especially not the endless parade of princesses. But Lilo and Stitch are cool.

The Latest Mossy Mushroom Hat And Back To School

A couple of times a year I'll make one of these freeform crocheted mossy mushroom hats. It's about my favorite thing to crochet but not something I can crank out in a hurry or would want to do day in and day out. I need to take breaks so the design stays fresh. So I've started a collection of scrumbbles and add on pieces so I'll be ready for the next one. I once made a capelet in this style and I think it's time to do another. I want to really let myself go wild on it and then put a big price tag on it. If nothing else it will be a great piece to wear in the booth with my mushroom crown. I just signed up for an adult ed Japanese class at the local high school and I'm wondering who else will be taking it. I asked my son, the aspiring mangaka who is talking about living there, if he wanted to take it but he said no. He's probably worried that the guys from the Yu-Gi-Oh duel club will show up. My son put away his duel disk when he was 11. These guys are in high school and walk around with a duel disk strapped to one arm. Not exactly the right plan for social success, but God bless them, they seem happy. My Dad was in the army during the Korean War and had R&R in Japan several times. He came back talking about building a traditional Japanese house. It would appeal to him, he's a woodworker. Somehow that idea didn't pan out. We ended up with a ranch house. But I'm sure he inspired my interest in Japan.

Sunday Morning

Connecticut is having a weird winter this year. First there was the autumn snow storm that knocked out the power to homes that had been in the dark for over a week following tropical storm Irene. Then the weather warmed up and it felt like spring. I can't remember ever driving around in the middle of January with the window open. OK, it was just after I'd worked out at the gym. Yesterday winter returned and gave us something like eight inches of snow. This morning the sun is out, the sky is clear and that snow looks marvelous. I'm hoping that the proper winter weather will clear my head. I've been feeling really scattered. My etsy shop hasn't gotten much of my attention even though I have plenty of new hats that I could list. I got derailed by computer and camera trouble but those issues have been fixed. If I'm honest with myself, what I really need to do is a clutter purge and cleaning of the whole house. How can I think straight in this environment? Why is it so much easier to make messes than to clean them up? But no, I just muddled along amid the wreckage. I found a bunch of hat patterns at the Goodwill, 4 for a dollar. I've always just drafted my own pattern but I thought maybe I could learn something from them. What I've learned so far is that they suck. I knew they'd need to be adapted to use with the felted sweaters if only because I don't have unlimited yardage to cut big pieces. Beyond that, the seams are too wide and they just don't work that well. The only one I really liked was a vintage 40's pattern for the glengarry cap. Oh, well. I still have some kids hats to try. If nothing else, they'll give me standard sizing. On a happier note, I'm finishing a custom order for a mossy mushroom hat. The basic structure is done so it's on to the fum part, adding mushrooms, berries and vines.

Greetings From The Laptop

Happy New Year! 2011 ended with the demise of my old mac so now I'm using a pc laptop. What a pain trying to figure out how to edit photos on this thing! I still can't figure out how to do the simplest thing - crop the image. Anyhow, this is my new winter hat and mitts, and a funky glengarry cap from a vintage pattern. Two ends of the spectrum here - I just winged the hat. It started when I was playing around piecing together the white scraps from cutting out a bunch of mushroom stems. I let the rest evolve from other bits and a piece of zipper that was lying around. It doesn't really have a front or back, I wear it both ways. I made the matching mitts because I needed them. I can't stand gloves and mittens are just too clumsy, especially if they're made from sweater felt. They're more like oven mitts. The glengarry cap is straight from the pattern. I'm loving these two fabrics together. The teal plaid was a scarf and the green striped trim was a fabric remnant. There's still fabric left so I'll use them together again.