Reducio Sock Swap: Goodies from Addykan!

I got my Reducio Sock Swap package!!! *happy dance* Addykan went above and beyond the call. K and I squeed with glee when we saw our package came all the way from Tipperary! It was all wrapped in orange tissue paper with a little note on each package

K and I made short work of that! Miss. Kitty helped of course.

Okay, first she sent the cutest tiny little sock, which she says is her first mini sock so she hopes “its OK.” OK… it’s brilliant!

She also included some cashmere in Ravenclaw book colors. Beautiful and so soft!

She made me a lovely pea green mini facecloth and soap “made in herbology lesson.”




And she included some Herbology note lets, a balm “from last terms herbology,” and a Cadbury Melts!

K, who is a huge Redwall fan, ran off with the Badger lip balm. The chocolate is mine!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Addykan, we loved it all!

Mad Eye Moody Dishcloth

I was bored and this just kinda happened

Makes me laugh every thing I use it.

We have been so busy lately! In a crafty sort of way!

We've been silent, but so, so busy lately. It's the end of the school year and K has had three performances already and one more to go. I just haven't had a moment to post, let alone breath or sleep.

The funniest thing we've made lately is a ball and chain. K had a costumed part in her schools Spring Concert, first time ever. She was a prisoner on a pirate ship, and she had two whole lines, with many words, and several minutes of acting and singing. And she had the tricky line, it went like this:

Stowaway: "No?!?"

Prisoners: "YES!"

Stowaway: "No?!?"

Prisoners: "YES!"

Stowaway: "No?!?"

Prisoners: "YES!"

Stowaway: "YES!?!?"

K: "No!"

Prisoners: "WHAT???"

K: Big Shrug

*Big laugh*

*proud mommy and daddy cheering*

Her performance went like clockwork, all the prisoners did a great job, and her teacher said she was fantastic!

K it turns out is a bit of a ham. And possibly slightly evil. She did a marvelous job of taunting the poor Stowaway, who I can never see without thinking of him as a tiny little 2ND grader dressed in jeans, white shirt, tie, scar, and robes at a costume contest. He was the best little Harry I've ever seen and played the part to perfection. K was Violet Incredible and he won first and she second prize. OK, I have to show a picture.

Too cute and she put together her own costume, from bits and pieces. Even made her own mask that magnetically clipped to the front of her glasses. Isn't she clever. Oh yes!

Anywho, naturally, as a prisoner, on a pirate ship, she needed a ball and chain. We checked Party City and the like, but alas, no ball and chains so, we made one. Fun foam strips, stapled into rings with the sharp bits covered with black Duck Tape for the chain and a small, slightly deflated playground ball covered with black fleece for the ball. Some torn strips of black cotton to tie it to her leg and there your have it, one Ball and Chain.

The chain was long enough that she could pick it up and carry it easily. The ball was not so light as to look bouncy, but not so heavy as to be cumbersome or hurt whomever she might want to hit with it. I understand a bit of that took place back stage. Overall, she loved it and it looked great.

And can't you just see the possibilities for the Half Blood Prince premiere. SQUEEEE!!!!

Thank you Pren!!!!

Gifties! Pren sent K and I each our own RAOK (Random act of kindness.) We each received a skein of Lionbran Recycled Cotton and a letter in our own envelope, separately in the mail. K LOVED that part. K's is Rose coral and mine is Pebble Beach and we can't wait for school to end to make something with them.

Thank you again Pren! You really made our day!

Reducio Sock Swap Gifties!

The Reducio Sock Swap is a Harry Potter swap on Ravelry. This is a secret partner swap. You are given the name, Hogwarts house, and address of the person you are to send to, but you don't know who is sending to you. For this round of the swap, your make a tiny sock in your persons house colors, a tiny item based on the theme of Herbology and a letter. The theme changes each month. You can also throw in up to $10 worth of goodies. My swap partner has received her package, so I can show my lovelies.

Here is Miss Kitty with the gifties all wrapped up and ready to go.

OK, this was my first time ever making a sock, let alone a tiny one. I used plain old worsted weight Red Heart because I was having real trouble working with the tiny sock yarn. I followed a combination of a few patterns in the Reducio resources folder. If you squint real hard, it doesn't look half bad.

I sent the sock tied to a little paper owls neck.

This is a fold I kinda made up with inspiration. I saw a picture of the final folded owl, but there was no diagram available. So I just kinda stared at it a while and then gave it a couple tries. I think it came out pretty well. It is three dimensional and has a tail that is really cute. I didn't see the back, it just came out that way. Cool.

For the Herbology theme, I made a little Mandrake, in a pot for safety of course. You know, I had to make a mandrake!

The Mandrake and pot are crocheted with pearl cotton, a No.1 crochet needle and 24 gauge wire to stiffen the leaves. The leaves are variegated with lavender centers, purple mid color and green edges. I really like how they turned out. The pot just kinda happened and I really like the shape. And I added my Mandrake label. Now I think about it, I should have included ear muffs. Oh well. I loved the end result and K begged to keep it. I'm going to do one better, I'm going to teach her to make her own, in worsted weight, because I love her.

I also made a set of three stitch markers, which you can almost see in green bag. They are silver with clear crystal beads and each has a charm at the end one that says love, one wish and one imagine. I thought they were really pretty. I didn't get a picture, poo.

And I included just for fun, several bags of my favorite teas in a green beaded bag, a Lindt milk chocolate bar, about 25 feet of some wonderful Lionbrand Recycled Cotton yarn in the color Pebble Beach, that I received from Pren (Thank you again Pren!), and some very organic blank note cards.

My partner said she liked it and that the mandrake was lovely. And she said the chocolate was medicinal. I quite agree!

I haven't received my swap yet, but any day now. *bounces*

And I can't wait for the next round!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

I awakened very late this morning to good coffee and dark chocolate, life is good. This afternoon is K's first symphony concert.

The video camera is charged and I have extra tape. Can't wait!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

(Especially you Jennifer. Hang in there and keep going.)

We finished with minutes to spare!

The Renaissance costumes for F and M are finished! Well enough anyway. M's costume is completely done, chemise, skirt over skirt, and bodice. The bodice took us three 5 hour days to cut, sew and finish. 70 eyelets and 10,000 inches of trim later, (OK, maybe only 100 inches of trim) it looks very nice if I say so myself. We just didn't have time to finish F's dress. She will have a chemise, skirt, over skirt and a bodice her mom found at Party City which her Aunt spent the day altering. Between F's Mom, her aunt and I, we pulled it together just in time.


No pictures yet. The event is tomorrow, so maybe I'll get pictures next week. I made my friend promise to bring the girls and their costumes over so K can try them on. She didn't make a fuss, but K was disappointed when she got home and the costumes were gone. I think she had planned a night of dress up. When she sees the finished costume, K is going to want one of her own. 70 more eyelets to go.

Did I mention I sliced open the tip of my pointer finger on my right hand Wednesday morning? Leather thimbles and that superglue stuff for cuts are the most wonderful inventions in the history of woman kind.

Must finish by 5pm!!!

I've been helping a friend made Renaissance costumes for her daughter and her daughter's friend. The girls chose Simplicity 5583 for the chemise and skirts, the big picture with the yellow and black skirts.

And McCalls m4696 for the bodice, the middle view, with the BIG sleeves.

Although I don't usually use patterns, I like these. The skirts were easy and fast. The chemise was a bit short and low cut for the girls, so I raised the neck line and added length. The bodice pattern is good and I am almost done, just need to add the underlay, trim and grommets.

The Ren Faire is TOMORROW and I have to finish by 5pm TODAY. I know I'll make it, but I've caught K's cold and I feel like I've been run over by a truck. Miracle cure here I come. (If you don't know it's chicken soup and Sudafed. :)

I'll post pics when I get them!

And we were just hit by a tornado...

Well, that was exciting. We're all fine. The sirens went off and it was barely sprinkling, but I've lived here a while, so I took my tornado precautions and headed for the basement. Not 5 minutes later, I heard a train go by. (Really, seriously, it sounds just like a train.)

No damage in our neighborhood, but just up the road it looks like an F1 went through, trees down, roof damage, Red Cross trucks and chain saws everywhere.

And now they're closing schools again.


Life here is never dull.

Swine Flu Day 6: Huh?

All schools have reopened. Yup. Just like that. The schools were told on Sunday they had to close for 14 total days, and then told on Monday "Nevermind, everyone back to school."

Well, that was... diverting.

Swine FLu Day 5: Back to school!

I was listening to npr and they had a story about how dificult it is to properly wear a mask to prevent the flu. Made me giggle. Then I found this.

K feels much better and went back to school today. Loads of kids have sniffles and coughs and several were out on Monday, but no one at her school has all the symptoms required for flu (that I know of.) The city schools, one county school and one parochial school are still out, but the rest of the kids are back in class.

So far so good.

Snitch Egg Cozy Wins Third Place!

Squeee!!! I just received an email from Leaky and my Snitch Egg Cozy won third place in the Enchanted Egg Contest! I won house points on Leaky and a nifty avatar

I guess that means I need to pick a house. Hum,.. Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff?

Swine FLu Day 5: K is home sick :(

Yep, K's school is open but she is home coughing and sniffing. I asked the school secretary when she could return and she said when she stops coughing and sniffing. "That should be sometime in June." We both started to laugh. You see K tends to keep what she catches. So we decided a doctor's note stating she does not have H1N1 would suffice. So I am about to try to get an appointment, on a Monday, at the epicenter (they actually called us that on NPR!) of a flu outbreak. Right now I'm pretty sure she has a cold. After three hours in a Dr. waiting room, we'll both have the curly tales and snout.

UPDATE: K does not have a curly tale! She has a sinus infection and a note stating she is free of contagious disease. K is back to school tomorrow!

Swine Flu Day 4: Schools out till May 14th

K's school is going to open Monday! We're the lucky ones. Alabama now has one confirmed case of H1N1 and the schools with suspected cases are closed till May 14. On top of that, all activities for children under 12 are suspended indefinitely and children under 12 are not to congregate. I hear they've hired the child catcher.

Swine Flu Day three: Do you know where your towel is?

Funny thing. I was surfing the local news sites yesterday and saw this:

BREAKING NEWS: Health Department says DON'T PANIC!

I kid you not. Nearly fell off my chair laughing.

Locally, we now have 3 probable cases and about 10 suspected. (The difference between probable and suspected seems fairly small.) No confirmed yet. One suspected case at UA Huntsville may make life quite interesting, especially for graduating students. We'll just have to wait and see.

On the home front, K has come down with a sore throat and a stuffy nose. No high fever, no diarrhea, no body aches, so not flu, just your basic cold. She's laying on the couch, reading comic books and Charlie Bone and watching TV.

Oh, and I know where my towel is, so we're good.

Swine Flu Day Two. Nothing to report.

Well, we're all still here, confined to quarters and enjoying our flu days.

This is my humble opinion of the situation. In this area, we have all been exposed to swine flu, many of us have had it, more will get it and for the most part, we have and will recover just fine.

Loads of people in this area were sick with flu like symptoms over the last few weeks. We all noticed a rather late cold had hit and suffered through what we all thought was a bad cold with a stomach bug along for the ride. We all got through it with the miracle cure of chicken soup and Sudafed. We added loads of TV and popsicles for the kids.

On Friday, the health department reported there were two kindergartners in our area that were diagnosed as probably having had swine flu. They had been treated as outpatients and were recovering at home. They tested positive for type A flu and we're all still waiting for confirmation from the CDC as to whether it is Swine Flu. As a precaution, they shut the schools, parks, playgrounds, museums,... and cancelled all events. Some people are still coming down with flu like syymptoms, which will probably be the case for a while. Everyone seems to be recovering, except for the few people who are at risk.

So basically, it was over before the authorities even noticed and was your everyday average flu, not fun, but not really bad unless you're in the usual high risk flu categories. And even then, we've seen worse.

And we have two more days of rest and relaxation. No really all that bad actually.